Scenario: A technical writer at an aerospace manufacturer is working on documentation for a new airplane part. The manufacturer, like many others in the industry, limits the use of technical words in their publications to those found in the United States Air Force Dictionary. By doing so, they ensure the documentation will be easily read and understood by anyone who can read at an eighth-grade English level. Although the tech writer has an old dog-eared copy of the Dictionary kicking around in some pile, the hard copy is no longer required! Knovel can provide online access quickly and easily.
- Locating specific titles on Knovel is easy. Users may either browse by clicking on Subject Area links, or use "search." For this tutorial, we use "search" to quickly locate and use this title. In the "search" box on the Knovel Library home page, enter the phrase air force dictionary. In the "Search in" drop-down box, select Title. The query entered means, "find any title with the words air and force and dictionary in it." Click the "Search" button.
- The search results page shows one title that matches the "search" query. The title (United States Air Force Dictionary) is this issue's Featured Title. Click on the name.
- The Table of Contents appears. The tech writer can navigate by clicking on a given Text link to begin viewing terms that start with those letters. When clicking a Text link, a new window appears launching the Adobe Reader displaying the selected section.
- In addition to navigating by section, the tech writer can also search the entire title for a given term or phrase. For example, the tech writer wants to know if the term "Frise aileron" appears in the Dictionary. Instead of clicking on "F" and scrolling, enter the term Frise aileron in the "search" box at the top of the page. Select the radio button This Title Only to limit the search to this title, and then click the Search button.
- Two sections that contain the phrase "Frise aileron" are listed. Click the second one titled "Flight Nurse to FZG-76." A new window opens launching the Adobe Reader and displaying the terms found (in highlights). The tech writer now knows that the term "Frise aileron" is acceptable to use in documentation.
