Avoid unusual combinations of background and text colors. For example, purple or red text on a black background is unreadable. Stick with black text on a white or gray background unless there is a strong, functional reason for some other color combination.

Lists are useful tools for emphasizing important points, enabling readers to scan text rapidly, and providing more white space. The following presents some of the standard guidelines on lists.

Put standard measurement units (ft, mm, gal.) in the column or row heading rather than with each item in the column or row.

Make notices' text succinct, but not at the expense of clear writing. Avoid telegraphic writing style (omitting articles like a, an, the) in notices.

ook for repeating groups of items in your text that you can format as table

ntroduce all lists with lead-in text; don't start a list immediately after a heading

Be consistent with using initial caps or lower-case letters on the first words of list items. Use different symbols for the second levels of nested lists. For numbered lists, use lowercase letters. For bulleted lists, use bolded en dashes or empty-centered circles

Use highlighting for specific, functional reasons. Avoid too much highlighting, and avoid complicated highlighting schemes.

Whatever notice design you use, avoid using long strings of bold text, italics, capital letters, or combinations of these. In addition to telling readers to do or not do something, explain three things:

If you use color, use it minimally and consistently. For example, if you have black text on a white background, you might select another color for headings. You might use that same color for figure and table titles as well as the tags for notices (the actual "Note," "Warning," "Caution," and "Danger" labels on notices).

Lists are useful tools for emphasizing important points, enabling readers to scan text rapidly, and providing more white space.

Highlighting here refers to bold text, italics, alternate fonts, capital letters, quotation marks, and other typographical tricks used to call attention to text

In the text before each figure appears, provide a cross-reference to the figure. If you include a label and caption, place them below each figure. Omit labels and captions if they have no vital function and are not needed (for example, in instructions when the figures are closely related to the individual steps

Insert plenty of headings, perhaps one heading for every two to three paragraphs. Avoid overkill, though: lots of headings with only one or two sentences per heading does not work.

communication is interpreted at multiple levels

Use simple vertical lists when the list items do not need to be emphasized and are listed vertically merely for ease of reading.

We can try asking ourselves the following questions to see if we already have a sense of what the argument's goal is.

pushing readers to do something:

Then we use these notes to draw a visual map of an argument. In the map we see the argument's momentum as the reason points us toward the claim. We see how each element implies, supports, limits, or contradicts other elements.

0

Schrödinger →⟨ψ0| (t)|ψ0⟩ Heisenberg

Nor wotteth man this, what a marvel it is, When seeing, and saying, and hearing are done! This Life within all living things, my Prince! Hides beyond harm; scorn thou to suffer, then, For that which cannot suffer. Do thy part! Be mindful of thy name, and tremble not!

x,y,zx,y,z{\color{red}x}, {\color{blue}y}, {\color{green}z}

C2v

First-level headings are for formal reports with multiple sections (or "chapters")

If you are writing a brief document, start with secondlevel headings in the body of the document

Make the phrasing of headings parallel. In the following illustration, notice that the second-level headings use the how, what, when, where, why style of phrasing. The third-levels use noun phrases. (Check out this tutorial on Parallel Structure from the Purdue OWL)

For short documents, begin with the second-level heading; skip the first-level.

Don't overdo headings: for example, a heading for each of a series of one- or two-sentence paragraphs. (Also, you don't need a heading per paragraph;

Solution

Our final type of memo/email is the response to an inquiry. Most of the memos/emails you send will be informational or response to an inquiry. Response to an inquiry memos/emails address a question or series of questions—perhaps about an action, a product, or a policy.

In this chapter, we will look at the five most common types—progress report, meeting minutes, incident report, directive, and response to an inquiry.

You don't want to submit perfect progress reports and then suddenly your supervisor finds out the project is behind schedule!

Even so, it is important to secure the correct form and make sure that you fill in the requested information. Usually there is a portion of the form where you are asked to tell what happened—provide the narrative of the event. You will want to double check all information before you commit it to the incident report, which is a legal document. You may have to look up the names and titles of persons also involved. You also want to make sure the date is correct, and any equipment names or room numbers are correct. Do not write what you THINK happened. Write where you were and what happened to you or what you saw. Explain what happened after the incident, as well. How did you handle it? What did you do? Also, be very clear and avoid any language that might not be understood by people outside your field.

Something you may not know about is the "through" or "via" line on paper memos. In the military or in especially hierarchical companies, it may be frowned upon for a person to send an email to someone at a level above his or her direct supervisor. At such organizations, any correspondence to a person above the writer's direct supervisor must go through the supervisor. The memo must go first to the direct supervisor, indicated with a "through" or "via" line. The direct supervisor initials by his or her name to show he or she has read and approved the memo, and then sends it to the next level until it arrives at its destination. When the final recipient receives it, he or she is assured that your memo has been read and approved all the way up the chain of command.

Finally, always be polite and practice the "you" attitude. Think about how it must feel to need information—and to perhaps be frustrated. It's true, you might be frustrated,

nd it's probably okay to be that informal because it's also not an official event that requires action on the employees' parts. But what if tomorrow is the annual blood drive? That event may require more explanation, especially since new employees (hired since the last blood drive) may not be aware of the company's long standing support of the local blood bank.

But memos evolved into emails, although paper memos are still created, and often then scanned and distributed electronically.

And because enclosures/attachments are often indicated by paper clip symbols in an email feed, the "Attachment" note is not used in emails.

you might thank the writer for purchasing your product or for being a loyal customer or client.

Unlike the general information memo, a directive generally starts with the rationale behind the directive so that people feel that it is a reasonable request, and also to help people remember it. It then ends by stating the policy or procedure that readers are directed to follow. For example, let's say that for security reasons, the janitorial staff will no longer be allowed access to employee offices. Instead, employees will put their trash cans outside their offices on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays for the janitorial staff to empty. Employees will then put their trash cans back in their offices the following morning. This is a new practice, so you want to issue a directive.

Most importantly, as mentioned above, minutes include what happened during the meeting, including who presented on main topics and who brought forth and seconded votes, and what decisions were made.

Email formats are based on memo formats—that is, they are set up to provide the four key pieces of introductory information that a memo states in the heading: to, from, subject, and date.

ou have the options of cc. CC stands for carbon copy.

If you have ever written an email, you may have noticed that you have to provide the name of the person you are sending the email to and the subject. The email automatically provides the name of the sender and the date.

“I saw with these Eyes of mine the Spaniards for no other reason, but only to gratify their bloody mindedness, cut off the Hands, Noses, and Ears, both of Indians and Indianesses.”22

Sugar was originally grown in Asia but became a popular, widely profitable luxury item consumed by the nobility of Europe. The Portuguese began growing sugarcane along the Mediterranean, but sugar was a difficult crop. It required tropical temperatures, daily rainfall, unique soil conditions, and a fourteen-month growing season.

Prehistoric Settlement in Warren County, Mississippi. Mural by Robert Dafford, depicting the Kings Crossing archaeological site as it may have appeared in 1000 CE. Vicksburg Riverfront Murals

The Puebloan people of Chaco Canyon faced several ecological challenges, including deforestation and overirrigation, which ultimately caused the community to collapse and its people to disperse to smaller settlements. An extreme fifty-year drought began in 1130.

Lenapes wove nets, baskets, mats, and a variety of household materials from the rushes found along the streams, rivers, and coasts. They made their homes in some of the most fertile and abundant lands in the Eastern Woodlands and used their skills to create a stable and prosperous civilization.

undergrowth

The stimulus occurs immediately before the response. The stimulus (either reinforcement or punishment) occurs soon after the response.

To fully understand an argument, experienced readers ask big-picture questions about the author, the audience they address, the context, the genre of the text, the purpose of the text, and the constraints that shape how it is written.

Such an argument analysis, also called a rhetorical analysis, asks you to describe what the other writer is up to, not just in terms of ideas but in terms of all the strategies they used to make the argument convincing. You become a kind of detective, piecing together the moves the writer made, the reasons for them, and their likely effects on readers.

How well are the author's appeals to trust and emotion likely to work? Will readers likely respond as the writer imagines?

L'argent

La prudence

activité vertueuse

'eudaimonie,

6y′=(2x+1)(y2−2y−8)

Highlight, annotate, mark pages with sticky notes or flags, and take notes as you read

s content), but how it is said (the language used to send the message, also known as form).

Make sure your tables, charts, and graphs are appropriate to your audience, subject matter, and purpose—don't zap beginners with massive, highly technical constructions they can't understand.

Such a practice was common and legal, but it was not at all ethical to deny sick persons the ability to afford the health care they needed.

Ethics is one of the most important topics in technical communication. When you can communicate clearly and effectively, and when it is your task to help others to understand an object, process, or procedure, it is your responsibility to do so in an ethical fashion.

Good communication skills, particularly in writing, are essential if you are going to succeed in the workplace. The working world depends on written communication because within modern organizations, almost every action is documented in writing. Furthermore, many kinds of writing, including correspondence, presentations using visuals like PowerPoint, technical reports, and formal reports are prevalent in most workplaces. And the writing has to be good, accurate, clear, and grammatically correct. Kyle Wiens (2012) writes in an article in the Harvard Business Review: "If you think an apostrophe was one of the 12 disciples of Jesus, you will never work for me. If you scatter commas into a sentence with all the discrimination of a shotgun, you might make it to the foyer before we politely escort you from the building. I have a zero tolerance to grammar mistakes that make people look stupid."

Something related to a progress report is a status report or status update. While a progress report reports upon the progress of a single project, a status report is a report on the status of your entire unit or department—it can encompass a range of projects and activities, and it is usually submitted at regular intervals—monthly or quarterly—regardless of what projects are underway.

In an email-only culture, this same process would be achieved by sending the email to your direct supervisor and allowing him or her to forward the email up the chain of command.

If it is a longer memo (longer than a paragraph), you may wish to use section headers

Email formats are based on memo formats—that is, they are set up to provide the four key pieces of introductory information that a memo states in the heading: to, from, subject, and date.

For example, perhaps you have received an email with the hundreds of email addresses that were cc-ed on the original email, and you have to scroll through them to get to the message. It's annoying. If it's not necessary for the recipients to know who received the email—maybe it's just a reminder that the office is closing early today--and you want to avoid the scroll through the cc's, then you can bc all the recipients. That way, there's no cc scroll, and when someone replies, there's no chance that he or she will accidentally hit "reply all."

For most meetings, notes are kept regarding what important topics were brought up in the meeting and what important decisions were made. These notes are often kept on file so that people can look back through them if questions arise about, for example, important votes or discussions about topics. These notes are called meeting minutes. Sometimes a secretary is appointed to always take minutes. And sometimes the duty rotates among attendees. The minutes are then "written up," which is a common term for preparing them to share with the group. Meeting minutes take a particular form, whether they are distributed via memo or email. The header includes the organization's name, the date and location of the meeting, who was present, and the meeting leader and the person taking the minutes. They also include the time the meeting started and the time the meeting ended.

People generally agree that using the bc option is appropriate for privacy reasons. For example, perhaps you are an attorney, and you email an insurance company a copy of a client's claim. You might bc the client to ensure the client knows you sent the document and to keep his or her email address private from the insurance company.

As memos or emails, you will want to start by putting the documents in the correct format. For a memo, you will open up a word processing program, such as Microsoft Word, and you will type the memo header at the top of the document: to, from, subject, and date.

Have empathy, be polite, and offer to assist with other questions or requests.

You send out emails and memos for a variety of reasons—usually to distribute information.

it is not generally a good practice to send correspondence—paper or electronic—to persons at levels above your supervisor without talking to your supervisor about the matter first and perhaps asking him or her to unofficially review and approve your memo or email.

Something you may not know about is the "through" or "via" line on paper memos. In the military or in especially hierarchical companies, it may be frowned upon for a person to send an email to someone at a level above his or her direct supervisor. At such organizations, any correspondence to a person above the writer's direct supervisor must go through the supervisor. The memo must go first to the direct supervisor, indicated with a "through" or "via" line. The direct supervisor initials by his or her name to show he or she has read and approved the memo, and then sends it to the next level until it arrives at its destination. When the final recipient receives it, he or she is assured that your memo has been read and approved all the way up the chain of command.

Bcc stands for blind carbon copy, and bc is blind copy, but they are the same thing. When you use the bc option, only the person bc-ed can see who gets the email. The person in the "to" box or anyone cc-ed cannot see that a bc copy was sent or who received it.

When do you use the cc option? When you want someone to have a copy of the email, but only for reference purposes. Or to put it more casually, to keep someone in the loop. For example, you manage a team, and you recently had a meeting. You send the meeting minutes to the team members who attended the meeting. You also want your supervisor to know that 1) you had a meeting and 2) you covered important topics and some decisions are made. Your supervisor isn't necessarily going to respond to the email and isn't directly involved in the meeting or projects. This is a good time to use a cc. When you cc someone on the email, everyone who gets the email can see who is cc-ed.

So the "cc" in the email heading stands for carbon copy, even though we don't use carbon anymore. In fact, sometimes, the cc is just changed to c for copy.

CC stands for carbon copy

in email, the reader feels pretty confident that the email really came from the sender because, presumably, the sender had to log in to a secure email account.

Memos and emails have the to, from, subject, date heading format in common. For this reason, emails are often considered to be synonymous with memos

Through trying different combinations

Then, make sure your writing is readable. If you have identified and analyzed your audience, you are off to a good start. Readable means that your document can be easily understood by your target audience, and refers to the formula where by words, sentence length, and sentence complexity determine how hard or easy your sentences are to read. If your readability is too high for the audience, then they will either take more time getting what they need from your writing, or it wont be of any use to them at all. Too low? You may come across as condescending, if not a lousy writer.

1.3: Accessibility in Technical Writing

Your writing has to be clear so that your reader can get from it the information you intended. Strive to make sure that you have expressed exactly what you mean, and have not left room for incorrect interpretations.

First and most important, your writing must be honest. Your trustworthiness in communication reflects not only on you personally but on your organization or discipline.

1.2: Let's Take a Look at Characteristics of Technical Writing

Good communication skills, particularly in writing, are essential if you are going to succeed in the workplace.

but what we know today as the professional field of technical writing began during World War I from the need for technology based documentation for military and manufacturing industries.

And the writing has to be good, accurate, clear, and grammatically correct.

but an essential skill for the many, and goes on to state that much of what is important in American public and economic life depends on strong written and oral communication skills.

H2O acts as the proton acceptor

The success of an emotional appeal depends on how well the author predicts readers’ likely reactions.

The overall emotional tenor of an argument is called tone. Identifying and describing the tone can give us insight into the author’s attitude and purpose.

Writers can help shape readers’ reactions by choosing words with particular emotional associations.

Emotional appeals need to align with logical reasoning to be legitimate.

The tone can vary throughout an argument as the author moves from point to point.

Powerful examples can help readers connect emotionally to the argument’s claims.

Logic and emotion come together to build powerful arguments and infuse them with a sense of purpose.

Use legitimate emotional appeals to support their own written arguments.

Distinguish between legitimate and illegitimate emotional appeals

Assess the likely effectiveness of an emotional appeal for a particular audience

Identify the ways in which a given argument appeals to emotion through word choice, tone, or powerful examples

Describe the value of emotional appeals in written academic argument

A strong argument will leave no doubt about its precise meaning.

A strong argument will offer trustworthy evidence of the kinds needed to support the particular claims.

A strong argument will accurately summarize any important counterarguments and respond to them.

Once we have assessed many aspects of an argument, we can come up with an overall assessment by reflecting on which strengths and weaknesses are most significant.

A list of common phrases used to praise and critique arguments as discussed in this chapter.

Annotations point out how two writers have structured their assessment essays.

A list of the fallacies, or logical problems discussed in this chapter, by their technical names.

Even if an argument has significant flaws, it may also contain insights worth noting.

To test an argument’s strength, we can identify the assumptions it depends on and determine whether or not they are valid.

If we can find an exception to something in the argument, the exception may help us identify a problem in the reasoning.

College essay assignments in many disciplines ask us to give our own reasoned opinion on the validity of an argument.

Use precise and varied phrases to highlight the argument’s flaws and insights.

Write a complete assessment of an argument’s strengths and weaknesses with a thesis that points to the most crucial ones.

dentify insights in an argument that can contribute to future discussions on the topic.

Check arguments for common problems such as exceptions, faulty evidence, invalid assumptions, and inadequate treatment of counterarguments.

et's take an example: say we are analyzing an article on climate change, and we find that it doesn't try to prove that climate change is happening. Is it neglecting to address a counterargument?  Is it making a bold choice to ignore likely objections? To answer, we would need to know in what decade the article was written. In the 1990s, when climate change was first widely publicized, many people doubted whether it was real.

What is the situation that prompted the writing of this text? What was going on at the time? Can you think of any social, political, or economic conditions that were particularly important?

What does the author assume their readers know? What does the author assume about readers’ age, education, gender, location, or cultural values?

who it is trying to persuade, and when and where it was written.

More importantly, the two approaches to immigration might not be in such dramatic conflict as the authors would have us believe. A policy that expands legal immigration to families in desperate need, for instance, while still cracking down on illegal immigration could potentially satisfy both sides of the argument. This is the problem with many partisan issues today. While we spill ink proving the other wrong, we miss opportunities to find common ground on which to build

While illegal immigrants crossing the border to the United States may come from desperate circumstances, it is unjust, impractical, and unrealistic for one nation to solve the problems of so many non-citizens.

However, the Reverend Jesse Jackson also had some success in calling for a more neutral term, "African American," in the late eighties.  He thought it more appropriate to emphasize a shared ethnic heritage over color.

e outlines similar disagreements over word-choice and racial labels by scholars and activists like Fannie Barrier Williams and W.E.B. Du Bois surrounding now-antiquated terms like “Negro” and “colored.” These leaders debated whether labels with negative connotations should be replaced, or embraced and given a new, positive connotation.

He suggests that the balance is now tipping in favor of "Black," but given past changes, usage will probably change again as the rich discussion about naming, identity, and power continues.

Are words like “black” or “white” mere adjectives, descriptors of skin color? Or are they proper nouns, indicative of group or ethnic identity?

Mentioning this proves that not only coronavirus but also other outbreaks can be a disaster for feminism. Pandemics, in other words, pile yet another problem on women who always face an uphill battle against patriarchal structures.

ewis argues that the crisis affects women more than men because women are more likely to assume housework and childcare responsibilities while men are expected to work and “bring home the bacon.”

In the case of the border argument, the writer responds to the counterargument about security by clarifying that she does not advocate completely open borders. The sample summary already refers to this when it describes her desire to “regulate” those borders. In addition, when the summary paraphrases her claims and reasons, it uses the phrases “desperate” and “in a desperate position” to show how she limits the focus to migrants who are fleeing an awful situation.

In her 2019 article “Wouldn’t We All Cross the Border?”, Anna Mills urges us to seek a new border policy that helps desperate undocumented migrants rather than criminalizing them. She calls for a shift toward respect and empathy, questioning the very idea that crossing illegally is wrong. She argues that any parent in a desperate position would consider it right to cross for their child’s sake; therefore, no person should condemn that action in another. Since we cannot justify our current walls and detention centers, we must get rid of them.

Introduction

Executive Summary

Covers

text-based tools in the context of telework also reported increased perceptions of feeling overloaded, while those reporting increased use of videoconferencing tools did not.”

argument might do this

3.3: Ethics and Copyright Law

In her 2019 article “Wouldn’t We All Cross the Border?”, Anna Mills urges us to seek a new border policy that helps desperate undocumented migrants rather than criminalizing them. She calls for a shift away from blame toward respect and empathy, questioning the very idea that crossing illegally is wrong.

If the argument’s main purpose is to describe reality in some way, we will want to let readers know if it is controversial or not. Is the writer defending their idea against obvious objections or counterarguments, or are they aiming to inform us about something we may not be aware of?

In an article for _____________, writer _____________... The account of _____________ in the piece _____________ by _____________... Writing in the journal _____________, the scholar _____________ ...

Readers will be bored and will learn nothing from “says.” If we choose a more dramatic and precise verb like “calls for,” “criticizes,” “describes,” “argues,” or “questions,” then readers will feel the dynamism and momentum of both the argument and the summary.

As we choose words to paraphrase a writer’s points, we will want to reread the text to see how strongly the writer suggests something or what attitude they take toward a counterargument.

They will point to the role each claim plays in the overall argument. In the summary, instead of annotations, colors, arrows, and labels like “claim” and “reason,” we will use strategic phrases to show how the parts fit together.

3.1: Introduction to Ethics

Such a simple scenario, but so many ways to look at the situation.

sugar was a difficult crop. It required tropical temperatures, daily rainfall, unique soil conditions, and a fourteen-month growing season

seafarers

surplus food created a unique social organization centered on elaborate feasts, called potlatches

Native peoples in the Southwest began constructing these highly defensible cliff dwellings in 1190 CE and continued expanding and refurbishing them until 1260 CE before abandoning them around 1300 CE

Agriculture arose sometime between nine thousand and five thousand years ago, almost simultaneously in the Eastern and Western Hemispheres.

Bering Strait

The Salinan people of present-day California, for example, tell of a bald eagle that formed the first man out of clay and the first woman out of a feather.

political turmoil among the ruling elite and threats from external enemies may explain the end of the once-great civilization.

mothers often wielded enormous influence at local levels, and men’s identities and influence often depended on their relationships to women

societies transitioning to agriculture often experienced weaker bones and teeth.

Many groups used shifting cultivation, in which farmers cut the forest, burned the undergrowth, and then planted seeds in the nutrient-rich ashes

a bald eagle that formed the first man out of clay and the first woman out of a feather.

arbitrary

centiliter

nanosecond

milligram

kilometer

9.9 × 10−9

6.22 × 10−2

heading design consistently throughout your document.

house" style

austere and spartan way

boilerplate

As a writer, you must make sure that you are using the right version (and, in finding out which is correct

footnote

Make sure your graphics are appropriate to your audience, subject matter, and purpose—

discuss graphics in nearby text preceding the graphic

Use graphics whenever they would normally be necessary—don't wimp out because it seems like too much trouble! But at the same time, don't get hung up about creating perfect graphics (scans and photocopies work just fine for our purposes as long as you cite your source). This course is a writing course, not a graphic-arts course.

But you're obligated to cite your sources for graphics just as you are for the words you borrow

you want illustrations to be at the right technical level for your readers.

You can use graphics to represent the following elements in your technical writing: Objects—If you're describing a fuel-injection system, you'll probably need a drawing or diagram of the thing. If you are explaining how to graft a fruit tree, you'll need some illustrations of how that task is done. Photographs, drawings, diagrams, and schematics are the types of graphics that show objects. Numbers—If you're discussing the rising cost of housing in Austin, you could use a table with the columns marking off fiveyear periods since 1970; the rows could be for different types of housing. You could show the same data in the form of bar charts, pie charts, or line graphs. Tables, bar charts, pie charts, and line graphs are some of the principal ways to show numerical data. Concepts—If you want to show how your company is organized, the relationships of the different departments and officials, you could set up an organization chart—boxes and circles connected with lines that show how everything is hierarchically arranged and related. A concept graphic shows nonphysical, conceptual things and their relationships. In the figure to the right, see how Apple Computer illustrated the difference between 32-bit processors and 64-bit processors (these days, these are called infographics).

Make sure your tables, charts, and graphs are appropriate to your audience, subject matter, and purpose

Always discuss tables in preceding text.

You get a better sense of the overall trend in the graph but not the precise dollar amount

Don't overwhelm readers with monster 11-column, 30-row tables

Explain the general significance of the data in the table

Type the word "DANGER" in all-caps. (Underline it, or use bold.)

State what will happen if the reader does not heed the notice.

Don't use a danger notice when a warning is more appropriate (the same as "crying wolf")