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| Understanding Technical Writing Style | |
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| The Problem with Defining Style | |
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| A Definition of Style | |
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| Style in Technical Writing | |
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| The Domain of Technical Writing Style | |
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| Why Technical Writing Is Often Ineffective | |
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| Technical Writing as a Craft | |
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| Case Study 1 — Three Mile Island and Ineffective Communication | |
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| Reflecting the Style of a Discourse Community | |
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| What Is a Discourse Community? How Does a Discourse Community Affect Style? Questions to Consider Before Writing to a Discourse Community | |
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| Case Study 2 — The Space ShuttleChallengerand Different Discourse Communities | |
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| How Does Style Relate to Subject, Purpose, Scope, Audience, and Other Elements of Writing?3 | |
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| Choosing an Appropriate Style | |
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| On Style and Grammar | |
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| Prescriptive and Descriptive Approaches to Style | |
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| Good and Bad Writing | |
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| Good and Bad Style | |
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| Appropriate and Inappropriate Style | |
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| Kinds of Styles | |
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| Persuading through Style | |
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| Technical Prose as Persuasion | |
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| The Rhetoric of Science | |
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| Some Practical Consequences of the New Rhetoric of Science | |
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| Persuasive Strategies and Stylistic Choices | |
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| Case Study 3 — TheExxon Valdezand Persuasion | |
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| Choosing Appropriate Words — Diction | |
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| On Diction | |
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| Levels of Diction | |
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| Denotation and Connotation | |
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| Challenges Presented by Specialized Diction | |
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| Major Diction Strategies in Technical Prose | |
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| Common Diction Faults | |
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| Technical Prose and a Literary Style | |
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| On Euphemisms and Dysphemisms | |
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| Case Study 4 — The Ruby Ridge Incident and Diction | |
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| Handling Technical Terms and Jargon | |
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| Using Technical Language | |
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| Words, Terms, and Terminology | |
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| Technical Terms as Jargon | |
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| The Challenges of Using Technical Terms | |
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| The Challenges of Using Jargon | |
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| Other Specialized Languages | |
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| Abbreviations, Acronyms, Initialisms | |
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| Tips for a Using Clear Technical Language | |
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| Case Study 5 — Apollo 13 and Jargon | |
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| Creating Sentences with Style | |
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| Sentences in Technical Prose | |
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| A Brief Review of Sentence Basics | |
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| Sentence Combining Techniques | |
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| Emphasis | |
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| Rhythm | |
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| Sentence Variety | |
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| Sentence Elegance in Technical Prose | |
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| Sentence Faults | |
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| Structuring Style in Paragraphs and Other Segments | |
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| Writing Technical Paragraphs | |
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| Writing on One Topic | |
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| Developing the Paragraph Topic | |
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| Achieving an Effective Flow | |
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| Providing Adequate Details | |
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| Larger Sections in Technical Prose | |
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| Common Paragraph Faults | |
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| Establishing an Appropriate Tone | |
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| Tone in Technical Prose | |
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| The Key Elements of Tone | |
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| Strategies for Developing an Appropriate Tone | |
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| Humor in Technical Writing | |
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| Case Study 6 — Computer Viruses and Tone | |
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| Considering Style and Bias | |
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| Bias in Technical Prose | |
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| Kinds of Bias | |
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| Political Correctness | |
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| Case Study 7 — Gender-Neutral Language | |
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| Determining the Ethics of Style | |
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| What is Ethics? Ethics and Technical Prose | |
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| Ethics and the Professions | |
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| Criteria for Judging Ethical Actions | |
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| Unethical Language | |
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| The Ethics of Style | |
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| Case Study 8 — Deception and theExxon Valdez | |
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| Editing for Style | |
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| Misconceptions about Editing | |
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| Approaches to Editing | |
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| The Challenges of Editing for Style | |
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| Strategies to Help You Edit for Style | |
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| Copyediting for Style | |
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| Glossary | |
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| Bibliography | |
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| Index | |