Your Task

Part of the Homework portion of your course grade

Analyze the differences between academic writing for a class (like MLA-style essays) and technical writing or communication (documents written to help people do, decide, or understand something in the real world).

Choose an Example of Academic Writing

Choose one of your own academic essays (~1–3 pages) from ENGL 1105/1106 or a course in your major. If your essay is longer, select the first 2–3 pages (or one complete section that “acts like” an essay).

Choose an Example of Technical Writing

Find one real-world document (~1–3 pages, or one main webpage) that is meant to help readers do something, understand something quickly, follow steps, avoid risk, or make a decision. Here are some examples:

• a set of instructions
• a FAQ Page
• a safety sheet
• an explainer page written for non-experts

Do not choose any document that I (Traci, your teacher) wrote. That ends up being awkward.

Assignment Learning Objectives

After working on this assignment, you should be able to:

• Identify technical writing or communication by understanding what it does.

• Analyze the differences between traditional academic writing and technical writing, based on style, layout, and more.

Success Tips

• Use plain observations: “This uses headings,” “This starts with a claim,” “This tells the reader what to do,” etc. It’s okay if you don’t know the “right terms” yet.
• If you use your own academic essay, you do not need to revise it—just use it as your example.
• If your academic essay contains personal information, you may black out names or identifying details before uploading it.

No Use of AI

Do not use AI on this activity.

The goal is to be able to spot the differences yourself.

How You’ll Be Graded

Canvas will automatically give you credit for your submission.

I spot-check the work to ensure the grade is accurate.

If you shouldn’t have earned credit, I change the grade. This situation usually happens when answers are missing or incomplete. If time allows, I may ask you to try again.