Re: [SAGE] Looking for Security / Systems Writing Resources

[Nathan Dietsch <njd@ndietsch.com>]

Hi Sean,

Bob Apthorpe wrote:

> Hi,
>
> Robert Haskins wrote:
>
>> Sean J. Schluntz wrote:
>>
>>> One thing I've noticed is there are lots of places I can go to get 
>>> training on almost all areas of computer and network administration 
>>> and security.  One of the exceptions is good training on writing for 
>>> this field.
>>> [...]
>>>
>>> Any resources you all know of (web based, seminars or standard 
>>> college courses would be good).  I'm located in the SF Bay area but 
>>> any suggestions would be helpful to the others on the list.
>>
>>
>> I would suggest taking a college (junior/senior) level class in 
>> technical writing, usually offered by the English department. 
>> Technical writing was one of the most useful classes I took while in 
>> college. While I don't use my CS/EE knowledge on a routine basis as a 
>> SA, I use what I learned in technical writing on a daily basis (and 
>> I'm *not* talking about my article/book writing here, either). BTW 
>> the term "writing" is a bit of a misnomer; the class I took also 
>> included (minimal) coverage of oral presentations, if I recall 
>> correctly.
>
>
> Get two copies of "Revising Prose" by Richard Lanham (ISBN: 0205309453.)
> Read one and keep it, give the other to someone who will benefit from it.
>
While on the topic of recommendations, I would highly suggest reading 
the following;

Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Guide to Punctuation by Lynne 
Truss [0]

This book was the funniest thing that I read all year and it makes me 
look at apostrophes in a whole new light.

As for Robert's recommendation to take a college class in the subject, I 
would completely agree with that. I just finished my Masters and my 
writing has improved 100% because of it.

Regards,

Nathan

[0] 
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1592400876/qid=1101963972/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl14/002-7098556-0852830?v=glance&s=books&n=507846