Category: Style

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Of Interest: Style Guides: Love ‘Em, Hate ‘Em, Gotta Have ‘Em! (Workshop Pt. 2)

On 20 June 2023, at 12 PM ET (click here for your local time), join the TESIG’s own style guide “agony aunt”, Marcia Shannon, as she presents part 2 of her workshop on how to deal with all sorts of style-guide-related issues.
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/style-guides-love-em-hate-em-gotta-have-em-workshop-pt-2-tickets-595873251937?aff=oddtdtcreator

If you missed part 1, no worries! You can get tickets for it here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/style-guides-love-em-hate-em-gotta-have-em-pt-1-recording-tickets-569029962937

This is a joint event between the TESIG and the STC Carolina chapter. It is open to both STC members and non-members. It is free for TESIG/STC Carolina members, and available at a small charge for non-members. It will be recorded, and the recordings, slides, and handouts will be available for a year afterwards.

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This Worked for Me: How to Create an Internal Style Guide that Users Will Follow

by Chelsea Fulton

Part 1: Welcome! Now, please memorize all of this.

I started my technical communications career in 2011. I was hired to document a new Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system for the contact center of a Fortune 50 company, and my new team had an existing style guide. For a long time, our style guide was a one-page HTML document that outlined frequently used documentation processes and even included sections of code that users could easily copy/paste directly into drafted content. This style guide version worked well for a team of 4–5 people. However, the CRM system transition project and adding several new technical writers meant we needed more extensive documentation guidelines.

Continue reading “This Worked for Me: How to Create an Internal Style Guide that Users Will Follow”
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Newbies’ Corner: Monthly TESIG Student Chats

One of the goals of the TESIG is to help technical editing students get more involved in the field. We want to hear some new, fresh voices, especially from those who are studying the subject or just starting out.  It’s important to us to discuss the needs, dreams, and issues of the next generation of technical editing practitioners.

With this goal in mind, we are excited to announce the TESIG Monthly Student Chat series!

These 30-minute virtual chats will be held over Zoom on the last Wednesday of each month, and are a forum for current TESIG student members to discuss editing challenges, as well as share helpful resources, editing tactics and tips, and career advice about finding internships/jobs.

For details, please contact student_outreach@stc-techedit.org.

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Of Interest: Style Guides: Love ‘Em, Hate ‘Em, Gotta Have ‘Em! (Workshop Pt. 1)

You know about public style guides and in-house style guides, but is there other information that might be useful to have in your job-specific style guide?

On 1 March 2023 from 12-1:30 PM ET (click here for your local time zone), join Marcia Shannon in a two-part Zoom workshop that will build on the basics,  show you how to use your style guide as Doc Central. Keeping track of the other requirements of your technical writing and editing assignments can increase your efficiency.

Tickets are available at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/style-guides-love-em-hate-em-gotta-have-em-workshop-pt-1-tickets-531650108787.

This is a joint event between the TESIG and the STC Carolina chapter. It is open to both STC members and non-members. It is free for TESIG/STC Carolina members, and available at a small charge for non-members. It will be recorded, and the recordings, slides, and handouts are available for a year afterwards.

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Conversation Starter: What Are Your Thoughts About “Male” and “Female” Connecter Ends?

Editor’s Note: As part of our Conversation Starter feature, we present what we hope will be an ongoing discussion about the evolution of the English language, especially the use of gendered descriptive adjectives. For a related topic, see Conversation Starter: How Do You Feel About the Singular “They”?

Want to join the conversation? Email your thoughts to editor@stc-techedit.org, or write them in the Comments section at the end of this article. We’ll publish them in future issues.

Professor Jo Mackiewicz of Iowa State University is studying how editors make editorial decisions about issues related to gender, and has put together a short survey about the about the use of “male” and “female” to describe connector ends (for example, the end of a cable or a pipe fitting). The survey should take just 5 to 10 minutes, depending on the detail you provide in your responses

The findings of this study can help editors better understand how other editors make editorial decisions related to gendered descriptive adjectives.

To participate in this study, go to: https://iastate.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_4TpOSYCPEARiJMy

If you have any questions, please contact Prof. Mackiewicz (jomack@iastate.edu).