Technical Writing @ SLCC
Department of English, Linguistics, and Writing Studies, Salt Lake City Community College
Copyright Year:
Publisher: Salt Lake Community College
Language: English
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Attribution-NonCommercial
CC BY-NC
Reviews
I really appreciate a book that covers writing for the sciences and writing for engineering because it is very often composition instructors who teach technical writing since it is in the writing sequence. Of course many competition instructors... read more
I really appreciate a book that covers writing for the sciences and writing for engineering because it is very often composition instructors who teach technical writing since it is in the writing sequence. Of course many competition instructors have never taught a science or engineering class so this is actually new to them. I love having somewhere to send my students for tips on how to write for these disciplines. However, I think some of the more general aspects of technical writing, such as resume and cover letter and memo should also be covered because those modalities transfer across many different professional situations. Perhaps a more general section as well as these specific sections would be helpful.
As far as I can judge, I found the information to be very accurate. There is a strong section on the writing process which I greatly appreciate. I can't speak to the accuracy of the sciences and engineering sections beyond my rather nascent understanding of writing for both but they do have strong sources and examples that lend credibility
In a global economy, skipping resume and cover letter, even if they were to be packaged with for example a science resume or a science cover letter or a CV for an engineer... I think this is a misstep and because the book is missing this keeps it from being eternally relevant. I've taught technical writing several times and whenever I don't include an aspect of job search whether resume or cover letter, students complain. I also think that there's a small problem in not recognizing that the term technical writing has been problematized even within the discipline of technical writing. People argue over what the definition means and which disciplines are allowed to say they include technical writing. Acknowledging the limited scope of this particular text or accompanying this text with a second text that explored technical writing of other types would make it more complete. It would also make it more culturally relevant because of course there are aspects of technical writing to many new and emerging professions that have been skipped here
The book is very well laid out with good use of accessible headers and clear, concise language with good examples
I found this book to be very consistent in tone and scope. It's laid out logically with a friendly but not overly effusive use of language that would make it approachable by community college audiences. Not
I'm going to use this book specifically for the two modules that I personally don't have that much experience in, science and engineering writing. For that reason alone, I strongly suggest this book for its modularity and see it complimenting other content in a course that was more general or based on more diverse interests in community college students
The organization is very logical and easy to follow. I don't find any of the chapters to be over long and I think the balance between information and examples is well thought out
There is nothing confusing here. It's been well designed for aesthetics and for comprehension
I didn't find any grammar errors.
I think there is a slight dated quality to the aspect of cultural relevance here. Diversity isn't exactly addressed nor is culture versus subculture. Even within the field of engineering, after all, they're going to be many different types of engineers from different countries etc. And as I've already mentioned, there are emerging professions that aren't even addressed here which makes it less culturally responsive in general
I would like to thank the writer for sharing this with the community at large. I can't wait to incorporate aspects of it into my class this winter
The book is very comprehensive and covers a wide range of topics required for students to learn the skill of technical communication. read more
The book is very comprehensive and covers a wide range of topics required for students to learn the skill of technical communication.
While reviewing some of the examples, text was highlighted in red which seems to indicate that there may be some inaccuracy, however it is unclear why the text is highlighted.
Some of the content should be updated. Some of the example documents are outdated.
The text is clear to understand, conversational in tone and accessible. The jargon and technical terminology are adequate.
The text is internally consistent in terms of terminology and framework.
The text provides a useful table of contents that helped to identify the various sections/topics.
The content organization is logical by topic.
The content is well organized, however, the electronic version of the text did not provide adequate instructions for navigation.
The text contains no grammatical errors.
I did not find any of the content culturally insensitive or offensive.
Overall, it's a good resource.
Table of Contents
- I. The Writing Process
- II. Introduction to Writing in the Sciences
- III. Introduction to Writing in Engineering
- IV. Citation & Copyright
- V. Civic-Engagement and Technical Writing
- VI. Project Planning
About the Book
What is technical writing? You can think of it as writing about specialized topics or you could also think of it as using technology to communicate your ideas. A science lab report, a specification, a change order for building construction, or patient education materials–just to name a few–are all considered technical writing. Similarly if you design a webpage or a brochure this can also be considered technical writing. Academic writing, the writing you do for school, generally is informative or persuasive writing and usually only comes in a few different genres. In technical writing, on the other hand, one is often documenting what was done (such as a science experiment or auto repair invoice). Therefore the format of the writing is often as important as the content. This leads to an emphasis on usability and accessibility for your documents. Finally, although citing your sources is important in all writing, you will find that in some fields of technical writing, such as the sciences and engineering, it is one of the more important considerations of your writing.
About the Contributors
Author
Department of English, Linguistics, and Writing Studies at SLCC