technical writing, november 12, 2013

TODAY

1) Anderson on proposals2) Dr. Phill on proposals and tech writing3) The first time you probably made a textual

proposal– and now we do it all PW style4) And for next time…

In Chapter 23

Anderson tells us all about writing proposals. This is one of his most free-form chapters, as he doesn’t offer the usual guidelines. He does, however, offer a very specific super-structure. This super-structure can be of great use to us!

IntroductionProblem

ObjectivesSolutionMethod

ResourcesScheduleQualificationsManagementCosts

And from my video…

You basically know my rules for proposals. But this is a good point for me to hit my ten commandments for advanced technical writing. Ten things you should always, always remember, particularly with reports and proposals, but with all tech writing.

Guideline 1: Above all, be clear.

In other words, people are people. If there were 10 people in a study and five said the word “taco,” half of them said the word “taco,”etc.

Guideline 2: Anticipate your reader’s needs.

This is always critical, but here’s a quick, easy example. Someone said on the TV here in my world just now, “The KC Chiefs are undefeated, but they haven’t played anyone good.” SHOW ME THE SCHEDULE.

Guideline 3: Stop once you’ve told us what you’re telling us.

I give you page requirements here as suggestions. In technical communication, things are as long as they are. That’s it. The document decides. No employer is going to ask you for a 3 page report that needs to be exactly 3 pages.

Guideline 4: Use formatting to make your points clear, but don’t go crazy.

Because the green word is important.and the indented one is a

subpoint.But Rainbows are artsy, not technical.

Guideline 5: Make that document scan-tastic.

Headings, bold keywords, color for important points. Make my reading experience simple.

Guideline 6: Balance your technical voice.

This week, wrestler John Cena is my punching bag.Good technical sentence: Even when the climate is cold, it is unadvisable to steal another person’s coat.Cena Style: No matter the weather/your boy so hot/you never catch me in the next man’s sweater.

Guideline 7: Stress facts.

Trans fats kill people.Seriously, take a look at CNN.com. The FDA is slowing banning them.They make things delicious, too, and we’ve eaten them for years. They can be bought in stores and are used to fry McDonald’s french fries and chicken nuggets.

TRANS FATS KILL PEOPLE.

Guideline 8: Don’t oversell yourself.

Anderson stresses talking about your qualifications to make a proposal. It is good to make your qualifications clear.BUT a good enough qualification is often “hey, I did this research, so now I have compiled all these facts.” Don’t try to also presume that makes you an expert. It doesn’t. It means you found some good facts.

Guideline 9: The biggest part of your job as a technical writer is to make that which isn’t clear as clear as possible.

I am currently working as my game students play Dungeons & Dragons. Someone just said “make a saving throw.”A saving throw is when you roll the dice and compare that number to your own defense number as listed on your character sheet (plus or minus any modifiers based on the scenario). So you roll the dice and either do or don’t get hit.

Guideline 10: Technical communication is home to a different kind of creative, and the language should be dry

That’s not to say that you don’t need to THINK creatively as a technical writer, but you’re not trying to top Herman Melville. Or Stephen King. Or J.K. Rowling.

You will have sentences quite frequently that look like this: “The person viewed the thing and thought this.” (with actual content).

Your first proposal

I’m guessing, so if you didn’t have this happen to you the first time you ever made a proposal, forgive me.But the first proposal most people write is a Christmas wish list.

Who you are/if you were goodThere’s stuff you want

You wish for Santa to give you the stuffConvince your parents to buy it

You make a list, and talk about being goodResources

gift listreasons “nice”guidance as to where to

locate giftsbenefit: a child’s joy!

But now…

… we have tech writing skills.So I want you to write a gift list for this Christmas. Use your technical writing skills, as they exist, to make the best possible gift proposal.

Once we finish, we’ll share and discuss and see who won Xmas.

For next class…For Thursday: read: Anderson, Chapter 24

We will look more specifically at how to shape the proposal using your research data. Also, your report final drafts will be due to me via email as PDFs. If you remember to make them PDFs, it makes it like 10 times easier for me to grade in Gmail, so please do that.