Questions and Answers of Essentials Of Technical Communication

Have you completed your research about the organization? Are you familiar with its history, goals, products, locations, and reputation in the industry and region?
How will you keep your answers concise and direct?Do you have a specific time limit for questions? How will you keep track of your time?
What questions might the audience ask? Are you prepared to answer these questions?
Have you rehearsed your talk several times?
Do you have a good ending ready, perhaps a summary of key points or an anecdote that supports your purpose? If you began with a story, do you want to go back to it now?
If you will be reading from a manuscript, have you introduced a conversational tone into your talk? Is your typed manuscript easy to read from?
If you are speaking extemporaneously, have you prepared a speech outline to guide you?
Given the context in which the instructions/procedures will be read, what formattinc stratecies do you need to use to enhance accessibility?What types of visuals will you need to include?What is the
What types of problems in safety and/or quality control do you need to emphasize? What warnincs or notes will you need to include?What topics do you want to be sure to include/exclude?What format
What problems could readers encounter in attemptinc to use these instructions/procedures?
How will these instructions/procedures be used? Will readers need to read all of them before they becin the task? In what context will readers be usinc these instructions?
What is the situation that has led to the need for these instructions/procedures to be written?
What do you want them to be able to do as a result of these instructions/procedures?
Who are your readers? Describe them in terms of their knowledce of the subject: educational level, technical level, responsibilities in the orcanization.
Can your summary and appraisal stand alone? Would they satisfy an executive reader?
Do you have a good balance between work accomplished and work to be done?
Does your approach seem fresh or tired?
Have you supported your generalizations with facts?
Is your tone authoritative, with an accent on the positive?
Does the plan you have chosen show off your progress to its best advantage?
Does your report have an attractive appearance?
Do you have some unexpected good news you can report?
Is your work ahead of schedule, right on schedule, or behind schedule?Are costs running as expected?
Are there any problems to be discussed?Can you suggest solutions for the problems?
What items need to be highlighted in your summary and appraisal?
Do you have all the project tasks clearly defined? Do all the tasks run in sequence, or do some run concurrently? In general, are the tasks going well or badly?
Do you have a clear description of your project available, perhaps in your proposal?
Have you properly documented all information sources?
Is your format suitable for your content, audience, and purpose?
Do your visuals immediately show what they are designed to show?
If necessary, present recommendations that are clearly based on the data and the conclusions?Are your data accurate?
Draw logical conclusions from the data?
Discuss and evaluate the data fairly?Summarize the data?
Present enough data in words and visuals to justify any conclusions drawn?
Does your report do the following:Introduce the subject and purpose?
What arrangement will you use in presenting your report?
What elements do you need to include in your introduction?
What visuals will you need to present information or data?
What report elements will you need?
What format should you use for the report?
How long should the report be?
What information will you need to write the report?
What will your readers do with the information?
Who are your readers? What are your readers’ technical levels?
What is the scope of your report?
What is the purpose of your report? Have you stated it in one sentence?
Is your message clear, concise, complete, and courteous?
Have you avoided jargon and clichés?
Have you adopted a style suitable to your readers’ culture?
Have you satisfied your readers’ purpose in reading?
Are your topic and purpose clearly identified?
Will you choose a direct or an indirect style?
Will you write an e-mail, text, memo, or letter?
If you are addressing international readers, do you understand their cultural practices? What adjustments in your correspondence will their cultural practices require?
What is the attitude of your readers toward you, toward your subject, toward your purpose?
Why will your readers read your correspondence?
Who are your primary readers? Who are your secondary readers? Do your primary and secondary readers have different needs? How will you satisfy the different needs of all your readers?
What will you do to achieve your objective?
What do you want to have happen as a result of your correspondence?
What is your subject, and what is your purpose?
Have you acknowledged the sources for borrowed or adapted tables and figures?
Are your illustrations genuinely informative instead of simply decorative?When necessary, have you helped your readers to interpret your illustrations with commentary or annotations?
Do your verbal and visual elements reinforce each other?
Are your illustrations numbered and labeled?
Are your illustrations effectively located and easy to find?
Do your illustrations communicate information ethically?
Are your illustrations suited to your purpose and audience?
Are there suitable illustrations you could borrow or adapt? Or will you need to create them yourself?
Do you need to depict incidents or operations? If so, what do you need to display? Do you need to focus attention on specific aspects through animation? Do you require the realistic detail of
Do you need to depict objects? If so, what do you need to display about the objects? Do you need to focus attention on specific aspects of the objects with diagrams? Do you require the realistic
Do you have masses of statistics that could be summarized in tables?
Do you have information on trends or relationships that could be displayed in tables and graphs?
Do you have any processes or procedures that could be depicted in a flow chart?
Do you have definitions that could be displayed visually in whole or in part?
Do you have information that could be more easily or quickly communicated to your audience visually or in a combination of words and graphics?
What kinds of illustrations is your audience familiar with?
Did you test representative readers for their ability to locate information easily?
If you are using a numbering system, is it consistent and correct?
Are there appropriate headers or footers?
Are the pages of a paper document numbered?
Have you checked the page breaks to be sure that you do not have a heading by itself at the bottom of a page?
If readers want to find a particular section quickly, will the size and placement of the heading help them?
Can readers tell at a glance what is heading and what is text?
Is the hierarchy of the headings obvious?
Will readers get an overall picture of the document by reading the headings?
Unambiguous? Consistent? Parallel?
Have you checked the headings? Are the headings informative?
Are words and illustrations positioned appropriately?
Can the reader tell easily where sections and paragraphs begin?
Is the spacing between the lines and paragraphs consistent and appropriate?
Have you left adequate margins? (If necessary, have you left extra room for binding?c
If your document is supposed to conform to a standard template, does it?
Is your text easy to read?
Is your document clean, organized, and attractive?
Could you write any of your sentences with equal clarity but with fewer words?
Have you defined everything that might require defining?
Are most of your sentences written in active voice? Could you change any sentences with passive voice to active voice?
Have you avoided is / ars verb forms whenever possible?
Have you avoided ponderous and impersonal language?
Have you used specific nouns and concrete verbs?

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