SEO Writing Project FAQ

General Questions

    • You are making the world a better place.

    • You are getting real-world experience that can go on your résumé. Students often tell us that having the project on their résumé helped them land a great job.

    • Your guides will be used by real people all throughout the world. Past student guides have received well over 100,000 views.

    • You are contributing to an open-source repair manual that people can use for free.

    • E-waste is not a joke; it's a real problem.

    • You get to take stuff apart.

    • You get to build your photography skills.

    • It beats writing a huge paper that will eventually end up in a recycle bin.

    • If you do well, we'll send you a recommendation letter, and your guide will serve as a role model for future students by being placed on the Featured Student Guides page.

    We want this project to be a fun, meaningful learning experience. We want you to get a taste of industry and have a good time getting your feet wet in technical writing. If you feel that this project isn't your cup of tea, send us an email or talk to your instructor—we're always interested in feedback so we can make the program better!

  • We can explain all of the ins and outs of this project a hundred times, but nothing will benefit you and your group as much as seeing firsthand what makes a great student project. Here are a few of our staff favorites from past terms:

    All of the projects above received "A" grades because they are clear, thorough, and comprehensive.

  • All of the work you do on your project is hosted on our main website, www.ifixit.com. This website, edu.ifixit.com, is a separate place for us to keep all of the documentation pertaining to the iFixit Technical Writing Project.

  • Absolutely! While it might seem like most people trade in their smartphones every time the latest model is released, that simply isn't the reality. Many people can’t—or prefer not to—spend money on a brand-new device. Not only is repair typically cheaper, sometimes it’s the only option.

    Often, people in lower-income communities—and even in areas outside of the United States—repair older or budget-friendly devices as an affordable way to keep technology in their community.

    When a device reaches the end of its life, electronics recyclers use iFixit guides to disassemble devices into their constituent parts before recycling. For example, many devices with batteries pose safety hazards if recycled improperly.

    By creating guides for all devices, old and new, you’re helping people save money—and save their stuff.

  • Click through the Student Resources. This FAQ, and other resources, may have the answer you need. No luck? Send us an email at techwriting[at]ifixit[dot]com. To answer your question quickly, without a lot of back and forth, you’ll want to do the following:

    Be specific. Let us know exactly what you need. If you have an issue, be as descriptive as possible. What symptoms are you experiencing? How have you attempted to solve the problem? The more detailed the question, the easier it will be for us to help you!

    Provide context. What part of the project are you working on? What were you doing when the issue arose? What specific pages are you on? What specific guide or part are you working with? Any relevant context will help us troubleshoot the issue quickly.

    Provide visuals. Photos and screenshots of the issues are helpful.

    Keep in mind that iFixit staff may take up to two business days to respond to your email, so it’s best if you ask us specific questions from the get-go to meet your project deadlines.

  • In short, often. We have full-time staff dedicated to working with students in the iFixit Technical Writing Project, and we’re here to help. You should email us whenever you’re ready for our input on a portion of your project. At a minimum, you should email when you’ve written your proposal, after you've completed Stage 2, and when you've finished your project.

  • If you used "Sign up with Google/Facebook" when setting up your iFixit account, then you will need to dissociate your iFixit account from within your Google or Facebook account. Further instructions can be found on this help page: How do I edit my iFixit account information?

  • No worries—leaving a team is easy. Go to iFixit.com/student, click “Leave my team” at the bottom of the page, and try again. Make sure to use the information from your correct team tag when selecting from the drop-down menus.

  • We've set up an email alias just for you. Please send an email to techwriting[at]ifixit[dot]com, and one of us will respond (we have multiple people manning the email alias). Keep in mind that we have weekends off, and it can take up to two business days for us to respond.

    The iFixit Technical Writing Project does not offer phone support, so we ask that you avoid calling iFixit’s Customer Support line.

  • We welcome and admire your skepticism! Here at iFixit, we have a big goal: to teach everyone to fix every thing. Repairing the world requires lots of know-how, repair documentation, and advocacy on why repair is so important. Our mission is to use repair to save resources and end the e-waste crisis, not to be a slimebucket company going for the bottom line. Teaching people how to fix all the things they own is a monumental task to accomplish—which is why we are a community‚ not just a tech company.

    We don’t host third party ads, so we don't make money by hosting your guides. We do sell parts and tools to help users complete their repairs, and these resources are linked through the guides—but they're a recommendation, not a requirement. People don't have to buy anything to use the guides. The guides you create as part of this project are protected by this Creative Commons license forever, and people all around the world will also be able to edit them, like Wikipedia. Your guides become part of a growing database of repair knowledge.

    Our education staff and programs function outside of our operations and were created for the benefit of students and our repair community. Not only will you have the opportunity to take apart a device and learn some repair skills, but you’ll also gain professional and technical communication skills as well as project management experience with a real company. Many of our former students have told us this project helped them to get hired by some awesome companies. In fact, we’ll be more than happy to write you a letter of recommendation if your content is featured on the site.

    Ultimately, we hope you find that, by participating in this project, you’ll not only be gaining valuable skills but also impacting the world by helping real people repair their devices. If you still don’t think this project is for you, reach out to your instructor as soon as possible to discuss an alternative project. If you have any further questions or concerns, feel free to email our program director at education[at]ifixit[dot]com. We look forward to working with you!

Device Page Questions

  • An example of a good device page is the Drager Evita 4. Note that the Replacement Guides, Support Questions, and Parts and Tools sections populate automatically, so you shouldn't try to add those. After completing the Summary, the only section headers you need to add are Background, Identification, Technical Specifications, and Additional Information.

  • To format your device page headers, click on the “¶” symbol to access the drop-down menu. From there, select “Header.”

  • In your own words, write a few paragraphs that detail the background and history of your device. (A couple sentences won’t cut it here; the point is to be thorough.) Your background paragraphs should answer these questions (if applicable):

    • What kind of device is it? What are its major features/components?

    • When was the device released, and when was it discontinued?

    • How many units of this device have been manufactured/sold?

    • Is this device exclusive to certain countries or regions of the world?

    • Who is the intended user group, demographic, or market segment?

    • What was the selling price for this device?

    • Is there anything particularly noteworthy about this device? Did it ever make the news?

    • Are there any known failure modes or manufacturer recalls?

    • Are there any particular components that tend to fail or malfunction?

    • Are there any widespread complaints (or praises) in the consumer reviews?

    • If part of a family of devices, how does this model fit in with the rest?

    • What model did this device replace? How is it different from the previous model?

    • What model came after? What changed in the subsequent model?

  • In addition to the Background section, be sure to include a separate section that helps users correctly identify their device. Your device identification paragraph should answer these questions (if applicable):

    • What does the device look like?

    • What are its physical attributes and dimensions?

    • How can users tell this device apart from other similar models?

    • Where is the model number physically located on the device?

    • Does this device come in more than one color?

    • Are there special markings, design features, or visual/tactile characteristics that can help users positively identify this device?

  • Again: Research, research, research.

    The internet is a great source of information, and it’s all at your fingertips. Look for product pages on the manufacturer’s website. In addition to official service and support pages, searching forum-based web communities may clue you in to any recalls or widespread issues that affect your device. (Major retailers often feature product ratings and customer reviews that could be helpful here as well.) Reputable consumer product review sites such as CNET, DPReview, and GSMArena can also be potential information resources. And don’t forget to check good old Wikipedia, with its detailed articles on many long-lived or iconic products (like ThinkPad or Furby).

  • Unless you happen to have the device on hand and can shoot an original photo—or if you’ve found a usable image that is clearly in the public domain—don’t worry about adding a device photo for this project. We ask that you focus your efforts instead on researching and writing about your device.

  • All of the device pages on our site fall somewhere into the navigation tree that includes numerous areas and family pages. Having an area link makes your device page easy for users to find on our site, which is good once all of your content is uploaded, but can be quite a pain if you're still working on it. To avoid unwanted help from outside users, we may not add an area link to your device page until the end of the term. Once your device page is linked to its corresponding area, the "No Area" flag will disappear, and your work will be viewable to the public.