Technical Writers Research Articles

Improving Proposal Writing by Looking to Information Operations

This article examines the subject of persuasion in technical and professional communications (TPC) with a specific focus on proposals in U.S. Government contracting. It demonstrates a fundamental disconnect between the intent of proposals, which is to persuade, and the rhetorical traditions and professional boundaries of technical writers. The analysis draws on the existing rhetorical- and genre-based TPC literature and borrows from theory in other disciplines—management, organizational theory, sociology, and psychology among others. To advance the scholarship on proposals, this analysis is framed within the overall context of a structural analogy to U.S. military Information Operations (IO). Through use of analogy, it is suggested that the IO community's approach to the concepts of “influence,” “narrative,” “target audience,” and “unity of effort” may offer useful insight for State and Federal contractors to consider in their efforts to write persuasive proposals. This analysis is then used to develop a research agenda for the study of proposals. Areas for future research include the science of persuasion and the use of narrative as it relates to proposals, improved rigor in the use of target audience research, and organizational constructs to improve collaborative writing in proposals.

A hint of the summery goodness of green grass: a look at English descriptors in tasting notes

Tasting descriptors, which are common terms used to describe a food product, play a significant role in tasting discourse and particularly in tasting notes. Although they have been the subject of a number of studies from different perspectives, none of them describe and classify descriptors from their form, function and combination in tasting notes in English. In this paper, we examine a corpus of tasting notes with the aim of 1. determining the positioning of English descriptors in relation to the keywords designating the tasting process; 2. scoping the depth of description, as indicated by the number of descriptors; 3. identifying if the descriptors are specific to a given aspect of the food product or are generic enough to be used to describe different aspects of it.; and 4. categorizing frequent semantic associative processed among descriptors and keywords. Our results will be a valuable resource for professionals, technical writers and students’ tasters in English.

Sharing knowledge without borders: Collaboration between U.S. business and law students and Spanish translation students

Collaboration between technical and professional (TP) writers in English as a second language is important for successful communication. This is evident in legal documents in both English and Spanish, where accuracy and clarity are paramount. However, achieving this is challenging because law students often lack effective writing tools, and translation students may lack the required encyclopedic knowledge. The present paper describes a co-designed exchange project between U.S. students in business and law and students of legal translation at a university in Spain. This paper aims to determine potential improvements in students’ encyclopedic and conceptual knowledge of this specialized language and their translation performance after the collaboration intervention. To evaluate these aspects, three textual items were targeted: terminological, nominal and, what we call, substitutional density. Our results indicate that peer collaboration helped Spanish students acquire encyclopedic knowledge in the field and avoid repetitive terms in their translations, leading to greater textual cohesion through the use of general language, synonyms and hypernyms. Other aspects of this peer collaboration as well as follow-up approaches to consolidate the observed effects are needed.

EQUILIBRIUM IN TECHNICAL WRITING: HARMONIZING OBJECTIVITY WITH ADVOCACY

The task of editing is strenuous, and the most challenging one is to reach the target goals within the time limitation. Equilibrium is the stage of finding a balance between two opposite things. In this research piece, the standpoint of an editor will be analyzed from the perspective of objectivity and advocacy. The fact cannot be denied that editors (many of them) spend an extensive time only to rectify the issues related to lexicon. However, painfully true, many of them overlook the rhythm of balancing act, and only for that lethargic activity, they face a challenging situation to reach the laudable phase. The goal of this research task is to help the future editors and the technical writers to connect the eclectic issues related to the balancing act.

COMMUNICATION SKILLS AND REPORT WRITING FOR BUILDING SCIENTISTS

ABSTRACT Communication Skills and Report Writing for Building Scientists addresses the primary questions of inexperienced technical writers: “How should my report be written?” and “How do I present my work in style, format, data presentation and illustration program?” An undergraduate research report is given as an example of good report writing and key elements of the report are highlighted for student learning. This concise handbook also covers writing to land a job or applying to graduate school, and a step-by-step guide is provided on how to successfully navigate the job search or graduate school application process. Several sample resumes are provided as well as effective means to communicate with prospective employers or graduate programs of interest. The last section of this guide covers writing on the job and speaks to the kinds of tasks students face when they make the transition from classroom reporting to workplace communication, where problems are often open-ended and audiences cannot be assumed to be building science professionals. Instruction is also given to students on how to use the library as a research tool and how to master various virtual communication platforms: Zoom, Microsoft Teams and LinkedIn.

COMMUNICATION SKILLS AND REPORT WRITING FOR BUILDING SCIENTISTS

ABSTRACT Communication Skills and Report Writing for Building Scientists addresses the primary questions of inexperienced technical writers: “How should my report be written?” and “How do I present my work in style, format, data presentation and illustration program?” An undergraduate research report is given as an example of good report writing and key elements of the report are highlighted for student learning. This concise handbook also covers writing to land a job or applying to graduate school, and a step-by-step guide is provided on how to successfully navigate the job search or graduate school application process. Several sample resumes are provided as well as effective means to communicate with prospective employers or graduate programs of interest. The last section of this guide covers writing on the job and speaks to the kinds of tasks students face when they make the transition from classroom reporting to workplace communication, where problems are often open-ended and audiences cannot be assumed to be building science professionals. Instruction is also given to students on how to use the library as a research tool and how to master various virtual communication platforms: Zoom, Microsoft Teams and LinkedIn.

The Making of the International Standard for Writing in Plain Language ISO 24495-1: Its Usefulness, Content, and How It Came into Existence

There is ample evidence across many domains that writing in plain language saves time or money or both for readers and organizations. Communication in plain language is generally more effective and produces better outcomes than traditional writing. In many contexts, readers prefer plain language over traditional writing styles, and use of plain language fosters the building of trust. Finally, the process of translating is usually more efficient for plain language documents. In July 2023, after many years of development, discussion, and alignment, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) published a standard for plain language. This publication makes an internationally developed and agreed-upon standard available to all people interested in the use of plain language. It is an authoritative source developed by plain language practitioners, linguists, technical writers, designers, and text creators from many different countries. The standard will help all writers (authors) to make their texts (documents, web pages, etc.) most useful for the intended audiences (readers, users). It applies to most written languages and reflects the most recent research on plain language and the experience of plain language experts.

Technical Writer as a Communication Specialty: Editorial Interpretation of Its Professionogram

Technical Writer as a Communication Specialty: Editorial Interpretation of Its Professionogram

Automated and advanced document processing system in the woodworking industry

This article presents a detailed framework for the seamless integration of a new document processing system within the operational workflow of a company. The proposed plan prioritizes both continuity and parallel deployment to ensure minimal disruption during implementation. It includes a thorough decomposition of system use cases, illustrated with block diagrams, along with sample mock-ups of the user interface to facilitate understanding among developers, designers, and technical writers throughout the development process. The primary objectives of this initiative are to boost employee productivity, reduce costs associated with production downtime, and guarantee the system’s scalability to meet evolving document processing demands.

A comparative study on effects of controlled English on the translatability of Technical texts from English to Turkish

Controlled language, as a subset of natural language, refers to the restricted or standardised use of lexicon, grammar and style. It has been hypothesised that the use of controlled language makes technical texts more translatable and therefore more understandable. This paper reports the results of an experimental study designed to test this hypothesis. The results showed that controlled technical language improved the comprehensibility and translatability of technical documentation in terms of accuracy, style and text quality. The study suggests that international companies should employ technical writers and translators who prioritise the language and extralinguistic norms of the target audience, rather than blindly adhering to the source text.

Specialised language and conceptual knowledge in lexicographic portals

Abstract This contribution focuses on the current state of specialised language and conceptual knowledge coverage in general-language or generalist lexicographic portals. The final goal is to establish whether their terminological and conceptual treatment is extensive enough to be compared with that found in specialised dictionaries used by terminologists, translators, and technical writers. Terminology of two domains, i. e. the medical field of virology related to the COVID-19 pandemic and the technical field of photovoltaics, is analysed in selected lexicographic portals. Results show that hybrid lexicographic and lexicological portals display the highest level of terminological coverage and detailed conceptual systems.

Influence Factors on User Manual Engagement in the Context of Smart Wearable Devices

The emergence of smart wearable devices has gradually introduced a vast array of functions that may greatly serve the everyday needs of users. Although their ever-increasing list of capabilities may be compensated for by intuitive design, users may still have numerous reasons to engage with their user manuals. In this paper, we present four research efforts on the user manuals of smart wearable devices. Our work tackles various influence factors, investigates user behavior, and studies how the device itself affects user manual engagement, as well as the other way around. The research efforts address user experience and behavior, personal preference, device attributes, and the performance metrics of user manuals. We specifically studied smartwatches and smart bands, and explored engagement with medical-purpose smart wearables and their user manuals. As a novelty of our contribution, we classify test participants as regular users, professional users, and technical writers, based on their connection to user manuals, and separately analyze their responses to our questionnaire-based research efforts. The obtained results indicate that user experience and device complexity as influence factors have a statistically significant impact on user manual engagement for regular users, and highlight how regular users and technical writers differ in preference and search-related tasks.

A Dangerous, Costly Neighborhood: A Critique of Blight and Obsolescence Claims in Local Media Coverage of a Planning Project

ABSTRACT This article examines how local newspaper stories in a college town created a dominant cultural narrative about an urban redevelopment project using tropes of physical blight and financial obsolescence. The article discusses descriptive tactics that appear throughout 16 years of coverage alongside patterns in the stories’ frequency, focus, and authorship. The conclusion shares a series of practical takeaways for technical writers looking to collaborate with communities facing redevelopment.

2021 CLINICAL PRACTICE GUIDELINES IN THE EVALUATION AND MANAGEMENT OF PEDIATRIC COMMUNITY-ACQUIRED PNEUMONIA

The Clinical Practice Guidelines (CPG) for the Diagnosis and Management of Pediatric Community-Acquired Pneumonia (PCAP) was initiated by the Philippine Academy of Pediatric Pulmonologists, Inc. (PAPP) and the Pediatric Infectious Disease Society of the Philippines (PIDSP), in cooperation with Philippine Pediatric Society, Inc. (PPS) way back in 2004. Several CPG updates were then undertaken by the PAPP PCAP CPG Task Force from 2008 to 2016. Clinically-relevant research questions were answered with recent and current recommendations based on evidence from local and international data. The 2021 PCAP CPG initiative was envisioned in March 2018 upon the recommendations of the 2018 PAPP Board for the purpose of updating the evidence in the PCAP CPG 2016 clinical questions. This led to the collaboration of PAPP and PIDSP to develop this CPG. Individual members were identified from each society as content experts to form the Steering Committee along with a clinical epidemiologist and technical writer as review experts. The committee identified the scope and target end user of the CPG as well as additional clinical questions to be included in the 2021 update aside from the questions on the previous CPGs. Selected members from the two societies formed the Technical Working Group (TWG) who did the literature search, appraisal of evidences, and formulation of recommendations. These recommendations were then presented to the stakeholders who became part of the consensus panel. There was no identified conflict of interest among the CPG developers, TWG members and stakeholders. A survey to determine potential competing interests were conducted during the development of this CPG. This initiative was fully funded by the PAPP and PIDSP societies. The 2021 PCAP CPG significantly differs from the previous CPGs in several aspects. First, the current guideline is a consensus between two pediatric societies. Second, much of the literature review has been centered on meta-analyses or systematic reviews instead of individual studies. Finally, appraisal of published literature was based on Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) criteria. Such methodological differences may provide difficulties in defining evolution of care through the years.

Entwining interactive fiction with technical writing to develop structured authoring competencies

Concerns about teaching structured authoring, which is the use of software in technical writing to allow automatic textual reuse and reassembly, have been woven into the debate about what role technologies should play in preparing technical writing students for ‘real world’ needs since the late 1990s (see Brumberger & Laurer, 2015; Carnegie & Crane, 2019; Kimball, 2015; Rainey et al., 2018). Vee (2017) and others have argued that fundamental aspects of writing software code, many of which parallel structured authoring, are now required literacies. Indeed, as Gentle (2017) demonstrates, the difference between those writing code and those writing structured authoring continues to shrink. Helping to develop technical writers to understand this overlap remains a significant challenge. This article suggests that this challenge might be met by using an open-source interactive fiction authoring platform called Twine, which provides many of the building blocks of structured authoring while teaching fundamental aspects of coding. However, this approach is not without its perils. Through analyzing the findings of a two-year study, this article identifies potential avenues for success as well as potential pitfalls to be mindfully considered.

Current State of the Art and What's Coming NextCurrent Next

Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology NewsVol. 43, No. S1 Spatial BiologyCurrent State of the Art and What's Coming NextCurrent NextNanoString Technologies introduces spatial biology platforms that can characterize molecules down to single-cell and subcellular resolutionGeoffrey HummelkeGeoffrey HummelkeGeoffrey Hummelke, PhD, is a technical writer for NanoString Technologies. Website: nanostring.com.Search for more papers by this authorPublished Online:10 Feb 2023https://doi.org/10.1089/gen.43.S1.01AboutSectionsView articleView Full TextPDF/EPUB Permissions & CitationsPermissionsDownload CitationsTrack CitationsAdd to favorites Back To Publication ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditEmail View articleFiguresReferencesRelatedDetails Volume 43Issue S1Feb 2023 Information© 2023 by GEN PublishingTo cite this article:Geoffrey Hummelke.Current State of the Art and What's Coming NextCurrent Next.Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News.Feb 2023.4-5.http://doi.org/10.1089/gen.43.S1.01Published in Volume: 43 Issue S1: February 10, 2023PDF download

Decolonial Work Outside of the Technical Communication Classroom

The field of technical and professional communication (TPC) has historically upheld white, patriarchal language practices without interrogation. While we are now in the time beyond what many scholars call the social justice turn in the field, which includes prioritizing oppressed voices and working from a decolonial framework, early-career scholars like myself are still left wondering how we go from the classroom to the field. As a TPC scholar and technical writer who often feels out of place in academia, I offer this narrative for future scholars and rhetoricians struggling to transition these ideas from the classroom to their professional industries. By describing my experiences as a technical writer in academia and beyond, I hope to inspire others (especially those newer to the field) to interrogate their own understanding of language and practices—and my own as a white, cisgender, able-bodied academic. It should not fall to oppressed voices to provide step-by-step guides for white folks to get it right, but the guides must especially be read and followed when they are written, and there is an ever-growing body of work from which we can draw. By relying on scholarship that calls out the need for both the expansion of the social justice turn in TPC and a deeper understanding of what it actually means to utilize decolonial methods, as well as describing my own sites of intervention at the professional services firm I work for, I hope to show readers how social justice-oriented academic practices can be incorporated into industry, even when that industry doesn’t allow for a full overhaul of the status quo.

"MARK TWAIN AND TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY WRITERS ABOUT SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY"

Mark Twain is still widely known for his novels The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884), but no longer for his writing about science and technology. Yet, Twain’s interest in science and technology, and particularly scientific and technological innovation, was woven into much of his fictional and non-fictional writing throughout his life. Furthermore, not only was Twain an enthusiastic advocate of science and technology, but he was also an enthusiastic advocate of clarity, consistency and conciseness in writing and his writing advice remains timely and relevant to modern writers about science and technology. This paper brings together some of this writing advice and shows its continuing relevance and importance to scientific and technical writers in the twenty-first century.

English for Scientific & Technical Writing

Abstract: ‘Communication is important not only in an organization but also in our daily life. When we use communication pertaining to technical, industrial or business matters belong to the category of technical or business communication’’. Scientific and technical writing, a form of technical communication, is a style of writing used in fields of diverse as computer hardware and software, engineering, chemistry, the aerospace, industry, robotics, finance, consumer electronics and biotechnology. Technical writing teams or departments are often referred to as Information development, User Assistance, Technical Documentation, or Technical Publications. Technical writers themselves may be called API writers, information developers, documentation specialists, documentation engineers, or technical content developers. Specific areas to be elaborated on the full paper. “ Nature of scientific and technical documentation-basics of scientific and technical documentation- organization in technical and scientific documentation – style in technical and scientific documentation –ABC of good technical and scientific documentation – history of technical and scientific documentation’. Broadly speaking, technical documentation can be categorized into three types, depending on the style of writing, the level of knowledge transferred and the target audience. End user assistance: These information products help a user understand how ton use a technical software or hardware product. Traditional technical documentation: here the objective of the writer is to communicate with a specific audience.

Show and tell: approaches for effective figures

Show and tell: approaches for effective figures