TCOM120
Technical Writing and Editing
As a technical communicator, your ultimate goal is to produce the most effective and usable product. By examining the mechanics of various media (manuals, training materials, online help, and job aids), you will learn how to write and edit technical material.
Through reading, discussions, and homework, you will practise techniques for creating clear, crisp, and functional online and print documentation. Throughout the course, you will complete assignments, contribute to class forum discussions, and work with examples from the software industry.
Prerequisite(s):
If you are working in the technical communication field, there are no prerequisites for this course.
If this field is new to you or you plan to apply to the Certificate in Technical Communication, please begin with Concepts and Practice of Technical Communication.
Related program(s)
This course is available at the following time(s) and location(s):
| Section | Session(s) | Date/time* | Campus | Instructor(s) | Cost** | Registration |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TCOM120-ON11411 | - | Jan 6–Feb 16, 2014 (Register by Jan 2, 2014) |
Online | Inez Gowsell | $440 | Register |
| TCOM120-ON11441 | - | May 5–Jun 8, 2014 (Register by Apr 22, 2014) |
Online | Inez Gowsell | $440 | Register |
* This course involves 15 instructional hours.
** Members of the Editors' Association of Canada or Society for Technical Communication are eligible for a 10 percent discount. Please contact us to confirm your membership and register. You may not combine discounts.
What will I learn?
By the end of the course, you will be able to do the following:
- Describe what technical writers do and what skills they need
- Identify the elements of a documentation set
- Define the four purposes of documentation
- Describe and practice using the tools of the trade, such as style guides and templates
- Write clear, crisp, and functional online and print documents
- Describe and practice the different types of edits, and explain and how communicators use them
- Provide at least five tips for structuring long documents
How will I learn?
- Demonstrations
- Online forum discussions (posting to forums and responding to other students' posts)
- Analysis of case studies
- Exercises and assignments
- Extra reading
- Partner editing project
How will I be evaluated?
Your grade will be based on the following:
- Assignments, including a partner editing project (90%)
- Weekly participation in online discussion forums (10%)
Textbooks and learning materials
All course materials are available online, including a Microsoft Word template, which we will make available for download. The template contains the recommended styles for assignment submissions.
Hardware and software requirements
In this course, you will work and communicate online. We will deliver the course materials and communication tools to you online in a program called WebCT. You will gain access to this program one week before the course begins.
Technical requirements:
- High-speed Internet access
- A web browser that supports tables, frames, Java, and Javascript
(The list of browsers supported by WebCT Vista 8.03 is available online.)
- Adobe Acrobat Reader
- Microsoft Word 2003 or later (You should know how to create and apply styles, tables, tables of contents, and indexes.)
- Java 6 Update 30 or higher
We prefer that you submit all your assignments as Microsoft Word files so that we can use Track Changes for commentary. If you do not have access to Microsoft Word, you may submit your assignments in another format as long as it is compatible with a PC. Unfortunately, we cannot accept files that will open only on a Mac.