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Posts from July 2017

#InfographicInspiration: Put CRAP in Your Document Design

#InfographicInspiration: Put CRAP in Your Document Design published on

Lynda.com Login Help

Lynda.com videos are free to Virginia Tech students with your VT.EDU login. Start at the VT.EDU login page to access these resources.

One of my favorite ways to talk about strong document design is the CRAP method. That stands for Contrast, Repetition, Alignment, and Proximity. Using all four of these elements helps give your work a polished appearance and catches readers’ attention.

This week’s #InfographicInspiration gives you a quick overview of all four elements. It is worth saving for future use.

For a more detailed explanation of the elements, watch the Lynda.com video, Understanding the PARC system (Lynda.com was apparently afraid to say CRAP, so they spell it backwards).

CRAP Principles of Design


 
Last updated on 22nd July, 2017, 11:02 AM

#WednesdayWorkshop: What to Include in Your Proposal

#WednesdayWorkshop: What to Include in Your Proposal published on

Lynda.com Login Help

Lynda.com videos are free to Virginia Tech students with your VT.EDU login. Start at the VT.EDU login page to access these resources.

Better late than never, right? For your #WednesdayWorkshop, I wanted to recommend a series of videos on Lynda.com that goes over the different parts that go into a proposal. Altogether, the videos will take 28m53s of your time. The videos includes all of the following:

  • Overview of proposal parts (4m40s)
  • Prefatory parts (5m28s)
  • Body parts (5m7s)
  • Ending parts (4m31s)
  • Appended parts (4m22s)
  • Visuals (4m45s)

Log in to see the video. A preview is below:


Writing a Proposal by Judy Steiner-Williams

 


 
Last updated on 21st July, 2017, 9:58 PM

#TuesdayTutorial: Designing for Readers

#TuesdayTutorial: Designing for Readers published on

Lynda.com Login Help

Lynda.com videos are free to Virginia Tech students with your VT.EDU login. Start at the VT.EDU login page to access these resources.

As you work on your proposal this week, you need to spend time focusing on the document design to make sure that your proposal is reader-friendly. Writing in the workplace needs not only to have great content, but also a layout and design elements that help the reader find all the important information in the document.

This week’s #TuesdayTutorial is a short video from Lynda.com: Constructing a Reader-Friendly Design (3m6s). The video demonstrates how to use headings and layout to break up your text, making it easy for readers to find the information they are looking for. As you think about breaking up and organizing your text with the ideas in this video, be sure to keep in mind the tips for
Creating Information-Rich Signposts.

Screenshot of Lynda.com video

This video is part of a course on writing proposals, and I will share some other sections from the course later this week. If you have time to watch the entire course, it will help you as you write your proposal.


 
Last updated on 18th July, 2017, 1:57 AM

Proposing Your Project

Proposing Your Project published on

This is the post for the week of July 17, 2017.

This week, you will write your Short Report Proposal, which explains what you want to focus and how you will conduct your research and writing for your Genre Analysis Report. All of the remaining major projects in the course are connected. Here’s how:

The take-away message is that you have to decide on your plan for both the proposal and the genre analysis report this week.

Logistics Note for This Week

I leave Tuesday for the Council of Writing Program Administrators Conference in Knoxville. I will drive back on Sunday. I will have internet access and check in often (except while driving, of course), but there may be minor delays in my responses to your questions and in my daily posts on the course website.

Readings for This Week

Tasks for This Week

  1. By 11:59 PM on Monday, July 17, submit your Analysis of Writing Project in Canvas. The grace period ends at 11:59 PM on Thursday, July 20.
  2. Review the assignments for the Short Report Proposal and Genre Analysis Report. The Examples, Cases & Models: Proposal provides some models you can use as you works. Post any questions you have about the assignments in #general on Slack.
  3. Share a draft of your Short Report Proposal  in the Feedback on Short Proposals on Canvas by 11:59 PM on Friday, July 21.
    • In your message, ask your group to look at anything you are trying to improve. Let them know the kind of advice you need.
    • By noon on Monday, July 24, provide feedback to your group members, using the strategies in the Peer Review Commenting Strategies video.
    • Your Analysis of Writing project is due Monday, July 24 at 11:59PM. The grace period ends at 11:59PM on Thursday, July 27.
  4. By 11:59PM on Friday, July 21, write your 07/21 Labor Log in Canvas. Specific questions for your log are included in Canvas. The grace period for your log entry ends at 11:59 PM on Monday, July 24.

 
Last updated on 17th July, 2017, 1:27 AM

#WeekendWatch: Create Information-Rich Signposts

#WeekendWatch: Create Information-Rich Signposts published on

Lynda.com Login Help

Lynda.com videos are free to Virginia Tech students with your VT.EDU login. Start at the VT.EDU login page to access these resources.

Next week, you will begin working on your short proposals and thinking about your genre analysis reports. Both of these documents (and many other things that you write) will benefit from the document features that you include.

This week’s #WeekendWatch video discusses how including clear headings, subheadings, and links helps readers navigate your document by providing information-rich signposts. Listen for a reference in the video to the F-shaped reading pattern, which these document features support.

The video refers to online documents specifically, but most of these features are useful in printed documents as well. Obviously links are not very helpful in printed work. Headings and subheadings certainly are.

Learning to Write for the Web by Chris Nodder (video, 5m22s)

After you watch the video, you can discuss the ideas in the #WeekendWatch Discussion in Canvas.


 
Last updated on 15th July, 2017, 2:37 AM

#FridayFact: F-Shaped Reading Pattern

#FridayFact: F-Shaped Reading Pattern published on

Eye-tracking studies show that people read online documents in an F-shaped pattern, shown here:

Heatmaps Showing F-Shaped Reading Pattern

They scan across the top of the page and then down the left side of the page until they find another significant word or phrase that catches their attention. At that point, they scan across the page a bit and then resume scanning down the page a bit. People rarely read everything on the page. They scan and decide in a matter of seconds what action to take next. They may never scroll down the page.

If you are writing documents that people will read online—whether email messages, attached files, or webpages—you need to use document design elements that will put your most important information in the path of the F-shape pattern.

As you consider this study, think about the design strategies that would help readers find the significant information in your messages, and share your ideas in the #FridayFact Discussion in Canvas.

Read more

 

Photo Credit: Jakob Nielsen’s F-Shaped Pattern For Reading Web Content


 
Last updated on 14th July, 2017, 11:36 PM

#InfographicInspiration: Your Guide to Technial Writing

#InfographicInspiration: Your Guide to Technial Writing published on

Today’s infographic shares 5 tips that will help you do well in your technical writing projects and in the workplace. The information is clear and to the point (just as the first tip suggests). If you follow these tips, you will always have a very good project. Discuss the infographic in the #InfographicInspiration Discussion in Canvas. You can talk about whether you agree with the tips and share any tips you have learned from your work in the field or studies. And here’s a challenge: what words are misused in the infographic?

Your Guide to Technial Writing: 5 Tips to Get Started

from https://contentmart.com/blog/2017/07/03/technical-writing-guide/


 
Last updated on 13th July, 2017, 11:52 PM

#WednesdayWorkshop: Simplifying and Varying Sentences

#WednesdayWorkshop: Simplifying and Varying Sentences published on

Every Wednesday, I will share resources that demonstrate how to improve your writing. This week, I focus on how to simplify and vary your sentences to make your ideas stronger, clearer, and easier to read.

The first resource is a short video from the American Chemical Society titled, “Technical Writing: How to Simplify Sentences” (3m45s). While the video focuses on only one sentence, it shows a complete revision process that takes the sentence from a wordy 35 words to a slim and clear 15 words.

My second resource, “Revising for Sentence Fluency” (7m8s), demonstrates how to analyze a draft for sentence variety, by counting the words in each sentence and noting how each sentence begins. While the video uses what is probably a first-year composition essay, the strategy still applies to technical writing. If you want a better idea of the variety required in writing in your field, apply the strategy to some example documents from your field.

 


 
Last updated on 12th July, 2017, 11:11 PM

Labor Log Examples

Labor Log Examples published on

I have two labor logs to share as examples that you can follow as you work on your entries for the rest of the term. You will notice that they use different strategies, but both show well-developed details and have strong design elements and organization.

Submission Format Change

To give you more flexibility for the labor logs, I have set them to accept either an uploaded Word Doc or PDF, OR a website URL (like a link to a Google Doc). If you use Google Docs, be sure that you have set the share settings so that I can view and make comments.


 
Last updated on 12th July, 2017, 10:00 PM

Policy Updates

Policy Updates published on

I have two policy updates for you. Both are effective immediately and apply to all work from this point forward.

  1. If you do not turn in your work by the end of the grace period, you receive a zero for that activity, and you cannot revise. This policy applies to all work in the course: major projects, labor logs, and discussions. Why? Unlimited, punishment-free revisions are NOT intended to support those who never did the work in the first place.
  2. Deadlines for revisions will be announced in the grading summary blog post and/or in a comment with the returned work. Why? I want to create a manageable workload for both you and me. If there were no deadline, many of you would wait until the end of the term, and there would be a burdensome load for all of us.

 
Last updated on 12th July, 2017, 9:31 PM

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