2. WHAT ARE YOUR GOALS FOR THIS PROJECT?
• Describe the basic concepts of rhetoric and technical
communication that inform workplace writing
• Practice making choices about content, structure, and
style based on the needs, knowledge, and values of an
audience
• Reflect on your changes in thinking about writing in
professional life as a result what you’ve learned in the
course
3. WHAT ARE YOU DOING, OVERALL?
• Combine all the information that you have gathered from the course and the
specialized information you have collected about technical and professional
communication in a specific career, major, or field through the other projects in
the course.
• Write a report usable by a novice in that career or major that:
• describes technical communication,
• explains how the writing that goes on in that profession meets the characteristics of
technical communication, and
• recommends changes in thinking and practice that novices should undergo
4. COMBINE ALL THE INFORMATION YOU’VE
GATHERED…
• Go back to your discussions and exercises
• Go back to your research report and reference sheet
• Go back to chapters we’ve read
• Go back to articles we’ve read
• Maybe even do a bit of new research (!?!)
5. WRITE A REPORT USABLE BY A NOVICE IN THAT
MAJOR OR CAREER
• Your report should be written TO your novice, and not to me.
• You’ll have to make audience-centric choices about how to
design, format, structure, voice, and style your content (even
including visual or graphic elements, definitions, or other
content appropriate to your audience)
6. WRITE A REPORT USABLE BY A NOVICE IN THAT
MAJOR OR CAREER
• You fifteen weeks ago, before taking the course
• A new _________ major
• A noob professional in your field that you’re already working in
• A noob professional in the field you intend to work in
• The person taking the professional internship next
• Some other relevant audience (propose something!)
7. WHAT NOT TO REPORT ON:
1. Don’t try to sell the ENGL 3301 course.
2. Don’t try to sell the career field.
8. REPORT ON:
1. What is technical communication?
• Provide background information and describe key theories, principles, or approaches
in rhetoric and technical communication.
• Remember our textbook? What is TC?
• Remember videos we watched? What is TC?
• Remember the discussions we’ve had and the articles we’ve read? What is TC?
• Alternate go-to terms: professional writing, technical writing, professional
communication
9. REPORT ON:
2. What does technical communication look
like for a specific field or discipline?
• What are important genres, audiences, and/or writing situations in your field?
• Remember the concepts we’ve applied: audiences, purposes, ethics, style, design,
technology, genres, reports, informal/formal communication, the 6 Cs
• What do the “characteristics of writing at work” or “principles of technical communication”
look like at YOUR work or the work you plan to do in a year or two?
• Discuss findings from your research and tie them to your discussion of major concepts of
technical communication.
10. REPORT ON:
3. What changes in practice or changes in
thinking about written communication
should the novice make as they become
members of that discourse community?
• Engage in some reflective thinking: What changes have you made? Do you still need
to make?
11. INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING ELEMENTS:
• Executive Summary
• Discussion
• Introduction
• What is technical communication?
• What does TC look like in your major/ discipline/career field?
• Conclusion
• Recommendations for novices in your field; what should they DO with this
information?
• Appendices, including bibliography
ETC pages 209-223
See specifics
in assignment
description
Emphasis:
Your report
should be
usable by
a novice in
the major.
12. INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING ELEMENTS:
• Executive Summary (A written, formal executive summary is required for all
projects)
• Discussion
• Introduction
• What is technical communication?
• What does TC look like in your major/ discipline/career field?
• Conclusion
• Recommendations for novices in your field; what should they DO with this
information?
• Appendices, including bibliography ETC pages 209-223
See specifics
in assignment
description
Emphasis:
Your report
should be
usable by
a novice in
the major.
Be rhetorical in your Discussion, Conclusion, and
Recommendation sections. Think of these as purposes
to fulfill. You can treat this as a traditional technical
report or white paper, but think about your audience. If
your report should be usable by a novice, what genres,
content types, or styles might be appropriate to do
those jobs?
Would it work as an infographic? A letter? A technical
report? A... something else?
13. REMEMBER YOUR AUDIENCE
• Who is the “you” you are talking to? Put a
picture of them in your brain and write to that
person.
• What do they know or not know about your topic?
• What will you need to explain so they can understand?
• What do they need? What do they value?
• What do they believe already about your topic, and what do you
need to persuade them of?
