Technical Writing For Success 3rd Edition Darlene Smith Worthington, Sue Jefferson - Solutions

15. Interview someone who performs experiments, conducts labs or medical tests, or examines evidence (a police offi cer or a medical examiner, for example). Ask how reports are written, how evidence is handled, and how the scientifi c method is used. Discuss the diffi culty of remaining objective.
14. If you have a chance to travel to a conference, a seminar, a workshop, or another event, provide a trip report to the sponsors of the trip. Ask your classmates and/or instructor to help edit and revise the report.
13. Volunteer at a daycare center, for a reading program, or for another activity. Write an incident report based on an event you witnessed or learned of. Address the report to the leader of the organization.
12. Think of something about which you would like to know more—when your car gets better gas mileage or whether some brand of sunscreen works better than another. Ask a science instructor to help you design an experiment. Perform the experiment and write a lab report.
11. Conduct a science experiment at home. Get ideas from books, a science instructor, or online sources (Steve Spangler Science or ScienceBob).Take notes and write a lab report for English class.
10. Visit a place of interest—perhaps a college, a business, a museum, or a sporting event. Think of questions to ask during your trip. Write a trip report to a real or fi ctional supervisor, answering the questions.
9. Think of a time when something went wrong—perhaps a problem at school or work. After identifying and analyzing your audience, write an incident report describing the incident and what you learned.
8. Think of ways to explain these complex processes so that a lay reader can easily understand the process. Look for a common occurrence or description to use as an analogy:a. How the subconscious affects a person’s behaviorb. How the human eye seesc. How lightning is formed
7. To practice explaining complex information to a lay audience, fi nd a way to explain these laws of physics to a 6-year-old.a. Conservation of Matter: Matter is neither created nor destroyed.b. Third Law of Motion: For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.c. First Law of Motion:
6. Where do these sentences belong in a lab report—under Introduction, Materials and Method, Results, Discussion, or Conclusions?a. For this activity, four potatoes, four pieces of wood, four cans, and a fl ame were used to determine evidence of carbon.b. The larger the food supply, the larger
5. Which part of the following statements could be more precise?a. The bear drank from the water hole several times in the afternoon.b. The decibels were tested at levels too low for human ears.c. The robin sat on a few eggs in its nest for a couple of weeks.d. The CPU costs around $500, the
4. What type of graphics do these statements call for? Consider calculations, fi gures, and tables.a. The experiments were designed to demonstrate the properties of inverse functions. We experimented with several types of functions, including transcendental functions and polynomial expressions.b.
3. Are the statements listed below observable results? Respond yes or no.a. The manager plans to review safety standards with all employees.b. The olive trees have lost 80 percent of their leaves.c. Mr. Domingues regrets his decision to close the recapping unit.d. After the robbery, the Gallery
2. Some of the sentences below are vague, and some include the writer’s opinions. Revise each sentence to make it specifi c and factual. Invent details as needed.a. The calibrator is several minutes off schedule.b. The phenomenal response to our new computer safety education program shows that
1. Are these statements subjective or objective? Explain.a. This is the best English class I have ever taken.b. This class covers the basic style and formatting of technical writing.c. The patient seemed angry, probably because of something that happened on the way to the offi ce.d. The temperature
13. Write a news release for your school or another organization with which you are affi liated to announce an upcoming event, an accomplishment, or other newsworthy information. Submit the release to your instructor and class. If appropriate after careful revision and editing, submit it to a local
12. Visit a nonprofi t organization in your area. Learn about the mission and needs of the organization. Then locate a journal or newspaper article that is relevant to the nonprofi t—an article you think might help with the organization’s mission or goals. Write a one- to three-paragraph
11. Contact several businesses or governmental agencies to request a copy of the organization’s annual report, a periodic report outlining the status of the organization that is presented annually to shareholders, employees, vendors, and others. Analyze these reports to determine whether they fi
10. If you are seeking a summer or part-time job, applying for admission to a school, or working on a project, write a progress report to the appropriate person about how you are accomplishing your goals.
9. Consider any project you are working on at home, school, or work as a topic for a progress report. Your audience will be a person or group of people who have an interest in or make decisions about the project. Use the appropriate format and organization for the topic and audience.
8. Think of groups to which you belong: a family, a club, a neighborhood, a school. With one group and a particular time period in mind, plan and write a periodic report for a specifi c audience. Describe the ongoing activities for your group or for your unit of the larger organization.
7. Write a periodic report using the following information.As the Drafting Club chair, you receive organization funds from the Student Government Association (SGA). You report to the SGA twice a semester to tell them what the club is doing. Your next report is due January 6, 20—. In this report,
6. List fi ve mechanisms you know well. These may be mechanisms you use at work, at home, or at school. Consider using simple devices or a single mechanism within a larger, more complex machine. Write a mechanism description for one of the items. In your report, include a diagram of the mechanism.
5. Write a long summary, a short summary, and an abstract on one of the following: a magazine or journal article, a textbook chapter, a sporting event, a meeting, a TV show, a movie, a classroom lecture, or a speech. The material you use for the summaries and abstract might relate to your chosen
4. Evaluate your progress on a hobby or collection. For instance, if you build sound systems, explain the pieces of equipment (for example, speakers and receivers) you have acquired and describe the equipment you will add. If you collect baseball cards or comic books, note the cards or books you
3. Some of the following sentences are vague, and some include the writer’s opinions. Revise each sentence to make it specifi c and factual.Invent details as needed.a. The calibrator is several minutes off schedule.b. The phenomenal response to our new computer safety education program shows that
2. The statements listed in items a–j will go into a progress report. Identify each statement as Work Completed, Work Scheduled, or Problems/Projections.a. We have purchased a site license from NetBright for our network.b. The CD-ROM, which was delivered last Friday, was damaged in shipping so
1. Write a one-sentence summary of one of the following well-known fairy tales: “Little Red Riding Hood,” “Cinderella,” “Sleeping Beauty,”“Goldilocks and the Three Bears,” or “The Three Little Pigs.” Compare your summary with those of your classmates. If you read the story
3. Find someone in your community who has little Internet experience.Show that person how to conduct an online search. If necessary, meet at a public place that has computers and an Internet connection.
2. Interview a blogger or a web designer. Ask about the challenges of blogging or designing a website. Write a summary of the interview.
1. Write a FAQ about a topic related to your school or community—such as how to establish residency, how to join a community group, or how to select an area restaurant. Ask if your FAQ can be placed on the organization’s website or place your FAQ in a central location such as a bulletin board.
7. Go to Google Groups at http://groups.google.com. Join a discussion group that you fi nd interesting. Respond using the strategies presented in the chapter. Print your responses and submit them to your instructor.
6. Write a discussion response to these questions: How has the Internet helped you in your education? What have you learned from this chapter?
5. For this mock wiki, work in groups of fi ve. In your group, pass around the terms one at a time—perhaps over several days. Each person defi nes two terms and adds one or two pieces of information or deletes information that should be more accurate.blog wiki breadcrumb trails Wikipedia RSS
4. Use the topic below to practice the collaboration required by a wiki.Working with four of your classmates, enter the passage in a word processor. Send the fi le to each member of your group—perhaps over several days. Each person should fi nd one or two errors and add one or two pieces of
3. Write a FAQ on a topic of your choice. Choose from your school, your major, your job, or any topic with which you are familiar.
2. Find two websites—one that follows most of the guidelines presented in the chapter and one that does not. Write a one-page analysis explaining why one website is more effective than the other. Use bulleted lists to set up your comparison and introduce each list with a couple of sentences.
1. Create a sketch of a home page on a topic of interest. Draw your page, cut pictures out of magazines, download clip art, write or key names of links, and come up with the slogan. If you are familiar with HTML code or a web authoring system such as Dreamweaver®, design the page yourself.
7. Create a poster, fl yer, or brochure to advertise an area event, to educate people on a topic, or to alert them to some danger in your area. The document should follow principles of document design and use graphics to convey meaning and to support your message. Suggestions include an upcoming
6. Use the information from the table below to generate graphics. For each graph, write a brief introduction. Title and number each graphic properly.Table 1. Beverage Consumption, 1970–2005 Beverage 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 Whole Milk 25 21 17 14 11 9 8 7 Other Milk 6 8 11 12 15 15
5. Convert the following survey information into a pie graph: Out of 450 clients of Iron Works Gym, 175 want more weight-lifting equipment, 50 want child care services, 75 want a sauna, 50 want more personal trainers, and 100 want a juice bar.
4. Write a brief article explaining the signifi cance of a special photo.Incorporate the photo correctly into your article.
3. Suggest the best graphic to use for presenting the situations below. In addition, try to construct the graphic.a. Lamar wrote to his father and listed his latest test scores in calculus:Chapter 1, 83; Chapter 2, 79; Chapter 3, 92.b. Using a pedometer, Thanh compared the miles she walked during a
2. Create a scrapbook of graphics from newspapers, magazines, and the Web. Using your checklist, decide whether the graphics present the data effectively. Note the difference in the graphics that is not specifi cally covered in this chapter. Into which category of graphics do they fall?
1. Examine several of your textbooks for design features. Describe each design. Which book has the best design? Why?
10. Contact a nonprofi t organization or local government agency.a. Using a form letter or an e-mail from the agency, such as requests for contributions or welcome messages to new members or volunteers, analyze the target audience and the strategy used in the message.b. Offer to write a letter, a
9. Ask an administrator or organization in your school if you can help edit and revise one piece of brief correspondence.a. After receiving the document, interview the writer or writers. Make sure you ask about the target audience and the purpose of the correspondence.b. Edit and revise the
8. Plan and draft two e-mails that announce a new fl extime program at Bauman Industries. The program will allow workers to share the responsibilities of one position among two or three people. Print the e-mails to give to your instructor or to share with your classmates or team.a. One e-mail
7. You are Chief Food Scientist for Lehigh Bakery in Anderson, Wisconsin.Duane Carlson, president of the Logan Dairy Cooperative, a farmerowned and farmer-operated sales organization under contract to sell its entire production to your company, has invited you to speak to his members regarding the
6. As assistant to your Quality Assurance Team at World Wide Insurance, you are in charge of scheduling meetings. The chair, Ruben Flores, has asked you to call a meeting for Monday afternoon, April 24, 20—. He wants the group to discuss a recent employee concern regarding unsafe exercise
5. Write a memo from Christa Brinkdopke, Chief of Installation Services for Fox Cablevision, to Eric Monroe, an employee under her supervision.Eric has just completed 25 years of service with Fox Cablevision, and Christa wants to show her support for his work. Eric has had perfect attendance for
4. Compose and send an e-mail or a letter of inquiry to request some information. Consider a research project for another class, a question about a product you own, or a question about a place you want to visit.Share the correspondence and response with the class.
3. Marcus Robiskie of the ABC Detective Agency has just located Akilah Massaquoi’s car, stolen three months ago from a shopping mall. List information you would include in a letter to Akilah from Marcus announcing the good news. Make up the addresses. Before making your list, use your imagination
2. Read the following writing situations. Select the details you need; then write the headings for each memo.a. You are the manager for your school’s soccer team. Normally, you coordinate the packing of equipment and supplies for traveling to away games. However, for the next conference game to
1. Here are eight parts to a good news letter announcing that Tessa Heilig has won a cruise to the Caribbean. However, the parts are mixed up. Rewrite the letter, putting the sentences in proper order. Several combinations may be possible.a. To claim your prize, you must call 1-800-CRUISES before
17. Interview employees in your area, asking how often they work collaboratively, what kinds of projects they complete collaboratively, and how they organize tasks.
16. Help another person with all or part of the writing process for a writing project. You might help a family member or a member of Big Brothers Big Sisters or AmeriCorp. Coach the person through the stages of the writing process. Write a description of your experience.
15. Interview a writer in your area (a reporter, technical writer, local novelist, or public relations expert) about his or her writing process.Does the writer come up with topics, or does someone else provide them? What advice, if any, does the writer have for your classmates?Summarize the
14. Think of the last time you worked on a group project with other people.What kind of experience did you have? What were the benefi ts of working with this group? What were the drawbacks? What could you do differently the next time you are part of a group to make sure you have a positive
13. In small groups, write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper, expressing your views on a current event (for example, a choice of a political candidate, the way your tax dollars are spent, or a community concern). Individually, brainstorm ideas, organize your ideas, and take notes. In
12. Select one of the following topics and write a one-page essay: why people should exercise regularly, why people should stay informed about news events, or why people should recycle. Then practice writing collaboratively by dividing the topic into stages. Writer 1 will prewrite and organize
11. Write an essay or a paragraph on a topic of your choice. After you complete one draft, exchange papers with at least two of your classmates. Ask them to make comments using the list of questions for copyediting in this chapter.
10. Write a paragraph describing your favorite place by dictating your words to someone else. How does speaking aloud affect your writing process?
9. Write two paragraphs, one discussing what you like about writing and the other discussing what you do not like about writing. Write one paragraph by hand on notebook paper and the other using a word processor. How does your writing process change?
8. Use a variety of ways to combine the following short sentences into longer ones to add variety to the sentence structure. Then add a suitable topic sentence, a concluding sentence, and an appropriate transition to create a smoother fl ow of ideas.Luis has been offered two jobs. One job is at the
7. Think of as many synonyms as you can for the following words. When you are fi nished coming up with synonyms on your own, consult a thesaurus for additional synonyms.circumstance run shirt end excellence communicate document building describe pleasant fuel employment
6. Answer these questions about your writing process.a. Where and when do you prefer to write?b. Does the computer help or hinder your writing process? Explain.c. How do you prepare to write? Consider such tasks as playing music, gathering materials, making a sandwich, getting a beverage, or
5. Map your own writing process. Compare your process to a neighbor’s, an instructor’s, or a family member’s.
4. Use open freewriting, focused freewriting, or looping to come up with a topic for research. Then practice focused freewriting on your topic to help shape the idea. Another option is to practice focused freewriting on one of these topics: the environment, sports, music, or health.
3. Keep a writing journal each day for fi ve days. Write in it for 15 minutes at a time. At the end of fi ve days, underline topics about which you might consider writing. Choose one topic and practice mapping to come up with subtopics.
2. Listed below are the steps of the writing process. Rank them from easiest to most diffi cult for you, with 1 being easiest and 8 being most diffi cult. Rank them again for the time each one takes, with 1 taking the least time and 8 taking the most time. Which stage is most important?
1. How is writing like one of these processes: climbing a mountain, growing a plant, training a dog, or learning a song?
17. Identify a problem at school, in your community, or at work.Examples:Compared to the 55 mph speed limit, how does the 60 mph limit affect gas mileage?How can a person use leftovers to lower his or her food costs?How can students help their school lower electricity consumption?a. Decide what
16. Choose a product that your school or a community organization uses and compare it to a similar product. Keeping that product in mind, design an experiment to test the question. Write a report on the experiment design, the fi ndings of the experiment, or both. Make sure you collect valid and
15. In a small group, identify an issue at your school.a. Develop a survey to collect facts and opinions about the issue.b. Establish your audience and administer the survey in person.c. Tabulate the survey results.
14. Prepare questions and interview someone in your fi eld of interest. From that person, collect information about a particular research project he or she undertook. Ask about methods, diffi culties, and the outcome of the research. Record your fi ndings on your sheet of prepared questions.
13. Choose a topic relating to your career fi eld. Search for secondary information to provide basic background information. Write an essay summarizing your fi ndings and prepare a bibliography.
12. Using a full-text database available in your school or community library, fi nd and print an article relating to your career fi eld or to a term project.Write a summary of the article and bring the summary and the article to class. Explain to your peers how the information in the article
11. Go to the Help section of any Internet search engine. Learn how this particular system works. Share what you learn with your classmates.
10. Using the same keyword, use three Internet search engines. Bring to class the fi rst ten listings that each search showed and compare the results.
9. Watch a televised or video-recorded interview. Note the strategies the interviewer uses to make the interview effective.
8. Collect questionnaires for class analysis. Determine effective techniques as well as weaknesses in the surveys’ strategies.
7. Find three specialized reference sources (for example, a medical dictionary or an aerospace encyclopedia) relating to your future career fi eld or a topic of interest. (At least one of these reference sources should be online.) List the reference sources and a description of what each one offers.
6. Think of a subject or hobby about which you know a great deal. In a brief essay, describe how you acquired your knowledge.
5. Identify a company where you might like to work and gather information that would help you apply for a job there. For instance, learn about products, services, and activities. Research the way the company is organized, its business philosophy, and its niche in the marketplace.Write a report that
4. You are calling Sanford Weiss to set up an interview about a new type of home security system he invented. What arrangements should you discuss with him? List three things you should cover in the phone call to set up the interview.
3. Choose a technical or scientifi c topic (for example, taxation of Internet sales, irradiation of food supply, or cosmetic use of Botox®). Find fi ve sources, print and electronic, on the topic. Develop a working bibliography with each source listed in correct MLA bibliographic form or the style
2. Paraphrase items a andb. Write a direct quotation for itemc. Remember to include documentation and an introduction or integration so that readers will know the context from which the information came.a. “The Center for Marine Conservation reported that volunteers scouring ocean beaches and
1. Compose a note card for each item.a. On page 14 of the magazine Farm Review, Edward F. Rademacher’s and Janet Schwartz’s article “Hog Farmers and Homeowners: Zoning Solutions” notes that municipal and regional governments are“legislating distance” between the farms’ waste lagoons
11. Interview someone in your area who is from another country or from another part of the United States. Ask about differences in the culture, such as food, celebrations, customs, and manners. Research the person’s culture. Write a list of suggestions that would help an area business communicate
10. Interview the editor or a news reporter for a local news agency—newspaper, radio, or television. What are the demographics—the specifi c breakdown of the members of the audience—by such identifi ers as age, sex, income, and race? How do the demographics affect the news reported? How does
9. Write a letter to the President of the United States about a particular policy you like (or do not like). Tell a friend what you like (or do not like) about the same policy. How does your language change?
8. Write a letter to your employer requesting time off for a special event, such as homecoming or a family vacation. Then switch roles. Write a letter from the employer to you denying the time off. How are your letters different?
7. Divide into teams of three or four students. Use the following scenario to answer items a and b.Sam, Kaito, and Meg have just started publishing TV Highlights, a weekly magazine. Sam sells the advertising. Kaito, a graphic designer, is responsible for the artwork. Kaito’s uncle is the owner.
6. Who are the primary and secondary audiences in the following situations?a. Aruna Amin, an advertising consultant, has been hired to write a series of ads to educate young people about the danger of using cell phones while driving.b. Lu-yin Chang, a professional technical writer, is working on a
5. Suggest an appropriate audience and medium for the following situations:a. Nadia wants members of her scuba diving club to know the latest diving news.b. Thaddeus is responsible for selling manufactured homes in his territory.c. The County Health Department wants to tell the public how to
4. Bring several issues of your favorite magazine to class or visit a library.Spend 15–20 minutes looking at the table of contents and browsing through the articles and advertisements. After considering the following questions, write a few paragraphs analyzing one magazine for audience and
3. Look through the comic section of the Sunday newspaper. Which comic strips appeal to which audiences? How do you know? For each comic strip, list the target audience and features that help you identify the audience.
2. Consider the following terms. If any are unfamiliar to you, look them up in a dictionary or ask your family or friends what they mean. Which audience(s) would understand these terms?blitz RAM curl sautégoalie billabong dunk arabesque rap compost angioplasty starboard
1. To make you more aware of audience, answer the following questions:Who might be the target audience for these TV shows, networks, or stations? To what groups of people might they appeal? Why?Grey’s Anatomy Monday Night Football Country Music Television 60 Minutes Jeopardy Nick at Nite American

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Technical Writing For Success 3rd Edition Darlene Smith Worthington, Sue Jefferson - Solutions

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