Technical Communication A Reader-Centered Approach (with MLA Updates)

by Anderson, Paul V.

• ISBN13: 9781413002836
• ISBN10: 1413002838
• Edition: 5th
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-09-17
• Publisher: Wadsworth Publishing

Summary

Known for its treatment of the rhetorical situation and its reader-centered approach, the new edition is now full color and thoroughly updated to include the latest developments in technical communication.

Table of Contents

PART I Introduction	1	(52)
CHAPTER 1 Communication, Your Career, and This Book	3	(19)
Communication Expertise Will Be Critical to Your Success	4	(1)
Writing at Work Differs from Writing at School	5	(4)
At Work, Writing Is an Action	9	(1)
The Main Advice of this Book: Think Constantly about Your Readers	9	(1)
Qualities of Effective On-the-Job Communication: Usability and Persuasiveness	10	(3)
The Dynamic Interaction between Your Communication and Your Readers	13	(2)
Some Reader-Centered Strategies You Can Begin Using Now	15	(2)
Communicating Ethically	17	(2)
What Lies Ahead in This Book	19	(1)
Exercises	20	(1)
CASE: Selecting the Right Forklift Truck	21	(1)
CHAPTER 2 Overview of the Reader-Centered Communication Process: Obtaining a Job	22	(31)
Central Principles of the Reader-Centered Approach	23	(1)
Writing Your Résumé	23	(14)
Electronic Résumés: Special Considerations	37	(2)
Writing Your Job Application Letter	39	(7)
Ethical Issues in the Job Search	46	(1)
Writing for Employment in Other Countries	47	(1)
Conclusion	48	(1)
Exercises	48	(1)
CASE: Advising Patricia	48	(5)
PART II Defining Your Communication's Objectives	53	(26)
CHAPTER 3 Defining Your Communication's Objectives	55	(24)
The Importance of Defining Objectives	56	(15)
GUIDELINE 1: Focus on what you want to happen while your readers are reading	56	(2)
GUIDELINE 2: Define your usability goal: Analyze your readers' reading tasks	58	(2)
GUIDELINE 3: Define your persuasive goal: Analyze your readers' attitudes	60	(1)
GUIDELINE 4: Identify your readers' important characteristics	61	(4)
GUIDELINE 5: Study the context in which your readers will read	65	(1)
GUIDELINE 6: Ask others to help you understand your readers and their context	65	(1)
GUIDELINE 7: Learn who all your readers will be	65	(4)
GUIDELINE 8: Identify any constraints on the way you write	69	(1)
GUIDELINE 9: Ethics Guideline: Identify your communication's stakeholders	70	(1)
Expertise in Action: An Example	71	(4)
Conclusion	75	(1)
Exercises	76	(1)
CASE: Announcing the Smoking Ban	76	(3)
PART III Planning	79	(80)
CHAPTER 4 Planning for Usability	81	(16)
Your Goal When Planning for Usability	82	(12)
GUIDELINE 1: Identify the information your readers need	82	(1)
GUIDELINE 2: Organize around your readers' tasks	83	(4)
GUIDELINE 3: Identify ways to help readers quickly find what they want	87	(1)
GUIDELINE 4: For a complex audience, plan a modular communication	87	(2)
GUIDELINE 5: Look for a technical writing superstructure you can adapt	89	(1)
GUIDELINE 6: Plan your graphics	90	(1)
GUIDELINE 7: Outline, if this would be helpful	91	(1)
GUIDELINE 8: Check your plans with your readers	91	(2)
GUIDELINE 9: Ethics Guideline: Investigate stakeholder impacts	93	(1)
Conclusion	94	(1)
Exercises	94	(2)
CASE: Filling the Distance Learning Classroom	96	(1)
CHAPTER 5 Planning Your Persuasive Strategies	97	(27)
How Persuasion Works	98	(20)
GUIDELINE 1: Learn-and focus on-your readers' goals and values	99	(3)
GUIDELINE 2: Address your readers' concerns and counter arguments	102	(2)
GUIDELINE 3: Show that your reasoning is sound	104	(4)
GUIDELINE 4: Organize to create a favorable response	108	(3)
GUIDELINE 5: Build an effective relationship with your readers	111	(4)
GUIDELINE 6: Adapt your persuasive strategies to your readers' cultural background	115	(3)
GUIDELINE 7: Ethics Guideline: Employ ethical persuasive techniques	118	(1)
Conclusion	118	(2)
Exercises	120	(3)
CASE: Debating a Company Drug-Testing Program	123	(1)
CHAPTER 6 Conducting Research	124	(35)
Special Characteristics of On-the-Job Writing	125	(1)
GUIDELINE 1: Define your research objectives	125	(1)
GUIDELINE 2: Create an efficient and productive research plan	126	(2)
GUIDELINE 3: Check each source for leads to other sources	128	(1)
GUIDELINE 4: Carefully evaluate what you find	128	(1)
GUIDELINE 5: Begin interpreting your research results even as you obtain them	128	(1)
GUIDELINE 6: Take careful notes	129	(1)
GUIDELINE 7: Ethics Guide1in Observe copyright law and intellectual property rights	130	(1)
GUIDELINE 8: Ethics Guideline: Document your sources	131	(1)
Conclusion	132	(2)
Exercises	134	(1)
REFERENCE GUIDE Five Research Methods	135	(26)
Exploring Your Own Memory and Creativity	136	(5)
Searching the Internet	141	(6)
Using the Library	147	(5)
Interviewing	152	(1)
Conducting a Survey	153	(6)
PART IV Drafting Prose Elements	159	(79)
CHAPTER 7 Drafting Paragraphs, Sections, and Chapters	161	(52)
Drafting Paragraphs, Sections, and Chapters	162	(21)
GUIDELINE 1: Begin by announcing your topic	163	(1)
GUIDELINE 2: Present your generalizations before your details	164	(3)
GUIDELINE 3: glove from most important to least important	167	(1)
GUIDELINE 4: Reveal your communication's organization	167	(12)
GUIDELINE 5: Consult conventional strategies when having difficulties organizing	179	(2)
GUIDELINE 6: Consider your readers' cultural background when organizing	181	(1)
GUIDELINE 7: Ethics Guideline: Remember the human consequences of what you're drafting	181	(2)
Conclusion	183	(1)
Exercises	183	(3)
CASE: Increasing Organ Donations	186	(3)
REFERENCE GUIDE Six Patterns for Organizing	189	(76)
Classification (Grouping Facts)	190	(4)
Description of an Object (Partitioning)	194	(2)
Description of a Process (Segmentation)	196	(5)
Comparison	201	(3)
Cause and Effect	204	(4)
Problem and Solution	208	(1)
Combinations of Patterns	208	(3)
Exercises	211	(2)
CHAPTER 8 Beginning a Communication	213	(18)
GUIDELINE 1: Give your readers a reason to pay attention	214	(4)
GUIDELINE 2: State your main point	218	(1)
GUIDELINE 3: Tell your readers what to expect	219	(1)
GUIDELINE 4: Encourage openness to your message	220	(2)
GUIDELINE 5: Provide necessary background information	222	(1)
GUIDELINE 6: Adjust the length of your beginning to your readers' needs	223	(3)
GUIDELINE 7: For longer communications, begin with a summary	226	(2)
GUIDELINE 8: Adapt your beginning to your readers' cultural background	228	(1)
GUIDELINE 9: Ethics Guideline: Begin to address unethical practices promptly* and strategically	228	(2)
Conclusion	230	(1)
Exercises	230	(1)
CHAPTER 9 Ending a Communication	231	(5)
GUIDELINE 1: After you've made your last point, stop	232	(1)
GUIDELINE 2: Repeat your main point	233	(1)
GUIDELINE 3: Summarize your key points	233	(1)
GUIDELINE 4: Refer to a goal stated earlier in your communication	234	(1)
GUIDELINE 5: Focus on a key feeling	234	(1)
GUIDELINE 6: Tell your readers how to get assistance or more information	235	(1)
GUIDELINE 7: Tell your readers what to do next	235	(1)
GUIDELINE 8: Identify any further study that is needed	236	(1)
GUIDELINE 9: Follow applicable social conventions	236	(1)
Conclusion	236	(1)
Exercises	236	(2)
CHAPTER 10 Developing an Effective Style	238	(25)
Creating Your Voice	240	(4)
GUIDELINE 1: Find out what's expected	240	(2)
GUIDELINE 2: Consider the roles your voice creates for your readers and you	242	(1)
GUIDELINE 3: Consider how your attitude toward your subject will affect your readers	242	(1)
GUIDELINE 4: Say things in your own words	243	(1)
GUIDELINE 5: Ethics Guideline: Avoid stereotypes	243	(1)
Constructing Sentences	244	(8)
GUIDELINE 1: Simplify your sentences	244	(1)
GUIDELINE 2: Put the action in your verbs	245	(1)
GUIDELINE 3: Use the active voice unless you have a good reason to use the passive voice	246	(2)
GUIDELINE 4: Emphasize what's most important	248	(1)
GUIDELINE 5: Smooth the flow of thought from sentence to sentence	249	(2)
GUIDELINE 6: Vary your sentence length and structure	251	(1)
Selecting Words	252	(7)
GUIDELINE 1: Use concrete, specific words	252	(2)
GUIDELINE 2: Use specialized terms when-and only when-your readers will understand them	254	(1)
GUIDELINE 3: Use Words accurately	255	(1)
GUIDELINE 4: Choose words with appropriate associations	256	(1)
GUIDELINE 5: Choose plain words over fancy ones	257	(1)
GUIDELINE 6: Ethics Guideline: Use inclusive language	258	(1)
Conclusion	259	(1)
Exercises	259	(4)
PART V Drafting Visual Elements	263	(82)
CHAPTER 11 Creating Reader-Centered Graphics	265	(55)
GUIDELINE 1: Look for places where graphics will increase your communication's usability	267	(3)
GUIDELINE 2: Look for places where graphics will increase your communication's persuasiveness	270	(1)
GUIDELINE 3: Choose the types of graphics that are best at achieving your usability and persuasive objectives	271	(2)
GUIDELINE 4: Make each graphic easy to understand and use	273	(5)
GUIDELINE 5: Use color to support your message	278	(3)
GUIDELINE 6: Adapt existing graphics to your readers and purpose	281	(2)
GUIDELINE 7: Integrate your graphics with your text	283	(3)
GUIDELINE 8: Before addressing an international audience, check your graphics with people from other nations	286	(1)
GUIDELINE 9: Ethics Guideline: Avoid graphics that mislead	286	(2)
Conclusion	288	(2)
Exercises	290	(1)
REFERENCE GUIDE Thirteen Types of Graphics	291	(166)
Graphics for Displaying Data	292	(12)
Graphics for Showing How Something Looks or is Constructed	304	(7)
Graphics for Showing How to Do Something	311	(1)
Graphics for Explaining a Process	311	(3)
Graphics for Providing Management Information	314	(3)
Exercises	317	(3)
CHAPTER 12 Designing Pages and Screens	320	(25)
A Reader-Centered Approach to Design	321	(1)
Design Elements of a Communication	322	(1)
Four Basic Design Principles	322	(12)
GUIDELINE 1: Begin by considering your readers and purpose	323	(1)
GUIDELINE 2: Use proximity to group related elements	324	(1)
GUIDELINE 3: Align related visual elements with one another	325	(3)
GUIDELINE 4: Use contrast to establish hierarchy and focus	328	(2)
GUIDELINE 5: Use repetition to unify your communication visually	330	(2)
GUIDELINE 6: Select type that is easy to read	332	(2)
Practical Procedures for Designing Pages	334	(3)
GUIDELINE 7: Design your overall document for ease of use and attractiveness	335	(2)
Graphic Design of Web Pages	337	(1)
Conclusion	338	(1)
Exercises	339	(6)
PART VI Evaluating and Revising	345	(34)
CHAPTER 13 Checking and Reviewing Drafts	347	(13)
Performing Your Own Quality Check	348	(4)
GUIDELINE 1: Check from your readers' point of view	348	(1)
GUIDELINE 2: Check from your employer's point of view	349	(1)
GUIDELINE 3: Distance yourself from your draft	349	(1)
GUIDELINE 4: Read your draft more than once, changing your focus each time	350	(1)
GUIDELINE 5: Use computer aids to find (but not to cure) possible problems	350	(1)
GUIDELINE 6: Ethics Guideline: Consider the stakeholders' perspective	350	(2)
Reviewing	352	(5)
GUIDELINE 1: Discuss the objectives of the communication and the review	353	(1)
GUIDELINE 2: Build a positive interpersonal relationship with your reviewers or writer	353	(1)
GUIDELINE 3: Rank suggested revisions-and distinguish matters of substance from matters of taste	354	(1)
GUIDELINE 4: Explore fully the reasons for all suggestions	355	(1)
GUIDELINE 5: Use computer aids for reviewing iii a reader-centered way	355	(2)
GUIDELINE 6: Ethics Guideline: Review from the stakeholders' perspective	357	(1)
Conclusion	357	(1)
Exercises	358	(2)
CHAPTER 14 Testing Drafts for Usability and Persuasiveness	360	(13)
GUIDELINE 1: Establish your test objectives	362	(1)
GUIDELINE 2: Pick test readers who truly represent your target readers	363	(1)
GUIDELINE 3: Focus on usability: Ask your test readers to use your draft the same way your target readers will	363	(4)
GUIDELINE 4: Focus on persuasiveness: Learn how your draft affects your readers' attitudes	367	(1)
GUIDELINE 5: Interview your test readers after they've read and used your draft	367	(1)
GUIDELINE 6: Avoid biasing your test results	368	(1)
GUIDELINE 7: Test early and often	369	(1)
GUIDELINE 8: Ethics Guideline: Obtain informed consent from your test readers	369	(1)
Conclusion	369	(3)
Exercises	372	(1)
CHAPTER 15 Revising	373	(6)
GUIDELINE 1: Adjust your effort to the situation	374	(1)
GUIDELINE 2: Make the most significant revisions first	375	(2)
GUIDELINE 3: Be diplomatic	377	(1)
GUIDELINE 4: To revise well, follow the guidelines for writing well	378	(1)
GUIDELINE 5: Revise to learn	378	(1)
Conclusion	378	(1)
PART VII Applications of the Reader-Centered Approach	379	(58)
CHAPTER 16 Communicating Electronically: Email and Web Sites	381	(22)
Using Email	382	(4)
GUIDELINE 1: Observe the email conventions where you work	383	(1)
GUIDELINE 2: Keep your messages brief	383	(1)
GUIDELINE 3: Make your messages easy to read on screen	384	(1)
GUIDELINE 4: Provide an informative, specific subject line	384	(1)
GUIDELINE 5: Take time to revise	385	(1)
GUIDELINE 6: Remember that email isn't private	385	(1)
Creating Web Sites	386	(15)
GUIDELINE 1: Begin by defining your site's objectives	388	(2)
GUIDELINE 2: Provide quick and easy access to the information your readers want	390	(5)
GUIDELINE 3: Design pages that are easy to read and attractive	395	(2)
GUIDELINE 4: .Design your site for international and multicultural readers	397	(1)
GUIDELINE 5: Enable readers with disabilities to use your site	398	(1)
GUIDELINE 6: Help readers find your site on the Internet	399	(1)
GUIDELINE 7: Test your site on multiple platforms and browsers before launching it	399	(1)
GUIDELINE 8: Keep your site up to date	400	(1)
GUIDELINE 9: Ethics Guideline: Respect intellectual property and provide valid information	400	(1)
Exercises	401	(2)
CHAPTER 17 Creating and Delivering Oral Presentations	403	(19)
GUIDELINE 1: Define your presentation's objectives	404	(1)
GUIDELINE 2: Select the form of oral delivery best suited to your purpose and audience	404	(2)
GUIDELINE 3: Focus on a few main points	406	(1)
GUIDELINE 4: Use a simple structure-and help your listeners follow it	406	(1)
GUIDELINE 5: Use a conversational style	407	(2)
GUIDELINE 6: Look at your audience	409	(1)
GUIDELINE 7: Prepare for interruptions and questions----and respond courteously	410	(1)
GUIDELINE 8: Fully integrate graphics into your presentation	410	(7)
GUIDELINE 9: Rehearse	417	(1)
GUIDELINE 10: Accept your nervousness-and work with it	417	(1)
Making Team Presentations	418	(1)
Conclusion	419	(1)
Exercises	419	(3)
CHAPTER 18 Creating Communications with a Team	422	(15)
GUIDELINE 1: Select the most effective structure for your team's collaboration	423	(1)
GUIDELINE 2: Create a consensus on the communication's objectives	424	(1)
GUIDELINE 3: Involve the whole team in planning	425	(2)
GUIDELINE 4: Make a project schedule	427	(1)
GUIDELINE 5: Share leadership responsibilities	427	(2)
GUIDELINE 6: Make meetings efficient	429	(1)
GUIDELINE 7: Encourage discussion, debate, and diversity of ideas	429	(3)
GUIDELINE 8: Be sensitive to possible cultural and gender differences in team interactions	432	(1)
GUIDELINE 9: Use computer support for collaboration when it's available	433	(1)
Conclusion	434	(1)
Exercises	434	(3)
PART VIII Client and Service-Learning Projects	437	(18)
CHAPTER 19 Managing Client and Service-Learning Projects	439	(16)
Overall Project Management Strategy	441	(10)
GUIDELINE 1: Determine exactly what your client wants and why	441	(1)
GUIDELINE 2: Develop your own assessment of the situation	442	(1)
GUIDELINE 3: Create a project management plan	442	(2)
GUIDELINE 4: Submit a written proposal to your client-and ask for written agreement	444	(1)
GUIDELINE 5: Communicate with your client often-especially at all major decisions	445	(5)
GUIDELINE 6: Advocate and educate, but defer to your client	450	(1)
GUIDELINE 7: Hand off the project in a helpful way	451	(1)
Conclusion	451	(1)
Exercises	451	(4)
PART IX Superstructures	455	(124)
CHAPTER 20 Reports	457	(76)
Your Readers Want to Use the Information You Provide	458	(1)
Readers' Six Basic Questions	458	(1)
General Superstructure for Reports	459	(4)
Sample Outlines and Report	463	(2)
Conclusion	465	(9)
REFERENCE GUIDE Three Types of Special Reports	474	(59)
Empirical Research Reports	475	(28)
Feasibility Reports	503	(11)
Progress Reports	514	(19)
CHAPTER 21 Proposals	533	(21)
The Variety of Proposal-Writing Situations	534	(2)
Proposal Readers Are Investors	536	(1)
The Questions Readers Ask Most Often	536	(1)
Strategy of the Conventional Superstructure for Proposals	536	(2)
Superstructure for Proposals	538	(7)
Sample Proposal	545	(9)
CHAPTER 22 Instructions	554	(25)
Four Important Points	555	(1)
Superstructure for Instructions	556	(12)
Physical Construction of Instructions	568	(1)
Online Instructions	569	(1)
Sample Instructions	569	(9)
Exercises	578	(1)
Appendixes	579	(48)
APPENDIX A Formats for Letters, Memos, and Books	581	(22)
Letter Format	582	(3)
Memo Format	585	(1)
Book Format	585	(18)
APPENDIX B Documenting Your Sources	603	(13)
Choosing a Format for Documentation	604	(1)
Deciding Where to Place In-Text Citations	604	(1)
Using the APA Documentation Style	605	(5)
Using the MLA Documentation Style	610	(6)
APPENDIX C Projects	616	(11)
Project 1 Résumé and Job Application Letter	617	(1)
Project 2 Informational Web Site	617	(1)
Project 3 Informational Page	618	(1)
Project 4 Unsolicited Recommendation	619	(1)
Project 5 Brochure	620	(1)
Project 6 Instructions	620	(1)
Project 7 User Test and Report	621	(1)
Project 8 Project Proposal	622	(1)
Project 9 Progress Report	623	(1)
Project 10 Formal Report or Proposal	623	(1)
Project 11 Oral Briefing I: Project Plans	624	(1)
Project 12 Oral Briefing II: Project Results	625	(2)
Acknowledgments	627	(6)
References	633	(4)
Index	637