Introduction to Technical Writing/Rhetorical Situations

ALWAYS consider the [Rhetorical Situation] before you READ or WRITE

Fill in G.A.P.S:

  • G - Genre

  • A - Audience

  • P - Purpose

  • S - Scope

  • + - Medium & Design


Genre:

Types of technical writing & their audiences:

  • User documentation: explains a topic to a novice so that they understand

  • Traditional technical writing: geared towards an audience that has a little bit of an understanding already

  • Technological marketing communications: promotional; trying to persuade

  • Professional/business communication: documents written in the workplace; formal or informal

Examples of User documentation:

  • A manual

  • A booklet

  • ‘Help’

  • Instructions that come with a product

Examples of Traditional technical writing:

  • A paper published in an engineering journal

  • An article published in a law review that caters to lawyers

  • An article in a medical journal written to a medical audience

  • A science manuscript published in a science journal

Examples of Technical marketing communication:

  • Promotional ad; outlining why you should buy something

  • Product comparison: describes 2 or more different products & features

Examples of Professional business communication:

  • Resume

  • Proposal

  • Business letters

  • Emails


Audience:

Primary Audience vs. Secondary Audience:

  • Primary: asked or authorized the document to be written, makes decisions, will request or take action, will likely read the entire document

  • Secondary: affected by the document, interesting in the decisions, likely to read some or most of the document

Things to consider about your audience:

  • Knowledge level

  • Interests

  • Role

  • Cultural background/diversity

  • Personality


Purpose:

Specific end or outcome obtained; the goal of the writing

Purposes of tech writing:

  • to inform

  • to persuade

  • to instruct


Scope:

What information is & is not included

  • Coverage

  • What info will be chosen

  • Will it help to achieve the purpose


Medium:

How information is conveyed

  • What kind of document

  • Will it be printed

  • Will this medium accomplish my goal/purpose


Design:

The goal is to create a document that is easy to access, easy to navigate, and easy to remember

Fill in H.A.T.S:

  • H - Headings: mark off different sections of your document

  • A - Access: visual cues that help a reader navigate & understand the writing (ex. sidebar with vocab words & definitions)

  • T - Typography: choosing fonts that match the content/character of the document

  • S - Space: space between the end of one section and the next section’s heading; typically, between 1.15 & 1.5 in technical writing

Heading vs. Header:

  • Heading: within the body of the text

  • Header: where you place page number and name

Typography terms:

  • Serifs: little slashes at the bottom of letters

  • Weight: the overall thickness of the font

  • Stroke variation: level of difference between the width


Official Quiz Questions w/ Answers:

  1. 1. __ are the audience for traditional and technical writing: experts

  2. 2. A brochure that advertises a class at a local library is considered: technical marketing

  3. 3. __ are the audience for technical marketing: consumers

  4. 4. When considering: audience

  5. 5. When considering: typography

  6. 6. __ are the audience for professional/business communication: future employers/employees

  7. 7. Technical, academic, and creative writing are all examples of different types of: genre

  8. 8. A resume is considered what type of technical document: professional/business communication

  9. 9. A manual that teaches people how to use a computer program is considered what type of technical document: user documentation

  10. 10. “To inform” is an example of a __ for writing: purpose

  11. 11. When considering the __ of your document, you decide how long the document needs to be and what it needs to include: scope

  12. 12. A science manuscript published in a science journal is considered to be what type of technical writing: traditional technical writing

  13. 13. Typically, technical documents use double-spacing by default: false

  14. 14. When considering: access

  15. 15. The __ must be considered before creating any type of document: rhetorical situation

  16. 16. The __ reads a document in its entirety and is directly affected by the document: primary audiences

  17. 17. When considering: medium/design

  18. 18. The __ might: secondary audience

  19. 19. These are included throughout a document to help readers navigate and locate information: headings

  20. 20. __ are the audience for user documentation: novices/beginners