1. MEMORANDUM
To: Dr. Roberts
From: Dan Conrad
Date: August 5th
, 2016
Subject: Final Report
I am writing this memo to communicate my completion of my technical communication
internship. I will start by explaining the nature of my internship including a description of
the assignment and the duties I performed. Then I will go into detail about my projects
and obstacles I encountered along the way. I will conclude with an evaluation of my
experience at Ecolab for my internship.
Internship Details
Ecolab is a pilot plant for manufacturing different chemical products. The procedures that
I wrote and edited were actual devices/machinery that workers used on a daily basis. My
job was to update and write documents that would help to inform workers about the
specifics and overall processes for using these pieces of machinery.
The duties of my internship were to write and update procedural documents for additional
information and clear language for operators’ understanding. This involved consulting
with subject matter experts about how to use the machinery and the chemical processes at
work. I also attended meetings about the documents and what will need to be changed or
added. My internship at Ecolab served as an introductory position for technical writing in
a business setting.
In order to obtain and understand the information about these procedures, I interviewed
and consulted with subject matter experts. They either worked with the equipment or
were knowledgeable about the specific chemical attributes of the products. My
supervisor, Kelsey, assisted with providing information about the emulsion procedure and
how to simplify some of the technical details about the mill to prevent any misreading.
The quality engineer, Nate, helped me with explaining the Tempered Water procedure
initially and with details about the controls for each tank. I also consulted with workers
who turned the valves a certain way to empty the Tempered Water tanks.

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Projects
The Emulsion Process Mill Operation was a new document that I wrote myself with the
help of subject matter experts. It involved taking pictures and formatting to follow Ecolab
guidelines and maintain consistency. It was important that all of the terminology that a
new operator would not know be defined somewhere in the document. After a meeting
about this document, I was told to include specifications about the different hoses and
pipes. I added an appendix with two sections where I included specific details about
braided and chemical hoses that I obtained from subject matter experts. The appendix
also included a diagram of the work area on the second and third floors. The additional
information wasn’t required for understanding the procedure, so I decided it should just
be referenced in the document.
Another document I worked on was the EMA Tempered Water Control Procedure. I took
an existing document and added more necessary information about the various tanks and
the other operator control panel. This involved figuring out the different tanks and the
overall procedures for each. I had to provide photographs of the actual valves for
operating the machinery as well as the standard control panel found on the majority of the
tanks (as opposed to the Allen-Bradley control).
For both documents I made sure that all of the formatting was consistent and that the
photographs clearly showed what was being presented. I created callouts to point out
specific parts of the images that were referenced in the text.
Obstacles
I came across a few obstacles throughout the internship. Formatting was an issue for both
of the projects. Ecolab’s procedure documents usually contain a complicated numbering
system and a grid to separate the sections. Later on I was able to simplify the numbering
system and remove the grid around the text.
Another obstacle was being able to complete the documents. I attended meetings and
gave both of the documents to workers and subject matter experts. Afterwards I needed to
update the documents to respond to feedback requests. These requests were often to
update the safety information, especially for the Emulsion Process Mill Operation.
In order to obtain this internship I needed to work as a laborer. My main job at Ecolab
was a laborer. The internship was only for four hours a week so I fit in time for it after
the process line work ended for the day. Most weeks I worked on the documents on
Fridays because the rest of the week I worked until the end of the day.
Evaluation
My technical communication internship has introduced me to business communication
along with technical skills that will help for future employment. I have assisted and
written for two different projects: the EMA Tempered Water Control and the Emulsion
Process Mill Operation procedures. The documents took more work and changes than
ordinary class assignments. The internship introduced me to the life cycle of documents

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in businesses. A single document could involve multiple revisions and additions for
various reasons.
I found out that the life cycle of a document could take several weeks or more to update. I
needed to attend meetings about these documents. I needed to update the documents for
different reasons. Some reasons were to add additional information either about
equipment or for the safety section.
In the process of editing, I often consulted with my Chicago Manual of Style and Pocket
Technical Writing book for grammar and formatting specifics. These proved to be useful
resources throughout my internship work.
Overall I have gained valuable skills from the experience of writing technical documents
for my internship.
Thank you for reading my final report. Let me know if you have any questions. I would
be happy to answer any questions or concerns you might have.
dc