Hi Lisa,
Although I cannot cite any research to support it (research which, BTW,
I think does exist, I'm just too lazy/busy to look it up), you should
*always* use active voice whenever possible in technical writing. There
are many good reasons for this, among them that it makes your writing
more assertive; it is usually "cleaner" and less wordy; and it is easier
for most readers to process.
As for your other question, I suppose it depends on the orientation of
your flowchart, but one suggestion would be to have one line leading
away from the trigger action, which then branches (much like a
genealogical tree):
------
| 1 |
------
|
|
------------------------------
| | |
| | |
------- --------- ---------
| 2A | | 2B | | 2C |
------- --------- ---------
(Hope that comes across OK.) This type of construct can be oriented
either horizontally, as here, or vertically.
HTH,
Chuck Beck
Sr. Technical Writer | Infor | Office: 614.523.7302 |
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
On Behalf Of Lisa Gielczyk (TCP)
Sent: Thursday, January 31, 2008 12:33
To: Ed Lightle
Cc: tcp@techcommpros.com
Subject: Re: [TCP] flowcharts
I agree with you, Ed. I sat in on a two-day Kaizen event Tuesday and
yesterday. One of the facilitators was doing a flowchart and projecting
it for all of us to see. In many cases, he was using passive voice, and
that didn't seem right to me. I mentioned it to my manager this morning,
and he agreed with me; however, he doesn't do very much flowcharting, so
I am still hoping to find a definitive answer. In the meantime, I'll be
doing my flowcharts in active voice. :)
Thanks,
Lisa
On Jan 31, 2008 11:24 AM, Ed Lightle <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Lisa,
>
> I haven't done many flowcharts but when I did, I used active voice
> except for decision points. If a step can't be expressed in active
> voice, maybe it can be in the previous step (the one that has to be
> accomplished before this one). Does that make any sense? I thought
> the whole purpose of a flowchart was to show actions/functions and the
> decisions made in between. Maybe I don't know what I'm talking about,
> but at least you have my two-cents worth ;>)
>
> Cheers,
>
> Ed Lightle
> Sr. Technical Writer
> Command Alkon
> 614-799-0600 ext. 5225
> www.commandalkon.com
>
>
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