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Topic : Should I use contractions in a technical tutorial? In a technical tutorial which fits better: In this tutorial you'll learn or In this tutorial you will learn or in general does it - selfpublishingguru.com

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In a technical tutorial which fits better:

In this tutorial you'll learn

or

In this tutorial you will learn

or in general does it make no difference?


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If you want to seem a professional, don't use personal style and short forms. In this case I propose use sentence like this:

Tutorial "title of this tutorial" shows how to doing sth...<

Tutorial "title of this tutorial" introduces the reader to the...<

Tutorial "title of this tutorial" is an introduction to the topic...<

Tutorial "title of this tutorial" presents information about...<

Google helps you to find good examples, such as listed below:

docs.python.org/2/tutorial/

This tutorial introduces the reader informally to the basic concepts and features of the Python language and system.
developers.google.com/apps-script/articles

These tutorials are designed to help you start using Google Apps Scripts more quickly.
www.atlassian.com/git/tutorials/using-branches

This tutorial is a comprehensive introduction to Git branches.


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It depends on how formal the context is. If you're writing a short blog post about getting started with a new game, "you'll" probably won't be out of place. If you're writing a tutorial as part of the documentation set for expensive enterprise software, it's more common in my experience to avoid contractions.

If your company or publisher has a style guide, follow it. If they don't or you're self-publishing, decide how formal you want to be: "you'll" is more folksy and "you will" is more formal (but not stuffy).

One tangential note: I try to avoid making promises about what the reader will learn; who knows if my reader will actually get it? I talk about what we will show, not what you will learn.


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