Module One: The Writing Process

·         Understand the efficiency of treating writing as a technical process.

·         Adopt a four-step process for technical writing: analyze, organize, write, and revise.

Module Two: Task Analysis

·         Identify the primary and secondary objectives of the writing.

·         Identify the primary and secondary readers.

·         Assess three reader characteristics: needs, level of understanding, and likely reactions.

·         Understand which aspects of a piece of writing should vary as reader characteristics vary.

·         Assess the limitations—of time, length, information, etc.—placed on the task.

·         Develop the main message and the sub-messages of the document.

Module Three: Tools for Organizing

·         Place the messages effectively.

·         Explain the advantages and disadvantages of various organizing tools, and use each tool: mind maps, standard outlines, and sentence outlines.

Module Four: Logical Patterns

·         Use five common patterns of organization: chronological, topical, spatial, comparative, and cause-and-effect.

·         Recognize the typical patterns used in various documents.

Module Five: Paragraph Structure

·         Control paragraph length to keep within readability guidelines.

·         Write unified paragraphs.

·         Use topic sentences to enhance unity and to make documents more readable.

·         Use headings to make organization visible to readers.

Module Six: Clarity

·         Improve coherence by using transitions, consistent terminology, and pronouns.

·         Revise to improve sentence clarity by focusing on three issues: subject-to-verb distance, length of introductory elements, and number of prepositional phrases.

Module Seven: Readability

·         Revise to eliminate redundancy and wordiness.

·         Enhance readability by limiting sentence length.

Module Eight: Collaboration

·         Use task analysis to enhance collaboration.

·         Use outlines and other organizing tools to enhance collaboration.

·         Differentiate between changes in substance and changes in style when reviewing and editing others’ writing.