This is the post for the July 10, 2014 class meeting.

Thanks for your work in the forums yesterday. I’m quite happy with the responses you’ve posted. You’re doing exactly the kind of work I was hoping for!

Class Work for July 10

These are the goals for today’s work:

• Read about the characteristics of technical writing (chapter 1 of Markel).
• Read about the importance of audience and purpose (chapter 4 of Markel).
• Analyze some example bio statements, based on the readings.

Characteristics of Technical Writing

Chapter 1 of Practical Strategies for Technical Communication outlines 6 characteristics of technical writing:

• It addresses particular readers.
• It helps readers solve problems.
• It reflects the organization’s goals and culture.
• It is produced collaboratively.
• It uses design to increase readability.
• It consists of words or images or both.

We’ll return to these six characteristics a lot during the term. We’ll use them to analyze examples of tech writing, including the texts that you write yourself. Read chapter 1 for all the details on how they work. Of these six characteristics, the one that causes the most questions is that tech writing is produced collaboratively. Think of it as a very wide idea of collaboration, and read that part of the chapter closely.

Importance of Audience and Purpose

We will talk about audience and purpose for every project that you work on in this class. The concepts of audience and purpose are vitally important in every kind of writing (in fact, any kind of communication) that you do because they determine the information you include and the tone and style that you use.

For audience, chapter 4 identifies four key questions to answer for any writing project:

• Who are your readers?
• Why is your audience reading your document?
• What are your readers’ attitudes and expectations?
• How will your readers use your document?

Pay attention to the details on those questions in your reading, as well as the idea of primary, secondary, and tertiary audiences. As you read about purpose in the chapter 4, be sure you understand the details on these four questions:

• Why is the reader reading your document?
• How will the reader read your document?
• What is the reader’s reading skill level?
• What is the physical environment in which the reader will read your document?

These questions will help you make decisions about the information in writing projects as well. For instance, the reading skill of your reader will help you decide if you technical jargon is appropriate.

At the end of the chapter, be sure to notice the “Writer’s Checklist” (pp. 76-77). You will find a checklist at the end of nearly every chapter in the book. These lists are a nice summary of the important concepts in the chapter. For some of the projects we will work on, we will use the checklists for peer review and feedback on what you write.

Analyze some example bio statements

Once you have read the information in the readings for today, I’d like you to apply them by analyzing some example biography statements.

1. Read several of the biographies on the sites below. I gathered a range of biographies from different kinds of sites. Please be sure to read at least one from the first three sites (which are more formal company/academic bios) and one from the last three sites (which are more informal).

   • Corps of Cadets Staff Biographies
   • Draper Aden About Us page
   • Virginia Tech Athletic Fund Staff
   • East Coasters Staff
   • WSLS Staff
   • Campus Automotive Staff

    

2. Go to the Analyzing Example Bio Statements post in the forums and talk explain what you can tell about audience and purpose for the bio statements based on the information they include and the tone of the biography. There are some questions there to help you get started.

3. (Optional) Once you have posted about your readings, read through what others had to say, and reply to one or more of the ideas or questions that your classmates have posted.

4. If you don’t yet have a copy of the textbook, do the best you can. The concepts from these first readings are fairly straightforward, so go ahead and reply to some of the posts in the forum. You can catch up on your reading this weekend, and come back and add something if you want to.

This is the post for the July 9, 2014 class meeting.

Thanks to everyone who has logged into the forums and dropped by the online chatroom. Nearly everyone is accounted for, so I should be able to set up office hours in the next day or so.

Class Work for July 9

These are the goals for today’s work:

• Share some resources to help you keep up with the course website.
• Talk about some due date/time issues.
• Go over the assignment for Project 1.
• Read some resources for Project 1 and discuss them in the forum.

Keeping Up with the Website

I am using the hashtag #3764su14 to post Twitter updates when I add something to the website. If you use Twitter, you can follow that hashtag for details whenever I post something. You can also see that feed in the sidebar on the side, so even if you don’t use Twitter, you can scroll through the list in the sidebar to see what has been added.

I also added a “Subscribe Via Email” option in the sidebar. Use this option to get an email message whenever I add a new post to the course website. The process is simple: Add your email, and click subscribe. You’ll have to confirm your subscription. That’s it. The email messages will have information on how to unsubscribe if you decide you want to.

Adjusting the Time for the Due Dates

A few people still need to fill out the survey to tell me when they will probably do most of their work. Once I have everyone’s information I can make a permanent change. For the next week, that is through July 15, forum posts and your other work will be due by 11:59 PM in YOUR timezone. If you are not in the Eastern timezone (that is, Blacksburg time), let me know. If this policy won’t work for you, let me know about that too, and I’ll try to work out something else for you.

Getting Started on Project 1

I have tried to design assignment for this course that you will have some real-world use for, if not now, at some point in the future. You can find an overview of all the projects by clicking on the Project Assignments menu at the top of the page.

The first assignment is to work on Professional Biography Statements. At some point in your career, you will almost certainly have to write this kind of self-introduction. It might be as part of a conference proposal, a scholarship application, or for a company newsletter where you are interning. This kind of biography statement can also become part of your job application too, so you may reuse some of what you write when you work on Project 6 (the final exam).

Here’s what I want you to do:

1. Read the assignment completely. Begin thinking about the goals you will set for the assignment and the audience you will choose. You don’t have to commit to anything yet, but start thinking about it.

2. If you have any questions (today or in the future) about the assignment, go to the Questions about Project 1 topic in the forum and add them. You can skim through this topic for answers as well.

Discussing Readings for Project 1

The textbook doesn’t include much information on biography statements, so I have gathered a collection of websites (in no particular order) that offer advice to help you as you work on this assignment:

• How to Write Short Company Newsletter Bios of Employees (eHow)
• Transform Staff Bios from Mundane to Magical in 6 Easy Steps (GettingAttention.org)
• “Meet the Team” Pages: Examples and Trends (Smashing Magazine)
• How to Write a Short Bio About Yourself (Chron)
• How to Write a Snappy, Tight Professional Bio (NBC Chicago)
• How to Write a Sample Self-Bio at a New Job (Global Post)
• Writing a Professional Biography (U of Rochester)
• Top Ten Tips for Writing a Professional Overview or Biography (Ezine @rticles)
• How To Look Good on Paper: 4 Examples of Great Bios (Communicate [your] Skills)
• How to Write A Bio- Tips for Building Your Personal Brand (Brand Yourself)
• Samples of Professional Branding Statements (Dummies.com)

Here’s what I want you to do:

1. Read through several of the resources. Most of them are short, and you should be able to skim through them quickly. Pay attention to the advice you see them repeating and anything that catches your eye (whether it’s good or bad).

2. Go to the Readings for Project 1 topic in the forums and post your response to the articles. You will find some questions to help you get started in the forums. Aim to post two replies to the topic. I hope to get some good discussion of the advice in these columns, and I hope that you will interact with each other in writing just as you might talk if we were meeting in a classroom on campus.

3. If you come to the forums in the morning, stop by again in the evening to see what everyone else has said. If you don’t get to the forums until the evening, read through the comments others have posted during the day and then join the conversation.