For the most part, the book is internally consistent. I worry that this textbook potentially does a disservice to the technical communication field as well as to open-access materials, which should be of high quality and represent best practices based on an awareness of the range of communication tasks working professional undertake. Many chapters are short (some are quite detailed, though), which can be a real asset, but the lack of technical writing theory might be a concern for instructors looking to balance practice with understanding approach. Why is information on Citations and Plagiarism after the chapter on proposals? The information that is presented in this book is very similar (and in some cases, exactly the same) as the information I've been teaching for the ten years I've been teaching technical communication. Some of the basic material related to communication and being concise will be consistently useful. With that said, additional work on representation could be added within the examples. The Table of Contents includes easily recognized sections and page numbers and each new section is noted at the top of the page. Sometimes you want readers to get in and get out quickly, but often, you want them to sit down and make themselves comfortable, put their feet up and stay awhile. Introduction to technical writing 1 of 47 Introduction to technical writing Aug. 27, 2017 0 likes 3,196 views Download Now Download to read offline Education Aspects of Technical Writing, Technical Writing Process and Principles of Technical Writing April Jade Arellano Follow Training Manager at The Little Company, Inc. . Charts, where used, easily help students find the key differences in concepts, which is something that more detailed, less approachable textbooks tend to overlook. The book's organization seems maximally effective for teachers and students. [How to vote this image is on a blog that is CC-licensed but I dont think the author used the image with permission. It would be more effective to educate students on the relationship between clarity, conciseness, and accuracy, and teach them to use the shortest, clearest, most direct language needed to effectively address the audience and accomplish the purpose of the text. The authors cover related and integral elements that help writers produce better documents, including using outlines and graphics as well as information literacy skills that writers should have. I'm grateful for this book. E.g., the book uses the opening phrase, "In other words" ten times throughout the book. The text covers proposals and progress reports in depth with links to examples of other types of technical writing including resumes and instructions (but no discussion of these forms in depth). I did not observe inaccuracies. Despite the textbook attempting to be modular, numbering chapters does suggest that there is a logic to the order. While I agree that students should keep e-mails short and direct, especially when corresponding with the instructor, there is nothing inherently wrong about a longer e-mail message. The text does not cover multi-cultural audience in any depth and does not consider disabled audiences (including visually impaired audiences). The limited scope and lack of discussion about the design expectations of the modern audience does make the book feel dated. For instance, the link to examples (titled "Online Technical Writing: Contents") uses yellow background and blue lettering, and does not include any explanatory text. It is noteworthy that it does not have questions in the back of each section, so its not designed for, say, test development or study for exams. Flora of the Cofrin Arboretum Made by Introduction to Technical We also acknowledge previous National Science Foundation support under grant numbers 1246120, 1525057, and 1413739. In fact, How technical writing differs from other forms of writing. Most importantly, subject matter experts' review of technical writers' work for technical accuracy and completeness. In 9 she and he are used interchangeably. Of particular importance is the text's approach to communication as audience focused and customized; this reflects theoretical accuracy and currency in technical and professional writing and, more broadly, in rhetoric and communications. The book's prose is not tightly edited, but the prose is accessible. This may reflect an issue with the field we tend to classify international communication differently from general technical communication but a section on writing in the global community and for cross-cultural audiences might be useful. Did the textbook assume students already understood writing as a process? This textbook highlights important components of technical writing, including various forms of technical writing in the workplace and also approaches to audience analysis, graphics, and ethics within the writing of these documents. I would include an appendix about conventions: when to use a colon, how to convey numbers, the rules of capitalization, and the like. The book seems to have been designed for modular use, and indeed that is how I plan to use it in my future classes. Some of the information does seem to not work (some links, for example), which may hurt longevity, but the authors do note this might be a possibility when using the book. There were no noticeable grammatical errors, though there were occasional long, wordy, confusing sentences. Such assignments are often designed so that students can write to learn and show mastery of information covered in class. Teachers can easily pick and choose between sections without assigning the entire text. At Chemeketa Community College students enter technical writing after completing two-three levels of prerequisite writing courses. The examples in the text and references to writers are neutral. These are appropriately and adequately covered. In some versions of the text, you can't see the graphics. The way that the book starts with a quick reference guide to genres and then moves into the big-picture writing theory is evidence that the writers want the book to be immediately useful. Some of the chapters are extremely brief and rudimentary, while others are detailed and nuanced. Section 9.2 includes the Challenger disaster as an example of unethical writing. Lakehouse and Delta tables - Microsoft Fabric | Microsoft Learn The book is well written, clear, useful, and comprehensive for an introductory course, but not for a higher level technical writing course. In addition to the mix of genres that it discusses, the book is also effective in its coverage of different aspects of writing such as audience, context, ethics, etc. It is a straight-forward text that introduces the basics of technical writing in a clear, error-free format. They want to find the solution to their problem and they dont want to use more mental energy than they need to. A similar prescription occurs on page 36, with the decree that an average between 15 and 25 words per sentence is about right. For example, if a report was sent that detailed funding for different departments, a piping superintendent may only want to read the section that relates to piping. Like its prose, the grammar appears to be clean and normalized to American standard English. This is where format, the use of headings, is significant in allowing the reader easy access to information. The book is being reviewed the book in the web PDF format. read more. The structural framework of the text is effective for online reading. In this scenario, the developer isnt visiting the docs to admire the writing capabilities of the person who wrote the doc; theyre visiting the docs to help them do something. At times the images presented conflict with the text and spacing on pages, but is otherwise easy to attribute to the content pertaining to the image. Overall, the content appears accurate, error-free, and generally unbiased. Technical writing is an audience-centered means of communication that provides a reader with clear and easy access to information. Students in my classes use a text as needed, rather than as the foundation of an entire course. Course Information. The chapters of the book could be easily reorganized to fit user needs and/or preferences. Visual representation of information could be improved, and the organization of chapters could be more strategic. The books advice, while brief, is extremely solid, backed up by authoritative evidence, and easy to follow. For example, research is usually an integral part of developing a writing topic rather than something that happens at a single defined point mid-way through a project; likewise, a discussion of ethics should happen before a technical report is underway, perhaps in relation to an analysis of audience or to a discussion of the rhetorical situations present in professional writing generally. By this, I mean that the text does not have to be read linearly to be useful for students. If the authors proclaim the three-paragraph limit as their personal preference, they should say that, too. However, the text discusses at length the importance of audience awareness and cultural differences in writing, particularly applications that span multiple cultures. 3-4). At times, the balance feels off. Many of the chapters will do well on their own. Having personally examined a number of technical writing materials, this is by far one of the very few texts that incorporate a section about texting. This may not be a serious concern as, especially in a digital format, the book can be navigated easily from topic to topic. Lakehouse and Delta tables - Microsoft Fabric | Microsoft Learn However, currently relevant platforms like Twitter are excluded from this section. Reviewed by Jennifer Barton, Advanced Instructor, Virginia Tech on 2/8/17, The book appears to be written for a course designed around a specific major project that asks students to write a proposal for a technical report and then to research and write the report itself. The book does not model the level of clarity needed for technical writers. Presentations are another key genre for technical communication that is overlooked in the textbook. Think, for example, of a recipe you get in a meal-delivery kit. The book needs a careful and close editing by one person. For example, a developer trying to troubleshoot a problem at work decides to look at the official documentation for a specific package manager. Text is mostly free of grammatical errors, although a few minor grammar mistakes were present. Dawn Atkinson and Sarah Raymond. This is probably the case due to chapters being derived from other sources. It reads like the authors are speaking directly to the audience. The text clearly focuses on research and report writing in a business context. While its cover and design are unassuming which, for a text on technical writing, might be a drawback its content is erudite and targeted to its primary audience and purpose. Part of this is due to the phrasing about the friends haircut, This lie, though minor, preserves . Technical documents value the readers time by using the following features: Formatting and appropriate language are the basic design elements of all technical documents. I. I examined this textbook as a resource for a 100-level Technical Writing class. Overview of technical writing courses - Google Developers But most technical writing courses dont focus on exams (there may be quizzes on concepts) so that is not a significant barrier. The order in which the books contents are presented is somewhat arbitrary. Provide The PDF version of the textbook works as expected in terms of the links in the toc and the thumbnails visible in Acrobat. Some links are broken, which can be frustrating, but it doesn't distract from the usefulness of the book overall. This text seems to be designed for purposeful fragmentation in a course. However, the focus for technical writing courses is not necessarily a career as a technical writer but an introduction to the kinds of writing skills you need in practically any technically-oriented professional job. Page 12 advises that professional communications require attention to the specific writing context but there is no explanation of what context is. Thats confusing and limits the books applicability. Modularity - The text is laid out in chapters with clear and simple sub-headings underneath each one. Professional and academic proposals are robust documents which cite sources, so that background information would be useful earlier. It signals a contrast which isnt there. These headings should make finding relevant sections in the text fairly easy. The students would have difficulty locating the correct version of the textbook unless a PDF were provided to them by the instructor, and the PDF is problematic in terms of design and omission of content. It can be inconsistent in terms of the amount of space given to, say, some issues over others. I would like to thank all of the authors as well as David McMurrey for their efforts in writing and editing this open source textbook. I would suggest adding a section on conference calls in the chapter on Professional Communications. The authors may have heard this, because they mention ASME in section 5.1, but they give no examples of what ASME looks like in practice. In fact, between July 2017, when I downloaded a PDF copy for review, and October 2017, when I began writing the review, the authors added chapter 11 on design and readability, and chapter 12 on writing employment materials. Overall, though, the book scores high in the grammatical category. There are additional problems in the pdf version that make it the pdf only partially usable: However, there are several mentions of the technical report being the main document produced at the end of the term (which is true) and mentions of several prefatory documents needed for benchmarking along the way. The writer recognizes, respects, and addresses the importance of time in effective and efficient communication by providing documents written in specific formats, using unambiguous language to send clearly accessible information. This and other sections could offer updates, particularly regarding electronic and online documents. May 30, 2023 Dual-write is an out-of-box infrastructure that provides near-real-time interaction between customer engagement apps and finance and operations apps. Content is up to date. The authors offer no discussion of theory, despite a claim on page 1 that theory underlies technical writing. These could be easily fit into the overall structure of the text although obviously other sources of information would need to be found. WebIt is 8 hours long and costs $129.9. In general, segments are only a few paragraphs in length, with modules easily excerpted for re-use or revised usage. Introduction to Technical Writing - Oregon State University The organization of chapters in the web-native version defies logic. Technical Writing: An Open Educational Resource, { "00:_Front_Matter" : "property get [Map MindTouch.Deki.Logic.ExtensionProcessorQueryProvider+<>c__DisplayClass228_0.
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