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| Preface | |
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| Elements of Technical Communcation | |
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| Communicating in the Workplace | |
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| How Important is Technical Communication? | |
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| What is Technical Communication? | |
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| Technical Communication: Actions, Words, Images | |
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| Technical Communication is Interactive and Adaptable | |
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| Technical Communication is Reader Centered | |
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| Technical Communication Relies on Teamwork | |
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| Technical Communication is Visual | |
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| Technical Communication Has Ethical, Legal, and Political | |
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| Dimensions | |
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| Technical Communication Is International and Cross Cultural | |
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| Your Career and Technical Communication | |
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| Help: How to Learn New Software Quickly | |
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| Exercises and Projects | |
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| Readers and Context of Use | |
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| Profiling Your Readers | |
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| Identifying Your Readers | |
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| Profiling Your Readers' Needs, Values, and Attitudes | |
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| Help: Profiling Readers with Search Engines | |
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| Profiling Contexts of Use | |
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| Identifying the Context of Use | |
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| International and Cross-Cultural Communication | |
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| Differences in Context | |
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| Difference in Organization | |
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| Differences in Style | |
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| Differences in Design | |
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| Listen and Learn: the Key to International and Cross-Cultural | |
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| Communication | |
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| Exercises and Projects | |
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| Working in Teams | |
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| The Stages of Teaming | |
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| Forming: Strategic Planning | |
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| Define the Project Mission and Objectives | |
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| Identify Project Outcomes | |
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| Define Team Member Responsibilities | |
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| Create a Project Calendar | |
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| Write Out a Work Plan | |
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| Agree on How Conflicts will be Resolved | |
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| Storming: Managing Conflict | |
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| Running Effective Meetings | |
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| Mediating Conflicts | |
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| Firing a Team Member | |
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| Norming: Determining Team Roles | |
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| Revising Objectives and Outcomes | |
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| Help: Virtual Teaming | |
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| Identifying Team Roles | |
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| Using Groupware to Facilitate Work | |
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| Performing: Improving Quality | |
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| The Keys to Teaming | |
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| Exercises and Projects | |
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| Ethics in the Technical Workplace | |
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| What are Ethics? | |
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| Where do Ethics Come From? | |
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| Personal Ethics | |
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| Social Ethics | |
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| Conservation Ethics | |
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| Help: Stopping Cyberbullying and Computer Harassment | |
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| Resolving Ethical Dilemmas | |
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| Confronting an Ethical Dilemma | |
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| Resolving an Ethical Dilemma | |
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| When You Disagree with the Company | |
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| Copyright Law in Technical Communication | |
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| Asking Permission | |
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| Copyrighting Your Work | |
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| Plagiarism | |
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| Exercises and Projects | |
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| Starting Your Career | |
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| Setting Goals, Making a Plan | |
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| Setting Goals | |
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| Using a Variety of Job-Seeking Paths | |
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| Preparing a Rÿsumÿ | |
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| Types of Rÿsumÿs | |
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| Chronological Rÿsumÿ | |
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| Functional Rÿsumÿ | |
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| Designing the Rÿsumÿ | |
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| Help: Designing a Scannable/Searchable Rÿsumÿ | |
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| Writing Effective Application Letters | |
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| Content and Organization | |
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| Style | |
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| Revising and Proofreading the Rÿsumÿ and Letter | |
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| Creating a Professional Portfolio | |
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| Collecting Materials | |
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| Organizing Your Portfolio | |
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| Assembling the Portfolio in a Binder | |
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| Creating and Electronic Portfolio | |
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| Interviewing Strategies | |
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| Preparing for the Interview | |
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| At the Interview | |
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| Writing Thank You Letters and/or E-mails | |
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| Exercises and Projects | |
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| Communicating in the Technical Workplace | |
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| Researching and Managing Information | |
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| Beginning Your Research | |
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| Defining Your Research Subject | |
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| Narrowing Your Research Question | |
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| Formulating a Research Question or Hypothesis | |
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| Developing a Research Methodology | |
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| Mapping Out a Methodology | |
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| Describing Your Methodology | |
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| Using and Revising Your Methodology | |
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| Triangulating Materials | |
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| Using Electronic Sources | |
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| Using Print Sources | |
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| Using Empirical Sources | |
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| Managing Information and Taking Notes | |
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| Managing Information | |
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| Careful Note Taking | |
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| Documenting Sources | |
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| Help: Avoiding Junk Science on the Internet | |
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| Appraising Your Information | |
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| Is the Source Reliable? | |
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| How Biased is the Source? | |
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| Am I Biased? | |
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| Is the Source Up to Date? | |
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| Can the Information Be Verified? | |
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| Avoiding Plagiarism | |
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| Exercises and Projects | |
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| Designing Documents and Interfaces | |
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| Five Principles of Design | |
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| Design Principle 1: Balance | |
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| Weighting a Page or Screen | |
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| Using Grids to Balance a Page Layout | |
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| Using Other Balance Techniques | |
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| Design Principle 2: Alignment | |
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| Design Principle 3: Grouping | |
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| Using Headings | |
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| Using Borders and Rules | |
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| Design Principle 4: Consistency | |
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| Choosing Typefaces | |
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| Labeling Graphics | |
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| Creating Sequential and Nonsequential Lists | |
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| Inserting Headers and Footers | |
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| Help: Using Styles and Templates | |
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| Design Principle 5: Contrast | |
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| Adding Shading and Background Color | |
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| Highlighting Text | |
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| Using Font Size and Line Length | |
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| Cross-Cultural Design | |
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| Exercises and Projects | |
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| Creating and Using Graphics | |
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| Guidelines for Using Graphics | |
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| Guideline One: A Graphic Should Tell a Simple Story | |
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| Guideline Two: A Graphic Should Reinforce the Written Text, Not Replace It | |
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| Guideline Three: A Graphic Should be Ethical | |
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| Guideline Four: A Graphic Should be Labeled and Placed Properly | |
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| Displaying Data with Graphs, Tables, and Charts | |
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| Line Graphs | |
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| Bar Charts | |
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| Tables | |
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| Pie Charts | |
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| Gantt Charts | |
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| Using Pictures, Drawings, and Screen Shots | |
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| Photographs | |
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| Help: Making Visuals with a Spreadsheet Program | |
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| Inserting Photographs and Other Images | |
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| Illustrations | |
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| Screen Shots | |
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| Using Cross-Cultural Symbols | |
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| Exercises and Projects | |
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| Websites and Social Networking (Web 2.0) | |
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| Creating a Website | |
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| Planning and Researching a Website | |
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| Organizing and Drafting the Website | |
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| Using Style in a Website | |
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| Designing the Website | |
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| Help: Using Web-Authoring Software | |
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| A Warning about Copyright and Plagiarism | |
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| Websites for International and Cross-Cultural Readers | |
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| Using Social Networking (Web 2.0) | |
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| Starting a Social Networking Site | |
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| Blogging and Microblogging | |
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| Updating Videos and Podcasts | |
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| Contributing to a Wiki | |
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| Exercises and Projects | |
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| Preparing and Giving Presentations | |
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| Choosing the Right Presentation Technology | |
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| Organizing the Content of Your Presentation | |
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| Building the Presentation | |
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| The Introduction: Tell Them What You're Going to Tell Them | |
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| Help: Giving Presentations with Your iPod, MP3, PDA, or Smartphone | |
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| The Body: Tell Them | |
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| The Conclusion: Tell Them What You Told Them | |
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| Preparing to Answer Questions | |
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| Choosing Your Presentation Style | |
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| Creating Visuals | |
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| Designing Visual Aids | |
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| Using Graphics | |
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| Slides to Avoid | |
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| Delivering the Presentation | |
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| Body Language | |
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| Voice, Rhythm, and Tone | |
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| Using Your Notes | |
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| Practicing and Rehearsing | |
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| Practice, Practice, Practice | |
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| Rehearse, Rehearse, Rehearse | |
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| Working Cross-Culturally with Translators | |
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| Exercises and Projects | |
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| Genres of Technical Communication | |
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| Letters, Memos, and E-Mail | |
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| Basic Features of Letters and Memos | |
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| Basic Features of E-Mail | |
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| Planning and Researching a Correspondence | |
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| Determining the Rhetorical Situation | |
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| Organizing and Drafting Letters, Memos, and E-Mails | |
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| Introduction with a Purpose and a Main Point | |
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| Body that Provides Need-to-Know Information | |
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| Conclusion that Restates the Main Point | |
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| Types of Letters, Memos, and E-Mails | |
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| Inquiries | |
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| Responses | |
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| Transmittal Letters and Memos | |
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| Claims or Complaints | |
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| Adjustments | |
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| Refusals | |
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| Using Style in Letters, Memos, and E-Mails | |
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| Strategies for Developing an Appropriate Style | |
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| Designing and Formatting Letters and Memos | |
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| Formatting Letters | |
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| Formatting Envelopes | |
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| Formatting Memos | |
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| Help: Using E-Mail Internationally | |
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| Revising, Editing, and Proofreading | |
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| Exercises and Projects | |
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| Technical Descriptions | |
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| Basic Features of Technical Descriptions | |
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| Planning and Researching Technical Descriptions | |
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| Planning | |
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| Addressing ISO 9000/ISO 14000 Issues | |
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| Researching | |
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| Partitioning the Subject | |
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| Organizing and Drafting Technical Descriptions | |
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| Specific and Precise Title | |
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| Introduction with an Overall Description | |
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| Description by Features, Functions, or Stages in a Process | |
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| Description by Senses, Similes, Analogies, and Metaphors | |
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| Conclusion | |
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| Using Style in Technical Descriptions | |
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| Designing Technical Descriptions | |
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| Designing a Page Layout | |
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| Using Graphics | |
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| Revising, Editing, and Proofreading | |
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| Revising for Conciseness | |
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| Help: Using Digital Photography in Descriptions | |
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| Editing and Proofreading for Accuracy | |
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| Exercises and Projects | |
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| Instructions and Other Documentation | |
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| Basic Features of Documentation | |
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| Planning and Researching Documentation | |
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| Planning | |
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| Researching | |
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| Planning for Cross-Cultural Readers and Contexts | |
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| Verbal Considerations | |
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| Design Considerations | |
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| Organizing and Drafting Documentation | |
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| Specific and Precise Title | |
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| Introduction | |
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| List of Parts, Tools, and Conditions Required | |
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| Sequentially Ordered Steps | |
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| Safety Information | |