If you complete any summary memos for the three extra credit readings, please post them here as separate comments (one comment for each reading that you summarize).
8 thoughts on “Extra Credit Reading Summaries”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
To: Professor Jason Ellis
From: Mereoni Rabukawaqa
Date: 2 December, 2015
Subject: Creating Marketing Slides for Engineering Presentations
Today’s reading by Ann Jennings gave an overview on how to create an effective marketing slide. Jennings begins by stating that the most effective format of a presentation is one that includes the combination of sentence headlines and visual evidence. This combination reinforces ideas and increases audience retention on slides. Sentence headlines informs the audience of the presenters position on subject right away at first glance. Illustrations attract and hold attention and are the visual proof for what the presenter is trying to convey. An important factor she discusses is personalizing the presentation to not only fit the needs of the audience but also to emphasize what the presenter is providing the audience. Another important factor is the typography used in a presentation. It is key to consider the readability of the font being used, how comfortable and accessible it is to read from every angle and that it conveys a sense of professionalism to the audience. The quantity of information included in a presentation does not necessarily need to be a lot in order to do the job right. With a well-phrased sentence headline, short phrases with key words in the body of a slide are enough to convey the message to a reader without losing their attention. The general format Jennings outlines in a marketing presentation includes the Title slide which names the presentation, Overview slide which notes the main points, Section slides which is how the presentation is broken up based on theme, Body slides which informs, and the Conclusions slide which emphasizes the main points and gives the final overview, bringing everything to a head.
To: Professor Jason Ellis
From: Mereoni Rabukawaqa
Date: 3 December, 2015
Subject: Hutto, âGraphics and Invention in Engineering Writingâ
âGraphics and Invention in Engineering Writingâ is a report study conducted by John Hutto to research and evaluate the use of graphics by engineers to stimulate the writing process. Hutto bases his report on his study conducted on 15 engineers from 2 companies (a government engineering firm and a consumer-based product engineering firm) with 13 male and 2 female participants all ranging from 2-40 years of experience. The main focus of this study is to show how these engineers use graphics in the workplace and how it acts as a stimulant in their writing processes. A common factor for all the participants of the study was that they agreed that it was natural for them to record information in graphic form and use graphics for design work. Graphics were also stated to be used as a common method of interaction between engineers. Hutto bases his assertion that graphics serve an âinventional functionâ in the writing process of an engineer on the fact that graphics are stored in both verbal and visual memory and therefore can help its user construct mental models. This occupies more memory and already contains a kind of ready-made visual model that the engineer/designer can draw from when writing instead of something abstract. The study concludes on the note that while each engineer surveyed used different kinds of graphics for different styles of documents at their own discretion, every single one of them use graphics as a means to creating written documents whether for taking notes beforehand, planning, or in actual implementation within the document.
To: Professor Jason Ellis
From: Mereoni Rabukawaqa
Date: 9 December, 2015
Subject: Bryan, âDown The Slippery Slope: Ethics and the Technical Writer as Marketerâ
John Bryan creates almost a memoir of his experiences as a technical writer who transitioned to marketing manager and the ethical dilemmas faced by those in similar situations and professions in âDown The Slippery Slopeâ. He begins with a description of beginning his career as a technical writer with his duties shifting quickly from report writing to proposals to eventually promotional material as a marketing manager. Using his past as an example, Bryan describes two types of technical writers – the âtraditional technical writerâ and the âboundary spannersâ who write both technical and promotional material. Nowadays technical writers are naturally expected to fill both the traditional and the marketing roles. The biggest problem with technical writers who sit in between the overlapping circles of technical writing and writing for marketing purposes, especially for those with no prior experience in the profession they are employed in (i.e. engineering, law, accounting firms, etc.) is that the promotional aspect of what they write starts to tend towards, not lies but half-truths. Phrasing becomes important by fluffing up the positive aspects of the subject with carefully worded expressions while discarding the more negative points. Therein lies the ethical dilemma for writers preparing marketing materials within these kinds of organizations.
This conflict of ethics wasnât always a problem, though. Bryan recalls a time when honesty in writing was the first and foremost rule, even in marketing, and credits several different changes for the shift in idealism, beginning with the campaigns on disbanding the prohibition law on commercialism laws. Started by a âminority of consumer-oriented attorneysâ seeking to win freedom to get information to consumers, the end of formal prohibitions of intraprofessional competition eventually led to deregulation of laws that forbade professional societies to restrict their members from advertising their services and increased commercialization and competition. Bryan notes that the increased sense of competition decreased ethical-decision behavior and instead encouraged whatever means won these organizations more clients and therefore, more revenue. As a technical writer trying to make the âethical decisionâ in a society that has fully developed and now runs on these corrupted ideals, Bryan poses a question for us to ask ourselves: âIf you were sitting in your home with no corporate byline to hide behind, if your readers could hold you personally accountable for your writing, what would you write?â
TO:Dr Jason Ellis
FROM: Valentina Pineda
DATE: December 7th, 2015
SUBJECT: âGraphics and Invention in Engineering Writing,â Summary
This article talks about the use of graphics by engineers as a method of stimulating writing process. Also it is shown that graphics are an essential tool in stimulating writing ideas and how there can be different types of graphics to use and interpret. Engineers often use graphics as a common way to aid in their inventional technique of writing to express their ideas in an easier visual manner to other technical writers. The most important conclusion to imply from this study is that engineers even if they don’t include much graphics in their final product they might have used them to help develop ideas written in the document. With this said it is important for technical communicators to be able to discuss and analyze different kinds of graphics in the invention process as it would help to have a better communication between them and engineers.Since engineers use different types of graphics depending on the writing genre o it is important to distinguish in which situations is better to use a kind o graphic and how it helps get the point across. When technical writers discuss graphics with engineers they should always be aware that engineers use this information to make decisions. To conclude a technical writer must keep in mind the process of producing writing by engineers. Graphics are used widely to invent a product even though, they are not used necessarily in the final product.
TO:Dr Jason Ellis
FROM: Valentina Pineda
DATE: December 9th, 2015
SUBJECT: âDown the slippery slope: Ethics and the technical writer as marketer,âSummary
In this article the author John Bryan talks about the ethical problems that arise for a technical writer when they enter the marketing world. He recalls his own experience as a technical writer to help us understand the ethical dilemmas faced by all technical writers. He explains that his career started as technical writer where he would mostly write documents such as reports however his duties changed rapidly into writing promotional documents. John describes in the article two different types of technical writers : a traditional technical writer and boundary spanners. Both of this types of technical writers are able to write technical and promotional documents. He that technical writer are now expected to fill both roles and this creates conflict. Technical writers with little expertise introduced to promotional documents they start to to tell partial truths or their phrasing becomes so important as they go on and on about positive aspects and discard any negative comments of the product. This is due to the company’s guidelines set for the writer creating ethical conflict to their benefit. John asks to reflect on this topic and think about of what you would write if you were the one responsible for your writing when displayed to the public. He adds that this ethical problems were not always around and there was a time of honesty however, they are occurring now and as technical writers and consumers we must be aware of them.
TO: Dr.Jason Ellis
FROM: Anika Aarons
DATE: December 21, 2016
SUBJECT: “Creating Marketing Slides for Engineering Presentations”
The following article “Creating Marketing Slides for Engineering Presentations” by Ann Jennings, explains the importance of building and demonstrating a presentation successfully. The standard format of composing slides, includes starting with a main page with a title of the presentation, and last slide of the conclusion and recap of the entire presentation again. The in between slides which will contain the body of the presentation, should be headlined with the topic and bullet points of the subtopics it consists of. The details of the topics, are discussed during the presentation. Although the slides are consisted of factual information the presentation is where your individual originality should be demonstrated. Further going on to explain, that the presentation and slides used must be creative, interesting, catchy in order to capture and keep the attention of the audience. This reading contributed greatly to the building of creating my groups’ very own slide show/ presentation for project two. By reminding us of how a slide show conducts a presentation correctly.
TO: Dr.Jason Ellis
FROM: Anika Aarons
DATE: December 21,2015
SUBJECT: “Graphics and Invention in Engineering Writing”
“Graphics and Invention in Engineering Writing” is a report study done by John Hutto, a case study built upon the study of fifteen engineers from two different companies. The purpose of this study was to conduct how these engineers included the usage of graphics in their workplace, and how it transpires the use of their writing process. The concept of graphics contributes to the overall idea of engineering. Hugo further explains that the use of graphics is needed visually and verbally, labeled “inventional function”. The study done by Hutto, provided that the engineers individually uses the concept of graphics differently. Such as some may use graphics for an outline, for decisions, or most importantly the final product, or sometimes even all three.
TO: Dr.Jason Ellis
FROM: Anika Aarons
DATE: December 21, 2015
SUBJECT: “Down the Slippery Slope: Ethics and technical writers as Marketer”
The reading “Down the Slippery Slope: Ethics and technical writers as Marketer” by John Bryan discusses the ethical problems of technical writers in the marketing world. The purpose of the technical writers are to compose promotional documents. Bryan explains the two different types of technical writers, the traditional technical writer and the boundary spanners. In this reading Bryan goes to discuss his own experiences and hardships of a technical writer, from the beginning to where he is now. Firstly by writing reports, to eventually promotional documents. Also the differences of what was required then to what is required of the writers now. Elaborating on the fact that when he first started out there weren’t any negative aspects to discuss, but now there are many disadvantages to discuss and future/ current technical writers should be aware to include in their writing. Moreover wholly, Bryan in-tales that it is harder for writer now than before. For example the types aren’t even separated anymore, technical writers are required to handle the function of both types.