Training for the Future

Being a student at Pittsburg State University has provided me with various opportunities to enhance my skill as a technical writer. Specifically as a technical writing student, I have been equipped with a variety of skills and learned a great deal about the technical aspects of technical/professional writing, such as language usage. However, my internship has awarded me an experience that is much more applicable to a real world setting. As Sherry Southard mentions in “Interacting Successfully in Corporate Culture”, “students need skills that will enable them to participate successfully and to make decisions even more than they need such skills to work successfully within older organizations.” My internship has provided me with just that. Through my game design internship under the Tech Writing director, I have had hands-on experience in managing an entire editing and production process. Unfortunately, as Johndan Johnson-Eilola details in his work, “Relocating the Value of Work: Technical Communication in a Post-Industrial Age,” technical communicators aren’t always seen as managers of the entire process, but rather “as something to be added on to a primary product…added at the end of the project (with too little time or too few staff members), or perhaps omitted entirely.” Luckily, with my internship, I have had experience as more than just support. This will undoubtedly increase my value when I go on to pursue a career.

One of the three jobs that I was interested in is an Editorial Assistant at Prufrock Press in Austin, Texas. They are looking for someone to assist with their books and classroom materials editors. Candidates for this job must possess strong editing and communication skills, be able to meet deadlines, and be comfortable with learning APA style. My internship, in conjunction with my education at Pitt State, have prepared me well for this, but I could prepare for this position by studying the APA style guide. I have had to learn to use multiple style guides in various classes, so this should not be difficult. To do so, I would likely by looking at the Purdue OWL website and buying an APA style guide. Additionally, I have learned and exercised my editing skills through my classes and my internship. In my internship, I was tasked with editing all of the text-based elements of the game, checking for consistency and correctness. Furthermore, my experience with the Cow Creek Review will also enhance my skills for this job. By working as an editor for a literary magazine, I will not only have editing experience, but publishing experience as well.

Another job that I found is a Content Editor for the Blue Monday Review in Kansas City, MO.  They are looking for someone to read, edit, and evaluate work submitted to their literary magazine. This person will read and evaluate 10-20 submissions a week. This position did not call for many qualifications, but, similar to the Prufrock Press position, I would be well-suited for this role because I have had editing experience in my internship and classes. Furthermore, I have worked on a literary magazine, so I understand how the editing and selection process works for a literary magazine. To further prepare for a position such as this, I could spend more time working for the Cow Creek Review. Additionally, I could also apply for a writing consultant position at my university’s Writing Center.

A third job I found is an Assistant Managing Editor at Allen Press, Inc. in Lawrence, KS. This company specializes in scholarly journal and special-interest publication production. Skills for this position include keeping track of manuscripts and reviews, working with Copyediting Coordinators to maintain proper style, assembling publications, and communicating with authors. For this position, my internship has assisted because I have had to essentially manage an entire editing/publication process alongside my internship director and my co-intern. But I would need to gain more experience with managing the editing process. While I am familiar with the editing process, I could gain this experience by serving as the managing editor for the Cow Creek Review or becoming a managing editor for a volunteer publication. 

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

Soplinsky, Emily. "Survival Skills for Communicators within Organizations."

Southard, Sherry. "Interacting Successfully in Corporate Culture."

Training for the Future

Through my time as student in Tech Writing program and as intern under the Tech Writing director I have learned much more about tech writing than I ever planned. The various professors I have had for my tech writing classes all shared or discussed what tech writing can be like in a job setting. While none of them necessarily gave students a scenario to teach the various nuances of holding a job, especially one in tech writing, like Sherry Southard suggests. They still teach us the technical aspect of tech writing, but the sharing of experience as a professional helps to bring in the less concrete skills that are hard to explicitly teach. The internship experience has really helped to branch out into the “communication” side of technical communication as Johndan Johnson calls the field. The communication side is the less concrete side of the job, but doing the research and reading for this blog has helped to understand professional life.

One job that I found that fits my skills is as a Technical Writer at RPC which is in the financial industry. They are looking for someone that can research, interview, recommend changes, write instructions, maintain writing style, peer edit, document work history, and follow through on projects. My particular internship has set me up well for something like this because I have been able to do this in some form. Creating a game has called for researching various technical writing jobs, recommending changes in game mechanics based in though out reasons, peer edit the work of my co-intern, and work on this project independently. A good way to prepare for this kind of job would to look into journals/manuals in the relevant industry and become somewhat familiar with the conventions. A publication from this list would be good place to start. 

Another job that I found is a Technical Writer at Continuum. They are looking for someone to test new software and creating documentation for that software. This person will also test other tech writer’s work, working with the creators, and making changes. This is of interest to me because it deals somewhat with web programming languages, which is my main field of study. I have also previously worked on a documentation project so I have some experience working with software and testing out the document with testers. A good place to learn web languages is codecademy.com It is a free resource that has basic and advanced tutorials and updates their content on occasion. As for testing various works, a good and fun way to do this is playtesting games. I have been given the opportunity to create and playtest games as an intern and student.

A third job I found is a Technical Writer at Corptax which deals with business process and automation solutions for corporate tax. Skills for this position include Adobe Creative Suite, HTML/XML, editing, single source authoring tool, peer reviewing, and knowledge sharing. Since I am a Graphics Communications major I am familiar with Adobe Creative Suite and HTML. My knowledge of how Content Management systems work would prepare me well for single source authoring methods. As a graphics student I have had the opportunity to ask fellow students about my work and also be able to share new knowledge with them. To keep up with changing technologies I would go to lydna.com for Adobe software and codecademy.com for web programming, but lynda.com also has good resources for the web.

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

Soplinsky, Emily. "Survival Skills for Communicators within Organizations."

Southard, Sherry. "Interacting Successfully in Corporate Culture."

Training for the Furture

     Since my internship is coming to an end for this semester I have started to look at job opportunities. I have found three great job options for the start of my career. All three jobs are something that I would be very interested in and I think I would be very comfortable staying in the positions for some time. My internship has helped to prepare me for someone of the role requirements that all of the jobs are asking of their future employees.  Two of the jobs are located in Las Vegas, Nevada and the other is located in Washington, D.C.

     The first company is Ruby on Rails, located in Washington D.C., and they are looking for a Technical Writer who can document the architecture of the app itself. They request that the applicant has a degree in computer science, education or technical writing. I think I would already be a benefit to this company because my major is English with the emphasis in Technical Writing and a supporting minor in Computer Information Science. The company specializes in software development for learning activities for K through 3^rd-grade students in charter and private schools. This is similar to what I have been doing in my internship. I have been formatting and editing children’s literature and helping to publish them in an online forum. The company specifically wants a tech writer that is able to take the software language of their products and make them into something easily understood by the salespeople and any potential partners.

     The second company is Birtcher located in Las Vegas, NV. They are looking for a technical writer that will be able to maintain the existing document base they have, but also be able to develop new procedural documentation. The documentation will be used by the manufacturing production line, sub-assembly stations, warehouse & shipping and quality. The material and assignments that are asked of us in our classes will be great preparation for the materials this company would be asking of the technical writing employee. Something that makes this position different from a regular technical writing job is that they are asking more of their employee. Such as: meeting with individuals requesting technical documents to form relevant support materials to develop written documentation, drawings, and installation instructions. It seems that the company would like their employee to be well rounded and integrated into the company structure. This is an idea that I really like and feel would be beneficial for me because I am a people person and enjoy communicating with others.

     The third company is Konami, they specialize in systems and game development. They are specifically looking for a Technical Writer but I think I could bring more to the applicant pool because I have a minor in Computer Information Science. The basic outline for what they are asking of a future employee is to take the engineering and mechanical language that the software and games are written in and transition it into technical instructions that someone without a computer background would be able to understand easily. I think my knowledge of computer language would be very beneficial here and help to also bridge the gap that is sometimes created between software engineers and technical writers. Some of the day to day things that the company would be asking of an employee is the maintaining of documentation and templates that are preexisting. 

Training for the Future

For this blog, I found three technical writing jobs that I am interested in. The jobs are at KeyBridge Technologies in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, CoreLogic in San Diego, California, and The Aspen Institute in Washington, DC.

The first position is for a Documentation Specialist at KeyBridge Technologies in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. They provide business solutions to assist organizations optimize their assets, knowledge, and service. They provide learning solutions through custom courseware development, professional support through onsite staff, information technology like web and database development, logistics support to military and Federal customers, as well as 3D Immersive Environments like high quality architectural renderings. A Documentation Specialist acts as an onsite company liason. They must analyze requirements, prepare document outlines, and develop technical content. They also write management summaries, implementation, and quality assurance plans. The skills I would learn would mostly be on the job. The technical content I would be required to know would very depending on the business I would be partnering with. The most important skill I would need to develop would be my research skill so that whichever project I was working on, I could familiarize myself with the technical content.

The second position is as a Technical Writer for CoreLogic in San Diego. CoreLogic serves financial services and insurance agencies. They gather data and analytics to help customers make smart business decisions. The Technical Writer's job is to write copy for operation and maintenance manuals and technical publications. They prepare written text and coordinate layout and organization of manuals and documents. They also edit documents and tutorials, as well as research available technical data. To prepare for this job I would need a basic knowledge of insurance. I would obtain this knowledge by taking the National Association of Insurance Commissioners Foundations of Insurance Regulation Course.

The final position is for a Editorial Associate at The Aspen Institute in Washington, DC. They are an educational and policy studies organization that fosters leadership and provide a nonpartisan venue for dealing with critical issues. An Editorial Associate provides editorial support to the communications department. This include writing, editing, content development, and image materials. The communications department produces materials for the institute's magazine, blog, annual report, website, brochures, collateral materials, and more. I have quite a bit of experience writing and editing for the web, but to brush up on my skills I would take a blogging course online through Full Sail University.

From Schoolroom to Workroom

Being a technical writing related intern creates an employee with the ability to work within their authority to create, edit, and interact effectively. This helps combat some of the issues Susan Katz outlines for interns trying to learn about their position and how they can best understand their authority, ability to enact change and input their ideas, and their own real job responsibilities. I am an assistant editor for The CEA Forum. I post to The CEA and The CEA Forum’s Facebook pages with articles for readers pertaining to higher education and pedagogy that they can find interesting or helpful to their own teaching styles and experiences. I also observe the processes on The CEA Forum’s website, at https://journals.tdl.org/ceaforum, for the flow of processes that users, authors, and anyone else may interact with to use the site, interact with others on it, or submit to the journal. Then, once articles are submitted and reviewed, I help proof read them again for the authors’ record and format them to the journal’s style guide for continuity, using InDesign to create an easy to read and access PDF. 

For this position, an incoming intern would need the base knowledge of technical writing for writing formal  documents for The CEA Forum’s use or for sending out to authors, reviewers, and readers. The assistant editor intern needs to have a good hold on editing, obviously, so they can edit different genres of writing and edit or rework ideas for The CEA Forum’s website, journal, and current issue being created. Also a working knowledge of InDesign would be beneficial for any intern when they are formatting articles to match the stylesheet. 

In this internship I have flexed a lot of my real core technical writing skills that do not often get exercise in a lot of other classes. That has helped me keep my knowledge of document design and writing style, like guides found in The Chicago Manual of Style that I used in a previous technical editing class, current and effective in the workplace. A lot of my experiential learning was similar to Anson and Forberg’s topic of study of interns. They examined interns to learn more about  

“how writers in a new context perceive and adapt to complex and unfamiliar audiences, how they learn to use the language of the workplace, how they make connections and distinctions between experiential and academic learning, how they describe the influence of context on their texts, how they revise those texts, and what motivates those revisions” (Anson, Forsberg 207).

I learned about my new environment and how to interact within it in a new context outside of previous classroom learning. It has been a process involving new kinds of documents and unknown territory, learning through trial and error from an editing standpoint. I found myself studying these same topics in myself to further understand how to tackle new projects. I had to learn about how to interact with previously written documents, and that actually helped a great deal with understanding the level of formality in the language and how to match new documents to that conversation style, getting the message across quickly and without unnecessary fluff, while still being accessible to the interests of someone checking their email. The academic to to professional writing shift that Anson and Forberg discuss was an obvious hurdle. There is a difference even between writing for a hypothetical professional prompt in a class and writing for an actual audience of professional adults whom one could immediately assume hold a higher ability out of lack of confidence in a new environment. That writing, however, has been more doable than I feared before coming into this internship.

I thought I would have to converse more with authors and reviewers, but solicitation email attempts are a gamble for responses, and the issue itself does not require a lot of correspondence until final review with the authors for confirmation for the issue. But I have still done a large amount of writing for this internship. Distinct genres of writing for specific purposes and a communicative work environment helped me understand what was required of me and my work to help me be and feel successful in my contributions to the organization. 

 

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

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

Genres in T/P Writing

In my internship, I have written different kinds of documents. The genres range according to the context for which I am writing. Solicitation emails to readers and potential reviewers have a specific audience and tone for the writing. Writing, or rewriting, a stylesheet for the articles for the journal has been a large portion of my internship. This genre involves a specific set upof the material presented, usually to a particular kind of person in the workplace that knows how to interact with a stylesheet, follow its guidelines, and use it to format other genres of writing. Bawarshi and Reiff explain that workplace genres are different than academic genres in how they interact with their community and the ability to have more contributing depth and the fact that workplace genres are so often for a wider audience. A stylesheet for formatting journal articles, for example, could be read by anyone in that field and the reader would understand the setup of the message and what they were expected to do with the information.

Understanding a workplace genre does more than reading a solicitor email. The members of the journal understand the email asking for input from interested reviewers beckons a response if they find themselves interested, but a social genre like that does not necessarily require a response. Workplace genres, however, require a response more often than not due to the author’s and the readers’ responsibilities to their jobs. A document that will stay in shared files is open for fellow employees to contribute to, edit, and use for their own projects. Something like this will help keep more documents made by several different people have a specific and orderly continuity to keep the organization creating documents and genres as one entity together. In any organization that needs guidelines for certain kinds of documents can use stylesheets to keep multiple authors writing genres in the same fashion to help maintain the level of understanding of the genre itself, how to interact with it, and what to do with the document when written or received. Stylesheets are a genre that can help form genre requirements. If there are stated rules about how a certain document should look, then that will help with recognition of them in daily working activity.

Carolyn Miller describes the hierarchical levels of meaning and interaction with a genre, and a situation of meaning-as-action with a genre in Genre as a Social Action. It is like when a genre is understood and recognized, then it is already acted upon in its first way, leading to the understood interactions with it that the genre invokes. 


Bawarshi, Anis and Reiff, Mary Jo. Genre Research in Workplace and Professional Context.

Miller, Carolyn. Genre as a Social Action.

Defining Technical and Professional Writing

Technical and professional writing is an important field of study to incorporate into a lot of different work contexts. The writer can help multiple departments of people, creating a specialist to work with different kinds of writings. A technical and professional writer could be beneficial for the CEA Forum by reviewing its website, editing workflow documents, and doing any other upkeep tasks for the website, its upcoming issue, and its public Facebook page. Technical writers add more insight than other possible candidates might, because they have knowledge of writing, editing, design, and other helpful elements, making them well-rounded candidates to help a company.

A degree in Technical and Professional Writing is similar to having multiple degrees in different fields, because technical writing has many elements to it. A technical writing employee can manage both internal and external documents. Allen explains in “The Case against Defining Technical Writing” that defining technical writing itself can be harmful to people’s understanding of it, because when it is done it always puts the field in a box too small, focusing too much on one aspect of a wide variety of talents a technical writer has. In the case of working with the College English Association Forum, a technical writer can assist in the creation of new issues of the journal, interaction with readers, and upkeep of the website itself. The College English Association and the Forum both use Facebook as a social interaction tool to interact with people, so the technical writer can be involved in the public relations aspects that would usually need an entire other position. The technical writer can perform the actions of multiple employees, saving a company money that they would have to spend on multiple hires.

A technical and professional graduate, and, in particular, one from a humanities department, would be nothing but beneficial to a modern company. Degrees in the humanities are often overlooked in technical and scientific fields, but these candidates Bachelors of Arts Degrees are the exact things giving them a linguistic leg up on the competition. A technical degree in a humanities department gives a graduate knowledge of both sides of the spectrum. They will know how to articulate eloquently, and also when to slash a document with a red pen, editing down to only what is needed. Well-written emails, wide-audience memos, and technical documents like instructions are all within this candidates reach. A technical writer has their handle on rhetoric, and also understands how to get to the point and describe procedures that a scientist can execute but maybe not articulate in a more universally understandable way.

 Jo Allen, “The Case against Defining Technical Writing”

From Schoolroom to Workroom

The job title I hold in my internship is game designer. Game designer in my internship experience encompasses many other job titles. A few of those titles could be graphic designer, editor, playtester, project manager, and researcher. All of these titles come from the responsibilities I have had at some point in this internship. When first creating the game I was creating a paper prototype for all of our decks. This involved researching the various jobs that a technical writer can be in. I then moved on to editing the cards and checking for flaws in the game mechanics. I am now creating the artwork for the cards and box.

A required qualification for this internship would be time management. In my internship I am working with a partner and everything we have had to do have been on our own. We do not have a regular time where we meet so we have to use time in the evenings to get work done. Another qualification would be Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop. I have been using Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop to create all of our artwork. The company we are using to produce the game provides templets primarily in Illustrator and Photoshop. Another required qualification would be editing. We have a lot of written content and a lot of cards so errors and consistency are a big factor for producing a quality game.  

Some preferred qualifications for someone in this internship would be to know good design principles. A lot of what a game is composed of is the aesthetic and layout of all the components. Another preferred qualification would to know what makes a good game. Knowing what common traits are among games and how people interact with games. This can also include what other games do and how to take those ideas and relate them to a different game.  

A skill that I have had to learn and practice is writing creatively. Our cards are real world jobs that are applied to a fake game situation. Being able to relate that card to the real world job and to its game counterpart has been a challenge to do creatively. I have also practiced making elements with detail while also being simple. These elements also have to be similar in design so I have been able to practice branding those elements consistently.

A skill I thought I would have practiced more is editing. To equally divide the work between in the game my partner is editing more while I am designing more. I also thought I was going to have to work more with the game mechanics, but a lot of it had been already thought of prior to the internship.

The way that writing differs from school and workplace is somewhat blurred in this internship since it is based in the school. When writing for a game it is necessary to be more direct and spell things out for players. One also has to come up with wording that can resolve many different situations. This differs in school because often writing is done for a professor and they are knowledgeable about the topic so information can be left out because it shared in all parties.  As for working in school versus internship being able to consult the “boss” is not always immediate. In school the teacher is present in class and can answer questions when they come up. In my internship however we have had questions or wanted to make some bigger decisions that we wanted advice. We only had the once a week meeting to sit down and discuss what decision we had that may have been the wrong ones.

The writing context for my internship for the game has to be a low context whereas school can be a higher context. Throughout school we have learned some ways to format common game elements but I would have not ever thought too much about context. A game will mostly likely never be played in the same situation or context which is hard to write for and a meaning can be changed from just one word. This kind of writing is something that can be just learned from a school setting. Anson and Forsberg reflect on their observations of students in internships and they say “What her supervisors had was unspoken knowledge—something established that they were no longer were aware of thinking about.” This speaks to not being able to understand and get the entire context in school. One has to become familiar with the context which in this case would be playing different kinds of games. The hierarchy in my internship is simple, my partner and I are on equal level and report to our supervisor. We report to our supervisor because he has "the capacity to mobilize people and resources to get things done" (Katz 421). I would say that my partner and I have a negotiated authority between each other based on parameters set forth by the supervisor. Our atmosphere is laid back because even though we have someone to report to we are able to suggest changes and have them considered. This laid back atmosphere is sometimes difficult to navigate as it causes my writings with the supervisor to become somewhat sloppy on occasion.

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”

From Schoolroom to Workroom

Serving as an intern for Dr. Jamie McDaniel, director of the Technical/Professional Writing program at Pittsburg State University, offers a variety of opportunities for students. One of the more unique opportunities students may encounter is an internship as a game designer. In my internship, another student and I worked alongside Dr. McDaniel to create a tabletop game that would help students learn about what technical/professional writers do and the variety of careers that are available to people with degrees in technical/professional writing. While our game is not as sophisticated as a professional game, there are still a huge variety of skills required for this sort of project. Students need to be a creative writer, an editor, a usability specialist, a graphic artist, a project manager, and a documentation specialist all in one.

A required qualification for this type of internship is definitely an interest for tabletop games. Interns need to be able to design a game that not only they would want to play, but that other gamers would want to play as well. As Chris Anson and Lee Forsberg say in “Moving Beyond the Academic Community: Transitional Stages in Professional Writing,” “…the writer must first become a "reader" of a content before he or she can be "literate" within it. This literacy… includes highly situational knowledge that can be gained only from participating in the context” (p 225). The best way to achieve familiarity with the gaming genre is simply to play games. The interns will write the backstory and narrative of the game, in addition to the cards and the rulebook. These elements need to be clear and direct, but should also be entertaining and fun. This means that interns need to be adept at both creative and technical writing. Additionally, because they are in charge of the written content, they need to have advanced editing skills. Interns will design the artwork for the game, so they also need to be familiar with design programs like Adobe Illustrator. Interns will also design the layout for the cards, rule book, and other documents, so another Adobe program they may need to be familiar with is InDesign. Knowledge of good design principles is also necessary for this reason. Interns should also be able to work in a team; most games cannot be created by just one person. Because of this, interns need to be flexible. Each person in the group will have a unique vision, so it is the responsibility of the interns to create group cohesion. Lastly, game design interns should be skilled at organization and time management. There are many elements to designing a game and interns will have to maintain a regular schedule in order to complete these elements in a timely manner.

I have personally used all of the skills listed above during my internship, except for familiarity with Adobe Illustrator. Because I am in a joint internship, this responsibility was covered by my partner. My writing skills have also had to adapt while creating games. This relates to the writing context of my internship as well. In her article “Understanding the Writing Contexts in Organizations,” Linda Driskill writes, “An awareness of the effects of specific situations, company procedures, and factors inside and outside the company has come to be known as the "business savvy" that only the experienced can apply in a writing situation” (p. 57). This passage is relevant because a writer can only become aware of specific situations and factors in the gaming writing context by being familiar with games. While I would ordinarily write in a fairly academic style, games require more simple language so they can appeal to multiple audiences. This writing differs from writing in an academic setting because we are generally encouraged to write in longer sentences and to use more advanced vocabulary. Because of this, the gaming genre allows more creative freedom in some way because the writers can use informal language and words that they may not use in an essay, but they are also limited in other ways because they have to use vocabulary that is consistent within the gaming community.

My work atmosphere is incredibly relaxed. Because I am in an internship with my professor and my boyfriend, the pressure is lessened greatly. Interestingly, this has not affected my performance in the internship. This is mostly likely because there is still a clear organizational hierarchy. Dr. McDaniel is ultimately in charge of the final product because he is the professor and it is his game, but he is also always willing to listen to our ideas or suggestions, so it doesn’t feel as though we are beneath him in any way. Susan Katz discusses authority in her work “A Newcomer Gains Power: An Analysis of the Role of Rhetorical Expertise,” where she writes, “…I will use Kanter's definition of power, "the capacity to mobilize people and resources to get things done" (1983, p. 213). Authority can be taken to mean a source of power, and influence refers to a specific use of power” (p. 421). When this definition is taken into consideration, I would say that everyone had roughly the same amount of power and thus the same amount of authority. The game feels like a product of all of us despite being spearheaded by Dr. McDaniel, so I would say that the organizational hierarchy is relatively even in this respect.

Taking all of this information into consideration, I would definitely recommend that students experience this sort of internship. This experience allows students to apply and refine many different skills that are relevant in the technical writing field but are not exercised in the classroom or in other internships. Because of this, it is an incredibly unique and multi-faceted internship. Even if students lack a few of the “required qualifications,” those can be negotiable if other members in the group can balance these areas. Furthermore, this internship also grants students an opportunity to gain new skills that they may not have encountered in their regular classes.

Sources:

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”

Writing for School and Writing for Work: A Drastic Change

My job title is Technical/Professional Writing Intern for Women Helping Women of Southeast Kansas. My responsibilities include attending monthly board meetings where I take the minutes. I also meet with my supervisor to be assigned tasks. I help maintain spreadsheets of volunteers and donors. I helped design an ad campaign for a Men’s Auxiliary. I also design small flyers for different holidays throughout the year to encourage donations.

Required qualifications would definitely be organization. Working with a new and inexperienced organization involves a lot of trial and error. I need to stay very organized or I will fall behind. Another would be creativity. It is very important to have a creative side to designing ad campaigns in order to draw in contributors.

Preferred qualifications would be grammar and editing skills. Though these skills are not directly used, i.e. editing papers, they are very helpful in writing quality text on flyers. These skills are also handy when helping the Board write grant proposals.

Some of the skills I have learned in my internship are professional skills. I have learned how to work with an organization, particularly one that is charitable. I have learned how to work in a team and accomplish an important goal.

Some skills I have practiced are both my technical writing and creativity. I am a creative writer so I have never had any trouble with being creative. I have been able to practice writing for a more professional scenario, which has been very helpful for my future. I have gotten to flex my creative mind when working on flyers and ad campaigns. I want to do more than make something look pretty—I want it to make an impact on the community.

I thought that I would use my editing skills more, but I have not. The organization is so new that they do not have an extensive amount of text that needs to be edited.

Writing and working for this internship is very different than writing for school. For instance, writing for WHW is very important because women’s lives are at stake. They have very little, and our organization provides they with necessary help. In that case, the writing we do is important in gaining donations to help these women. When writing for school, I am writing for myself and a good grade.

I have three different writing contexts for my internship. I write in persuasive prose (such as flyers) to attract donors. I use a more technical style for writing grant proposals, and I use a more familiar tone with in-house communication. As Lee Odell says in “Relations between Writing and Social Context”, “The chief value of context is its usefulness in explaining the types of meanings writers attempt to express, and readers expect to interpret, in specific situations.” So I use different types of writing for different audiences and situations.

My work atmosphere is very informal. Much of our communication is done through Facebook or around a dinner table. We have people of many different backgrounds present which sometimes makes communication more difficult. Anson and Forsberg say, “An excellent way in which to understand the role of such conditions and their influence on the writing process is to study what happens when members of one discourse community begin to write in another, relatively unfamiliar way.” For example, we have people with graphic design, law, English, and administrative backgrounds, all of which require different styles of writing so we must work together to form a more cohesive system of communication.

The organizational hierarchy is as follows:

Co-Presidents

Board Members

Members

Volunteers

Recipients

As I explained, each group requires a different style of writing. “In contrast to literary or cognitive perspectives, social approaches to writing are interested in the relationship among writers, texts, and their surrounding context,” (Faigley, Cherry, Jollifee, & Skinner, 1985). 

From Schoolroom to Workroom

The Writers’ Slate is an online publication that promotes reading and writing in children and young adults. As the intern for The Writers’ Slate my responsibilities are pretty vast because it is only me and the Editor, Dr. Franklin. Dr. Franklin only has one intern for the whole year. So, that is three Issues that The Writers’ Slate publishes and the intern is responsible for working on all three. During the year I am given the tasks of working as the assistant editor, corresponding with the writers and designing the layout/format.

To be a positive influence and contributor to The Writers’ Slate, intern candidates should have a natural love for reading and an appreciation for the art of writing. They should also have organizational skills and be punctual with meeting the deadlines required for the internship. Another skill that a future intern should encompass is communication skills, face to face, over the phone, and email. They should also be able to keep themselves on track and use problem solving skills, but never afraid to ask for help. Quite a bit of the work they will be doing is on their own time away from Slate meetings, so they need to have these valuable skills that embody a Slate intern.

Intern candidates should be able to communicate clearly through a variety of situations. As the Slate intern you will most likely be communicating with a writer constantly through the process of preparing an Issue. These communications need to be seen as professional and easily understood by someone of any age and someone whose first language might not be English. In Linda Driskill’s article “Understanding the Writing Contexts in Organizations” she talks about how the advances in technology and the expanding of intercultural population causes the need for understanding, empathy, and the ability to adapt while communicating to become more prevalent in today’s society. At The Writers’ Slate we receive submissions from a wide age range of students. When communicating with these students (“Congratulations” email or asking about spelling/minor improvements) you need to show patience and understanding.

Something that an intern candidate should also keep in mind is that even though The Writers’ Slate team is small there is still a work hierarchy to follow. In Chris Anson and Lee Forsbergs article “Moving Beyond the Academic Community: Transitional Stages in Professional Writing” they address the need for balance between the informal and professional in the work environment. Some of the tasks that will be asked of the intern are comparative to the assignments given in some of the Technical Writing classes. However, different from those assignments these tasks need to be handled in a professional manor because they are someone’s work being published in a respectable online forum. This should carry more weight for the intern and help them develop their professional self and their professional writing.

Finally, something else that would be beneficial to a Slate intern is some experience with both Adobe Photoshop and Adobe InDesign. It is okay if they are not overly proficient using it but should have a basic knowledge.  The Writers’ Slate is very understanding and likes to foster new ideas for design and creativity. So, if you are someone who has the ideas but are not very comfortable using these two Adobe tools don’t let it hold you back. A lot can be learned from trial and error.

Sources:

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

Driskill, Linda. “Understanding the Writing Contexts in Organizations.”

Genres in T/P Writing

In my internship, the genres of writing I have encountered are varied because of the unique nature of my internship. I am assisting with the creation of a game based on professional writing and this actually includes many different genres of writing. The one genre I have been primarily focused on recently is instruction. While we have not explicitly written the rule book, otherwise known as the instructions, we have created over half of the cards for the game and these act as mini instructions due to the nature of the content on the cards.

As Anis Bawarshi and Mary Jo Reiff explain in their article “Rhetorical Genre Studies,” “genres…conditions of use change—for example because of changes in material conditions, changes in community membership, changes in technology, changes in disciplinary purposes, values, and what Charles Bazerman describes as systems of accountability (Shaping 61)—genres must change along with them or risk becoming obsolete.” This quote is particularly relevant because one does not generally think of playing cards are an instruction manual of sorts. Changes in community membership (from builders to gamers, for example) are just one way in which this genre is dynamic.

In her work, “Genre as Social Action,” Carolyn Miller writes that a “rhetorically sound definition of genre must be centered not on the substance or the form of discourse but on the action it is used to accomplish.” This is significant to understanding the genre in my internship specifically because instructions are solely intended to inspire action.  If we take these parameters into consideration, we can see how writing cards in a game is similar to writing instructions. Each card gives the player directions and enables them with a sort of action and this is similar to writing instructions because the cards have to be clear and concise. For the majority of these cards, we only intended one specific action or ability, but a player could easily interpret multiple meanings if we are not specific enough with our wording and punctuation. In the game, misinterpreting the cards can lead to cheating or an unfair gameplay. In assembling furniture, for example, misinterpretation can cause the reader to break their product or even injure themselves from faulty instructions. This relationship between writer and reader is subject to change based on context, so the main objective when writing instructions is to avoid any opportunities for misinterpretation.  The commonality between playing cards and manuals allows them to be defined as the same genre.

Sources:
Bawarshi, Anis and Reiff, Mary Jo Rhetorical Genre Studies

Miller, Carolyn Genre as Social Action

Internship Genre

In my internship I have used writing in the genre of instruction manual. I have been referencing a set of game rules as to assist with the creation of cards.  I have been working on creating various cards for a board game that are made up of several elements: title, identifier, and ability. The ability of the cards functions as its own set of rules apart from the main rule book. The main rules function more as the recognizable set of instructions, but the cards function as smaller and simpler set of instructions. Together, the rules and cards are both genre sets which prompt and allow players of the game to take actions. Groups of genre sets, create a genre system which is where the actions take place.

Both of these game elements have to be understood by not only novices, but experts as well and need to be able to adapt to expansions of the game. The users of the game are also always changing and playing the game in different ways, because of their unique experience. The game itself could also be utilized in many different scenarios. Instructions are also often monologue in nature and do not have the opportunity to a dialogue with the person reading. This genre of writing therefore needs to “normalize activities and practices, enabling community members to participate in these activities and practices in fairly predictable, familiar ways in order to get things done” (Rhetorical Genre Studies 79). But it also has to be dynamic because “of changes in material conditions, changes in community membership, changes in technology, changes in disciplinary purposes, values, …  and as systems of accountability—genres must change along with them or risk becoming obsolete.” (Rhetorical Genre Studies 79)

The use of instruction manual is found throughout varied situations which tell the user how to use the particular manual. An instruction manual could be described as type of situation that changes based on human action and the meaning we interpret from a situation. While the instructions of game tell how people to act based on others actions, an instruction to use a computer is for someone acting on their insufficient knowledge. Or an instruction manual to build an object is for a person that desires to have a finished product. Instructions often share a clear, concise, and dynamic writing style, but also have different meanings depending on how a user is acting in any given scenario.

Genre in the Internship

I have had the pleasure of working with a variety of genres in my internship at Women Helping Women this semester. One such genre I have been focusing on lately is design.

Design is very important for a voluntary organization. All funds that Women Helping Women disperses are donations. Members often pay for supplies out of their own pockets. In that case, design is crucial in letting the community know about Women Helping Women and also encouraging people to contribute to the cause or volunteer their time.

I have been utilizing design lately by designing a print ad that could potentially be placed in the newspaper or in flyers advertising the latest formation to Women Helping Women--a Men's Auxiliary. This auxiliary is an important addition to the organization because it places an emphasis on men donors.

As Carolyn Millers says in "Genre as Social Action", act must involve situation and motive. My design is intended to motivate people to action. This action will improve the lives of many women in the SEK area so I take my job as designer of this ad very seriously.

Design in other professional contexts will differ. For example, in designing for an ad agency, the designer is not trying to motivate donations or change. The designer's goal is to design a package, product, etc that will encourage purchasing decisions, establish brand identity, build equity, etc. In this way the motivation behind the same genre is different.

Genres in Tech/Prof Writing

                While being an intern/assistant editor for the Writers’ Slate there are some genres that I do come into contact with and have to work with. One of the main genres is the one that represents action. In Genre as Social Action, Miller says, “that genre represents action and the action must involve situation and motive.” One of the things that the Writers’ Slate interns pride ourselves on is consistency between the transitions from one intern to another. So something that previous interns did to make this easier was making templets for the next person to use. These templets are a simple design to them that is very cohesive. The main design is a fountain pen in between two book pages. This design is shown on the acceptance letters we email to the writers and also is in the design of the issues. The color scheme is also a sublet feature to the cohesiveness that flows through all of the different forums.  The action of the previous intern that took this formatting on helps the rest of us that come after them because now I am able to make sublet tweaks, like making a special design to fit a story, but I am still able to stick to the color and design themes.

                Another genre that is present in technical/professional writing is change. In Rhetorical Genre Studies, Bawarshi and Reiff talk about how, “genres are dynamic because as their conditions change – for example because of changes in material conditions, changes in community membership, changes in technology, changes in disciplinary purposes, and values… -- genres must change along with them or risk becoming obsolete.” This is a huge part of the Writers’ Slate because the writers we publish are always changing and so are the ages of the writers. A writer can be published multiple times through the Writers’ Slate however it is unusual for them to be published in back to back issues. So, each time we pick works to go into the issue I am going to be interacting with new people. Another change that I encounter is submissions from other countries. Since the Writers’ Slate is an international online publication we receive submissions from all over the world. This requires us as inters to be flexible and able to make the necessary changes to format a piece of work properly into Americanized formatting.

                Working for the Writers’ Slate has been very eye opening to all of the different rhetorical genres that as technical/professional writers we might have to work with. This internship has already been very valuable in teaching me new ways of approaching and adapting to these specific genres. I think that this knowledge will help me greatly in a future technical/professional writing job.

Sources:

Bawarshi, Anis and Reiff, Mary Jo Rhetorical Genre Studies

Miller, Carolyn Genre as a Social Action

Defining Technical/Professional Writing

For quite some time, technical writing has been a bit of an evasive term, even to professional writers working in the field. For example, in 1989, the Society for Technical Communication specifically stated that creating a more refined definition was one of their objectives in order to determine future goals for the organization. Unfortunately, the board members abandoned this goal when they found they could not reach a conclusion (Allen 68). In the past, many have attempted to define this definition in a variety of insufficient ways. David Dobrin in his piece “What’s Technical about Technical Writing?” defines technical writing as “Writing that accommodates technology to the user”.  Throughout his work Dobrin criticizes other definitions for being overly specific, but what is ironic about this is that Dobrin’s definition is too specific in that it assumes technology must be present in technical writing. It separates technical writing from the humanities. It is for these reasons that we should take into consideration Carolyn Miller’s discussion of the definition of technical writing.

Miller, in “A Humanistic Rationale for Technical Writing,” argues that “If we pretend for a minute that technical writing is objective, we have passed off a particular political ideology as privileged truth”.  By placing technical writing in a purely objective position, we remove the innovation from the discipline. Miller instead asserts that technical writing instead is heavily connected to rhetoric or context. This contextual approach is much more appropriate for the discipline because it is such an all-encompassing term. Moreover, referring to the discipline as “technical writing” may actually cause it a disservice because of the context that is inherently connected with the term “technical”. This is not to imply that there is nothing technical about technical writing—it simply means that technical writing is not exclusive to the sciences.

So, this begs the question, what do technical writers actually do? The answer to this question, however, is no less evasive. From editing, designing documents, and writing grants or proposals to public relations, project management, and instructional design, technical writing is really an umbrella term that covers a wide range of career fields. For this reason, it is imperative that an umbrella definition is used when defining the phrase. This is especially true in the case of my internship. At Pittsburg State University, I have been offered a unique opportunity to help design and prototype a game based on technical (or professional) writing to serve as my internship credit. Many people are perplexed as to how game design relates to technical writing because they are focused solely on the explicit roles a technical writer would have in the game design process: editing content or writing instructions. If we refer to the beginning of this paragraph, we can see that nearly every example I noted is present in this process. We will edit and write instructions, but we will also have to manage our project effectively and design the game itself. We will serve as the creative directors, the instructional designers, and the art directors. The list of roles a technical writer could have in the game design process continues on and in my internship we are being given the opportunity to practice all of these skills. A technical writer is especially appropriate for this type of internship or project because they are some of the few people who are trained in most or all of these skills.
It is because of the humanistic approach taken by my institution that I am able to perform all of the skills required to create this type of project. Teaching technical writing with the humanities allows us to take into consideration the technical and contextual aspects of technical writing. If I were simply trained in how to write an objective document, I would not be able to design the artwork of a game or create a meaningful play experience. This is a unique instance in where we can bridge the gap between the sciences and the humanities in order to aid and enhance the understanding of different audiences. This alone is why technical writing is an absolutely essential part of any English or other humanities department.

Sources

Allen, Jo. “The Case Against Defining Technical Writing.”
Dobrin, David N. “What's Technical About Technical Writing?”
Miller, Carolyn R. “A Humanistic Rationale for Technical Writing”

Defining Technical / Professional Writing

Mr. Franklin,

There are many definitions for what a technical writer does. However, some of those definitions are complex and not very clear about what they actually do. One of the better definitions I have found is by David Dobrin, he says that, “Technical writing is writing about a subject in the pure sciences or the applied science in which the writer informs the reader through an objective presentation of facts.” This specific definition shows that Technical Writers are not like other writers. They write more concrete and structured material with an objective outlook. Technical Writers are known for writing manuals, warning labels/signs, and handouts/pamphlets.

In my specific internship I am taking on more of an editing and administration role. I have been helping go through submissions and selecting ones to be placed into the online publishing forum. This is where the administration side of my internship comes in because I am composing emails to the individuals about their submissions and any revisions that they need to make before publishing. My technical writing role comes into play when I am formatting the submissions because they have to be formatted for an online forum and display properly when loaded.

The benefit to hiring a full time Technical Writer for this job would be the consistency they could bring to the job. The format and consistency with each issue published would be more regular with a full time Technical Writer because it would be the same person each time from start to finish. It would also help with people submitting to the online publication because they could continually communicate with the same person instead of having to communicate with someone new every year.

By hiring someone with a humanities degree you are getting someone that has a great understanding of grammar, punctuation, and sentence structure. Another benefit is their ability to research and review materials given to them while working on an assignment.

A Technical Writer is someone that does one job but wears many hats doing that specific job. They are beneficial to any company or organization.

Royce Parker

Writers’ Slate Intern

Defining Technical/Professional Writing

Technical writing brings to mind objectivity, conciseness, easy to understand by many readers, manuals, and instructions. Technical writing is much more than this. Technical writing is a term that has evaded being defined although many technical writers have tried to do so. The problem many have faced with putting a definition to the term is that it limits the scope of what a technical writer does. David Dobrin, in What is Technical about Technical Writing, quotes one definition by Patrick Kelly and Roger Masse that is “Technical writing is writing about a subject in pure sciences and applied sciences in which the writer informs the reader through and objective presentation of facts .” Another definition quoted from John Harris is “Technical Writing is the rhetoric of the scientific method.”  Dobrin does not like these definitions because they make technical writing no easier to understand. Dobrin offers up his own definition of “writing that accommodates technology to the user.” These three definitions are all different from each other and there are many more varied definition people have presented. One definition that I feel is good for Technical Writing comes from Carolyn Miller in What’s Practical About Technical Writing, “Technical writing, the rhetoric of the world of work. “ I like this definition because it is broad enough to encompass what technical writing is without limiting it and hints and the more contextual side.  

Because technical writers can do so many varied tasks they can be of assistance in any workplace. They can manage websites and blogs, design brochures or forms, edit documents, write grants or proposal, create meaningful play experiences, and much more. In my internship I am creating a meaningful play experience or game that is about the many different jobs technical writers can get. For the game I will not only be laying out several of the card designs, I will also have to write and edit cards. I am doing my internship at Pittsburg State University (PSU) and my non-typical internship is one of the many reasons why technical writing is an important position to have and teach. PSU is all about helping their students to be prepared for holding a career. Having technical writing as an option for students is a very effective way to help students be prepared. Almost all jobs require some form of writing and most students do not get to write in such a manner. Students are mainly taught how to write academic papers and do research in the required English programs. While this helps to teach and reinforce some aspects for writing as well as to understand the context of a particular project, jobs require a different kind of writing.

The benefit of having a Technical Writing program being taught from a humanities department, especially an English department, is understanding the complexities of the English language. Technical writing has to be more than being concise, because most people do not write in such a manner. A technical writer has to understand the meaning the original author meant and keep that meaning when they go to edit or output in another format. A technical writer also needs to understand what audience they are creating for. The value of this is that it is hard to define what is technical and non-technical, as Carolyn Miller says in an A Humanistic Rationale for Technical Writing, “no one is prepared to say which subjects are “technical” … Reality doesn’t come in packages clearly marked “non-technical” and “technical”.” If technical writing was taught outside of a humanities program, a learner may not learn the skills to understand context and be able to decide what is “technical” and what is not.

Sources

Dobrin, David N. "What's Technical About Technical Writing?"

Miller, Carolyn R. "A Humanistic Rationale for Technical Writing,"

Miller, Carolyn R. “What's Practical About Technical Writing?"

Defining Technical Writing

Dear Mrs. Smith,

 

Defining technical writing is difficult even for those of us in the field. Finding a definition that encompasses the diverse activities that a technical writer is qualified to do is an arduous task. I prefer David Dobrin’s definition in “What’s Technical about Technical Writing”. Dobrin says that “technical writing is writing that accommodates technology to the user”. I prefer this definition because it calls specific focus to the technological processes that the tech writer is writing about and not simply the act of writing “technically”. Some aspects of technical writing is that it has a specific format, whether that be a manual, Quick Reference Card, or warning labels on a device, each has its own format. Technical writing also has an objective style. Technical writing is very different from creative writing. Technical writers have the goal of clarity and this is done through writing in concrete, clear, objective writing. Finally, technical writing is primarily technical in content. Technical writers traditionally do not use objective writing to write a creative story. A technical writers’ job is to write about something technical in aspect, such as an instruction manual for a power drill.

In my specific internship experience, a technical writer is useful for editing. Working for a charitable organization involves a lot of persuasion. For instance, a technical writer for a charity will spend a time editing brochures, grant proposals, and press releases so that the organization has its best chance of receiving grants and donations. The technical writer is very important in this because he or she is specifically trained in editing for grammar as well as content and style. The technical writer helps the organization look professional and keeps their writing focused and effective.

The hire of a technical writer adds numerous benefits to a company. As I discussed above, a technical writer works with the company to manage the company’s image and appeal. If a company produces writing filled with grammatical errors or gaps information, they do not look professional and may even lose business or clients. A technical writer is trained to spot those errors and gaps. A technical writer is also qualified to produce their own content. For example, a tech writer can produce an instruction manual outlining the company’s hiring policies that can be provided to all hiring managers to have a standardized policy for hiring employees. The work of the technical writer makes a company more organized and efficient because they are all on the same page.

The value of a tech writer from a humanities department is more than what is usually thought. A humanities degree gives the individual training in the writing aspects like editing, grammar, and syntax that the sciences departments may not train in. A humanities degree also gives the individual research skills that are valuable to the individual educating themselves on the technical aspect they are writing about.

Technical writing may be a difficult concept to define, but it is a valuable skill and would benefit any company.

 

Jessica Parke

Women Helping Women Technical Writing Intern

Training for the Future

Prior to coming back to school to work on my Master’s degree, I was in the workforce for eight years. I worked for a Fortune 500 company that gave me experience on the corporate level of how to gather and present information to a large range of people. In 2013 I was presented with the opportunity to come back to school. Obtaining a master’s in technical and professional writing I have taken classes that have challenged me as well as helped me grow as a reader, researcher and writer. I finally got to re-enter the workforce with my internship putting the information that I have gathered and collected from my classes to work on a more professional level. The information that the Technical professors have shared in my college courses has been extremely beneficial when it comes to the work place. I have learned how to use a variety of programs to create information that will benefit a large variety of people through visual, written and verbal communication. Articles such as Johndan Johnson-Eilola’s “Relocating the Value of Work: Technical Communication in a Post-Industrial Age," Sherry Southard’s “Interacting Successfully in Corporate Culture,” and Emily Soplinsky’s “Survival Skills for Communicators within Organizations,” expressed the understanding that I need to have as I enter the workforce to be able to collaborate with a large group of fellow employees with different background educational levels. Through my past history in a fortune 500 company with roughly 25,000 employees to my internship company with 15 employees but a large customer base I have learned how to express ideas to promote ideas to a large range of people.

For this final blog post about my internship assignment, I have found three job listings that I could turn into potential career opportunities. The first job listing is for a Technical Writer for Jack Henry and Associates located in Monett, MO. The second listing is for a Technical Writer at Genesis 10 in Addison, TX. Finally, the last job listing is for an Environmental Analyst/Technical Writer at an undisclosed company located in Buffalo, NY.

Jack Henry and Associates located in Monett, MO is looking for a Technical Writer. This company is a software-based company who provides support for the Banking industry. This position will write and edit paper, multimedia and web-based publications. They must be able to conduct interviews with various users, technical staff and quality assurance staff to gather data for documentation. They also need to be able to communicate with customers to resolve minor issues relating to said documentation. My previous skills obtained through the fortune 500 company, school, and my internship I feel that I am well equipped to handle this job. I have learned how to conduct research and provide information to large groups. Where I lack knowledge for this position is in the banking industry and federal regulations that regulate the industry. As a way of learning about banking regulations, contact the local chapter of AIB (American Institute of Banking) to find out when their next round of courses are offered on the banking industry. It would also be beneficial to do research on the FDIC laws and regulations through the FDIC Website.

Genesis 10  is a US Business and technology-consulting firm where recruiters and delivery professionals are highly accomplished career advocates. They are looking for a technical writer for their Addison, Texas location. This position creates a shared knowledge base for customers through different outlets including Wiki, coordinate and standardize the documentation for PKI, Federation, SSO, Extended Services, etc and help streamline management and regulatory reports. Most of the job is on the job training. However one piece of document support required knowledge is Adobe Portable Document Format. To prepare to learn about this particular Adobe product a YouTube series has been found that gives basic background information on how to use Adobe Portable Document Format.

Finally an undisclosed company located in Buffalo, New York is looking for an Environmental Analyst/Technical Writer. This makes the job position a little more difficult to fully discuss because the company chose to remain anonymous however they are looking for an Environmental Analyst to analyze and convey technical information. This is an expanding team of professional and qualified environmental, construction monitoring and real estate staff members who focus on providing solutions in challenging real estate transactions to national and community lending institutions as well as other real estate professionals. My previous background knowledge is in Risk Management and Environmental policies at a fortune 500 company. With the knowledge gained in technical writing I feel well equipped to present information about environmental affairs. As a way to brush up on my knowledge on environmental standards, visiting the EPA website is extremely beneficial to this position as well as OSHA  knowledge since there is some co-mingling between the two organizations. Another avenue to gain some information in would be Human Resources, taking a basic HR class at a local college or university.

Sources:

Emily Soplinsky, “Survival Skills for Communicators within Organizations”

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

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

Internship Criteria for Extreme Sports Scuba

My internship is with Extreme Sports Scuba in Joplin, MO. Owners Deb and Grady Weston had never had an intern before but they were excited to let me join their crew. Once they accepted my internship I became their Marketing Writer Intern. My responsibilities include writing for their Scuba Blog with educational material applicable for potential and current scuba divers, writing newsletters, working on their website, doing research for other educational blog posts, and working on creating videos for promotional and educational purposes.

To take on this internship prior knowledge of scuba diving and having your open water scuba certification is absolutely beneficial. People skills both verbal and written definitely help because not only are you promoting the sport of diving, but also you are promoting the family owned and run dive shop to potential customers.

If you had asked me prior to my internship if there was much to learn, my answer would have been yes. You can always learn something no matter how much you have with prior knowledge. During my internship I have learned much more html when it comes to my scuba blog as well as working on the website. I have done research coming up with blog posts so I have learned more about the sport of diving but more so I have learned new ways to communicate through writing, how to share this information with beginners as well as those who have been diving for years. You always have to learn new ways to present information to people so they don’t feel stupid and beginners don’t feel like you are talking above their head. In addition to learning new communication skills and html, I have learned how to make videos to help with the teaching and training of the scuba classes that are offered at Extreme Sports Scuba. I have also gained more experience with Photoshop, Word, Excel, InDesign, PowerPoint, iMovie and the web by creating documents, videos, promotional material, applications and more.

Experience that I thought I would gain would be document design. Taking the experience I have and putting it to good use, however when I am there, they usually haven’t needed fliers made. When I’m not there is when the fliers are needed so other employees make the fliers. With what I learned in class, there are certain rules to follow, but rules are made to be broken and they definitely break the rules. Sometimes those broken rules work and other times they do not. I really expected to make more of the fliers for them but so far that just hasn’t happened.

The old saying that a company you work for will change your way of thinking/writing couldn’t be truer. In school, the professors require you write about the ideas they present in any given class. Now that is also true out in the work world about them choosing what you write about, but you don’t get a grade and typically the documents you write, anyway with my experience, aren’t more than about a couple pages long. In school you typically read about something and then write a specific way, out in the real world, the experience I’ve gained through this internship has been more knowledge based around the sport of diving or else it has been more letter writing among other businesses.

The writing done through Extreme Sports Scuba tends to be either on the spot or done after there is some research done. For the most part the work is done before it is needed and then proofread before it goes live. Anything that is of importance goes through Deb, Grady and/or her assistant instructors as there shouldn’t be information going out on the internet that isn’t current, accurate or both. The owners have the ultimate say although anything dealing with instruction or telling someone about scuba diving that could help or hinder a person gets signed off before it goes live on the blog. For the most part this is an internet based job with duties that rely on communication from Extreme Sports Scuba to businesses both inside and outside the field.