[Sigia-l] Re: RESPONSE The IA of writing (question)

[John Fullerton]

Thanks for the book recommendations. I searched groups.google.com and
amazon.com for additional titles and browsed select titles available at
my library.

My recent thoughts about the IA of writing was partly prompted by
co-authoring a journal article about providing online access to a
database using Active Server Scripts. I was surprised at the number of
questions I had. Partly what I wanted to know was how to choose and
explain the necessary concepts.

The following titles seemed good to me, though not addressing my
question as directly as I hoped. The numbers after title and author are
the amazon.com star rating and number of reader reviews.

Words Fail Me: What Everyone Who Writes Should Know About Writing by
Patricia T. O'Conner (5 stars/21 reviews)

(quote) Draw up a list, which you may find less intimidating than a
formal outline. We make lists all the time: lists of groceries, errands,
correspondence, calls to answer. This is simply a list of the ideas you
hope to get across or the points you want to include. Arrange the ideas
in a logical order, one idea leading to the next. (1999, p. 23)

Writing with Style: Conversations on the Art of Writing (2nd Edition)
by John R. Trimble (5/11)

(quote) As I see it, writing is applied psychology because it is the
art of creating desired effects. It follows from this that our chief
need is to know what effects are desirable and how to create them. Thus
this book: a blend of commonsense theory and practical suggestions. (1st
edition, p. x)

On Writing Well by William Zinsser (4.5/51)

(quote) For ultimately the product that any writer has to sell is not
his subject, but who he is. I often find myself reading with interest
about a topic that I never thought would interest me--some unusual
scientific quest, for instance. What holds me is the enthusiasm of the
writer for his field. How was he drawn into it? What emotional baggage
did he bring along? How did it change his life? It is not necessary to
want to spend a year alone at Walden Pond to become deeply involved with
a man who did. (1980, p. 5)

Dynamics in Document Design: Creating Text for Readers by Karen A.
Schriver (4.5/10)

(comment from me) Though thoughtful and useful the book does not seem
to focus on construction of a document, or in other words how to know
what to say.

Developing Online Content: The Principles of Writing and Editing for
the Web by Irene Hammerich, Claire Harrison (5/5)
http://www.wiley.com/cda/product/0,,0471146110%7Cdesc%7C2955,00.html

Style: Ten Lessons in Clarity and Grace by Joseph Williams (4.5/18) +
(5/14) for the related title Style: Toward Clarity and Grace

(quote) Your readers have a problem with sentences that begin with
long, complex subjects expressing information that seems to them new.
You can sometimes use a passive verb to shift that long and complex
bundle of information to the end of its sentence, especially when it
also lets you move to its beginning a chunk of information that is
shorter and more familiar. In fact, that's the main reason we have the
passive in the language. (2000, p. 81)

Revising Prose by Richard Lanham (4/4)

(quote) But the book has an even larger efficiency in view--stylistic
self-consciousness. This verbal self-awareness, however generated, is
like riding a bicycle: once learned, never forgotten. (2000, p. viii)

Writing for the Web workbook by Thom Haller 
http://www.infodn.com/tea_wwwkbk.shtml 
http://www.structuringinformation.com/preview.htm 

Mapping Hypertext: The Analysis, Organization, and Display of Knowledge
for the Next Generation of On-Line Text and Graphics by Robert E. Horn
http://www.eastgate.com/catalog/MappingHypertext.html 

Have a nice day
John Paul Fullerton
j-fullerton at tamu.edu