Contributing to a Project Intermediate 3h 55m

Writing Documentation for Software Projects

This lesson teaches how to write effective software documentation, including API documentation, user guides, and installation instructions.

Learning outcomes

  • Identify the role and benefits of documentation in research and software projects
  • Describe different types of documentation (README, API reference, tutorials) and their purposes
  • Apply best practices for writing clear, accessible, and user-friendly documentation
  • Use tools and formats commonly used for documentation (Markdown, reStructuredText, Sphinx)
  • Implement strategies for keeping documentation up to date and involving community contributors

Prerequisites

Markdown

Cite this lesson

Metadata from CITATION.cff.

APA

Mundt, M. (2023). INTERSECT: Better Documentation. (Version 0.2.0). UC OSPO Network. https://intersect-training.org/Documentation/

BibTeX
@misc{writing_documentation_for_software_projects_2023,
  author    = {Mundt, Miranda},
  title     = {INTERSECT: Better Documentation},
  year      = {2023},
  publisher = {UC OSPO Network},
  url       = {https://intersect-training.org/Documentation/},
  version   = {0.2.0}
}