• Time Required
• 6 to 8 hours, including reading time

This module explores how audience and purpose shape technical writing and how persuasion can help you make effective recommendations.

The concepts you read about this week apply to every project you will do in the course—and ultimately to the projects you will do in the workplace.

Holidays & Events This Week

Here’s what’s coming up this week:

• Women’s Equality Day is Sunday, August 27.
• Onam, a Hindu celebration, occurs in India on Tuesday, August 29.
• The Ghost Festival is celebrated by Taoists and Buddhists in China on Thursday, August 30.
• Raksha Bandhan is a Hindu festival that occurs on Thursday, August 30.

If any of these events interferes with your work in the class, send me a message with Canvas Inbox and let me know how you need me to adjust your due dates.

 

Objectives for this Module

Having successfully completed this module, you will be able to perform the technical writing tasks defined by the learning objectives for the course:

• Assemble and analyze research from diverse sources appropriate to problem solving (e.g, literature review, evaluation of online resources, interviewing, and site inspection) [CLO 1]
• Analyze the context; determine appropriate audiences for or users of planned communications; assess needs of global audiences and people with disabilities. [CLO 2]
• Practice workplace genres related to specific fields (e.g., proposals, instructions, correspondence, reports, technical specifications and slide decks); illustrate how genre conventions can serve as heuristics and as principles of arrangement [CLO 3]
• Practice team and collaborative work in all phases of project management: planning, researching, writing, revising, and presenting information; include genres associated with team work (e.g., meeting minutes, summaries, poster presentations; pitches) [CLO 4]

 

Activities to Complete

📚 To Read This Week

• Technical Writing Essentials
  
  • Ch 1.3: Understanding the Rhetorical Situation
  • Ch. 2.3: Writing to Persuade
• Resource Module: Correspondence
• Strong Subject Lines
• Resource Module: Organization

 

📝 To Do This Week

• Begin work on the Survey of Website Writing In Your Field Informal Report Assignment, which is due next week (September 8). Use these resources:
  • Website Analysis Table & Memo Criteria
  • Informal Reports Resource Module
  • Intercultural Communication Resource Module
  • “Data Visualization: How to Tell a Story With Data” (Nicole Martin, Forbes.com)
  • Website Analysis Table and Memo Self-Check
• Try out strategies from the course readings from Chs. 1.3 and 2.3 by submitting these activities:
  • Try-It #3: Rhetorical Awareness and the Reader-Centered Approach (Tuesday)
  • Try-It #4: Improving Memo Subject Lines (Thursday)

💬 To Ask Questions (Optional)

• Post public questions in the General Q&A Discussion in Canvas if it can be shared with the class.
  
• If you have a private question, send me a message with the Canvas Inbox.
• Ask a question or make a suggestion anonymously with the Anonymous Questions & Suggestions form.

📓 To Check-In This Week

• Fill out the Week 2 Check-In Survey to let me know how the week has gone for you.