Technical Writing Must be CORRECT

© 2010 Ugur Akinci
Technical writing needs to be correct, before anything else. This is the MOST IMPORTANT sine qua non condition of all technical writing.
If a technical document is incorrect, it’s value is zero, nil, zilch. The rest doesn’t matter.
Incorrect technical writing creates confusion, misinformation, and even dangerous mistakes and disasters.
Technique 1: Double check your facts. At least Google them and search Wikipedia. Better yet, check it with at least two SMEs (Subject Matter Experts).
For example:
BAD technical writing: “Water boils at 99° C.” (Incorrect)
GOOD technical writing: “Water boils at 100° C.” (Correct)
——————————-
BAD: “The electromotive force (EMF) produced around a closed path is proportional to the rate of change of the surface resistance through any surface bounded by that path.” (Incorrect)
GOOD: “The electromotive force (EMF) produced around a closed path is proportional to the rate of change of the magnetic flux through any surface bounded by that path.” (Correct)

Technique 2: Make sure your verb agrees with the case of your subject.
For example:
BAD: “The options of the Power Management Setup menu works with both circuit boards.” (Incorrect)
GOOD: “The options of the Power Management Setup menu work with both circuit boards.” (Correct)
——————————-
BAD: “The jumpers on the CMOS relay allows the user to clear the system memory.” (Incorrect)

GOOD: “The jumpers on the CMOS relay allow the user to clear the system memory.” (Correct)
——————————-
A REAL example from New York Times, June 15, 2010:
“BP’s plan says it can handled a spill of 250,000 barrels a day…”

Can you correct this one?