Re: Teaching Technical Writing

[Garrett Winn <v2cdigw -at- US -dot- IBM -dot- COM>]

Jan queried:
<<

I could use some advice about what
would really interest students in technical writing.
As Technical Writers and/or Technical Writing instructors, could some of
you on this list please tell me what you think are the most helpful and
necessary components of teaching beginners about technical writing?
Maybe none of my students will become technical writers, but I want them
to see what technical writing offers. If you, as technical writers,
could return to your first technical writing course and plan what would
have helped you the most, what would you have wanted your instructor to
teach you?
>>

I taught technical writing for 1 year while I was a graduate student (I
loved teaching it more than Freshman English). The tech writing class I
taught was for juniors and seniors who knew what profession they were going
into, so my approach may be a bit different than yours will need to be.
I focused on the kinds of technical writing that they would likely
encounter in their jobs. In other words, I made it seem applicable and
"real."

We did resumes and cover letters, sets of instructions, letters, proposals,
oral reports, and either a research paper or manual.

Of course, we talked about rhetoric (mainly ethos, pathos, logos), audience
analysis, task analysis, collaboration, style, organization, presentation,
and content (including grammar subjects, specific vs. general, and clear
and concise vs. vague and long-winded). We spent half of our time in the
computer lab, learning how to use the software to accomplish specific goals
in writing:
WordPerfect for doing spell checking, grammar checking, creating footnotes
and headers, making tables and columns, designing web pages, using
templates (for resumes, etc.), and building a table of contents; Quattro
Pro for making spreadsheets and graphs; Corel Draw and Microsoft Paint for
creating and using graphics; and Corel Presentations for oral reports.

Most of the students valued the information from this course (even if they
didn't "like" English to begin with), and found it very useful. I always
tried to apply what we learned to real-life in the workforce. It made the
assignments seem less like "English busy work" and more like productive
learning.

I started a web site for another semester of teaching, but then I found a
job and moved, so I didn't get to teach it again (and consequently, I
didn't finish the web site). But it is still up in all its glory at:
http://humanities.byu.edu/classes/eng316gw/index.htm

If you have questions about assignments, etc. that are not available from
this web site, let me know and I can send them to you. I am also open to
comments (suggestions, while appreciated, would have little value at the
present time since I no longer teach the class) or questions about my
teaching philosophy and syllabus.

Good luck!

Garrett Winn


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