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1. #24689 1996 Policies and Procedures PIC Meeting This session is intended for those interested in (a) policies and procedures as a subject, (b) networking with others concerned with policies and procedures, (c) learning about this PIC, (d) influencing the direction of this PIC, or (e) listening, commenting, or volunteering. The first portion of the meeting will briefly review the PIC's history, mission, membership, budget, teams, goals, and progress. The second portion will be open to discuss new business. Urgo, Raymond E. STC Proceedings (1996). Articles>Writing>Policies and Procedures>Technical Writing 2. #28379 検索を行うとき、ユーザの頭に浮かぶのは、慣れ親しんだ言葉だ。もし使い古された言葉よりも、造語や新語を使っているならば、ユーザは貴方のサイトをみつけることはない。 Nielsen, Jakob. U-Site (2006). (Japanese) Design>Web Design>Writing>Usability 3. #29622 A Process Model For Creating Accessible End-User Documents Electronic information products can be made accessible to blind and low-vision individuals. This is easier to accomplish with thorough planning and execution. This paper describes a five-step model for creating accessible documentation. The steps are (1) Preparing a source file (2) Producing accessible output, (3) Testing output for accessibility, (4) Modifying a source file if needed, and (5) Modifying a production process if absolutely necessary. Herring, Richard D. STC Proceedings (2005). Articles>Documentation>Writing>Technical Writing 4. #20624 "About Us" -- Presenting Information About an Organization on Its Website Study participants searched websites for background information ranging from company history to management biographies and contact details. Their success rate was 70%, leaving much room for usability improvements in the 'About Us' designs. Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2003). Articles>Web Design>Usability>Writing 5. #26278 Excellent answers to burning questions about who, what, where and why of writing ... even if you're not a writer to begin with. Green, Chuck. Creative Latitude (2005). Articles>Writing 6. #27779 The Abstract Trap: Why Abstracts Are Bad for Persuasive White Papers Abstracts, also known as executive summaries, are bad. As a matter of fact, they are really bad, and I stand nearly alone in my opinion. Abstracts are those summaries that typically stand in front of the core content of a white paper. They tend to include the key points about the white paper. Stelzner, Michael A. WhitePaperSource (2006). Articles>Writing>Rhetoric>White Papers 7. #20216 An abstract is a short statement -- generally fewer than 150 words -- of the contents of a report, paper or other document. Few scientists, engineers, or managers have the time to read every paper that comes their way; they depend on the abstract. A well-written abstract is the best of way of making sure your vitally-important report reaches the right people. 8. #26556 Academic and Practitioner Perspectives on Essential Works in Technical Communication As I began to create categories for a list collected from many academics and practitioners, I discovered a dramatic difference in the works valued by the two groups. While some works were valued by both practitioners and academics, I also found a clear dividing line between works recommended by academics and those recommended by practitioners. Alred, Gerald J. ATTW Bulletin (2005). Resources>Bibliographies>Technical Writing 9. #18615 Academic Writing: Reviews of Literature The format of a review of literature may vary from discipline to discipline and from assignment to assignment. A review may be a self-contained unit -- an end in itself -- or a preface to and rationale for engaging in primary research. A review is a required part of grant and research proposals and often a chapter in theses and dissertations. Generally, the purpose of a review is to analyze critically a segment of a published body of knowledge through summary, classification, and comparison of prior research studies, reviews of literature, and theoretical articles. University of Wisconsin (2003). Academic>Writing>Style Guides 10. #28774 Accelerated Authoring @ Method M The Method M blog for technical writers, marketing staff, product managers and others who spend hours each week creating documents. This blog is dedicated to helping you work more efficiently and create better documents. Reichman, Katriel. Method M (2007). Resources>Documentation>Technical Writing>Blogs 11. #13950 When the opportunity arose in 1990, I purchased a franchise from the Success Motivation Institute and presented literally hundreds of workshops on goal setting. I was overjoyed at the opportunity to finally achieve all my dreams through a business such as this. I learned about goal setting and Paul Meyer's Million Dollar Personal Success Plan. I loved the idea of teaching people how to help themselves become self-motivated and achieve their goals. But, there was a problem in my dream world. In order to run a business you must sell your products or services, and I simply hated being in sales! I just wouldn't get out and ask people to buy the goal setting plan. It wasn't that I didn't believe in it, because I do! When I finally started listening to myself as I taught others how to achieve happiness, I actually used goal setting to make the decision to give up that business and go back to technical writing. Laurent, J. Suzanna. Prodigy (2002). Presentations>Slideshows>Technical Writing>Business Communication 12. #29154 Achieving Objectivity Through Genred Activity: A Case Study Finding itself at the center of highly publicized legal and political deliberations over fairness in testing, personnel credibility, and legal liability, the training department at a North American transit authority adopted a genre system that enabled the production of objective evidence of job competence, which was then used to make objective decisions about who passed and failed various training programs. The ongoing genre-structured activity of the department involved not only the regularization of organizational texts but also the regularization of social interaction mediated by those texts, which, while producing the types of interpretively stable documents required for successful public deliberation, led to a shift in authority and social relations within the department that instigated considerable resentment and loss of morale among many veteran instructors. Little, Joseph. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication (2007). Articles>Writing>Instructional Design>Genre 13. #31378 Activity Theory and Its Implications for Writing Instruction Proposes that educational institutions continue to improve the uses of writing in society in two ways: extend writing across the curriculum efforts and raise the awareness of students, the university community, and the public to the role of writing in society by having those who study writing teach an introductory liberal arts course on it. Both are important steps toward removing the remedial stigma attached to writing and its teaching, and toward combating the myth of autonomous literacy that reinforces the remedial stigma. Russell, David R. Iowa State University (1995). Articles>Education>Writing>Activity Theory 14. #20548 Adding Life to Your Documentation Suggests several techniques technical writers can use to enliven their writing and improve their documentation. Potsus, Whitney Beth. Intercom (2003). Articles>Documentation>Writing>Technical Writing 15. #23883 Administering Teacher Technology Training The collection of materials included here are designed to assist those, who for the first time, find themselves administering and developing an ongoing program for training teachers to use technology in the composition classroom. Carnegie, Teena A.M., Amy C. Kimme Hea, Melinda Turley and David Menchaca. Kairos (2003). Articles>Education>Technology>Writing 16. #25641 Adolescent Diary Weblogs and the Unseen Audience This paper first situates adolescent diary weblogs and their implied audiences and then applies a typology of audiences for personal narrative performance to a sample of diary weblog posts to ascertain if the typology fits the implied audiences present in the weblog text. Scheidt, Lois Ann. Indiana University (2005). Articles>Writing>Web Design>Blogging 17. #25126 Adopting Minimalism in a Corporate Environment Minimalism is more a methodology or set of principles than a set of measurable qualities. In order for your writers to move to a minimalist approach to documentation, you must be able to explain what you mean by the term and what you expect from your writers. Swallow, Lisa and Matt Laney. STC Region 7 Proceedings (2002). Articles>Writing>Technical Writing>Minimalism 18. #21801 Blogger's primary advantage is its simplicity--if you accept the default settings and host on BlogSpot, you can be up and running within five minutes. Once you have your blog, you'll find it's just as easy to customize it. Doctorow, Cory, Rael Dornfest, J. Scott Johnson, Shelley Powers, Benjamin Trott and Mena G. Trott. O'Reilly and Associates (1998). Articles>Web Design>Writing>Blogging 19. #13977 "Advanced Composition" And Occasion-Sensitivity As writing teacher but also freelance writer and editor, I rejoice to see current advanced composition textbooks emphasize sensitivity to occasion. For real-world writing profoundly requires audience-awareness. Out there, students will not be writing yet another typical theme for the teacher, concerned mainly with correctness. Nor will they be writing expressively, concerned mainly with self and authenticity. They must be writing for the occasion, to achieve specific purpose with specific readers, and hence must be concerned with effectiveness above all. But what about actual current classroom practice on this point? Beck, James P. JAC (1981). Articles>Writing>Rhetoric 20. #22812 English 515 is designed for undergraduates and graduates interested in professional writing for both print and electronic publication. Students learn to produce documents and coordinate writing projects, study and apply principles of document design and electronic publication using appropriate application software, and work in teams in computer-networked environments. Students will work both individually and collaboratively as they document, utilize and analyze writing practices, literacy tools, and research methodologies. Salvo, Michael J. Purdue University (2004). Academic>Courses>Writing>Business Communication 21. #18412 Technical writing is a growing and dynamic field. Technical writers work in scientific, medical, and technological contexts, and because of that, need to be both good writers and active learners: they need to learn how to understand technologies and scientific concepts; they need to learn how to analyze and understand work and workplaces; they need to learn to write for and with audiences; and they need to learn how to conduct research. Grabill, Jeffrey T. Michigan State University (2003). Academic>Courses>Writing>Technical Writing 22. #18428 There are several facts of contemporary business or technical communication that are now nearly universal: the acts of writing or managing any project occur in group settings; directions from employers are goal-oriented and the responsibility for development is left to a team (usually either external or internal to the assigning agency); organizations possess and frequently reassess corporate personae; and communication occurs with multiple audiences, with varying levels of knowledge. The purpose of this course is to give you practice in all of these skills. In addition, I intend to explore at length an issue far too rarely considered today: the ethical considerations of business and technical communication. For all these reasons, the design and specific requirements of the course are unusually (and, you should note, very intentionally) ambiguous. Given some goal, and composition into small teams of four to five people each, you will design and implement your own instruction in technical writing. Operating under certain requirements, constraints, and limitations, groups will propose, design, test, and recommend a specific solution to a particular need. I will base evaluation upon a percentage that reflects how well the groups (and individuals in them) achieve set criteria. Maddux, Clark. Michigan State University (2001). Academic>Courses>Writing>Technical Writing 23. #10877 Advice about Technical Writing Technical writing doesn't always mean 'computers.' Many companies hire technical writers to document policies and procedures for auditors. This means you would actually sit with someone and write down the steps they follow to do a function. Technical writers must be excellent communicators. Verbal and written skills must be of the highest caliber. A technical writer must be methodical, organized, and succinct. Taylor, Vicki M. Suite101 (2001). Careers>Advice>Writing>Technical Writing 24. #31111 Advice for the Novice Tech Writer: Be Like an Empty Cup Technical writing is one of those jobs in which you're constantly learning. New tools, new techniques, new methodologies. No one knows it all. That's especially true for the new technical communicator. If you've graduated from a writing and rhetoric course or a technical writing course, you have a pretty good grounding in craft. But you're really only at the base of the mountain. There's still a lot to learn, and if you keep your eyes and ears and mind open then you can quickly pick up what you need to know. 25. #31106 Advice for the Novice Tech Writer: Hold on to Your Passion Passion, though, is a funny thing. It's easy to become passionate about something. But the fire of that passion can also be easily dimmed or extinguished, often due to circumstances that are beyond your control. Throughout your career, you'll definitely find your passion waxing and waning. But holding on to that passion and nurturing it will make you a better technical communicator.
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