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Re: Evaluation Criteria for Technical Writing Assistant
Subject:Re: Evaluation Criteria for Technical Writing Assistant From:"Jane Bergen" <jane -dot- bergen -at- usa -dot- net> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Fri, 20 Oct 2000 08:01:35 -0500
"Expect"? I wouldn't think you could "expect" much at all... why should
you? Has she had any technical writing training or education? What does a
technical writing assistant do? Make copies? Her work has to be judged by
the SAME criteria as any other writer, but it's very unfair to her, as
well as to the other experienced writers, to simply give her a title and
expect her to produce at a professional level without training.
If she really wants to become a technical writer and your company neither
requires nor is willing to pay for her education, give her some really
awful docs (you can find lots of them on the 'net) to rewrite. Then have a
couple of experienced writers review her rewrites with her, inch by inch,
listening to her describe her decisions and making their own suggestions.
Then, as a company, commit to her to mentor her and train her.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Hartwig, Eileen" <EHartwig -at- Aegonusa -dot- com>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Sent: Thursday, October 19, 2000 10:56 AM
Subject: Evaluation Criteria for Technical Writing Assistant
> Through a recent reorganization, an administrative assistant within our
> department was appointed as a Technical Writing Assistant. This person
would
> like to become a technical writer. We (her boss and coworkers) are not
sure
> of the quality of work we should expect. Our question: what criteria
should
> we use to evaluate this person's performance on a task-by-task basis?
> Should our expectation be mechanical in nature (total number of errors
or
> errors per page) or should we expect some level of organization, design,
> decision-making, and research skills? Please respond to me offline and
not
> on the list. Thanks,
>
> Eileen Hartwig
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