Genres in Technical/Professional Writing

When I began my career as a technical/professional writer, I didn’t think a typical technical/professional writing position would involve much creative work; that is, I assumed it would be mostly cut and dried manual writing. However, my internship with The Writers’ Slate has challenged that assumption, and I believe that has been beneficial for me. Outside of email correspondence with students who are being published and my supervisor, I do not write large chunks of text, nor do I create documents that scrutinized for their readability and accessibility; my primary job is to take the students’ work from the submission and transfer it into an online document that is easily accessible and not overly cluttered. Despite this, I use Millers’ genre of email writing quite often as it is my main form of correspondence; I also use a stylesheet, which relates to Barwashi and Reiff’s idea of a workplace genre because it is tailored specifically toward a person who knows how to manipulate the program it is used for.

The most important task for interns with The Writers’ Slate is correspondence with students who are being published and our supervisor. Because the students often forget certain bits of information that are required for publication (grade level, school location, etc.), I often have to reach out to those students in order to obtain that information. However, because I am working for an organization, it is essential that I follow a certain protocol when emailing them; this is where the typified rhetorical actions of emailing are important. In my experience, students often respond quickly and professionally when I email them asking for more information. I believe this is because of the level of professionalism that is established through the emails, especially because of the letterhead template a previous intern crafted. This letterhead creates a sense of importance and impresses upon the student that their work is important enough to receive an official acceptance letter or request for more information. If this information was asked for or sent via a plain email, it might not be as well-received.

As a result, a workplace genre is created; interns are able to view the style sheet, letterhead, and PDFs of previous editions of the Slate in order to create consistency and professionalism. Stylesheets are inherently workplace focused; a person must have knowledge of the project the stylesheet is written for, how to use the program it is necessary for, and how to use the information in the stylesheet to create a document that is recognized as being related to previously published documents. However, these impress the fluidity of the medium; because software is always developing, stylesheets can be updated to include information that is helpful in using new technology or implement new techniques, which creates a sense of constant change. According to Bawarshi and Reiff,

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.

The Writers’ Slate is a good example of change in technical/professional writing. Since the first intern, Mr. Alex Shepard, took on creating the Slate, it has been allowed to evolve and adapt to each intern’s personal style; this is obvious in the contest edition. The last issue of the school year, the contest edition is the one in which interns are free to exercise their creative control. With our supervisor’s permission, we are able to add color, images, and change the layout of the publication as we see fit. Since it has become published via an online medium, this has changed the Slate immensely; it has the ability to add color images or imbed hyperlinks, a capability that is excluded from print publication. Throughout its lifespan with interns from Pittsburg State, The Writers’ Slate embodies the concept of change in order to avoid becoming obsolete.              

                Becoming familiar with technology and seeing first-hand how it can change a publication is essential for any technical/professional writer. Fortunately, my internship with The Writers’ Slate has prepared me for this and even encouraged my own changes to the journal as time has passed. It is also a lesson for technical/professional writers; exploring different genres and mediums in order to evolve is encouraged for our profession. Without the knowledge that I have gained in this internship, I feel as though I would be vastly underprepared in a future career, because it is entirely different to learn about change in a genre and having to actually implement and manipulate change yourself.

Works Cited

Bawarshi, Anis, and Mary Jo Reiff. "Rhetorical Genre Studies" and "Genre Research in Workplace and Professional Contexts."

Miller, Carolyn. "Genre as Social Action."