Technical Writing 3: First Page

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  • Take your outline and copy it to a new page. This will be the page your expanded report goes.

  • Select one of the major sections to expand out. Shoot for more than 300 words in the expanded section.

  • Make sure to include at least one of: figure, citation, sample code. More if you can. Figure out the tech stuff before getting too far into the paper.

  • Use at least one sub-heading for your section. For your headings, use something more that “Chapter 1”. What is the purpose of this section? People skim web pages and papers. The first thing they read will be headings. Let them know what is in that section. For example:

    Selecting Basket-Weaving Supplies
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  • Paragraphs. Please, please, use paragraphs. No one wants to read a wall of text, particularly on the web. For this amount of text, you probably need it broken into 4-5 paragraphs.

  • Remember, paragraphs have a purpose statement, an explanation, and supporting evidence/examples. If you’ve got a good structure in your outline this should come easy.