PDF Technical Communication Today, Richard Johnson-Sheehan, Fourth edition

Technical Communication Today, Richard Johnson-Sheehan, Fourth edition
680 pages

Here is a summary of the main points from the provided chapters:

Chapter 1: Communicating in the Technical Workplace

• Importance of Technical Communication: Effective written and spoken communication is crucial for success in technical and scientific careers (e.g., engineer, scientist, doctor, nurse), often surprising graduates with its necessity.
• Technical Writing Process: Successful workplace writing involves a process that is genre-based and includes five stages:
  1. Planning and Researching: Defining the rhetorical situation (subject, purpose, readers, context of use) using the Five-W and How Questions, stating a one-sentence purpose, and researching the subject.
  2. Organizing and Drafting: Using common genres (like reports, proposals, specifications) to organize and generate content.
  3. Improving the Style: Choosing between a plain style (clarity, accuracy) and a persuasive style (motivating readers, appealing to values/emotions).
  4. Designing the Document: Using visual design, graphics, and layout to make the document accessible and attractive, since readers are "raiders" for information.
  5. Revising and Editing: A crucial stage involving four levels: Revising (re-examining subject/purpose), Substantive Editing (content, organization, design), Copyediting (sentences, paragraphs, graphics), and Proofreading (grammar, typos, spelling).
• Definition of Technical Communication: It is defined as a process of managing technical information in ways that allow people to take action.
• Qualities of Technical Communication: It is interactive and adaptable, reader centered, reliant on teamwork, visual, and bound by ethical, legal, political, international, and cross-cultural dimensions.

Chapter 2: Readers and Contexts of Use

• Reader-Centered Approach: Technical communication is highly reader-centered and pragmatic, focusing on what readers "need to know" to take action.
• Profiling Readers: To write effectively, you must develop a profile of your readers using the Five-W and How Questions. Readers are "raiders" who want concise, "need-to-know" information, supported by graphics and good design.
• Types of Readers: The Writer-Centered Analysis Chart helps classify readers:
  • Primary Readers (Action Takers): The main audience who make decisions or take action.
  • Secondary Readers (Advisors): Experts who advise the primary readers.
  • Tertiary Readers (Evaluators): Others who may have an interest, such as reporters or lawyers.
  • Gatekeepers (Supervisors): People who approve the document before it reaches the primary readers.
• Analyzing Readers' Characteristics: Use a Reader Analysis Chart to identify your readers' needs (information required for action), values (beliefs important to them), and attitudes (emotional response to the subject or you).
• Profiling Contexts of Use: Anticipate the various contexts that influence interpretation:
  • Physical Context: Where the document will be used (e.g., office, factory floor, emergency room).
  • Economic Context: Money-related issues (e.g., costs, benefits, profit).
  • Political Context: Micropolitical (internal relationships) and macropolitical (local, state, international trends).
  • Ethical Context: Issues involving rights, values, and well-being of others (social, environmental, legal).
• International and Cross-Cultural Communication: The global workplace requires adapting content, organization, style, and design to suit different cultural expectations (e.g., differences in formality, use of persuasion, reading direction, and symbolism). The key strategy is to listen and learn, be polite, research the target culture, and consult colleagues.

Chapter 3: Working in Teams (Introduction)

• Teaming is Essential: The ability to work well in teams is an essential skill in the technical workplace.
• Stages of Teaming: Teams typically move through four stages (Tuckman's Model): Forming, Storming, Norming, and Performing.
• Forming (Strategic Planning): The initial stage where team members get to know each other and define the project's mission and objectives.