Teaching Students the Persuasive Message Through Small Group Activity    

Teaching students to write persuasive messages is a critical feature of any undergraduate business communications course. For the persuasive writing module in my course, students write a persuasive message on the basis of the four-part indirect pattern often used for sales or fund-raising messages. The course text I use identifies these four components by their rhetorical functions: gain attention, build interest, reduce resistance, and motivate action.

Creelman, Valerie. Business Communication Quarterly (2008). Articles>Education>Rhetoric>Collaboration

Teaching Students to Work Together  

Successful classroom collaboration requires teaching students about collaboration, having them read articles on collaboration, assigning project managers and guiding their management, and having all students evaluate and report on their teams and the collaborative experience.

Deming, Lynn H. STC Proceedings (1995). Articles>Education>Collaboration

Teaching Technical Writing Through Student Peer-Evaluation    

Individual students in two different sections of an undergraduate civil engineering laboratory were tasked with preparing three professional-quality laboratory reports. The teaching assistant and/or instructor used established criteria to grade the first two reports prepared by students in one section. The first two reports prepared by students in the other section were peer evaluated by assigned fellow students within the same laboratory section using identical grading criteria. The peer evaluated section had a higher class average than the teaching assistant/instructor graded section on the fist two reports. The third report prepared by students from both sections was graded by a professional educator/architect without knowledge of a student's class section. The peer evaluation students also had a higher class average on the third report, suggesting that the peer evaluation process may have positively contributed to those students' writing skills.

Jensen, Wayne and Bruce Fischer. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication (2005). Articles>Education>Technical Writing>Collaboration

The Team Approach to Writing Policies and Procedures  

Although many companies claim to have working teams within their corporate structure, it may be difficult to use the same approach for writing documentation. With the demands for controlled documentation to meet quality standards, involvement in policy/procedure writing is an important factor in developing a sense of ownership and commitment to maintaining a document control system. A team approach to writing procedures may involve more time, but the results are operations consensus, improved writing skills, and a boost of professional confidence.

Whitmer, Diane L. STC Proceedings (1996). Articles>Documentation>Technical Writing>Collaboration

Team Conflict in ICT-Rich Environments: Roles of Technologies in Conflict Management  

This study looks at how an information and communication technologies (ICT) rich environment impacts team conflict and conflict management strategies. A case study research method was used. Three teams, part of a graduate class in instructional design, participated in the study. Data were collected through observations of team meetings, interviews with individual members, plus analysis of electronic documents exchanged among team members. Findings indicate that all teams experienced conflict at some level and that conflict management strategies evolved over time. ICT played a dual role in the conflict management of teams. These technologies seemed to facilitate conflict management by offering a formal means of communication, making communication more effective, with minimal wasted or unnecessary efforts; and creating opportunities for more thoughtful reactions, with chances for reflection on the content. However, ICT also aggravated conflict, specifically when strategies for use were imposed, when team members became blunt and forthright, and when misinterpretations occurred because of differing sense of urgency in replying to emails.

Correia, Ana-Paula. Iowa State University (2007). Articles>Collaboration>Technology>Case Studies

Team Meeting, January 12, 2010  

Imagines a high-tech conference call in the future.

Reed, Dian Duchin . Intercom (2000). Articles>Collaboration

Team Meets Dream: Successful Online Documentation  

This paper chronicles the development of an online program that is in use and thriving today - a process which has spanned two years and two different companies. The presenters share the encouragement and pitfalls they met along the way, with emphasis on the elements they found most important in making their efforts a success. Selection of the most appropriate tools and methodologies play an important part. But just as important are team member skills, willingness of others to share their experience, high-level sponsorship, an environment that supports innovative solutions, and plain old persistence.

Piacenza, Alexandra and Sandra Pirghaibi. STC Proceedings (1998). Articles>Documentation>Collaboration

Team USA: The USAbility Team  

Most companies want to be recognized for producing usable products, for the quality of products must be high if they are to be accepted into today's competitive market. However, usability planning relies on interaction with other departments and their members. In other words, the most successful way to ensure product usability is to set up a test team consisting of representatives from various departments. This paper details the members of that test team and discusses their overall responsibilities in the testing process.

Dorazio, Patti A. STC Proceedings (1993). Articles>Usability>Collaboration>SMEs

Teams and Stars

All-star teams lose. While it’s an honor to be chosen to an all-star team, it’s miserable to play on one. These teams are constructed without consideration for how to bring people together. Whenever an all-star team plays a mediocre, but intact team, they usually lose. The true goal of any team is not to have the best players for each position: it's to succeed. Success comes when a team makes use of the team's abilities towards a goal, something you don’t get merely by picking the best players at each position.

Berkun, Scott. ScottBerkun.com (2001). Articles>Collaboration

Teamwork and the Product Documentation Process

Get to know your new teammates. Get to know your audience. Define the product's features. Create a mockup of the user interface. Begin to document the features and interface.

Hart, Geoffrey J.S. Geoff-Hart.com (1997). Articles>Documentation>Project Management>Collaboration

Technical Assistance for Writers in the Workplace: Some Heuristic Uses of Professional Writing Techniques in a Multiauthor Writing Process     

Linda Flower's work serves as the basis for devising writing technical assistance in three case studies of multiauthor reports. One major barrier to audience-based writing, planning—and, hence, producing readable text—is the writer-based structure embodied in a project's work program. Writing technical assistance can help displace this structure by various means, including collaborative writing. But the interaction between the two activities basic to writing—creating specific audience-based goals and devising a new hierarchical structure for content knowledge—remains unclear in theory and in practice.

Baker, Linda. Technical Communication Online (1996). Articles>Collaboration>Workflow>Writing

Technical Communication as Business Strategy: How Changes in Discursive Patterns Affect the Value of Technical Communication in Cross-Functional Team Settings    

Business seldom views technical communicators' contributions as offering strategic thinking and services. Companies tend to view technical communicators as tactical and technical, rather than strategic and creative. Consequently, often in cross-functional development settings the ideas and recommendations of technical communicators are not valued in the same way that ideas from business strategists, marketing, or other fields are. This paper details a case study in which the role of an information architect, a title that more and more technical communicators use to describe themselves, becomes valued by a design firm's client and by the firm itself as strategic business advantage. I explain why the role of the information architect increased in value and how the increased value changed the job description. I look at how blending knowledge occurs through shifts in terminology, imitation of another field, and selling new concepts.

Norton, David W. Technical Communication Online (2000). Articles>Collaboration>Workflow

The Technical Communicator's Role in Initiating Cross-Functional Teams    

This article focuses on cross-functional teams in software development environments. While very formal approaches to cross-functional teams exist, this article focuses on less formal approaches based on existing literature and case studies. Technical communicators are ideal candidates for implementing cross-functional teams on an informal level. Because of this, they can also be excellent catalysts for initiating formal cross-functional approaches in their organizations, even if their organizations have never used cross-functional teams before.

Marchwinski, Theresa and Karen Mandziuk. Technical Communication Online (2000). Articles>Collaboration>Workflow

The Technical Editor as Diplomat: Linguistic Strategies for Balancing Clarity and Politeness     

An essential component of technical editors' work is to convey to writers how their documents would benefit from revision. This task is potentially sensitive, given writers' intellectual and emotional investment in the documents they have created. The sensitive nature of the editing process is clear in Rude's (2001) advice to students of technical editing: '[A]void words that suggest inappropriate editorial intervention, especially change ' (p. 43). Rude's advice suggests an awareness of the difficulty inherent in imposing oneself into the creative process of another person. Because of the defensiveness they might encounter in writers, editors must be cognizant of how they carry out their jobï¿the language they use to convey necessary changes to writers' documents. The language editors use can either facilitate good working relationships with writers or degrade those relationships.

Mackiewicz, Jo M. and Kathryn Riley. Technical Communication Online (2003). Articles>Editing>Collaboration

Technical Writer/Subject Matter Expert Interaction: The Writer's Perspective, the Organizational Challenge    

Almost a decade ago, Walkowski's (1991) study of the interaction between subject-matter experts (SMEs) and technical writers focused on the perceptions of software engineers toward technical writers. Her findings gave technical writers insights on how to improve critical relationships with these organizational colleagues. This study partially replicates Walkowski's (1991) study of technical writer-SME interactions, but instead of collecting data from SMEs, we surveyed technical writers themselves. We report perceptions collected from 31 technical writers and contrast them with Walkowski's original findings, offering interpersonal and organizational recommendations for addressing tensions between these groups. By examining both the SMEs' and the technical writers' perceptions of their relationship, we are able to provide a two-sided view of a dynamic and complex interaction. We also argue that participants in the SME-technical writer interaction cannot fully alter their relationship without the strategic supp

Lee, Martha F. and Brad Mehlenbacher. Technical Communication Online (2000). Articles>Collaboration>Technical Writing>SMEs

Techniques for Successful SME Interviews  

Lambe offers tips for gathering information from SMEs.

Lambe, Jennifer L. Intercom (2000). Articles>Interviewing>Collaboration>SMEs

TECHWR-L: A History and Case Study of a Profession-Specific Listserv List    

Until Spring 1993, technical communicators had few Internet resources of their own. They could find common ground in forums oriented toward specific word processing programs and other tools of the trade, but they had no place to discuss profession-specific, rather than tool-specific, issues. TECHWR-L was founded that spring, and the growth, development, and response to the list has been remarkable. Most significant, however, is the effect that TECHWR-L has had on individual technical communicators worldwide. It demonstrates that the Internet can and should be used to provide more focused and comprehensive resources to technical communicators in the future. This case study outlines the growth and development of TECHWR-L, discusses some of the more controversial aspects of the list, and outlines how TECHWR-L or some other focused forum could prove an even more valuable resource for the profession.

Ray, Eric J. Technical Communication Online (1996). Articles>Collaboration>Mailing Lists>Technical Writing

Ten Strategies for Consilience

Can we achieve a true convergence among fields, with science and the humanities working in tandem to produce knowledge? This paper attempts eight rhetorical and two political strategies in a 'gedanken experiment' to assess which among them might meet with greatest success in achieving that congruence.  Some of the strategies will be adaptations of prominent writers, including theorists in Technical Communication.  The question whether science and the humanities should, in fact, operate from the same attitudes and assumptions will be addressed in a final section.

Missimer, Constance A. Orange Journal, The (2001). Articles>Collaboration>Community Building

Ten Tips for Talking to Artists  

Explains some of the terminology used to describe graphics and explains the roles graphic designers play in the production of technical art.

Lyons, Chopeta C. Intercom (2004). Articles>Collaboration>Technical Illustration>Graphic Design

Textual Grounding: How People Turn Texts Into Tools    

The author argues that users see texts as tools when they recognize the texts' specific value and function within highly localized use settings. The author argues that users "ground" their texts to local use settings by altering the ways in which the texts structure and represent information (e.g., underlining, annotation, and sketching). The author discusses three practices by which texts are grounded as tools in document reviews: mode shifting, layering, and marking. These practices reflect different ways by which users add, subtract, and restructure information in a text so that it is usable under very specific conditions. This article explores document review as a practice in which grounding is the object of discussion (how others use the reviewed documents) and a practice by which review is facilitated. These observations will be important for exploration of technology to support "grounding" practices.

Swarts, Jason. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication (2004). Articles>TC>Collaboration

The Fallacies of Collaboration: A Critique of Group Work in Technical Communication Pedagogy  

Collaboration through group writing assignments has become an accepted standard activity in most technical communication textbooks and classrooms. Some of the commonly-held fallacies connected with the view of collaboration’s benefits over individual efforts are that it produces better products, creates an equitable distribution of work, and provides greater motivation. It is also erroneously assumed that the success of collaboration depends on the study and effective practice of the principles of group dynamics and that collaborative techniques can accurately simulate “real life” readers and workplace experiences. Further research in group dynamics is required to accurately assess the value of group work in classroom settings.

Shirk, Henrietta Nickels. STC Proceedings (1995). Articles>Education>Collaboration

The Gloria Jaffe Outstanding Technical Communicator Award - Using Deserved Recognition to Strengthen the Local Impact of an STC Chapter  

In 2002, the Orlando Chapter of STC initiated a new competition to encourage local area and employer recognition of excellence in technical communication. In establishing the award, the Orlando Chapter increased its dialog with employers, helped raised the visibility of the profession in the area, honored its founder and its continuing relationship with a local university, and increased its level of service to chapter members. This paper describes the objectives established for the award program, how it was judged, and how the chapter benefited from its creation.

Fellure, Alicia, Mike Murray and W.C. Wiese. STC Proceedings (2004). Articles>Collaboration>Community Building>STC

The Use of Humor, Metaphor, Psychology, and Sheer Zaniness to Defuse Volatile Situations, Lower Your Blood Pressure, and Support Stress Management in Technical Communication: Real-World Applications of M4A4Z4 Theory  

This workshop explores the creative use of humor as a de-stressor in the often deadline-driven, pressure-filled world of technical communication, while also addressing the inherent risks involved with this strategy. Three specific techniques involving metaphor, psychology, and incongruity are exemplified in the opening presentation. Participants then form teams to apply these techniques and other strategies to relieve stress in volatile business/technical scenarios.

Voss, Daniel W. STC Proceedings (2004). Articles>Collaboration>Workplace

Think Weird and Prosper

The only way to effect true transformation in the workplace is to enlist the outliers in your organization to your cause. Find the weirdos and the freaks, offer support for the projects they're secretly pursuing, then get them to help you with your own revolutionary change ideas.

Bailie, Rahel Anne. STC Puget Sound (2004). Articles>TC>Collaboration

This Is Too Formal for Us: A Case Study of Variation in the Written Products of a Multinational Consortium    

This article reports a case study of three multinational companies that work together in a consortium, focusing on intercompany and intracompany variation in writing products and processes. The authors discuss variation in two genres: meeting minutes and internal memos. Adopting a social constructionist, communities of practice (CofP) approach, they argue that the companies form overarching constellations of CofP. Although the participants broadly work with the same genres of written documents, the form of these documents varies according to the local context, audience, and purpose. The authors discuss the implications of their findings, with particular reference to the difficulty writers face when they make the transition from writing for one community of practice to writing for another.

Angouri, Jo and Nigel Harwood. Journal of Business and Technical Communication (2008). Articles>Business Communication>Collaboration