English 424: Technical Writing--Reflecting on It All
Your Name
Intro to Your Portfolio: Catchy
Heading that Sums up a Lesson that seems Significant to You
Your portfolio needs to put together a good framework to encompass your
experience in the course. This means setting up what the course was
about -- what it was shooting for -- and your own take on what you've
learned or gotten out of it. You'll have chances to say specific things
you got from each assignment below, but in this introduction you should
try to pick out a key specific experience you've had that can stand
for your experience in the course. So the first paragraph should: 1)
offer an overview of what technical writing and rhetoric mean, and 2)
show how we've tried to connect the abstract or theoretical ideas of
these to real or realistic communication situations. To help out with
this, because people probably are still fuzzy on both technical writing
and rhetoric, I'm offering a place or two to start.
Technical Writing typically means writing that tries
to communicate across an expertise "divide"--usually conceived
with the speakers holding the upper hand in expertise, but not always
in hierarchy/power (politics). Take, for example, the engineer trying
to present something to managers--sometimes those managers were once
in engineering positions themselves, and so the presentation is to a
audience that shares some common ground. But the priorities of the managers--what
counts to them--are now different even if they share the background.
The "difference" between speaker and audience is even more
distant than that when the managers were never engineers, and don't
share the background. Key recent examples of failures of TC are when
engineers and NASA managers have had to decide about Space Shuttles
-- one blew up on take off, another on re-entry, and in both cases speakers
failed to get the key points across. As we've read and discussed all
semester, a key to success in such situations is an understanding of
rhetoric, the theory of situational communication design, or something
like that ;-). So explain what TC is in your own words (probably offer
a range of examples) and what rhetoric is in your own words, and then
your best example of how you understand the impact the concepts have
from a class project or exercise.
On Pictures and Graphics:
Put some sort of graphical representation of you, or documentation,
or technical writing. Pics should probably be no more than 150 pixels
wide by 200 pixels high. You can resize in html, but keep proportional.
For a couple of good examples of "representations" see 424 Portfolios
by Lauren and Amy. For an example using animated pictures, see Mike
Brockett's here, and one
with theme/analogy for the whole, see Kati Wiegand's
here. You can see other
examples of how these have progressed in looking at my past sections of 424.
Software
The only programs you really need to do this stuff are a plain text editor,
like Notepad on the PC and TextEdit on the Mac, plus a web browser to
view the web pages with. Better text editors include the
Taco HTML Edit that we
use on the Macs in class, or any number of similar products for the PC, for
example one called "NoteTab-Lite" ("Lite" means the free version). For the browser we really recommend
Firefox because
Internet Explorer is a virus sponge and clunky.
But if you want to be able
to switch back and forth between looking at code and a preview of the web
page, there is the free program
Nvu (en-view standing for "new view"). You
can type right into the Normal pane (see the tabs at the bottom), or into
the code view ("Source" tab). Just be careful about the formatting. Of course
our class lab also has Macromedia Dreamweaver, the professional program for
doing this sort of work, and the nice Art department lab has it as well, and
is open in evenings and such (Ford 227).
The Team Introduction Memo
(TIM) and Process Documentation Memo (PDM): Your Own Project Title
Contextualizing the TIM & PDM
The Problems of "Joining" a Tech Writing
Team
Contextualizing means explaining the assignment and its context, its
situation, to readers who aren't in the context, like potential employers
who may someday read your portfolio entries. Keys to the successful
TIM include sharing experiences you've had, and making the argument
that the "experience" (the "lessons" you learned,
or values or goals the experience instilled in you) you got from your
experience could be valuable to the team. The memo should have multiple
types of experiences and lessons learned from each. A good spread would
include writing skills/experiences, team experiences, and work ethic
or similar culture type experience. PDMs purposes are to: document specific
changes made between drafts or stages of document, and make the case
that such changes are the result of better understanding of the (rhetorical)
situation, and so more effective text trying to respond to the situation
effectively. They make the case that your writing and revision processes
are rhetorical problem solving, and that you understand them as such.
Good PDMs should examine several (four or more) specific changes between
various drafts and make the case for what rhetorical issues are involved
-- audience, purpose, context, and, again, how the change in your understanding
of the situation resulted in modifications to the text.
Reflecting on the TIM & PDM
Tutorial Layout Design
The technical writing skills just mentioned are important, not only
because I am a technical writing major, but also because the assignments
brought to light so many things document users take for granted.
One issue brought out that seems to have the most impact on writing,
is how much the context or the situation in which the writing takes
place, shapes the use of the document. Being able to recognize
this, will allow me to be effective in my writing career. Because
of this, my experience in English 424, has been extremely valuable.
Word not the Best Page Layout Program
The technical writing skills just mentioned are important, not only
because I am a technical writing major, but also because the assignments
brought to light so many things document users take for granted.
One issue brought out that seems to have the most impact on writing,
is how much the context or the situation in which the writing takes
place, shapes the use of the document. Being able to recognize
this, will allow me to be effective in my writing career. Because
of this, my experience in English 424, has been extremely valuable.
[ on to project | return to top ]
The Creative Rhetoric Scenario:
Your Own Project Title
Contextualizing the Creative Rhetoric Scenario
Issues of Online Tutorial Design
The technical writing skills just mentioned are important, not only
because I am a technical writing major, but also because the assignments
brought to light so many things document users take for granted.
One issue brought out that seems to have the most impact on writing,
is how much the context or the situation in which the writing takes
place, shapes the use of the document. Being able to recognize
this, will allow me to be effective in my writing career. Because
of this, my experience in English 424, has been extremely valuable.
Reflecting on the Creative Rhetoric Scenario
Finding TC Online Tasks
The technical writing skills just mentioned are important, not only
because I am a technical writing major, but also because the assignments
brought to light so many things document users take for granted.
One issue brought out that seems to have the most impact on writing,
is how much the context or the situation in which the writing takes
place, shapes the use of the document. Being able to recognize
this, will allow me to be effective in my writing career. Because
of this, my experience in English 424, has been extremely valuable.
HTML & Online Design
The technical writing skills just mentioned are important, not only
because I am a technical writing major, but also because the assignments
brought to light so many things document users take for granted.
One issue brought out that seems to have the most impact on writing,
is how much the context or the situation in which the writing takes
place, shapes the use of the document. Being able to recognize
this, will allow me to be effective in my writing career. Because
of this, my experience in English 424, has been extremely valuable.
[ on to project | return to top ]
The Airbag Letter Case:
Your Own Project Title
Contextualizing the Airbag Case
Issues of Online Tutorial Design
The technical writing skills just mentioned are important, not only
because I am a technical writing major, but also because the assignments
brought to light so many things document users take for granted.
One issue brought out that seems to have the most impact on writing,
is how much the context or the situation in which the writing takes
place, shapes the use of the document. Being able to recognize
this, will allow me to be effective in my writing career. Because
of this, my experience in English 424, has been extremely valuable.
Reflecting on the Airbag Case
Finding TC Online Tasks
The technical writing skills just mentioned are important, not only
because I am a technical writing major, but also because the assignments
brought to light so many things document users take for granted.
One issue brought out that seems to have the most impact on writing,
is how much the context or the situation in which the writing takes
place, shapes the use of the document. Being able to recognize
this, will allow me to be effective in my writing career. Because
of this, my experience in English 424, has been extremely valuable.
HTML & Online Design
The technical writing skills just mentioned are important, not only
because I am a technical writing major, but also because the assignments
brought to light so many things document users take for granted.
One issue brought out that seems to have the most impact on writing,
is how much the context or the situation in which the writing takes
place, shapes the use of the document. Being able to recognize
this, will allow me to be effective in my writing career. Because
of this, my experience in English 424, has been extremely valuable.
[ Airbag Letter not Linked | return to top ]
The Context & Genre
Analysis Project:
Your Own Project Title
Contextualizing the Context & Genre Analysis
Project
Limiting the Scope
The technical writing skills just mentioned are important, not only
because I am a technical writing major, but also because the assignments
brought to light so many things document users take for granted.
One issue brought out that seems to have the most impact on writing,
is how much the context or the situation in which the writing takes
place, shapes the use of the document. Being able to recognize
this, will allow me to be effective in my writing career. Because
of this, my experience in English 424, has been extremely valuable.
Usability vs. Usefulness
The technical writing skills just mentioned are important, not only
because I am a technical writing major, but also because the assignments
brought to light so many things document users take for granted.
One issue brought out that seems to have the most impact on writing,
is how much the context or the situation in which the writing takes
place, shapes the use of the document. Being able to recognize
this, will allow me to be effective in my writing career. Because
of this, my experience in English 424, has been extremely valuable.
Reflecting on the Context & Genre Analysis Project:
Be Careful What You Ask For
The technical writing skills just mentioned are important, not only
because I am a technical writing major, but also because the assignments
brought to light so many things document users take for granted.
One issue brought out that seems to have the most impact on writing,
is how much the context or the situation in which the writing takes
place, shapes the use of the document. Being able to recognize
this, will allow me to be effective in my writing career. Because
of this, my experience in English 424, has been extremely valuable.
Tech Report Structure is Odd
The technical writing skills just mentioned are important, not only
because I am a technical writing major, but also because the assignments
brought to light so many things document users take for granted.
One issue brought out that seems to have the most impact on writing,
is how much the context or the situation in which the writing takes
place, shapes the use of the document. Being able to recognize
this, will allow me to be effective in my writing career. Because
of this, my experience in English 424, has been extremely valuable.
[ on to project | return to top ]