What does technical communication or workplace writing look like? In Chapter 1, the author shares a page from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency about climate change and asks the reader to consider how the page is an example of technical communication by responding to these questions:
Who is the target audience?
What information does this document provide?
What task or goal will it help to accomplish?
What elements of this document do you think make it useful?
Does it solve a problem?
What about the style of the writing in this government document?
Is it concise and accurate?
In this post, I’d like you to select your own piece of technical writing to analyze based on those same questions. Choose a Government website (e.g., CDC, Homeland Security, the NIH, FTC)
Use the questions above as a guide along with considering the “6 Characteristics of Technical Writing” as defined in chapter 1 and comment on how/whether the text is effective. Be sure to integrate evidence from the textbook and from your text of choice. Read and respond to a minimum of two class member’s posts. (Before doing so, please review the “Netiquette for Discussion Boards” handout in the Start Here Folder. )
