Chapter 16

Chapter 16
Process explanations: provide an overview or background, regardless of audience’s task. Often embedded in a longer discussion that has already presented a definition and general description.
What is a process explanation? They enable the audience to understand the statement of purpose, explanation of actions, and equipment application. People also find that these process help with curiosity on things you may question.
Defining Process
Process explanations define sequential actions to members of an audience who need enough details to understand an action or process, but not enough to actually completely the given process. Identifying the general nature of a task and overview rather than specific details and small facts. When these steps are inaccurate or incorrect problems can and may come up. These often are the same kind of documents you find technical descriptions.
Common Applications of process applications: manuals, reports, orientation, training materials, marketing and promotional materials, and public information and education.
Reports
These frequently provide an audience with background information and understanding the technical processes.
The following is commonly found in a reports introductory section:
Technical description
Process explanation
Benefits or advantages
Task Manuals
This is one of the most frequent uses of process explanations. Users tend to have to complete complex tasks more accurately and more cooperatively to understand the overall process. This using step by step instructions making it worth the time to prepare and the space to present.
One effect method to present overviews would be the flowchart.
Orientation and Training Materials
Students may often need to use more detailed information because its often they are required to understand reasons behind the sequence of actions even as the information as a summary, these often include, terminology, definitions, and explanations, that could make the material inappropriate for readers interested in just the general information.
Marketing and Promotional Materials
Figure 16.4 shows you an operation for a thermal inkjet cartridge for computer printers. This illustration provides a good idea in which process explanations can often be embedded in writing, such as advertising and promotional materials. The process explanation tends to make more sense in complete information rather than just partial writings. Looking at the figure you can see the paragraphs define, describe, illustrate, and identify the main parts, so the reader is able to understand how the ink in a printer works. This is followed up by a couple paragraphs to describe the sequence and the last three paragraphs show how the process can be controlled to produce better quality.
Public Information and Education
Readers of daily or general papers such as magazines or newspapers are usually interested I technical information, but usually tend to not have the expertise or experience to understand the complexity of what they’re reading.
Take for instance the term “acid rain” it is a familiar term for most people yet the process on how it’s formed is actually quite difficult. Pictures can simplify this confusing by showing the reader what major elements contribute to this rain and an explanation that’s suitable for its reader.
Preparing Processes
The preparing process explanation is that you need to consider the audience and purpose, identify the steps, select of design the visuals, and organize the information.
Audience and Purpose
Identifying members of your audience and their purpose will help you prepare for a process explanation.
Identification of Steps
One of the main parts of preparing is getting the steps in order. This creates the basis for the process of explanation and aids in visual designs.
Visuals
You can choose from several types of illustrations to show the overall sequence of the process. Flowcharts are often a good choice that gives a visual overview in the same way as the introduction shows the actions and steps. Other visuals can include schedules or timelines. Drawings can often show the element of a process, the best choice is often a step by step process that shows the gradual changes like, time lapse photos, drawings that show changes, and final product drawings. Another way is to use sequential drawings showing all basic steps in one fluid motion, the steps are in an action view and using brief captions, the drawing is then able to stand alone.
Diction
The audience and purpose of your process explanation affect your diction, or the language you use. One of the most important decisions you’ll have to make is to use an active or passive voice.
Organization and Format
Due to the fact process explanations are chronological, writers will use headings to show the steps they are taking. These headings help readers signal what and where they are reading. They can be altered according the present audience and fewer complexes for more ease of understanding. Less informed people tend to need more explanation and take up more space than people who know about the topic at hand.

Chapter 8 Sting & Winkles

Chapter 8
Revising and Editing
David Sting

Revising and editing are critical to the success of your documents. Although these processes often overlap and definitions vary slightly from expert to expert and company to company, their fundamental purposes remain the same: to increase the accessibility, comprehensibility, and usability of documents, presentations, and visuals.

Revising generally refers to the process of changing overall (or global) elements of documents.

Editing generally refers to (1) changing specific (or local) elements of documents and (2) managing administrative details necessary for document publication.

Types of Revising and Editing

• Revising focuses on global aspects of the document such as content, organization, argument, and design.
• Substantive editing also focuses on global aspects of the document.
• Design review focuses on the overall design of the document.
• Copy editing focuses on global aspects such as logic and format and local aspects such as language conventions and consistency.
• Proofreading in electronic publishing usually involves eliminating typographical errors in the electronic version without comparison to the original.
• Administrative editing focuses on the aspects of compliance with the organization's policies and management of a range of tasks related to electronic or print publication.

Levels of Editing

• Substantive edit-reviews the document globally for accuracy, logic, completeness, coherence, consistency, organization, and tone.
• Format edit- establishes consistency in "macro" physical elements such as headings, fonts, page design, use of visuals.
• Integrity edit- matches text references to corresponding figures, tables, references, footnotes, and appendixes.
• Mechanical style- establishes consistency in "micro" physical elements.
• Screening edit-corrects language and numerical errors.
• Language edit- changes grammar, punctuation, usage, and sentence structure to meet conventions, such as symbols, citations, and numerical copy.
• Policy edit- ensures that institutional policies are enforced.
• Clarification edit- provides clear instruction to the compositor and graphic artist.
• Coordination edit- deals with the administrative aspects in publishing technical documents.

Benefits and Limitations of using software to proofread texts.

Software CAN identify: misspelled words, passive voice, complex sentences, wrong part of speech, redundancy, potentially difficult wording(based on word and sentence lengths only), slang/colloquialisms, potentially sexist language, and negative wording.

Software CANNOT identify: correctly spelled words used incorrectly, inconsistent writing styles, confusing sentence structures, what the audience needs to know, every grammar/mechanical problem, poorly organized documents, missing or faulty information, potentially offensive ideas, and how a document will be used.

To fully proofread a documents you need to check for accuracy and consistency in five broad areas:

• Mechanical conventions(punctuation, capitalization, spelling)
• Grammatical conventions (grammar, usage)
• Design conventions (typography, visual displays, headings)
• Disciplinary conventions (abbreviations, citations)
• Typographical conventions (symbols, numbers)

Official proofreading marks are on page 285 if anyone needs to brush up on those.

Chapter 19
Preparing Proposals
Erin Kane and Matthew Smith


Preparing and organizing proposals differ in important ways from preparing and organizing reports. Reports are about information the writer already knows and things that have already happened; they present an answer. Proposals are things that the writer wants to happen and offer ways to do those things; they suggest approaches to discover an answer.

Information that is expected in a proposal:

Situation: Provide a definition of the problem or opportunity, including information that situates it in the organization.

Plan: Presents a plan for resolving the problem or addressing the opportunity.

Benefits: Explain the benefits that will result from adopting the plan.

Approach: Outline methods for implementing the plan, include management plans, schedule, and costs.

Evaluation: Identify an evaluation strategy for determining whether the proposed plan works.

Qualifications: Establish your qualifications for submitting the proposal and implementing the plan.


Using Persuasion in Proposals
To write effective proposals, you need to understand persuasive techniques. Essentially you are establishing agreement about the situation, proposing a plan to address them, and identifying benefits that will accrue if your plan is adopted. The process of preparing a proposal is like a debate, with you imagining, anticipating, and responding to potential arguments that the reader may raise. Persuasion doesn’t mean manipulation. It is applying credible, logical arguments to convince readers that the writers view is appropriate. If people are presented positive attitudes towards the subject they are more likely to accept the proposal.


Preparing proposals
Some of the main reasons proposals are rejected are:
-Lack of new or original ideas
-Diffuse, superficial, or unfocused research plan
-Lack of knowledge of published relevant work
-Lack of experience in the essential methodology
-Uncertainty concerning the future direction
-Questionable reasoning in the experimental approach
-Absence of an acceptable scientific rationale
-Unrealistically large amount of work
-Insufficient experimental detail
-Uncritical approach

Referring to these reasons and making sure none apply to your proposals may increase the chances that your document will be approved.

Preparing a proposal is easier if you are familiar with the preparation process. Like any writing task, preparing a proposal involves managing, planning, drafting, evaluating, and revising.

Planning:
Preparing proposals with go more smoothly if you plan the project. The following should help:

-Be aware of deadlines. If possible, submit proposal early

-Establish an achievable schedule for completing the proposal

-Know the review and evaluation procedure that will be used to assess the document

-Analyze the background knowledge and experience of the intended readers/decision makers.

Drafting:

-Establish a clear link between the problem or opportunity you have identified and substantiated and the plan that you are proposing to solve.

-Provide information about implementation of your plan: Who? When? How? Where? How much?

-Anticipate and address potential objections

-support your generalizations with specific details and examples. Cite your sources. Use visuals and tables to support or make points when possible.

-Use a you-attitude when possible and appropriate

Evaluating:
Once the draft is done, you need to evaluate it, trying to view it the same way as the intended audience.

-Determine if the draft meets of exceeds the criteria for evaluation

-Examine the accuracy of technical content.

-Study the feasibility of the plan
Review acceptability of cost.

-Solicit reviews of the draft from colleagues

Revising:
Your own careful evaluation of the draft as well as feedback from other reviewers will give you ideas for revising the proposal. Check the following:

-Add, modify, or delete information to meet proposal criteria

-Make sure that the argument is coherent

-Is the proposal visually appealing and consistent?

Nelson and Kithinji

Chapter 4: Addressing Audiences

In this chapter Burnett discusses the importance of identifying your purpose, categorizing types of audiences, and analyzing factors that influence them.

Identifying Purposes
The two broad purposes of those professionals who prepare technical documents, presentations and visuals are;

1. To accurately convey verifiable information

• What information do I want my audience to learn?
• Why do I want them to learn this information?
• What decisions does the audience need to make?
• What information does the audience need in order to make a decision?
• What background information do I need to provide?
• What questions do I want to answer?

2. To persuade audiences to attend to this information.

• What ideas or actions of the audience do I want to influence?
• What information and approaches will persuade the audience?
• What constraints will affect the persuasiveness of my argument?
• What objections might the audience have? What logical argument would enable me to overcome those objections?

People may have both primary and secondary purposes for reading. Chapter 3 discussed three typical reasons including reading to assess, to learn, to learn to do.

Identifying Audiences
Every technical document has an intended audience, a specific individual or category of users, with identifiable needs. Audiences of technical documents often want information about specific rather than general issues. This information might be read by different audiences in several different ways. So you are often expected to create material that meets the needs of several categories of audiences. This can be done by directing different audiences to particular sections of the document.

Audience roles can be divided into four categories based on several factors;

1. Initial Audience – Person to whom you submit the document. This person directs the document to the appropriate primary audience.
2. Primary audience – Person whom the document is intended. This person uses the information and makes decisions.
3. Secondary audience – Person who receive and read the document, have an interested and are affected by the information or decisions based on the document.
4. External Audience – Person outside the immediate organization but affected by the information or decisions based on the document.

ANALYZING AUDIENCES
One of the most frequently used strategies for analyzing audience involves considering these characteristics;

1. 1. Context in which a document is interpreted and used.
2. Purpose and motivation of the audiences
3. Prior knowledge of the audience (education and profession).
4. Reading level of the audiences.
5. Organizational role of the audiences.

Context
To ease the audience’s task, technical communicators use organizational or graphic devices. The following strategies are of importance:

• Initial abstracts or summaries
• Headings and subheadings
• Use of descending order
• Definition of terms
• Transitions showing how different section of document relate to each other
• Visuals to make information easily accessible
• Page layout that is not crowded or cluttered

Purpose and Motivation
It is easy to analyze an audience’s purpose and motivation if you know the intended audience. To increase audience receptivity and decrease resistance, it is important to know the audience’s purpose and motivation.

• Receptive audiences: Present the recommendations initially and then support them in subsequent sections.
• Resistance audiences: Present problem, discuss alternatives then lead to the most appropriate and feasible solution.
  

Prior Knowledge
By You can determine the appropriate vocabulary and content by knowing your audiences prior knowledge. Allow with this knowledge comes the level, type and duration of that education.

• Vocational-Technical Training: focuses on providing a practical or applied knowledge.
  
• Professional or Acedemic Training: focuses on providing a theoretical understanding as well as a practical experience.

If you do not truly know how much prior knowledge your audience has, you can generalize about it based on what a person would need to know for a specific position.

Reading Level
This refers to the difficulty of material that audiences are able to comprehend. If an audience does not understand what you are saying, the speech is pointless. This area is not based on intelligence, as there are highly intelligent people that have a low reading level or may better at reading material in one specialized area but not in another.

Readability Formulas can be used to text a documents readability, but they are limited to only a few formulas and are therefore never 100% accurate. They work on the premise that shorter words and sentences are easier to read. This is not always true. It can also be effected by content, context, purpose, audience, organization, visuals, design, usability, and language conventions.

Limited Literacy is another problem of reading level. This means one of two things:

1. That someone is skillful at reading in some circumstances, but not in other; or
2. Someone just doesn't get much information from any written documents

When limited literacy problems arise, many times the worker just ignores the document all together. Sometimes, it is only a part of the document that gives the reader troubles, such as tables, headings, or specific paragraphs.

Organizational Role
Organizations are generally split into two groups:

1. Hierarchical - Bosses at top, managers in the middle, workers at the bottom. Assumes people work best when directed.
2. Non-Hierarchical - Everyone contributes evenly. Assumes people work best when they participate in decision making
   

ADJUSTING TO THE AUDIENCE
There are three way to adjust to the audience: differences in expertise, differences in roles and stances, and by construct unique sequences of information. Two of these will be described in greater detail.

Differences in Expertise
When adjusting material for different audiences with various levels of technical knowledge, you may need to change the complexity of topic. A document written for a medical professional may not be suited for a high school or college student.

Differences in Roles and Stances
When preparing something for an audience, the role or stance of the receiver should be taken into account. A document written to a co-worker will be written differently then a document written to a manager. To make this as effective as possible, be sure to consider the following:

• Identify and write for the primary audiences.
• Identify and consider the secondary audiences.
• Use design elements to make information accessible in both paper and electronic messages.

Chapter 11

Designing Information - Loosbrock & Kolquist

Design of information can be print and/or electronic documents for both presentations and Web sites. No matter which form of design you use, there are many guidelines to follow. In this chapter Burnett discusses those different principles used in PowerPoint presentations, technical and scientific posters, and Web sites.

Information Design is the way in which you organize and present information to increase and audience's comprehension.
Document Design is a part of information design.
- There are five categories of elements which are important in designing print documents as well as Web pages.

• Textual elements - letters, numbers, and symbols
• Spatial elements - spaces between elements
• Graphic elements - punctuation marks, geometric forms, and visual images
• Color and textural elements - the hue, brightness/value/luminescence
• Dynamic elements - motion that is implied in a print document

In this chapter, Burnett discusses how reading electronic documents is about 25% slower than reading from paper. Due to this, many people do not like to read long chunks of text on the computer. A way to make text easier and more appealing to read on the computer is by using design principles in your document with chunking and labeling.

Chunking information involves logical topical relationships and the audience need for the information.
One of the most efficient ways to inform your audience about the way you've chunked information is in a table of contents. One way to do that on a Web page is to make bulleted lists and make each bullet into a separate link.

Using White Space to Chunk Information
White space is the part of any page or screen that is blank, without print or visuals.
White space is used for margins, between lines within a paragraph, between paragraphs and sections of a document, and around visuals.

Headings to Label Chunked Information
Headings and subheadings label the information and identify the importance of the information. They establish the subject of a section and give readers a chance to take a break while trying to read the documents.

There are two practices that will help you to produce a more effective document

• Selection of appropriate grids
  - The easiest way to design a page or document is to see the page/screen as a grid. A grid is columns and rows that help you organize the text and visual chunks. There are one-column, two-column, and three-column grids.
• Placement of visuals near related text
  - Placing visuals near the related text is going to allow the reader to not have to constantly turn back and forth between pages that they are reading and the visuals.

Potential problems that distract readers

• Chartjunk - unnecessary graphics that do not help people understand the information.
• Tombstoning - aligning heading so that readers mistakenly chunk the text when they look at the page.
• Heading placement - leaving too few lines after a heading or subheading at the top or bottom of a column or page.
• Widows and orphans - Widows are leftover words hanging awkwardly as the last line of a paragraph. Orphans are when a column or page break occurs in a paragraph after the first line of the paragraph.

Typefaces (font)

Typeface affects the readers' attitudes and reactions to a document, as well as their ability to access, comprehend, and use information quickly and easily. You can choose different fonts depending on what kind of document or doing or what information you are giving to your readers.
There are four basic characteristics about typefaces:

• Serif or sans serif - Serifs are tiny fine lines usually at the top or bottom of letters. Sans serif typefaces are simpler, the letters don't have as many distinguishing features so they have a neat and appealing appearance.
• Typeface variations - Readers will not want to read your document if the font is difficult to read.
• Type size - You do not want to use a type that is too small so that the readers cannot read it and you also do not want to use a font that is too large because it will make it seem elementary.
• Style choices - Different styles include capitalization, small caps, boldface, and italics. Using all caps should be limited to headings only. Boldface gives a visual emphasis on certain words or phrases.

Visual devices

These devices include numbered and bulleted lists, underlining, boxes, shading, and colors. If you overuse these, their impact will not be as strong. Too many will make a page or document look cluttered.
Numbered lists are used mainly used to show sequence, priority, or total number of items.
Bulleted lists are used when all of the items in the list are equivalent.

Color is one of the strongest and most appealing devices. Color-coded documents or pages are more interesting to look at and provide more clarity.

Designing Electronic Communication
Chapter 13
Erin Kane and Matt Smith



Electronic tools and processes that allow people to share information will affect many aspects of your professional success. The goal of electronic communication is for users to accomplish tasks, sometimes something as simple as accessing information on static web pages

Interactive and nonlinear-electronic communication environments are interactive and nonlinear, established by multiple possibilities for interactions among users, computers, software, interface components, and developers.

Virtual and open- Electronic communication environments are virtual and open spaces. Virtual spaces do not have material, face-to-face reality. “open” means two things, 1) the virtual spaces allow users to move beyond boundaries at will. 2) standards and conventions are fluid, leading to varied designs and functionality, and often uneven experiences for users.

Complex and dynamic- Electronic communication environments are complex and dynamic development efforts that integrate divers components. Complex development efforts include managing both static and dynamic content, hundreds of individual text and graphic files, changes rapidly, designers must plan for differences in users’ available technology.

Types of Electronic Communication

The capabilities of the Web have changed dramatically. People are now using hand held devices such as PDA’s and cell phones where they can store and send information. These examples of electronic communication results from the convergence of hardware and software, engineering and programming, connectivity and content. The World Wide Web is the largest part of the internet. It is a huge network comprised of other networks and millions of individual computers. Internet participants use a protocol called TCP/IP (transmission control protocol/internet protocol) that allows computers to locate and communicate with each other. To use the internet people must have access to one of the networks on the internet. This is generally accomplished by establishing a connection from the client computer and a modem to an internet service provider that is connected to the internet.

Principles and Practices of Effective Design

Information architecture: The framework that structures content. The structure should meet the goals and expectations of the users. They can be sequential (web pages that link to the next in a linear style). They can be hierarchical (outline format). Or they can be interlinked (less structured, liberal linked).

Page/screen design: The look and feel of the information in the space on the screen. Another mechanism to help users understand information organization and content

Content: Organized and written differently for electronic communication than for traditional print documents. The style of content should match users’ ways of finding and reading information using electronic devices.

Information Architecture
Organizing information
Labeling information
Navigating information
Layout

Writing for Electronic Communication
Be concise: Low-resolution computer screens make reading from a monitor more difficult than reading on paper.

Keep chunks of text short: Readers of electronic documents need minimal text. Write chunks between 150-200 words, then edit so you get
each chucks to about 60 words.

Use headings and bulleted lists

Use active voice: Active voice identifies the doer of the action, so the action is clearer and readers are more engaged

Consider international readers: The whole world may read your message; therefore, avoid culture-specific idioms and metaphors



People involved in professional communication must be aware of accessible design concepts as they relate to information development and management. Developers need to follow these useful practices:

Understand the opportunities and limitations of the virtual enviroment and its potential users

Know something about the assistive hardware and software available and be aware of how the design of electronic information could impact the technology your audience may be using.

Use various methods for providing information so that you accommodate the greates number of visitors.

Chapter 12 Using Visual Forms

Chapter 12 - Using visual Forms

By: Buche and Peters

• Reading this chapter will help you understand visuals not only to attract attention and create appeal but also benefit congenitive processing and learning.
• Adapt visuals by varying the complexity of content, presentating, color, and size to different audiences and different situations.
• Make effective decisions about textual references and labeling and placement of visuals.

Technical visuals are not a recent addition to technical communication. In technical communication, viuslas work by themselves and in combination with text to create stories for the auidnce. While visuals should make sense by themselves, they should also illustrate, explain, demonstrate, verify, or support the eext. In deciding about appropriate visual/verbal combinations, you can choose from several choices. Some concepts or processes are so complex that one visual is insufficeient.

Adapting to Visuals to Audiences

Visuals can be adapted to differeent audiences by the complexity of content, presentating, and sometimes color and size. Audience members who are not experts need more frequent and simpler visuals than experts. Since nonexpers also may not understand visual conventions that expers readily recognize they mey need additional explaiations beyond the standard level of titles, legends, and captions. For example, whereas an expert would know that the bars in a histogram represent ranges of data, nonexperts may need to have that explained.

Conventions in Referencing and placing Visuals

Virtually all visuals have widely accepted conventions that accompany their use. Although you may sometimes choose to ignore a specific convention for good cause in a particular situation, generally you should follow these guidelines, shich will help you reference, label, and place visuals in ways that will be most useful to readers.

*Visuals of different types - tables, graphs, diagrams, charts, drawings, maps and photographs - all fulfill one or more functions in technical documents. Seven major functions of vusuals are the focus of the section.

1. Providing Immediate Visual Recognition

Some things need rapid visual recognition; they range from the convenient restrooms to the critical radiation. Typically, visual recognition can be provided by symbols that are used by most countires.

• A solid blue circle with a white symbol signals a saftey precaution
• A yelllow tirangle with a black band and black graphic warns about whatever is displayed in the triangle.
• A red circle with a slash and black graphic prohibits whatever is under black slash.

2. Organizeing Numeric or Textual Data

Numeric and texuual information identifying the characteristics of ideas, objects, or process can be displayed in tables. The rows and columns of a table provide a system for classifying data and showing relationships that might be confusing is presented only in sentences and paragraphs.

3. Showing Relationships

Visuals can be used to depict relationships in very different ways. First they can show spatial relationships, such as proportion, proximity, size. Secong they can show quantitive relationships between sets of data. Spatial relationships are often depicted in various kinds of maps, although drawing and photographs are also frequently used. Typically, a large scale map, photo, or drawing is presented, with a small area circumscribed; that enclosed area is then enlarged so that it can be whown in greater detail.

4. Defineing Concepts, Objects, and Processes

Visuals can be excedddingly vaulable as definitions. The drawings of types of pictures are more efficient and useful than textual descriptions. Visuals can illustrate details that are difficult to describe. Explaining pictures in words would not be nearly as effective than as in pictures.

5. Presenting Action or Process

Visuals are particularly appropriate for action views and processes. While visuals vary widely accorcding to the process being presented, actions are particularly easy to depict in a sequence, and process are easy to depict in various kins of charts. Charts can represent the conmpnents, steps or chronology of an object, mechanism, organism, or organization. The most common charts are block charts, organizationsl charts, and flowcharts.

6. Illustrateing Appearance, Structure, and Function

Physical characteristics are often easier to present visually than verbally. Diagrams are drawings are especially effective ways to show the parts of objects, mechanisms, or organisms and the relationships among those parts. Only the parts readers need to know about are represented. Diagrams illustrate the complex physical components and structures of objects, mechanisms, or organisms.

7. Identifying Facilities or locations

Identifying facilities and locations traditionally has meant maps and photographs. Now, however, map also refers to a navigational tool used on the web, and workplace photographs are made as often with digital cameras as with traditional film cameras. Maps show features of a particular area, such as land elevation, rock formations, vegetation, animal habitats, crop production, population density, or traffic patters.