Tell a Story
Look at the different ways you can make your course interesting and engaging for the readers.
Even though Technical writing is not supposed to entertain the readers, it doesn’t need to be boring and dry. You can still be creative in presenting your ideas and make them fun for the readers. Presenting complex concepts in simple form without letting the reader’s mind drift away is a challenging task but we have got you covered! Let’s look at a few ways that will help you create an engaging course.
Build a narrative
Have you ever enjoyed reading a technical paper? What made it interesting for you? Users will enjoy your course too if you will make it relatable for them. Think of your course as a narrative; people love reading stories! Discuss a single topic in one lesson to create unity and link it with the next lesson to maintain coherency. Having the right information in the wrong place can also lead the reader astray. Sometimes an illustration can explain what a whole paragraph can’t, so break the monotony and add illustrations and decorative images.
Keep the reader engaged
To keep the reader focused and interested in your course, remove any extra information that might distract the reader. Also, keep an eye out for too much or too little information. Engage the reader by giving personal examples to help them connect to what they are reading. Use phrases like:
-
Have you ever found yourself struggling to……
-
Have you ever thought about…
-
What would you do to solve the problem….
-
Having difficulty understanding ……You are not alone! Another way would be to write your personal experiences, for instance:
-
When I started working on….
-
The first time I tried doing….
-
When I started my career….
This conversational style would help readers to absorb the information more easily.
Lighten up your writing
Technical writers use complex and formal language to explain the complex concepts; you can make your course interesting by lightening up your tone wherever possible. To help readers absorb the complex ideas, give interesting examples or use non-technical analogies. Jargon-free examples would help people with less technical knowledge as well.
Bringing boring content to life is all about being creative and breaking the wall of text by adding illustrations, headings, sub-headings, and code widgets. These tips would help you keep your reader engaged!
In the next lesson, we will look at the course review process.