From Workroom to Classroom

According to the website, “ DEPCO exists to challenge the idea of a general education model that marches students through a uniform curriculum. Since 1982, DEPCO (Dependable Education Products Company) has successfully furnished thousands of schools, community centers, and organizations all over North America with curriculum, software and equipment designed to suit their individual learning needs. DEPCO's approach to educating today’s youth stands to revolutionize the education environment by offering engaging curricula that takes the intimidation and confusion out of the learning for both students and instructors.”

Essentially, Depco makes alternative curriculum for interested students. In aiming to educate mostly middle and high school students, Depco offers software programs and software manuals that instructs students on how to achieve various types of technical and scientific trials. As the sole copyediting intern, my job was to evaluate these manuals to make sure that they matched the software that they were designed for. When updating the webcam manual, I was able to determine the features of the webcam that had been changed when the version updated. Updating the CorelDraw manual was by far the behemoth of my internship. When making these changes, it was vital to be able to communicate with my supervisors in order to understand what needed to be done. I would consult the example pages that my supervisor had made me, and reach out if there was any confusion. Once, I could not find the images I needed to import into the program. As it turns out, the images were never uploaded. I had to come visit the headquarters in order to have the images uploaded so that I was able to effectively do my job. In this workplace, there were only two members (my supervisor and myself) who had an education background in writing (Driskell 59). However, the margin for error was much smaller. In the classroom, you can miss several points or questions and still receive an A in the course. In an internship, there is much less room for error. When I was going through the manual, it was important that I finished it so that it was absolutely perfect. If I make a mistake in the classroom, I get a 98 instead of a 100. If I make a mistake at Depco, it gets published. This is why it is so important to have working experience along with classroom experience. The classroom is a perfect, lower-stress environment that allows students to grow in their areas of interest while building their skills. In an internship, it allows students to get a glimpse at the high-pressure environment of work performance.

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

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

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

Writing at Integrity Home Care and Hospice

          My position at Integrity is that of a Business Analyst / Professional Writer. I spend half my time writing documents, and the other half crunching numbers for the company. It’s a weird combination of responsibilities, but it provides me access to authority that I would not have had otherwise. As Katz discuses in her article A Newcomer Gains Power, “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…” (421). I write a large volume of instructional manuals based on the processes that must be completed as a business analyst. Originally, I only wrote manuals for the three people in the business analytics department and any future business analysts. Now, however, my manuals caught the attention of the vice president of the company, and now I’m creating and rewriting manuals for an entire department. Many people read these, and I must conduct a certain sense of authority. It could be easy for these older professionals to disregard a 22 year old who hardly has his degree, but I have several higher corporate members backing my name. This support gives me authority, but I need to maintain a sense of power to encourage the readers of my manual to follow them correctly.

          I have honed my skill in writing technical documentation, and I’ve found myself enjoying it quite a lot. Even though this kind of writing can get repetitive, I find it enjoyable that these manuals are being distributed and used. That’s always a morale booster. I’ve used a lot of the writing skills I’ve developed over the years, mostly in using the appropriate language and document design. All training manuals need to have a level of consistency and branding with Integrity. Most manuals that are given to me to edit have inconsistent language with each other and no consistency as far as layout. My document design skills have greatly helped me fix these inconsistencies. I thought I would be doing more with my digital and web design skills, but there is really no need for me to cover that topic as well. I am a writer, and that’s why people reach out to me. There might be a chance to help design the websites or their intranet, but now is not the time.

          I didn’t figure that I would be spending so much time in Excel, but I do. When people think document design, they most often think about either an Adobe program or Microsoft Word, but an equal amount of design can go into an Excel document as well. The previous business analysts have trained me how to compile information and report on things, but I have been able to learn how to add my own style into these documents and design information tables in a way that provides easier access. Never underestimate how your skills might be able to help improve other functions. My skill in technical writing allowed me to redesign entire Excel sheets of numbers and data, which proves the importance of a varied skill-set.  

Context in The Writers' Slate

The Writers’ Slate is an online journal that publishes narration, expository, and poetry pieces for students in grades K-12. As an intern for The Writers’ Slate, I work with Dr. Franklin, the publication’s volunteer editor. As the only intern, I act as a liaison between student writers and the Slate team, assistant editor, and journal designer. Although not required for this internship, it is expected that future interns share an interesting in reading and writing, as much of the beginning work for the Slate involves reading student work with Professor Franklin in order to choose submissions for publication.

Because most of this requires meeting one-on-one with Professor Franklin, interns must be able to successfully meet deadlines and communicate with Professor Franklin; much of the communication for this internship is via email, so candidates must be able to communicate effectively and professionally in an online atmosphere. Students must also be motivated to work toward a deadline and think creatively to overcome issues within the publication: not all students that are chosen for publication are receptive to online communication, so problem solving skills are essential to a candidate’s success.  Because technology is constantly evolving, making this online communication much more prevalent, future interns would benefit well from reading Linda Driskill’s article “Understanding the Writing Contexts in Organizations.” As she states in her article, online communication relies heavily on the ability to adapt “:namely, that today’s ever-advancing technology and ever-expanding intercultural population calls for empathy, understanding, and adaptation when communicating.” It is becoming increasingly more common for student interns to interact with students from across the globe—we’ve had submissions from China, Brazil, and India this year alone. In this internship, interns must pay close attention to context.

Context in The Writers’ Slate internship communication is extremely important. Because we communicate with a wide variety of people—the Slate director, Professor Franklin, students, and our web mistress—we must keep in mind that our context depends on the person with whom we are communicating. According to Driskell, “Context can help explain what a document means, what ideas it contains, why the writer would try to express his or her ideas in a particular way, and why readers who occupy particular roles in different parts of an organization would be likely to respond to a document in particular ways” (59). As such, we as interns should tailor our method of communication depending on who we are talking to. Although we need to maintain and air of professionalism, we must also be able to communicate with students in a way that they will understand, which is much different than our communication with both Professor Franklin and Dr. Bushman.

                Similarly, our hierarchy is simple, and we work closely with Professor Franklin. Although similar to the assignments that we complete in class, we also have the additional task of balancing formality with our superiors. It is often easy to slip into a too-comfortable feeling when working with them, because interns seek advice and input from our supervisor. However, it is important to also remember that our supervisor is not just our supervisor for the project, but also a professor and professional in the department. As such, Professor Franklin is afforded a certain level of respect that interns must provide him. Developing professional communication in the internship with the Slate is also good practice for the future; careers will always require workers to be able to communicate professionally, effectively, and efficiently, which the Slate gives interns the opportunity to do.

                The only skills that I expected to use that I didn’t were web design. I thought that I would also be in charge of placing the Slate online, but we have a web mistress who does that for us. I also thought I would use more aspects of document design. While I did use some in this internship, I did not really start exercising it until the spring contest edition, because all the other editions followed a template. Once I was able to begin designing my edition, I was able to work on skills that I was not comfortable using before, like creating vector images in Adobe Illustrator.

Sources

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

From Schoolroom to Workroom

Krimson Kuluur is a non-profit business that is run by Pittsburg State University Enactus students.  I am interning as a Technical Writer and perform a wide range of responsibilities such as copyediting, document/website design, and revision.

Skills required to be successful in this position is flexibility, efficiency, and passion. I currently collaborate with other interns that come from different backgrounds, from Finance to Fashion Merchandising majors. As Chris Anson and Lee Forsberg puts it, being flexible is a "...matter of developing strategies for social and intellectual adaptions to different professional communities" (p 203). Efficiency comes in because, in the business world, time is money. I have had produced many documents in a fast pace, small tight frame, and not jeopardizing the quality of the work. Having an authentic passion for English is needed because there is always room to improve on, especially in the Technical field. I recall having to research outside of what I have learned because my task in a project deemed it necessary. Having an interest in the subject made the learning easier.

In the beginning of my internship, I had the notion that I would mainly be creating manuals for the store's daily operations. My experience has led me to work on projects that require more creativity on my part. An example of this is creating the flyers for a big event held this past March. This was tricky because, in the classroom, a future technical writer is taught to know their audience. However, when making the flyer, I had more than one audience in mind: the community, the students, and people who do not know much about fair trade. Chris Anson and Lee Forsberg talk about this when they say that a strong Technical Writer, "...meet the demands of multiple readers whose status, power, and professional orientations vary..." (p 201). This has allowed me to tailor my skills to the appropriate social setting needed. The work atmosphere is very organic and requires constant feedback. I have sharpened the skills gained in the classroom and continue to expand my knowledge as I apply real-world concepts to the field. Technical Writing carries a professional advantage as the field is able to apply well in the business world. It has continuously proven to show my co-workers of my competency in my work. Writing is needed everywhere and it is a discipline I believe everyone needs that will most certainly give them a competitive edge in the workforce.

Sources:
Chris Anson and Lee Forsberg. "Moving Beyond the Academic Community: Transitional Stages in Professional Writing."

From Schoolroom to Workroom

My internship is with Dr. Jamie McDaniel, the director of Technical/Professional Writing program at Pittsburg State University. So far, my internship has provided a variety of opportunities that aid in developing a full skill set. These skills range anywhere from editing copy for department documents to web and graphic design for the website and social media pages. The main project I am completing for Dr. McDaniel is revamping the Technical/Professional Writing program. I'm completing this project in the form of  two websites: the department page for the Pitt State website and a supplemental website for aspiring professional writers and students. The websites will have copy that has been transformed and re-communicated, a promotional video that outlines the purpose of the program, and social media pages that will draw students in. The main goal is to promote the program to the extent where students are drawn in. In the past, the department has found that many students attach negative connotations to technical. The goal of the project is to eliminate the word completely and introduce the program as Professional Writing. Part of my responsibilities include effectively communicating to students about the change in this program and what it can offer them. With this goal, I have sharpened and developed skills in rhetorical and persuasive writing, graphic design, web design, videography, editing, and marketing tactics such as promotional appeal. I thought I would do a lot more writing and a lot less filmmaking, editing, and designing, but I enjoy these new skills I have acquired.

Many of the web design skills I have acquired differ from many of the academic writing I've done previously. As a literature major, a lot of my work consists of analysis of literature. Although my papers should be persuasive and rhetorical, I am only appealing to a single or limited audience. In writing for the new program, my audience is vast--therefore, my writing habits have to be altered. Additionally, the audience members I'm mainly appealing to fall in the 18-25 range--so, my tone, graphics, and overall message has to alter to their individual culture. As Linda Driskill states in her article, "Understanding the Writing Contexts in Organizations," "Culture is a powerful determinant of the definition and situation of rituals and procedures" (64). In my implementation and writing, I had to analyze these cultural norms and nuisances so that I could appeal to the specified audiences.

The internship with Dr. McDaniel is very relaxed and informal. Although he provides me with the proper guidance, most of the work comes from me. Every week we meet in his office to discuss the work that he assigns or the progress I've made on the project as a whole. I show my work to him and he critiques it as he pleases. I like this dynamic and I think it's helpful in creating and maintaining healthy and professional collaborations. The work I've completed so far has been challenging yet rewarding. I am sharpening already developed skills in classes I've taken previously as well as developing new ones. If you're ever thinking about going the academic route for a career, I would consider and internship or research project with a professor. It really gives you a detailed look at the academic work, field, and relationships you'll encounter.

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, Professor Franklin. Professor Franklin only has one intern for the whole year. So, that one intern is going to be working on all three of those issues. 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, an appreciation for the art of writing and have creative influence. They should also have organizational skills and be punctual with meeting the deadlines required for the internship. Between all of the emails, timeline meetings and the overall deadline an intern needs to be able to pass themselves in their work and not wait until the last minute to complete the Issue. 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 by them having some of these basic working skills they should be more than ready/prepared for the work they are being asked to complete.

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 student writer constantly through the process of preparing an Issue and publishing their work. 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. We want to encourage them to continue in their writing and creative dreams without squashing their ideas.

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 from previous classes.  The Writers’ Slate is very understanding and likes to foster new ideas for design and creativity, which an intern is able to showcase in the final contest Issue. So, if you are someone who has the ideas but are not very comfortable using these two Adobe tools do not let it hold you back. A lot can be learned from trial and error.

Sources:

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

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

From Schoolroom to Workroom

My internship is with Dr. McDaniel.  I am creating a user guide for a program called Scalar, which is used by authors to publish their writing.  With this program, authors can easily combine media from multiple sources with their own writing. My internship is pretty informal because it is not with an actual organization, so there was not really a list of qualifications that I had to meet.  However, I would consider being a student in the Technical and Professional Writing program a pretty important qualification.  By taking all of the classes in this emphasis, I learned the necessary writing skills that I used in my internship.  I also learned how to create a meaningful learning experience, which is very important considering that I am creating a user guide for students.

For my internship, I did not have to learn any new writing styles or abilities. However, I did have to learn how to use a new program called Scalar.  Before my internship, I had never heard of this program, so at first it was intimidating trying to learn this new program.  But, because I had to learn how to use it, I will be able to create a better user guide because I know what was challenging for me.  During my internship, I also used my ability to create a meaningful learning experience.  I knew that I needed to incorporate aspects that will keep users interested.  I am also applying the skills that I learned to write and format the user guide correctly. 

Going into this internship I didn’t really have any expectations as to what skills I would learn.  If I had stuck with my original internship with the Humane Society, I would have become more proficient in grant writing.  With my new internship, there have not been any skills that I have not learned or practiced yet that I thought I would have.

Since my internship is with Dr. McDaniel and not with a professional organization, the writing is not different.  The project that I am working on is for the Technical and Professional Writing emphasis at Pittsburg State University, so I do not have to change anything that I learned in class to fit meet the requirements of my internship.  As Linda Driskill states in her article, “Understanding the Writing Contexts in Organizations,” “Culture is a powerful determinant of the definition of situation and of rituals and procedures” (64).  I did not have to learn a new culture or change my writing style because I am completing my internship with my own university and with a professor with which I took a multiple classes.

My internship is pretty informal.  I meet with Dr. McDaniel every week to discuss the work that I have done and need to complete.  The hierarchy is very simple because there is just the two of us meeting to talk about this project.  There really is not a work environment because I do all of the work on my on time, usually at my house or the library.  When Dr. McDaniel and I meet, we meet in his office.  The writing context is no different than what I did in my classes. 

Overall, this internship is helpful because I am learning how to use a program that I had never even heard of before.  Even though I did not have to learn a new writing context and culture, I am still developing my skills as a writer. 

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.”

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.

From Schoolroom to Workroom

The Writers’ Slate is a small online publication that was created to promote an interest in reading and writing in children and young adults. For my position as a Slate intern, I have contributed to this mission by working alongside the Slate’s new editor, Dr. Franklin. Since our team is extremely small, the title of “intern” encompasses a wide variety of responsibilities. Dr. Franklin appoints one intern each year, and so that intern must be able and willing to act as assistant editor, designer, and communications coordinator all in one.

 

In order to be a successful intern for this publication, candidates must be interested in fostering a love of reading and writing in younger generations. They also must be innovative, have strong interpersonal communications skills, and be punctual in meeting deadlines. They should be self-reliant problem-solvers, but able to recognize when to ask for help. Since this publication is small and education-oriented, a desire to learn is the most valuable skill a Slate intern can demonstrate. 

Candidates must also be able to communicate clearly and professionally with a wide variety of recipients, especially former Slate interns (as needed), Slate editors and publishers, and young writing contestants and their guardians. They may have to communicate through several mediums, such as face-to-face, telephone, and email. No matter the medium or conversational recipient, candidates should keep in mind the lesson Linda Driskill teaches in her article “Understanding the Writing Contexts in Organizations”: namely, that today’s ever-advancing technology and ever-expanding intercultural population call for empathy, understanding, and adaptation when communicating. Here at the Slate we receive submissions from students of all ages from all across the nation. Communicating with such a variety of people (whether you are delivering a simple “congratulations” email or inquiring for further information to include in the publication), calls for patience, persistence, and understanding. For students and guardians who speak English as a second language, experience writing in Global English is a plus.

On a similar note, candidates should understand and respect the Slate’s hierarchy. In this regard, the Slate’s small team is beneficial; interns work closely with their editor and generally require little direct communication with other supervisors or publishers. However, no matter the intimacy of the team, it is always important to find the balance between informality and professional tone and respect, as Chris Anson and Lee Forsberg remind us in their article “Moving Beyond the Academic Community: Transitional Stages in Professional Writing.” In many ways, the tasks that interns perform for the Slate are similar to assignments they may complete in Technical Writing and Document Design courses in school. Unlike the academic community, however, the Slate should be treated as a professional workplace. If nothing else, developing these professional habits will benefit interns if and when they are integrated as part of a larger team in the future. As Susan Katz reminds us in her article “A Newcomer Gains Power: An Analysis of the Role of Rhetorical Expertise,” new hires cannot predict how they will be treated in their new work environments. However, practicing professional communication in a safe and intimate work environment such as The Writers’ Slate will help interns to feel welcome and “gain power” in less familiar work settings more quickly.

Finally, it is preferred that candidates have experience or at least interest in document design, especially using Adobe Photoshop and InDesign. Fortunately, this publication is extremely encouraging of experimenting with new skills and ideas, so for those who, like me, have little design experience going in, they will be encouraged and supported by their supervisors if they are willing to put in the extra time to learn.

Sources

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

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

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