Problem solving: write the rough draftThe goal: write the communication. Attitudes that affect this process are: - misconception: “you can write or you don’t.” Target:

use problem solving & clear thinking. You can do it!- misconception: confusion is bad and undesired. Target:

welcome confusion, helps identify when audience confused.

- misconception: focus on getting every detail and sentence correct before proceed. Target: let the ideas flow. Overediting as you go kills the flow of ideas.

- misconception: spend most time writing. Target: spend most time prewriting & revising.

What attitudes do you have?Manage stress: I want to and I canMonitor: have you checked the attitudes sufficiently?

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1. Engage

2. Define

3. Explore

4. Plan

5. Do it

6. Look back

Writing the rough draftThe goal: write

Criteria: do it all without revising as you do it

The system: you, the computer and your files with all the information you

Constraints: time; don’t postpone; physical location where you write

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1. Engage

2. Define

3. Explore

4. Plan

5. Do it

6. Look back

Writing the rough draftExplore:The real problem is to overcome your

stress and misconceptional attitudes. Focus on the target behaviours:

- Use a problem solving approach- Welcome confusion; that’s OK- Don’t edit or check spelling as you

write. Just let it flow.- Use positive self talk

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1. Engage

2. Define

3. Explore

4. Plan

5. Do it

6. Look back

Writing the rough draftOrganize the folders with the info.Focus on the personal sense of accomplishment

you’ll get from creating this communication.Have confidence you can do this: think of past

times when you succeeded; you have the self determination, freedom & resources to make it happen; creating this communication is worthwhile, get support and encouragement from your support system.

Post the outline.Post the milestones & celebrations.Use a location free from distractions

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1. Engage

2. Define

3. Explore

4. Plan

5. Do it

6. Look back

Writing the rough draft

Start writing the sections that are easiest for you.

For visuals, graphs and tables type*******insert Table here*******Don’t agonize over the style of the

visualsThe Introduction is usually the most

difficult part. Do it last.

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1. Engage

2. Define

3. Explore

4. Plan

5. Do it

6. Look back

Writing the rough draft

Look backCelebrate. You’ve done it. You’ve

written the whole thing. Set it aside.Reflect on what you learned about

writing the rough draft.

What will you do the same the next time? What, different?

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1. Engage

2. Define

3. Explore

4. Plan

5. Do it

6. Look back

RevisingGoal is to compare the draft with the audience’s questions and polish the

communication.Attitude is important:Misconception: only need single draft. Target, use as many drafts as

needed. I used 11 drafts for my latest book.Misconception: revising means polishing the grammar and punctuation

with the focus on the sentence level. Only 1.3% of the time would unsuccessful writers consider altering the whole message. Target: focus on macrostructure: organization, reasoning, paragraph and section level. Willing to rethink and rework the whole thing. Indeed, 20% of the time major changes made.

Misconception: spend 10% of total time revising. Target, spend most of time revising.

Misconception: unwilling to discard what you have written, ``I invested a lot of time writing this section. OK it really doesn`t apply but I want to include it somewhere!`` Target: discard if not pertinent.

Manage stress. I want to and I can.Monitor

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1. Engage

2. Define

3. Explore

4. Plan

5. Do it

6. Look back

Revising

The goal: polish the rough draftCriteria: the five criteria: audience,

content, organization, style and formThe system: you, the computer & spell

check files on the computer. Constraints: time; don’t postpone;

physical location where you write

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1. Engage

2. Define

3. Explore

4. Plan

5. Do it

6. Look back

Revising: explore

Set the report aside for several days.Systematically check the five criteria.

Start by imagining yourself as the audience.

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1. Engage

2. Define

3. Explore

4. Plan

5. Do it

6. Look back

Revising: exploreExplore the problem: create a reminder checklist based

on the criteria.Here is anExample for resume

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1. Engage

2. Define

3. Explore

4. Plan

5. Do it

6. Look back

RevisingBe systematic & work in the context of the

criteria.Recheck the overall outline, conclusions

and evidence.Be prepared to spend time polishing the

style of the visualsGunning Fogg index might help guide the

style check. Check Tools/word count.Have good resources close by for word

usage, punctuation, thesaurus

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1. Engage

2. Define

3. Explore

4. Plan

5. Do it

6. Look back

Revising: audienceRead the whole communication playing the role of the

audience. In this role, answer the following:• What questions does this communication answer? • Were these the questions that were suggested in the

audience analysis?• Was there sufficient evidence to support the

conclusion?• Was the evidence mainly logic? Emotion? Ethos? • What words and terminology do I understand?• Were all new terms defined?• When I finished reading the communication did I feel

embarrassed? confused? insecure? ashamed? • While still playing the role of the audience, would you

characterize the writer as too knowledgeable? too technical? too mathematical? too folksy? too formal? talking down to me?

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1. Engage

2. Define

3. Explore

4. Plan

5. Do it

6. Look back

Revising: audienceThe organization is incorrectly sender-based if:• i) a time-sequence of the person's actions, or

thoughts about a topic is used. "First, I considered..." "First, we surveyed the literature.." or

• ii) the major issues or topics with no focus. The prose might read "I considering the market, the four major issues are ....." The writer goes on to describe each. The audience asks "So What?" and there is no answer. The sender has focussed on a communication to inform rather than to address the audience's questions.

iii) check the summary. What was the main message?

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2. Define

3. Explore

4. Plan

5. Do it

6. Look back

Revising, audiencean audience-based communication.i) gives a clear statement about what

the sender wants the audience to know, to feel or to do.

ii)has a focus on the conclusion or message.

iii)has explanations of difficult concepts.

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1. Engage

2. Define

3. Explore

4. Plan

5. Do it

6. Look back

Revising audience

How to do it• Write down the Audience's questions. Add

your answer to those questions. Return to Prewriting activity and sweep through it again. Remember, you may be throwing away 20 pages and 50 hours of effort, but you are getting your message across. Start again.

• When you have completed the rework, write down for yourself what you learned about the writing process and the importance of the Audience analysis.

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1. Engage

2. Define

3. Explore

4. Plan

5. Do it

6. Look back

Revising ContentWhat to look for• Not an "empty communication“ that lacks

evidence to substantiate the claims. Lack of content is sometimes difficult to spot.

• Sufficient evidence to accept or reject the sender's message. If you feel rather uneasy or that you must accept the person's message because they say so, then objective evidence is missing.

• Sometimes the evidence is substantiated by citing the work of others. The citations should be correct and complete.

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1. Engage

2. Define

3. Explore

4. Plan

5. Do it

6. Look back

Revising content

How to do itIdentify one idea or conclusion

presented. Take that aside & elaborate on why you believe that idea. What are the issues? What made you write or believe that?

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1. Engage

2. Define

3. Explore

4. Plan

5. Do it

6. Look back

Revising contentHow to do it• Check the citations. • Referencing must be used for charts,

tables, figures taken from others; for theories developed by others (even if you express them in your own words).

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1. Engage

2. Define

3. Explore

4. Plan

5. Do it

6. Look back

Revising organizationEasy to spot errors; difficult to correct without returning to

prewrite.

Lack of a transition at the beginning of a major section

4. Choice of Assumptions4.1 Bulk Transport in the Fluid PhaseTo be rigorous, we must account for all transport

phenomena which contribute ...

Check for summary. If a summary is missing, is the whole communication focussed enough? A summary

should naturally flow. It should not be a tack-on.

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1. Engage

2. Define

3. Explore

4. Plan

5. Do it

6. Look back

Revising styleFor words, accuracy, simplicity, interesting, coherence and emphasis• Accuracy

• Accuracy• Avoid Use• Locate situate• Increased high• obtained collect, drawn, taken, extracted, removed, read, computed,

estimated, derived or measured.• figure out calculate, compare derive• curve line or graph• values data, results, figures, numerals, numbers,

measurements, observations• “quite” true meaning is precisely, entirely or exactly• “quite” fairly, rather, approximately, reasonably• due to because of, attributed to, as a result of• undoubtedly probably• Percent percentage• proven proved• data calculated values,

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2. Define

3. Explore

4. Plan

5. Do it

6. Look back

Revising styleAccuracyBe quantitative

Change in temperature Change to: An increase in temperature by 25oC

A number of motors were made recently Change to: On Tuesday, Nov. 6, six motors were made.

Play the piano Change to: For relaxation I play the piano about 1 h every day; have given seven concerts a year and play for about a dozen sing songs. I have learned how to perform under pressure

Units

60 ±1% hexane in water. Change to: 60 ±1% w/w hexane in water.

PoliteOther workers (16, 19) missed this point. Change condemnatory tone to: Smith(16) and Harvey (19) solved this problem when the heat capacity term was

neglected.

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1. Engage

2. Define

3. Explore

4. Plan

5. Do it

6. Look back

Revising styleCoherenceProvide words to describe derivation1. dp = λv

dT T(Vv- Vl)

2 dp = λv dT T(Vv)

Improve this by inserting between Equations 1

and 2, If the temperature is not near the critical temperature, the molar volume of the liquid, Vl, can be neglected then

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1. Engage

2. Define

3. Explore

4. Plan

5. Do it

6. Look back

Revising styleCoherence

Ambiguous words include as, while and forAs the current was increased the deposit turned black. Fault:

does this mean when or while or during? When the current was 15 amps., the deposit turned black.

Use the word as for comparisonsWhile should be used for at the same time as or during the same

time as. While should not be used to mean because, when or although.

Misplaced modifiersHe works on the first floor of Rogers and company in London

England among female dummies with nothing on.

Usually use the past tense.

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1. Engage

2. Define

3. Explore

4. Plan

5. Do it

6. Look back

Revising styleCoherenceLocation of often, or onlyOnly instructions to the plant workers may include jargon terms.Instructions to only the plant workers may include jargon terms.Instructions to the plant workers only may include jargon terms.Instructions to the plant workers may only include jargon terms.Instructions to the plant workers may include only jargon terms.

Antecedents: Michelle gave Bridget the results, and she found they were

incorrect.

Dangling participleBy varying the voltage, the amperage jumped.

The subject of the sentence must do the “inging”

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1. Engage

2. Define

3. Explore

4. Plan

5. Do it

6. Look back

Revising styleCoherenceAvoid Usedifferent than different fromequals to equalshelp but helpirregardless regardlessdata is data are

Do not confuse withalternate alternativeaffect (verb) effect (noun)between among

Use compare with for differences and compare to for similarities

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1. Engage

2. Define

3. Explore

4. Plan

5. Do it

6. Look back

Revising styleSimple leave out trivial and obvious details

Place a beaker under the valve, open the valve and withdraw a sample replace with sample

universal and common method replace with common methodvery unique replace with uniquewhiter in colour replace with whiterabsolutely true replace with true Eliminate such words as case, factor, type, situation, instance, nature, condition, degree and

character and “in” and “with” phrases such as In the case of, In the instance of, In respect

to, With respect to, In regard to, With regard to, In connection with, In the matter of, In order to.

In many situations it has seemed as though the size of these tasks has become greater than that which previous technique could handle. replace with Often these new tasks could not be done with previous methods.

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1. Engage

2. Define

3. Explore

4. Plan

5. Do it

6. Look back

Revising styleSimpleRecast sentences beginning with “It... It is

apparent that... recast as Apparently. It is clear that....

It is believed that the boundary layer theory... Confusion because we do not know who believes this theory

I believe that the boundary layer theory improve with The result indicates that the boundary layer theory.... improve with The result indicates that the boundary layer theory .....

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1. Engage

2. Define

3. Explore

4. Plan

5. Do it

6. Look back

Revising style

InterestSentence length. Use a variety of length. If possible, replace passive verbs with

active. Be careful in your use of I, you and we.

Replace withAt an earlier date... previouslyThe question as to whether ... whetherIn spite of the fact that... Although

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1. Engage

2. Define

3. Explore

4. Plan

5. Do it

6. Look back

Revising styleFor numerals1. Start sentences with words not numerals2. one-digit numbers are written unless

before abbreviation for units; eight people; 8 m

3. For a series of numbers, use all numerals: 30 pumps and 3 baseplates.

4. Report only significant figures5. Always us a zero before all decimal

places. Use 0.3 and not .36. Use numerals for all data.

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1. Engage

2. Define

3. Explore

4. Plan

5. Do it

6. Look back

Revising styleNumeralsAmbiguity for data when handling very

large or very small numbers. pressure x 104, mm correctly represents

1 x 10-4 mm With the metric system and prefixes this

problem is solved.

ton, hundred weight, billion, trillion and gallon

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1. Engage

2. Define

3. Explore

4. Plan

5. Do it

6. Look back

Revising styleNumeralsIn US and UK the decimal is a dot (.); in Europe, by a comma (,).

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1. Engage

2. Define

3. Explore

4. Plan

5. Do it

6. Look back

Revising styleIntegral Tables for multivariable discrete data1. Exploit trends in the data. Do not arrange by test

run number.2. No information overload in a single table.

Consider using several tables3. Prefer tables to graphs when the percentage

error is not easy to see on graph.4. Group similar items together to prove the point.5. The principal comparison is the columns instead

of rows (because columns are easier to scan)6. Eliminate ditto marks by groups similar items.7. Include table caption above the table

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1. Engage

2. Define

3. Explore

4. Plan

5. Do it

6. Look back

Revising styleFigures1. Use a title that says the message; number each figure2. Place figures close to the text that refers to that figure

but never before the textGraphs, to show trends1. Dependent plotted on the y-axis (ordinate) and

independent variable on the x-axis (abscissa)2. Label axes with name of variable, symbol and units.3. Include date and name of source.4. Clearly identify data points5. No lines between only two data points or beyond range

of data

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1. Engage

2. Define

3. Explore

4. Plan

5. Do it

6. Look back

Revising styleGraphs6. Don’t use dimensionless groups unless all variables in the

group have been changed unless you specify which variables were constant

7. Do not include the same variable on both axes 8. If use dimensionless group. Then use on both ordinate and

abscissa, not just one9. For dimensionless groups then the order of preference is

a. those derived from fundamental equations (Reynolds, Froude, Weber, Euler, Peclet, Strouhal, Cauchy.b. dimensionless groups from experimental data: friction factor, drag coefficient, catalyst effectiveness, Nusselt, Powerc) physical property combinations, Prandtl, Schnidtd) trivial dimensionless ratios. density difference to liquid density, particle to tube diameterse) combinations of dimensionless, Stanton

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1. Engage

2. Define

3. Explore

4. Plan

5. Do it

6. Look back

Revising style10. Don’t repress rouge points.

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1. Engage

2. Define

3. Explore

4. Plan

5. Do it

6. Look back

Revising style11. Select the correct type of graph paper, log-log, semi-

log, log probability. public cannot interpret. See trends first on linear paper. Random data often look OK on log-log

12. The origin should appear on almost all graphs (except on log paper where zero is non-existent),

13. Use convenient scales; not 13 29, 53.14. The data should refer to the same phenomena.15. Used SI prefixes, not powers of ten approach to label

units.16. Distinguish between calculated, theoretical and

measured points.17. Usually never have more than three lines/graph.

Label each.18. Do not show the same data in an integral Table and a

graph.

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1. Engage

2. Define

3. Explore

4. Plan

5. Do it

6. Look back

Revising style19. Line density should be darkest for the

data, lighter for the axes.20. Label lines systematically and identify

data in the same sequence as the lines on the graph.

21. Use well accepted symbols for the data: ● ▲◆ ❍■❏

22. Avoid multicolours.23. If the figure cannot fit vertically on the

page, then place it so it can be read from the right.

24. Refer to graphs as Figures

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1. Engage

2. Define

3. Explore

4. Plan

5. Do it

6. Look back

Revising styleBar charts1. Choose scale so as to show differences

without exaggeration.2. Don’t suppress zero, use percentage

or a right-left scale. 3. For symbols, show relative size by

duplication& not by bigger size.

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1. Engage

2. Define

3. Explore

4. Plan

5. Do it

6. Look back

Revising styleBar charts; examples of incorrect suppressed zero, %

and right-left scales

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1. Engage

2. Define

3. Explore

4. Plan

5. Do it

6. Look back

Revising stylePie diagrams1. Do not slant them or use a removed wedge. 2. Choose colours carefully; yellow overestimates the

contribution.

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1. Engage

2. Define

3. Explore

4. Plan

5. Do it

6. Look back

Revising stylePhotos1. Remove distracting backgrounds.2. Include a scale or rule to show relative

size.3.For tools and disassembled complex

equipment select a view most comfortable for a right handed person.

GesturesOK for culture?

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1. Engage

2. Define

3. Explore

4. Plan

5. Do it

6. Look back

Revising formatGrammar OK?SpellcheckPunctuation OK.single comma, insert understood wordcomma comma ,, or ( ) or - - insert phrasecomma and ,and or ; two complete Sn colon : list of stuff from upstream Snsingle dash – list of stuff from downstream Sn

Mechanics OK

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1. Engage

2. Define

3. Explore

4. Plan

5. Do it

6. Look back

Revising Look back

Did the revised communication match the audience?

Content?Organization?Style?Format?

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1. Engage

2. Define

3. Explore

4. Plan

5. Do it

6. Look back

DeliveryEngageWritten:Control panic as deadlines appear; I’ve

planned ahead, done a PPA and I can do this

Verbal:One of more stressful experiences I want to and I can

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1. Engage

2. Define

3. Explore

4. Plan

5. Do it

6. Look back

DeliveryDefine the stated problemGoal: deliver completed, polished, credible

report or speechSystem: you, the audience, your report or

speech Criteria: on time, right place, right person(s)Constraints: unexpected events (mike doesn’t

work, your health, power failure), expense in duplication, location defined, facilities defined (projectors, handouts, break facilities), other presenters

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1. Engage

2. Define

3. Explore

4. Plan

5. Do it

6. Look back

DeliveryExploreWrittenThe real problem is ethos (visual

credibility) and on-time. VerbalThe real problem is “sharing

experiencing” and practise, practise practise.

Need to details of the location & venue for speech

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1. Engage

2. Define

3. Explore

4. Plan

5. Do it

6. Look back

DeliveryPlanPotential Problem Analysis: what could go

wrong, impact, your contingency plans.Verbal:Should I read my speech?How many visuals should I prepare? Max 1/min; usually 1/ 3minStressed about my accent and bad habits I

have, such as saying “Ahuuuu”Forget about them. First gain confidence is saying anything,

in getting the visuals to flow smoothly and in talking on your feet.

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1. Engage

2. Define

3. Explore

4. Plan

5. Do it

6. Look back

DeliveryVerbalHow can I practice?Aloud in front of a mirror using visuals and timer

Audience includes experts or important individuals?Attitude “sharing” your experience;not an expert telling them.Or imagine all the audience sitting in bathing suits

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1. Engage

2. Define

3. Explore

4. Plan

5. Do it

6. Look back

DeliveryVerbalWhen I try for eye contact I get distracted. What can

I do?Look at a line 1 m above audience’s heads

Should I say “thank you” when I’m finished?No

Handling Q&ARepeat the question

Greatest weakness of all the speeches you have heard?

Message wasn’t clear

‘That was a terrible speech!’10% love you, 10% hate you; check the 80% feedback

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1. Engage

2. Define

3. Explore

4. Plan

5. Do it

6. Look back

Delivery

Do it

You have used a problem solving approach. You are ready.

Deliver

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1. Engage

2. Define

3. Explore

4. Plan

5. Do it

6. Look back

DeliveryLook backWhat did I learn from the experience?What would I do differently?What would I repeat?

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1. Engage

2. Define

3. Explore

4. Plan

5. Do it

6. Look back

Resume writing

Activity 9.Critique Mary Jane’s resume

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Technical Communication

Outcomes:1.Dozen key ideas about communication2.Goal: five criteria for an effective product3.Problem solving process of writing4.Four stages in writing:

Prewriting, writing, revising, delivery

5.Audience analysis6.Resume writing

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