Response to chapters 1, 20, and 22 of "Technical Communication"

After readings these chapters, I get a much better understanding of what technical writing is. It is highly centered around work-related writing, which I feel is a good thing to know how to do. I like the comparisons between work and school writing and how they differ greatly. On the other hand, I also noticed some similarities as well. Chapters one and twenty made me think about my current job, and I was able to relate some of what the book was talking about to what I experience at work, while chapter twenty-two reminded me somewhat of writing I've done in school.

Chapter one mentions the importance of a personal dimension in work writing, where one should be able to communicate effectively. This made sense because in many work-related writings, the message or information being conveyed is often directed to a number of people at all levels of positions, and one must communicate well in order to display the information in the best possible way. One thing I related to in this chapter was the idea that one should only say what is needed and nothing more in order to make things brief so that people can locate information quickly. I often have to read instructions for certain tasks at my job from time to time, and it is always nice to read something that is short and to the point instead of something that is long and wastes my time, without specifically giving me the answers I need.

I found the email portion of chapter twenty interesting and relevant to my current job as well. Emails are said to be effective if they are short and to the point, without including entire messages that have been continually forwarded along. When I get emails that are the opposite of this, I often will not have, nor take, the time to read every last word, and it's a pain to have to search around for what the real purpose is. One thing mentioned in the book that I never really thought about was the fact that emails can be looked over and retrieved by the employer anytime they wish. That makes you think about what you put in your emails.

Chapter twenty-two made me think about my experience writing a proposal paper last semester in school. There were a lot of similarities between each proposal paper, but the biggest difference is that in work-related proposals, one is basically selling his/herself instead of just an idea and a possible solution. One not only has to list objectives and possible solutions, he/she also has to demonstrate how they are going to do what they say they're going to do along with a list of resources, a detailed schedule, his/her qualifications, how the project will be managed, and a good idea of what all of it will cost. It is much easier to write proposals in school when you are not the one that actually has to solve the problem that you are proposing.