How does Workplace Affect What and How you Write

1. How does Workplace Affect What and How you Write Chapter 1

2. Reader Expectations • As a student you would know what I would expect from an assignment. • In workplace, you might or might not know. Your audience might be varied, individual or group and with different expectations. • You will have to account for these differences in your document design.

3. Time & Budget Limitations • You will have limited time to spend on a certain document or given assignment, much like in college. • Time and budget limitations might affect your writing. • As a professional, you will have to find out a systematic and effective strategy so that your writing output is of good quality.

4. Ethical Considerations • You will have to be careful about the language or the information that you use as part of your writing. • Example: How will you report the results of a new airbag design when the testing shows flawed design and re-designing the airbag would mean going back on the production cycle?

5. Collaborative Writing • Planning a document with others. • Writing as part of a team. • Reviewing and revising documents. • Each person is responsible for a particular section. • One team member generally serves as a final editor. • Team members write the document together – word by word.

6. What makes Technical Communication Effective? • Addresses specific readers. • Uses a clear, concise style. • Uses a professional, accessible design. • Includes accurate and complete information. • Follows the conventions of grammar, punctuation, spelling, and usage.

7. Principle 1: Determine your purpose for writing • What type of document are you writing? • What is the purpose of the document?

8. Principle 2: Identify your readers? • Who are your primary readers? Are there secondary readers? If so, who? • Are your readers internal or external to the company? • What do your readers know about the topic and its related field?

9. Principle 3: Determine your readers’ purpose, needs and preferences? • What questions might your reader ask while reading your document? • How and where will your readers use your document? • What time constraints are your readers under? • What style, format, design, and media do your readers prefer?

10. Principle 4: Analyze your readers’ attitudes? • What are your readers’ attitudes toward the subject of your document? How will they react to your document? Why? • Have your readers worked with you or your organization? Have the working relationships been positive or negative? • What are your readers’ attitudes toward you and your organization?

11. Writing for Readers with Different Levels of Technical Expertise • Divide the document into distinct sections so that readers can read only the sections that apply to them. • Use devices that help readers find different information in the document. • Put the definitions of technical words, explanations of technical information, and other technical details in footnotes, appendixes, or other special sections that readers can easily find. • Direct the language and presentation of a single document for readers with the lowest level of technical expertise. This technique works especially well for instruction manuals. • Write separate documents for each group of readers if you have the time and budget. • Put the document online so you can compartmentalize it for readers with various levels of knowledge.

12. Brief Exercise • Choose a small internet article of your choice. It might be a software or physical process manual, travel or company brochure, corporate website etc. • Try and find out whether broadly speaking, the principles mentioned in the previous slides (that makes effective technical writing) has been complied with. • We will complete a practice workshop in class.