Technical Writing Sample

In addition to creating technical documentation for Microsoft, Weyerhaeuser, IDG, Coriolus, and IBID Publishing, I am often hired as a freelance technical writer to create documentation that accompanies either a software product, or an electronic item such as a camera.

I love this type of writing, and I'm very good at taking complicated procedures and explaining the process in a way that even an eight-year-old can understand.

Below you'll find a one-page technical writing sample from an MCSE study guide that I wrote for a Windows platform series.

Lesson One:

Basic network knowledge

A network consists of two or more computers connected together by cables with the purpose of sharing tasks and information. The complexities of modern networks have evolved from these fundamental premises. Currently, the use of networks as a business tool is increasing as more organizations discover the case with which they can reliably communicate and share data, messages, graphics, printers, and other hardware resources.

To understand network functions, it is thus in the physical and logical components comprising a network area. This includes how physical components connect as well as the electrical and logical attraction between them. Included are descriptions of network models, to apologies, cabling, and network Hanshin components.

After completing this lesson, you should have a better understanding of the following topics:

Network basics

Network structure

Network components.

Network Basics

The concept of networking emerged from the need of stand-alone computers to share information with other users in a timely manner. Without a network, information must be printed out or copied to CDs so others can copy information to their computers. With a network, sharing data and online communication among users is simplified. To accomplish this a network utilizes a group of physically and logically connected computers, printers, and other devices to enable sharing files, printers, communication, and other resources.

Additional advantages of networks include:

Communication and scheduling efficiencies are maximized.

Applications can be standardized, so all users have the same application and version.

Costs are cut through timely data and peripheral sharing.

Local Area Network (LAN)

A LAN consists of a limited number of computers connected together in a common area within a limited physical distance. For example, a small company or office located on a single floor of a building might use a LAN’s logical environment. Earlier LANs allowed about thirty users to connect on a cable not exceeding 600 feet. Current LAN technologies support many more users and have fewer cable distance restrictions.

A LAN combines hardware and software technologies to allow users to share resources such as data, programs, storage devices, printers, and other peripherals. A LAN also enables users to collaborate and interact by sending messages and data to each other. Collaboration is enabled by groupware applications that run on both the server computer and client workstations.