Assign 6 Resume

4. List ten qualities of good technical writing.

Answer: 1. Arrives by the due date.

2. Contains necessary preliminary or front matter to characterize the report and disclose its purpose and scope.

3. Contains a body with essential information.

4. Uses tables and graphs where appropriate.

5. Includes a summary set of conclusions when needed.

6. Can be read selectively.

7. Has a rationale and easily discernible plan.

8. Reads coherently from beginning to end.

9. Answers the reader’s questions.

10. Conveys overall impression of authority, thoroughness, and honest work.

Chapter 2: “Composing”

1. Why is writing ethically so important in today’s technical world?

Answer: Because we represent our company or organization when we write a report, and acting ethically allows us to live in a civilized society.

2. What is brainstorming? Answer: Uncritically jotting down every idea about a subject that pops into your head without thought of organization. Later you will organize the thoughts into a type of coherent outline or sequential order.

3. Why is brainstorming important? Answer: Brainstorming is important in the critical thinking process because it allows individuals or group/team members to express all ideas on a particular subject or problem thus creating more ideas and possible solutions than would be possible without brainstorming. Brainstorming is a creative process that allows full expression without judgment.

4. Define culture. Answer: There are many definitions of culture. One definition from Wikipedia is: Culture has many definitions. Culture is most commonly used in three basic ways to mean: (1) excellence of taste in the fine arts and humanities; (2) an integrated pattern of human knowledge, belief, and behavior that depends . . . upon . . . symbolic thought and social learning; and (3) the set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterizes an institution, organization, or group.

Chapter 3: “Writing Collaboratively”

1. Have you found one or two classmates with whom to work in a team? List their names for your instructor. Answers will vary.

2. After you have completed the collaborative team writing assignment, evaluate your team using the following criteria: (a) accessibility, (b) willingness to work together, (c) flexibility, (d) congeniality, (e) courtesy, (f) reliability and (f) adherence to deadlines.

3. List five task roles that a team member might play. Answer: initiator, information seeker, information giver, opinion seeker, opinion giver, elaborator, summarizer. (Can you visualize a person that you know who often plays any of these roles (someone from work, in your family, your friends, for example)?

4. List five group maintenance roles that a team member might play. Answer: (a) encourager, (b) feeling expresser, (c) harmonizer, (d) compromiser, (e) gatekeeper. Identify/define these roles.

5. What is the overall purpose of a task role in a group? Answer: To help the group accomplish its set task.

6. What is the overall purpose of a group maintenance role? Answer: To help maintain the group in a harmonious, working condition.

7. There is a section in this chapter that discusses collaborating on the Internet in three ways: via e-mail, over FTP sites, and through synchronous discussions. Define what these three terms mean: (1) FTP: File Transfer Protocol; (2) e-mail communication; and (3) a synchronous discussion. Be able to define or discuss these terms.

Chapter 4: “Writing for Your Readers”

1. What is the layman audience? Answer:

Lay people represent a wide range of educational levels—they read for interest and are primarily concerned with what objects do—their functioning action, rather than how they work. This audience is interested in the impact of something on them personally.

2. What are some characteristics of the lay audience? Answer: They are more concerned with what events, activities do than how an object works. Their interest is personal. They are interested in cost, safety, efficiency of a product, plant (industrial), or event.

3. In thinking about your reader(s), list several considerations about your readers that are important. Answer: (1) Who will read the message? (2) How much does the reader know about the topic? (3) Is my reader interested in my topic? (4) How technical should I be in explaining my position or my company’s position? (5) What does my reader need to know? (6) What is my purpose in writing the document? (7) How will my reader approach my document? (8) What is my business relationship with my reader?

4. The collaborative process, as discussed in your text, states that collaboration is more complex than just simply sharing what you have written. Define what collaborative writing is. Answer: Collaborative writing is the working together of a group over an extended period of time to produce a document where the group shares the responsibility for the document, the decision making, and the work of producing the document. Individual group members may have the responsibility to produce a certain part of the document, but the entire team is responsible for the final document that is created for the client/reader/audience.

5. List four major steps of the collaborative process. Answer: (1) Planning, (2) Drafting, (3) Revising, and (4) Editing.

6. Writing for multicultural technical audiences is becoming more and more important in all writing and is particularly relevant to technical writing and international markets and corporations. When writing for non-Western audiences, such as individuals, engineers, corporations, executives, or the public from Asia, Latin America, or Mexico, what points of interest will you employ for tailoring your technical message for this particular audience? Answer: For this audience, you should (a) be more indirect and de-emphasize the main points or place the major points at the end of your message. Paragraph, or document. (b) Be less concise, more wordy, us a more formal, elegant writing style, and include more descriptive words. (c) De-emphasize structure and use fewer headings and subheadings. (d) Avoid placing direct blame on any one person or group of your audience. (e) Recognize that your message may be shared with many, many other individuals or groups. (f) Discuss business in terms of larger human and organizational concerns. (g) Don’t rush your audience to a decision; allow time for group consensus to build.

7. When writing for North Americans, Canadians, Europeans, and Western Europeans in your audience, you can usually employ the following writing style with these characteristics: (a) highlight main points of your message; (b) use conciseness and efficiency in writing and word choice; (c) state issues tactfully but squarely and honestly; (d) emphasize what was done or will be done, by whom, and by when; (e) use logical paragraph structure and arrangement; (f) use clear, concise headings, good page design, and layout; (g) focus on business rather than personal issues; (h) present conclusions and recommendations in clear statements; and (i) write clearly and concisely.

Chapter 5: “Achieving a Readable Style”

1. What is a central statement or theme? Answer: The central statement is a statement, most often appearing early in the paragraph, of the main idea of the topic.

2. What is a transition in technical writing? Answer: A word, phrase, or paragraph that further develops in a continuing sequence of thought the central theme. A well-worded transition provides for smooth, continuous reading and aids comprehension, cohesiveness, and organization in a document.

3. List five transition words or phrases. Answer: however, in order that, because, therefore, also, in addition to, nevertheless, in spite of, thus.

4. In a paragraph where is the central statement often placed? Answer: Usually at the very beginning of the paragraph (in 88% of business and technical writing, this is the case).

5. Name the seven “C’s” of communication that should be present in all types of communication—spoken, written, technical, and non-technical. Answer: conciseness, clearness, cohesiveness, comprehension, correctness, concreteness, and courtesy.

Chapter 6: “Writing Ethically”

1. As technical communicators, list six ethical principles that you should observe in your professional technical activities and briefly describe what is meant by each principle? Answer: Legality, honesty, confidentiality, quality, fairness, and professionalism. (You may need to look up the meaning of these terms in order to define them correctly.)

2. List the major arrangement strategies in writing. Answer: Chronological, topical, exemplification, analogy, classification and division, mechanism and process description, and argument.

3. Briefly describe each arrangement strategy that you listed in Question 2 above. Answer:

Chronological: Ideas are presented in order of historical or calendar occurrence or in reverse chronological order (such as in a job resume where most recent work history is usually listed first).

Topical: Ideas are presented according to topic or subject and may be presented in order of importance with subtopics as well.

Exemplification: A series of generalizations supported by examples. Two ways to give examples are (1) to give one or more lengthy, well-developed examples or (2) to give a series of short examples not developed in detail. Too few examples in technical writing will create lack of interest by the audience/reader and lack of credibility of your writing, while too many examples may lose the reader in too much detail.

Analogy: Compares the familiar to the unfamiliar in order to help readers better understand the unfamiliar. This is an excellent organizational approach when presenting material to a lay audience, a non-technical audience, or an audience raining in a technical subject. May also include advantages and disadvantages, pros and cons of a subject.

Classification and Division: This approach groups parts, ideas, families of information into groups often moving up the abstraction ladder (classification) explaining from the simplest level to the most complex level or moving down the abstraction ladder (for division). This arrangement is appropriate for definition of mechanisms and devices or for discussing or presenting a process description.

Process Description: Process means a sequence of events that progresses from a beginning point to an ending point and that results in a change or a product. Process descriptions are written in one of two ways: (1) For the doer—to provide instructions for performing the process (such as taking blood pressure of a patient, changing a flat tire, installing software, troubleshooting computer malfunction) and (2) for the interested observer—to provide an understanding of the process that is occurring.

Argument: Argumentative writing deals with opinions that are on a continuum between verifiable fact and pure objectivity. Most writing, whether technical or non-technical, earns its credibility based on facts, documentation, and objectivity. Opinions in argument are often called hypotheses, propositions, premises, claims, conclusions, or theses. Examples of the use of argument include technical proposals; recommendations that result from facts presented in a text in a feasibility report; marketing, publication relations, or persuasive writing; and job letters. Various levels of argument may be used in these types of argumentative writing. Argument usually supports one major opinion, often called the major proposition which, in turn, is supported by a series of minor propositions and are usually verifiable or provable facts that can be proven, checked upon and verified or documented, or have been quoted from recognized authoritative sources.

NOTE: THIS PRIMARILY COMPLETES THE REVIEW FOR THE MID-TERM EXAM; HOWEVER, THE MID-TERM TEST MAY ALSO COVER CHAPTER 7 BELOW.

REVIEW FOR FINAL EXAM

The following questions from Chapters 7-19 contain page numbers for the 10th Edition of Reporting Technical Information. If you are using another edition, the questions are the same. The chapter numbers may be different, but the topics are the same. Check your textbook for the title of the chapter, and the information should match.

Chapter 7: “Electronic Communication”

1. List several rules of e-mail etiquette. Answer: (a) Be polite and courteous. (b) Never write a message that you wouldn’t want others to see. (c) Respect the privacy of e-mail messages. (d) Keep messages brief. (e) Answer e-mail promptly. (f) Keep paragraphs short. (g) Edit and proofread carefully. (h) Remember to punctuate e-mail messages correctly for your employer or immediate supervisor may read these and evaluate your ability based on how you communicate professionally and grammatically in your e-mail message.

2. Which of the following would you use for an important subject that you wanted the reader to take seriously and that you need for a permanent record? Answer: (a) e-mail message, (b) a letter, or (c) a telephone call. Answer: A and B

3. How does e-mail communication resemble both verbal conversation and written communication? Answer: It is quick and easy and tends to be more informal, much like oral communication. It is also more or less permanent and can have serious professional uses just as written communication has.

4. What does FTP stand for? Define. Answer: File Transfer Protocol—this process allows you to upload files from your computer to a remote computer or download files from a remote computer to your computer.

Chapter 8: “Document Design”

1. Name four ways in which using headings in technical and business documents will benefit your readers. Answer:

1. Headings help readers to locate quickly the information they need.

2. Headings help readers to skip sections n a report or document.

3. Headings give readers an overview of the contents and organization of the document.

4. Headings break the text into manageable sections or pieces.

2. List five suggestions to help develop visually effective pages and screens. Answer: 1. Design on a grid. 2. Leave ample margins. 3. Use blank space to group information. 4. Use a medium line length. 5. Use a ragged right margin rather than a left-and-right-justified margin.

3. The following guidelines should be followed to write effective headings. Answer:

1. Make headings meaningful in text and word usage.

2. Readers should be able to read only the headings throughout a report and follow the overall contents in comprehension and understanding as well as structure and document arrangement.

3. Use questions, verb phrases, and sentences as headings where appropriate.

4. Use standard key words if readers expect these (such as Introduction, Scope, Methods of Research, Background, Findings, Conclusions, Recommendations, etc.).

5. Make headings at a given level parallel in language with each other. (For example, in Sections 1.0 and 1.1 all headings in that section should be parallel in language and form.)

6. Make sure that all headings in the text or body of the report match exactly with the headings that are listed in the Table of Contents for that document.

Chapter 9: “Design Elements of Reports”

1. Three major sections of reports are:

1. Prefatory Elements (which include):

a. Letter of Transmittal

b. Preface or Foreword

c. Title Page

d. Table of Contents

e. List of Illustrations

f. Glossary of Terms or List of Symbols

g. Abstract

h. Executive Summary or Synopsis

2. Main Elements of Report (also called the Body)

a. Introduction

b. Purpose

c. Scope

d. Discussion

e. Conclusions

f. Recommendations

g. Works Cited (Bibliography or References)

3. Appendix

a. Questionnaire and Survey Results

b. Supporting Data

c. Letters of Support or Other Documents

d. Graphics or Large Tables of Maps

e. Permission or Authorizations

Be able to discuss each of these parts of reports and how they relate to your feasibility study or investigative report.

Chapter 10: “Graphical Elements”

1. Five the titles of two graphics that you included in your feasibility report and explain what type of graphics they are and how they contributed to your feasibility report.

2. List five guidelines for designing graphics. Answer:

a. Use a clear title and number for each graphic.

b. Introduce the graphic in the text and discuss its significance

c. Make the graphic large enough to be legible.

d. Don’t put too much information in each graphic.

e. Leave lots of space around the graphic for readability.

f. Use an x-axis and a y-axis on all graphs and explain what these labels mean.

g. Acknowledge the source of the graphic with a footnote if the material is not yours originally.

h. Avoid excessive use of color.

i. Make the graphic accurate.

3. Name three most common types of graphs: Answer: pie charts, photographs, maps, tables, drawings, flowcharts.

Chapter 11: “Correspondence”

No questions on this chapter at this time.

Chapter 12: “Strategies and Communications of the Job Hunt”

1. What actions should you take following a job interview? Answer:

You should thank the interviewer in a follow-up letter and again express your interest in the job. Offer to furnish additional information or come in for a second interview.

2. What are some questions that you should ask yourself following an interview?

Answer: A. How did I do? B. What are my chances of getting this job? C. Do I really want the job now that I have been to the interview? D. Would I like working for this company or person?

3. List three major ways to gather information about companies and organizations ho may have a job that you are seeking? Answer: (1.) Research print publications (newspapers, journals, college career placement publications). (2) Research the Internet. (3.) Network with everyone you know.

4. How do you prepare for the job hunt? Answer: Perform a self-assessment by asking yourself the following questions:

a. What are my strengths? (list these on paper)

b. What are my weaknesses? (list these also)

c. How well have I performed in previous jobs?

d. Have I shown initiative?

e. Have I improved procedures or developed new ideas?

f. Have I accepted responsibility?

g. Have I been promoted or been given a merit raise?

h. How can I present myself most attractively and positively?

i. What skills do I have that relate directly to what the employer seems to need?

j. How and where have I obtained these skills?

5. What types of correspondence are required during the job hunt?

Answer: Letter of application, resume, follow-up letter, job acceptance, job refusal letter, memorandum of understanding.

6. In the job search process, when is it appropriate to bring up salary and benefits? Is it appropriate?

Answer: These subjects are not usually brought up during the first interview. Most companies will give you a package of company information that describes benefits, holidays, investment programs, and retirement plans possibly. These subjects are generally discussed during the second interview or a follow-up job interview where you may actually be offered the job. If you are offered the job in the first interview and you are interested, then it is appropriate to bring these subjects into discussion. Approaches may vary by company and based on current job circumstances or the economy.

7. What topics, sections should be included in your resume?

Answer: Your name, address, telephone number, e-mail address if not a work address, education, work experience, licenses and certifications, special technical competencies, foreign languages as well as computer languages, references if applicable. If you are a project person or engineer, you may attach a list of projects on which you have worked, supervised, or managed and briefly describe these. You might list a job history if the position requires this.

8. Explain how you would use the Internet to search for a job? Answers will vary.

8. Name the three most widely used types of resumes and describe their differences and similarities. Answer in text: Chronological, functional, targeted.

Chapter 13: “Development of Reports”

1. Writing effective reports involves what four considerations? Answer:

(a) understanding what your audience/readers want to know; (b) understanding your reader’s/audience’s perspective on information you will present in the report; (c) applying your knowledge of how people read and process information to develop and present your message; and (d) selecting the appropriate content, style, and tone for your audience.

2. What sections does the Introduction in a report usually contain? Answer: Purpose, Scope and Limitations, Summary, Methods of Research/Data Gathering, Background of the Problem.

3. Describe the differences in the following types of summaries: Descriptive Summary, Informative Summary, Evaluative Summary. Answer:

Answer: The descriptive summary is usually less than 100 words in length and consists of one to three sentences that briefly describe the document or report. It usually appears on the title page of a report and may be called an Abstract. This is the summary that was written on the title page of your sample feasibility report title page in the Report File material provided by your instructor.

The informative summary is longer than a descriptive summary and is designed for the purpose of providing additional information on a subject without giving your opinion. The length may be one to two pages and is similar to an Executive Summary.

The evaluative summary is similar to the comparison of articles that you completed in one of your assignments. The purpose is to give the information that would be included in the informative summary plus add your evaluative opinion or critique of the material.

3. Reports are generally considered legal documents. What is the writer’s liability? Answer: As a report writer for an organization or corporation, you represent your company when you prepare a document and are legally responsible or upholding the company’s policies and procedures.

4. Are letters and memos considered reports? Answer: Not usually. However, reports may be presented in letter or memorandum format.

5. List some of the major sections of your report. Answer: Prefatory/Front Matter, Main Body, Appendix.

Chapter 14: “Development of Analytical Reports”

1. Name four types of reports and name the distinguishing characteristics of each type. Answer: Empirical Research Reports, Feasibility Studies or Recommendation Reports, Analytical Reports, Investigative Reports.

NOTE: Refer to your textbook for discussion of thee types of reports. You have prepared a feasibility report in this course where you posed a hypothesis or problem to be solved, researched the information about the problem, reported your findings and reached a “yes” or “no” conclusion (feasible or unfeasible based on the facts). The analytical report is similar to an investigative report. Empirical research reports are often historical reports but may also include pure scientific research reports where experiments are conducted.

2. True or False: Conclusions are inferences and implications drawn from your data and findings presented in the main body of the report. Answer: True.

3. Define feasibility report. Answer: A feasibility report poses a problem and determines whether the main idea is “doable” with a good probability or prediction of success based on the findings of the research.

4. List five questions that you should ask yourself when preparing to conduct a feasibility report. Answer in text.

5. What is the most important group to consider when preparing to conduct a feasibility report? Answer: Audience.

6. What is a name of a group of report pages that may be numbered with small Roman numerals? Answer: Front matter pages or the Prefatory Section.

7. What special skills must a technical writer develop that are different from other kinds of writers? Answer: Technical research skills, documentation skills and ability to work with details, computer expertise, editing ability, graphics knowledge.

8. What is the major purpose of a feasibility, analytical, or investigative report? Answer: To furnish information or data on which a sound decision that often allocates a company’s resources may be made.

9. Define the following terms: progress report, proposal, descriptive abstract, executive summary.

10. Briefly explain how to use the Internet to conduct research.

Chapter 16: “Proposals and Progress Reports”

1. What does a proposal describe? Answer: The work to be completed, the rationale for performing the work, need for the project, work and methods that will be used to perform the work, cost or price for the work or services, staff and qualifications of staff and personnel who will be performing the work, and a timetable or schedule for the project.

2. What does a progress report describe? Answer: It describes and evaluates the work that has been completed on a project, the work yet to be completed, and any difficulties or challenges that may be anticipated before the project is completed. Additional helpful information may also be included in a progress report. Another name for a progress report is a status report.

3. What is the relationship between a proposal and a progress report? Answer: There is a detailed description of this in your textbook chapter. Also, a brief answer would be that many times in a proposal process or in the implementation phase of a proposed project after it has been successfully awarded to a company or person, a progress report is needed to document the completion of work to a certain date and to satisfy a funding agent’s or reporting requirements for correct fiscal utilization of monies awarded and to ensure continuation of the project.

4. What do the following terms stand for? RFP, SOW, RFQ. Answer: RFP means Request for Proposal. SOW means Statement of Work. RFQ means Request for Quotation.

5. What is the major purpose of a proposal? Answer: To get you or your company approved to perform a job or project or to express your interest in performing a project.

6. What is another name for the progress report? Answer: Status Report or an Update.

7. What are the standard sections of proposals? Answer: Project Summary, Description that includes subheadings of Introduction, Rationale and Significance, Benefits of the Project, Plan of Work, Timeline, Facilities, Equipment.) Other major sections are Personnel and Qualifications, Budget, Appendix.

8. What does a proposal describe? Answer: The work to be completed, the rationale for performing the work, need for the project, work and methods that will be used to perform the work, cost or price for the work or services, staff and qualifications of staff and personnel who will be performing the work, and a timetable or schedule for the project.

9. What does a progress report describe? Answer: It describes and evaluates the work that has been completed on a project, the work yet to be completed, and any difficulties or challenges that may be anticipated before the project is completed. Additional helpful information may also be included in a progress report. Another name for a progress report is a status report.

10. What is the relationship between a proposal and a progress report? Answer: There is a detailed description of this in your textbook chapter. Also, a brief answer would be that many times in a proposal process or in the implementation phase of a proposed project after it has been successfully awarded to a company or person, a progress report is needed to document the completion of work to a certain date and to satisfy a funding agent’s or reporting requirements for correct fiscal utilization of monies awarded and to ensure continuation of the project.

11. What do the following terms stand for? RFP, SOW, RFQ. Answer: RFP means Request for Proposal. SOW means Statement of Work. RFQ means Request for Quotation.

12. What is the major purpose of a proposal? Answer: To get you or your company approved to perform a job or project or to express your interest in performing a project.

13. What is another name for the progress report? Answer: Status Report or an Update.

14. What are the standard sections of proposals? Answer: Project Summary, Description that includes subheadings of Introduction, Rationale and Significance, Benefits of the Project, Plan of Work, Timeline, Facilities, Equipment.) Other major sections are Personnel and Qualifications, Budget, Appendix.

Chapter 18: “Instructions”

1. What five questions should you ask yourself when preparing to write instructions? Answer: (a) What is the purpose of these instructions? (b) What is my reader’s point of view or background? (c) How and where will my reader use these instructions? (d) What content does my reader really need and want? (e) How should I arrange the content? (f) Are there safety precautions that the reader needs?

2. What are the usually components that a set of instructions might contain? Answer: Introduction, Theory of Principles of Operation, List of Equipment and Materials Needed, Description of the Mechanism or Object, Warnings and Cautions, How-to Instructions, Tips and Troubleshooting Procedures, Glossary of Terms

Chapter 19: “Oral Reports and Presentations”

No questions on this chapter on the exam.

NOTE: If you have completed a PowerPoint presentation and can print the pages, you can attach this presentation to your feasibility report. You might write a short paragraph or description of your presentation as a bonus question on the final exam.