Reports and Other Long Documents--Part 2

Creating Visuals—Walter E. Oliu, Charles T. Brusaw, and Gerald J. Alred

Some things to consider when incorporating visuals into documents:

- Plan visuals as you consider the scope of your final work—make sure everything fits and looks good in the rough draft

- Explain why you include each visual—the description will vary based on importance, use your knowledge of the audience to determine how much detail you need

- Make sure the information in your visual is accurate

- Keep it focused—only use necessary elements, eliminate the “riff-raff”

- Symbols, acronyms, and terminology should be consistent throughout the visual

- Specify measurements and distances using useful scales

- Make sure lettering is readable and captions are clear

- **Assign figure and/or table numbers for documents containing over 5—then refer to the figure using its number** (I think this is one of the most important things to remember. It will help with consistency and clarity throughout the document.)

TABLES

- Elements will include: table number, table title, boxhead, stub, body, rules (lines), source line, and footnotes.

GRAPHS

- Can be: Line graphs, bar graphs, pie graphs, picture graphs, dimensional-column graphs

OTHER VISUALS

- Drawings, flow charts, organizational charts, maps, photographs

I thought that this essay was very informative for certain types of business documents. I cannot foresee Natalie’s and my project including too many visuals aside from pictures, but all of these considerations are important. I’m currently taking a Computer Science course that is helping me to get even more familiar with MS PowerPoint and Excel, two programs that I can see being useful. I did not include too much information from this essay however, because the scope of visuals in my particular project is rather small, unlike a technical manual or set of instructions.

Strategies of Persuasion—David W. Ewing

- Knowing how to approach a technical document depends on relationships among the communicator, the reader, the message, and the time-space environment. Any writer should be familiar with such relationships so that they can effectively plan and execute their persuasion. Good writers vary their approaches based on individual situations.

- Ewing proposes some guidelines for persuasive writing:

1. Consider whether your views will make problems for your readers.

o Saying “You are wrong”= new enemy

o Present bad news or conflicting opinions with empathy and tact—be careful!

2. Don’t offer new ideas, directives, or recommendations for change until your readers are prepared for them.

o Consider your audience’s resistance to change

3. Your credibility with readers affects your strategy.

o Given credibility—boss to subordinate, any title you have or accomplishments you’ve achieved.

o Acquired credibility—how you present the message

4. If your audience disagrees with your ideas or is uncertain about them, present both sides of the argument.

o Shows that you’re objective

o Reader is treated as a mature and informed individual

5. Win respect by making your opinion or recommendation clear.

o Don’t leave any question as to what your stance is (if you’re presenting both sides of the argument)

6. Put your strongest points last if the audience is very interested in the argument, first if it is not so interested.

o Primacy-recency issue

7. Don’t count on changing attitudes by offering information alone.

o Did not completely understand the explanation

8. “Testimonials” are most likely to be persuasive if drawn from people with whom readers associate.

9. Be wary of using extreme or “sensational” claims and facts.

o Don’t be flashy—this is business writing, after all

10. Tailor your presentation to the reasons for readers’ attitudes, if you know them.

o Meet the main feelings, prejudices, or reasons or your audience’s beliefs

11. Never mention other people without considering their possible effect on the reader.

I enjoyed this article as well and found it informative. It is yet another take on the “know your audience” rule, but done in an original way re: persuasion.

Proposals—Philip C. Kolin

Guidelines for Writing a Successful Proposal

1. Approach writing a proposal as a problem-solving activity. (Exigence, Context)

2. Regard your audience as skeptical readers. (Audience—it’s not about you, it’s about your client)

3. Research your proposal carefully. (Current Citations, Literature Review)

4. Prove that your proposal is workable. (Project Plan)

5. Be sure that your proposal is financially realistic. (Cost-Benefit Analyisis)

6. Package your proposal attractively.

Since we’ve already written our proposals for our client, I included my class notes based on Dr. Holmevek’s lesson within the given guidelines. Although it’s a different book, most of the same elements exist.

INTERNAL PROPOSALS

- “The primary purpose of an internal proposal…is to offer a realistic and constructive plan to help your company run its business more efficiently and economically” (244).

- Informal—can be a brief memo

- Consider: Your AUDIENCE and office politics

SALES PROPOSALS

- In effect, these are the proposals that most of us are writing in class. The categories are very similar as most proposals follow a typical format.

Writing Proposals with Style—Richard Johnson-Sheehan

Style is very important because it sets the tone for your document. It makes content easier to read and more persuasive, as well as shows the clear head of the writer, his/her emphasis on quality, and projects a willingness to communicate with the writer’s work and readers. In my writing, I take style very seriously. It takes extra work and attention to detail, but it pays off in the end. This essay approaches style with more grammar notes, which I find a little redundant.

Business and Technical Correspondence

Two traditional forms are letters and memos, but email has become popular for both internal and external communications.

David V. Lewis—Making Your Correspondence Get Results
I really enjoyed reading this essay. I felt like it was organized well and contained useful information. I found it interesting that New York Life Insurance Company has recognized the importance of writing in client relations. In high school, I interned for an NY Life agent and I thought that the company had a very positive image, but it was cool to read that they invest a lot of time and money into educating their employees. Other points from Lewis:
- “Write for him, not to him”—an approach aimed to convince readers to do something you want them to do by making it sound more favorable to them, use more “you, your and yours” rather than “I, me and we”
- Tone—important in sensitive areas such as rejection letters, use positive rather than negative statements
- Write the same way you talk—conversational language is more effective, use contractions to add warmth and personality, but not so many that it sounds informal
- I also found the lists of words/phrases useful to determine what is conversational vs. what is “old hat”

Allan A. Glatthorn—I Have Some Bad News For You
- People appreciate straightforwardness, especially when they’re receiving bad news
- Indirect
o Formula=thanks-because-sorry-thanks
o Cushion bad news with positive, reassuring statements
- Direct
o Formula=thanks-sorry-because-thanks
o Same elements as indirect, but with more non-nonsense language
From what I understood of the essay, it is up to the writer to correctly assess a situation and choose the right way to break the bad news. Most cases will come down to the type of bad news as well as the way the receiver of the news will take it.

Harold K. Mintz—How to Write Better Memos
Organization:
What are the facts?
What do they mean?
What do we do now?
Elements:
- Summary, Conclusions & Recommendations, Statement of Problem, Proposed Solution, and Discussion
Important things to remember:
- Be clear, brief, and relevant with seeming brusque
- Use a personal, human approach
- Reflect diplomacy and political savvy

John S. Fielden & Ronald E. Dulek—How to Use Bottom-Line Writing in Corporate Communications
- The problem that corporations run into comes down to money
- Misunderstood memos and letters could result in monetary losses as well as lost productivity
- Superior and Subordinates Credos (?)

Janis Fisher Chan—Email: Presenting a Professional Image
I was unclear on the relevance of this particular essay in relation to email. I think it is important to use the same rules and guidelines in business emails as it is in any business communications. The essay was essentially a grammar lesson, something that is somewhat useful, but should be recognized as necessary at this point. Right?

Proposal Outline

Rhetorical Situation

Exigence

- Prevent Child Abuse America (Pickens County) is a small organization that would benefit from a reorganization of documents, especially pertaining to fundraising

- For me, the idea of assisting a nonprofit through writing is appealing. Depending on the work I do, the deliverables could be added to my portfolio of writing samples and/or helpful to me in determining whether NPO work is something I would like to do in the future.

Audience

- Presumably, my audience would be the client, PCAA and the people in charge of the organization. However, the work could evolve to external documents, in which the audience would eventually be members of support groups, potential donors, and even the public at large.

Constraints

- Time- Of course, the project must be completed in order to be evaluated for the class. Also, time constraints could translate to fundraising dates and other deadlines outlined by the client.

- My experience- Since the organization invests most of their time and money into services for parents and children, the nature of the work is sensitive and I may need to go through training to know what is appropriate and what is not.

***As we discussed in class, the Rhetorical Situation, as well as the entire plan for the project, is based largely on the client. As of today, I still haven’t been able to reach someone at PCAA, so my plan stands to change drastically (hopefully) in the next week.

I. Introduction

a. Writing to propose a partnership in which I produce deliverables for Prevent Child Abuse America of Pickens County

b. I have a vested interest in the organization and would like to volunteer services in order to make their lives easier

c. Based on their (your?) high volume of work but limited resources, I can solve basic problems with little assistance

II. Project Plan (I’m still a little hazy on the actual details, but ideally, this is what I picture)

a. Organizing office documents to make everyday work more efficient and useful

b. Writing form fundraising letters for corporations, small businesses, and individuals (probably at least 3 different approaches)

c. Working closely with leaders of support groups to put together some sort of packet containing proper procedure, etiquette, etc.

III. Qualifications

a. I’m not sure if I have the best credentials for this job, but I would like to convey to the client that I care about the organization enough to put my best work into the job.

b. Also, I’m a senior English major with good writing skills proposing to work for free.

IV. Cost/Benefit Analysis

a. This is one of those nothing-to-lose things because I am providing a free service in hopes of helping the organization.

b. I’m not sure about including this in the actual proposal. Obviously, I’ll convey that I don’t expect/want compensation, but I will probably have to develop my argument (persuasion) elsewhere in the proposal.

V. Conclusion

a. ? This will come, I assume.

Chapter 1-2, Dombrowski

The introduction to ethics in this book first highlights why ethics are important in business and technical writing. I appreciated that the general idea was that ethics have always been present in some regard, but recent times and expanding communications have made the study of ethics even more necessary. Although industries like law, politics, and medicine are highly specialized, the public is no longer ok with only knowing bits and pieces of the big picture. Ethical issues in technical communication manifest in everything from the Chernobyl disaster to issues of privacy and NASA research to politics. Perhaps one of the most well-known issues in recent years is President Obama’s presidency and his goal to make government more transparent. The study of ethics is important also because it is not always easy to determine what is right in any given situation. Ethics is a philosophical idea but most definitely has a practical application, and often times “what is right” is lost in the transition. Because it is not a cut-and-dried practice like science, a student needs to understand what others have thought and studied before him or her to make thoughtful decisions.

I liked that Dombrowski used a set of guidelines for the study of ethics in this book. However, I’m not completely comfortable with the word “Assumptions” to describe what his guiding posts were. Of the six, I thought the ideas that ethics is an application of personal values and that flexibility is key were very interesting.

For the purpose of this class and the book, the word rhetoric is not meant to have a bad connotation. Dombrowski’s definition was useful: “Rhetoric means the use of reasoned arguments based on socially accepted values and presented to inform in order to accomplish some socially desireable action such as policy decision” (13). The definition has ties to the classical studies of Plato, Socrates, and Aristotle, which is the focus of chapter 2. Since Plato was a reverent student of Socrates, their views on ethics align in many ways. A line of similarity runs through their schools of thought in the pursuit of truth and importance of honesty. Dombrowski reminds us here that it is important to recognize the limitations of history on ethics, which I took to mean that we should consider the political, religious, and social constraints of ancient Greece and Rome.

Socrates is given importance for his beliefs, three important tenets that hold his theory together:
1. He insisted on doing the right thing regardless of the consequences
2. Ethics is a matter of pleasing god
3. Ethical behavior requires active social involvement.

I am fairly positive that these three things could be applied to a lot of ethical situations today with positive results. Dombrowski also talks about the Sophists, a group that I think had very radical thoughts even compared to Plato and Socrates. The Sophists believed that there were no absolutes precisely because communication has the power to change minds/hearts, values, and decisions. Although it was not an organized movement, the thought prescribed to them is that values depend on circumstances. I’m not sure how I feel about this and I look forward to discussing more in class.

19th century
Hegel
Perelman
Burke
Weaver

Part 2--Simple, Simple, Simple

The introduction to Part 2 of “Strategies for Business and Technical Writing” outlines some guidelines for writers to use when writing technical documents. With the specific audience in mind, one must be as clear, straightforward, and simple as possible. The essays included in this section all speak to these principles.

Gobbledygook—Stuart Chase
The word gobbledygook originated when Congressman Maury Maverick became fed up with the jargon and extra words used in government. It’s a long word that describes the USE of long words and too many words in writing. Chase addresses legal talk and academic talk, citing the reasons why professionals use gobbledygook in their fields. In the legal world, jargon is hard to translate, even for lawyers. Although some legal terms are absolutely necessary, a lot of the language is just “excess baggage.” Chase also says that academics are naturally inclined to use flowery words to defend their learning. He introduces the survey completed by the FSA and the conclusions they drew: technical writing (office memos, official reports, and communication with clients) needs clarity, brevity, and common humanity. The FSA survey also instructs writers to consider a speaker and a listener in all communication. I found the last point interesting and useful because if you step back from what you are writing and consider an actual human reading it, you might revise what you said in the first place.

Writing in Your Job—William Zinsser
Zissner asserts that writing, even for an institution, must include humanity. Since so many people have jobs at banks, government offices, financial corporations, academic institutions, and various other businesses, a lack of humanity in everyday writing translates into a lack of humanity for the company. He uses the example of school principals who recognized that they were losing something in their communication. After analyzing their samples and conducting a workshop, he instilled his four tenants: clarity, simplicity, brevity, and humanity. I though the principal example was really interesting because the school administrators realized that they couldn’t blame poor writing and communication skills on the younger generations when they had problems themselves.

The Plain English Revolution—Alan Siegel
Basically, the Plain English Revolution is an organized approach to making technical documents more readable and functional. Although I agreed with the overall point of the article, I think most of the argument is made in the title.

A Critic of Plain Language Misses the Mark—Mark Mathewson
After reading a few essays extolling the virtues of simplicity in writing, I really enjoyed reading this counter-argument on a perceived differing opinion. He addresses a critic of plain language by completing breaking down his points and concluding that a) laypeople are not supposed to understand legal writing and b) lawyers are definitely not expected to write like novelists. While he admits that an average person will not understand the legal terms in technical writing, he says, the difficulty should arise from substance, not syntax. Also, arguing the “lawyers as novelists” point, he points out that no lawyer is expected to entertain and novelists are not plain language writers at all. I found the essay humorous in its argument and well-placed in this section of the book.

**A Guide to Nonsexist Language—language should be unbiased, be careful with pronouns
**International Communication and Language—the same cultural barriers and issues that occur in social settings also occur in business and writing instances. Important to recognize cultural differences without being offensive.

Project Brainstorming, Part 2

For my project, I would like to provide assistance in the form of written documents to help the local chapter of Prevent Child Abuse. This non profit organization is of interest to me because my sorority supports their cause by raising money at an annual event and they are located near Clemson. Since they are not a large charity and probably have fewer resources than an organization such as the Susan G. Komen Foundation, I hope that they would welcome the free help. Although I have not talked to anyone connected with PCA yet, I imagine that they would benefit from an organization of their documents for the various services they provide. These services range from offering parenting classes and support groups to training staff members who work with children. They also have a list of speakers who are available to talk to groups and organizations. The wide range of services that PCA offers affords me with many possibilities to begin a project. I can see my project taking form in the shape of fundraising and thank-you letters, a manual for volunteers, or even brochures to raise awareness for their cause. I would be comfortable taking the role of an intern who is available to help in any area and do small things to ultimately make things easier for the people who work there. As I mentioned previously, the mission of PCA is close to my heart, so I really wouldn’t mind approaching this project as less of a “school assignment” and more of a volunteer effort.