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.”

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."

Defining Technical/Professional Writing

Dear Dr. Bushman,

Technical and professional writers have attempted numerous times to define what the technical and professional writing field should consist of, which aspects it should focus on, and where lines should be drawn before crossing into other niches like scientific writing. As it stands now, there are several conflicting points of view. One particular view suggests that there is a universal language possible and that there can be no room for misunderstandings if the correct words are chosen.

In the essay “A Humanistic Rationale for Technical Writing”, Professor Carolyn Miller of North Carolina State University explains that for a sort of universal language to be possible, it would need to be completely objective and devoid of any emotional verbiage (17). To be sure, the idea of a universal language is a view I subscribed to for a time. Believing along the same lines as Professor Elizabeth Tebeaux of Texas A&M University, that the only things I needed to learn were simply utilitarian technical writing skills (823), I imagined that all one needed to thrive in the technical and professional writing field was a large collection of words and objectivity from the readers, but I have since learned that much more is necessary if one is to prosper. A certain amount of psychological insight is useful in identifying the reader and comprehending their needs and desires, and a competent knowledge of design basics can really give a project life.

During the time I have worked as an intern with Writers’ Slate publication, I have had the chance to view some great opportunities available to us. One such opportunity would be to add an additional technical and professional writer to the publication team. Typically, technical writing is associated with very concise language being used to convey a certain concept or idea; however, since the majority of Writers’ Slate content is submitted by outside contributors, the technical writer’s role here is redefined. As the Writers’ Slate intern, I have spent time drafting acceptance letters, editing submissions, and working with authors to achieve a final product. My duties also included order selection of final pieces, a magazine redesign, and a degree of customer service.

When searching for a technical and professional writer that will fit Writers’ Slate magazine best, it is important not to discount the value of humanities experience. Humanities courses are considered to be those that examine the way in which humans conduct themselves, such as art, literature, history, and more. Choosing a technical and professional writer that has been educated in some of these fields can be immensely helpful for Writers’ Slate, where one person bears responsibility for many varied aspects of the publication. As Miller once again explains, the technical writer’s success is based in their culmination of knowledge, both practical and rhetorical, from all aspects of life (20). Obviously knowledge of language and keen perception of how plots in literature proceed are necessary, but an understanding of art and graphic design would make the design of the magazine easier and less time-consuming than for a writer with little to no experience. For these reasons and more, there is value in a technical and professional writer from a humanities department.

Sources:

Allen, Jo. "The Case Against Defining Technical Writing".

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

Miller, Carolyn R. "A Humanistic Rationale for Technical Writing", "Carolyn Miller Responds", and "What's Practical About Technical Writing?"

Tebeaux, Elizabeth. “Let's Not Ruin Technical Writing Too: A Comment on the Essays of Carolyn Miller and Elizabeth Harris”.

Defining Technical/Professional Writing

Dear Dr. Bushman,

Although Dr. Franklin and I work well together as your Writers’ Slate team, the publication would benefit greatly from a third team member, especially if that team member were a technical writer, like myself. Technical writing is a broad term, and I understand if when you hear it you associate it objective writing, rigid and concise terminology, or writing that aims to be so exact that nearly any audience can understand it. These are the ways in which the term “technical writing” has been defined repeatedly in the past—these specific examples being paraphrased from a compilation David N. Dobrin lists in his article “What’s Technical about Technical Writing?”

 

Despite the ubiquity of these definitions of technical writing, they are limiting and misleading. As Jo Allen (technical writer and professor) discusses in her article “The Case Against Defining Technical Writing,” agreeing upon a definition is a great challenge “when we consider the recent expansion of our field” (68). The field is no longer limited to writing pamphlets and manuals, but now includes, among other things, “illustrations, communications management, public relations, editing, computers analysts and programming, [and] researching” (69). Technical writing has expanded far beyond writing and editing. It is now even crossing over into the humanities, and we at The Writers’ Slate should take advantage of this fact.

As Carolyn Miller is incessantly arguing, technical writing is both practical and has humanistic value. In other words, technical writers who earn their degree from a humanities department are not simply collecting skills that only apply to their field. They are also trained to think critically, communicate effectively, work in teams, work individually, research, improvise, design, draft, revise, and persevere. And because, as Allen informs us, there are now so many specialties in which each technical writer can focus and excel, the addition of a second technical writer can only make us a more well-rounded team.

I personally recommend searching for a candidate with a strong background in document design and communication—document design because it is not a great strength of either Dr. Franklin or myself, and communication because we are constantly discussing journal entries with contestants and their parents or teachers (many of the contestants are in grade school). Although our program has never, under the direction of Dr. Franklin, missed a deadline, there have been instances in the past in which excellent Slate entries had to be excluded or pushed back for a future edition simply because our two-person team can only do so much in such a short time frame. Having a third English major on board will help to ensure that we reach our deadlines without overlooking any important aspects of publication; having a technical writer on board will help to ensure that our product reaches a professional caliber.

Sources

Allen, Jo. "The Case Against Defining Technical Writing."

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

Miller, Carolyn R. "A Humanistic Rationale for Technical Writing," "What's Practical About Technical Writing?" and "Carolyn Miller Responds"