Those with strong writing skills and an aptitude for computers are encouraged to enter this program. Taught by practicing professionals from the high tech industry, students learn to use the most current technologies and processes. Students enrolled in this certificate program are eligible for special internship opportunities and can apply for scholarships sponsored by the Society for Technical Communication.

Required Courses: (4)
42.408 Principles of Technical Writing
42.412 Software Writing
42.413 Advanced Software Writing
90.306 Introduction to XML

Electives - Choose 2:*
42.221 Writing for Interactive Media
90.227 Developing Interactive Help Systems: Macromedia® RoboHelp®
90.228 Introduction to Adobe® FrameMaker
90.291 Intro to DHTML


*Note: This is a partial list of elective courses. For a complete list of courses that may be applied as electives to this program, check our online course listings for computer courses with a 90.xxx prefix. For assistance with your course selection, please contact the Faculty and Student Support Center at (978) 934-2474.

Course Descriptions

42.221 Writing for Interactive Media
Adds new dimensions to traditional, text-based writing. Hypertext links allow for multiple story lines, while integrating audio, animation, and video presents new challenges for the writer. Participants will examine successful multimedia scripts and work on their own creations.
Prerequisite:
Credits: 3

42.408 Principles of Technical Writing (Formerly 42.401)
Provides the fundamental concepts and principles of technical writing, including technical description, audience analysis, editing, document specifications and outlines, graphics, definitions, and revising documents. Writing assignments include preparing a document specification, editing, and creating graphics.
Prerequisite: 42.102
Credits: 3

42.412 Software Writing
Focuses on the document preparation process from start to finish, focusing on each stage in the process. Includes document design, document organization, using examples and illustrations, style, creating an index and the review process.
Prerequisite: 42.408
Credits: 3

42.413 Advanced Software Writing (Formerly 42.403)
Introduces a range of advanced topics in software writing. Topics may include electronic publishing, hypertext, advanced graphics, document set components, and working in project teams. In this course, the student selects some aspect of the computer industry that interests him/her and documents it.
Prerequisite: 42.412
Credits: 3

90.227 Developing Interactive Help Systems: RoboHelp®
This course is designed for technical writers, project managers, web developers and designers or anyone interested in creating, developing, and managing Help systems. Students will learn to use RoboHelp to create professional Help systems and documentation for desktop and web-based applications, including CD-ROMs, .NET and Rich Internet Applications. Students will learn to create Table of Contents, Index, Glossary, context-sensitive Help, and how to generate Help systems in any popular online Help format, plus press-ready printed documentation. Students will also explore the use of RoboDemo as a potential add-in to make help systems more interactive by incorporating Flash movies and video. Prerequisite: Familiarity with technical writing and/or web/multimedia development. 3 credits.
Prerequisite: Familiarity with technical writing and/or web/multimedia development
Credits: 3

90.228 Introduction to Adobe® FrameMaker
This introductory course teaches the fundamentals of Adobe FrameMaker, the tool of choice for technical documentation professionals. Using a hands-on approach, the student will learn how to validate an EDD, understand the concepts of DTD, SGML, and XML, work with formats in a structured template, validate XML and SGML documents, work with markup languages, import and export documents to other formats, and more.
Prerequisite:
Credits: 3

90.291 Introduction to DHTML
Starts with the basics of Dynamic Hypertext Markup Language using the tool that most professional Web developers use - HTML-Kit. The course covers the W3C standards for HTML 3.2 and 4.0, Web protocols, Web server basics, Web design theory, and provides a survey of JavaScript, Cascading Style Sheets, XML, Perl, and Dynamic HTML.
Prerequisite:
Credits: 3

90.306 Introduction to XML
XML (eXtensible Markup Language) picks up where HTML leaves off. If you've studied HTML, you've learned the Web's formatting language. To structure content on the Web, you will need to learn XML. In this introductory course, you will learn basics of XML and the DTD (Document Type Definition), XSL (the style sheet for XML), and CDF (Channel Definition Format) commonly used in push technology.
Prerequisite: 90.291; students should have a mastery of DHTML and be familiar with database concepts
Credits: 3

Certificate Requirements