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11 Essentials Every Grant Writer Needs to Know


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By Phil Johncock

You know more than you think as a first-time grant writer. This article shows you 10 things you need to know including how to do what you do best and delegate the rest, as well as how to increase your success rate.

You’re not starting from scratch.  You already have skills that you can tap, like writing, delegating, networking. Brainstorm the skills have. Do what you do best. Delegate the rest. Then, leverage these in your grant writing.

Your first grant will take the longest. My first grant took 100 hours to write.  I wanted to do the best job I could, so I put in more time that I really needed. The first time is always the hardest and the longest. Very quickly, you’ll learn tips to save time and short cuts to getting things done faster.

If you submit a proposal without help, you’ll be successful 10-20% of the time.  You may get lucky your first time. I was lucky. Most aren’t. If you’re going to put the time and effort into writing a proposal, find a mentor or teacher to help you. Continued…

Posted in Grant Writing. Tagged with .

How to Write a Great Technical Communications Resume


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(This is one of the better articles I’ve seen devoted to this topic. Here is an excerpt:)

The Ideal Technical Communications Resume

Wondering how to improve your chances of getting that ideal next (or first) job as a technical communicator? This article explains some of our views on one of the most important elements of your job search.

Resumes. Few enjoy writing them, and fewer like being quizzed about their contents. But with busy hiring managers making quick decisions with very few facts and little room for error, a resume is often the only chance candidates get to demonstrate their potential.

Your resume is your most important portfolio piece because it’s the first writing sample any hiring manager will see. We’ve compiled the following suggestions to help you get noticed by Bay Area high-tech company hiring managers. They work, and you will too once you implement them. Continued…

Posted in Resumes. Tagged with .

Medical Writing Jobs, March 10, 2010


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Medical Writing in Bethesda, MD

Senior Scientific Medical Writer in Montville, NJ

Medical Writer in Innsbruck, AUSTRIA

Medical Writer in Abbott Park, IL

Medical Editor/ Medical Writer – Manchester, UK

Senior Medical Writer (north beach / telegraph hill) in SanFrancisco, CA

Senior Medical Writer in Oxford, UK

Posted in Jobs. Tagged with .

Technical Writing Jobs, March 10, 2010

Aquent Technical Writer Redmond WA

Technical Writer Huntsville AL

TECHNICAL WRITER Job in Waukegan, IL

Technical Writer II- 152381 job in Ladson, SC

Technical Writer / Process Analyst – BPM, Six Sigma Job in Brisbane, AUSTRALIA

Technical Writer -Scientific job in Canberra, AUSTRALIA

Enterprise Technical Writer – Mountain View, CA at Google

Renewable Energy Technical Writer Job in Washington, DC

Technical Writer – CHISINAU

Technical Writer – Berlin, CT

Technical Publications Manager in Provo, UT

Documentation Writer (SOMA / south beach) | Telecommuting Is OK, San Francisco, CA

Technical Writer – Intellidyne – Washington, DC

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How to Enter the Medical Writing Field

(Excerpt)

by David Keleti, PhD

About 50 percent of the individuals who contact me concerning entering the field of medical writing are career professionals in their chosen specialty, and are considering a lateral transition into a new job. These individuals fall into one of three categories:

1)    those with an MD degree who are looking to either escape from or receive supplementary income to their private practice;
2)    those with a PhD degree who are looking to escape from laboratory work;
3)    more rarely, those with an engineering or IT background who are interested in the life sciences.

I would not advocate making a career transition into medical writing for the sole purpose of escaping from laboratory or clinical work. Dissatisfaction with current jobs should encourage individuals to pursue other interests. Like any career, medical writing comes with its own complement of frustrations and disappointments. Before considering a career in medical writing, an individual should undertake a candid self-appraisal…

Click here for the rest of this informative career article

Resource Ebook:

Make Money as a Medical Writer

Posted in Medical Writing. Tagged with .

How to Write and Present Instructional Materials

By Kathy Duncan

When putting a workshop or course together for a group of people, you might take great pride in the way that you have bound the booklets, and carefully organized the material. It is possible that only half of the group will really appreciate your work. The other half might lose the booklet in their car as soon as the workshop is over.

Generally, people not only favor a particular learning style, but they think with a dominant brain side. The left brain student is likely to appreciate the checklist that you have included with the course syllabus, and is likely to use it, while the right brain student would probably respond better to color coding.

Before designing an educational program, it is a good idea to explore these very different types of thinkers and organizers so that you can attract and maintain the interest of each. If you are the type of person that is motivated to organize this type of learning program, you are likely to be a left brain thinker. In order to be completely effective, you will need to learn different techniques to attract the right brain dreamer. Of all things, do not have your feelings hurt if someone doesn’t fawn over your meticulous presentation. Maybe they just don’t get it. Left brain thinkers are much more obsessive than right brainers. Continued…

Posted in Technical Writing. Tagged with .

Medical Writing Jobs, March 9, 2010

Medical Writer, Cambridgeshire, UK

Medical Writer I at Kendle International in Toronto, CANADA

Medical Writer Jobs in Indianapolis, Indiana

Medical Writer Jobs in Innsbruck, AUSTRIA

Medical Technical Writing Jobs in North Haven, NY

Medical Writer Manager/Medical Writing Team Leader, London, UK

Senior Medical Writer – Medical Communications – Oxford, UK

Cactus Communications Pvt Ltd – Medical Writer job, job in Mumbai, INDIA

Posted in Jobs. Tagged with .

Technical Writing Jobs, March 9, 2010

Bankserv – Technical Writer job in SOUTH AFRICA

Technical Writer job in Washington, D.C.

Jr. Technical Writer – Calgary, AB, CANADA

Technical Writer – Healthcare – Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA

Technical Writer in Piscataway, NJ at Tekmark Global Solutions, LLC

Technical Writer job in Chennai, INDIA

Technical Writer/API Writer – C++ Job in Montreal, Quebec, CANADA

Technical Writer/Instructor job with Raytheon in San Diego, CA

Senior Technical Writer Job in Calgary, Alberta, CANADA

Technical Writer for Telecommunications Industry, in Irving, TX

Technical Writer required for InfoTech – Lahore, PAKISTAN

Technical Writer in Karachi, PAKISTAN

Technical Writer jobs in Noida, INDIA

Technical Writer II / Indianapolis, IN & Colorado Springs, CO

Job for Content Writer in Karachi, PAKISTAN

Technical Writer – Avaya Government Solutions – Washington, DC

Technical Writer in Baltimore, MD

Posted in Jobs. Tagged with .

Technical Writing Certificate Program at UCSC Extension in Silicon Valley

UCSC Extension in Silicon Valley provides the training and education needed for technical writers to succeed. Their certificate program offers state-of-the-art tools, resources, and the knowledge you need to grow a successful career and maintain certification.

Upcoming Course:

Developing Technical Information from Plan to Completion
1947-021       Starts March 22

For more information, contact:

Lena Tran, Ed.D., MBA
Director, Business & Management Education
UCSC Extension in Silicon Valley
2505 Augustine Drive, Suite 100
Santa Clara, CA 95054
www.ucsc-extension.edu

Posted in Education. Tagged with .

How to Transform Long Paragraphs into Easy-to-Understand Tables

© 2010 Ugur Akinci

There are those cases when the best way to make a long and complicated paragraph understandable is to transform it into a table.

Here is an example.

First the paragraph:

“In those cases when there is low load on the circuit (that is, less than 10 watts), the user should turn on switches S1 and S2 while turning off switches S2, S3. When the load is medium (between 10 and 30 watts), the user must turn the switches S2 and S3 on while turning off S4 and S5. However, in those cases where the system experiences a high load (that is, over 30 watts), the operator must turn on switches S4 and S5 and turn off switches S1 and S2.”

And now, here is the same information presented in a table:

CIRCUIT LOAD Power Switches
Turn On Turn Off
Low Load (< 10 watts) S1, S2 S2, S3
Medium Load (Between 10 and 30 watts) S2, S3 S4, S5
High Load (> 30 watts) S4, S5 S1, S2



Which one is easier to understand? I think the answer is obvious to see.

Posted in Technical Writing. Tagged with .

Medical Writing Jobs, March 8, 2010

Senior Medical Writing in Mumbai, INDIA

Medical Writer Job in Manchester (Lancashire, North West, UK

Senior Medical Writer | Human Genome Sciences | Rockville, MD

Medical Writer I in Madison, NJ at Covance, Inc.

Medical Writer job in Horsham – Comrise Technology

Sr. Medical Writer – Nektar – San Carlos, CA

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Technical Writing Jobs, March 8, 2010

Technical Writer in Philippines

Technical Writer QUALCOMM jobs in San Diego, CA

Sr. Technical Writer at Informatica in Redwood City, CA

Junior Technical Writer in Foster City, CA

Sr. Technical Writer in Fort George G Meade, MD

Aviation Technical Writer by Aerotek Aviation, LLC in Mason, OH

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The Wonders of English…

by Anonymous

We’ll begin with a box, and the plural is boxes,
But the plural of ox becomes oxen, not oxes.
One fowl is a goose, but two are called geese,
Yet the plural of moose should never be meese..
You may find a lone mouse or a nest full of mice,
Yet the plural of house is houses, not hice.
If the plural of man is always called men,
Then shouldn’t the plural of pan be called pen?
If I speak of my foot and show you my feet,
And I give you a boot, would a pair be called beet?
If one is a tooth and a whole set are teeth,
Why shouldn’t the plural of booth be called beeth?
Then one may be that, and three would be those,
Yet hat in the plural would never be hose,
And the plural of cat is cats, not cose. Continued…

Posted in English. Tagged with .

Technical Writing Jobs, March 7, 2010

Technical Writer Jobs in Panama City, Florida

Top Secret Documentation Manager & Technical Writer – Lexington, MA

Senior Technical Writer Job Posting in Calgary, ON, CANADA

Proposal Writer/Technical Writer job in Sterling, VA

Technical Writer Freshers /Cognizant Technology in Hyderabad, INDIA

Job for Content Writer at ITSec, Karachi, PAKISTAN

Technical Writer – Landmark – Oak Brook, IL

Resource Book:

Handbook of Technical Writing, Ninth Edition

Earn $115,000 a Year as a Freelance Technical Writer

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Medical Writing Jobs, March 7, 2010

Medical Writer Job in Manchester, UK

Medical Writing Job in City of London, UK

Sr. Medical Writer in Cambridge, MASS

Senior Medical Writer job in London, UK

Medical Writer job in Oxford, MASS

Resource Book:

THE ACCIDENTAL MEDICAL WRITER: How We Became Successful Freelance Medical Writers. How You Can, Too.

Making Money as a Medical Writer

Posted in Jobs. Tagged with .