Handout 5: Essay on technical and professional writing

Note: Read through this handout and raise questions. Due dates for 4 steps in the writing process are at the end of the handout.

To explore the question "What do professional and technical writers do?" we've been reading from a collection of essays entitled of Writing a Professional Life, composed by technical writers focusing on what they do on the job. We've also been listening to speakers talk about their experiences as writers. The information gleaned from these sources is not particularly coherent; it's not organized. That will be your job..

The assignment for this unit is an essay. The purposes for the assigment are several:

1. To give you a chance to make sense of the data you've been gathering (see Handout 4 to review the questions you have been tracking). In other words, you need to think about whether this is a career path for you and about whether you want to minor or major in professional writing. You'll use writing to organize your thoughts.

2. To give you practice in working with an amorphous body of data that must be shaped into a coherent piece of writing for a particular audience. This means working with audience and purpose and information--key arts of professional writing.

3. To give you practice with peer review.

4. To give you practice working with web pages in preparation for other assignments that must be posted on the web (the resume and the ProPenCity work)

The assignment

Audience: Editors of of Writing a Professional Life. Note that there are two kinds of editors: the people who collected the essays and who are listed as the authors of the book, and the publishing company editors, who decide whether or not to issue a new edition of the book. Both kinds of editors want to make sales, but the pub. company editor makes the call.

Purpose: To let these editors know how student readers experience the book. Of course they'll want to know about both strengths and weaknesses, but what they'll really be interested in is what YOU, students, think should be included in the next edition.

Rhetorical Strategy: To have any credibility with your audience, you'll need to establish that you've been a careful reader of the book. So you'll provide some discussion of the readings. Be selective--the editors are familiar with the readings so you don't need to summarize them. Use the readings to illustrate your points. You'll also want to show that you have some knowledge of the field from other sources. So draw on the speakers' information. You can assume that the editors want this book to represent the field, but they may not realize that some of you are negatively impressed. So you'll want to talk about these impressions and HOW you came to them. For example, who said what to make tech writing seem distasteful? And the editors may not be aware of your interest in issues raised by the authors but not discussed in sufficient detail (the value of collaboration, for example). And of course you'll have a thesis or a particular point to make and you'll develop this point very carefully.

Length: 4 to 6 pages.

Many of you have picked up on issues that you're curious about, and presumably you'd like to see the book address these issues in some way. Say so AND THEN MAKE THE CASE. Making a case involves logical thinking, chains of reasoning, and evidence, so I'll be looking for these case-makers when I grade your essay..

The terrible events of last week have thrown us a little off schedule. Several of your classmates have been absent and are trying to catch up. So I'm extending the due dates beyond what was originally posted on the syllabus. You'll turn in drafts (print or web, if you wish) to me and one classmate. You'll review each other's drafts. Then you'll turn in a final print version, followed by a web version.

Although we'll spend some time in class discussing audience and purpose and stragegy, we'll have to move on to the next unit BEFORE you finish up these essays. So be prepared for that.

Your grade will depend on the following:
1. your ability to successfully engage your audience
2. your ability to attend closely to purpose
3. your ability to develop your thesis--to make a case
4. grammatical correctness and style appropriate to the rhetorical situation

Deliverables and Due Dates

1. DRAFT: Two print copies of a solid draft of your essay (with cover memo) SEPTEMBER 25
2. PEER REVIEW: Two copies of your peer review--one for the writer and one for the instructor SEPTEMBER 27
2. FINAL PRINT: Print copy of final version of your essay (with cover memo) OCTOBER 2
3. FINAL WEB: Final essay as a web page linked to your course page OCTOBER 4

Note well: Both draft and final must be prefaced by a cover memo explaining to me some of the decisions you made in the course of writing this essay.