Master s Specialist Workshop Technical Writing in the Workplace Modules 1-3
Writing Skills
Training
Provided by Online Training Directory
Study of technical descriptions, processes, instructions, and formal recommendation reports, including revision and editing strategies.
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Master s Specialist Workshop Technical Writing in the Workplace Modules 1-3
Master’s Specialist Workshop: Technical Writing in the Workplace (Modules 1-3)
Full Description
Outcomes:
Assessment:
Week 1
Module 1
(Weeks 1 and 2 are combined.)
Review of Fundamentals: Audience, Purpose, Structure
Lectures: What is Technical Writing?
Another Attempt at Definition
Audiences and Purpose
Readings: Part I: Understanding Technical Communication, Chapters 1-4.
Chapter 1, Technical communication in Today’s Workplace
Chapter 2, The Writer and the Writing Processes in the Workplace
Chapter 3, Audience and Technical Communication
Chapter 4, Persuasion in Technical Communication
Exercises: Chapter 1: Exercise 7, p 34; Chapter 2, exercise # 5, p. 70; Chapter 3, exercise # 1, p. 100; chapter 4, exercise # 7, p. 135.
The work for this week includes a discussion both of the history of technical communication and a definition of technical communication, especially as it differs from other kinds of communication. We will look at technical communication as a socially situated activity, especially as an activity that occurs in a business-industry context. We will focus on the special characteristics of technical communication, including its audience-based orientation, its focus on subject, and as a corporate representation that emerges frequently through collaboration. Finally, we will discuss the writing and the writing processes in the workplace, including technical communication as a persuasive activity that must be founded on adequate evidence and sound reasoning.
Week 2
Module 1
(Weeks 1 and 2 are combined.)
Review of Fundamentals: Audience, Purpose, Structure
Lectures: What is Technical Writing?
Another Attempt at Definition
Audiences and Purpose
Readings: Part I: Understanding Technical Communication, Chapters 1-4.
Chapter 1, Technical communication in Today’s Workplace
Chapter 2, The Writer and the Writing Processes in the Workplace
Chapter 3, Audience and Technical Communication
Chapter 4, Persuasion in Technical Communication
Exercises: Chapter 1: Exercise 7, p 34; Chapter 2, exercise # 5, p. 70; Chapter 3, exercise # 1, p. 100; chapter 4, exercise # 7, p. 135.
The work for this week includes a discussion both of the history of technical communication and a definition of technical communication, especially as it differs from other kinds of communication. We will look at technical communication as a socially situated activity, especially as an activity that occurs in a business-industry context. We will focus on the special characteristics of technical communication, including its audience-based orientation, its focus on subject, and as a corporate representation that emerges frequently through collaboration. Finally, we will discuss the writing and the writing processes in the workplace, including technical communication as a persuasive activity that must be founded on adequate evidence and sound reasoning.
Week 3
Module 1
Technical Writing Style and Editing
This week’s work examines technical writing style and editing processes, including editorial reviews, making sentences work, and proofreading.
Lectures: Technical Writing Style
The Paramedic Method and 7 Principles of Style
Reading: Chapter 8, Editing and Style
Exercises: Exercise # 1, pp. 294-295; Exercise # 2, pp. 295-296; and Exercise # 3, p. 296.
Week 4
Module 2
Preparing Specific Documents in Technical Communication (Short, Informal Reports)
Week 4: Creating Technical Definitions and Descriptions in the Workplace / Document Design and Packaging
This week’s work focuses on definitions and descriptions in the workplace, two fundamental types of technical communication. We will focus on various means of creating descriptions and the contexts in which descriptions are employed. We will also look at basic principles of document design and packaging the document for delivery. Paper 1 is due.
Lecture: Technical Descriptions
Document Design
Reading: Chapter 11, pp. 399-424, Creating Definitions and Descriptions
Exercise: Evaluate the description of the apparatus for fractional distillation (Example 11-24 on p. 420)--using the audience and purpose description and in terms of the three guidelines for writing descriptions on pp. 421-422.
Document Design and Packaging
Reading: Chapter 9, pp. 297-322, Document Design and Packaging
Exercise: Choose any one of the exercises on pp. 334-339.
We will examine document design techniques to achieve clarity and consistency and to engage readers and to help them locate answers.
Paper 1 is due: Technical description based on exercise # 5, p. 433.
Week 5
Module 2
Creating Technical Process Documents / Visual Display and Presentation
This week’s work focuses on technical process documents in the workplace, including a description of processes, procedures, or activities that occur in the workplace. Also, we will examine selecting graphical illustrations, creating tables and graphs and other illustrations, and representing data accurately. Paper 2 is due.
Lecture: Technical Process Descriptions and Instructions
Reading: Chapter 11, pp. 424-435.
Exercise: # 8, p. 434.
Visual Display and Presentation
Reading: Chapter 10, Visual Display and Presentation
Exercise: # 3´, pp. 392-395.
Paper 2 due: Technical process description based on exercise # 7, pp. 433-434 (of course, you will not be presenting the oral presentation; what you should submit are the materials that would support an oral presentation were you actually to do it).
Week 6
Module 2
Creating Technical Instructions and Specifications
This week’s work focuses on creating technical instructions and specifications in the workplace, including planning, gathering information, creating effective documents, writing specifications and special types of instructions, and, finally, testing instructions.
Lecture: Technical Instructions
Reading: Chapter 12, Instructions, Specifications, and Procedures
Exercise # 1, p. 467.
Paper 3 due: Technical instructions based on exercise # 2, p. 467.
Week 7
Module 3
Preparing Long, Formal Reports in Technical Communication
The work for this module focuses on the completion the long, formal report based on a case study.
Week 7 Structure and Components of Long, Formal Reports
This week’s work examines technical reports in the workplace, particularly long, formal reports which include recommendation reports. We will examine the conventions in report writing, and the parts of reports. All work is in preparation of the final paper, the long, formal report based on a case study. Progress report and information plan and document design draft on the final paper are due.
Lecture: Formal Reports
Reading: Chapter 13, Reports and Studies
Chapter 14, Reports for Decision Making
Exercise: Select a case study to be used in your final report.
1. Go to http://webct.usg.edu.
2. Log in with the User ID "gfaust" and the password "0236" (no quotation marks).
Note: This software is case sensitive, so type the User ID and password exactly as indicated.
3. Select the course TCOM 6001 and find the cases that are in the "References" section on the homepage. These cases are old but still useful for our purposes. Review them and decide which one you would like to work on for your final project.
Note 1: These files are *.pdf files, so--in order to read these files--you will have to have Adobe Acrobat on your computer; or you will have to go to Adobe.com and download the free Acrobat Reader.
Note 2: Also, these files are quite large, so you will need plenty of time for them to open and to download--depending on the speed of your Internet connectivity. So I suggest that you view them online before you decide which one to download.
4. Also, download the template for the Information Plan and Document Design Draft (also in the “References” section on the homepage).
Exercise: Analyze the case study to be used in your final report and prepare an Information Plan and Document Design Draft to guide your production of the report.
Paper 4 due: Progress report (readings on pp. 477-484) and Information Plan and Document Design Draft due.
• Write a progress report stating the work accomplished on your final project; work yet to be accomplished; problems encountered, how they have affected the project, and how you have dealt with them: and, finally, a schedule for completing the final project work yet to be done.
• Submit the completed Information Plan and Document Design Draft according to the template provided for you.
Week 8
Module 3
Writing and Revising Long, Formal Reports
The work for this week focuses on the final paper, the long, formal report based on a case study. Work includes revising and editing the long, formal report.
Week 9
Module 3
Packaging and Submitting Long, Formal Reports Creating Reports
Paper 5 due: Formal report
The work for this week focuses on the completion of the final paper, the long, formal report based on a case study.
Assessment: Portfolio 3:
Document 1: Progress report on final document
Document 2: Information Plan and Document Design Draft
Document 3: Long, formal report document, including
Title page
Cover letter
Executive summary
Table of contents
Introduction
Discussion
Conclusions
Recommendations
Appendices (optional)
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SAMPLE LESSON WEEK 1
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Chapter 1: Exercise 7, p 34.
Instructions: Visit 2 or 3 of the following Web sites devoted to different aspects of technical communication:
www.stc-va.org
english.ttu.edu/ATTW
www.nmsu.edu/techprof/attwrsrc/title.html
rhet.agri.umn.edu/~tcq
In a memo to your instructor, describe what you have learned about the field of technical communication, its practitioners, salaries, job expectations and publications.
Deadline: 7 days from the date of this assignment.
Chapter 2: Exercise 5, p. 70
Instructions: The following are 4 statements of purpose. How adequate do you think each one is? Choose one of these statements and revise it to make a more effective statement of purpose.
a. KVC Corporation has recently announced that, “unless something unexpected happens,” production at its Carr Forks Mine near Mineralton, Utah, will have to be cut by more than half because several major ore veins have been lost in a complex fault zone. As chief consultant hired to make something unexpected happen, my job is to locate the lost ore veins. I must first initiate an intensive study of the local geologic structure. Using the information I find about the individual fault zones, I should be able to locate the positions of any lost ore zones. This method has proven to be highly effective in the past, and it should permit the mine to operate once again at an economically feasible level.
b. In the past few years, many experts and other bird lovers have observed an unusually large number of white-chested tufted titmice dying of starvation, sometimes close to regular stock bird feeders. Because our company, Bird N Hand, Inc., is the largest producer of birdseed designed for titmice, we’ve been working to develop a better bird feeder so that these birds can more successfully get at the seed. I’m the chief engineer on this project, chosen because I have experience designing feeders for related species. I need to write a report that will permit our product designers to manufacture a bird feeder that allows the birds access to seeds so that they won’t starve to death.
c. My manager in our Systems Department, Truman Fergerson, has assigned me to evaluate the quality of two new software packages designed to assist with inventory problems like ours: Computer Products Corporation’s InvenSoret 3 and Roberts Computer Software’s Sort 6.3. Both of these packages are highly compatible with the computers that we currently use in our company. I will have to write a report that will permit Mr. Fergerson and other managers to determine whether one of these new packages is better than the one we now use.
d. The purpose of our brochure is to inform citizens of Minnesota about the services offered by the Minnesota AIDS Project (MAP) and to give basic information about AIDS and HIV so that people can protect themselves. The brochure might also encourage people to consider MAP as a worthy cause and to donate time and money to it. The brochure must also make it easy for citizens to contact MAP for more information. We intend to use the brochure in many ways—in direct mailings to citizens, in response to telephone requests for information, and to distribute at events. It is possible that the brochure could have secondary uses: High school counselors and teachers could use the brochure to help educate teenagers. Newspapers could refer to the brochure in writing their stories. People who have contracted the disease could use it to take advantage of our client services.
Deadline: 7 days from the date of this assignment.
| The course will consider audience analysis, purpose, and the structuring of information for ease of access in five kinds of technical documents, document types that are common in business and industry. The course covers writing technical descriptions, technical process descriptions, technical instructions, progress reports, and formal recommendation reports. The course covers technical communication theory and practice and stresses principles and applications. It will address needs common to all technical writing, including the following: 1. Planning carefully and logically, specifically in terms of readers’ needs 2. Choosing effective rhetorical strategies 3. Striving for precise diction while minimizing jargon 4. Writing clear and precise sentences 5. Organizing and presenting technical documents, including format 6. Using visuals 7. Revising documents Students must have completed Introduction to Technical Writing for Industry (JER 233) and Intermediate Technical Writing (JER 234), and Advanced Technical Writing (JER 235) or their equivalent. [Note: the three courses mentioned above are those required for the Certificate in Technical Writing, JER 900.] If you have the equivalent, you must furnish evidence to the instructor of the equivalency by providing a written proposal that explains how you qualify for this study. Students registering for the certificate must register for Module 1 as the first module. Required Textbook: Lay, M. M. et al. (2000). Technical communication. (2nd ed.) Boston: Irwin McGraw-Hill. [ISBN: 0-256-22058-1]. 0256220581:Product Link on Barnes & Noble.com.
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Upon successful completion of this course, you will be able to 1. Analyze audiences and purposes for various technical documents 2. Write effective technical documents, such as mechanical descriptions (or specifications), technical process descriptions, technical instructions, progress reports, and formal recommendation reports 3. Correct instances of improper usage and eliminate trite and redundant phrases 4. Write clear and precise sentences 5. Apply sound formatting principles to the design and layout of documents 6. Insert eye-catching graphics, charts, and tables that illustrate key points 7. Incorporate editorial changes and user feedback to documents |
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Course Requirements You must submit a portfolio for each module that you take as follows: Module 1 (Portfolio 1): Item 1: Exercises from chapters 1-4 Item 2: Exercises 1, 2, and 3 from chapter 8 Module 2 (Portfolio 2): Document 1: Technical description Document 2: Technical processes Document 3: Technical instructions Module 3 (Portfolio 3): Document 1: Progress report on final document Document 2: Information Plan and Document Design Draft Document 3: Long, formal report |
(Weeks 1 and 2 are combined.)
Review of Fundamentals: Audience, Purpose, Structure
Lectures: What is Technical Writing?
Another Attempt at Definition
Audiences and Purpose
Readings: Part I: Understanding Technical Communication, Chapters 1-4.
Chapter 1, Technical communication in Today’s Workplace
Chapter 2, The Writer and the Writing Processes in the Workplace
Chapter 3, Audience and Technical Communication
Chapter 4, Persuasion in Technical Communication
Exercises: Chapter 1: Exercise 7, p 34; Chapter 2, exercise # 5, p. 70; Chapter 3, exercise # 1, p. 100; chapter 4, exercise # 7, p. 135.
The work for this week includes a discussion both of the history of technical communication and a definition of technical communication, especially as it differs from other kinds of communication. We will look at technical communication as a socially situated activity, especially as an activity that occurs in a business-industry context. We will focus on the special characteristics of technical communication, including its audience-based orientation, its focus on subject, and as a corporate representation that emerges frequently through collaboration. Finally, we will discuss the writing and the writing processes in the workplace, including technical communication as a persuasive activity that must be founded on adequate evidence and sound reasoning.
(Weeks 1 and 2 are combined.)
Review of Fundamentals: Audience, Purpose, Structure
Lectures: What is Technical Writing?
Another Attempt at Definition
Audiences and Purpose
Readings: Part I: Understanding Technical Communication, Chapters 1-4.
Chapter 1, Technical communication in Today’s Workplace
Chapter 2, The Writer and the Writing Processes in the Workplace
Chapter 3, Audience and Technical Communication
Chapter 4, Persuasion in Technical Communication
Exercises: Chapter 1: Exercise 7, p 34; Chapter 2, exercise # 5, p. 70; Chapter 3, exercise # 1, p. 100; chapter 4, exercise # 7, p. 135.
The work for this week includes a discussion both of the history of technical communication and a definition of technical communication, especially as it differs from other kinds of communication. We will look at technical communication as a socially situated activity, especially as an activity that occurs in a business-industry context. We will focus on the special characteristics of technical communication, including its audience-based orientation, its focus on subject, and as a corporate representation that emerges frequently through collaboration. Finally, we will discuss the writing and the writing processes in the workplace, including technical communication as a persuasive activity that must be founded on adequate evidence and sound reasoning.
Technical Writing Style and Editing
This week’s work examines technical writing style and editing processes, including editorial reviews, making sentences work, and proofreading.
Lectures: Technical Writing Style
The Paramedic Method and 7 Principles of Style
Reading: Chapter 8, Editing and Style
Exercises: Exercise # 1, pp. 294-295; Exercise # 2, pp. 295-296; and Exercise # 3, p. 296.
Preparing Specific Documents in Technical Communication (Short, Informal Reports)
Week 4: Creating Technical Definitions and Descriptions in the Workplace / Document Design and Packaging
This week’s work focuses on definitions and descriptions in the workplace, two fundamental types of technical communication. We will focus on various means of creating descriptions and the contexts in which descriptions are employed. We will also look at basic principles of document design and packaging the document for delivery. Paper 1 is due.
Lecture: Technical Descriptions
Document Design
Reading: Chapter 11, pp. 399-424, Creating Definitions and Descriptions
Exercise: Evaluate the description of the apparatus for fractional distillation (Example 11-24 on p. 420)--using the audience and purpose description and in terms of the three guidelines for writing descriptions on pp. 421-422.
Document Design and Packaging
Reading: Chapter 9, pp. 297-322, Document Design and Packaging
Exercise: Choose any one of the exercises on pp. 334-339.
We will examine document design techniques to achieve clarity and consistency and to engage readers and to help them locate answers.
Paper 1 is due: Technical description based on exercise # 5, p. 433.
Creating Technical Process Documents / Visual Display and Presentation
This week’s work focuses on technical process documents in the workplace, including a description of processes, procedures, or activities that occur in the workplace. Also, we will examine selecting graphical illustrations, creating tables and graphs and other illustrations, and representing data accurately. Paper 2 is due.
Lecture: Technical Process Descriptions and Instructions
Reading: Chapter 11, pp. 424-435.
Exercise: # 8, p. 434.
Visual Display and Presentation
Reading: Chapter 10, Visual Display and Presentation
Exercise: # 3´, pp. 392-395.
Paper 2 due: Technical process description based on exercise # 7, pp. 433-434 (of course, you will not be presenting the oral presentation; what you should submit are the materials that would support an oral presentation were you actually to do it).
Creating Technical Instructions and Specifications
This week’s work focuses on creating technical instructions and specifications in the workplace, including planning, gathering information, creating effective documents, writing specifications and special types of instructions, and, finally, testing instructions.
Lecture: Technical Instructions
Reading: Chapter 12, Instructions, Specifications, and Procedures
Exercise # 1, p. 467.
Paper 3 due: Technical instructions based on exercise # 2, p. 467.
Preparing Long, Formal Reports in Technical Communication
The work for this module focuses on the completion the long, formal report based on a case study.
Week 7 Structure and Components of Long, Formal Reports
This week’s work examines technical reports in the workplace, particularly long, formal reports which include recommendation reports. We will examine the conventions in report writing, and the parts of reports. All work is in preparation of the final paper, the long, formal report based on a case study. Progress report and information plan and document design draft on the final paper are due.
Lecture: Formal Reports
Reading: Chapter 13, Reports and Studies
Chapter 14, Reports for Decision Making
Exercise: Select a case study to be used in your final report.
1. Go to http://webct.usg.edu.
2. Log in with the User ID "gfaust" and the password "0236" (no quotation marks).
Note: This software is case sensitive, so type the User ID and password exactly as indicated.
3. Select the course TCOM 6001 and find the cases that are in the "References" section on the homepage. These cases are old but still useful for our purposes. Review them and decide which one you would like to work on for your final project.
Note 1: These files are *.pdf files, so--in order to read these files--you will have to have Adobe Acrobat on your computer; or you will have to go to Adobe.com and download the free Acrobat Reader.
Note 2: Also, these files are quite large, so you will need plenty of time for them to open and to download--depending on the speed of your Internet connectivity. So I suggest that you view them online before you decide which one to download.
4. Also, download the template for the Information Plan and Document Design Draft (also in the “References” section on the homepage).
Exercise: Analyze the case study to be used in your final report and prepare an Information Plan and Document Design Draft to guide your production of the report.
Paper 4 due: Progress report (readings on pp. 477-484) and Information Plan and Document Design Draft due.
• Write a progress report stating the work accomplished on your final project; work yet to be accomplished; problems encountered, how they have affected the project, and how you have dealt with them: and, finally, a schedule for completing the final project work yet to be done.
• Submit the completed Information Plan and Document Design Draft according to the template provided for you.
Writing and Revising Long, Formal Reports
The work for this week focuses on the final paper, the long, formal report based on a case study. Work includes revising and editing the long, formal report.
Packaging and Submitting Long, Formal Reports Creating Reports
Paper 5 due: Formal report
The work for this week focuses on the completion of the final paper, the long, formal report based on a case study.
Assessment: Portfolio 3:
Document 1: Progress report on final document
Document 2: Information Plan and Document Design Draft
Document 3: Long, formal report document, including
Title page
Cover letter
Executive summary
Table of contents
Introduction
Discussion
Conclusions
Recommendations
Appendices (optional)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
SAMPLE LESSON WEEK 1
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chapter 1: Exercise 7, p 34.
Instructions: Visit 2 or 3 of the following Web sites devoted to different aspects of technical communication:
www.stc-va.org
english.ttu.edu/ATTW
www.nmsu.edu/techprof/attwrsrc/title.html
rhet.agri.umn.edu/~tcq
In a memo to your instructor, describe what you have learned about the field of technical communication, its practitioners, salaries, job expectations and publications.
Deadline: 7 days from the date of this assignment.
Chapter 2: Exercise 5, p. 70
Instructions: The following are 4 statements of purpose. How adequate do you think each one is? Choose one of these statements and revise it to make a more effective statement of purpose.
a. KVC Corporation has recently announced that, “unless something unexpected happens,” production at its Carr Forks Mine near Mineralton, Utah, will have to be cut by more than half because several major ore veins have been lost in a complex fault zone. As chief consultant hired to make something unexpected happen, my job is to locate the lost ore veins. I must first initiate an intensive study of the local geologic structure. Using the information I find about the individual fault zones, I should be able to locate the positions of any lost ore zones. This method has proven to be highly effective in the past, and it should permit the mine to operate once again at an economically feasible level.
b. In the past few years, many experts and other bird lovers have observed an unusually large number of white-chested tufted titmice dying of starvation, sometimes close to regular stock bird feeders. Because our company, Bird N Hand, Inc., is the largest producer of birdseed designed for titmice, we’ve been working to develop a better bird feeder so that these birds can more successfully get at the seed. I’m the chief engineer on this project, chosen because I have experience designing feeders for related species. I need to write a report that will permit our product designers to manufacture a bird feeder that allows the birds access to seeds so that they won’t starve to death.
c. My manager in our Systems Department, Truman Fergerson, has assigned me to evaluate the quality of two new software packages designed to assist with inventory problems like ours: Computer Products Corporation’s InvenSoret 3 and Roberts Computer Software’s Sort 6.3. Both of these packages are highly compatible with the computers that we currently use in our company. I will have to write a report that will permit Mr. Fergerson and other managers to determine whether one of these new packages is better than the one we now use.
d. The purpose of our brochure is to inform citizens of Minnesota about the services offered by the Minnesota AIDS Project (MAP) and to give basic information about AIDS and HIV so that people can protect themselves. The brochure might also encourage people to consider MAP as a worthy cause and to donate time and money to it. The brochure must also make it easy for citizens to contact MAP for more information. We intend to use the brochure in many ways—in direct mailings to citizens, in response to telephone requests for information, and to distribute at events. It is possible that the brochure could have secondary uses: High school counselors and teachers could use the brochure to help educate teenagers. Newspapers could refer to the brochure in writing their stories. People who have contracted the disease could use it to take advantage of our client services.
Deadline: 7 days from the date of this assignment.
Contact Hours: 50
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