LibGuides: Technical Writing: Books

About this page

This page provides tips for finding books or eBooks in the RTC Library.

Need help?

If you're not sure what you need, or how to begin, come in to the RTC Library, call us at (425) 235-2331, or email us at librarian@RTC.edu. We'll be glad to help!

Finding Books

Use the box below to search the RTC Library Catalog for books, videos, DVDs, and journal titles.

For electronic books (eBooks) that you can search and download anywhere from the web, go to the RTC Library Online Database page and click on the EBSCO Community College eBook Collection. There you will find over 47,000 books on all topics. (These eBooks - and others - can also be searched for through the Library Catalog - look for the entries that say 'Full text available'.)

RTC Library Books

Here are a sampling of RTC books on technical writing and related subjects:

The Elements of International English Style: a guide to writing correspondence, reports, technical documents, and internet pages for a global audience by Edmond H. Weiss
Call Number: 808.042 WEISS 2005
ISBN: 9780765615718
Publication Date: 2005-02-28
This handbook is for anyone who needs to write English correspondence for an international business audience - it integrates the theory and controversies of intercultural communication with the practical skills of writing and editing English for those who read it as a second language.
Envisioning Information by Edward R. Tufte
Call Number: 302.23 TUFTE 1990
ISBN: 9780961392116
Publication Date: 1990-05-01
Envisioning Information shows maps, charts, scientific presentations, diagrams, computer interfaces, statistical graphics and tables, stereo photographs, guidebooks, courtroom exhibits, timetables, use of color, a pop-up, and many other wonderful displays of information. The book provides practical advice about how to explain complex material by visual means, with extraordinary examples to illustrate the fundamental principles of information displays. Topics include escaping flatland, color and information, micro/macro designs, layering and separation, small multiples, and narratives.
Professional and Technical Writing Strategies: communicating in technology and science by Judith S. VanAlstyne
Call Number: 808.0666 VANALS 2005
ISBN: 9780131915206
Publication Date: 2004-09-07
Comprehensive and easy-to-read, this award-winning reference for those in technical, engineering, and scientific fields emphasizes practical writing. Its presentation and applications offer simple guides that users can easily emulate. It combines instruction, sample papers, exercises and writing projects for manuals, correspondence, research and publication articles, and oral technical communications. The volume addresses general communication strategies, correspondence, preparing resumes, cover letters, and interviews, writing brief reports, producing professional papers, presentation strategies, verbal and visual communications, plus designing and managing web sites.
Routledge Handbook of Public Communication of Science and Technology by Massimiano Bucchi, Brian Trench
ISBN: 9780367483128
Publication Date: 2021
Combining the perspectives of different disciplines and of different geographical and cultural contexts, this original text provides an interdisciplinary as well as a global approach to public communication of science and technology. It is an indispensable guide to the published work in the field, for students, researchers, educators and professionals in science communication, media and journalism studies, sociology, history of science, and science and technology studies. [Click on 'Full text available' to access the text.]
Scientific Style and Format: the CSE manual for authors, editors, and publishers by Council of Council of Science Editors
Call Number: 808.066 SCIENTI 2014f
ISBN: 9780226116495
Publication Date: 2014-05-07
The Scientific Style and Format Eighth Edition Subcommittee worked to ensure the continued integrity of the CSE style and to provide a progressively up-to-date resource for our valued users, which will be adjusted as needed on the website. This new edition will prove to be an authoritative tool used to help keep the language and writings of the scientific community alive and thriving, whether the research is printed on paper or published online.
Technical writing process : the simple, five-step process that can be used to create almost any piece of technical documentation such as a user guide, manual or procedures by Kieran Morgan
Call Number: 808.0666 MORGAN 2015
ISBN: 9780994169310
Publication Date: 2015
Technical Writing Process guides the reader from planning and structuring documentation projects through writing, review, editing, and publication. It's written in an easy-to-follow style ideal for aspiring or beginner technical writers, or for established writers who want to bring more structure to their work. It's also a great resource for project managers and technical documentation managers who want an off-the-shelf content development methodology.
The Visual Display of Quantitative Information by Edward R. Tufte
Call Number: 001.4226 TUFTE 2001
ISBN: 0961392142
Publication Date: 2001-07-09
The classic book on statistical graphics, charts, tables. Theory and practice in the design of data graphics, 250 illustrations of the best (and the worst) statistical graphics, with detailed analysis of how to display data for precise, effective, quick analysis. Design of the high-resolution displays, small multiples. Editing and improving graphics. The data-ink ratio. Time-series, relational graphics, data maps, multivariate designs. Detection of graphical deception: design variation vs. data variation. Sources of deception. Aesthetics and data graphical displays.
Visual Explanations : images and quantities, evidence and narrative by Edward R. Tufte; Bonnie Scranton (Illustrator); Dmitry Krasny (Illustrator); Weilin Wu (Illustrator)
Call Number: 302.23 TUFTE 1997
ISBN: 0961392126
Publication Date: 1997-01-01
Describes design strategies - the proper arrangement in space and time of images, words, and numbers - for presenting information about motion, process, mechanism, cause, and effect. Examines the logic of depicting quantitative evidence.