Re: Teaching a practical business writing class and looking for professional rubrics

[Wade Courtney <wade -dot- courtney -at- gmail -dot- com>]

Have them memorize Strunk and White's, The Elements of Style.

Also, confusing style with grammar

Tell them to stay away from arguments about Frame v. Word, one space v. two,
bmp v. gif v. jpg, sans-serif v. serif, and discussions about colors or
font, and any thing about serial commas. Also they should refrain from
discussions about Tech Writing standards, there are none.

Oh and contrary to popular belief, The Microsoft Manual of Style is not a
bible. It is a book of guidelines as are the Chicago Manual of Style, and
the AP Style Guide. Pick one and stick with it. Consistency counts.

Are there any other long standing arguments that I have neglected to
mention?

<grin>

w

On Mon, Aug 17, 2009 at 11:56 AM, Rob Hudson <caveatrob -at- gmail -dot- com> wrote:

> Hello Everyone,
>
> I'm putting together a business writing course for undergraduates and
> wanted to survey the professional community about rubrics, or criteria
> lists, for various business and technical writing assignments. I
> figure that since you are all professionally experienced, you might
> have good insight into what you'd like to see from new
> technical/business writers.
>
> To ask it another way, what are the most common mistakes or problems
> you see from new writers in the workplace? I can back those ideas into
> criteria for assignments.
>
> I want to stay in touch with the professional world as I move forward
> in this class.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Rob
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>
> Free Software Documentation Project Web Cast: Covers developing Table of
> Contents, Context IDs, and Index, as well as Doc-To-Help
> 2009 tips, tricks, and best practices.
> http://www.doctohelp.com/SuperPages/Webcasts/
>
> Help & Manual 5: The complete help authoring tool for individual
> authors and teams. Professional power, intuitive interface. Write
> once, publish to 8 formats. Multi-user authoring and version control!
> http://www.helpandmanual.com/
>
> ---
> You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as wade -dot- courtney -at- gmail -dot- com -dot- 
>
> To unsubscribe send a blank email to
> techwr-l-unsubscribe -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
> or visit
> http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/options/techwr-l/wade.courtney%40gmail.com
>
>
> To subscribe, send a blank email to techwr-l-join -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
>
> Send administrative questions to admin -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-  Visit
> http://www.techwr-l.com/ for more resources and info.
>
> Please move off-topic discussions to the Chat list, at:
> http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/listinfo/techwr-l-chat
>
>
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Free Software Documentation Project Web Cast: Covers developing Table of
Contents, Context IDs, and Index, as well as Doc-To-Help  
2009 tips, tricks, and best practices.
http://www.doctohelp.com/SuperPages/Webcasts/

Help & Manual 5: The complete help authoring tool for individual
authors and teams. Professional power, intuitive interface. Write
once, publish to 8 formats. Multi-user authoring and version control! http://www.helpandmanual.com/

---
You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as archive -at- web -dot- techwr-l -dot- com -dot- 

To unsubscribe send a blank email to 
techwr-l-unsubscribe -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
or visit http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/options/techwr-l/archive%40web.techwr-l.com


To subscribe, send a blank email to techwr-l-join -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com

Send administrative questions to admin -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-  Visit
http://www.techwr-l.com/ for more resources and info. 

Please move off-topic discussions to the Chat list, at:
http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/listinfo/techwr-l-chat