Your Prose Revision Assignment is due on Canvas today before 11:00 pm
Preview Set of Instructions Assignment
Your Set of Instructions Assignment is due on Wednesday (6/03). Remember that a summer term has tight deadlines.
Chapters 5 and 10
Chapter 5 covers information on document design, which is an entire class in itself, and reinforces effective ways of focusing the reader’s attention on information. We won’t go over every part of the chapter, but definitely ask questions if you have them. Below are some highlights to consider from Chapter 5:
- p. 86: Readers do judge books by their cover and technical documents by their “look”
- p. 87: branding guidelines standardize the look and feel of an organization’s communications
- p. 87: most readers scan documents and hunt for information
- pp. 90: don’t just tell them what you’re about to tell them; tell them how you’re going to tell them–provide an overview of the document’s organization
- p. 93: making your document easy to use–technical documents are used, not just read
- p. 103: be parallel in content as well as headings
Look at the user documents below. Consider what makes the following effective or not-so-effective user documents:
- Download UNC Charlotte VPN
- Changing Your Car’s Oil
(“Don’t you ditch the car when the oil gets dirty?”) - InDesign Tutorial
- How to Customize Internet Explorer 9
- How to be More Photogenic (Review all 3 and compare)
Chapter 10 shows us types of user documents–instructions, procedures, and policies–which we won’t spend much time on. However, below are a few key points:
- p. 276: Users don’t like to read instructions…so why do we bother having technical communication courses?
{Take a moment and think about the type of writing you will do or have done on the job. What type of communication situations do you or did you find yourself in?} - p. 276-277: How will readers/users approach the document? In other words, under what/which context/s will users read the document?
- p. 278: Limit instruction to one item
One idea per paragraph; one instruction per step (generally) - p. 279: Case 10-1.The author starts by thinking about her audience. (See #2 under prewriting) For now, review Case Document 10-1A and 10-1B. Besides the audience analysis, what revisions (and why) make 10-1B the more effective document?
- p. 303 (yeah…almost missed it): What are some differences between print and online instructions? Consider the following:
- Audience and Purpose
- Context
- Readability
- p. 304: Case 10-4_A&B. There’s no audience profile for this document, so let’s think of one. Who is the audience? Consider the following:
- Primary, Secondary, other audiences–what’s the audience scope?
- How technically savvy is the audience?
- How amenable to change is the audience?
- Really think about this one…Who communicates this information to the audience? Thinking back to last week’s discussion, how might the writer have to approach the audience? Can he or she be direct? Consider hostile vs. friendly audiences.
- Also, what are the surface changes that make the revision (10-4B) a more effective revision?
- Time permitting, Reengineering at MIT. Read para. 9
You ought to refer back to Chapter 10 for your future assignments, especially your set of instructions assignment for June 3rd. Chapter 10 has a useful “Checklist for Developing Instructions/Procedures” on p. 306. Although you might not find all of these questions relevant, they should help you think through your approach to creating technical documents.
Below I have some topics that could have procedures/instructions. I’m not expecting you to create a document based on any of these for your assignment, but I do want you to consider how you might start thinking about your approach to a document based on the topic. I do realize that their are multiple audiences and different contexts for these topics, and that’s important to think about because different audiences and purposes might require totally different documents:
- How to find store deals (on products, services, etc.)
- How to be a cool person
- How to change a water purification filter (i.e., Brita, Pur, etc.)
- How to excavate at/for an archeological site
- How to be safe walking at night
- How to properly maintain social distancing during a pandemic
- What to do in case of a fire
What rule does the above list violate?
Homework and Future Work
We’ll most likely continue these lessons if we haven’t finished them tomorrow. Remember, you have your Prose Revision assignment (three paragraphs) due TODAY–Monday (6/01) and your Set of Instructions assignment due Wednesday (6/03). And your Midterm Exam is on Canvas on June 4th–you’ll have 90 minutes to do it, and I’ll open it up from 8:00 am – 11:00 pm.