Introduction

Professional Writing

Rest of the world uses– Technical writing– Technical communication

Define technical writing Information only makes sense in a specific

context which must be shared between the writer and reader.

Course goal

To learn methods of effectively communicating information

How does “communicating information” differ from “writing about technical stuff”?

Writing in the workplace

What percent of a work week to you think most professionals spend writing?

What are some issues of poor workplace writing? Assume that your writing will be mostly internal.

Importance of clear writing

Writing is often considered necessary busywork after the real work is done.

But, writing up the issues often clarifies the problem and should be considered a knowledge generation activity.

Plus, you have knowledge capture and legal issues to consider.

Professional, not academic, writing

This course teaches you writing for the workplace

Academic writing is a different genre and many of the skills you have learned are not quite right.– Funnel shaped introductions– Use of big words and convoluted sentences

Writing at a computer

How many of you compose at a computer?As opposed to writing first drafts by hand.

What are the advantages? Why should you learn to compose at a

computer for workplace writing?

Writing at a computer

Advantages– Ease of revision and updates– Easier to read and share

Important point– Computer is just a writing tool. It already

limits your control. Never let it take over and dictate how or what you write.

Overall communication issues

Know audience expectations Know client expectations

– Is audience and client different? Maintain a consistent look and feel Consider how each page will look and be

used before starting the work.– Each page must be part of a whole– Prevents having a page that looks awkward

Design points

Audience needs come first– What are audience goals and information needs

Obvious organization -- lead the reader– Informative headings– Enough white space to show structure– Gray pages are turn off

Design to draw reader in– How does it look at 10 feet?

Testing the design

Why bother to test? You know the information is correct!

When is a good time to start? How should you test? Do you ask people

– “Do you like this?”– “Does this make sense?”– “Is everything there?”

End

Discussion questions

For these questions, consider who are the different audience groups, what information they need, and how they need that information presented differently.

Question 1

Report that focuses on examining a detailed break down of the monthly budgets for multiple divisions within a company. The goal is to reduce the overall spending.

Question 2

Your company has been hired to figure out to rework the HVAC system in a large building (like Bate here) because the building temperature varies too much.

Your findings are that the main unit needs to be updated and that some of the piping needs to be replaced with a different size.

Question 3

A report for general readers that describes the research of a company that does medical research on gene modification for curing disease.

Question 4

An analysis of the need for a new classroom building on the ECU campus.

Question 5

You have been assigned to write the technical manual that will accompany that HVAC unit that is installed in people’s homes.