In a concise, streamlined format, this text draws on the strengths of John Lannon's best-selling Technical Communication, including state–of–the–art information on writing and researching in cyberspace, copyright, ethics, usability, page design, and visual communication.

The book takes a situational approach, emphasizing issues of audience, purpose, and task. In addition, it is the first Technical Communication text to acknowledge that most technical communication today is electronic—whether it be Web sites, CD-ROM help files, or e-mail reports, today's technical communicators work more in the new media than in the old ones. The Concise Guide offers a seamless connection between the new and old worlds of technical communication. Offering a critical look at communication technologies in relation to technical communication, this text is designed for a broad range of undergraduate classes.

Features

• Concise Format. Responding to instructors' requests for a more wieldy text, The Concise Guide is the first text in this format designed to be the primary text in an introductory Technical Communications class. It allows instructors to easily and affordably supplement the text with their own materials, materials from industry, or student examples.
• Based on the market leading Tech Comm text. Lannon's Technical Communication is the undisputed market leader. The Concise Guide builds on that tradition.
• Chapter on copyright in the information age. As more and more communication goes online, reaching a worldwide audience, the copyright issues involved become more and more complex. The Concise Guide offers a complete chapter covering this important topic.
• Emphasis on usability throughout. Technical communicators now realize that usability is the central problem in creating effective documents. By emphasizing the issue throughout the text, as well as in a separate chapter, The Concise Guide highlights this key issue.
• "The Global Window". Each chapter includes a boxed feature that highlights the global nature of technical communication.
• "Click on This". Each chapter includes a boxed feature that offers relevant connections to Internet sources that add additional depth to the materials covered in the chapter.

New to this Edition

• Chapter 2 includes new and updated material on audiences as discourse communities, helping students better understand how document design and style conventions change to meet the needs of different users.
• Chapter 3 includes new sections on qualitative and quantitative usability testing during the writing and design process, as well as new material on context-sensitive documentation.
• Discussion of usability includes more on qualitative testing and usability issues in online and multimedia documents.
• Increased coverage of ethics in technical communication reflects the ongoing significance and relevance of these issues in the professional domain vis a vis Enron and recent incidents in the accounting industry.
• Increased discussion of copyright now includes a comparison to the related issues of plagiarism to help students understand this important and sometimes confusing issue.
• More coverage of layout and document design, with increased discussion of navigation in electronic documents.

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