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Alfaisal University 2021 Summer Session Course Name: Technical English Course Number: ENG 222 Instructor: Danny Salgado

This document provides an overview of a Technical English course offered at Alfaisal University in 2021. The course is titled "Technical English" and has the course number ENG 222. It is taught on Sundays, Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays from 4:00-5:00 pm. The document outlines the chapters that will be covered, including writing technical documents, correspondence, and communicating across cultures. It provides examples of content that will be discussed, such as audience analysis, document planning, and revision strategies.

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Mohamad Sabbagh
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0% found this document useful (0 votes)
95 views

Alfaisal University 2021 Summer Session Course Name: Technical English Course Number: ENG 222 Instructor: Danny Salgado

This document provides an overview of a Technical English course offered at Alfaisal University in 2021. The course is titled "Technical English" and has the course number ENG 222. It is taught on Sundays, Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays from 4:00-5:00 pm. The document outlines the chapters that will be covered, including writing technical documents, correspondence, and communicating across cultures. It provides examples of content that will be discussed, such as audience analysis, document planning, and revision strategies.

Uploaded by

Mohamad Sabbagh
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 72

Alfaisal University

2021 Summer session


Course Name: Technical English
Course Number: ENG 222
Instructor: Danny Salgado

Time: 4:00 pm – 5:00 pm


Days of the Week: Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday
Classroom: Males: S1.046; Females S1.041
TECHNICAL ENGLISH

Other Issues Discussed in Chapter 2:


The Role of Corporate Culture in Ethical and Legal Conduct
Understanding Ethical and Legal Issues Related to Social Media
Communicating Ethically Across Cultures
Principles for Ethical Communication
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Chapter 3:
Writing Technical Documents
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Writing Technical Documents:


I. Planning
II. Drafting
III. Revising
IV. Editing
V. Proofreading
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Planning:
Planning, which can take more than a third of the total
time spent on a writing project, is critically important
for every documents, from an email message to a
book-length manual. Start by thinking about your
audience, because you need to understand whom you
are writing to before you can figure what you need to
say about your subject. (42)
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ANALYZING YOUR AUDIENCE
• Who is your reader? Consider such factors as education, job experience and
responsibilities, skill in reading English, cultural characteristics, and personal
preferences.
• What are your reader’s attitudes and expectations? Consider the reader’s
attitude toward the topic and your message, as well as the reader’s expectations
about the kind of document you will be presenting.
• Why and how will the reader use your document? Think about what readers
will do with the document. This includes the physical environment in which they
will use it, the techniques they will use in reading it, and the tasks they carry out
after they finish reading it.
(p. 43)
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CHOOSING YOUR WRITING TOOLS
Writers have tools available to them than ever before. You probably do most your
writing with commercial software such as Microsoft Office or open source software
such as Open Office, and you will likely continue to do much of your writing with
these tools..
If you travel often or if many people in different locations will collaborate on a
given document, you may find it useful to work with a cloud-based tool such as
Google Drive…
Scrivener, for example, lets you gather your research data in a single location and
easily reorganize your document at the section or chapter level. Composition programs
optimized for tablets, such as WritePad, convert handwriting into text, translate text
into a number of languages, and feature cloud-based storage
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GENERATING IDEAS ABOUT YOUR SUBJECT
Generating ideas is way to start mapping out the information you will need to include
in the document, deciding where to put it, and identifying additional information that
my be required.
First, find out what your already know about the topic by using any of the
techniques shown in Table 3.1.
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Table 3.1.
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Table 3.1.
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RESEARCHING ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Once you have a good idea of what you already know about your topic,
you must obtain the rest of the information you will need. You can find
and evaluate what other people have already written by reading reference
books, scholarly books, articles, websites, and reputable blogs and
discussion boards. In addition, you might compile new information by
interviewing experts, distributing surveys and questionnaires, making
observations, sending inquiries, and conducting experiments. Don’t forget
to ask questions and gather opinions from your own network of associates,
both inside and outside your organization.
(p. 45-46)
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ORGANIZING AND OUTLINING YOUR DOCUMENT
Although each document has its own requirements, you can use existing organizational
patterns or adapt them to your situation. For instance, the compare-and-contrast pattern
might be an effective way to organize a discussion of different health-promotion
programs. The cause-and-effect pattern might work well for a discussion of the effects
of implementing such a program
At this this point, your organization is only tentative. When you start to draft, you
might find that the pattern you chose isn’t working well or that you need additional
information that doesn’t fit into the pattern.
Once you have a tentative plan, write an outline to help you stay on track as you
draft. To keep your purpose clearly in mind as you work, you may want to write it at
the top of your page before you begin your outline. (p. 46)
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SELECTING AN APPLICATION, A DESIGN, AND A DELIVERY METHOD
Once you have a sense of what to say, you need to select an application (the type of document), a design, and a
delivery method. You have a number of decisions to make:
• Is the application already chosen to me? If you are writing a proposal to submit to the U.S. Department of the
Interior, for example, you must follow the department’s specifications for what the proposal is to look like and
how it is to be delivered. For most kinds of communication, however, you will likely have to select the
appropriate application, such as as a set of instructions or manual…
• What will my readers expect? If your readers expect a written set of instructions, you should present a set of
instructions unless some other application, such as a report or manual, is more appropriate. If they expect to see
the the instructions presented in a simple black-and-white booklet—and there is no good reason to design
something more elaborate than that—your choice is obvious
• What delivery method will work best? ...[How will you] deliver the document to your reader? For instance,
you would likely mail an annual report to your readers and upload it to your company website…
It is important to think about these questions during the planning process, because your answers will largely
determine the scope, organization, style, and design of the information you will prepare. (p. 47)
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[II.] Drafting
When you have at least a preliminary outline, it is time to start drafting. Some
writers like to draft within the outline created on their word-processing
program. Others prefer to place a paper copy of their outline on the desk next
to their keyboard and begin drafting a new document that follows that outline.
USING TEMPLATES
For your draft, you might consider using an existing template or modifying one
to meet your needs. Templates are preformatted designs for different types of
documents, such as letters, memos, newsletters, and reports.
(p. 48)
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See Tech Tip on page 49


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See the template from MS on page 50


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USING STYLES
Styles are like small templates that apply to the design of small elements, such
as headings. Like templates, styles save you time.

[p. 51]

[Review Styles on MS Word]


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Revising
Revising is the process of looking again at your draft to see whether it works. After you revise,
you will carry out two more steps—editing and proofreading—but at this point you want to
focus on three large topics:
• Audience. Has your understanding of your audience changed?
• Purpose. Has your understanding of your purpose changed?
• Subject. Has your understanding of the subject changed? Should you change the scope—
that is, should you address more or fewer topics?
On the basis of a new look at your audience, purpose, and subject, you might decide that you
need to make minor changes, such as adding one or two minor topics.
There are two major ways to revise: by yourself and with the assistance of others. If
possible, use both ways. (p. 52)
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Editing
Having revised your draft and made changes to its content and organization, it’s time for you
to edit. Editing is the process of checking the draft to improve its grammar, punctuation, style,
usage, dictation (word choice), and mechanics (such as use of numbers and abbreviation). You
will do most of the editing by yourself, but you might also ask others for assistance, especially
writers and editors in your organization.
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Proofreading
Proofreading is the process of checking to make sure you have typed what you meant to type.
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Chapter 14:
Writing Correspondence
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I. Understanding the Process of Writing Correspondence
II. Selecting a Type of Correspondence
III. Presenting Yourself Effectively in Correspondence
IV. Writing Letters
V. Writing Memos
VI. Writing Emails
VII. Writing Microblogs
VIII. Writing Correspondence to Multicultural Readers
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REGARDLESS OF WHETHER you use microblogs, instant messaging, text
messaging, or more traditional applications, you will communicate in writing every
day on the job. This chapter discusses the four major formats used for producing
workplace correspondence: letters, memos, email, and microblog posts. Throughout
this chapter, the word correspondence refers to all these forms.
Understanding the Process of Writing Correspondence
The process of writing correspondence is essentially like that of writing any other
kind of workplace document. The Focus on Process box presents and overview of
this process, focusing on letters, memos, and emails. The more formal the
correspondence, the more time you are likely to spend on each of these steps.
(p. 359)
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See page 359.


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Selecting a Type of Correspondence
When you need to correspond with others in the workplace, your first task is to decide on the appropriate type
of document. Here are the main characteristics of each major type:
• Letters. Because letters still use centuries-old conventions such as the salutations and complimentary
close, they are the most formal of the four types of correspondence and are therefore more appropriate for
communicating with people outside your organization or, in some formal situations, with people within
your organization.
• Memos. This type of correspondence is moderately formal and therefore appropriate for people in your
own organization.
• Email. This type of correspondence is best for quick, relatively informal communication with one of many
recipients. Recipients can store and forward email easily, as well as capture the text and reuse it in other
documents. In addition, the writer can attach other files to an email message.
• Microblog posts. Microblog posts such as Twitter tweets or Facebook status updates can be useful to
address quick questions to a group. This is the most informal type of correspondence.
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Check on Learning
 What is the most formal form of correspondence?
 What is the least formal form of correspondence?
 What is a memo?
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Presenting Yourself Effectively in Correspondence
When you write business correspondence, follow these five
suggestions for presenting yourself as a professional:
• Use the appropriate level of formality.
• Communicate correctly.
• Project the “you attitude.”
• Avoid correspondence clichés.
• Communicate honestly. (p. 360)
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USE THE APPROPRIATE LEVEL OF FORMALITY
People are sometimes tempted to use informal writing in informal
digital applications such as email and microblogs. Don’t. Everything
you write on the job is legally the property of the organization for
which you work, and messages are always archived digitally, even
after recipients have deleted them. Your documents might be read by
the company president, or they might appear in a newspaper or in a
court of law. Therefore, use a moderately formal tone to avoid
potential embarrassment.
(p. 360)
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TOO INFORMAL Our meeting with United went south right away when they threw a hissy fit,
saying that we blew off the deadline for the progress report.
MODERATELY In our meeting, the United representative expressed concern that we had missed
FORMAL the deadline for the progress report.
However, you don’t want to sound like a dictionary
TOO FORMAL It was indubitably the case that our team was successful in presenting a proposal
that was characterized by quality of the highest order. My appreciation for your
industriousness is herewith extended.
MODERATELY I think we put together an excellent proposal. Thank you very much for your hard
FORMAL. work.
(pp. 360-61)
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Writing Letters
Letters are still the basic means of communication between organizations,
with millions written each day. To write effective letters, you need to
understand the elements of a letter, its format, and the common types of
letters sent in the business world.
ELEMENTS OF A LETTER
Most letters include a heading, inside address, salutation, body,
complimentary close, and signature. Some letters also include one or more
of the following: attention line, enclosure line, and copy line. Figure 14.3
shows the elements of a letter. (p. 363)
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COMMON TYPES OF LETTERS
Organization send out many different kinds of letters. This section focuses on four types of
letters written frequently in the workplace: inquiry, response to an inquiry, claim, and
adjustment.
Inquiry Letter Figure 14.5 shows an inquiry letter, in which you ask questions.
Response to an Inquiry Figure 14.6 (on page 368) shows a response to thing inquiry
letter in Figure 14.5.
Claim Letter Figure 14.7 (on page 369) is an example of a claim letter that the writer
scanned and attached an email to the reader. The writer’s decision to present his message
in a letter rather than an email suggest that he wishes to convey the more-formal tone
associated with letters—and yet he wants the letter to arrive quickly.
(p. 366)
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Writing Memos
Even in age of email microblogs, memos are likely to survive because sometimes writers want
a slightly more formal document. Like letter, memo have a characteristics format, which
consists of the element shown in Figure14.10.
Print the second and all the subsequent pages of a memo on a plain paper rather than on a
letterhead. Include three items in the upper right-hand or left-hand corner of each subsequent
page: the name of the recipient, the date of the memo, and the page number. See the header in
Figure 14.3 on pages 364-65.
Figure 14.11, a sample memo, is a trip report, a record of a business trip written after the
employee returned to the office. Readers are less interested in an hour-by-hour narrative of
what happened than in a carefully structured discussion of what was important. Although
writer and reader appear to be relatively equal in rank, the writer goes to the trouble of
organizing the memo to make it easy to read and refer to later. (p. 372-73)
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Chapter 4:
Writing Collaboratively
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Chapter 4:
I. Advantages and Disadvantages Collaboration
II. Managing Projects
III. Conducting Meetings
IV. Using Social Media and Other Electronic Tools
in Collaboration
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THE EXPLOSIVE GROWTH of social media over


the last decade has greatly expanded the scope of
workplace collaboration, reducing former barriers of
time and space. Today, people routinely collaborate not
only with members of their project teams but also with
others within and outside their organization…
But, how exactly does this sort of collaboration
work? In every possible way. (p. 58)
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Advantages and Disadvantages of Collaboration


As a student, you probably have already worked
collaboratively on course projects. As a professional, you
will work collaboratively on many more projects. In the
workplace, the stakes might be higher. Effective
collaboration can make you look like a star, but ineffective
collaboration can ruin an important project–and hurt your
reputation. The best way to start thinking about collaboration
is to understand its main advantages and disadvantages.
(p. 59)
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ADVANTAGES OF COLLABORATION
According to a survey conducted by Cisco Systems (2010), more than 75 percent of those surveyed
said that collaboration is critical to their success on the job. Some 90 percent said that collaboration
makes them more productive. Writers who collaborate can create a better document and improve
the way an organization functions:
• Collaboration draws on a wider knowledge base. Therefore, a collaborative document can
be more comprehensive and more accurate than a single-author document.
• Collaboration draws on a wider skills base. No one person can be an expert manager, writer,
editor, graphic artist, and productive person.
• Collaboration provides a better idea of how the audience will read the document. Because
each collaboration acts as an audience, working with collaborators produces more questions
and suggestions than one person could while writing alone.
• (p. 59)
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ADVANTAGES OF COLLABORATION
• Collaboration improves communication among employees. Because you and your
collaborators share a goal, you learn about each other’s job, responsibilities, and
frustrations.
• Collaboration helps acclimate new employees to an organization. New employees learn
how things work—which people to see, which forms to fill out, and so forth—as well as
what the organization values, such as ethical conduct and the willingness to work hard and
sacrifice for an important initiative.
• Collaboration motivates employees to help an organization grow. New employees
bring new skills, knowledge, and attitudes that can help the organization develop. More
experienced employees mentor the new employees as they learn. Everyone teaches and
learns from everyone else, an the organization benefits.
(pp. 59-60)
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DISADVANTAGES OF COLLABORATION
Collaboration can also have important disadvantages:
• Collaboration takes more time than individual writing. It takes longer because of the time
needed for the collaboration to communicate. In addition, meetings—whether they are live or
remote—can be difficult to schedule.
• Collaboration can lead to groupthink. When collaborators value getting along more than thinking
critically about the project, they are prone to groupthink. Groupthink, which promotes conformity,
can result in an inferior document, because no one wants to cause a scene by asking tough
questions.
• Collaboration can yield a disjointed document. Section can contradict or repeat each other or be
written in different styles. To prevent these problems, writers need to plan and edit the document
carefully.
• Collaboration can lead to inequitable workloads. Despite the project leader’s best efforts, some
people will end up doing more work than others. [Social loafing.] (p. 60)
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DISADVANTAGES OF COLLABORATION (cont.)
• Collaboration can reduce a person’s motivation to work hard on the document. A collaborator
who feels alienated from the team can lose motivation to make the extra effort.
• Collaboration can lead to interpersonal conflict. People can disagree about the best way to create
a document or about the document itself. Such disagreement can hurt working relationships during
the project and long after.

(p. 60)
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Managing Projects
At some point in your career, you will likely collaborate on a project that is
just too big, too technical, too complex, and too difficult for you team to
complete successfully without some advance planning and careful oversight.
Often, collaborative projects last several weeks or months, and the efforts of
several people are required at scheduled times for the project to proceed. For
this reason, collaborators need to spend time managing the project to ensure
that it no only meets the needs of the audience but also is completed on time
and, if relevant, within budget.
(p. 60)
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Conducting Meetings
Collaboration involves meetings. Whether you are meeting live in a room on
campus or using videoconferencing tools, the five aspects of meetings
discussed in this section can help you use your time productively and
produce the best possible document.
LISTENING EFFECTIVELY
Participating in a meeting involves listening and speaking. If you listen
carefully to other people, you will understand what they are thinking and
you will be able to speak knowledgeably and constructively. Unlike hearing
which involves understanding what the speaker is saying and interpreting
the information. (p. 62)
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Conducting Meetings (cont.)
SETTING YOUR TEAM’S AGENDA
It’s important to get your team off to a smooth start. In the first meeting,
start to define your team’s agenda.
(p. 62)
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Figure 4.2
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Figure 4.3
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Figure 4.4
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Conducting Meetings (cont.)
CONDUCTING EFFICIENT MEETINGS
Human communication is largely nonverbal. That is, although people communicate through
words and through the tone, rate, and volume of their speech, they also communicate through
body language. For this reason, meetings provide the most information about what a person is
thinking, and feeling—and the best opportunity for team members to understand one another.
To help make meetings effective and efficient, team members should arrive on time and
stick to the agenda. One team member should serve as secretary, recording the important
decisions made at the meeting. At the end of the meeting, the team leader should summarize
the team’s accomplishments and state the tasks each team member is to perform before the
next meeting. If possible, the secretary should give each team member this informal set of
meeting minutes. (p. 67)
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Check on Learning
 Is human communication done mostly verbally or
nonverbally?

(p. 67)
TECHNICAL ENGLISH
Conducting Meetings (cont.)
COMMUNICATING DIPLOMATICALLY
Because collaborating can be stressful, it can lead to interpersonal conflict. People can
become frustrated and angry with one another because of personality clashes or because of
disputes about the project. If the project is to succeed, however, team members have to work
together productively. When you speak in team meeting, you want to appear helpful, not
critical or overbearing.
CRITIQUING A TEAM MEMBER’S WORK
In your college classes, you probably have critiqued other students’ writing. In the workplace,
you will do the same sort of critiquing of notes and drafts written by other team members.
Knowing how to do it without offending the writer is valuable skill.
(p. 67)
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Using Social Media and Other Electronic Tools in Collaboration
The tremendous growth in the use of social-media services such as Facebook, YouTube,
and Twitter by the general population is reflected in the working world. Although by the
general population is reflected in the working world. Although few of social-media tools
were created for use in that context, most of them are used by professionals as business
tools.
With each passing year, more professionals are using social media in the workplace. A
2012 survey by the human-resources consulting company SilkRoad found that almost
three-quarters of employees surveyed use their own mobile devices in the workplace
every day to connect with co-workers and customers, to share work-related information,
to collaborate, and to spark new ideas. The three most popular services were Twitter,
Facebook, and LinkedIn, each used by more than half of those surveyed…
(p. 69)
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Using Social Media…(cont.)
WORD-PROCESSING TOOLS
Most word processors offer three powerful features that you will find useful in collaborative work:
• The comment feature lets the readers add electronic comments to a file.
• The revision feature lets readers mark up a text by deleting, revising, and adding words and indicates who
made which suggested change.
• The highlighting feature lets readers use one of about a dozen “highlighting pens” to call the writer’s
attention to a particular passage.
MESSAGING TECHNOLOGIES
Two messaging technologies have been around for decades: instant messaging and email. Instant messaging
(IM) is real-time, text-based communication between two or more people. In the working world, IM enables
people in different locations to communicate textual information at the same time. Email is an asynchronous
medium for sending brief textual messages and for transferring files such as documents, spreadsheets,
images, and videos. (p. 71-72)
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Check on Learning
 What is Instant Messaging?
 What email?

(p. 71)
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Using Social Media…(cont.)
VIDEOCONFERENCING
Videoconferencing technology allows two or more people at different
locations to simultaneously see and hear on another as well as exchange
documents, share data on computer displays, and use electronic documents,
share data on computer displays, and use electronic whiteboards. Systems
such as Skype are simple, inexpensive, requiring only a Webcam and some
free software. However, there are also large, dedicated systems that require
extensive electronics, including cameras, servers, and fiber-optic network or
high-speed telephone lines.
(p. 72)
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Using Social Media…(cont.)
WIKIS AND SHARED DOCUMENT WORKSPACES
Ten years ago, people would collaborate on a document by using email to
send it from one person to another. One person would write or assemble the
document and then send it to another person, who would revise it and send it
along to the next person, and so forth. Although the process was effective, it
was inefficient: only one person could work on the document at any given
moment. Today, two new technologies—wikis are shared document
workspaces—make collaborating on a document much simpler and more
convenient.
(p. 74)
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Using Social Media…(cont.)
WIKIS (cont.)
(p. 74)
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Check on Learning
 What is a wiki?

(p. 74)
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Gender and Collaboration
Effective collaboration involves two related challenges: maintaining the team as a productive,
friendly working unit and accomplishing the task. Scholars of gender and collaboration see these
two challenges as representing the feminine and the masculine perspectives.
This discussion should begin with a qualifier: in discussing gender, we are generalizing. The
differences in behavior between two men or between two women are likely to be greater than the
differences between men and women in general.
The differences in how the genders communicate and work in teams have been traced to very
culture’s traditional family structure. Because women were traditionally the primary caregivers in
American culture, they learned to value nurturing, connection, growth, and cooperation; because
men were the primary breadwinners, they learned to value separateness, competition, debate, and
even conflict (Karten, 2002). In collaborative teams, women appear to value consensus and
relationships more than men do, to show more empathy, and to demonstrate superior listening
skills…. (p. 77)
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Culture and Collaboration
Most collaborative teams in industry and in the classroom include people from other
cultures. The challenge for all team members is to understand the ways in which cultural
differences can affect team behavior. People from other cultures
• might find it difficult to assert themselves in collaborative teams
• might be unwilling to respond with a definite “no”
• might be reluctant to admit when they are confused or to ask for clarification
• might avoid criticizing others
• might avoid initiating new tasks or performing creatively…

(p. 77)
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Part 2: Planning the Document


Chapter 5:
Analyzing Your Audience and Purpose
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Chapter 5:
I. Using an Audience Profile Sheet
II. Determining the Important Characteristics of Your Audience
III. Techniques for Learning About Your Audience
IV. Communicating Across Cultures
V. Applying What You Have Learned About Your Audience
VI. Writing for Multiple Audiences
VII.Determining Your Purpose
VIII.Gaining Management’s Approval
IX. Revising Information for a New Audience and Purpose
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JASON FALLS, THE DIGITAL STRATEGIST for the


online retailer CaféPress, writes frequently about how
companies can use social media to create relationships with
customers. What does he say is the key to using social
media for business? Knowing your audience…
Organizations of all sorts, not just businesses, analyze
their audiences.
(p. 83-84)
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Understanding Audience and Purpose
Projects and campaigns of all sizes and types succeed only if they are based on an accurate
understanding of the needs and desires of their audiences and have a clear, focused purpose.
Because the documents and other communication you produce in the workplace will, more often
than not, form the foundations of these projects and campaigns, they too will succeed only if they
are based on an accurate understanding of your audience and have a clear purpose.
Although you might not realize it, you probably consider audience in your day-to-day
communication….
Analyzing an audience means thinking about who your audience is, what they already know
about your subject, how they feel about it, and how they are going to use the information you
present. You analyze your audience as you plan your document so that it appeals to their interests
and needs, is easy for them to understand, and motivates them to pay attention to your message and
consider your recommendations.
(p. 84)
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Understanding Audience and Purpose (cont.)
The word purpose refers to what you want to accomplish with the document you are
producing. Most often, your purpose is explain to your audience how something occurs
(how regenerative braking systems work in hybrid cars), how to carry out a task (how to
set up a Skype connection), or why some situation is either good or bad (why the new
country guidelines for water use will help or hurt your company). When your purpose is
to explain why a situation is either good or bad, you are trying to reinforce or change the
audience’s attitudes toward the situation and perhaps urge them to take action.
Before you can start start to think about writing about your subject, analyze your
audience and purpose. Doing so will help you meet your readers’ needs—and your own.

(p. 84-85)
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Using an Audience Profile Sheet
As you read the discussions in this chapter about audience characteristics and techniques for learning about your
audience, you might think about using and audience profile sheet: a form that prompts you to consider various
audience characteristics as you plan your document. For example, the profile sheet can help you realize that you
do not know much about how to shape your document. Figure 5.2 shows an audience profile sheet can help you
realize that you do not know much about your primary reader’s work history and what that history can tell you
about how to shape your document. Figure 5.2 shows an audience profile sheet that provides important
information about one of writer’s most important readers.
If your document has several readers, you must decide whether to fill out only one sheet (for your most
important reader) or several sheets. On technique is to fill out sheets for one or two of your most important
readers and one for each major category of other readers…
When do you fill out an audience profile sheet? Although some writers like to do so at the start of the process
as a way to prompt themselves to consider audience characteristics, others prefer to do so at the end of the
process as a way to help themselves summarize what they have learned about their audience. Of course, you can
start to fill out the sheet before you begin and then complete it or revise it at the end. (p. 85, 87)
TECHNICAL ENGLISH

See Figure 5.2


TECHNICAL ENGLISH
Determining the Imporant Characteristics of Your Audience
When you analyze the members of you audience, you trying to learn what you can about their technical
background and knowledge, their reasons for reading or listening to you, their attitudes and expectations, and
how they will use the information you provide.
WHO ARE YOU READERS?
For each of your most important readers, consider six factors:
• The reader’s education. Think not only about the person’s degree but also about when the person earned the
degree. A civil engineer who earned a BS in 1995 has a much different background than a person who earned
the same degree in 2015. Also consider any formal education or training the person completed while on the
job.
Knowing your reader’s education background helps you determine how much supporting material to
provide, what level of vocabulary to use, what kind of sentence structure to use, what types of graphics to
include, how long your document should be, and whether to provide such elements as glossary or an
executive summary. (p. 87)
TECHNICAL ENGLISH
Determining the Imporant Characteristics of Your Audience (cont.)
• The reader’s professional experience. A nurse with a decade experience might have represented her
hospital on a community committee to encourage citizens to give blood and might have contributed to the
planning for the hospital’s new delivery room. These experiences would have provided several areas of
competence or expertise that you should consider as you plan your document.
• The reader’s job responsibility. Consider
(p. 87)

-Talk about the benefits of knowing your audience?


-Talk about the benefit of a needs-analysis
-What are the benefits of

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