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Expert Profile: Daniel Humphrey

Expertise:  I see this as a teaching forum and will field questions about structuring and writing engineering and other technical reports. If you are writing legal code and using constitutional rhetoric, such as municipal code and charters, I will try to help you with that as well. Due to the intensive nature of writing, my answers will be limited to overall structure, grammar, and style. If you are a teacher of technical writing, I'll be glad to share my approaches for designing a writing curriculum.

Experience in the area
I led the technical writing program at the University of Arkansas for several years. I have also worked as a design editor for university presses and private presses, specializing in structuring the manuscript and developing it into the final book form. Of my own books and teaching materials, several have been on technical subjects. My experience with legal code is from writing two municipal charters and doing codification for municipalities.

Education/Credentials
B.A., M.F.A.

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What do you still hope to achieve/learn in this field?  I like being involved in book projects and would like to write another one soon.
Something interesting about this subject that others may not know:  The forms we use in technical writing are based on forms of exposition used by the early Rationalist philosophers and discoverers who believed there was a Divine Order to the world that we just needed to discover.
Something controversial or provocative about this subject  People tend to think technical writing needs to use something other than plain English, probably because so much of what we read in our jobs is loaded with jargon. We use unnatural language in our work because it is so common, but also because we think we sound more athoritative. Learning to be a good technical writer is largely learning to express yourself on the page naturally.
What do you like about this subject?  Technical writing is really teaching, without constantly reminding the reader he or she is being instructed. I love reading technical works that bring me naturally to a better comprehension of the subject.
Average Ratings
Prestige Points: 150
Knowledge   10.0   Best of the best
Clarity of Response   10.0   Best of the best
Timeliness   10.0   Best of the best
Politeness   10.0   Best of the best
Number Of Questions
(in Past 24 Hours)
0
Max Questions to be Asked
(in 24 Hour period)
5
Total Questions
(since joining AllExperts)
17
Recent Reviews from Users
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1010101004/01/08
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1010101002/12/08
User Comments
Thanks! Cynthia
(Cynthia on 03/15/08)
Thank you! Not bad the advice you provided. Angela.
(Angela on 02/12/08)
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Recent Answers from Daniel Humphrey
2008-10-22  habits of consumers Overall content: You need some supporting evidence for your assumptions and generalizations. Not much is needed, but perhaps you can cite some research or other experience to support your generalizations...
More Answers for "Business & Technical Writing"


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