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Introduction to Technical
Communication

What Is Technical Communication? 4

Who Produces Technical
Documents? 5
Technical Communication and
Your Career 6
Characteristics of Technical
Documents 6
Addresses Particular Readers 6
Helps Readers Solve Problems 7
Reflects an Organizations Goals
and Culture 8
Is Produced Collaboratively 8
Uses Design to Increase Readability 8
Consists of Words or Graphics
or Both 10
A Look at Three Sample
Documents 10

Source: Radvision, 2008 <www.radvision.com/Products/Desktop/CTMPlatform/>.

Measures of Excellence in Technical

Communication 10

In the World . . .

Honesty 10
Clarity 11
Accuracy 12
Comprehensiveness 14
Accessibility 14
Conciseness 14
Professional Appearance 14
Correctness 14

Although high-tech tools such as this desktop videoconferencing

package from Radvision are becoming more and more important in the
workplace, the heart of technical communication remains what it has
always been: communicating with people. All technical-communication
documents, whether they take the form of e-mails, reports, Web sites,
or any of a dozen other forms, are meant to be used by people to help
them learn, carry out tasks, and make decisions. This book is about
the process of finding and creating technical information and
communicating it to others.

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study of more than 100 large American corporations, which together employ
some 8 million people, suggests that writing is a more important skill for

todays professionals than it has ever been (College Board, 2004, pp. 34). Among
the major findings of the survey are the following:
For hiring and promotions, writing is a threshold skill. If your job-application
materials are written poorly, 86 percent of companies surveyed would
frequently or almost always hold it against you. If you somehow got the job,
you wouldnt last long enough to be promoted.
Two-thirds of professionals need strong writing skills in their daily work. Some
80 percent of companies in the service, finance, insurance, and real-estate
industries assess applicants writing during the hiring process. Fifty percent
of all companies in all industries consider writing skills in making promotion
decisions.
Half of all companies frequently or almost always produce reports, memos,
and correspondence. Almost 100 percent of companies use e-mail, and more
than 80 percent use PowerPoint presentations.
Another study, from the Center for Plain Language (2005), found that up to 40
percent of the cost of managing business and government transactions is due to
poor communication. For this reason, employees who communicate well are
rewarded. A survey by the Plain English Network (2002) found that 96 percent of the
nations 1,000 largest employers say that employees must have good communication skills to get ahead. Almost 90 percent of more than 800 business-school graduates say that their writing skills have helped them advance more quickly. More than
80 percent of Fortune 400 companies have identified writing skills as their organizations greatest weakness. Eight major companies, including Nike, put communication
skills at the top of the list of traits they look for in employees.
The working world depends on written communication. Within most modern
organizations, almost every action is documented in writing, whether on paper or
online. Here are a few examples:
a memo or an e-mail to request information or identify a problem
a set of instructions to introduce and explain how to carry out a new task
a proposal to persuade management to authorize a project
a report to document a completed project
an oral presentation to explain a new policy to employees

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Introduction to Technical Communication

Every organization also communicates with other organizations and often with
the public, using materials such as these:
inquiry letters, sales letters, goodwill letters, and claim and adjustment letters to
customers, clients, and suppliers
Web sites to describe and sell products and to solicit job applications
research reports for external organizations
articles for trade and professional journals

WHAT IS TECHNICAL COMMUNICATION?

You can look at technical communication in two ways: as the process of
making and sharing information and ideas with others in the workplace, and
as a set of applicationsthe documents you write.
Technical communication is the process of finding and using information and sharing meaning. The brief conversations you have with your colleagues in the hallway, the instant messages you exchange with vendors, the
e-mails you send and respond to, the phone calls with your project teamall
these are examples of the process of technical communication.
In fact, every professional spends most of every workday using the four
communication skills: reading, writing, speaking, and listening. Think of it
this way: a professional is a person who communicates with others about a
technical subject. An engineer is a person who communicates about engineering. An architect is a person who communicates about architecture. A
historian is a person who communicates about history.
Professionals often use these four communication skills to create applications: technical documents and oral presentations. When you make these
applications, you are creating, designing, and transmitting technical information so that people can understand it easily and use it safely, effectively, and
efficiently. Much of what you read every daytextbooks, phone books, procedures manuals at the office, journal articles, Web sites, owners manualsis
technical communication. The words and graphics in these documents are
meant to help you understand a subject or carry out a task.
The purpose of this book is to help you improve your skills in the process
of technical communication (finding information and generating ideas on
your own and with others) and in making the applications of technical communication (the e-mails, proposals, reports, and other kinds of documents).
The focus of this book is on the techniques skilled communicators use to
analyze an audience and a purpose, to create and find the best information
on a subject, to arrange the information skillfully to meet the audiences
needs and preferences, and to deliver the information effectively using the
most appropriate application.
This is certainly not your first writing course, and the principles you have
studied in other courses also apply to technical communication. The biggest

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Who Produces Technical Documents?

difference between technical communication and the other kinds of writing

you have done is that technical communication has a somewhat different
focus on audience and purpose.
In most of your previous academic writing, your audience has been your
instructor, and your purpose has been to show your instructor that you have
mastered some skill or body of information. For instance, in a research paper
for a history course, you show your instructor that you have learned important information about the topic and have mastered the process of communicating that information professionally. Typically, you are not trying to
create new knowledge or motivate the reader to take a particular action
except to give you an A for that assignment.
By contrast, in technical communication in the workplace, your audience
will likely include peers and supervisors in your company, and perhaps
people outside your company as well. Your purpose will likely be to reinforce
or change their attitudes toward the subject you are writing about, motivate
them to take particular actions, or help them to carry out their own jobs.
For example, imagine that you are a public-health scientist working for a
federal agency. You have just completed a study showing that procyanidins
are the main ingredients in red wines that help prevent coronary heart disease. You know that wines from southwestern France and Sardinia have
higher concentrations of procyanidins than other wines and that people in
these regions generally live longer than people in other parts of the world.
You report your methods and findings in a journal article. Your purpose is to
communicate this information so that other scientists can follow up on your
research by determining, for example, whether there is something about the
winemaking process in these regions that makes the wines produced there
retain procyanidins, and whether the increased longevity of people in these
regions can be linked to drinking local wines. The overall goal of your
research is to determine whether it is possible to make the coronary benefits
of these red wines available to everyone around the world.
In other words, technical communication responds to the needs of a particular audience and has a clear, specific purpose in the real world.

WHO PRODUCES TECHNICAL DOCUMENTS?

Most technical documents are produced by one of two different categories
of people:
Technical professionals. Technically trained individuals, such as engineers
and accountants, do a lot of writing, including e-mails, letters, proposals,
and reports.
Technical communicators. Technical communicators create manuals, proposals, reports, sales literature, Web sites, letters, journal articles, and
speeches. Many technical communicators still call themselves technical
writers (or tech writers) even though the term technical communicator

On TechComm Web
For a good introduction to
technical communication, see
Allan Hoffmans article. Click on
Links Library for Ch. 1 on
<bedfordstmartins.com/
techcomm>.

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better reflects the increasing importance of graphics and the use of other
media, such as online documentation.
Often, technical professionals and technical communicators work
together. For instance, a computer engineer designing a new microchip will
draft the specifications for that chip. The technical communicator will study
that draft, interview the engineer to resolve any technical questions, and
revise the specifications. Those specifications will be included in the
companys printed product catalog and Web-based marketing materials.

TECHNICAL COMMUNICATION AND YOUR CAREER

The course you are taking now will help you meet the demands of the working world. In fact, your first step in obtaining a professional position is to
write two technical documentsan application letter and a rsumthat
will help an organization decide whether to interview you. And once you
start work, your supervisors will be looking at your communication skills as
well as your technical abilities.
Job ads in newspapers and professional journals suggest that the working world values good communication skills. The following ad from an organization that manufactures medical instruments is typical:
This job ad, as well as many
others like it, mentions not only
computer skills but also communication skills.

In This Book
For more about job-application
materials, see Ch. 15, p. 390.

Design Assurance Engineer. Duties include performing electronic/mechanical product, component, and material qualifications. Requires spreadsheet/word-processing
abilities and excellent written/oral communication skills. BSEE or biology degree
preferred.

According to one survey (College Board, 2004, p. 4), almost half of the
largest U.S. companies said that they offer or require training for professionals who cannot write well. The companies reported spending about $900 per
employee for writing training. Wouldnt a company rather save that $900? I
think so. The facts of corporate life today are simple: if you cannot communicate well, you are less valuable; if you can, you are more valuable.

CHARACTERISTICS OF TECHNICAL DOCUMENTS

Almost every technical document has six major characteristics: it addresses
particular readers, helps readers solve problems, reflects an organizations
goals and culture, is produced collaboratively, uses design to increase readability, and consists of words or graphics or both.

In This Book
For more about addressing a
particular audience, see Ch. 5,
p. 81.

Addresses Particular Readers

Technical documents address particular readers. For instance, if you are
planning to write a proposal for your supervisor, you think about that

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Characteristics of Technical Documents

persons job responsibilities, the level of detail he or she would be interested

in reading, and personal factors such as history with the organization and
attitudes toward your ideas. These factors help you decide what kind of document to write, how to structure it, how much detail to include, and what
sentence style and vocabulary to use.
Even if you do not know your readers personally, you should try to create
a profile of them. For example, if readers of your brochure are police officers
responsible for purchases, you know that they share a police background
and a common responsibility for approving expenditures.
Your writing might also be read by people you never intended as your
audience: managers and executives in your organization, or the public or the
press. Avoid writing anything that will embarrass you or your organization.
Often, you will write for people from different cultures or whose native
language is different from yours. These readers will react differently to the
design, organization, and writing style of documents than will people from
your own culture. Therefore, you will need to consider these cultural differences as you write.
A good first step is to read a full-length discussion of the topic, such as
one or more of the following respected resources:
Hofstede, G. H. (2003). Cultures consequences: Comparing values, behaviors,
institutions, and organizations across nations (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks,
CA: Sage.
Intercultural Communication Institute (http://www.intercultural.org).
This nonprofit organization provides a great introduction to the subject,
with articles, training, and resource lists.
Jandt, F. E. (2007). An introduction to intercultural communication: Identities in
a global community (5th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Lustig, M. W., & Koester, J. (2006). Intercultural competence: Interpersonal
communication across cultures (5th ed.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
Neuliep, J. W. (2006). Intercultural communication: A contextual approach
(3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Samovar, L. A., Porter, R. E., & McDaniel, E. R. (Eds.). (2006). Intercultural
communication: A reader (11th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Trompernaars, F., & Hampden-Turner, C. (1997). Riding the waves of culture:
Understanding diversity in global business (2nd ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.

Helps Readers Solve Problems

Technical documents help readers learn something or carry out a task. For
instance, you read your companys employee-benefits manual to help you
decide which benefits package you should select. In other words, you read it
because you need information to help you analyze a situation and solve a
problem.

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Reflects an Organizations Goals and Culture

Technical documents further an organizations goals. For example, a state
government department that oversees vocational-education programs submits an annual report to the state legislature, as well as a lot of technical
information produced for the public: flyers, brochures, pamphlets, radio and
television ads, and course materials. These documents help the department
secure its funding and reach its audience.
Technical documents also reflect an organizations culture. Some organizations have a rigid hierarchy and expect employees to format their documents in a particular way and to write only to their immediate supervisors
and to others on their own level. In other organizations, the culture permits or
even encourages employees to make their own decisions on these questions.

Is Produced Collaboratively

In This Book
For more about collaboration,
see Ch. 4.

Although you will often work alone in writing short documents, you will
probably work as part of a team in producing more-complicated documents.
Collaboration can range from having a colleague review your two-page memo
to working with a team of a dozen technical professionals and technical
communicators on a 200-page catalog.
Collaboration is common in technical communication because no one
person has all the information, skills, or time to create a large document.
Writers, editors, designers, and production specialists work with subjectmatter expertsthe various technical professionalsto create a better document than any one of them could have created working alone.
Successful collaboration requires interpersonal skills. You have to listen
to people with other views and from other business and ethnic cultures,
express yourself clearly and diplomatically, and compromise.

Uses Design to Increase Readability

Technical communicators use design featurestypography, spacing, color,
special paper, and so forthto serve three basic purposes:
In This Book
For more about design, see
Ch. 11.

To make the document look attractive and professional. If it is attractive and

creates a positive impression, you are more likely to accomplish your
goal.
To help readers navigate the document. Because a technical document can
be long and complicated and most readers want to read only parts of it,
design features such as headings, color, and highlighting help readers
see where they are and get where they want to be.
To help readers understand the document. If all the safety warnings in a manual appear in a color and size different from the rest of the text, readers
will be better able to recognize the importance of the information.

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Characteristics of Technical Documents

INTERACTIVE SAMPLE DOCUMENT

Studying How Technical Communication Combines
Words and Graphics
This is a cover from an eight-page quick-start brochure that accompanies a photocopier. The questions in the margin ask you to consider how technical communication
combines words and graphics. E-mail responses to yourself and/or your instructor on
TechComm Web.
1. How have the writers
used graphic elements
in the sentence below
the title to emphasize
the message in that
sentence?
2. In what other ways have
the writers used words
and graphics to make
the document more
interesting and
appealing to readers?
3. How have the writers
used text and graphics
to present the tasks that
people can accomplish
with this machine?
On TechComm Web
To e-mail your responses to
yourself and/or your instructor,
click on Interactive Sample
Documents for Ch. 1 on
<bedfordstmartins.com/
techcomm>.

Source: Xerox Corporation, 2000.

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Consists of Words or Graphics or Both

Most technical documents include words and graphics. Graphics help the
writer perform five main functions:
In This Book
For more about graphics, see
Ch. 12.

make the document more interesting and appealing to readers

communicate and reinforce difficult concepts
communicate instructions and descriptions of objects and processes
communicate large amounts of quantifiable data
communicate with nonnative speakers
Technical professionals and technical communicators alike use hightech tools to produce documents. Although you are unlikely to need to
become an expert user of these tools, some of them, such as word processors
and spreadsheets, are fundamentally important. You can make the most of
these tools by taking advantage of the help they offer.

A LOOK AT THREE SAMPLE DOCUMENTS

Figure 1.1 (page 11), Figure 1.2 (page 12), and Figure 1.3 (page 13) illustrate a number of the characteristics of technical communication discussed in this chapter.

MEASURES OF EXCELLENCE IN TECHNICAL

COMMUNICATION
Eight measures of excellence characterize all technical communication: honesty, clarity, accuracy, comprehensiveness, accessibility, conciseness, professional appearance, and correctness.

Honesty

In This Book
For more about the ethical
and legal aspects of technical
communication, see Ch. 2.

The most important measure of excellence in technical communication is

honesty. For three reasons, you have to tell the truth and not mislead the
reader:
It is the right thing to do. Technical communication is meant to help people
make wise choices as they use the information available in a high-tech
culture.
If you are dishonest, readers can get hurt. Misinforming your readers or deliberately omitting important information can defraud, injure, or kill people.
If you are dishonest, you and your organization could face serious legal charges. If
a court finds that your documents failure to provide honest, appropriate
information caused a substantial injury or loss, your organization might
have to pay millions of dollars.

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Measures of Excellence in Technical Communication

Figure 1.1

Product Brochure Showing the Characteristics of Technical Communication

Source: Segway, Inc., 2006 <www.segway.com/downloads/pdfs/2006_Catalog.pdf>.

Ethics Note
You will find Ethics Notes throughout this book. These notes describe typical ethical
problems involved in technical communication and suggest ways to think about them.

Clarity
Your goal is to produce a document that conveys a single meaning the reader
can understand easily. The following directive, written by the British navy
(Technical Communication, 1990), is an example of what to avoid:
It is necessary for technical reasons that these warheads should be stored upside
down, that is, with the top at the bottom and the bottom at the top. In order that there

11

Characteristics of technical
communication:
is addressed to particular
readers: It is addressed to
golfers who might be
interested in this Segway
model.
helps them solve problems:
It provides information about
the features of this Segway
model.
reflects an organizations
goals and culture: It focuses
on people of a certain age
and income.
consists of both words and
graphics: The words explain
the rationale for the Segway,
the larger photo shows the
components, and the smaller
photo helps the reader see
how he or she might look on
a Segway.
is produced collaboratively:
It was created by technical
communicators, graphic
artists, Web authors, and
others.
uses design to increase
readability: It is neatly
organized, with the
introductory text about the
specialized versions at the
top and the particular text
and graphics about the golf
version at the bottom.

On TechComm Web
To view Fig. 1.1 in context on
the Web, click on Links Library
for Ch. 1 on <bedfordstmartins
.com/techcomm>.

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12

Characteristics of technical
communication:
is addressed to particular
readers: It is addressed to
software engineers.
helps them solve problems:
It provides information they
need to determine whether
they should read the entire
technical report.
reflects an organizations
goals and culture: All Sun
Microsystems technical
reports use the same
unadorned design and
typography, as well as the
Sun logo and other
identifying information.
consists of both words and
graphics: The logo identifies
the report as being the
intellectual property of Sun.
The textual information helps
the reader identify the report
and communicate with the
authors.
is produced collaboratively:
It was created by the authors,
with the help of technical
communicators.
uses design to increase
readability: It is clearly
organized, with white space
setting off each portion of the
page.

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Figure 1.2

Report Page Showing the Characteristics of Technical Communication

Source: Mikkonen & Taivalsaari, 2007 <http://research.sun.com/techrep/2007/smli_tr-2007-166pdf>.

On TechComm Web
To view Fig. 1.2 in context on
the Web, click on Links Library
for Ch. 1 on <bedfordstmartins
.com/techcomm>.

may be no doubt as to which is the top and which is the bottom, for storage purposes,
it will be seen that the bottom of each warhead has been labeled with the word TOP.

Technical communication must be clear for two reasons:

Unclear technical communication can be dangerous. A carelessly drafted
building code, for example, could tempt contractors to use inferior
materials or techniques.
Unclear technical communication is expensive. The average cost of a telephone
call to a customer-support center is more than $32 (About.com, 2008).
Clear technical communication in the products documentationits
instructionscan greatly reduce the number and length of such calls.

Accuracy
You need to get your facts straight. A slight inaccuracy can confuse and
annoy your readers; a major inaccuracy can be dangerous and expensive. In

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Measures of Excellence in Technical Communication

Questions and Answers

About iPhone

Will iPhone work with my PC and Microsoft Windows?

Yes, iPhone works with Windows XP Home or Professional (SP2), and
Windows Vista. See specifications for more details.
Can I use my iPhone internationally?
iPhone is a quad-band GSM phone and will work around the world. Before
you travel, make sure that international dialing and roaming are enabled
through AT&T and that the places youre going offer GSM coverage. Visit
AT&T help for more information.
What email systems does iPhone support?
iPhone supports the most popular email standards IMAP and POP3.
Check with your email provider to make sure the provider uses these
standards. iPhone works with most popular email services, including Yahoo!
Mail, Google Gmail, AOL, and .Mac Mail. Yahoo! Mail supports push email
and can automatically deliver new email messages to your iPhone.
What kind of security features does iPhone offer?
You can protect access to information on your iPhone with a four-digit
password, which is then required whenever iPhone is turned on or wakes
from sleep. For secure Internet access, iPhone supports industry-standard
Wi-Fi security and virtual private networking (VPN).
How does the Maps location based service (LBS) work?
LBS provides your approximate location using information based on your
proximity to known cellular network towers and Wi-Fi networks (when on and
available). The more accurate the available information, the smaller the
circle identifying your position on the map. The feature is not available in all
areas. Known Wi-Fi networks are predominantly in urban areas. In order to
provide your location, data is collected in a form that does not personally
identify you. If you do not want such data collected, do not enable the feature.
Not enabling the feature will not impact the functionality of your iPhone.

Figure 1.3

Q&A Showing the Characteristics of Technical Communication

Source: Apple, Inc., 2008 <www.apple.com/iphone/questionsandanswers.html>.

13

Characteristics of technical
communication:
is addressed to particular
readers: It is addressed to
owners and prospective
owners of the iPhone.
helps them solve problems:
This portion of the Q&A
answers general questions
about the product. Note the
hyperlinks to more
information in several of the
answers.
reflects an organizations
goals and culture: The
design and words reflect
Apples emphasis on clean,
uncluttered design and
functionality.
consists of both words and
graphics: The photograph of
the iPhone is all readers need
to identify the subject.
is produced collaboratively:
It was created by a writer, with
the help of a photographer,
a designer, and a Web
specialist.
uses design to increase
readability: It is clearly
organized, with the questions
in boldface for emphasis.

On TechComm Web
To view Fig. 1.3 in context on
the Web, click on Links Library
for Ch. 1 on <bedfordstmartins
.com/techcomm>.

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another sense, accuracy is a question of ethics. Technical documents must be

as objective and unbiased as you can make them. If readers suspect that you
are slanting informationby overstating or omitting factsthey will doubt
the validity of the entire document.

Comprehensiveness
A good technical document provides all the information readers need. It
describes the background so that readers unfamiliar with the subject can
understand it. It contains sufficient detail so that readers can follow the
discussion and carry out any required tasks. It refers to supporting materials
clearly or includes them as attachments.
Comprehensiveness is crucial because readers need a complete, selfcontained discussion in order to use the information safely, effectively, and
efficiently. A document also often serves as the official company record of a
project, from its inception to its completion.

Accessibility
In This Book
For more about making documents accessible, see Chs. 9
and 11.

Most technical documentsboth in print and onlineare made up of small,

independent sections. Because few people will read a document from beginning to end, your job is to make its various parts accessible. That is, readers
should not be forced to flip through the pages or click links unnecessarily to
find the appropriate section.

Conciseness
In This Book
For more about writing
concisely, see Ch. 10.

A document must be concise enough to be useful to a busy reader. You can

shorten most writing by 10 to 20 percent simply by eliminating unnecessary
phrases, choosing short words rather than long ones, and using economical
grammatical forms. Your job is to figure out how to convey a lot of information economically.

Professional Appearance
You start to communicate before anyone reads the first word of the document. If the document looks neat and professional, readers will form a positive impression of it and of you. Your documents should adhere to the format
standards of your organization or your professional field, and they should be
well designed and neatly printed. For example, a letter should follow one of
the traditional letter formats and have generous margins.

Correctness
A correct document is one that adheres to the conventions of grammar,
punctuation, spelling, mechanics, and usage. Sometimes, incorrect writing
can confuse readers or even make your writing inaccurate. The biggest

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Exercises

15

problem, however, is that incorrect writing makes you look unprofessional. If

your writing is full of errors, readers will wonder if you were also careless in
gathering, analyzing, and presenting the technical information. If readers
doubt your professionalism, they will be less likely to accept your conclusions or follow your recommendations.
A technical document is meant to convey information to a particular
audience so that they understand something or carry out a task. To accomplish these goals, it must be honest, clear, accurate, comprehensive, accessible, concise, professional in appearance, and correct.

Exercises
In This Book For more about memos, see Ch. 14, p. 377.

1.

Form small groups to study the following Web page, the Home/Private Users section of
the Products portion of the Acer Canada site. Discuss
which characteristics of technical communication you

INTERNET EXERCISE

see in this example. How effective is this Web page?

What changes would you make to improve it? Present
your ideas in a brief memo to your instructor.

Source: Acer, Inc., 2008 <www.acer.ca/public/page115.do?sp=page115&stu10.values=30&UserCtxParam=0&GroupCtxParam

=0&dctx1=27&CountryISOCtxParam=CA&LanguageISOCtxParam=en&ctx3=32&ctx4=Canada&crc=3481551221>.

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2. Locate an owners manual for a consumer product such

as a coffeemaker, bicycle, or hair dryer. In a memo to
your instructor, describe and evaluate the manual. To
what extent does it meet the measures of excellence
discussed in this chapter? In what ways does it fall
short? Submit a photocopy of the document (or a representative portion of it) with your memo.

3.

munication. Describe the aspects of the document

that illustrate the characteristics of technical communication discussed in this chapter. Then evaluate the
effectiveness of the document. Write your response in
a memo to your instructor. Submit a printout of the
document (or a representative portion of it) with your
assignment.

Locate a document on the Web

that you believe to be an example of technical com-

INTERNET EXERCISE

Case 1: Judging Entries in a Technical-Communication Competition

In This Book For more about memos, see Ch. 14, p. 377.

Background
The English Department at Bonita Vista High School is sponsoring a technical-communication competition open to all
students. The teachers expect the competition to help promote student awareness of the technical-communication
profession and to encourage students to develop and showcase their technical-communication skills. The teachers
have encouraged students to submit original papers,
essays, lab reports, instructions, presentation slides, illustrations, Web sites, and the like on a technical subject of
their choice. Students also have been asked to include a
brief description of the assignment.
You are one of three judges selected from the community to evaluate entries. The other two judges are named
Cheryl and Pat. Cheryl has a bachelor of science degree in
Forest Management and works as a natural-resource specialist for the states Department of Forestry. Pat works as
a freelance animator and has 3-D modeling/animation
skills. Both have experience creating technical documents
or illustrations. You were asked to join the judging panel
because you are taking a technical-communication course
in college. The panels task is to evaluate the quality of
each submission and to reach a consensus on first-,
second-, and third-place winners. A new English teacher,
Mr. Insko, is coordinating the competition. He has left the
details of how to judge the entries up to the panel.
At your first meeting, Cheryl confesses, Im not sure
where to begin. The entries are all so different. How are we
going to evaluate each entry on its own merits? She points
to three entries spread out on the table (see Documents
1.11.3).
Pat admits that she has never served as a judge of a
competition. Look at this entry, she says, pointing to
Document 1.1. The student has a spelling mistake in the
first line. Should this entry win an award?

Maybe, Cheryl responds. This entry demonstrates

that the student understands the concept of chunking.
What do you mean by chunking? Pat asks.
You realize that you all seem to have different ideas of
how to define a good technical document. You propose
that the panel start by agreeing on some type of scoring or
rating sheet with several criteria by which you could judge
each entry.
I agree, Cheryl says. Each criterion could be worth up
to a certain number of points. By totaling the points for
each entry, we could determine the awards.
I like this approach, Pat says. However, in art school
I learned the most from peoples comments, not some
numeric score. I think its important that we comment on all
the entries. Lets make this a learning experience for the
students and not just a Whos the Best contest.
You volunteer to put together a scoring guide that incorporates all of these elements. You explain that you will
e-mail your sample scoring guide and a brief explanation of
your approach to Cheryl and Pat. You also suggest that the
three of you use your scoring guide to judge just these
three entries. Based on how well that goes, youll revise the
guide, if necessary, before the panel tackles the two boxes
of entries sitting on Mr. Inskos desk.

Your Assignment
1. Create a scoring guide to evaluate the entries. Write a
brief memo to the other judges explaining why you think
your approach is effective and fair.
2. Using this scoring guide, evaluate Documents 1.11.3.
Include a one-paragraph comment on each entry.

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Case 1: Judging Entries in a Technical-Communication Competition

Document 1.1

17

Entry 001

Students statement: For health class, Ms.

Ransberg gave us an assignment to create a flyer
on a health issue of interest to students. My flyer
is on high blood pressure and teenagers.

On TechComm Web
For digital versions of case
documents, click on
Downloadable Case
Documents on
<bedfordstmartins.com/
techcomm>.

Document 1.2

Entry 002

Students statement: This assignment was to

write a program to calculate the power of a
number. We had to have the number and power
entered from the keyboard and then have the
program do the math.

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Document 1.3

Entry 003

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Introduction to Technical Communication

Students statement: The assignment was to

explain how to use a feature of Microsoft Word
that many students wouldnt already know how to
use but would like to. We had to include at least
one graphic.