What I Learned in English 490...

What have a I gained from being enrolled in English 490?
I have gained knowledge on many types of technical writing, including project proposals, resumes, cover letters, guidebooks, etc. I have also learned standard practices that will aid me regardless of the document. I have compiled a list of the most important things I have learned from this class...

1. Always consider your document's audience. If you are writing for a science professor, it is okay to use some technical terminology. However, if you are writing for an 8th grade science student, your language must be considerably simpler, and jargon must be predominately avoided.

2. Aesthetics matter. The way your page looks is the first impression your reader gets from you as a writer. A professional appearance can help you develop your ethos before the audience even begins to read your document. To ensure that your work looks its best, it sis important to use spacing as a design tool. Also, font choice can make an impression. Serifs are for something, and san serifs are for something different.

3. Proofread! I will always look over my work. A simple grammar or spelling error can cause someone to completely disregard a document.

4. Use simple language. Using excessive jargon or extremely complex sentence structure is likely to scare off readers. If you want to keep your audience reading, it is important to keep it simple. Someone who wants to learn how to operate their new DVD player does not want to read 10 pages on how to get a movie to play!

5. Consider the ethicality of your writing. Though technical and business writing may not seem like a career in which there are many ethical decisions, this is not true. Within this course, we have read several articles that demonstrate otherwise. For instance, when Just wrote about transporting Jews most effectively in cattle cars, this was unethical. Referring to them not as people but "units" made the decision even more unethical. Likewise, the article on the Challenger explosion could have been avoided had proper warnings been issues, and the sense of urgency had not been watered down in each written message. In every day life, trying to promote a product with words can lead us to dangerous pitfalls in ethics. After all, it would be unethical for someone to tell us all of the great things about a new drug without telling us the potentially life threatening side effects.

Aside from this knowledge of writing do's and don'ts, I also gained hands-on experience working with a client. Now, at the end of this semester, I have a portfolio of technical documents that I would be proud to show to future employers. Likewise, without this class, I probably would have never gotten the gumption to teach myself how to use Adobe Photoshop and Dreamweaver. This is a skill I to continue developing over the rest of my time at Clemson.

People are not chattel Just...

In Steven B. Katz's article "The Ethic of Expediency: Classical Rhetoric, Technology, and the Holocaust," Katz uses technical writing ethics to commentate on Just's article on the movement and extermination of Jews. Just's article, while efficient, glosses over the fact that the subject being discussed is not property, but people. Thus, this is a utilization of what Katz calls technological expediency. He says, "in most deliberative rhetoric, the focus is on expediency, on technical criteria as a means to an end." In this way, the writer is successful. She wants to use transportation technology in the most efficient way possible.

In many cases, the argument comes down to what the author believes. Did the author think their writing was ethical? Or did they knowingly hide the truth? As writers, we can actively combat against unethical writing that we are aware of but if we don't believe it is unethical, how can we stop ourselves?

This comes down to the age old questions of ethics. Philosophers have been discussing this topic for thousands of years, and we have yet to reach a comprehensive answer. To each person, the sense of what is right and what is wrong may be different. All we can work off of is our social norms, our country's laws, and our personal feelings on a subject.

In the end, this is still an issue today (get it, issue? haha).





As you can most likely see, both of these magazine covers demonstrate different cultural standards in ethics.

Those Dirty Advertisers...

Tuesday's discussion had me thinking about writer's ethics, and in particular that of advertisers and those looking to promote a product. While in the past advertisements could blatantly lie and fool people, today more consumers are aware of false advertising claims. Ironically enough, we have created an atmosphere where admitting something negative in an ad can create ethos and believability in the product. For instance, just yesterday I was watching a commercial from what I can "the soup wars." Progresso's commercial said that 90 percent of their soups were MSG free, meaning that the other 10 percent had MSG. They also said they were taking it out of all of these soups. Meanwhile, they accused Campbells of not doing the same. Campbells had a rebuttan commercial trying to lead consumers to believe that their soups didn't have MSG. However, they never gave a percentage breakdown; they merely listed soups without MSG. Thus, I believe Progresso's company has greater ethos and probably soup. Ironic, huh?

Likewise, there is also the legality of false advertising to be concerned with. The drug companies know this well. You will never see a commercial for a drug without side effects listed!

It's My Birthday!! Lets Talk About Ethics...

These articles in the last section of the book cover a wide range of ethical issues.

One concern is the perversion of statistical information. At first, I was unsure how any of the statistics given could possibly be right. Yale graduates making only 25,000 a year!? Of course, this article doesn't take into account inflation since 1954. In 2007, 25,000 dollars is equal to approximately 190,000 dollars. How ironic that an article discussing misleading statistics gives us one, albeit unintentionally. I can see why many writers and editors would want to include these skewed statistics. They obvious could give any subject or opinion more clout. However, I disagree with the fact that bad statistical information can not be pinned on a writer. After all, after the Reader's Digest where the predict the wrong man for a presidential election (who ended up only winning 1 state), I am sure people were fired. The writer is one of the many responsible parties.

Jones article laid out some helpful guidelines for ethical writing, including legality, honesty, confidentiality, quality, fairness, and professionalism. I think this is a good guide for almost any profession. To me, the most important ethical dilemmas for a technical writer can be summed up in: follow laws and don't misrepresent the truth. If you break a law, such as copyrights, you are stealing, could lose a job, and could be sued. All avoidable consequences!

Rude's article can be summarized fairly simply. Always ensure you have a legal right to use someone else's property, intellectual or otherwise. Look into copyright and trademark information and its coverage.

Of course, the article on the Challenger is something this class is already familiar with. The dilemma here is that no one would step up, or whisteblow, in order to stop something harmful from happening. I think they put business before other priorities and ethics.
http://www.westegg.com/inflation/infl.cgi

Multimedia Update

I have finally succeeded in getting a basic understanding of Adobe Photoshop. I created several different headers that I am toying with. Right now, my favorite is the one below. Now, that I can work the software, it is just a matter of finding out what my client prefers. I will send him several drafts this weekend.



Of course, I already have all the photographs and content that I need for the website. My only photography issue is that I need a good photo of the building. I will hopefully get that this weekend while I am in Spartanburg, SC. By next Thursday, I anticipate to have chosen a design. I also have a friend who is a professional in graphic design. I may ask her to give me some tips on perfecting design elements.

Also, these were the examples given to me:
www.williamscompaniesinc.com and then go to Value clothing
www.rowwiping.com
www.romerovski.com

Cover Letters and Resumes Oh My!

Just a few days ago, I began what rapidly became an epic search for spring and summer internship programs. Unfortunately, being unsure of what career I want to pursue after graduation, there were many programs that appealed to me. I soon found myself in a dilemma. I wanted to apply for internships is a WIDE variety of fields. I was concerned about how I could alter my resume and cover letters to appeal to such drastically different audience. For instance, how could I best present myself to both a real estate company and a magazine firm?

Luckily, I read these two articles in the nick of time! The first thing the authors said was, "Your cover letter, like your resume, is a marketing tool." From here, I learned that the cover letter would be an important part of marketing myself to each of my potential employers. For instance, while my work experience has been in several different fields, the cover letter will give me the opportunity to explain what each experience has allowed me to bring to my new potential job situation. One of the pieces of advise given is to personalize the material and another to sell yourself to the company-- i.e. what can do you do for the company? how can you benefit the company?

There are several key components to a successful cover letter, and the first is format. Obviously, the cover letter should be in an appropriate letter format. This means taking into account factors such as the proper parts of a letter, paper size, paper color and quality, typing and printing, and even the envelope. I have written cover letters before, so this was all familiar to me.

Perhaps, the most helpful part of the article was the part where it outlined what should be in each paragraph and how to state it simply and concisely with action language. The author suggests that "Above all, you'd want to sound polite, confident, and professional" in an interview. This is exactly how your words should be interpreted on paper as well. Its important to find the balance between confident and bragging. The author suggests to use concrete examples, rather than vague statements. For instance, rather than saying that I have written many articles for various media formats, it would be better to say that my article "Barker Goes Bananas" published in the Tiger was nominated for the 2008 Young Writer's Awards (Unfortunately, while a good example, this is totally fabricated).

After beginning to read the section on resumes, I was shocked to see that the author suggested that you should not email a resume as an attachment. They say to ensure that formatting looks good in the body of the email; yet, how can you ever be sure how something will turn up on someone else's computer on a differing email account? However, they did make a valid point. Copying the resume into the body of the email will allow the recruiter to see your information in the quickest way possible. Also, this alleviates concerns about attachment viruses. There was also some advise about how to circulate this resume on the web, though I can't say I was too interested in pursuing this course of action after the writer informed me that this was the least effective job search method.

Multimedia

At this stage, I have created a draft of my website, using rudimentary FrontPage. The design and graphics are still very basic and will need to be overhauled. My web design should greatly improve after I procure a copy of Adobe Photoshop.The photographs could use improvement as well; some of them are blurry.

However, I feel that the layout and the content are solid. I have been given the appropriate text from the CEO for the pages.

I personally feel seeing is believing. So, I brought my web draft. When I have access to the server,(currently lacking password), I will load the pages and create links.