Genres in Technical/Professional Writing

My internship taught me quite a bit about smaller corporations and how they operate. Technical writing operates in many vast outlets, and even within each genre of writing, no individual job is quite like another. This is particularly true when your internship incorporates a “work-from-home” quality into it. Miller makes an excellent point when she states, that archetypes “are those fundamental logical operations or symbolic reasoning procedures which persons use to detect or generate patterns in the sequences of events” in her Genre as a Social Action. I found this to be particularly true when I worked with Depco LLC. There certainly are the levels (archetypes, episodes, speech acts, propositions, and stream of behavior), and being exposed to those levels repeatedly helps with the understanding of said levels and how they work within each unique workplace. Yates’ research also goes in-depth with this topic, coming to the conclusion that “As business philosophies and functions changed, new genres—such as letters, manuals, forms, in-house magazines, and meetings—emerged in order to meet the changing needs and roles of participants in the organization.”

Because I was not a daily presence at my internship, I believe that I missed out on some of this important communication. Often, I would go two or more weeks without interacting with my employer face-to-face, instead simply working on the projects given to me without interaction. If I had a question, I would email one of my supervisors. If they needed me to turn something in earlier, they would reach out to me. I have interacted with other employees, but very little. For my “interview”, I met several employees and talked to them as much as I could in the time that I had, but even in that instance I was not able to fully grasp the hierarchy or rhetorical genres in which the company functioned. The environment was very relaxed, but I left my first interview still unsure of what was wanted from me. After an hour of training for my job, I understood what my job was, but was still somewhat confused about how I would be accomplishing said job. I knew I would be editing manuals, but the style guide was not exactly helpful in the editing process. The most useful thing I experienced by far was working with one of my supervisors on editing a couple of pages of a manual. By watching and actively participating in the process, I was able to grasp it in a way that made sense. However, I believe that I might have had a greater understanding had I been actively involved in the workplace culture, being in the office on a daily basis. Watching my supervisor edit the manual showed me how there were unwritten rules to the editing process as much as there were written rules. Many of the applied changes were not listed in the style guide; yet, they seemed obvious when she made them. I feel like interacting with your employers face-to-face on a daily (or at least weekly) basis definitely helps establish a genre as opposed to receiving emails and working alone. With that being said, the best communities are established when all of these forms of communication are present.

Miller, Carolyn. "Genre as Social Action."

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

Genres in Technical/Professional Writing

          The time that I’m spending in Integrity is challenging me as a writer and opening my eyes a bit as an employee. Workplace writing is something that I’m dealing with, but, more often than not, my job boils down to a matter of uptake. As Bawarshi and Reiff say, “knowledge of uptake is knowledge of what to take up, how, and when, including how to execute uptakes strategically and when to resist expected uptakes” (86). I have been put forward, because of my experience writing as an intern, as the interim professional writer for both the IT Department and the Educational Development Department. This position is a struggle of uptake, since procedure before has always been for every department to handle their own writing, and some of them are quite proud at what they’ve written. Unfortunately, they don’t have the years of experience and training that I’ve had in writing professional documents, and all documents must have a sense of consistency.

          I’m doing my best to learn how to rewrite, redesign, and put forward these documents in a way that the original authors will uptake what I’ve written and not shut down. In the genre where I spend most of my time, which is technical manuals and instructional material, the language has to be a specific way in order to avoid failing as a genre. As Miller says, genres can fail by not having enough similarities across all the discourse, there may not be enough consideration of all the elements, and/or the genre has no real call to social action (Miller 163-4). My manuals are all calls to action, because my goal is to provide these manuals as a way of making certain processes easier and more accessible. Once these complicated procedures have become more accessible, my hope is that they will be done quicker and with fewer mistakes.

          I’m attempting to combat these problems by speaking from a place of authority. I’m learning to do these procedures by reading the authors’ original documents, and then tweaking them in a way that maintains the original meaning. I must avoid antagonism, or finding a permanent place with this company will be impossible. A lot of these authors in the IT and Educational Departments are older than myself, and so there is a barrier there when it comes to authority on language. I make my best efforts to remind them that this is my career, and I’ve spent years studying how to write for a particular genre. Teamwork must prevail, just as Miller says, “We learn to understand better the situations in which we find ourselves and the potentials for failure and success in acting together” (165).

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."

Genres in Technical/Professional Writing

In my internship with Dr. Jamie McDaniel at Pittsburg State University I have done a fair amount of writing for the program website and social media sites. However, writing for a professional writing program is seemingly different than writing about PW. It's like the difference between coaching and playing in sports--coaching is a form of interaction from an outside and external perspective, whereas playing a sport is internal and centered around each individual player involved. Although I enjoy the work I have done for my internship so far, the writing is more geared towards a perspective that is centered on providing advice and helpful tips for other PW majors. I stand from an outside perspective looking in to solve problems. 

In my professional experience (I worked with a nonprofit organization), the daily writing tasks I completed showed how I was a more interactive player in that kind of writing--even if it was daily emails, manual revisions, or statement letters. The fact that they were daily shows the internal processes that are tied to each set of writing. Professionals in the field like Carolyn Miller  and Anis Bawarshi consider this genre writing--a style of writing, rather than copy about a specific topic. In Miller's piece, "Genre as Social Action," genre is defined as something that is "rhetorically sound" and "must not be centered on the substance or the form of the discourse, but on the action it uses to accomplish." In other words, writing technical copy involves explaining the actions and the processes involved in constructing such copy. It may seem confusing (trust me I know), but technical copy is not necessarily about the style of PW (although this knowledge is important), it's about the processes that go into such. Let me give an example:

The Department of Homeland Security has recently posted a job listing for a technical writer who has the ability to communicate effectively for incoming immigrants of various nationalities. Now, one would expect this  kind of writing to encircle various languages; instead, this kind of job applicant would need to demonstrate how to speak "globally"-- that is, in a type of style and word choice that any nationality coming into the English language can feasibly comprehend. This kind of writing deflects any kind of phrases, coined terms, or idioms. Further, and more importantly, this type of writing will show what it means to be mindful of others and how other people interpret certain kinds of copy. 

In such instance, Bawarshi and Reiff's explanation in "Rhetorical Genre Studies" that genre is limited to it's most common and everyday uses is exemplified by the demands of that job listing--the job listing shows that everyday communication, is not only essential in technical copy, but an effective part of any human-to-human interaction. These kinds of writing ensure that the writer is a central player--an internal force, rather than just an outside hand with a specialized perspective. 

Genres in Technical and Professional Writing

My internship with Krimson Kultuur has introduced me to many genres within the Technical field. Carolyn Miller mentions that the, "definition of a genre must be centered not on the substance or the form of discourse but on the action it is used to accomplish" (Miller 151).  I noticed that the main thing I find myself doing in this internship involves many document design projects. Being the only technical writer in my work environment, I find most need in marketing efforts. Technical and Professional Writing allows me to focus on my audience, which would be the businesses' targeted demographic: young adult to middle aged women. A lot of my efforts involves out-of-house activity more so than internal matters such as communication channels. Everything that I work on will eventually end up being seen by the public. This makes me more cautious in every piece that I produce. I double check every project before it goes off to printing or social media.

In the article, "Genre As Social Action", it mentions that a genre "must involve situation and motive" (151).  This could not be more true. Krimson Kultuur is currently planning a fashion show later this month. The root of this large event is to increase awareness within the City of Pittsburg about our fashionable products and the social benefits it brings to people in developing countries. The first task I had to do was create a flyer that would increase awareness about the event. Now, I am assigned the responsibility of making flyers for every vendor that we will end up showcasing. This flyer will be used in multiple ways: each vendor will have a table with the flyer displayed along with the products we currently own, it will be a visual and informative piece for customers, and it will give the intern a synopsis of our product so they can better explain the story behind the product when selling the items. When piecing these flyers together, I must constantly be thinking of my targeted audience. Our story is what sells the products.

The genre that I find present in the field is adaptability. In order to perform certain tasks flexibility is a necessary component. In a business, customer's opinions about products change all the time. In order to understand the audience, one must also understand their motive. Genre can be applied here because everything that is written must be revised and made sure that it appeals to the audience. It is a process of researching and applying knowledge into the message the business is trying to convey to their market. It almost acts as a constant way of communicating with the seller and buyer and using Technical Writing to clear up any barriers that may block that message. It seems very small in the larger picture but is actually a critical tool to use for a successful marketing campaign.

Miller, Carolyn Genre As Social Action

Genres in Technical / Professional Writing

            My original internship experience could be considered unsuccessful.   It did not really go as planned. Originally, my internship was with the Southeast Kansas Humane Society of Crawford County.  My role was to find grants and then apply for them by filling out the applications and writing grant proposals, which is a specific genre within itself.  Unfortunately, I was unable to do my job because of ineffective communication.  I found multiple grants for which I thought we could apply, but it was extremely difficult for me to get the information that I needed.  Because of that, I did not complete and submit one grant application in the 6 or 7 weeks that I was working with them. 

            Since my internship with the Humane Society was unsuccessful, I was told to stop working with them and I started a new internship with Dr. McDaniel.  Now, I will be working on an instructional design project for a program called Scalar.  This is a program that will be used in the new Professional Writing program. It is a publishing platform that is also very interactive.  I just started working on this new internship this week, so I do not really know what genre I will be using to complete this project. 

            From what I know about this new project and what I have learned about Scalar, I can assume that I will be writing in an academic and professional genre.  This is something that will be used by a diverse group of students, so it needs to be applicable to a wide variety of individuals.  Since my project will be used as an introduction to this program, it also needs to be easy to use and understandable. 

            This genre that I will be writing in could change depending on the situation.  If I was writing for a very specific group of people instead of a diverse group of students, then I could use a genre more related to their field.  For example, if I was creating this project for a group of sociology students, then I could pick a topic and genre that is connected to their interests.  By writing in a general, academic, and professional genre, multiple people will be able to benefit from my project. 

            As I get started and actually get some writing done, I may realize that I need to do this project in a completely different genre.  I think this new internship will be a trial and error experience until figure out exactly how I want to tackle it. 

Genres in Technical/Professional Writing

My internship with The Writers’ Slate does not require me to do a lot of writing. The writing that I do regularly in my internship is the corresponding emails between the students being published and The Writers’ Slate. According to Miller the genre of emailing is the “typified rhetorical actions” looking for the approval of the supervisor or coworkers. For this internship emailing is a large factor of communication especially the use of typified rhetorical questions, so that we are able to gain approval for revisions and publishing.

Typified rhetorical actions of emailing are a normal occurrence in my internship because it is how I communicate with my supervisor on a regular bases regarding updates, meeting times, and revisions. One task that I am given to complete before each Issue is submitted for publications is to send out “congratulations letters” in the form of an email to each of the students that submitted  a piece that will be published. One of the previous interns to The Writers’ Slate was very helpful by creating a template for the rest of us to follow. By having this template to work from I am able to show consistency in the work that The Writers’ Slate is associated with. The template helps to have a format to follow along with but having key items that need to be filled in, such as: name of the submitter, title of their submission, Issue they will be published in, and the date to expect their issue to be published. By having this template there is less likely to be errors with student information, because it can be copy and pasted into the template before emailing it.

A genre that is present in the technical/professional writing field is change. 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.” To be a technical writer we are constantly being asked to come up with new ideas to reinvent old ideas. In my internship with The Writers’ Slate the writer’s that I work with are constantly changing with each new Issue that is being published. Another change that an intern must be able to work with is working with students from other countries that submitted their work. This requires the intern to show flexibility in their work and to also be able to make the necessary changes to the students work to properly format it in the Americanized English that The Writers’ Slate is published in.

By having this internship with The Writers’ Slate I have been able to learn about all the different writing genres and how they are integrated into the writing professions, such as a technical writer. As Carolyn Miller said, “genres change, evolve, and decay.” With this knowledge and my experience with The Writers’ Slate I feel that I will be prepared for the ever evolving genre that takes place in the technical/professional writing work place.

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

Miller, Carolyn. "Genre as Social Action."

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.

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

Genre in Internships and the Real World

“Brown studied 22 managers, directors, and employees, drawing on interview data, review of documents, and recorded observations. She found that organizational values—such as teamwork, commitment to quality services, and salesmanship—shape writer’s expectations and rhetorical strategies but that these values often run counter to the values cultivated during the employees’ university education” (Bawarshi, 134). This internship has created multiple writing opportunities in addition to those  at the university level. One main responsibility that I have is to help educate the public on the sport of Scuba diving through the blog posts created and written on their website. Not only do we try to make a social aspect between the current divers and all of their friends by posting weekly posts on the people who dive with Extreme Sports Scuba but there are also educational posts once a week to try and help someone who might be interested in learning the sport of scuba diving. There is a sense of community that is being built by the blog posts on the website so that everyone whether they are currently involved with Extreme Sports Scuba or potential divers.

When entering into this internship,  people questioned how I could have an internship at a scuba diving shop. During this internship, some of the areas that we’ve learned in school between being able to use the written word to communicate ideas as well as research have been put to use. This internship isn’t solely focused around the blog; that is just one portion of the internship.  There are editing documents used within the company as well as working on videos that will be used in educational classroom settings.

By taking the abilities that we’ve learned in school and applying them to real life it is extremely easy to sell not only yourself but also these abilities to potential employers. It would be extremely easy to show off your research and writing abilities not only to other smaller businesses but to put that information gathered at the collegiate level to use for larger fortune 500 companies. The ability to research as well as communicate via the written word is what many future forward thinking employers are looking for when it comes to a professional technical writer. The main difference between this particular internship and a position is the context the writing is about; otherwise the principles are exactly the same between the different fields of employment.

Bawarshi, Anis and Mary Jo Reiff. “Genre Research in Workplace and Professional Contexts.” Genre. Date unknown. Print.

Genres in Technical/Professional Writing

Although my role in this internship called for very little writing, I did still have to handle the occasional emailed conversation between myself, my supervisors, and the writing contestants of The Writers’ Slate. This email “genre” of writing (as Carolyn Miller calls it in her article “Genre as Social Action”) is extremely common today both in and out of the workplace, and is certainly not limited to technical writing professions. However, as Anis Bawarshi and Mary Jo Reiff explain in their article “Rhetorical Genre Studies,” no genre is limited to its most common uses. The genre of emailing in the workplace, then, is not limited to the “typified rhetorical actions” (as Miller calls them) of asking for a supervisor’s approval or seeking a coworker’s feedback. In the case of this internship, the seemingly mundane genre of workplace emailing required more specialized typified rhetorical actions in order to meet the needs of our publication.

For example, although I did regularly undergo the routine typified rhetorical actions of emailing my supervisor in order to update, inquire, or ask for more direction, I was also assigned the task of sending congratulatory emails to Slate contestants whose entries we selected for publication. In order to avoid rewriting the same information in each email, however I created a “congratulations letter” template in Microsoft Word. The template allowed me (and will allow future interns) to simply replace a few key items in each letter: the name of the contestant, the title of their submission, and the dates of selection and publication. This template minimizes error and prevents the hassle of having to rewrite or copy and paste the same information in every email. Instead, we can simply alter the key items listed above and attach the Word document to the appropriate email.

There is one other genre of writing that I did have the privilege of undertaking when Dr. Franklin, the Slate editor, trusted me to step in and act as the guest editor for the 2014 Contest Edition. After fulfilling the responsibilities of editor, intern, and designer, I got to write a Letter from the Assistant Editor. For this particular publication, this genre of writing called for an explanation for my love of English studies, along with a few choice thank you’s to those who influenced my education and helped me to become a Writers’ Slate member.

In their article “Genre Research in Workplace and Professional Contexts,” Bawarshi and Reiff examine ways in which novice learners are “initiat[ed] into the community” of a genre. From my own experience at The Writers’ Slate, I can answer quite simply. For the “congratulations letter” templates, I revisited assignments from my own undergraduate Technical Writing courses. In these courses, we discussed and practiced with similar genres of writing in various professions (including magazine writing and editing, grant writing, and instruction manual writing). As for the Letter from the Assistant Editor, I looked to past editions of the Slate in order to examine the recurring rhetorical elements of Dr. Franklin’s tri-annual Letters from the Editor. 

In every respect, I feel that I have learned a great deal about these writing genres throughout my experience at this internship. However, it is just as Carolyn Miller states: “genres change, evolve, and decay.” Armed with this knowledge, I anticipate entering new professional contexts with an open mind in regard to the genres of writing I have yet to encounter.

Sources
Bawarshi, Anis, and Mary Jo Reiff. "Rhetorical Genre Studies" and "Genre Research in Workplace and Professional Contexts."
Miller, Carolyn. "Genre as Social Action."