Assignments

Your instructor will indicate whether the end$-$of$-$chapter Assignments should serve as the basis for class discussion, for written exercises, or for both.

Features of Technical Communication

Option A$.$ Locate an example of technical communication $($such as a user's guide, owner's manual, or a document borrowed from a family member or an acquaintance who works in a technical profession$)$ and prepare a brief analysis

in which you explain $(1)$ the purpose for which the piece was written, $(2)$ the apparent readers and their needs, $(3)$ the way in which the example differs from typical academic writing, and $(4)$ the relative success with which the piece satisfies this chapter's guidelines.

Option B$.$ Using the following brief example of technical writing, prepare the analysis requested in Option A$.$

DATE: $,$ June $15,2011$

TO: $,$ Pat Jones

FROM: Office Coordinator

FROM: Sean Parker

SUBJECT: New Productivity Software

Introductory Summary

As you requested, I have examined the FreeWork open source productivity suite software we are considering. On the basis of my observations, I recommend we secure one copy of FreeWork and test it in our office for two months. Then after comparing it with the other two packages we have tested, we can choose one of the three productivity packages to use throughout the office.

Features of FreeWork

As we agreed, my quick survey of FreeWork involved reading the user's manual, completing the orientation disk, and reviewing installation options. Here are the five features of the package that seemed most relevant to our needs:

Formatting Flexibility: FreeWork includes diverse "style sheets" to meet our needs in producing reports, proposals, letters, memos, articles, and even brochures. By engaging just one command on the keyboard, the user can change style sheets$-$whereby the program will automatically place text in a specified format.

Mailers: For large mailings, we can take advantage of FreeWork's "Mail Out" feature that automatically places names from mailing lists on form letters.

Documentation: To accommodate our staff's research needs, FreeWork has the capacity to renumber and rearrange footnotes as text is being edited.

Page Review: This package's "PagePeek" feature permits the user to view an entire written page on the screen. Without having to print the document, he or she can then see how every page of text will actually look on the page.

Tables of Contents: FreeWork can create and insert page numbers on tables of contents, created from the headings and subheadings in the text.

Spreadsheets: FreeWork includes a powerful spreadsheet that can be integrated into documents.

Database: FreeWork's database component can create forms and reports that can be integrated into documents.

Graphics: FreeWork includes a basic drawing program that will probably meet our needs.

Conclusion

Though I gave FreeWork only a brief look, my survey suggests that it may be a strong contender for use in our office. If you wish to move to the next step of starting a two$-$month office test, just let me know.