HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: saslpo@stevens.unx.sas.com (Leonard Paul Olszewski)
Newsgroups: misc.writing
Subject: Re: Refs to Tech writing
Date: 8 Oct 92 18:57:10 GMT
Organization: SAS Institute Inc.
Originator: saslpo@stevens.unx.sas.com


In article <7510@charon.cwi.nl>, keesh@cwi.nl (Kees van't Hoff) writes:
|> Hi,
|>
|> I am looking for some good references to books on technical writing, writing
|> user manuals etc.
|> Tutorials, guides and handbooks are all welcome.
|>
|> Thanks in advance,
|>
|> Kees.
|>
|> --
|> Kees van 't Hoff, CWI, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
|>
|> keesh@cwi.nl

Here are a few I've found helpful.

_Technical Report Writing Today_, Pauley/Riordan, Houghton-Mifflin,
                                  1987, ISBN: 0-395-34251-1

Very good discussions of all of the various forms of technical writing,
including proposals, technical definitions, using tables and graphs,
writing instructions. Includes several sample formats, with exercises.
Has sections on information accessability and retrievability - an often
neglected but very important topic.

_How to Write a Computer Manual_, Jonathan Price, The Benjamin Cummings
                                  Publishing Company, Melo Park, CA
                                  1984, ISBN: 0-8053-6870-1

Excellent descriptions of all of the various kinds of computer
documentation, and what the requirements are for each kind; very
process-oriented, with good sections on organizing a project, creating a
manual, using graphics, developing an index, revisions and rewriting,
usability testing, how to be a good reviewer, and how to develop a style
sheet.

_Handbook of Technical Writing_, Brusaw/Alred/Oliu, St. Martin's Press,
                                 NYC, 1987, ISBN: 0-312-35810-5

A dictionary of terms you'll encounter in technical writing with a
description of what each means to the process.

_Elements of Style_, Strunk and White
_Chicago Manual of Style_

These are two of the best style guides ever written. I don't have the
publisher or ISBN's here, but you can find them in any good public
library reference section and get the particulars.

These should at least get you started. I'm sure there are others just as 
useful or better, these happen to be the ones I'm familiar with.

Good luck.
<-------------------------------^------------------------------------->
|  Len Olszewski                |  "Writing is easy. All you do is    |
|  Technical Writer             |   stare at a blank sheet of paper   |
|  saslpo@unx.sas.com           |   until the drops of blood form on  |
| "Have cursor, will curse."    |   your forehead." - Gene Fowler     |
|---------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Opinions this ludicrous are mine. Reasonable opinions will cost you.|
<-------------------------------v------------------------------------->
From: rc@depsych.Gwinnett.COM (Richard Carlson)
Newsgroups: misc.writing
Subject: Re: Managing Notes
Date: 12 Oct 92 15:57:10 GMT

Alan_Barclay@mindlink.bc.ca (Alan Barclay) writes:

> I keep track of notes with file folders.  I have one for each current
> project plus others with titles like "Names", "Characters", "Story Ideas",
> "Technology", etc.
> 
> I find notemaking is part of the creative process.  I throw out a lot of
> scrap paper.  This is one process I do with pen and paper.  I find I have to
> be able to doodle and draw connecting lines in order to think things
> through.  Also, I want to be able to jot something down when I think of it.
> For these reasons, I don't use my computer much when making these sort of
> notes.

Hmm.  Unfortunately I suffer from such poor fine motor
coordination that I can't read what I have written more than five
minutes after I have written it, so I can't use that idea, which
intuitively sounds right -- the lines and doodles and all.

>                                                                   I do use a
> program for collecting notes, quotes, etc. that I get from
> downloads.  It's called Lotus Agenda.  It is an inverted database
> where one can enter data first, then assign categories to each piece of data
> whenever one feels like it.  You can then view all data in a particular
> category, etc.  It's quite flexible, and has a lot of interesting
> possibilities.  Unfortunately, the manual manages to obscure and complicate
> an essentially simple program--but that seems to be a standard for most
> business software.
> --
> Alan Barclay

I'll read the box next time I'm in Egghead Software.  What is
Lotus Agenda? Is it a PIM?  Lotus Magellan is a file handler,
isn't it?  (I use List and a shareware program called Directory
Magic to search files.)  So Agenda must be something other than a
file handler.

--
Richard Carlson
Internet:              rc@depsych.gwinnett.COM
Bangpath:              {rutgers,ogicse,gatech}!emory!gwinnett!depsych!rc
CompuServe:            76605,470
Voice:                 (404) 881-6877
From: mapd1@syma.sussex.ac.uk (Nigel Ling)
Newsgroups: misc.writing
Subject: Re: Semantics of "to be"
Date: 8 Oct 92 10:32:55 GMT
Organization: University of Sussex

In article <BvpDK2.2wF@unx.sas.com> sasafw@dobo.unx.sas.com (Fred Welden) writes:
>
>In article <16047@mindlink.bc.ca>, Alan_Barclay@mindlink.bc.ca (Alan Barclay) writes:
>|"There was a cat on the table"
>|
>|vs.
>|
>|"The cat sprawled on the table."
>|
>|Notice that the first sentence is passive and the second, active.  "Was" is
>|an element in many passive constructions.  For that reason alone, hunting and
>|rewriting is a good idea.  (P.S. could I write this paragraph without using
>|"is?" :) )
>
>Just to pick a nit or two, the first sentence may suffer from vagueness
>and the lack of a decent subject, but it does not use the passive 
>voice.  Let's not confuse "passive" in the grammatical sense with mere
>flabbiness of the prose.  The sentence would be less flabby if it read

Hmmm, so what exactly is passive voice then? Am I right in thinking it
is a sentence without a subject?

My only interest in the difference stems from the time I used to read
and write science papers (yawn).
Sometimes you would see things like: 

We performed the following experiment (active?)

or

The following experiment was performed (passive?)

To me the 2nd sentence sounds horrible and is the sort of thing
guaranteed to send you to sleep before the end of the abstract.

Anyone who can give me a definition of passive?

Nigel
From: alberti@ux.acs.umn.edu (Theresa J Alberti)
Newsgroups: misc.writing
Subject: Re: finding time to write
Date: 15 Oct 92 20:00:46 GMT
Article-I.D.: staff.alberti.719179246
Organization: Authors With Twins
Originator: alberti@staff.tc.umn.edu

In <1992Oct15.141507.1@lure.latrobe.edu.au> miuvdd@lure.latrobe.edu.au writes:

>In article <BvvHr0.7G2@unx.sas.com>, sascmc@pecos.unx.sas.com (Christopher Mark Conn) writes:
>> How much time do you spend writing per week?
>> How do you find the time? 

I'm a stay at home mother of twin one-year olds.  My writing time now is  
limited to nap times, and luckily they have three hour naps in the afternoon
still.  The hard part is not frittering away the time-- housecleaning, laundry,
reading the mail.  I'm still working on that one.

One thing that amazes me is that I was able to get any writing done at all
LAST year.  Then my two babes weren't on any kind of schedual, and it was rare
that they'd sleep at the same time during the day.  I had them sleep in their
play pen in the living room and my husband set up the Mac on our dining room
table, and I had to learn to write in 10 minute intervals.  Granted I didn't
get a lot of writing done back then, but I still did it.  Even managed to 
win a local writing contest.             

You just have to make up your mind that writing is important and fit it into
your life.  There is always time.  just think of how much time you waste
(watching TV, for instance).  You have to want it bad.

--Theresa Jarosz Alberti


-- 
--                                                                          --
Theresa Jarosz Alberti                      Writer/Mother of Twins=Overworked!
     "You have to let writing eat your life and follow it where it takes  you.
You fit into it;  it doesn't fit neatly  into your life.   It makes  you wild.  
Kate said... to the outside world she looked normal...  how could she work all 
day, have a baby and write?  She wanted it bad; that's what finally moves you,
not how it will conveniently fit in with the rest of your life." (N. Goldberg)
Newsgroups: misc.writing
From: charless@sco.COM (AutoPope)
Subject: Re:    Long hand.
Organization: The Somewhat Contagious Operation, Inc.
Date: Thu, 08 Oct 1992 07:14:00 GMT


In article <92280.080958KVJLC@ASUACAD.BITNET> Jon L. Campbell <KVJLC@ASUACAD.BITNET> writes:
>Not bony or a long hand, but writing in long hand.  Just in case anyone
>mistakens what this posting is about.  I wanted to find out how many of
>you good people in netland write in long hand?  I tried writing everthing
>out first, but found that once I transcribed the story onto the computer
>the story took a different shape and meaning.  Words seemed to change
>as I typed and their meaning differed from what I originally intended.
>
[rest of the question deleted ...]

I never write in longhand.  Let me qualify that; I write cheques,
and sometimes jot down a quick note.  But anything real is done
on a keyboard.  Maybe being left-handed and having eczema on the
fingers I use to grip a pen has something to do with this: for me
a situation where I am forced to use a pen is guaranteed to
induce fear and loathing, not to mention cramp after ten minutes
and bleeding from the fingertips after half an hour.  (How I ever
managed to complete any written exams is a mystery to me.  I do
seem to recall my hand hurting for a week afterwards, though ...)

Incidentally, I distantly recall something similar to the mutation
of words that you describe, from around the time I switched from
a typewriter to a word processor. I _prefer_ my words to be mutable,
thank you very much. If they aren't, I wind up with at least one
clanger per page -- and I don't like copy-typing.

Here's a question for all of you out there who write first drafts
by hand; assuming (within the next few years) a pen-input
computer comes along that can recognize cursive writing and
standard copy-editing markups, and that's the size of a notepad
(i.e.  convenient to carry), would you still use paper as the
medium of choice for your first draft?

-- 
Charlie Stross aka charless@scol.sco.com ..... UNIX oriented text mangler
WARNING: The opinions voiced in the preceding electronic document are the
product of a warped mind. Take two before meals. 
Newsgroups: misc.writing
From: mfc1493@tamuts.tamu.edu (Michael Frank Caver)
Subject: Re: Long hand.
Organization: ~/lib/organization
Date: Wed, 7 Oct 1992 07:07:28 GMT

>Not bony or a long hand, but writing in long hand.  Just in case anyone
>mistakens what this posting is about.  I wanted to find out how many of
>you good people in netland write in long hand?  I tried writing everthing
>out first, but found that once I transcribed the story onto the computer
>the story took a different shape and meaning.  Words seemed to change
>as I typed and their meaning differed from what I originally intended.
>
>At the time, I thought that there was something unique about writing
>stories in long hand first.  Now, I'm not so sure that there isn't a
>kind of mystic enchantment that flows through my hand and creates a
>purposeful story.  One that seems to be less flawed.  With a clarity
>and purpose that I found interesting and yet, I can't seem to bring
>the exact writing over to my computer.
>
>Has anyone else experienced this when they attempt to write a story
>in long hand first?
>

I generally write my first draft in long hand. It was psychological at first...
It told my sibconscious that I was writing a first draft...no need to be
perfect..yet...
I do all my rewrites on a typewriter...yes, I said typewriter...I am one of
the seven people left in the country without a computer at home...
The reason I do them on a typewriter, as opposed to longhand, is that now
longhand subconsciously means rough draft! It worked too well...


Ratboy
Xref: sparky misc.writing:3161 rec.arts.sf.misc:3113 alt.cyberpunk:4741 comp.org.eff.talk:6415 alt.zines:143
From: meachem@acsu.buffalo.edu (The Meach)
Newsgroups: misc.writing
Subject: Re: Arthur Rimbaud, where are you?
Date: 13 Oct 92 12:50:07 GMT
Organization: UB

In article <Brennan.J.Murphy.53-121092211134@129.74.199.152> Brennan.J.Murphy.53@nd.edu (BRennan Murphy) writes:
>Has anybody seen Arthur Rimbuad lately?  I need tyo find him mbecause I am
>doing a report of sorts on his sordid self.  If you know where that
>Atheist, Drug-running, coffe salesman is, please tell him to send me some
>instructions on how to interpret his letter to Paul Demeny.  Tell him I
>need to know what his notion of Poetry was.  If he has email, tell him to
>send his address.
>Yer a Pal,
>brennan

In the spirit of doing some of your own research,  you might try contacting
him at _A la Rechereche du Temps Perdu_. . .

--jm
meachem@acsu.buffalo.edu:wq
From: betsyp@apollo.hp.com (Betsy Perry)
Newsgroups: misc.writing
Subject: Re: Usage: To try and find the answer.
Date: 14 Oct 92 20:19:07 GMT
Article-I.D.: apollo.Bw4oFw.L7J
Organization: Hewlett-Packard Corporation, Chelmsford, MA

In article <Bw2ros.GFv@news.iastate.edu> bible@iastate.edu (Anthony E Bible) writes:
>	I recently finished reading Larry McMurtry's _Lonsome Dove_, which I
>enjoyed, but I was distracted by his frequent use of the expression 
>"... to try and <verb> ..." instead of "... to try to <verb> ...".  (I've also 
>frequently seen this form used in less formal writing including post to this 
>group.)  Now, a *lot* of effluent has passed under the bridge since I was a 
>young man studying English grammar, so I can not put a label on this form, but 
>I'm reasonably sure it is incorrect -- or was at one time.  

She bows three times toward Oxford and opens the sacred text:

"The idiom *try and do* something is described as colloquial for *try
to do*. ... [examples deleted]
It is, therefore, colloquial, if that means specially appropriate to
actual speech; but not if *colloquial* means below the proper standard
of literary dignity.  Though *try to do* can always be substituted
for *try and do*, the latter has a shade of meaning that justifies its
existence; in exhortations it implies encouragement -- the effort will
succeed --; in promises it implies assurance -- the effort shall
succeed.  It is an idiom that should not be discountenanced, but used
when it comes natural."

*A Dictionary of Modern English Usage*, H.W. Fowler, second edition
revised by Sir Ernest Gowers, p. 652

Fowler is as rigorous as they come; if he approves, who am I to
forbid?  I often relax Fowler's rules, but don't remember ever
considering them too lax.  (I also find the use of "natural"
interesting in the final sentence.  Cf. Irving Berlin:  "Folks are
dumb where I come from, they ain't had any learnin'; still they get
from A to Z, doin' what comes natur'lly!"  Note also the nice
distinction between "shall" and "will".)                              

McMurtry is trying to reproduce Texas dialect, and
presumably knows which of the two usages would be more natural to his
characters.

> Secondarily, I would be interested in how much control you 
>think an editor has or should have over the wording in a piece of fiction.

Depends on the publishing house and the author.  Of late, the books I
read don't even seem to have been copyedited; I understand that
editing for style is, in these degenerate times, almost extinct.
-- 
Betsy Hanes Perry   (note P in userid)     betsyp@apollo.hp.com
Hewlett-Packard Company
"I'm sorry, I turned off my hearing aid.  Could you repeat the
question, please?"
From: Crawford_Kilian@mindlink.bc.ca (Crawford Kilian)
Newsgroups: misc.writing
Subject: Work in Progress
Date: 13 Oct 92 03:33:56 GMT
Organization: MIND LINK! - British Columbia, Canada
Distribution: world

I've just finished chapter 1 of Redmagic; 3400 words, about right for an
introductory chapter. Though it's taken me the scandalously long time of 12
days to get that much done, I'll need to take a couple of days away from it
to let it cool. Then I'll see what little touches it still needs. But I've
got my heroine, the unaware superwitch Deir, in a hell of a jam while her
home village has unexpectedly fallen under the sway of the Exteca. In chapter
2 we'll get to know some of the Exteca and (if I do it right) we'll wish we
hadn't. We'll also bring in Calindor, my supermage, and get a glimpse of his
problems--which will soon include Deir and the Exteca.

I still have only a very general outline: from Deir's village of Burnbaile
back north to Cantarea, then south again to Tola, the metropolis of the
Exteca, and a literally earth-rending climax when Deir goes up against some
really nasty supernatural powers. The fun part will come in showing that the
Exteca, for all their horridness, are also attractive, likable and maybe onto
something about the human condition.
Newsgroups: misc.writing
From: c8838460@cc.newcastle.edu.au
Subject: re: longhand
Organization: University of Newcastle, AUSTRALIA
Date: Sat, 10 Oct 1992 00:55:36 GMT


        I usually write in longhand. It's where all my ideas go. But that's
usually my first draft. The second time around I type it up (on a typewriter
would you believe, some computer science student I am) I tighten up wandering
sentences (my biggest flaw) realise that I've left stuff out in my speed of
getting it all down (which mean s more longhand and more typing up and
bits of stickytape). I find I'm totally stymied when I sit at a keyboard and
need to write something creative.

Oh, and I can't even think of writing poetry with anything but a paper and
pen. I only type them up for neat presentation but the final form's decided
long ago.

				Leanne Richard
				University of Newcastle
				Australia
From: macgyver@anaconda.cis.ohio-state.edu (MacGyver)
Newsgroups: misc.writing
Subject: Re: Managing notes (was Re: Notes for writing)
Date: 13 Oct 92 21:15:36 GMT
Article-I.D.: cis.1992Oct13.211536.21339
Organization: The Ohio State University Dept. of Computer and Info. Science

>I think that for me (and many of us under thirty :)) a computer is
>_essential_.  There's just no way to cross-reference hundreds of
>scraps of paper, if you, like me, tend to write on anything handy
>(I've tried carrying one notebook rather than several, but that didn't
>work either).  

I know what you mean, that's one of the problems I'm having..

>I used the Macs in my office and my SO's Mac for years -- then bought
>myself a Mac PowerBook 140 as soon as I could get one.  (Actually, I
>prefer to write with emacs, but I'd just as soon not keep stories on a
>shared Unix system, or worry about dialing in, or about the machine
>being down.  No, I don't care for Mac implementations of emacs.)

Hmm... I have a Power 170 myself. But carrying it around to use as a 
notebook sounds too crumablesome...

Thanks for the input...

				Mac
Newsgroups: misc.writing
From: troyer@mitre.org (Tom Royer)
Subject: Re: Carefull, studied splatting
Organization: The MITRE Corporation
Date: Fri, 9 Oct 1992 13:10:13 GMT

In article <16140@mindlink.bc.ca> Alan_Barclay@mindlink.bc.ca (Alan 
Barclay) writes:

> I must clarify that I am not advocating "agonizing over every word."  
Instead
> I'm suggesting (backed by my own experience) that a writer can 
internalized
> some rules for good writing and use those on the fly in order to create 
near
> perfect prose.  I don't suggest that it is possible to throw down final 
draft
> without rewriting, only that it saves time to learn how to hit the mark 
more
> often on the first try.
> 

I agree.  And that internalization comes from practice.
Frequent "splatting" will eventually become internalized rules.
The first drafts will become better.

--
Tom Royer

From: fish@hpscit.sc.hp.com (John Fisher)
Date: Thu, 15 Oct 1992 15:08:47 GMT
Subject: Need some help
Organization: Hewlett-Packard, Santa Clara, CA
Newsgroups: misc.writing


Recently our notes handler went "splat."  We seem to have lost all but
the most recent notes posted to this group.  There were a couple of
notes regarding how to approach becoming a technical writer,
specifically in the contract realm.  Could someone please mail those to
me?  I would appreciate it.  Thank you.


John Fisher at Hewlett-Packard |
in Santa Clara, CA             |  Suicide is the most sincere  
fish@sc.hp.com                 |  form of self-criticism.
Newsgroups: misc.writing
From: coleman@rocky.cs.ucla.edu (Mike Coleman)
Subject: Re: ScriptTex
Organization: UCLA, Computer Science Department
Date: Wed, 7 Oct 92 04:02:49 GMT

fraser@munta.cs.mu.OZ.AU (Fraser Wilson) writes:
|Which directory?  I've had a couple of casual looks, but at the speed
|I'm on a casual look takes a long time.

Lazy.  Without trying to explain VMS, basically what you want to do is connect
and say

	cd tex
	cd inputs
	cd scripttex
	ls
	bin
	mget *

or some such.
-- 
--Mike Coleman (coleman@cs.ucla.edu), Lord High Executioner of Anhedonia-----
  You're loud and you stink.  So don't bother honking; I know you're there.
From: duffy@aslss02.asl.dl.nec.com (Joseph Duffy)
Newsgroups: misc.writing
Subject: Re: Beginning Writing Books
Keywords: writing book
Date: 8 Oct 92 21:17:46 GMT
Organization: NEC America, Inc. Irving, Texas

In article <1992Oct8.211336.11711@asl.dl.nec.com> duffy@aslss02.asl.dl.nec.com (Joseph Duffy) writes:
>Can anyone recommend some good introductory books on writing, style,
>composition, technique, etc. that would be good for a new writer? Can
>one book cover adequately address both fiction and nonfiction writing?
          ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>
>
>Thanks for any suggestions
>
>Joe

Sorry, that should say: Can one book adequately address both fiction and
nonfiction writing.
From: marta@whoville.austin.ibm.com
Newsgroups: misc.writing
Subject: Re: Technical Writing...need advice
Date: 9 Oct 92 16:35:34 GMT
Reply-To: marta@whoville.austin.ibm.com ()
Followup-To: Technical Writing Books
Organization: IBM Austin, TX


A great book for novice technical writers in the computer industry is:
     The Art of Technical Documentation
          by Katherine Haramundanis

Actually, I highly recommend it for anyone who does any type of technical
documentation.  It also includes information on hypertext systems, which
will be the future writing environment for computer documentation.
Definitely get this one.

Another book, that is more general, is:
     Mastering Technical Writing
          by Joseph C. Mancuso

This book is more of a course book in that it includes many practice exercises
for you to do.

Hope this helps.


Marta R. Fortin
Information Design and Development
Advanced Workstations and Systems Division
IBM, Austin Tx
Newsgroups: misc.writing