Writing Know-How: Understanding Professional Communication
Overview
This a collection of original writing and OER materals designed to aid learners in better understanding professional communication.
Introduction
Overview
The following book is a collection of original writing and OER materials focused on professional communication, which can be broadly separated into two categories: technical writing and business writing. These categories are meant to prepare a reader for the various situations in which they may need to create something, whether it's a resume, proposal, graphic, or something else found within a professional setting.
The information found within this book is not all-encompassing, nor are there hardened "rules" for writing; rather, this book acts as a foundation from which to build. As with all writing, the best way to sharpen our skills and gain an understanding of what we're doing is to practice, yet practicing on the job may have unintended consequences. As such, take the examples, exercises, guidelines, suggestions, and advice to heart, as they are meant to aid you in becoming a successful professional communicator.
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Technical Writing
Technical communication—or technical writing, as college courses often call it—is not writing about a specific technical topic such as computers, but about any technical topic. The term “technical” refers to knowledge that is not widespread, that is more the territory of experts and specialists. Whatever your major is, you are developing an expertise—you are becoming a specialist in a particular technical area. And whenever you try to write or say anything about your field, you are engaged in technical communication.
https://openoregon.pressbooks.pub/technicalwriting/front-matter/introduction-2/
When you hear the term “technical communication,” what comes to mind? Perhaps you think of scientific reports, specifications, instructions, software documentation, or technical manuals. And you are correct. However, technical communication is so much more than that. Technical Writing is a genre of non-fiction writing that encompasses not only technical materials such as manuals, instructions, specifications, and software documentation, but it also includes writing produced in day-to-day business operations such as correspondence, proposals, internal communications, media releases, and many kinds of reports. It includes the communication of specialized technical information, whether relating to computers and scientific instruments, or the intricacies of meditation. And because oral and visual presentations are such an important part of professional life, technical communication also encompasses these as well. We might define technical communication, then, as using various modes (oral, written, visual) of communication to manage technical information to analyze a problem, find and evaluate evidence, and draw conclusions in a way that allows people to take action.
Technical communication is “transactional” – it entails a purposeful transaction between sender and receiver that provides specific information for practical and specific purposes (informing, instructing, persuading) and is usually geared towards the needs of a specific audience. Technical communicators produce a wide variety of documents and other products, such as
- Proposals and requests for proposals (RFPs)
- Technical or research reports
- Documentation records and product specifications
- User guides (step-by-step instructions, procedures, manuals)
- Online help, technical support
- Reference information (encyclopedia-style information)
- Consumer literature (information for the public about regulations, safety issues, etc.)
- Marketing literature (product specifications, brochures, promotional literature)
- Technical journalism (found in trade magazines, media releases, etc.)
Thus, it is a highly “designed” form of communication that requires practitioners to have a heightened awareness of the conventions (rules and expectations) and rhetorical situations (audience, purpose, context) in which they are communicating.
This textbook aims to provide you with that heightened awareness – that is, to introduce you to the basic conventions of technical communications, and to train you to take a reader- and audience-centered approach to communications tasks, to find the tools and methods that will work best to communicate your ideas to your target audience, and to achieve the desired results.
https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/technicalwriting/part/techcomm/
Business Writing
One common concern is to simply address the question, what is good writing? As we progress through our study of written business communication we’ll try to answer it. But recognize that while the question may be simple, the answer is complex. Edward P. Bailey [1] offers several key points to remember.
Good business writing
- follows the rules,
- is easy to read, and
- attracts the reader.
Let’s examine these qualities in more depth.
Bailey’s first point is one that generates a fair amount of debate. What are the rules? Do “the rules” depend on audience expectations or industry standards, what your English teacher taught you, or are they reflected in the amazing writing of authors you might point to as positive examples? The answer is “all of the above,” with a point of clarification. You may find it necessary to balance audience expectations with industry standards for a document, and may need to find a balance or compromise. Bailey [2] points to common sense as one basic criterion of good writing, but common sense is a product of experience. When searching for balance, reader understanding is the deciding factor. The correct use of a semicolon may not be what is needed to make a sentence work. Your reading audience should carry extra attention in everything you write because, without them, you won’t have many more writing assignments.
When we say that good writing follows the rules, we don’t mean that a writer cannot be creative. Just as an art student needs to know how to draw a scene in correct perspective before he can “break the rules” by “bending” perspective, so a writer needs to know the rules of language. Being well versed in how to use words correctly, form sentences with proper grammar, and build logical paragraphs are skills the writer can use no matter what the assignment. Even though some business settings may call for conservative writing, there are other areas where creativity is not only allowed but mandated. Imagine working for an advertising agency or a software development firm; in such situations success comes from expressing new, untried ideas. By following the rules of language and correct writing, a writer can express those creative ideas in a form that comes through clearly and promotes understanding.
Similarly, writing that is easy to read is not the same as “dumbed down” or simplistic writing. What is easy to read? For a young audience, you may need to use straightforward, simple terms, but to ignore their use of the language is to create an artificial and unnecessary barrier. An example referring to Miley Cyrus may work with one reading audience and fall flat with another. Profession-specific terms can serve a valuable purpose as we write about precise concepts. Not everyone will understand all the terms in a profession, but if your audience is largely literate in the terms of the field, using industry terms will help you establish a relationship with your readers.
The truly excellent writer is one who can explain complex ideas in a way that the reader can understand. Sometimes ease of reading can come from the writer’s choice of a brilliant illustrative example to get a point across. In other situations, it can be the writer’s incorporation of definitions into the text so that the meaning of unfamiliar words is clear. It may also be a matter of choosing dynamic, specific verbs that make it clear what is happening and who is carrying out the action.
Bailey’s third point concerns the interest of the reader. Will they want to read it? This question should guide much of what you write. We increasingly gain information from our environment through visual, auditory, and multimedia channels, from YouTube to streaming audio, and to watching the news online. Some argue that this has led to a decreased attention span for reading, meaning that writers need to appeal to readers with short, punchy sentences and catchy phrases. However, there are still plenty of people who love to immerse themselves in reading an interesting article, proposal, or marketing piece.
Perhaps the most universally useful strategy in capturing your reader’s attention is to state how your writing can meet the reader’s needs. If your document provides information to answer a question, solve a problem, or explain how to increase profits or cut costs, you may want to state this in the beginning. By opening with a “what’s in it for me” strategy, you give your audience a reason to be interested in what you’ve written.
More Qualities of Good Writing
To the above list from Bailey, let’s add some additional qualities that define good writing. Good writing
- meets the reader’s expectations,
- is clear and concise,
- is efficient and effective.
To meet the reader’s expectations, the writer needs to understand who the intended reader is. In some business situations, you are writing just to one person: your boss, a coworker in another department, or an individual customer or vendor. If you know the person well, it may be as easy for you to write to him or her as it is to write a note to your parent or roommate. If you don’t know the person, you can at least make some reasonable assumptions about his or her expectations, based on the position he or she holds and its relation to your job.
In other situations, you may be writing a document to be read by a group or team, an entire department, or even a large number of total strangers. How can you anticipate their expectations and tailor your writing accordingly? Naturally you want to learn as much as you can about your likely audience. How much you can learn and what kinds of information will vary with the situation. If you are writing Web site content, for example, you may never meet the people who will visit the site, but you can predict why they would be drawn to the site and what they would expect to read there. Beyond learning about your audience, your clear understanding of the writing assignment and its purpose will help you to meet reader expectations.
Our addition of the fifth point concerning clear and concise writing reflects the increasing tendency in business writing to eliminate error. Errors can include those associated with production, from writing to editing, and reader response. Your twin goals of clear and concise writing point to a central goal across communication: fidelity. This concept involves our goal of accurately communicating all the intended information with a minimum of signal or message breakdown or misinterpretation. Designing your documents, including writing and presentation, to reduce message breakdown is an important part of effective business communication.
This leads our discussion to efficiency. There are only twenty-four hours in a day and we are increasingly asked to do more with less, with shorter deadlines almost guaranteed. As a writer, how do you meet ever-increasing expectations? Each writing assignment requires a clear understanding of the goals and desired results, and when either of these two aspects is unclear, the efficiency of your writing can be compromised. Rewrites require time that you may not have, but will have to make if the assignment was not done correctly the first time.
As we have discussed previously, making a habit of reading similar documents prior to beginning your process of writing can help establish a mental template of your desired product. If you can see in your mind’s eye what you want to write, and have the perspective of similar documents combined with audience’s needs, you can write more efficiently. Your written documents are products and will be required on a schedule that impacts your coworkers and business. Your ability to produce effective documents efficiently is a skill set that will contribute to your success.
Our sixth point reinforces this idea with an emphasis on effectiveness. What is effective writing? It is writing that succeeds in accomplishing its purpose. Understanding the purpose, goals, and desired results of your writing assignment will help you achieve this success. Your employer may want an introductory sales letter to result in an increase in sales leads, or potential contacts for follow-up leading to sales. Your audience may not see the document from that perspective, but will instead read with the mindset of, “How does this help me solve X problem?” If you meet both goals, your writing is approaching effectiveness. Here, effectiveness is qualified with the word “approaching” to point out that writing is both a process and a product, and your writing will continually require effort and attention to revision and improvement.
https://oercommons.org/authoring/54645-professional-and-technical-writing/1/view
REFERENCES:
Introduction by Allison Gross, Annemarie Hamlin, Billy Merck, Chris Rubio, Jodi Naas, Megan Savage, and Michele DeSilva is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.
Technical Writing Essentials by Suzan Last is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.
"Professional and Technical Writing" 2019 by Suzie Baker
under license"Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial"
What shapes my writing? Understanding the Rhetorical Situation
The Rhetorical Situation
To better understand professional communication it's worthwhile to discuss communication in general. In a basic sense, communication is the exchange of information, both giving and receiving. Yet, who is offering that information, and who is open to hearing it? And how will this information be conveyed and what need exists to exchange anyway? And what exactly is my purpose communicating? These questions are all rhetorically-based, which is to say these questions are interested in the use of techniques when communicating in a given situation. In fact, an effective approach to understanding all communication, professional or otherwise, is to consider the Rhetorical Situation of that communication. A rhetorical situation is a language-based interaction that draws upon five identifiable traits for giving and receiving information. These five traits are founded in the questions asked earlier, and include:
- Author
- Audience
- Text/Genre
- Purpose
- Context
Another common way to understand the Rhetorical Situation is to see it as something called the Rhetorical Triangle:
- From the left-hand point we start with the author, which can either be you or someone you're reading. In either case, the author initiates the communication and they have the most work to do. In fact, they're the authority.
- On the right-hand point we find the audience, whomever is going to be receptive to our communication. Of all the rhetorical traits this one should receive the most attention (which is why an entire chapter is dedicated to "Audience").
- The space between the author and the audience (the entire white-space of the triangle) is the text, or genre. This trait is concerned with how the author communicates with the audience, what form it takes, whether through an email, photograph, proposal or any other professional genre. Think of the text as the bridge bewtween the giver and the receiver.
- The top of triangle is the purpose, what the writer hopes to accomplish in communicating. Think of it as "the point," or the intention of communicating.
- Lastly, but very importantly, we have context, which as you can see, surrounds all the other traits, shaping them to some degree. Context is discussed in more detail below.
As an example, let's look at the rhetorical situation of this very book, Writing Know-How: Understanding Professional Communication.
- Author=Ben Greenlee, a writing instructor
- Audience=a reader who has little or no professional communication training (notice that I did not write "anyone" even though anyone could read this book; I have a specific audience in mind which gives my writing more direction. More on this in the next chapter)
- Text/Genre=a digital OER textbook
- Purpose=to provide a collection of resources and insights for for those interested in professional communication
- Context=the lack of an OER text that covers the material in the way I wish it was covered; there is a need and I'm trying to address it
Notice how the rhetorical traits seem to overlap: my purpose as an instructor is to reach an audience that is interested in professional communication through a free, digital textbook because the type of textbook I'm interested in doesn't exist in the ways I want it to. This overlap strengthens our professional communication and makes it as effective as possible. So, understanding these five traits by critically thinking (asking questions), as we did earlier in the section, will significantly improve any communication, though this process takes time and practice.
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The following link will take you to Susan Last's book, Technical Writing Essentials. This chapter--titled, "Understanding the Rhetorical Situation"--provides a more a thorough discussion on the five elements that make up a rhetorical situation, offering a visual understanding as well as several exercises.
https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/technicalwriting/chapter/understandingrhetoricalsituation/
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A Focus on Context
Though all elements of the Rhetorical Situation are important to consider in professional communication, one of the first to keep in mind is context. For the purposes of this book, context can be defined as the "circumstances surrounding," meaning there are a number of larger situations that shape who we are, what we can do, and how we're perceieved. For example, if you're an international student studying in the United States and have been invited to a football game by classmates, you may not recognize that your peers could be referring to a completely different sport than what you had in mind, and they may not have understood the different meaning of the word "football" for those outside the United States. This scenario is context in action, in which larger situations (in this case, historical and national) have shaped two different understandings. The same is true for writing. Whenever we engage in professional communication it's our responsibility as writers to consider the larger forces shaping our communication.
Another way to think about context is asking yourself, "why am I creating this text?" Any answer to this question will be a matter of responding to a need, responding to a larger situation. Perhaps a supervisor needs an update on a project. Perhaps the public is unaware of a scientific breakthrough. Perhaps clarity is needed in how to complete a specific task. Perhaps you're confused over a particular detail and are seeking guidance. In all the scenarios above, there's a clear need attempting to be met, there are circumstances surrounding the situation which created that need, and they shape the way the situation is understood.
A final note on context. Responding to a need is NOT the same as enacting your goal, that is, context is not the same as purpose. For instance, in the scenario where a supervisor needs an update on the project, the project itself--timeline, costs, pressure on the company, colleagues contributions--is the context, the larger circumstance that guides the creation of this text. The purpose, then, is to inform, communicating to the supervisor what has already been completed since the last update and what stills needs to be completed for the project as a whole. There is obviously a connection between context and purpose (the project itself; informing someone of the changes to the project), but, as stated earlier, each of the fivel elements interacts with and informs the others while still being unique unto themselves. Understanding the differences between all the rhetorical elements--especially context, as it surrounds the entire situation--can take time, but once these concepts start to solidify in your thinking and writing, your professional communication will become much more effective.
Context in a Professional Setting
Though you may already know a great deal about effective communication within an academic environment, technical communication is not limited to this area. You must know how to communicate effectively in many other settings such as a professional environment.
Technical Communication Can Take Many Forms
Many different types of documents are created and used every day by professionals. The most common and well known of these documents are memos and emails, which are used in every type of business. In addition to this, technical communicators also create instructions, product guides and documentation, graphs, charts, images, videos, and other forms of content. No matter what medium a technical communicator chooses to use, the main goal is always to be informative and clear.
Technical Communication Serves a Practical Purpose
Technical communication is employed in real world settings for practical purposes. Whether to instruct, inform, or to persuade, technical communication is used for a myriad of purposes beyond the sort of straightforward informative writing typical of educational or certain social settings. Beyond being inspiring or entertaining, technical writing must be useful to an audience trying to perform a task.
Technical Communication Addresses Complex Audiences
Academic papers are often addressed to a single individual or a small group of peers with very similar experiences and expectations. Technical writing, because of its practical and collaborative nature, must often be geared toward a complex audience. Technical communicators must be careful to be conscious of intended and unintended audiences, foreign and domestic readers, and individuals with vastly differing responsibilities, experiences, and expectations of a given document. The context in which a document is read will differ with each reader and it is important to keep documents concise and free of bias and excessive or unclear language to ensure that they are understood.
Technical Communication is Collaborative
Technical communication documents will often require input or additional work from several co-authors, depending on the complexity of the document and the nature of the task with which it is dealing. Paul Anderson's Technical Communication textbook relates an anecdote regarding the proposal to build the International Space Station which contained text and drawings from more than 300 engineers. This may be an extreme example, but even when writing a technical document alone, collaboration and consultation with coworkers or other members of the intended audience may form a part of an author's writing process.
Technical Communication is Shaped by Conventions and Culture
Much as with academic writing, organizational conventions as well as culture will shape the style used in technical documents. Organizations may conceive of themselves and formal and conservative or informal and innovative, and reflect this self-conception in their communication style. This reflection often extends to social dimensions within the workplace or the culture of the society in which the organization operates. A technical communicator's style will change depending on the social and organizational contexts that they are working within.
Technical Communication is a complex discipline because it can occur in so many contexts. It can be encountered in nearly any professional setting from a construction yard to a courtroom. It is present when you consult a user manual for your car, microwave, computer, or un-assembled bookshelf. Adaptivity to ever changing audiences as well as legal and ethical issues and a variety of social factors is one of the most important traits of a successful technical communicator.
REFERENCES:
Technical Writing Essentials by Suzan Last and Candice Neveu is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.
The Many Contexts of Communicating Technical Information. Provided by: WikiBooks. Located at: https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Professional_and_Technical_Writing/Rhetoric/Context. Project: Professional and Technical Writing. License: CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike
Who is this for? Appreciating your Audience
Rhetorical Nature of Technical and Professional Writing
Communication in the workplace is practiced and accomplished for many practical purposes. The goal is to effectively convey information to an audience, whether it be to co-workers or someone with greater responsibilities in the workplace. Workplace writing differs from written communication in other contexts, such as educational or social arenas. In the workplace, writing is considered a legal document and is frequently archived or retained for several years at a time. These writings can be referenced to in the future if legal complications arise. Workplace writing also varies from typical writing due to the fact that the audience is generally reading documents not for entertaining nor teaching themselves; it should contain important, relevant and needed information only, with no redundancy.
Reader-Centric Writing
Workplace writing should always focus on the audience; what does the reader need to know? Writing should effectively convey the precise information that the reader is seeking. If the writing is an attempt to persuade the reader, then the writer must consider what will persuade the reader most. For example, a work team may be writing a proposal to install new production machinery in a factory. Different readers in the company will want different information from this proposal. A well-written document will consider every potential reader and give the information that each reader is seeking.
Throughout all of your work, constantly think about your readers. As you make each writing decision, consider your readers' characteristics, goals, expectations, situation, and other factors that will shape their response to what you say. Concentrate on crafting a communication that will be persuasive and usable in your readers' eyes. These are two important qualities of successful work-related communications. Focus specifically on the ways your readers will respond, moment by moment, while they are reading your communication. This will be the only opportunity to influence your readers directly.
Effective Workplace Writing
Workplace writing must be persuasive and usable to all potential readers. For a document to be efficient, it must be easily understood by the intended audience. It is important to use simple sentences, words, and structure so that all that view the document can comprehend it. A document that is hard to understand is not usable or effective, since the audience will be unable to properly understand the document. Highly usable writing should help readers quickly locate, understand, and use the information to complete their task(s). It can be used as a reference, a how-to, or a means for them to see your progress on your own tasks and what still needs to be done.
Persuasive writing should convince readers that the information is accurate and should be followed. For example, a reader may be considering several different proposals. The chosen proposal is most likely to be the one that is most persuasive; however, if writing is not persuasive, then it is not likely to be followed. Thus, the entire writing effort will have been wasted. It is pertinent to understand, though, that being persuasive does NOT mean conducting unethical behavior. Do not write a document to simply to have yours preferred or chosen over others. Always be sure to use ethical practices.
Some ethical practice questions to ask yourself: Did I cite my sources? Did I use credible information? Did I "twist" any information? Am I using the correct language? Am I only telling the truth, no "bluffing"? Am I being realistic? Am I being timely? Am I being accurate? Am I giving a correct assessment and perception of what will be done?
How Writers and Readers Interact
Writers and readers interact in unique ways. In all cases, writing is a one-way flow of information.Therefore, writers must consider and include all of their readers' needs. Every reader is different, but an effective writer must anticipate what will be most useful to the audience. Additionally, the world is extremely diverse. Some readers may be more relaxed or open-minded than others. For this reason, writers must learn to be conscientious in their writing to ensure they won't discourage or offend any of their readers. If a reader is offended, any decision made will likely not be made in the writer's favor. Effective writing eliminates unnecessary pieces of information and ensures a concise document.
Different readers may construe different meanings from the same words. The meaning may be shaped by a user's previous experience, culture, or even a user's state of mind. Each reader will construct a meaning based on the context of the writing and their previous experiences. This is why when writing a document you must start with who your audience is and what they need to know.
Readers react moment by moment when reading a document. Important information will usually have a greater impact if it is placed at the beginning of a document. This ensures that it will be read right away. Many readers will not finish a document, and so this "inverted pyramid" writing style is very effective. In addition, the average business professional says that they do not spend more than 30 seconds reading a resume, and no more than 5 minutes on a business proposal. It is prudent to place the most important information at the beginning of the document and least important at the end. The writer should ensure stylistic continuity as well. A writer attempting humor in a long technical document may confuse the reader; while the same humor, if used while writing about a personal anecdote, may more easily amuse the reader. To reiterate, every reader will have a different reaction to a piece of writing, and these reactions will depend on everything from the context of the writing to the reader's cultural upbringing.
Types of Audiences
When preparing documents, it is important to remember potential audiences for your work. Awareness of the differences between Intended and Unintended audiences may impact how an author presents or includes information in a document, and may make a difference in the event of a legal issue concerning the document. Also, awareness of a complex audience will ensure that an author's writing does not exclude any potential readers. You do not want to leave an important figure out if they need to be touched on.
Intended vs. Unintended Audience
Intended audiences are best thought of as the people you are initially writing to. It is the audience for which your document is intended. Unintended audiences may be anyone that comes across your writing at any point in time. In a professional setting, its important to be mindful of the unintended audience of any written work. This includes any email, memos or proposals produced in the course of business. In addition to being a good rule of thumb, it is in your best interest legally to remain professional in every document you produce as these documents may be used as evidence in court against either the author or the business from which they originated.
Complex Audience
Writing for a complex audience is different from academic writing. In academia, there is a specific audience for most pieces of writing, generally an instructor, teaching assistant, or a fairly small group of peers. In a professional setting, you will often write for a complex audience of people with different backgrounds, specialties, and expectations. With that in mind, avoid using terminology that is too technical so you don't unintentionally exclude portions of your audience. This can become increasingly difficult when writing for larger and more complex audiences.
Tailoring Employment Documents For a Specific Audience
When it comes to an employment document such as a résumé or a cover letter there is no such thing as “one size fits all”. Each document should be individually tailored to catch the attention of the employer to which the document(s) are being submitted. To do this effectively, it helps to research the company and the position. Some different ways that this can be done are:
Looking at the job description – The job description usually gives a set of skills that will be required for the position. The skills outline what the employer is looking for, and therefore, what should be added into a resume. (One should never lie about applicable skills, but highlight and prioritize these skills among others).
Looking at the company website – Looking at the company’s website can help with understanding the company environment and values that may not be listed in a job description. This can be most beneficial when writing a cover letter, in which it is important to acknowledge the potential employer.
In addition to looking at the job description and company website, it is helpful to evaluate the type of job that you are applying for. If you are applying to a job in a design field, you would want to tailor your résumé to be more creative and avoid using any sort of generic template.
Depending on your level of experience, it can be beneficial to create a list of skills and job experience in a Word document. As mentioned above, different jobs typically look for a specific set of skills. To make it easier to tailor a business document to a potential employer, it can be easy to have a Word document of skills and job experiences listed. After you determine the specific job you're applying for, copy and paste the appropriate skills into the document.
It is important to remember that in employment documents you are selling yourself. Each job will be slightly different, so it is crucial to tailor your résumé to the employer. Additionally, make sure it is not cluttered with information that the employer may find unnecessary.
REFERENCES:
Appreciating Technical Communication Audiences. Provided by: Wikibooks. Located at: https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Professional_and_Technical_Writing/Rhetoric/Audiences. Project: Professional and Technical Writing. License: CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike
What are my choices when writing? Language, Tone, and Organization
How to Communicate Professionally
After considering the larger shaping forces of our writing--context--,what it is we're attempting to do--purpose--, and determining who our writing is for--audience--, it's time to actually write, but which words will we place within the document? How will we place them? Where? If you've ever asked yourself these questions while staring at a blank document, wondering what to do, you're actually starting a very important writing process, which is: navigating the concept of choice. Choice is simply working through the possibilities of your writing. Everything in your writing is a matter of choice, what you decide to include and what you decide to omit, and like the choices we make in life, they often feel like a reflection of who we are and how we think. This means our writing can feel quite personal. Not so simple, then, is the possible paralyzing nature of those choices, AKA what if I make the wrong writing choice? What if this choice is a poor reflection of me and my ability? This worry is what often prevents writers from starting their writing projects, or slows those projects mid-creation, as we're preoccupied with limiting "wrong" and hoping for "right."
But what exactly is wrong and right when it comes to writing? As suggested, this duality can feel quite personal and intimate, which is a close perspective; we're primarily thinking of ourselves. So, perhaps a better way to consider our communication choices is to think of the effect, that is, the result of our choices. This change in perspective moves our writing from the personal/internal and closer to the social/external, turning "is this a good choice?" into "how effective is this choice?" With this new question in mind we're starting to think rhetorically, placing our energies outwards, towards concepts such context, purpose, and, as was presented in the previous chapter, audience, and these concepts guide our choices, limiting them and expanding them with each new situation. So, what we place on the page becomes less personal and we're freer to consider all our choices that help others make choices, whether on the job or for gaining technical understanding (after all, we're trying to communicate, which is built on conveying information).
With this new perspective established, aside from genre conventions of certain professional documents, which will be covered in a later chapter, a great place to start with writing choices is langauge, tone, and organization, which can be considered the elements of style.
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The following link will take you to a section of Suzie Baker's book, Professional and Technical Writing (2019). This section--titled, "Style in Written Communication"--goes in-depth on the various skills necessary for effective professional communication. There are also a variety of exercises for you to practicde these skills before applying them to your own writing.
https://oercommons.org/authoring/54645-professional-and-technical-writing/3/view
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NOTE: For further guidance on writing choices beyond those presented in this chapter and the following chapter, review the last section of this book titled, "What if I'm a "Bad" Writer? Writing Fundamentals."
What are my other choices when writing? Clarity and Accuracy
How to be Heard, AKA Communicating with Clarity and Accuracy
In addition to language, tone, and organization, professional communication also relies on clarity and accuracy. The common element between being coherent and intelligible--clarity--and trusted--accuracy--is that of percision. As writers we want every choice we make to be exact, meaning there is a larger purpose for everything we include in a document. This precision allows our readers to understand what we're communicating as quickly and efficiently as possible, further enacting our purpose in whatever genre we're writing. As with all writing, precision is a matter of choice and practice, and will become more comfortable as opportunities arise.
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The following link will take you to a section of Susan Last's book, Technical Writing Essentials. This section--titled, "Communicating with Precision"--disscusses how to consider every word in your writing, making sure that what you're commuicating has a distinct and useful purpose.
https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/technicalwriting/chapter/communicatingprecision/
What does my writing look like? Document Design and Formatting
The way a text looks matters to a reader, so it should matter to a writer. Letters, reports, and blogs are more than just words on a page or a screen. How ideas are arranged and delivered in physical form, whether electronically or on paper, can make reading seem intimidating, confusing, or downright unfriendly, even if the content itself is perfect. Your text is like a room for your ideas. Sometimes you want readers to get in and get out quickly, but often, you want them to sit down and make themselves comfortable, to put their feet up and stay awhile. Whatever the case, you should be in control of the reader’s experience.
And most readers are a lot like TV viewers with remote controls. In a moment, their attention is diverted to another channel if something about your content puts them off. It’s important to get their attention and hold it. Good content is a key part of this, of course, but the visual presentation of your content matters too. Reading is a difficult, cognitively demanding task, so if your design helps make your readers’ journey through the text easier, you will hold their attention longer. Give readers reasons to linger, and they will.
Good document design is both science and art. The particular design of a document—what it contains, what color scheme it follows, what alignment strategy it reflects, and so on—is the result of a series of choices made by the designer. It takes a long time to master the finer points of design, and this chapter won’t turn you into a designer, but it will offer some simple ways of thinking that will help you strategize about how to make your document intuitive and reader friendly—easy to scan, search, and read.
This is not a chapter on design per se; rather, it will familiarize you with a few basic truths and a way of thinking that all designers know well. Whether you’re typing up a memo on new safety policies at work, producing a newsletter for your community group, or putting together a booklet describing the new app you just finished and wish to market, you need to think about a few basic elements of document design.
| ACTIVITY: Discuss texts that you have found intimidating or hard to read because of their layout or appearance. What exactly made the text difficult to read? |
You already engage in some basic document design practices. For instance, when you format an academic essay, you center your title and regularly break to a new paragraph, which signals to the reader that it’s time for a breather, the content is shifting slightly, or you are moving on to a completely new topic. You illustrate blogs, Web pages, and PowerPoint slides with photos and graphics, animations, or videos. Even small elements of your writing help guide readers: indentation, changes in type style (bold, italics, underline), or the punctuation at the end of a sentence.
Professional writers, especially those who work for well-funded web sites and mass-market print publications (like newspapers and magazines) are lucky enough to have the services of artists, graphic designers, skilled photographers, and layout experts. But most of us just want to have a cooler-looking blog, a more professional-looking report, or an eBay listing that doesn’t make buyers suspect our credibility.
https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/technicalwriting/part/documentdesign/
Specifics of Document Design
The following link takes us back to Susan Baker's Technical Writing Essentials. From there, you can jump to other subsections that overview document design and formatting choices, such as: readibility, headings, lists, figures and tables, and other style tips.
REFERENCES:
Technical Writing Essentials by Suzan Last is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.
What exactly am I writing? The Different Genres of Professional Communication
Genre in Writing
As discussed when introducing the rhetorical situation, whatever document you're creating is considered a text (also known as a genre, and sometimes the "message"). The reason different words may be applied for this rhetorical element is that not everything created for professional communication, or otherwise, is a text as we traditionally understand it (printed or written work). For example, a verbal presentation may be considered a "text;" an infographic may be considered a "text," or a photograph. And yes, documents such as emails and reports are texts. To avoid confusion, then, the word genre may be more appropriate.
You've probably heard the word genre in other contexts, such as in movies or music, and probably have a favorite genre of those categories yourself. Thinking about that genre now you may recognize similarities across the different examples, the commonalities you come to expect and appreciate about that genre; there's a level of comfort and interest present. This expectation, similarity, and comfort can be considered the conventions, or characteristics, of a genre; the specific elements of that genre which sets it apart from other genres.
The same is true in writing. Each document has a particular and unique set of characteristics that set it apart from other documents, and, most importantly, a reader has expectations of that document. This means that when we're making our writing choices, as discussed in previous chapters, the type of document we're creating guides our choices, limiting them or expanding them as necessary, based on the characteristics of that genre. Whatever genre you're writing in, you want to make sure it fits the rhetorical situation, meaning: it recognizes the shaping forces of context; enacts your purspose and voice as the author; and is written with a specific audience in mind. To be successful in professional communication you need to pick the right tool, the right genre, for the job.
The following long chapter is a collection of different genres one may encounter in a professional setting. Each document type has specific characteristics unique to it and may also include characterisitics that are shared with other genres. Collected here are:
- Correspondence: Email
- Correspondence: Letters and Memos
- Instructions
- Reports
- Presentations
- Proposals
- Graphics
- Resumes
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Correspondence: Email
Email is familiar to most students and workers. In business, it has largely replaced print hard copy letters for external (outside the company) correspondence, and in many cases, it has taken the place of memos for internal (within the company) communication.[4]
Email can be very useful for messages that have slightly more content than a text message, but it is still best used for fairly brief messages. Many businesses use automated emails to acknowledge communications from the public, or to remind associates that periodic reports or payments are due. You may also be assigned to “populate” a form email in which standard paragraphs are used but you choose from a menu of sentences to make the wording suitable for a particular transaction.
Emails may be informal in personal contexts, but business communication requires attention to detail, awareness that your email reflects you and your company, and a professional tone so that it may be forwarded to any third party if needed. Email often serves to exchange information within organizations. Although email may have an informal feel, remember that when used for business, it needs to convey professionalism and respect. Never write or send anything that you wouldn’t want read in public or in front of your company president.
As with all writing, professional communications require attention to the specific writing context, and it may surprise you that even elements of form can indicate a writer’s strong understanding of audience and purpose. The principles explained here apply to the educational context as well; use them when communicating with your instructors and classroom peers.
Guidelines for Effective Business Emails
Open with a proper salutation: proper salutations demonstrate respect and avoid mix-ups in case a message is accidentally sent to the wrong recipient. For example, use a salutation like “Dear Ms. X” (external) or “Hi Barry” (internal).
Include a clear, brief, and specific subject line: this helps the recipient understand the essence of the message. For example, “Proposal attached” or “Electrical specs for project Y.”
Close with a signature: identify yourself by creating a signature block that automatically contains your name and business contact information.
Avoid abbreviations: an email is not a text message, and the audience may not find your wit cause to ROTFLOL (roll on the floor laughing out loud).
Be brief: omit unnecessary words.
Use a good format: divide your message into brief paragraphs for ease of reading. A good email should get to the point and conclude in three small paragraphs or fewer.
Reread, revise, and review: catch and correct spelling and grammar mistakes before you press “send.” It will take more time and effort to undo the problems caused by a hasty, poorly-written email than to take the time to get it right the first time.
Reply promptly: watch out for an emotional response—never reply in anger—but make a habit of replying to all emails within twenty-four hours, even if only to say that you will provide the requested information in forty-eight or seventy-two hours.
Use “Reply All” sparingly: do not send your reply to everyone who received the initial email unless your message absolutely needs to be read by the entire group.
Avoid using all caps: capital letters are used on the Internet to communicate emphatic emotion or “yelling” and can be considered rude.
Test links: if you include a link, test it to make sure it works.
Email ahead of time if you are going to attach large files: audio and visual files are often quite large; be careful to avoid exceeding the recipient’s mailbox limit or triggering the spam filter.
Give feedback or follow up: if you don’t get a response in twenty-four hours, email or call. Spam filters may have intercepted your message, so your recipient may never have received it.
Tip: add the address of the recipient last (after you have written and proofread your message) to avoid sending prematurely. This will give you time to do a last review of what you’ve written, make sure links work, make sure you’ve added the attachment, etc., before adding the sender’s address and hitting send.
Example
The sample email below demonstrates the principles listed above:
Dear Colleagues: Please consider signing up for the next available Safe Zone workshop offered by the College. As you know, our department is working toward increasing the number of Safe Zone volunteers in our area, and I hope several of you may be available for the next workshop scheduled for Friday, October 9.
For more information on the Safe Zone program, please visit http://www.cocc.edu/multicultural/safe-zone-training/ Please let me know if you will attend.
Steve Jobs |
https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/technicalwriting/chapter/correspondence/
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Correspondence: Letters and Memos
Memos are a major accepted method of communication within a specific business, company, or institution. The successful operation of a company depends on memos for communication between the employees of the company. Types of memos include: inquires, recommendations, problem-solution, etc.
A memo's format provides employees with clear and easy access to information. The message is direct. Unless directly related to the message, references to company structure and operation are eliminated in a memo. However, a memo follows a specific format for easy access to information. A memo includes a heading block that identifies the recipient, the sender, the date, and the subject of the message. The order of the parts of the memo heading block and location of specific part of the block varies, according to different companies' expectations.
However, the message has three parts, each of which is identified by a specific heading. The three parts are the introduction, the body, and the conclusion. The introduction references background information and informs the purpose of the message. The body is the message. The body can be one simple paragraph or multiple paragraphs. The conclusion expresses what you expect the recipient to do. The conclusion could be one paragraph or several paragraphs, or the conclusion could be a simple sentence that asks for the recipient to contact the sender if there are questions.
Consider the following scenario: You are a consultant for a construction company. The project manager of the company has charged you with following the progress of a job that the company has contracted. To keep the project manager informed of the progress of the job, you may send him/her one of 3 types of memos: A Projection Analysis Timeline Memo, which is sent before the job begins and details the expected beginning and ending dates of the job; a Progress Memo, which is sent during the progression of the job and details the progress of the job, and a Period Report Memo, which is sent after the completion of the job and details the completion dates of all phases of the job.
https://www.coursesidekick.com/business/study-guides/technicalwriting/unit-2_memos_lecture-2
Addtional Information on Professional Correspondence
The following link will take you to Suzie Baker's book, Professional and Technical Writing (2019). This section--titled, "Text, Email, and Netiquette"--provides a more thorough discussion of professional correspondence while also providing videos and exercises.
https://oercommons.org/authoring/54645-professional-and-technical-writing/5/view
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Instructions
One of the most common and important uses of technical writing is to provide instructions, those step-by-step explanations of how to assemble, operate, repair, or do routine maintenance on something. Although they may seems intuitive and simple to write, instructions are some of the worst-written documents you can find. Most of us have probably had many infuriating experiences with badly written instructions. This chapter will show you what professionals consider the best techniques in providing instructions.
An effective set of instruction requires the following:
- Clear, precise, and simple writing
- A thorough understanding of the procedure in all its technical detail
- The ability to put yourself in the place of the reader, the person trying to use your instructions
- The ability to visualize the procedure in detail and to capture that awareness on paper
- Willingness to test your instructions on the kind of person you wrote them for.
Preliminary Steps
At the beginning of a project to write a set of instructions, it is important to determine the structure or characteristics of the particular procedure you are going to write about. Here are some steps to follow:
1. Do a careful audience and task analysis
Early in the process, define the audience and situation of your instructions. Remember that defining an audience means defining the level of familiarity your readers have with the topic.
2. Determine the number of tasks
How many tasks are there in the procedure you are writing about? Let’s use the term procedure to refer to the whole set of activities your instructions are intended to discuss. A task is a semi-independent group of actions within the procedure: for example, setting the clock on a microwave oven is one task in the big overall procedure of operating a microwave oven.
A simple procedure like changing the oil in a car contains only one task; there are no semi-independent groupings of activities. A more complex procedure like using a microwave oven contains several semi-independent tasks: setting the clock; setting the power level; using the timer; cleaning and maintaining the microwave, among others.
Some instructions have only a single task, but have many steps within that single task. For example, imagine a set of instructions for assembling a kids’ swing set. In my own experience, there were more than a 130 steps! That can be a bit daunting. A good approach is to group similar and related steps into phases, and start renumbering the steps at each new phase. A phase then is a group of similar steps within a single-task procedure. In the swing-set example, setting up the frame would be a phase; anchoring the thing in the ground would be another; assembling the box swing would be still another.
3. Determine the best approach to the step-by-step discussion
For most instructions, you can focus on tasks, or you can focus on tools (or features of tools). In a task approach (also known as task orientation) to instructions on using a phone-answering service, you’d have these sections:
- Recording your greeting
- Playing back your messages
- Saving your messages
- Forwarding your messages
- Deleting your messages, and so on
These are tasks—the typical things we’d want to do with the machine.
On the other hand, in a tools approach to instructions on using a photocopier, there likely would be sections on how to use specific features:
- Copy button
- Cancel button
- Enlarge/reduce button
- Collate/staple button
- Copy-size button, and so on
If you designed a set of instructions on this plan, you’d write steps for using each button or feature of the photocopier. Instructions using this tools approach are hard to make work. Sometimes, the name of the button doesn’t quite match the task it is associated with; sometimes you have to use more than just the one button to accomplish the task. Still, there can be times when the tools/feature approach may be preferable.
4. Design groupings of tasks
Listing tasks may not be all that you need to do. There may be so many tasks that you must group them so that readers can find individual ones more easily. For example, the following are common task groupings in instructions:
- Unpacking and setup tasks
- Installing and customizing tasks
- Basic operating tasks
- Routine maintenance tasks
- Troubleshooting tasks.
Common Sections in Instructions
The following is a review of the sections you’ll commonly find in instructions. Don’t assume that each one of them must be in the actual instructions you write, nor that they have to be in the order presented here, nor that these are the only sections possible in a set of instructions.
For alternative formats, check out the example instructions.
A Set of Instructions Often Includes the Following
Introduction: plan the introduction to your instructions carefully. It might include any of the following (but not necessarily in this order):
- Indicate the specific tasks or procedure to be explained as well as the scope (what will and will not be covered)
- Indicate what the audience needs in terms of knowledge and background to understand the instructions
- Give a general idea of the procedure and what it accomplishes
- Indicate the conditions when these instructions should (or should not) be used
- Give an overview of the contents of the instructions.
General warning, caution, danger notices: instructions often must alert readers to the possibility of ruining their equipment, screwing up the procedure, and hurting themselves. Also, instructions must often emphasize key points or exceptions. For these situations, you use special notices—note, warning, caution, and danger notices. Notice how these special notices are used in the example instructions listed above.
Technical background or theory: at the beginning of certain kinds of instructions (after the introduction), you may need a discussion of background related to the procedure. For certain instructions, this background is critical—otherwise, the steps in the procedure make no sense. For example, you may have had some experience with those software applets in which you define your own colors by nudging red, green, and blue slider bars around. To really understand what you’re doing, you need to have some background on color. Similarly, you can imagine that, for certain instructions using cameras, some theory might be needed as well.
Equipment and supplies: notice that most instructions include a list of the things you need to gather before you start the procedure. This includes equipment, the tools you use in the procedure (such as mixing bowls, spoons, bread pans, hammers, drills, and saws) and supplies, the things that are consumed in the procedure (such as wood, paint, oil, flour, and nails). In instructions, these typically are listed either in a simple vertical list or in a two-column list. Use the two-column list if you need to add some specifications to some or all of the items—for example, brand names, sizes, amounts, types, model numbers, and so on.
Discussion of the steps: when you get to the actual writing of the steps, there are several things to keep in mind: (1) the structure and format of those steps, (2) supplementary information that might be needed, and (3) the point of view and general writing style.
Structure and format: normally, we imagine a set of instructions as being formatted as vertical numbered lists. And most are in fact. Normally, you format your actual step-by-step instructions this way. There are some variations, however, as well as some other considerations:
- Fixed-order steps are steps that must be performed in the order presented. For example, if you are changing the oil in a car, draining the oil is a step that must come before putting the new oil. These are numbered lists (usually, vertical numbered lists).
- Variable-order steps are steps that can be performed in practically any order. Good examples are those troubleshooting guides that tell you to check this, check that where you are trying to fix something. You can do these kinds of steps in practically any order. With this type, the bulleted list is the appropriate format.
- Alternate steps are those in which two or more ways to accomplish the same thing are presented. Alternate steps are also used when various conditions might exist. Use bulleted lists with this type, with OR inserted between the alternatives, or the lead-in indicating that alternatives are about to be presented.
- Nested steps may be used in cases when individual steps within a procedure are rather complex in their own right and need to be broken down into sub-steps. In this case, you indent further and sequence the sub-steps as a, b, c, and so on.
- “Step-less” instructions can be used when you really cannot use numbered vertical list or provide straightforward instructional-style directing of the reader. Some situations must be so generalized or so variable that steps cannot be stated.
Supplementary discussion: often, it is not enough simply to tell readers to do this or to do that. They need additional explanatory information such as how the thing should look before and after the step; why they should care about doing this step; what mechanical principle is behind what they are doing; even more micro-level explanation of the step—discussion of the specific actions that make up the step.
The problem with supplementary discussion, however, is that it can hide the actual step. You want the actual step—the specific actions the reader is to take—to stand out. You don’t want it all buried in a heap of words. There are at least two techniques to avoid this problem: you can split the instruction from the supplement into separate paragraphs; or you can bold the instruction.
Writing Style for Instructions
Placing the key user steps in bold can a very helpful way to signal clearly what the reader needs to do. Often the command verb is bolded; sometimes bold font highlights the key component being discussed.
Use of the passive voice in instructions can be problematic. For some strange reason, some instructions sound like this: “The Pause button should be depressed in order to stop the display temporarily.” Not only are we worried about the pause button’s mental health, but we wonder who’s supposed to depress the thing (ninjas?). It would be more helpful to indicate when the reader must “press the Pause button.” Consider this example: “The Timer button is then set to 3:00.” Again, one might ask, “is set by whom? Ninjas?” The person following these instructions might think it is simply a reference to some existing state, or she might wonder, “Are they talking to me?” Using the third person can also lead to awkwardness: “The user should then press the Pause button.” Instructions should typically be written using command verb forms and using “you” to make it perfectly clear what the reader should do.
Illustrating Your Instructions
Perhaps more than in any other form of technical writing, graphics are crucial to instructions. Sometimes, words simply cannot explain the step. Illustrations are often critical to the readers’ ability to visualize what they are supposed to do. Be sure that the graphics represent the image from the reader’s perspective.
Formatting Your Instructions
Since people rarely want to read instructions, but often have to, format your instructions for reluctant readability. Try to make your reader want to read them, or at least not resistant to the idea of consulting them. Highly readable format will allow readers who have figured out some of the instructions on their own to skip to the section where they are stuck. Use what you have learned about headings, lists, visuals, and passive space to create effective and readable instructions:
Headings: normally, you’d want headings for any background section you might have, the equipment and supplies section, a general heading for the actual instructions section, and subheadings for the individual tasks or phases within that section.
Lists: similarly, instructions typically make extensive use of lists, particularly numbered vertical lists for the actual step-by-step explanations. Simple vertical lists or two-column lists are usually good for the equipment and supplies section. In-sentence lists are good whenever you give an overview of things to come.
Special Notices: you may have to alert readers to possibilities in which they may damage their equipment, waste supplies, cause the entire procedure to fail, injure themselves or others—even seriously or fatally. Companies have been sued for lack of these special notices, for poorly written special notices, or for special notices that were out of place. See special notices for a complete discussion of the proper use of these special notices as well as their format and placement within instructions.
https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/technicalwriting/chapter/writinginstructions/
Addtional Information on Instruction Writing
The following link will take you to Suzie Baker's book, Professional and Technical Writing (2019). This section--titled, "Creating Rhetorically Effective Instruction Manuals"--provides a more thorough discussion of instruction writing while also providing examples.
https://oercommons.org/authoring/54645-professional-and-technical-writing/9/view
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Reports
Out of the many genres collected here, reports may be the most formal while also being the most diverse. Regardless of the variety of reports a professional communicator may encounter, the core characteristic of the report is objectivity. Think of the word "reporter" from the different context of a TV news channel. That reporter is on location trying to find information and then share that information as clearly and as objective as possible; their purpose is to offer the facts as they've been collected so far. When writing a report, your purspose is quite similar.
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The following link will take you to Suzie Baker's book, Professional and Technical Writing (2019). This section--simply titled, "Report"--provides a more thorough discussion of reports, including sections on the types and functions of reports, design, and exercises for understanding this common genre in professional communication.
https://oercommons.org/authoring/54645-professional-and-technical-writing/8/view
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Presentations
Informative presentations focus on helping the audience to understand a topic, issue, or technique more clearly. You might say, “Is that all?” and the answer is both yes and no. An affirmative response underscores the idea that informative speeches do not seek to motivate the audience to change their minds, adopt a new idea, start a new habit, or get out there and vote. They may, however, inform audiences on issues that may be under consideration in an election or referendum. On the other hand, a negative response reaffirms the idea that to communicate a topic, issue, or subject clearly is a challenge in itself and shouldn’t be viewed as a simplistic process. There are distinct functions inherent in a speech to inform, and you may choose to use one or more of these functions in your speech. Let’s take a look at the functions and see how they relate to the central objective of facilitating audience understanding.
Share
The basic definition of communication highlights the process of understanding and sharing meaning. An informative speech follows this definition in the aspect of sharing content and information with an audience. You won’t be asking the audience to actually do anything in terms of offering a response or solving a problem. Instead you’ll be offering to share with the audience some of the information you have gathered relating to a topic. This act of sharing will reduce ignorance, increase learning, and facilitate understanding of your chosen topic.
Increase Understanding
How well does your audience grasp the information? This should be a guiding question to you on two levels. The first involves what they already know—or don’t know—about your topic, and what key terms or ideas might be necessary for someone completely unfamiliar with your topic to grasp the ideas you are presenting. The second involves your presentation and the illustration of ideas. A bar chart, a pie graph, and a video clip may all serve you and the audience well, but how will each ingredient in your speech contribute to their understanding? The audience will respond to your attention statement and hopefully maintain interest, but how will you take your speech beyond superficial coverage of content and effectively communicate key relationships that increase understanding? These questions should serve as a challenge for your informative speech, and by looking at your speech from an audience-oriented perspective, you will increase your ability to increase the audience’s understanding.
Change Perceptions
How you perceive stimuli has everything to do with a range of factors that are unique to you. We all want to make sense of our world, share our experiences, and learn that many people face the same challenges we do. Many people perceive the process of speaking in public as a significant challenge, and in this text, we have broken down the process into several manageable steps. In so doing, we have to some degree changed your perception of public speaking. When you present your speech to inform, you may want to change the audience member’s perceptions of your topic. You may present an informative speech on air pollution and want to change common perceptions such as the idea that most of North America’s air pollution comes from private cars, or that nuclear power plants are a major source of air pollution. You won’t be asking people to go out and vote, or change their choice of automobiles, but you will help your audience change their perceptions of your topic.
Gain Skills
Just as you want to increase the audience’s understanding, you may want to help the audience members gain skills. If you are presenting a speech on how to make salsa from fresh ingredients, your audience may thank you for not only the knowledge of the key ingredients and their preparation but also the product available at the conclusion. If your audience members have never made their own salsa, they may gain a new skill from your speech. In the same way, perhaps you decide to inform your audience about eBay, a person-to-person marketplace much like a garage sale in which items are auctioned or available for purchase over the Internet. You may project onto a screen in class the main Web site and take the audience through a step-by-step process on how to sell an item. The audience may learn an important skill, clean out the old items in their garage, and buy new things for the house with their newfound skills. Your intentions, of course, are not to argue that salsa is better than ketchup or that eBay is better than Amazon, but to inform the audience, increasing their understanding of the subject, and in this case, gaining new skills.
Exposition versus Interpretation
When we share information informally, we often provide our own perspective and attitude for our own reasons. But when we set out to inform an audience, taking sides or using sarcasm to communicate attitude may divide the audience into groups that agree or disagree with the speaker. The speech to inform the audience on a topic, idea, or area of content is not intended to be a display of attitude and opinion. Consider the expectations of people who attend a formal dinner. Will they use whatever fork or spoon they want, or are there expectations of protocol and decorum? In any given communication context there are expectations, both implicit and explicit. If you attend a rally on campus for health care reform, you may expect the speaker to motivate you to urge the university to stop investing in pharmaceutical companies, for example. On the other hand, if you enroll in a biochemistry course, you expect a teacher to inform you about the discipline of biochemistry—not to convince you that pharmaceutical companies are a good or bad influence on our health care system.
The speech to inform is like the classroom setting in that the goal is to inform, not to persuade, entertain, display attitude, or create comedy. If you have analyzed your audience, you’ll be better prepared to develop appropriate ways to gain their attention and inform them on your topic. You want to communicate thoughts, ideas, and relationships and allow each listener specifically, and the audience generally, to draw their own conclusions. The speech to inform is all about sharing information to meet the audience’s needs, not your own. While you might want to inform them about your views on politics in the Middle East, you’ll need to consider what they are here to learn from you and let your audience-oriented perspective guide you as you prepare.
Exposition
This relationship between informing as opposed to persuading your audience is often expressed in terms of exposition versus interpretation. Exposition means a public exhibition or display, often expressing a complex topic in a way that makes the relationships and content clear. Expository prose is writing to inform; you may have been asked to write an expository essay in an English course or an expository report in a journalism course. The goal is to communicate the topic and content to your audience in ways that illustrate, explain, and reinforce the overall content to make your topic more accessible to the audience. The audience wants to learn about your topic and may have some knowledge on it as you do. It is your responsibility to consider ways to display the information effectively.
Interpretation and Bias
Interpretation involves adapting the information to communicate a message, perspective, or agenda. Your insights and attitudes will guide your selection of material, what you focus on, and what you delete (choosing what not to present to the audience). Your interpretation will involve personal bias. Bias is an unreasoned or not-well-thought-out judgment. Bias involves beliefs or ideas held on the basis of conviction rather than current evidence. Beliefs are often called “habits of the mind” because we come to rely on them to make decisions. Which is the better, cheapest, most expensive, or the middle-priced product? People often choose the middle-priced product and use the belief “if it costs more it must be better” (and the opposite: “if it is cheap it must not be very good”). The middle-priced item, regardless of actual price, is often perceived as “good enough.” All these perceptions are based on beliefs, and they may not apply to the given decision or even be based on any evidence or rational thinking.
By extension, marketing students learn to facilitate the customer “relationship” with the brand. If you come to believe a brand stands for excellence, and a new product comes out under that brand label, you are more likely to choose it over an unknown or lesser-known competitor. Again, your choice of the new product is based on a belief rather than evidence or rational thinking. We take mental shortcuts all day long, but in our speech to inform, we have to be careful not to reinforce bias.
Bias is like a filter on your perceptions, thoughts, and ideas. Bias encourages you to accept positive evidence that supports your existing beliefs (regardless of whether they are true) and reject negative evidence that does not support your beliefs. Furthermore, bias makes you likely to reject positive support for opposing beliefs and accept negative evidence (again, regardless of whether the evidence is true). So what is positive and what is negative? In a biased frame of mind, that which supports your existing beliefs is positive and likely to be accepted, while that which challenges your beliefs is likely to be viewed as negative and rejected. There is the clear danger in bias. You are inclined to tune out or ignore information, regardless of how valuable, useful, or relevant it may be, simply because it doesn’t agree with or support what you already believe.
Point of View
Let’s say you are going to present an informative speech on a controversial topic like same-sex marriage. Without advocating or condemning same-sex marriage, you could inform your audience about current laws in various states, recent and proposed changes in laws, the number of same-sex couples who have gotten married in various places, the implications of being married or not being able to marry, and so on. But as you prepare and research your topic, do you only read or examine information that supports your existing view? If you only choose to present information that agrees with your prior view, you’ve incorporated bias into your speech. Now let’s say the audience members have different points of view, even biased ones, and as you present your information you see many people start to fidget in their seats. You can probably anticipate that if they were to speak, the first word they would say is “but” and then present their question or assertion. In effect, they will be having a debate with themselves and hardly listening to you.
You can anticipate the effects of bias and mitigate them to some degree. First, know the difference between your point of view or perspective and your bias. Your point of view is your perception of an idea or concept from your previous experience and understanding. It is unique to you and is influenced by your experiences and also factors like gender, race, ethnicity, physical characteristics, and social class. Everyone has a point of view, as hard as they may try to be open-minded. But bias, as we’ve discussed previously, involves actively selecting information that supports or agrees with your current belief and takes away from any competing belief. To make sure you are not presenting a biased speech, frame your discussion to inform from a neutral stance and consider alternative points of view to present, compare and contrast, and diversify your speech. The goal of the speech to inform is to present an expository speech that reduces or tries to be free from overt interpretation.
This relates to our previous discussion on changing perceptions. Clearly no one can be completely objective and remove themselves from their own perceptual process. People are not modern works of minimalist art, where form and function are paramount and the artist is completely removed from the expression. People express themselves and naturally relate what is happening now to what has happened to them in the past. You are your own artist, but you also control your creations.
Objectivity involves expressions and perceptions of facts that are free from distortion by your prejudices, bias, feelings or interpretations. For example, is the post office box blue? An objective response would be yes or no, but a subjective response might sound like “Well, it’s not really blue as much as it is navy, even a bit of purple, kind of like the color of my ex-boyfriend’s car, remember? I don’t care for the color myself.” Subjectivity involves expressions or perceptions that are modified, altered, or impacted by your personal bias, experiences, and background. In an informative speech, your audience will expect you to present the information in a relatively objective form. The speech should meet the audience’s need as they learn about the content, not your feelings, attitudes, or commentary on the content.
Here are five suggestions to help you present a neutral speech:
- Keep your language neutral and not very positive for some issues while very negative for others.
- Keep your sources credible and not from biased organizations. The National Rifle Association (NRA) will have a biased view of the Second Amendment, for example, as will the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) on civil rights.
- Keep your presentation balanced. If you use a source that supports one clear side of an issue, include an alternative source and view. Give each equal time and respectful consideration.
- Keep your audience in mind. Not everyone will agree with every point or source of evidence, but diversity in your speech will have more to offer everyone.
- Keep who you represent in mind: Your business and yourself.
Exercises
- Consider the courses you have taken in the past year or two, and the extent to which each class session involved an informative presentation or one that was more persuasive. Do some disciplines lend themselves more to informing rather than interpretation and attitude? Discuss your findings with your classmates.
- Visit a major network news Web site and view a video of a commentator such as Rachel Maddow or Keith Olbermann (MSNBC) or Glenn Beck or Bill O’Reilly (Fox News). Identify the commentator’s point of view. If you were giving a presentation to inform, would you express your point of view in a similar style?
- On the same network news Web site you used for Exercise no. 2, view a video reporting a news event (as opposed to a commentator’s commentary). Do you feel that the reporter’s approach conveys a point of view, or is it neutral? Explain your feelings and discuss with your classmates.
- What is the difference between an informative presentation and a persuasive one? Provide an example in your response.
- Consider a sample speech to inform on a topic where you have a strong opinion. In what ways would you adjust your key points so as not to persuade your listeners? Discuss your ideas with a classmate.
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Additional Information on Professional Presentations
The following link will take you to Suzie Baker's book, Professional and Technical Writing (2019). This section--simply titled, "Presentations to Inform"--provides a very thorough discussion of presenting, including sections on presentation theory, tips for the act of presenting, guidelines for what to include in your presentation, persuasion and argumentation, and numerous exercises to practice understanding presentations.
https://oercommons.org/authoring/54645-professional-and-technical-writing/12/view
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Proposals
In a technical writing course, the proposal assignment is an opportunity for you to present an idea to a specific, named audience about an idea you have to improve a certain aspect of that company, organization, center, or other business. Whatever topic you choose, you must be able to conduct thorough research that you will integrate into your final report.
To begin planning a proposal, remember the basic definition: a proposal is an offer or bid to complete a project for someone. Proposals may contain other elements—technical background, recommendations, results of surveys, information about feasibility, and so on. But what makes a proposal a proposal is that it asks the audience to approve, fund, or grant permission to do the proposed project.
A proposal should contain information that would enable the audience of that proposal to decide whether to approve the project, to approve or hire you to do the work, or both. To write a successful proposal, put yourself in the place of your audience—the recipient of the proposal—and think about what sorts of information that person would need in order to feel confident having you complete the project.
It is easy to confuse proposals with other kinds of documents in technical writing. Imagine that you have a terrific idea for installing some new technology where you work, and you write up a document explaining how it work, showing the benefits, and then urging management to install it. Is that a proposal? All by itself, this would not be a complete proposal. It would be more like a feasibility report, which studies the merits of a project and then recommends for or against it. However, all it would take to make this document a proposal would be to add elements that ask management for approval for you to go ahead with the project. Additionally, for some technical writing classes offered in college, one of those elements may be scholarly research. Check with your instructor to see if this is the case. Certainly, some writers of proposals must sell the projects they propose, but in all cases, proposals must sell the writer (or the writer’s organization) as the one to complete the project.
https://openoregon.pressbooks.pub/technicalwriting/chapter/3-1-some-preliminaries/
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The following provides a review of the sections you will commonly find in proposals. Do not assume that each one of them has to be in the actual proposal you write, nor that they have to be in the order they are presented here. Refer to the assignment sheet provided by your instructor and consider other kinds of information unique to your topic that should be included in your particular proposal.
Introduction. Plan the introduction to your proposal carefully. Make sure it does all of the following things (but not necessarily in this order) that apply to your particular proposal:
- Indicate that the content of the memo is a proposal for a specific project.
- Develop at least one brief motivating statement that will encourage the recipient to read on and to consider approving the project (especially if it is an unsolicited or competitive proposal).
- Give an overview of the contents of the proposal.
Background on the problem, opportunity, or situation. Often occurring just after the introduction, the background section discusses what has brought about the need for the project—what problem, what opportunity exists for improving things, what the basic situation is. For example, management of a chain of day care centers may need to ensure that all employees know CPR because of new state mandates requiring it, or an owner of pine timber land in eastern Oregon may want to get the land producing saleable timber without destroying the environment.
While the named audience of the proposal may know the problem very well, writing the background section is useful in demonstrating your particular view of the problem. Also, if the the proposal is unsolicited, a background section is almost a requirement—you will probably need to convince the audience that the problem or opportunity exists and that it should be addressed.
Benefits and feasibility of the proposed project. Most proposals briefly discuss the advantages or benefits of completing the proposed project. This acts as a type of argument in favor of approving the project. Also, some proposals discuss the likelihood of the project’s success. In an unsolicited proposal, this section is especially important—you are trying to “sell” the audience on the project.
Description of the proposed work (results of the project). Most proposals must describe the finished product of the proposed project. In a technical writing course, that means describing the written document you propose to write, its audience and purpose; providing an outline; and discussing such things as its length, graphics, binding, and so forth. In the scenario you define, there may be other work such as conducting training seminars or providing an ongoing service. At this early stage, you might not know all that it will take to complete your project, but you should at least have an idea of some of the steps required.
Method, procedure, theory. In some proposals, you will need to explain how you will go about completing the proposed work. This acts as an additional persuasive element; it shows the audience you have a sound, thoughtful approach to the project. Also, it serves to demonstrate that you have the knowledge of the field to complete the project.
Schedule. Most proposals contain a section that shows not only the projected completion date but also key milestones for the project. If you are doing a large project spreading over many months, the timeline would also show dates on which you would deliver progress reports. If you cannot cite specific dates, cite amounts of time for each phase of the project.
Costs, resources required. Most proposals also contain a section detailing the costs of the project, whether internal or external. With external projects, you may need to list your hourly rates, projected hours, costs of equipment and supplies, and so forth, and then calculate the total cost of the complete project. Internal projects, of course, are not free, so you should still list the project costs: hours you will need to complete the project, equipment and supplies you will be using, assistance from other people in the organization, and so on.
Conclusions. The final paragraph or section of the proposal should bring readers back to a focus on the positive aspects of the project. In the final section, you can urge them to contact you to work out the details of the project, remind them of the benefits of doing the project, and maybe make one last argument for you or your organization as the right choice for the project.
Special project-specific sections. Remember that the preceding sections are typical or common in written proposals, not absolute requirements. Always ask yourself what else might your audience need to understand the project, the need for it, the benefits arising from it, your role in it, and your qualifications to do it. What else do they need to see in order to approve the project and to approve you to do it?
https://openoregon.pressbooks.pub/technicalwriting/chapter/3-4-common-sections-in-proposals/
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Additional Information on Proposals
The following link will take you to Suzie Baker's book, Professional and Technical Writing (2019). This section--simply titled, "Proposals"--provides a very thorough discussion of proposals, including sections on the rhetorical nature of proposals, audience appeals, argumentation, logical fallacies, and exercises in better understanding proposals.
https://oercommons.org/authoring/54645-professional-and-technical-writing/7/view
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Graphics in Professional Communication
We're familair with the old adage that "a picture is worth a thousand words" and the inclusion of graphics in professional communication holds to that belief. Often, a reader can grasp an idea or concept or fact much quicker if it's presented to them visually rather than described textually. However, you don't want to only rely on visual elements as the viewer may miss vital aspects of what you're attempting to communicate. The idea, then, is to find a balance between the textual and the visual, with each element enhancing the other. Some graphics may be simple while others highly complex, yet whatever is shown to the reader needs to adhere to the same principles discussed so far: whatever you communicate to your audience is intentional.
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Photos and Illustrations
Photos are used in professional documents as tools for communicating a message that a writer feels can be strengthened through the use of proper imagery. Photographs can do many things to enhance a message, some examples can be seen here:
Illustration Checklist
Planning
- What kinds of illustrations are your audience familiar with?
- Do you have information that could be more easily or quickly communicated to your audience visually or in a combination of words and graphics?
- Do you have definitions that could be displayed visually in whole or in part?
- Do you have any processes or procedures that could be depicted in a flowchart?
- Do you have information on trends or relationships that could be displayed in tables and graphics?
- Do you have masses of statistics that could be summarized in tables?
- Do you need to depict objects? If so, what do you need to display about the objects? Do you need to focus attention on specific aspects of the objects? Do you require the realism of photographs?
- What are the design conventions of your illustrations?
- Are there suitable illustrations you could borrow or adapt? Or will you need to create them yourself?
Revising
- Are you illustrations suited to your purpose and audience?
- Do your illustrations communicate information ethically?
- Are your illustrations effectively located and easy to find?
- Are your illustrations numbered and labeled?
- Do your verbal and visual elements reinforce each other?
- Are your illustrations genuinely informative instead of simply decorative?
- When necessary, have you helped your readers to interpret your illustrations with commentary or annotations?
- Have you acknowledged the sources for borrowed or adapted tables and figures?
How To Perform an Action
Pictures are an effective tool for giving visual representation of how to do something. They can can stand alone or work in conjunction with the given text, and they can enhance a message if used properly.
If you are using pictures in conjunction with text: As in a set of instructions, the imagery increases understanding of the task, in addition to decreasing confusion that may arise from text that stands alone.When using a picture to help portray how to perform a task, it is your responsibility to make sure the picture matches up with the text. You must explain the picture using text, and vice versa, explain the text using a picture. Also, the viewer will accomplish the task more often when the picture looks how it would if they were watching the task, not necessarily if they were experiencing it.
An example would be: if your task was doing a cartwheel, you wouldn't want the pictures at an angle where the person is looking through the eyes of the one doing the cartwheel. You would want the pictures to be from someone watching the event, so that the viewer isn't confused by what they can't see (such as where their feet are when they're looking at their hands). It's the simple things that make or break a document when using pictures. Think and re-think the pictures you are using and how someone seeing them for the first time will react to them.
How a Finished Product Should Look
When textual information does not capture the essence of what your trying to describe, try putting an actual photo of what your trying to describe in the document. This type of picture enables you to come as close to reality as possible. Make sure your pictures are in color and of high quality. Black and white photos tend to blur easily on paper and lack the detail needed to fully understand a photo. Images cut down on excessive use of describing words. "A picture is worth a thousand words" relates to this situation.
Be sure to use the text wrap abilities of most word processors. A well placed picture with clean text wrapping can make an otherwise overwhelming block of text seem reasonably approachable. Looking at 25 pages of block, justified alignment, plain black text is one of the most boring ways to see a report. A picture can liven up a report, make it more memorable, and help clarify the report all in one motion.
Map Out an Object, Place, or Process
An example of these types of pictures can be found in an automotive manual or a science textbook. This canbe anything from a picture of a machine to an example of how photosynthesis works. Arrows and labels can be used in order to show where everything is and how the process takes place. The picture should include a big enough background so that the reader can locate the area in relation to things around it.
Photographs can also play a major role in connecting with the audience. They are useful in multi-cultural situations when a shared written language may not exist. Pictures can speak louder than words, and usually portray the message quicker. It is very important to keep the first initial reaction in mind when choosing the image you will place within your document. Be sure to avoid photos that may have several meanings, or the true meaning may be unclear. In order to avoid this type of situation, put yourself in the audience that you are writing for and try to be unbiased when you view the image. Better yet, test the image on someone who does not know much about your photo's topic and ask them what message the photo sends to them. Clarity is essential in conveying your message.
Do not rely too heavily on pictures though. Pictures and text should be used simultaneously in order to give the audience the most accurate direction. Pictures can make a great break in words, but are not always as useful to get a point across as words are.
Software Can Tremendously Increase Photograph Effectiveness
There are a great deal of photo editing programs for computers that can be utilized to bring out the right angle, zoom, view, and color of a photo. Some of the most popular photo editing software includes Photoshop, Corel, and Image Smart. Many computers now come with basic image editing software, which allows one to adjust color, brightness, crop, and other basic edits.
Cropping is an essential key feature that allows you to enlarge the area of the photo you want the reader to see, while omitting the background and obsolete area of the background. Cropping is equivalent to looking at an image under a microscope where you can focus on the areas you want the readers to see the clearest. However, this can decrease image quality and make the image hard to see. When possible, it is best to use images that need little to no editing.
When using imagery make sure it is of high image resolution (300 dpi for print, 72 dpi for screen) and the proper format to be inserting into your document. Typically, sticking with images from original sources, such as a camera or other .jpg or .tif file are best.
If you find your photograph is not using the right coloring, computer programs such as Photoshop, Corel, etc. will allow you to adjust the color balance and light in many different variations. This is an important feature, especially when the photograph was not professionally taken or lacks the appropriate lighting for the setting. Be careful not to over or under expose the photography.
Labeling is also another feature you can do in a computer program. You can insert boxes with text and arrows into a photograph in order to label key details. Labeling your photographs keeps the information you are trying to convey to the reader clear.
These computer programs may take some time to become familiar with how they work. It might be necessary to take a course or tutorial on how to use them to their full advantages, but it's worth it for all the features these programs have. There are some free tutorials available on the internet or through the actual program.
Using Graphics From the Artists, Internet, and Other Misc. Sources
Graphics can be found for just about any topic relatively easily if you know how to search for them and cite the artist properly. Like any written material, pictures are also property of the original artist in many cases. It is important to use good ethics and cite artists when necessary. The internet and your computer's clip art file have countless pictures and graphics as well. Knowing how to use these techniques and tools will make finding and using images easier.
Citing Images
In order to use or manipulate an image or graphic not your own, from either the Internet or any other source, you must obtain permission from whoever created or has rights to that image. Usually some type of arrangement between you and this person or organization will have to be negotiated. This could be anything from paying for the rights to use the image, or citing the image in the way that is expressed by the owner. Sometimes graphics will be considered public domain. Studying the copyright information of an image is one way to determine whether or not it is public domain. Images belonging to a government agency or even to your employer would typically be considered public domain. Even so, these images should still be cited. A quick guide to citing images from books and internet can be found at, [[1]]
Finding Images on the Internet
If you are looking for a high resolution image from the internet, you can select in the Google header bar that you want it only to search for "large images, or extra large images". If you are not finding what you are looking for, there are many stock photography sites out there that allow you to have the image, royalty free for very little of your own money. Some sites to consider would be: Stock.XCHNG (this is a free site, with some restrictions), Stock Xpert, Corbis, Getty, or others, just type in stock photography in the search bar.
Clip Art/Illustrations
An example of Clip Art
Illustrations are a great way to convey information easily and effectively to an audience of all ages. However, when using illustrations be sure that there is relevance from the illustration to the topic your discussing. Illustrations can serve as tangents if they have no relevance to the topic being discussed. Illustrations must be chosen to highlight the topic you are discussing and not to distract readers from it.
Graphics can portray ideas more easily than a picture. They give a different type of quality than text in the document. However, when presenting the ideas to well-educated and technologically savvy professionals, clip art may not present the information efficiently. Illustrations that have a low image resolution can take away from the details you are trying to portray to your audience.If this is the case then photos may be a better choice because they are more clear and may get you point across better.
Headline text
Headline text is used to introduce or even explain graphics. It is expected that you label all of your graphics in one way or another so that when you reference them in you document the reader knows which graphic you are talking about. Headline text can be as simple as a title for a graph or as complex as a short paragraph below a photo explaining the origin and context of the image. Your images and text may seem to go together logically without headlines to you, but your readers will not have your same familiarity.
https://www.coursesidekick.com/business/study-guides/technicalwriting/photos-and-illustrations
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Quick Tips for Visual Enhancement in Professional Communication
Keep the following in mind as you consider possible visual enhancements to your report:
- Use graphics to supplement or clarify information provided within the body of your report.
- Make sure your graphics are appropriate to your audience, subject matter, and purpose.
- Discuss graphics in nearby text preceding the graphic. Don’t just insert a graphic in your report unexplained. Orient readers to the graphic; explain its basic meaning, easily done in introductory and follow-up sentences before and after your graphic.
- Intersperse graphics and text on the same page. Don’t put graphics on pages by themselves; ideally, no visual should take up more than one-third of any page in your report.
- Use figure numbers and titles for graphics. Additionally, include identifying detail within the graphics such as illustration labels, axis labels, keys, and so on.
- Make sure graphics fit within normal margins. Leave at least one blank line above and below graphics.
- Place graphics as near to the point in the text where they are relevant as is reasonable. However, if a graphic does not fit properly on one page, indicate that it appears on the next page and put it at the top of the next, continuing with regular text on the preceding page. Don’t leave half a page blank just to keep a graphic near the text it is associated with.
- Cite all images that you create from any source material. You should do this in your introductory sentences before the visual as well as include a citation, if relevant, at the bottom of the visual. See samples above.
- Cite any images you use created by another writer which you include in your report. While it is perfectly legal to borrow graphics—to trace, photocopy, scan, or extract subsets of data from them, you are obligated to accurately cite your sources for graphics just as you are for the words you borrow.
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Resumes
Perhaps the professional document everyone enounters at some point, the resume is designed to extentuate and communicates one very important thing: yourself. This document is a summary of whatever history, skills, training, expereince you may posses which sets you apart from someone else. Unlike the other genres presemtd so far, a resume can be quite personal, and the desire to communicate our "best self" can be daunting. However, gain confidence in this genre can open a whole host of other writing opportunities, so we've saved the best for last.
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The following link will take you to Suzie Baker's book, Professional and Technical Writing (2019). This section--titled, "Preparing Job Materials: Reading Job Ads"--provides a very thorough discussion of looking for employment, how to read employment advertisements, the rhetorical nature of your resume, cover letters, the resume as a genre, and smaller tips to make the most of your resume.
https://oercommons.org/authoring/54645-professional-and-technical-writing/6/view
REFERENCES:
7.1 Correspondence: Text Messages, Emails, Memos, and Letters by Suzan Last is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.
Technical Writing. Authored by: Dr. Elizabeth Lohman. Provided by: Tidewater Community College. Located at: https://www.tcc.edu/. Project: Z Degree Program. License: CC BY: Attribution
"Professional and Technical Writing" 2019 by Suzie Baker
under license"Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial"
Functions of the Presentation to Inform. Provided by: Writing Commons. Located at: http://web.archive.org/web/20150320234217/http://writingcommons.org/open-text/genres/professional-business-and-technical-writing/presentations-to-inform/809-functions-of-the-presentation-to-inform. License: CC BY-NC-ND: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives
Technical Writing by Allison Gross, Annemarie Hamlin, Billy Merck, Chris Rubio, Jodi Naas, Megan Savage, and Michele DeSilva is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.
Additional Examples of Different Genres
Though several of the genres and links included in the previous chapter included examples, collected here are even more examples of professional communication; as you've learned, it's always worth examining and questioning how other writers create their documents. You may see choices that you'd like to incorporate in your own writing, or examples of practices you'd want to avoid. Regardless of how you use them, engaging with diverse examples is one of the best practices in better understanding your own writing and how you communicate, in a professional context or otherwise.
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Example Emails
Dear Colleagues,
For those interested in presenting for an being involved in the Narrative Medicine thread for the conference, I am organizing a conversation about possible workshops and gatherings for the 4th and 5th at Norman Community College. We have space for two workshops during that time, and I believe we have a wonderful chance to exchange ideas and information. Please email me at rlv123@ncc.edu , and I will get you on a discussion list. We defiantly want you to be there! In addition, we can exchange ideas for other sessions in Narrative Medicine and Medical Humanities.
Best and Happy Holidays,
Campus Connection will be unavailable while end of term processing occurs from 6 to 10 p.m. CT Sunday, Dec. 30. All access to Campus Connection will be unavailable during this time. Touchnet access will also be interrupted.
On your website, you are advertising positions for the upcoming season. I believe that my background and experience can be an asset to your organization. Attached is a copy of my resume. For the past few years, I have been working in a restaurant and have extensive experience in most of the service positions – from bussing to waiting and bartending. I am planning to arrive in the US in the beginning of June and am available to work through the end of September. I would very much like to have an opportunity to work for your restaurant and am confident that I can bring an international flare to your staffing. You may reach me through this email or at 44 22 929444 between the hours of 3 and 5pm your time.
Dear Hiring Manager,
I am writing to express my interest in the Web Content Manager position listed on MediaBistro.com. I have experience building large, consumer-focused health-based content sites.. While much of my experience has been in the business world, I understand the social value of the non-profit sector and my business experience will be an asset to your organization.
My responsibilities include the development and management of the site’s editorial voice and style, the editorial calendar, and the daily content programming and production of the web site.
I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Welcome to [company name].
Dear [customer’s name],
Thank you for registering with the [company name].
You can manage your personal information from the “My Account” section of the site when you sign in to [company name].
You can change your contact details and password, track recent orders, add alternate shipping addresses, and manage your preferences and customer profile all in this one convenient location.
Thank you for your interest in [company name].
We look forward to your next visit.
To: Harriet Adamo, Physical Plant Manager, XYZ Corporation
From: Mel Vargas, Construction Site Manager, Maxim Construction Company
Sent: Monday 10/25/09 8:14 AM
Subject: construction interruptions
Harriet,
I know employees of XYZ Corp. are looking forward to moving into the new ABC Street building in January, but recently groups of employees who do not have business here have been walking through the building. These visits create a safety hazard, interrupt the construction workers, and could put your occupancy date in jeopardy.
Would you please instruct your staff members who haven’t already been moved to ABC Street to stay out of the building? If they need to meet here with someone who has already moved, they should conduct their business and leave promptly via the nearest staircase.
We need to avoid further interruptions so our construction workers can get the building ready for occupancy on schedule. If you have any questions, please call me.
Thanks,
Mel
Melvin R. Vargas
Construction Site Manager, Maxim Construction Co.
1234 Main Street, Big City, USA 98765-1111
(111) 123-4567, ext. 89
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Example Cover Letters
E-2 Apartment Heights Dr.
Blacksburg, VA 24060
(540) 555-0101
abcd@vt.edu
February 22, 2011
Dr. Michelle Rhodes
Principal, Wolftrap Elementary School
1205 Beulah Road
Vienna, VA 22182
Dear Dr. Rhodes:
I enjoyed our conversation on February 18th at the Family and Child Development seminar on teaching elementary children and appreciated your personal input about balancing the needs of children and the community during difficult economic times. This letter is to follow-up about the Fourth Grade Teacher position as discussed at the seminar. I will complete my M.Ed. in Curriculum and Instruction at Virginia Tech in May 2011, and will be available for employment as soon as needed for the 2011-12 school year.
My teacher preparation program at Virginia Tech has included a full academic year of student teaching. Last semester I taught second grade and this semester am teaching fourth grade. These valuable experiences have afforded me the opportunity to:
- Develop lesson plans on a wide range of topics and varying levels of academic ability,
- Work with emotionally and physically challenged students in a total inclusion program,
- Observe and participate in effective classroom management approaches,
- Assist with parent-teacher conferences, and
- Complete in-service sessions on diversity, math and reading skills, and community relations.
My experience includes work in a private day care facility, Rainbow Riders Childcare Center, and in Virginia Tech’s Child Development Laboratory. Both these facilities are NAEYC-accredited and adhere to the highest standards. At both locations, I led small and large group activities, helped with lunches and snacks, and implemented appropriate activities. Both experiences also provided me with extensive exposure to the implementation of developmentally appropriate activities and materials.
I enthusiastically look forward to putting my knowledge and experience into practice in the public school system. Next week I will be in Vienna, and I plan to call you then to answer any questions that you may have. I can be reached before then at (540) 555-7670. Thank you very much for your consideration.
Sincerely,
(handwritten signature)
Donna Harrington
Enclosure
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Subject line: Application for sales representative for mid-Atlantic area
April 14, 2010
Mr. William Jackson
Employment Manager
Acme Pharmaceutical Corporation
13764 Jefferson Parkway
Roanoke, VA 24019
jackson@acmepharmaceutical.com
Dear Mr. Jackson:
From the Acme web site I learned about your need for a sales representative for the Virginia, Maryland, and North Carolina areas. I am very interested in this position with Acme Pharmaceuticals, and believe that my education and employment background are appropriate for the position.
You indicate that a requirement for the position is a track record of success in meeting sales goals. I have done this. After completion of my B.S. in biology, and prior to beginning my master’s degree in marketing, I worked for two years as a sales representative with a regional whole foods company. My efforts yielded success in new business development, and my sales volume consistently met or exceeded company goals. I would like to repeat that success in the pharmaceutical industry, using my academic background in science and business. I will complete my M.S. in marketing in mid-May and will be available to begin employment in early June.
Attached is a copy of my resume, which more fully details my qualifications for the position.
I look forward to talking with you regarding sales opportunities with Acme Pharmaceuticals. Within the next week I will contact you to confirm that you received my e-mail and resume and to answer any questions you may have.
Thank you very kindly for your consideration.
Sincerely,
Layne A. Johnson
5542 Hunt Club Lane, #1
Blacksburg, VA 24060
(540) 555-8082
lajohnson@vt.edu
Resume attached as MS Word document (assuming company web site instructed applicants to do this)
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1000 Terrace View Apts.
Blacksburg, VA 24060
(540) 555-4523
stevemason@vt.edu
March 25, 2010
Ms. Janice Wilson
Personnel Director
Anderson Construction Company
3507 Rockville Pike
Rockville, MD 20895
Dear Ms. Wilson:
I read in the March 24th Washington Post classified section of your need for a Civil Engineer or Building Construction graduate for one of your Washington, DC, area sites. I will be returning to the Washington area after graduation in May and believe that I have the necessary credentials for the project.
Every summer for the last five years I have worked at various levels in the construction industry. As indicated on my enclosed resume, I have worked as a general laborer, and moved up to skilled carpentry work, and last summer served as assistant construction manager on a two million dollar residential construction project.
In addition to this practical experience, I will complete requirements for my B.S. in Building Construction in May. As you may know, Virginia Tech is one of the few universities in the country that offers such a specialized degree for the construction industry. I am confident that my degree, along with my years of construction industry experience, make me an excellent candidate for your job.
The Anderson Construction Company projects are familiar to me, and my aspiration is to work for a company that has your excellent reputation. I would welcome the opportunity to interview with you. I will be in the Washington area during the week of April 12th and would be available to speak with you at that time. In the next week to ten days I will contact you to answer any questions you may have.
Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
(handwritten signature)
Jesse Mason
Enclosure
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Example Letter of Recommendations
Letter of Recommendation for Ms. X
Department of Y, PhD Program
I first knew X in the spring of l986 when she was a member of my Freshman Seminar, '. . . .` In such small groups teacher and students come to know one another in a way that is seldom, if ever, possible in large lecture courses. In either forum something can be learned about a student's academic ability, but only in the former can one get a reliable measure of the student as a person. . . . Having kept in touch with X in the intervening years, I am confident in my knowledge of her.
To begin with, she is an excellent student, with a lively curiosity that makes her dissatisfied with superficial explanations. That curiosity frequently led our seminar down avenues and into areas that, otherwise, would have remained unexplored. . . .
One has only to speak to her to recognize her openness and eagerness. It is easy to mistake this for naiveté, an error I made when she first told me she had signed up to be an apprentice teacher in one of Boston's more notorious inner city high schools. . . . Throughout the term, often at great cost to her own peace of mind, and sometimes in explicit conflict with the regular teacher, she continued to insist on a high level of performance from her students. She not only survived the term but won the admiration and respect of students accustomed to being patronized by teachers content to believe that nothing much can be expected.
I would expect X to bring these same qualities of character to . . . . That is, an openness to new places, peoples, cultures and customs; a keen intelligence, with which to analyze and order her experience; irrepressible curiosity; and an unusual ability for dealing with people of all ages and conditions. Those qualities, combined with her toughness of character. . ., will enable her to understand and empathize with others while never losing touch with who she is.
***
Letter of Recommendation for Jane Doe
Office of Graduate Admissions, Institute of Design
I'm honored to recommend Jane Doe for admission to graduate studies at the Institute of Design. Since Jane will be visiting you soon, the following information should help introduce her as well as convey my wholehearted recommendation that she be admitted to your program.
My association with Jane--I've known Jane closely for three years, during which we've collaborated on many projects. Her role has been that of a consultant to our architectural firm. Jane and I have also conversed privately on theoretical and practical matters of style, aesthetics, and philosophies of design. I've always been impressed by her know-how--from how to design an arboretum to good principles of document design.
Jane's integrity--The hallmark of Jane's character is her honesty. This extends from those areas where we easily see it (in relationships and business transactions) to integrity of thought. Scientific, thorough, and meticulous, she approaches any analytical task with an exacting eye. This is the kind of care and concern I mean by integrity of thought.
Jane's scholarship and balanced education--As a student of the humanities, Jane pursued a course of study that could serve as a model for any general education curriculum. She knows not only Shakespeare but mathematics. She's as comfortable in a wood shop as at the opera.
Her professional manner--Jane Doe is one of the most pleasant persons you'll ever meet or work with. She's forthright, but neither intimidates nor intrudes. She's open, friendly, and authentic--the Jane you'll soon meet is the Jane you'll get, without any surprises.
Jane has my unqualified professional endorsement and my deep personal respect. Please feel free to call at any time if I can be of further assistance.
**********
Examples of Proposals
Narrative of OER Plan
Project Description
Conversations regarding science-based issues—most recently COVID-19/vaccines and for decades, climate change—are often met with skepticism and distrust, with many people not understanding science as a process, typically only engaging with conclusions which can create a barrier for appreciating how those conclusions were reached. The Composition course CO301B, Writing in the Sciences, was created specifically to have STEM-based CSU students practice reducing this barrier, showing their readers the step-by-step processes of their majors and teaching those same readers to be scientifically-minded, i.e. believe in the conclusions as proven by the process. However, this reader-as-scientist approach is not without its own blind spots, often focusing on Westernized characteristics such as objectivity and quantitative value—empirical qualities—which inherently undermine other knowledge systems, specifically, traditional and indigenous knowledge. If CSU students are to appreciate their own scientific backgrounds, and in turn communicate to a wider audience the necessity to understand science-based situations, then they must also be able to work with and recognize Traditional Knowledge (TK) as an equal system in knowledge creation, learning from local and diverse communities across the globe who often view science as a spiritual and subjective experience.
My proposed OER will act as a collection of scholarly articles focused on TK in the larger discourse communities of Health, Environment, and Technology—which correspond to most CO301B student major demographics. Students will use this collection in tandem with other scholarly works, a requirement of a 300-level course, to deepen their individual projects and engage with diverse communities by expanding the concept of “scientific thought.” As an OER, this collection will expose students to scientific practices not generally covered, at no additional cost to them, and further enact CSU’s commitment to diversity and inclusion across curriculums.
Note that this OER cannot fully replace the current CO301B textbook listed above as these proposed materials are not rhetorically focused—a requirement of CO courses. This OER will be best used as a supplement/compliment to other scholarly readings and course concepts within the CO301B content criteria, specifically writing as a rhetorical practice. Essentially, this proposed OER is intended for discussion and implementation of traditional scientific knowledge within a larger science-based course.
Format of OER
Given that my OER is text-based I will use a format that many assistive technologies recognize: PDF. Beyond the format itself, to the best of my ability, and through the aid of accessibility checkers, I will use common design considerations such as: logical page structure, consistent placement of information from page-to-page, true text throughout, standard font families, easily recognizable links, and other elements that follow POUR (Perceivable, Operable, Understandable, Robust) guidelines.
Goals and Assessment of OER
A major goal of the OER is to have students thoughtfully work with/understand TK as being in relationship with modern science and to further recognize science as a process—one spanning cultures and centuries, not merely study to study. Ideally, students will synthesize current scientific processes alongside indigenous knowledge systems, equating the two and promoting the concept of “local” expertise as a valid and valuable means of knowledge creation. In turn, given that 301B is centered on writing about science to general audiences, students will communicate that synthesis to imagined readers and, hopefully, to individuals in their future careers—such as patients, stakeholders, and clients. A parallel goal is to have instructors, from a variety of discourse communities, use the OER as a way to include diverse perspectives in their science-based courses.
In terms of assessment, I will use similar evaluation metrics as other critical thinking and writing techniques found within a writing course, usually through asking “how?” in relation to effectiveness of communication: how well has this student used their TK source in regards to their overall topic? How well are they communicating the information found within their TK source? How well are they thinking of their TK source in relation to their other sources? Etcetera. As with other critical thinking and writing techniques implementation is a practice and cannot be assessed completely in a single setting.
Funding Request and Use
I am requesting funding of $4,000 to create OER and to be used as summer salary for a faculty member on a 9-month appointment schedule. Through the months of June and July 2021 I plan to set aside roughly 15 hours a week to create this OER, culminating in 120 hours of labor. Through CSU’s library databases and Open-Access repositories this time will be spent finding, analyzing, and categorizing potential scholarly articles related to TK. This time will also be spent in creating supplemental writings such as a larger introduction to the collection, how to use the collection in a science-based writing course, placing TK in context, introduction to the sections, and smaller text-based activities for potential instructor use.
Timeline for OER Creation
My estimated timeline is assembling a sample collection of TK scholarly texts within the aforementioned three discourse communities over the summer of 2021. My hope is to collect and analyze at least 25 scholarly texts for each of the three communities of the framework—so roughly 75+—and organize them into distinct sections. Once my scheduled classes begin in Fall 2021 I will integrate the collection into the course and have students choose sources that fit their individual projects, which then culminates in student feedback/course evaluations, allowing me to modify/revise the collection. After that semester, and if I teach the course in Spring 2022, I will reintegrate the modified collection into that course, culminating once again in student feedback/course evaluations. My hope is to have a “near complete” draft of the collection by the end of Summer 2022 fully informed by student use and engagement.
Implementation of OER
The first full implementation of a working draft will be in the Fall 2021 semester. I am scheduled to teach 3 sections of CO301B, so roughly 72 students will interact with this text. The OER will be further “tested” in the Spring 2022 semester, if I am scheduled to teach this course then. The OER will be used as a supplemental text, deepening course content criteria and allowing for other instructional opportunities.
Sustained Use of OER
The sustained use of this specific OER is dependent on my teaching schedule as offered by my department. To date, I have been a full-time instructor at CSU from Fall 2019-Spring 2021 (further scheduled to teach in the 2021/2022 schoolyear). Of these 6 semesters, 4 have included teaching CO301B, the initial intended course for this OER. I believe I will be scheduled to teach this course again in future semesters. Beyond this specific OER material, I am an OER Ambassador and have been granted course releases to aid in the creation and development of OER at CSU with Dr. Mike Palmquist (Spring 2020, Summer 2020, & Spring 2021), all of which have been funded by the Colorado OER Council. When possible, I intend to use OER materials for the remainder of my professional teaching career.
***
Request For Professional Development Funds: 2018-2019
Ben Greenlee
From: Ben Greenlee
To: Graduate Professional Development Awards Committee
Introduction:
With our current political, social, and environmental changes I am constantly considering the future. I oscillate between fears of all things becoming worse, or hope that humanity can overcome any obstacle. I occupy a space of in-between-ness, never quite settling into either emotion, unsure of which reigns supreme. As a writer, the genre of speculative fiction best encompasses this split of the self, allowing me to project and imagine what comes next, both the negative and the positive, so as to better understand what to do now; I can fling myself into the future or past from the relatively safety of the present. Contemporary writers also seem to embrace this position, turning to this genre in order to imagine their own worries. Award winning/nominated books such as Emily St. John Mandel’s Station Eleven, George Saunders’ Lincoln in the Bardo, Colson Whitehead’s The Underground Railroad, Carmen Maria Machado’s Her Body and Other Parties, and recent MacArthur Fellow recipient Kelly Link, to name a few, all represent the genre of speculative fiction. They, like myself, project themselves outward using a genre that seeks out the horizon.
In order to deepen my own projections to craft necessary fictions, I am requesting $765 in professional development funds to finance my acceptance into the competitive three-day speculative fiction workshop at the Futurescapes Writing Conference.
Brief Description:
The Futurescapes Writing Conference is an annual conference that discusses and practices the writing of speculative fictions (science fiction, fantasy, horror, paranormal, graphic novels, etc.). As indicated on the Futurescapes website, the competitive workshop portion of the conference will be held over a three-day period where each participant will be paired with three faculty mentors (an author, and editor, and an agent) and engage in multiple workshop critiques, craft lessons, and talks on the commercial aspects of writing [as referenced on document “D”].
Relevance to Graduate Work:
My thesis novel is heavily influenced by the speculative fiction subgenre of a possible future where ecological change and crisis has strengthened the notion of a surveillance state. I would not call this a dystopian narrative, rather a forecast into what may be based on what is, speculative fiction’s greatest characteristic. Another element of my novel is the interplay of masculine and feminine approaches to preparing for potential catastrophic events, aka doomsday prepping. My desire is that these two elements combine to offer some commentary on what it means to have hope in a seemingly hopeless world. In terms of other graduate work that speaks to the Futurescapes workshop, I have taken a course on Hybridity and another on the Philosophy of Science Fiction. The Hybrid class taught me how the blending of outwardly different modes of writing can create a richer reading experience while also suggesting a more realized reflection of our current world of information overload, while the Philosophy of Science Fiction course raised questions of what it means to be human, and how the genre of speculative fictions ask those questions in nuanced and entertaining ways; both courses have been invaluable in the development of my thesis novel. Lastly, in regards to the Futurescapes workshop itself, with critique groups of a student-to-mentor ratio of 7:1, individual attention will be given to each manuscript as well as creating space for the development of professional relationships. My goals for this workshop are to gain specialized feedback for my thesis novel, practice techniques specific to the genre of writing speculative fictions, gain greater insight into the commercial aspect of writing, and, outside of my thesis project, have an opportunity for professional discussions of the graphic novel mode of writing, a mode I have only enjoyed as a reader thus far.
Dates of Travel:
Thursday evening April 11th through Sunday April 14th, 2019, Sundance, Utah.
Budget:
- Early Bird registration $436
- Lodging @ local AirBNB, 3 nights (halved) $150
- Mini-workshop w/ writer Ted Chiang $89
- Travel for round-trip and inter-city commuting (halved) $60
- Per diem, 3 meals $30
TOTAL: $765
Notes on Budget:
- Registration=This pricing is based off the Early Bird registration fee, local rooming rate (meaning not purchasing a room on the resort grounds), and a 20% discount based on student status [as referenced on document “C”]. Purchased October 31st 2018.
- Lodging=This pricing is based on an average of local AirBNB 2-bedroom rates in the town of Provo, Utah, 26 miles away from the Workshop setting, for the weekend of April 12th-14th for a three-night stay. I have indicated “halved” as another CSU graduate student will also be staying with us, consolidating expenses and providing additional care for, during that time, her 5 month-old baby. This shared pricing is more individually cost effective than the private room rate with the partner rate [as referenced on document “C”], saving myself and CSU Partner $245 each.
- Mini-workshop=Ted Chiang is a high-profile writer in the speculative fiction and fantasy genres, earning multiple Locus, Hugo, and Nebula awards, the highest honors in the speculative fiction and fantasy genres. Working with Mr. Chiang in a more intimate setting beyond the larger workshop would be invaluable for developing my craft and techniques in these two genres, respectively. Purchased October 31st 2018.
- Travel=I will be driving my own vehicle, so this pricing is based on the average price of gas and the ability of my specific vehicle in conjunction with the round-trip distance of Fort Collins, CO and the Sundance Resort, UT. I have indicated “halved” as another CSU student will be sharing the costs. Together, we have added an additional $20 for inter-city commuting ($10 each). This total has been calculated by the website, “GasBuddy” [as referenced on document “E”].
- Per diem=This pricing is based on three meals, at $10 a meal, not provided during the workshop [as referenced on document “D”]. All other meals are provided by the workshop. Needed meals for myself only: dinner Friday 12th, dinner Saturday 13th, and lunch Sunday 14th.
Additional Information:
Attached are: a current Curriculum vitae; proof of workshop acceptance [“A”]; proof of purchase for registration [“B”]; general information on the workshop [“C”]; workshop schedule [“D”]; and travel distance with cost [“E”].
Conclusion:
The Futurescapes Workshop will enable me to gain a deeper practice while surrounding myself with other writers who excel in the speculative fiction genre, a genre I am currently exploring through my thesis novel and CSU course load. The workshop will also be a much appreciated developmental space to discover writing beyond my thus far academic writing life, diversifying into a professional field, creating relationships with writers, editors and agents that could strengthen my writing career, opening a future with greater possibilities.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Ben Greenlee
When will I use my Writing on the Job? Career-Based Readings
As with many college courses, especially courses that focus on writing, there is the constant thought of how to apply learned skills in a "real-world" setting. After reading all the previous chapters a student may ask themselves "can I really keep all this in mind?", "do my writing choices matter in the ways we've been learning?", "is a future job going to care that I took a course on professional communication?" Rather than responding with an enthusiastic "YES!", and telling you developing professional communication skills is important, this chapter collects several instances of professionals (experts and students) speaking of their own practical application of writing techniques previously discussed.
Hopefully by including these voices here you'll gain a wider perspective on what your future writing life may include.
*****
- “Writing in Criminal Justice: The Process”
- Book Excerpt with Reflection
- LaNina Cooke
https://milnepublishing.geneseo.edu/processes/chapter/writing-in-criminal-justice-the-process/
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- “Writing in Science: Creating a Lab Write-Up"
- Article Excerpt with Reflection
- Cesar Hernandez and Thawanhathai Kiatsutthakorn
https://milnepublishing.geneseo.edu/processes/chapter/writing-in-science-creating-a-lab-write-up/
***
- “My Education in Writing as a Nurse”
- Reflection
- Darcy McRedmond
https://milnepublishing.geneseo.edu/processes/chapter/my-education-in-writing-as-a-nurse/
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- “How Nursing Taught Me to Write Scholarly”
- Student Writing Excerpts with Reflection
- Ricky Hsiao
https://milnepublishing.geneseo.edu/processes/chapter/how-nursing-taught-me-to-write-scholarly/
*****
Readings taken from Processes: Writing Across Academic Careers, edited by Christopher Iverson and Dan Ehrenfeld; 9781942341818. March 31, 2023.
https://milneopentextbooks.org/processes-writing-across-academic-careers/
REFERENCES:
Processes by LaNina Cooke is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.
What if I'm a "Bad Writer"? Writing Fundamentals
You may think that some people are simply born better writers than others, but in fact writing is a reflection of experience and effort. If you think about your successes as a writer, you may come up with a couple of favorite books, authors, or teachers that inspired you to express yourself. You may also recall a sense of frustration with your previous writing experiences. It is normal and natural to experience a sense of frustration at the perceivedinability to express oneself. The emphasis here is on your perception of yourself as a writer as one aspect of how you communicate. Most people use oral communication for much of their self-expression, from daily interactions to formal business meetings. You have a lifetime of experience in that arena that you can leverage to your benefit in your writing. Reading out loud what you have written is a positive technique we’ll address later in more depth.
Martin Luther King Jr.’s statement, “Violence is the language of the unheard” emphasizes the importance of finding one’s voice, of being able to express one’s ideas. Violence comes in many forms, but is often associated with frustration born of the lack of opportunity to communicate. You may read King’s words and think of the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s, or perhaps of the violence of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, or of wars happening in the world today. Public demonstrations and fighting are expressions of voice, from individual to collective. Finding your voice, and learning to listen to others, is part of learning to communicate.
You are your own best ally when it comes to your writing. Keeping a positive frame of mind about your journey as a writer is not a cliché or simple, hollow advice. Your attitude toward writing can and does influence your written products. Even if writing has been a challenge for you, the fact that you are reading this sentence means you perceive the importance of this essential skill. This text and our discussions will help you improve your writing, and your positive attitude is part of your success strategy.
There is no underestimating the power of effort when combined with inspiration and motivation. The catch then is to get inspired and motivated. That’s not all it takes, but it is a great place to start. You were not born with a key pad in front of you, but when you want to share something with friends and text them, the words (or abbreviations) come almost naturally. So you recognize you have the skills necessary to begin the process of improving and harnessing your writing abilities for business success. It will take time and effort, and the proverbial journey starts with a single step, but don’t lose sight of the fact that your skillful ability to craft words will make a significant difference in your career.
READING
Reading is one step many writers point to as an integral step in learning to write effectively. You may like Harry Potter books or be a Twilight fan, but if you want to write effectively in business, you need to read business-related documents. These can include letters, reports, business proposals, and business plans. You may find these where you work or in your school’s writing center, business department, or library; there are also many Web sites that provide sample business documents of all kinds. Your reading should also include publications in the industry where you work or plan to work, such as Aviation Week, InfoWorld, Journal of Hospitality, International Real Estate Digest, or Women’s Wear Daily, to name just a few. You can also gain an advantage by reading publications in fields other than your chosen one; often reading outside your niche can enhance your versatility and help you learn how other people express similar concepts. Finally, don’t neglect general media like the business section of your local newspaper, and national publications like the Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, and the Harvard Business Review. Reading is one of the most useful lifelong habits you can practice to boost your business communication skills.
In the “real world” when you are under a deadline and production is paramount, you’ll be rushed and may lack the time to do adequate background reading for a particular assignment. For now, take advantage of your business communication course by exploring common business documents you may be called on to write, contribute to, or play a role in drafting. Some documents have a degree of formula to them, and your familiarity with them will reduce your preparation and production time while increasing your effectiveness. As you read similar documents, take notes on what you observe. As you read several sales letters, you may observe several patterns that can serve you well later on when it’s your turn. These patterns are often called conventions, or conventional language patterns for a specific genre.
WRITING
Never lose sight of one key measure of the effectiveness of your writing: the degree to which it fulfills readers’ expectations. If you are in a law office, you know the purpose of a court brief is to convince the judge that certain points of law apply to the given case. If you are at a newspaper, you know that an editorial opinion article is supposed to convince readers of the merits of a certain viewpoint, whereas a news article is supposed to report facts without bias. If you are writing ad copy, the goal is to motivate consumers to make a purchase decision. In each case, you are writing to a specific purpose, and a great place to start when considering what to write is to answer the following question: what are the readers’ expectations?
When you are a junior member of the team, you may be given clerical tasks like filling in forms, populating a database, or coordinating appointments. Or you may be assigned to do research that involves reading, interviewing, and note taking. Don’t underestimate these facets of the writing process; instead, embrace the fact that writing for business often involves tasks that a novelist might not even recognize as “writing.” Your contribution is quite important and in itself is an on-the-job learning opportunity that shouldn’t be taken for granted.
When given a writing assignment, it is important to make sure you understand what you are being asked to do. You may read the directions and try to put them in your own words to make sense of the assignment. Be careful, however, not to lose sight of what the directions say versus what you think they say. Just as an audience’s expectations should be part of your consideration of how, what, and why to write, the instructions given by your instructor, or in a work situation by your supervisor, establish expectations. Just as you might ask a mentor more about a business writing assignment at work, you need to use the resources available to you to maximize your learning opportunity. Ask the professor to clarify any points you find confusing, or perceive more than one way to interpret, in order to better meet the expectations.
Before you write an opening paragraph, or even the first sentence, it is important to consider the overall goal of the assignment. The word assignment can apply equally to a written product for class or for your employer. You might make a list of the main points and see how those points may become the topic sentences in a series of paragraphs. You may also give considerable thought to whether your word choice, your tone, your language, and what you want to say is in line with your understanding of your audience. We briefly introduced the writing process previously, and will visit it in depth later in our discussion, but for now writing should about exploring your options. Authors rarely have a finished product in mind when they start, but once you know what your goal is and how to reach it, you writing process will become easier and more effective.
CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM AND TARGETED PRACTICE
Mentors can also be important in your growth as a writer. Your instructor can serve as a mentor, offering constructive criticism, insights on what he or she has written, and life lessons about writing for a purpose. Never underestimate the mentors that surround you in the workplace, even if you are currently working in a position unrelated to your desired career. They can read your rough draft and spot errors, as well as provide useful insights. Friends and family can also be helpful mentors—if your document’s meaning is clear to someone not working in your business, it will likely also be clear to your audience.
The key is to be open to criticism, keeping in mind that no one ever improved by repeating bad habits over and over. Only when you know what your errors are—errors of grammar or sentence structure, logic, format, and so on—can you correct your document and do a better job next time. Writing can be a solitary activity, but more often in business settings it is a collective, group, or team effort. Keep your eyes and ears open for opportunities to seek outside assistance before you finalize your document.
Learning to be a successful business writer comes with practice. Targeted practice, which involves identifying your weak areas and specifically working to improve them, is especially valuable. In addition to reading, make it a habit to write, even if it is not a specific assignment. The more you practice writing the kinds of materials that are used in your line of work, the more writing will come naturally and become an easier task—even on occasions when you need to work under pressure.
CRITICAL THINKING
Critical thinking means becoming aware of your thinking process. It’s a human trait that allows us to step outside what we read or write and ask ourselves, “Does this really make sense?” “Are there other, perhaps better, ways to explain this idea?” Sometimes our thinking is very abstract and becomes clear only through the process of getting thoughts down in words. As a character in E. M. Forster’s Aspects of the Novel said, “How can I tell what I think till I see what I say?” (1976, p. 99). Did you really write what you meant to, and will it be easily understood by the reader? Successful writing forms a relationship with the audience, reaching the reader on a deep level that can be dynamic and motivating. In contrast, when writing fails to meet the audience’s expectations, you already know the consequences: they’ll move on.
Learning to write effectively involves reading, writing, critical thinking, and hard work. You may have seen The Wizard of Oz and recall the scene when Dorothy discovers what is behind the curtain. Up until that moment, she believed the Wizard’s powers were needed to change her situation, but now she discovers that the power is her own. Like Dorothy, you can discover that the power to write successfully rests in your hands. Excellent business writing can be inspiring, and it is important to not lose that sense of inspiration as we deconstruct the process of writing to its elemental components.
You may be amazed by the performance of Tony Hawk on a skateboard ramp, Mia Hamm on the soccer field, or Michael Phelps in the water. Those who demonstrate excellence often make it look easy, but nothing could be further from the truth. Effort, targeted practice, and persistence will win the day every time. When it comes to writing, you need to learn to recognize clear and concise writing while looking behind the curtain at how it is created. This is not to say we are going to lose the magic associated with the best writers in the field. Instead, we’ll appreciate what we are reading as we examine how it was written and how the writer achieved success.
https://oercommons.org/authoring/54645-professional-and-technical-writing/1/view
*****
Further Guidance on Writing Fundamentals
The following link will take you to a section of Suzie Baker's book, Professional and Technical Writing (2019). This section--titled, "Writing Basics"--includes lessons, examples, and exercises on writing fundamentals, such as:
- Sentence Writing (17.1)
- Subject-Verb Agreement (17.2)
- Verb Tense (17.3)
- Capitalization (17.4)
- Pronouns (17.5)
- Adjectives and Adverbs (17.6)
- Misplaced and Dangling Modifiers (17.7)
https://oercommons.org/authoring/54645-professional-and-technical-writing/17/view
REFERENCES:
"Professional and Technical Writing" 2019 by Suzie Baker
under license"Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial"