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Rodeo Realness: 5 Truths About Writing That Aren’t Just A Bunch Of Bull. Guest post by Scott Abel – the Content Wrangler This week I got the dream job of my life.

Rodeo Realness: 5 Truths About Writing That Aren’t Just A Bunch Of Bull

Well, sort of… My good friends at Acrolinx asked me to attend an event they’re sponsoring. As soon as I heard the words I assumed they meant a conference, a roadshow, or some other kind of industry event. Writing Content for Usability. In honor of World Usability Day we’re happy to share this presentation from Stephanie Hay at edUi 2012.

Writing Content for Usability

Writing Content for Usability Slide Deck (pdf) How to Write a Problem Statement: 6 Steps. Three Parts:Sample Problem StatementsWriting Your Own Problem StatementPolishing Your Problem StatementQuestions and Answers A problem statement is a brief piece of writing that usually comes at the beginning of a report or proposal to explain the problem or issue the document is addressing to the reader.

How to Write a Problem Statement: 6 Steps

In general, a problem statement will outline the basic facts of the problem, explain why the problem matters, and pinpoint a solution as quickly and directly as possible. Problem statements are often used in the world of business for planning purposes but can also be required in academic situations as part of a proposal-style report or writing project. See Step 1 below to get started writing your own Problem Statement! Ad Steps Sample Problem Statements. Explore Point of View. July 26, 2012 by Fiction Editor Beth Hill last modified August 19, 2014 This is the second of three articles on point of view.

Explore Point of View

See Point of View, the Full Story for the introduction and Part Three, Omniscient Narrator. In this article we’ll focus on the specifics of first-, second-, and third-person POVs. First Person. Narrator and Point of View. Point of view refers to the way a story is told.

Narrator and Point of View

The author selects a specific mode of presenting the characters, action, setting and events of his or her narrative. The choice of the point of view or perspective normally entails the setting-up of a narrator as mediator between story and readers, as someone who guides the readers and influences them in their reception of the text. The degree of insight or penetration the narrators have into the characters and events of a text varies, forming a graded line from telling - the narrators know everything and impart their knowledge to the readers as they think fit - to showing - the narrators are practically absent and the readers have to infer everything from the events as they unfold. Preventing User Errors: Avoiding Unconscious Slips.

The Art of Science Communication: William Zinsser on How to Write Well About Science. By Maria Popova How to master the inverse pyramid of transmuting information into wisdom.

The Art of Science Communication: William Zinsser on How to Write Well About Science

I have always considered writing a way of organizing reality — of organizing one’s own mind and, in recording that process, decluttering the reader’s understanding of some subtle or staggering aspect of the world. Few writers have articulated the philosophies and practicalities behind this artful organization with more clarity and conviction than William Zinsser (October 7, 1922–May 12, 2015) in his 1976 classic On Writing Well: An Informal Guide to Writing Nonfiction (public library) — a masterwork partway, in both time and tenor, between E.B. White’s vintage bible The Elements of Style and psycholinguist Steven Pinker’s contemporary counterpart The Sense of Style. The 5 Characteristics of Great Content - Acrolinx. In case you hadn’t noticed, in today’s online world we are practically drowning in content — more content, in fact, than we could ever begin to consume.

The 5 Characteristics of Great Content - Acrolinx

To give you a sense of the scale of it, just consider that every day 70,000 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube, 2 million blog posts are published, and 294 billion e-mails are sent. The problem is that a lot of that content is going to waste. Why? Because it’s not very good and, as a result, people are tuning most of it out. Why Is English Spelling So Weird? Infographic - Acrolinx. Agenda North America - Acrolinx. 11 Tips To Tighten Your Writing. Whether the quote above is attributed to Blaise Pascal or Mark Twain depends on who you ask.

11 Tips To Tighten Your Writing

I always thought the quote was Twain until I sat down to write this post and discovered that it’s one of a handful of quotes most frequently misattributed to him. Perhaps the sentiment of the quote is more important in this case than who actually said it, although a lack of correct attribution pains me for obvious reasons. Either way, writing short is difficult. It is much easier to drone on, including everything and the kitchen sink, than it is to write in the clear, concise manner readers desire most. Concise writing requires strong, active word choices. Related Resources from B2C» Free Webcast: The Future of Search: Drive Big Profits with Competitive Intelligence My best advice to you is to first sit down and write. Once you have written, use these 11 tips for writing tight during your editing process. Interview: @AnnHandley Shares Nearly Everything You Need to Know to Create Ridiculously Good Content.

The bell has rung and class is in session.

Interview: @AnnHandley Shares Nearly Everything You Need to Know to Create Ridiculously Good Content

The topic? Creating content. Some Words You Live By, Others You Best Avoid - Acrolinx. 60 Awesome Search Engines for Serious Writers. June 20th, 2010 Finding the information you need as a writer shouldn’t be a chore.

60 Awesome Search Engines for Serious Writers

Luckily, there are plenty of search engines out there that are designed to help you at any stage of the process, from coming up with great ideas to finding a publisher to get your work into print. Both writers still in college and those on their way to professional success will appreciate this list of useful search applications that are great from making writing a little easier and more efficient. Reading and Writing. Tech Writing Handbook - Dozuki. 7 Ways to Simplify Complex Content While Maintaining Sophistication and Nuance. 8 Tips For Creating Great Stories From George R.R. Martin, Junot Diaz, And Other Top Storytellers. What the hell is a Story Lizard?

In Wonderbook: The Guide to Creating Imaginative Fiction (Abrams Books, October 15), Story Lizards join Prologue Fish and other infographic helpmates designed to banish dry textual analysis in favor of a kicking, screaming, slithering approach to storytelling creativity. 10 technical writing principles to live by. As I started my new job, I've been thinking about the most important technical writing principles I've learned in the past. The following are 10 principles to live by when doing technical writing. 1. Always test out the instructions yourself. Unless you can walk through the instructions and perform the tasks yourself, it will be difficult to evaluate the help material. Testing the instructions seems like a given, and with GUI documentation, it usually is. Image by. The 3-Step Journey of a Remarkable Piece of Content. Haikudeck.

Grammar Girl

Graphics. Story Telling. The death of technical writing, part 1. For a few years now, I’ve been worrying about the future of technical communication as a career. Not that user docs will disappear (as much as most people might want that), but techcomm as a unique job title, as opposed to one of many tasks that someone might have. I remember hearing Noz Urbina telling us that we were doomed, back at Lavacon 2012. 5 Tips for Turning Drab Information Into a Tantalizing Tutorial. Manuals for Femap Nastran Finite Element Analysis.

Untranslatable Words

The Hyping of “Big Data” Learning Paths. New User Quick Start. Grammar Girl's Editing Checklist. ☐ Wrong Word affect/effect, lay/lie, sit/set, who/whom, toward/towards, etc. ☐ Vague Pronoun Reference Confusing: Bob annoyed Larry, but that didn’t stop him from asking for a meeting.Clear: Bob annoyed Larry, but that didn’t stop Larry from asking for a meeting. The death of technical writing, part 1. Designing topic types. A number of readers have asked me to write about how to design a topic type. Although it can sound complicated, especially if your bring XML schema definitions into the mix, designing a topic type is actually pretty simple.

Before we begin, though, set aside all the issues around XML. XML has nothing to do with topic type design. What Keeps Brilliant Visual Content From Being Shared.