Minh Anh Nguyen
1. What
are three goals of document design? Describe five things to consider when
designing a document. (25 points)
-
Three goals of document
design are:
1. To help readers find information they need
2. To help readers understand and remember information.
3. To
make a good impression on readers.
-
Five things to consider when designing a
document are:
1.
Know what decisions are yours to make.
Some companies
have a template or standard format for reports, letters, proposals, and
websites. Knowing what decisions are
yours to make means making sure your design fits the design requirements for
any company or project.
2.
Choose a design that fits your situation
Choosing a design
that fits your situation requires one to keep the document simple. When writing
a document, writers should not make their document any more complex than the
situation requires. For example, if the
manual or technical report is less than five pages, then writers do not need to
include a table of contents or glossary.
3.
Plan your design from the beginning
Planning your
design from the beginning is important. Before writers start writing, they
should carefully consider how they will organize and display their information.
4.
Reveal your design to your readers
Revealing your
design to your readers is the process of showing readers how you have organized
the document so the information makes sense.
5.
Keep your design consistent.
Consistency in
document design is essential to make reading easy so the information can be
easily obtained by readers.
Minh Anh Nguyen
2. Define
an extended definition and describe four techniques you might use for creating
and writing an extended definition. (25 points)
o An
extended definition is used
to define complicated terms with a very detailed explanation using examples and
visuals. According to the JTC 300 class
notes, “Extended definitions are just going to take a sentence
definition and expand upon it. Just like a parenthetical merely introduces a
term or a concept and gives a brief sense of what it is, and then a sentence
definition goes beyond that by establishing a category membership and
distinguishing characteristics, an extended definition establishes a category
and distinguishing characteristics. An extended definition then elaborates on
these characteristics and amplifies on them so it is really clear what those
characteristics are, how they distinguish the concept from other concepts,
providing a fuller understanding.”
Generally, an extended definition is going to be one or more paragraphs
long. It depends upon how complex the concept is and how much you want your
readers to understand about the concept. The more they need to know, the more
detailed and the longer the extended definition will be.
o Four
techniques you might use for creating and writing an extended definition are:
1.
One is to use exemplification, or examples. You
start with a sentence definition and then you clarify, expand upon the
distinguishing characteristics by providing examples of them.
2.
Two, you can write an extended definition by
breaking the term into its parts, partitions, just like you would do with a
document’s organization, where you break things into their parts. You can
organize this section of your document, the extended definition, as a
sub-organization within the document by partition.
3.
Third, you can compare a new term to a familiar
term and use an analogy to create a good extended definition.
4.
Fourth,
you could use a metaphor. So use
examples; break the extended definition
into its parts and pieces and explain them through partitioning; compare
a new term to something familiar—by using an example, a metaphor, or a simile.
Minh Anh Nguyen
3. Describe
three types of arguments (deductive, inductive and analogical) and relate when
each might be used. (25 points)
o Deductive
The first is using
deduction. Deductive arguments apply general rules to specific outcomes such as
a syllogism. You have a major premise, a minor premise and a conclusion. Below are some examples of deductive:
1. All
men are mortal. John is a man. Therefore, John is mortal.
2. You
must make sure that A and B are true. If they are both true, then C must be
true as well.
o Inductive
An inductive
argument is different and opposite from a deductive argument. It moves from
specific to general. You take a series of experiments put them together to
generate a rule and a theory.
If you get the same result over and over, you
can then say it is a rule. You create experiments to test the theory to make
sure that what you assumed based on the same thing happening is indeed true and
can be replicated. Replication is important to distinguish between anecdotal
instances and real trends or rules.
For example, if you saw something drop and hit
the ground over and over, and you tried the same experiment in the same
situation each time, you could assume that if I drop this thing off this
building, it will always hit the ground. That’s essentially how we came to
understand gravity. Individual events or observations lead to a generalization
that leads to a rule.
o analogical
Writers may need to
use an analogy to make something clear when neither deductive nor inductive
arguments work in a given situation. Analogies are the weakest form of
argument, but sometimes analogies work to persuade people, particularly in
areas like politics. In this case, writers compare one situation to another
more familiar one that already has a known outcome and predict the result will
be the same. However, if the two situations are different, there is no
guarantee the outcome will be the same. Analogies are most effective if you can
use them in conjunction with hard evidence.
Minh Anh Nguyen
4. Explain
the difference between active and passive voice and give examples to show when
each would be appropriate to use. (25 points)
Sentences in active voice are generally
more concise than those in passive voice because fewer words are required to
express action in active voice than in passive.
o Active
voice means that the subject of the sentence performs the action. Active voice is used for most non-scientific
writing. Using active voice for the majority of your sentences makes your
meaning clear for readers, and keeps the sentences from becoming too
complicated or wordy.
An
example of active voice: The crew paved the entire stretch of
highway.
o
Passive voice means that the subject is
acted upon. In scientific writing,
passive voice is more readily accepted since using it allows one to write
without using personal pronouns or the names of particular researchers as the
subjects of sentences. A passive voice
sentence uses a form of “be” plus a past participle. A passive voice sentence
may include a "by the..." phrase after the verb; the agent performing
the action, if named, is the object of the preposition in this phrase.
An example of
passive voice: The entire
stretch of highway was paved by the crew.
Minh Anh Nguyen
5. Describe
what is involved in the three levels (across the document, paragraph, sentence)
of the revision process. (50 points)
o
The first level is document
level editing. Look at the big picture based on your audience analysis. Keeping
the audience in mind, ask questions about the impact of the document as a
whole. It doesn’t make sense to correct grammar and word choice at this point
because you may end up adding or deleting sections or moving things around.
This is the time you or an editor looks at things like organization. Does the
chosen method of organization make sense? Is it easy to follow? Are there any
gaps in information? If someone reads your document and has questions that may
mean there is some information you need to add. Perhaps you have included more
than you need in certain areas. You certainly don’t want to make a reader
trudge through unnecessary information. Remember, technical writing is meant to
be direct, clear and succinct. You want to consider things like tone, headings,
cross references, indexes, table of contents, etc. Also, are there any
potential legal or ethical issues with your document?
o
The second level is
paragraph level editing. This is more detailed and looks at paragraphs
themselves as well as transitions between them. Each paragraph should have a
clear topic sentence with supporting details within. You also want to make sure
paragraphs are not too long or too short. If they are too long, readers will
get lost or bored. Too short a paragraph may not include enough supporting
detail. Also, look at how one paragraph moves into another. Have you included
good transitions to ease the reader from one to the next? Each paragraph should
contain only one main idea.
o
Sentence level comes after paragraph level
revision or editing. This is what is more commonly referred to as proof
reading. At this level you begin to really dig into the small details of your writing.
You look at individual sentences. Are they written in active voice? Are they
succinct and clear in meaning. Examine things like word choice. Have you
avoided euphemisms? Are there any offensive words? You should also be checking
for subject/verb agreement, pronoun agreement, tenses, and punctuation. These
smaller details can distract a reader from really gleaning the fullest meaning
from your document if they are not corrected. Also, things like grammar and
punctuation, poor spelling or incorrect usage of terms can affect your
credibility as a writer. Readers may think if you can’t bother to be correct,
perhaps you are not a reliable source of information.
