Practical strategies for technical communication by mike markel pdf

Practical Strategies

S E C O N D E D I T I O N

Practical Strategies for Technical Communication offers easy-to-follow strategies for writing and designing all of the major documents you’ll encounter in the workplace. This thoroughly updated new edition takes a boldly visual approach to technical communication, featuring “Thinking Visually” graphics addressing key principles and concepts, as well as new sample documents annotated with commentary from the professionals who created them. This book includes the assignments you need in order to succeed in the course and in your career.

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Where Students Learn

Practical Strategies for Technical Communication includes cross-references to LaunchPad with document analysis activities, tutorials, document-based case scenarios, and more. If your book did not come packaged with an access code, you can purchase access to LaunchPad for Practical Strategies for Technical Communication at macmillanhighered.com/ps2e.

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Practical Strategies for Technical Communication is available in a variety of e-book formats. For details, visit macmillanhighered.com/ps2e/catalog.

Mike Markel

for Technical communicaTion

Practical Strategies

S E C O N D E D i t i O N

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Guidelines

Determining Fair Use 23 Dealing with Copyright Questions 24 Using Social Media Ethically and Legally 27 Managing Your Project 37 Listening Effectively 38 Setting Your Team’s Agenda 39 Communicating Diplomatically 41 Critiquing a Colleague’s Work 41 Participating in a Videoconference 44 Writing for Readers from Other Cultures 68 Researching a Topic 85 Evaluating Print and Online Sources 93 Conducting an Interview 100 Creating a Professional Persona 110 Revising Headings 115 Dividing Long Paragraphs 119 Creating Effective Lists 131 Avoiding Sexist Language 150 Using the People-First Approach 152 Planning Your Design 160 Understanding Learning Theory and Page Design 167 Making Your Document Easy To Navigate 188 Designing Simple, Clear Web Pages 192 Integrating Graphics and Text 204 Creating Effective Tables 213 Creating Effective Bar Graphs 216 Creating Effective Infographics 219

Creating Effective Line Graphs 221 Creating Effective Pie Charts 222 Presenting Photographs Effectively 230 Organizing a Memo 255 Following Netiquette 256 Representing Your Organization on a Microblog 260 Building the Foundation of Your Professional Brand 267 Presenting Your Professional Brand 268 Using LinkedIn’s Employment Features 272 Elaborating on Your Education 274 Formatting a Plain-Text Résumé 281 Demonstrating Your Professionalism in a Proposal 300 Introducing a Proposal 302 Responding to Readers’ Questions in a Field Report 324 Projecting an Appropriate Tone in a Progress or Status

Report 326 Writing Recommendations 350 Writing an Executive Summary 356 Writing Effective Sentence Definitions 390 Providing Appropriate Detail in Descriptions 399 Designing Clear, Attractive Pages 407 Drafting Introductions for Instructions 411 Drafting Steps in Instructions 412 Introducing and Concluding the Presentation 428 Using Memorable Language in Oral Presentations 442 Paraphrasing Accurately 451 Summarizing 453

ThinkinG Visually

Tech Tips

Characteristics of a Technical Document 7 Measures of Excellence in Technical Documents 8 Principles for Ethical Communication 31 Advantages and Disadvantages of Collaboration 36

Determining the Important Characteristics of Your Audience 60

Characteristics of an Effective Graphic 200 Delivering the Presentation 444

How To Set Up Pages 169 How To Create Borders and Screens 180 How To Create Text Boxes 180 How To Insert and Modify Graphics 204 How To Use Drawing Tools 221 How To Create and Insert Screen Shots 233

How To Create a Gantt Chart 307 How To Format Headers, Footers, and Page Numbers 354 How To Create a Table of Contents 354 How To Create a Master Page Design in Presentation

Slides 433 How To Set List Items to Appear and Dim During a

Presentation 434

Presenting Clear Instructions 418 Mechanism Description Using Interactive Graphics 419

and Process Description Using Video Animation 419 and Instructions Using Video Screen Capture 419 and

Instructions Using a Combination of Video Demonstration and Screen Capture 419 and

Definition Using Video Animation 419 and Integrating Graphics and Text on a Presentation Slide 441

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Where Students Learn

LaunchPad for Practical Strategies for Technical Communication provides an interactive e-book, engaging content, and new ways to get the most out of your course.

• LearningCurve: adaptive, game-like practice that helps you focus on the technical communication topics where you need the most help

• Real-world case scenarios built around common workplace documents

• Analysis activities based on multimodal sample documents including video instructions and interactive visual reports

• Downloadable versions of helpful forms discussed in the text

• A test bank with quizzes and additional cases and exercises for every chapter

• Tutorials on digital composition, tech tips, and documentation

• Video-based modules on team writing

Take full advantage of the LaunchPad for Practical Strategies for Technical Communication. If your book did not come packaged with an access code, you can purchase access at macmillanhighered.com/ps2e.

Need help designing presentation slides or editing photos for a document?

Tutorials included in LaunchPad for Practical Strategies for Technical Communication will help you learn and apply digital composition skills for your assignments.

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Inside LaunchPad for Practical Strategies for Technical Communication

CASES

CASE 1: Using the Measures of Excellence in Evaluating a Résumé

CASE 2: The Ethics of Requiring Students To Subsidize a Plagiarism-Detection Service

CASE 3: Accommodating a Team Member’s Scheduling Problems

CASE 4: Focusing on an Audience’s Needs and Interests CASE 5: Revising a Questionnaire CASE 6: Emphasizing Important Information in a Technical

Description CASE 7: Designing a Flyer

CASE 8: Creating Appropriate Graphics To Accompany a Report CASE 9: Setting Up and Maintaining a Professional

Microblog Account CASE 10: Identifying the Best-of-the-Best Job-Search Sites CASE 11: Revising a Brief Proposal CASE 12: Writing a Directive About Using Agendas for

Meetings CASE 13: Analyzing Decision Matrices CASE 14: Choosing a Medium for Presenting Instructions CASE 15: Understanding the Claim-and-Support Structure

for Presentation Graphics

Document-based cases, previously included at the end of each chapter, are now presented online, where you can familiarize yourself with each scenario, download and work with related documents, and access assignment questions in a single space.

Missing something? Instructors may assign the online materials that accompany this text. For access to them, visit macmillanhighered.com/ps2e. LaunchPad materials are identified throughout the text with the icon.

E-BOOKS

Document-Based Cases for Technical Communication, Second Edition, by Roger Munger, features seven realistic scenarios in which you can practice workplace writing skills. Team Writing, by Joanna Wolfe, covers strategies for collaborating successfully in the workplace through written communication.

DOCUMENT ANALYSIS ACTIVITIES

Interactive Graphic: Tom Giratikanon and David Schutz, How Hard the Wind Will Hit Your Area, and When (Chapter 8)

Online Portfolio: Blane C. Holden’s Online Portfolio (Chapter 10)

Proposal Delivered as a Prezi Presentation: Andrew Washuta, Marketing Project Proposal (Chapter 11)

Report Presented as a Website: United States Geological Survey, High Plains Water-Level Monitoring Study (Chapter 12)

Interactive Graphic: Matthew C. Hansen et al., University of Maryland, Google, USGS, and NASA, “Global Forest Change” Interactive Map (Chapter 12)

Recommendations Presented as an Audio Podcast: Centers for Disease Control, Influenza 2010–2011, ACIP Vaccination Recommendations (Chapter 13)

Mechanism Description Using Interactive Graphics: Hybridcenter.org and Union of Concerned Scientists, Hybrids Under the Hood (Part 2) (Chapter 14)

Process Description Using Video Animation: North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT), Diverging Diamond Interchange Visualization (Chapter 14)

Instructions Using Video Screen Capture: TechSmith, Jing Learning Center, Capture a Video (Chapter 14)

Explore real multimedia documents that harness digital technologies in exciting new ways, and respond to prompts that will help you analyze them.

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http://Hybridcenter.org
TEAM WRITING MODULES

These modules, built around five short videos of real team interactions, focus on the role of written communication in teamwork. They’ll teach you how to use written documentation to manage a team by producing task schedules, minutes, charters, and other materials and also provide models for working on large collaborative documents.

TUTORIALS

DIGITAL WRITING TUTORIALS Cross-Platform Word Processing with CloudOn, Quip, and

More (Chapter 3) Tracking Sources with Evernote and Zotero (Chapter 5) Photo Editing Basics with GIMP (Chapter 8) Building Your Professional Brand with LinkedIn, Twitter, and

More (Chapter 10) Creating Presentations with PowerPoint and Prezi (Chapter 15) Audio Recording and Editing with Audacity (Chapter 15)

DIGITAL TIpS TUTORIALS Creating Styles and Templates (Chapter 3) Scheduling Meetings Online (Chapter 3) Reviewing Collaborative Documents (Chapter 3) Incorporating Tracked Changes (Chapter 3) Conducting Online Meetings (Chapter 3)

Using Wikis for Collaborative Work (Chapter 3) Using Collaborative Software (Chapter 3) Proofreading for Format Consistency (Chapter 7)

DOCUMENTATION TUTORIALS How To Cite a Database in APA Style (Appendix, Part A:

Documenting Your Sources) How To Cite a Website in APA Style (Appendix, Part A:

Documenting Your Sources) How To Cite a Book in MLA Style (Appendix, Part A:

Documenting Your Sources) How To Cite an Article in MLA Style (Appendix, Part A:

Documenting Your Sources) How To Cite a Website in MLA Style (Appendix, Part A:

Documenting Your Sources) How To Cite a Database in MLA Style (Appendix, Part A:

Documenting Your Sources)

Engaging tutorials show you helpful tools and tips for creating your projects along with guidance on how to best use them, as well as the documentation process for citing the sources you use in MLA and APA style.

Instructions Using a Combination of Video Demonstration and Screen Capture: Texas Tech University, Multiple Literacy Lab (MuLL), Recording Audio with iPod + iTalk (Chapter 14)

Definition Using Video Animation: ABC News, What Is the Cloud? (Chapter 14)

LEARNINGCURVE

Working in the Technical Communication Environment Analyzing Your Audience and Purpose Researching Your Subject Organizing and Emphasizing Information Writing Correct and Effective Sentences

Articles and Nouns for Multilingual Writers Prepositions for Multilingual Writers Sentence Structure for Multilingual Writers Verbs for Multilingual Writers

Master the material covered in the first six chapters of the text as well as key skills for multilingual writers with LearningCurve, an adaptive quizzing program that meets you where you are and gives you the extra support you need when you need it.

DOWNLOADABLE FORMS

Work-Schedule Form (Chapter 3) Team-Member Evaluation Form (Chapter 3) Self-Evaluation Form (Chapter 3)

Audience Profile Sheet (Chapter 4) Oral Presentation Evaluation Form (Chapter 15)

Download and work with a variety of helpful forms discussed throughout the text.

TEST BANK

A test bank offers multiple-choice, true/false, and short-answer questions for every chapter in the text.

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Second edITIon

Mike Markel Boise State University

Bedford /St. Martin’s A Macmillan Education Imprint

Boston • New York

Practical Strategies For Technical communicaTion

© Getty Images/John Rensten

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For Bedford/St. Martin’s Vice President, Editorial, Macmillan Higher Education Humanities: Edwin Hill Editorial Director, English and Music: Karen S. Henry Senior Publisher for Composition, Business and Technical Writing, Developmental Writing: Leasa Burton Executive Editor: Molly Parke Developmental Editor: Regina Tavani Media Producer: Melissa Skepko-Masi Publishing Services Manager: Andrea Cava Senior Production Supervisor: Lisa McDowell Executive Marketing Manager: Joy Fisher Williams Director of Rights and Permissions: Hilary Newman Senior Art Director: Anna Palchik Text Design: Maureen McCutcheon Design Cover Design: John Callahan Cover Art: © Getty Images/John Rensten Composition: Graphic World, Inc. Printing and Binding: RR Donnelley and Sons

Copyright © 2016, 2013 by Bedford/St. Martin’s.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, except as may be expressly permitted by the applicable copyright statutes or in writing by the Publisher.

Manufactured in the United States of America. 0 9 8 7 6 5 f e d c b a

For information, write: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 75 Arlington Street, Boston, MA 02116 (617-399-4000)

ISBN 978-1-319-00336-4

Acknowledgments Acknowledgments and copyrights appear on the same page as the text and art selections they cover; these acknowledgments and copyrights constitute an extension of the copyright page. It is a violation of the law to reproduce these selections by any means whatsoever without the written permission of the copyright holder.

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Practical StrategieS for technical communication is a shorter version of Technical Communication, which for 11 editions has remained a best- selling text for introductory courses in technical communication. Practical Strat- egies focuses on the essential topics, writing strategies, and skills students need to succeed in the course and in their professional lives. Its streamlined and reorganized chapters make it more concise than the larger book, but it remains an accessible and thorough introduction to planning, drafting, designing, and revising technical documents. Practical Strategies also offers detailed advice on the most common applications such as proposals, reports, and instructions.

Evident throughout this book is a focus on the expanding role of collabo- ration in the world of technical communication. Technical communication has always involved collaboration. A writer who needed to produce a user manual for a new software package would likely have interviewed the engi- neer who wrote the code. The company might also have convened a focus group to find out what users liked and didn’t like about the prototype of the software. Now, however, there is more interaction than ever before between the people who produce technical documents and those who consume them. Often, that interaction goes in both directions. Using social media and new technologies, technical communicators can collaborate with their audiences at every step of the communication process. And thanks to online publishing, audience members contribute to the development of technical documents even after they have been published, by asking and answering questions, revising existing information, and contributing new information.

The types of documents that technical communicators routinely produce have changed as well. Microblog posts, contributions to discussion boards and wikis, and status updates to one’s LinkedIn profile—once the raw materi- als of longer and more-formal documents—are now routinely used to com- municate important messages.

Despite these changes, the fundamentals of technical communication are at least as important as they always have been. An inaccuracy in a microblog post communicating a project update is every bit as big a problem as an inac- curacy in a traditional progress report. And even though we live and work in an era that values brevity and quick turnaround, some information can be properly communicated only through the longer, detailed documents that have always been at the center of technical communication.

Preface for Instructors

v

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Preface for Instructors vi

I have revised this new edition of Practical Strategies for Technical Communica- tion to help students learn how to communicate effectively in the fast-paced, highly collaborative world in which they will work. Employers have never valued communication skills as much as they value them today, and for good reason. Today’s professionals need to communicate more frequently, more rapidly, more accurately, and with more individuals than ever before. This book will help prepare students to do so—in their courses and in their careers.

Organization and Features of the Text Practical Strategies for Technical Communication is organized into five parts.

• Part 1, “Working in the Technical-Communication Environment,” orients students to the practice of technical communication, introducing important topics such as the roles of technical communicators, a basic process for writing technical documents, ethical and legal considerations, effective collaboration, and uses for social media in collaboration.

• Part 2, “Planning and Drafting the Document,” focuses on rhetorical and stylistic concerns: considering audience and purpose, gathering information through primary and secondary research, and writing coherent, clear documents.

• Part 3, “Designing User-Friendly Documents and Websites,” introduces students to design principles and techniques and to the creation and use of graphics in technical documents and websites.

• Part 4, “Learning Important Applications,” offers practical advice for preparing the types of technical communication that students are most likely to encounter in their professional lives: letters, memos, emails, and microblogs; job-application materials; proposals; informational reports, such as progress and status reports; recommendation reports; definitions, descriptions, and instructions; and oral presentations.

• The appendix, “Reference Handbook,” provides help with paraphrasing, quoting, and summarizing sources; documenting sources in the APA, IEEE, and MLA styles; and editing and proofreading documents.

Help with the writing process is integrated throughout the book in the form of two prominent features.

• Choices and Strategies charts (see page 83, for example) are designed to help students at decision points in their writing. These charts summarize various writing and design strategies and help students choose the one that best suits their specific audience and purpose.

• Focus on Process boxes in each of the applications chapters (see page 293, for example) highlight aspects of the writing process that require special consideration when writing specific types of technical communication. Each Focus on Process box in Part 4 relates back to a complete overview of the writing process in Chapter 1 (see page 12).

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Preface for Instructors vii

New to This Edition The Second Edition recasts the text’s features in the context of today’s pro- fessional environment. Chapter 1, thoroughly revised in light of the input of fellow technical-communication instructors, sets the stage for the text’s new focus. The chapter about audience includes an expanded introduction that prepares students who are, for the first time, considering audiences other than their instructors. In addition, this chapter presents techniques for analyzing social-media data to better understand those audiences. The correspondence chapter now includes guidelines on how to represent one’s organization on a microblog. The chapter on definitions, descriptions, and instructions covers the new role of discussion boards, wikis, and videos in disseminating information. Updated sample documents, both in the print text and online, provide opportunities for students to analyze the types of documents they’ll need to produce or contribute to, such as a municipal government app that enables residents to report infrastructure problems from their phones, as well as an interactive map of global forest changes that allows different audiences to customize their viewing experience to obtain the precise information they need. New to the Second Edition of Practical Strategies are sample documents annotated with insights from conversations with the professionals who created them, such as a Prezi frame built for a sustainability startup’s presentation at an investor conference.

In keeping with its promise of serving as a model of the principles it teaches, the new edition communicates in new ways. Reflecting the increas- ingly visual nature of today’s learners and of technical communication itself, the Second Edition includes new “Thinking Visually” graphics, developed with feedback from instructors. This feature provides an accessible, modern take on key principles and concepts throughout the text. Online resources, labeled in the text with an icon, are located in LaunchPad, a customiz- able online course space including a full e-book that can be packaged with new copies of the text for a significant discount. Cases are now presented in LaunchPad so that students can easily download and work with related documents. Tutorials introduce tools for multimodal composition, present helpful technology tips, and offer another means of learning documenta- tion. LearningCurve adaptive quizzing activities, covering the first six chap- ters, help students master and apply concepts in a new, personalized way. LearningCurve activities for multilingual writers are also available here, as are video-based team writing modules that help students learn collabora- tive writing skills. Also available in LaunchPad are two full-length e-books: Document-Based Cases for Technical Communication, Second Edition, by Roger Munger, and Team Writing, by Joanna Wolfe. Finally, instructors can access a variety of instructor resources here, including a new test bank featuring multiple-choice, true/false, and short-answer questions for each chapter.

The table on the next two pages describes the updates made to each chap- ter in the Second Edition.

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Preface for Instructors viii

chapTer WhaT’S neW

chapter 1 Introduction to Technical Communication

• New focus on continuous collaboration between technical communicators and stakeholders • A discussion of the challenges related to producing technical communication and how to

meet them • Thinking Visually: Characteristics of a Technical Document • Thinking Visually: Measures of Excellence in Technical Documents • A discussion of the skills and qualities shared by successful workplace communicators • New annotated sample documents that set the stage for those that will follow throughout

the text, such as a company blog post and comment thread

chapter 2 Understanding Ethical and Legal Obligations

• A discussion of ethical and legal issues related to social media, including guidelines for using social media ethically in the workplace

• Document Analysis Activity: Presenting Guidelines for Using Social Media • Thinking Visually: Principles for Ethical Communication

chapter 3 Writing Collaboratively

• Thinking Visually: Advantages and Disadvantages of Collaboration • Advice on choosing the best digital writing tool for a project • Tutorials on scheduling and conducting meetings online, creating styles and templates,

reviewing collaborative documents, incorporating tracked changes, using wikis for collaborative work, and using collaborative software

• Screenshots of a real team collaborating on a press release, annotated with insights from team members

• LearningCurve: Working in the Technical-Communication Environment, covering Chapters 1–3

chapter 4 Analyzing Your Audience and Purpose

• Thinking Visually: Determining the Important Characteristics of Your Audience • A new, more-detailed introduction to the role of audience and purpose • Advice on using social-media data in audience analysis • Case: Focusing on an Audience’s Needs and Interests • LearningCurve: Analyzing Your Audience and Purpose

chapter 5 Researching Your Subject

• Advice on using social-media data in research • LearningCurve: Researching Your Subject

chapter 6 Writing for Your Readers

• New focus on emphasizing important information at various document levels • Instruction on writing grammatically correct sentences relocated from the Reference

Handbook • Case: Emphasizing Important Information in a Technical Description • LearningCurve: Organizing and Emphasizing Information • LearningCurve: Writing Correct and Effective Sentences

chapter 7 Designing Print and Online Documents

• Advice on designing documents for mobile screens • A tutorial on proofreading for format consistency

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Preface for Instructors ix

chapTer WhaT’S neW

chapter 8 Creating Graphics

• Thinking Visually: Characteristics of an Effective Graphic • A discussion of infographics • Document Analysis Activity: Interactive Graphic • Tutorial on editing photos

chapter 9 Writing Correspondence

• Guidelines for representing your organization on a microblog

chapter 10 Writing Job-Application Materials

• Advice on establishing your professional brand • Guidelines on creating and using a LinkedIn profile • Tutorial on building a professional brand online • Document Analysis Activity: Online Portfolio • Case: Identifying the Best-of-the-Best Job-Search Sites

chapter 11 Writing Proposals

• Sample internal proposal: Tablet Study at Rawlings Regional Medical Center • Document Analysis Activity: Proposal Delivered as a Prezi Presentation

chapter 12 Writing Informational Reports

• Sample progress report: Tablet Study at Rawlings Regional Medical Center • Document Analysis Activity: Report Presented as a Website • Document Analysis Activity: Interactive Graphic

chapter 13 Writing Recommendation Reports

• Sample recommendation report: Tablet Study at Rawlings Regional Medical Center • Document Analysis Activity: Recommendations Presented as an Audio Podcast

chapter 14 Writing Definitions, Descriptions, and Instructions

• Guidelines for designing instructional videos • Document Analysis Activity: Presenting Clear Instructions • Document Analysis Activity: Mechanism Description Using Interactive Graphics • Document Analysis Activity: Process Description Using Video Animation • Document Analysis Activity: Instructions Using Video Screen Capture • Document Analysis Activity: Instructions Using a Combination of Video Demonstration and

Screen Capture • Document Analysis Activity: Definition Using Video Animation • Case: Choosing a Medium for Presenting Instructions

chapter 15 Making Oral Presentations

• Thinking Visually: Delivering the Presentation • Advice on creating presentation materials using Prezi • A sample Prezi presentation annotated with insights from its designer • Tutorials on creating presentation slides and on recording and editing audio for recorded

presentations and other projects

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Preface for Instructors x

Get the Most out of Practical Strategies for Technical Communication, Second Edition The Second Edition of Practical Strategies for Technical Communication lives not only in print but also online, where you and your students will find an array of engaging resources to enhance your course. Bedford/St. Martin’s offers resources and format choices that help you and your students get even more out of your book and course. To learn more about or to order any of the following products, contact …