Response to Chapters 4, 5, 16, and 23

What I found most interesting in chapters 4 and 5, was the idea of direct pattern and indirect pattern of organization. In other words, whether your writing should present the main point right off the bat, or wait to reveal it towards the end of the proposal. The book mentions that direct pattern is the most common way to go and is best used with conveying good news or presenting something your readers will respond to favorably or objectively. Indirect is said to be better suited for situations where a reader may be receiving bad or alarming news and a direct method would only create defensiveness in readers, or irritate readers that just want the main point. Obviously proposal writers must understand which method to use, and the book suggests thinking about the reader's moment-to-moment reaction to each format in order to decide which method will be more effective.

In chapter 16, guideline two suggests a useful team project planning tool, storyboards. I've used storyboards in the past and they can be very useful for getting your points and ideas lined up in sequential order, while including the visuals to go along with them. The book provides a layout on page 444 that may be useful for the group project in this class. This layout allows for main points and their subpoints on one side of the paper, and the other side is used for jotting notes or sketching possible graphics that will coincide with what is being communicated.

Chapter 23 will undoubtedly be a beneficial resource for those in the technical writing groups. This chapter provides good insight on what is needed for an efficient instructional guide. I found that there were many useful tips, especially in the "directions" segment of the chapter. Tips such as being succinct and using an active voice, highlighting keywords, numbering and separating steps for quick identification, using many graphics, and distinguishing actions apart from supporting info. I considered that last tip to be the most useful because it makes the actions more noticeable from other material, which is what readers want to get to quickly without having to read so carefully around other, less immediate information.