Training for the Future

Over the course of the semester, you will submit 600 – 800 word contributions to the Pitt State Technical / Professional Writing Internship site (pittstatetechwritinginterns.blogspot.com) using the Blogger online publishing tool.  The site will serve as a resource for future interns, other technical / professional writers at large, and students contemplating technical / professional writing as a major as well as as preparation for you as you enter the job market.  Keep these audiences in mind as you complete your contributions.  Each contribution focuses on one of four goals:  defining technical / professional writing for yourself and for others outside the field (future coworkers in other departments, for example); exploring how genre works in technical / professional contexts; understanding the workplace; and preparing for the job market.  If you have questions about these assignments, contact me, Jamie McDaniel, not your internship supervisor.

1)      Training for the Future

Readings

Johndan Johnson-Eilola, “Relocating the Value of Work:  Technical Communication in a Post-Industrial Age”

Sherry G. Southard, “Interacting Successfully in Corporate Culture”

Emily Soplinsky, “Survival Skills for Communicators within Organizations”

Assignment

Now that you are close to completing your internship experience, the Director of Technical / Professional Writing has asked you to explore how it has contributed to your qualifications as a technical / professional writer and what skills and abilities you may still need to develop. 

To that end, find at least three job advertisements / descriptions for technical / professional writing positions for which you would apply.  Research these positions and companies.  Given your research, you will create a “training unit” for the positions you have found.  This training unit should consist of resources that will increase the likelihood of your employment in the kind of position you have researched as well as a rationale for the resources you include.  What resources and experiences from your internship will help you get the kind of job that you want, and what resources and experiences do you still need to gain? 

This training unit might include additional readings, websites, videos, suggested coursework, online courses (such as those offered through Lynda.com or through Adobe), or any other resources that will help prepare you.  For example, if the job advertisements request experience with Adobe Production Premium, then you might include links to YouTube videos that discuss the ways to use Adobe Production Premium or links to the appropriate AdobeTV videos.  Additionally, if the job advertisements request experience with social media, you might include links to resources on blogging.  You could also include other suggestions about gaining this kind of experience, such as managing a website or Facebook page for a local non-profit organization.  These suggestions are only a few ways in which you can increase your marketability.

In order to increase the persuasiveness of your contribution, the Director of Technical / Professional Writing has asked you to include appropriate research from specialists in the field.  You will also want to include any resources you find, whether a PDF, a web link, a video, or another kind of resource.

From Schoolroom to Workroom

Over the course of the semester, you will submit 600 – 800 word contributions to the Pitt State Technical / Professional Writing Internship site (pittstatetechwritinginterns.blogspot.com) using the Blogger online publishing tool.  The site will serve as a resource for future interns, other technical / professional writers at large, and students contemplating technical / professional writing as a major as well as as preparation for you as you enter the job market.  Keep these audiences in mind as you complete your contributions.  Each contribution focuses on one of four goals:  defining technical / professional writing for yourself and for others outside the field (future coworkers in other departments, for example); exploring how genre works in technical / professional contexts; understanding the workplace; and preparing for the job market.  If you have questions about these assignments, contact me, Jamie McDaniel, not your internship supervisor.

3)      From Schoolroom to Workroom

Readings

Linda Driskill, “Understanding the Writing Contexts in Organizations”

Chris Anson and Lee Forsberg, “Moving Beyond the Academic Community:  Transitional Stages in Professional Writing”

Susan Katz, “A Newcomer Gains Power:  An Analysis of the Role of Rhetorical Expertise”

Assignment

Authors Linda Driskill, Chris Anson, Lee Forsberg, and Susan Katz have approached you to contribute to an anthology that offers descriptions of internship experiences in various areas. The audiences for the anthology are students who are considering a career in technical / professional writing or students who are already technical / professional writing majors but need to decide on a specific area in which to do an internship.  At the very least, your contribution to the anthology should include

·         your job title,

·         a description of your responsibilities,

·         a list of what you would say are required qualifications and preferred qualifications for this position,

·         the abilities and skills you have learned / practiced during your internship,

·         the abilities and skills you thought you would learn / practice but have not,

·         a description of the ways that writing and working with your internship differs from writing and working at school, and

·         an analysis of the writing context, work atmosphere, and organizational hierarchy (use the readings to help you accomplish this task). 

You can also include any other information that you deem important.  Think of your contribution in this way:  If you knew who was taking over your position after you leave, what would you tell them about the job and about your internship location and why?

In order to increase the persuasiveness of your contribution, the book editor has asked you to include appropriate research from specialists in the field. 

Genres in Technical / Professional Writing

Over the course of the semester, you will submit 600 – 800 word contributions to the Pitt State Technical / Professional Writing Internship site (pittstatetechwritinginterns.blogspot.com) using the Blogger online publishing tool.  The site will serve as a resource for future interns, other technical / professional writers at large, and students contemplating technical / professional writing as a major as well as as preparation for you as you enter the job market.  Keep these audiences in mind as you complete your contributions.  Each contribution focuses on one of four goals:  defining technical / professional writing for yourself and for others outside the field (future coworkers in other departments, for example); exploring how genre works in technical / professional contexts; understanding the workplace; and preparing for the job market.  If you have questions about these assignments, contact me, Jamie McDaniel, not your internship supervisor.


2)      Genres in Technical / Professional Writing

Readings

Carolyn Miller, “Genre as Social Action”

Anis Bawarshi and Mary Jo Reiff, “Rhetorical Genre Studies” and “Genre Research in Workplace and Professional Contexts” 

Assignment

Your internship supervisor has asked you to contribute one entry to a guidebook for a kind of writing (or genre of writing) that you have encountered during your internship.  This guidebook is not simply a style manual (with information such as margin width and typeface, for example).  Instead, the internship supervisor wants to help future interns and other workers understand a genre of technical / professional writing by describing the primary elements of that piece of writing (what Miller calls “typified rhetorical actions”) and the ways in which this genre works within your specific professional context (“recurrent situations,” to use Miller’s language). 

Additionally, in order to better understand the genre, the internship supervisor has asked you to research other jobs and types of professional situations in which you might use this genre and describe how it is used within that context.

Finally, in order to increase the persuasiveness of your contribution, your internship supervisor has asked you to include appropriate research from specialists in the field. 

Your contribution should

·         Describe the primary elements of a technical / professional writing genre used during your internship

·         Outline the ways in which this genre works within your specific professional context at your internship site, and

·         Describe other professional contexts in which this genre might be used and the ways it might change in those other situations

Defining Technical / Professional Writing

Over the course of the semester, you will submit 600 – 800 word contributions to the Pitt State Technical / Professional Writing Internship site (pittstatetechwritinginterns.blogspot.com) using the Blogger online publishing tool.  The site will serve as a resource for future interns, other technical / professional writers at large, and students contemplating technical / professional writing as a major as well as as preparation for you as you enter the job market.  Keep these audiences in mind as you complete your contributions.  Each contribution focuses on one of four goals:  defining technical / professional writing for yourself and for others outside the field (future coworkers in other departments, for example); exploring how genre works in technical / professional contexts; understanding the workplace; and preparing for the job market.  If you have questions about these assignments, contact me, Jamie McDaniel, not your internship supervisor.

 

1)      Defining Technical / Professional Writing

Readings

Jo Allen, “The Case against Defining Technical Writing”

David Dobrin, “What’s Technical about Technical Writing?”

Carolyn Miller, “A Humanistic Rationale for Technical Writing” and “What’s Practical about Technical Writing?”

Elizabeth Tebeaux, “Let’s Not Ruin Technical Writing, Too”

Carolyn Miller, “Carolyn Miller Responds”

Assignment

Your internship supervisor has decided to request funding to begin a search for a new technical / professional writing position.  However, she worries that the hiring manager may not understand the purpose and value of a technical / professional writer for your particular work context, especially given current economic and budget constraints.  The internship supervisor wants to cast the widest net possible when she looks to fill the position, but she worries that the hiring manager may overlook candidates with degrees from humanities departments.  Therefore, she has asked you to write part of her request report.  In order to increase the persuasiveness of your contribution, your internship supervisor has asked you to include appropriate research from specialists in the field. 

Your contribution should

·         Define technical / professional writing both in general as a field and in your specific internship context,

·         Describe the potential value added through the hire of a technical / professional writer, and

·         Outline the value added to a technical / professional writing degree awarded from a humanities department.