Plan for the Day
- Résumé and Cover Letter Feedback
- Ch 10: Instructions, Procedures, and Policies
Résumé and Cover Letter Feedback
I should be done commenting on everyone’s résumés and cover letters by this evening (things have been a little tense around here). Remember, these are portfolio assignments, so you’ll have to revise them for your final portfolio–I grade on your process (and progress). Although the following suggestions aren’t for everyone, make sure you review some general suggestions for improvement located here.
Everyone has revision to do, so don’t let the amount of commenting scare you (too much). Re-read the assignment guidelines. Also, and this is VERY important, please notice that I offer summative comments AND comments in annotations. In order to read all my comments, you might have to scroll right on your Canvas submission. If you don’t see my overall comments AND the annotations, you’re missing my entire feedback.
Don’t dismiss the above distinguishing Comments and Annotations. You must revise your portfolio work based on my suggested feedback. If you don’t see all that feedback, you might not revise your documents appropriately for the Final Portfolio, which will seriously hurt your grade. If you don’t understand the above description, ask me now. Waiting until June 28th to learn the difference will be too late.
Ch 10: Instructions, Procedures, and Policies
Chapter 10 shows us types of user documents–instructions, procedures, and policies–which we won’t spend much time on. However, below are a few key points:
- p. 276: Users don’t like to read instructions…so why do we bother having technical communication courses?
{Take a moment and think about the type of writing you will do or have done on the job. What type of communication situations do you or did you find yourself in?} - p. 276-277: How will readers/users approach the document? In other words, under what/which context/s will users read the document?
- p. 278: Limit instruction to one item
One idea per paragraph; one instruction per step (generally) - p. 279: Case 10-1.The author starts by thinking about her audience. (See #2 under prewriting) For now, review Case Document 10-1A and 10-1B. Besides the audience analysis, what revisions (and why) make 10-1B the more effective document?
- p. 303 (yeah…almost missed it): What are some differences between print and online instructions? Consider the following:
- Audience and Purpose
- Context
- Readability
- p. 304: Case 10-4_A&B. There’s no audience profile for this document, so let’s think of one. Who is the audience? Consider the following:
- Primary, Secondary, other audiences–what’s the audience scope?
- How technically savvy is the audience?
- How amenable to change is the audience?
- Really think about this one…Who communicates this information to the audience? Thinking back to last week’s discussion, how might the writer have to approach the audience? Can he or she be direct? Consider hostile vs. friendly audiences.
- Also, what are the surface changes that make the revision (10-4B) a more effective revision?
- If interested in a system that wasn’t adopted by a group, check out Reengineering at MIT. Read para. 9, which starts out with “At MIT, reengineering was defined as…”
- This is more of an FYI and won’t be on any exam.
You ought to refer back to Chapter 10 for your future assignments, especially your set of instructions assignment for June 9th. Chapter 10 has a useful “Checklist for Developing Instructions/Procedures” on p. 303. Although you might not find all of these questions relevant, they should help you think through your approach to creating technical documents.
Below I have some topics that could have procedures/instructions. I’m not expecting you to create a document based on any of these for your assignment, but I do want you to consider how you might start thinking about your approach to a document based on the topic. I do realize that their are multiple audiences and different contexts for these topics, and that’s important to think about because different audiences and purposes might require totally different documents:
- How to find store deals (on products, services, etc.)
- How to be a cool person
- How to change a water purification filter (i.e., Brita, Pur, etc.)
- How to excavate at/for an archeological site
- How to be safe walking at night
- How to properly maintain social distancing during a pandemic
- What to do in case of a fire
What rule does the above list violate?
Homework and Future Work
Remember, you have your Prose Revision assignment (three paragraphs) due TODAY–Wednesday (2/15) and your Set of Instructions assignment due Wednesday (2/22).