Madeleine Sorapure Assignments & Activities Archive Assignment Description The Brand Style Guide (BSG) is a common genre for organizations both large and small. It establishes a verbal and visual style that employees can apply in print and digital communications, yielding consistency across different expressions of the brand. Creating a BSG is therefore a good fit […]
Brand Style Guide Assignment Read More »
Sarah Swofford Assignments & Activities Archive Activity Description The purpose of this assignment is three-fold: 1) it helps students execute prior knowledge about genre so they are able to effectively compose unfamiliar genres of writing; 2) shows students how their writing skills are useful in professional and not only academic contexts; and 3) teaches students
Proposal for Change on Campus Read More »
Massimo Verzella Assignments & Activities Archive Assignment Description This assignment is informed by a pedagogical tradition that emphasizes the connections between the fields of writing and translation (Matsuda; Horner and Tetreault), a connection that becomes even more relevant in technical communication (Gnecchi et al.; Petts et al.). Just like writing, translation is process-based, iterative, and
Writing, Translating, and Revising Menus: An International Virtual Exchange Project Read More »
Daniel P. Richards Volume 6 Chapter Description A literature review can take many forms and can be found in a wide array of academic, scientific, technical, and workplace documents spanning all fields and disciplines. Sometimes it is the full document; sometimes it is but part of a document. From essays in philosophy to journal articles
Let’s Party: Composing a Review of the Literature on a Technical Topic Read More »
Keshab Raj Acharya Volume 6 Chapter Description Culture matters in defining your behaviors, norms, values, and belief systems. These cultural factors affect how audiences in the international context perceive and react to the message you share with them. These cultural factors also mean that writing for international audiences is different from writing for your domestic
Composing Technical Documents for Localized Usability in the International Context Read More »
Birgitta Meex Volume 6 Chapter Description In today’s globalized world, the demand for high quality localized content is growing. Localization entails translation of source content into one or more target languages and adaptation of the translated content to the needs and cultural specificity of the local market (locale). Source text quality together with internationalization is
How to Write for Global Audiences Read More »
Audrey G. Bennett Volume 6 Chapter Description The culturally inclusive approach introduced in this chapter can be used to design multimodal technical instructions that resonate cross-culturally by 1) representing culture competently from knowledge gleaned by conducting primary and secondary research and 2) enabling cross-cultural interpretation through interactive aesthetics. The approach aligns with a curriculum that
Cathryn Molloy Volume 6 Chapter Description In this chapter, you’ll learn basic considerations for accessible documentation projects. The chapter will allow you to begin to approach documentationprojects with fundamental accessibly in mind. In order to do so, we’ll cover topics such as: considering colorblindness, considering dyslexia, and other conditions that alter visual abilities, creating documents
Candice Lanius and Ryan Weber Volume 6 Chapter Description User-centered design can help avoid assumptions about what audiences need and help avoid creating products, such as documents, websites, infographics, etc., that individuals cannot use. By placing the user of a product at the center of the design process, user-centered design makes the processes of design,
“Not So Fast”: Centering Your Users to Design the Right Solution Read More »
Joanna Schreiber Volume 6 Chapter Description UX research is central to technical writing work. The three phases of user experience (UX) research—background, primary, and usability testing—presented in this chapter are intended to help you see research as both a fundamental and ongoing part of technical writing. This chapter provides a foundation for building your knowledge
Beyond Audience Analysis: Three Stages of User Experience Research for Technical Writers Read More »
