Technical document creation and collaborative team writing skills

Work Completed:

Construction and editing of technical documents in collaboration with team members.

Types of training anticipated (Student outcomes)

Over the course of this class, I learned how to analyze, create, and edit a variety of technical documents both individually and also as part of a team. I had to work independently before pooling my resources with the collective efforts of the other members of my work group. This was useful training in that it showed me how to balance my own view with those of others. Collaboration and consensus was needed to yield a final, high-quality product. I learned to be a strong advocate for my own point-of-view but also to temper my perspective with the needs of others. Because this class was conducted in a virtual format, it was useful to learn how to communicate effectively without the use of body language and vocal inflection. Sometimes it is necessary to be careful using sarcasm and other subtle uses of language when communicating online, particularly when just getting to know the personalities, cultures, and work habits of other members of the team. While it is easy to work well with people you know well and who are like you, this class gave all team members the opportunity to work with people they did not know well. We were all strangers at the beginning of the project and it forced us to get to know one another better as it evolved. All of us became more broad-minded and flexible as a result, and thus better employees and workers.

The documents we worked on demanded a variety of different skills and required all of us to adapt our writing in terms of its content to suit the needs of the projected audience. Various types of intentions (informative, instructive, and persuasive) were needed, depending on the assignment. The same basic types of information may be needed to be framed in a different way, depending upon the intended effect upon the audience. Also, the audience's level of familiarity with the subject and its demographic composition will affect how the audience perceives the document. A younger audience may be more accepting of humor and an informal tone; an audience which is familiar with the subject will be impatient with an excessive amount of background.

Although different development, structuring, and use of different elements (both textual and verbal) were required for the different genres of writing, all of us had to be mindful of carefully analyzing and planning what we wrote. While when we were first generating ideas about our project, we encouraged a free exchange of ideas but as the project neared completion we had to be more focused and refined in our analysis.

As well as the prewriting (including brainstorming and outlining) and the writing process itself we also grew more self-critical about the rewriting process. Rewriting included evaluating the assignment's grammar and sentence structure but also other reconsidering elements such as style and presentation once again. It is essential to see what you are writing with new eyes to effectively edit it.

As well as writing, all of us learned a great deal about research using multiple sources, including primary and secondary documents. Ideally, it is best to review a primary source to ensure exposure to the source filtered of all bias but reviewing secondary research is important to understand how other researchers with experience in the field have viewed the issue. As a group, we learned to clearly identify different types of evidence (peer-reviewed vs. non-peer-reviewed, objective vs. opinion) and to substantiate all of our own claims with verifiable citations.