Technical Writing the Author of This Report

Technical Writing

The author of this report has been asked to answer several questions relating to the author's experience while learning about technical writing and similar subjects. The questions asked include what skills have been learned, what would be needed to continue learning the skills, how to keep improving those skills and so forth. Also asked for from this assignment include thoughts about the qualities that lead to efficacious technical writing, how the author of this report's work shows this, what has been learned about technical writing that is not apparent in the author's portfolio, what has been learned about communicating in the workplace, the author's contributions to the team's portfolio and the ways in which the author's perspective as a writer has changed. The portfolio includes the brochure for body weight index, the brochure regarding what to expect from working for an oil company, the PowerPoint relating to the safety and personal protection equipment and the job description of the entry-level operator.

Analysis

The author of this report has learned a good number of things in this class. The author has learned the lines that are drawn when it comes to what makes good writing and what makes less than optimal writing. The author of this report feels that the writing done nowadays is much better than it used to be. In comparing the author's work to that of established writers and article writers, the two are actually much closer to matching in terms of proper perspective and skill than was the case prior. However, there is still a gap of sorts here and there. It all comes down to keeping disciplined and staying true to the principles that any good writer should adhere to (Saha, 2013).

To continue improving skills, the author of this report would offer a few things. First, to improve and get better, the author of this report will have to keep writing and keep practicing. Skills tend to fade when they are not actively used. Second, the author of this report will continue to pay attention to accepted standards, writing styles, citation standards and so forth so as to not get into bad habits that are against the scholarly precepts that should be followed. Third, the author needs to recognize that getting careless about words when doing technical writing is not acceptable. There has to be an absence of bias, an adherence to citation and sourcing standards, attribution to others for work that is borrowed or paraphrased and an absolute committal to not engage in any form of plagiarism, intentional or not (Saha, 2013).

When it comes to efficacy in technical writing, there are some common qualities that can and should be present at all times. First, the information and verbiage has to be in the proper order. It has to flow neatly from one topic or item to the next. The information must be accurate and timely. If the data in question is out of date or is applicable in certain contexts, then that needs to be accounted for in some way in the text. For example, if there is a feature in Windows 7 that was removed in Windows 8, that is a detail that needs to be included. If no distinction is made vis-a-vis what words apply to certain situations, the reader may assume (rightly so) that all modern versions of Windows operate this way. However, if this is not the case then the document needs to offer specificity about that so that no one gets confused. If a reader figures out that a document is inaccurate, the likelihood that they will trust and continue to use that document is not very high (Saha, 2013).

Something that the author of this report has learned that may not be apparent in the portfolio is that there are multiple perspectives when it comes to technical writing. One major example of this is how specific and technical to get. Of course, this matters a lot and it is based on the audience of the work. Some people feel that only the major details need to be known while others want every little relevant piece of information included. To be sure, this is due to some people not having the attention span or willingness to learn every little thing. Some people want a high-level view while others want to know everything. The author of this report has learned that any technical writing piece has to bear in mind who the intended audience. The work that is then written should be written with that audience in mind. For example, a "Dummies" book about Windows 7 would take more of a high-level view and it would focus on the basics. On the other hand, a book that is meant for information technology professionals would be much more verbose, a much longer book and would be written with the presumption that anyone reading the book is tech-savvy (Saha, 2013).

In terms of communicating, this class drove him the idea that communication is very important. This is true about verbal communication and it is also true about written communication. Not being up to par when it comes to verbal and/or written communication says a lot about a person and people can draw certain conclusions, some right and some wrong, if it is clear that communication skills are lacking. However, any person that wants to get far in life needs to know how to communicate and form ideas in writing and verbal form. Technical writing is very much about teaching and informing and one must be very careful about getting lackadaisical or careless about writing style, information accuracy and so forth. The way in which one communicates is usually just as important as what is being communicated (Saha, 2013).

Speaking of communication and working with others, the author of this report would give high marks to not only the author but also to everyone else in the group. The author of this report is often a little leery of working in groups and this goes double when a grade is being assigned at the group level rather than for each person. Even so, the author of this report recognized up front that working as a team, grade or not, is important because pointing fingers and having to clean up messes made by certain people not carrying their weight is less than optimal. Since everyone in the group recognized this and understood it to be true, there was not a problem and everyone did a great job (Saha, 2013).