This course will use a combination of teaching methods, including lecture, demonstration, group discussion, analysis of samples, and in-class and home exercises and projects. The emphasis will be on learning by analysis reinforced with hands-on practice wherever possible. Students will be required to prepare, write, and produce all, or portions of, a technical manual during the course. Students will be required to work collaboratively on selected assignments.
1. Technical Skills for Professional Communicators
Students will
- become familiar with the technical skills required by technical communicators
- assess their own current skill levels
- become familiar with the various software programs used by technical communicators
- understand the strengths and weaknesses of those programs
- develop their current skill levels through a series of structured lab exercises
2. Managing Writing Projects
Students will
- understand the basic elements of project management (quality, scope, cost, and schedule) for technical communication projects
- estimate and monitor the time required to prepare a project
- prepare a detailed schedule of activities to produce the project
- become familiar with the options available for distribution and production
- produce a group project (for example, a small instructional manual) using MS Word skills
3. Introduction to Writing Technical Manuals
Students will
- understand the purpose of a technical manual and the differences between user, reference, and training manuals
- become familiar with the types of technical materials produced by technical communicators in the local marketplace
- become familiar with the companies employing technical communicators, the types of product and services they provide, and the types of manual they produce
- analyze the range of manuals required to support a product, such as a software program
- conduct user and task analyses, defining objectives and identifying and understanding readers’ information needs
- identify the different ways of organizing technical manuals and the specific uses and applications of each method
- be introduced to the different types and uses of online documentation (information that is meant to be read from the computer screen)
4. Writing a Technical Manual
Students will
- understand the role of the technical communicator in the product development lifecycle
- interview a subject-matter expert to obtain the information necessary to prepare technical documentation
- prepare and evaluate a manual plan, including an outline and a schedule
- examine the means of ensuring the technical accuracy of manuals, including review and approval cycles
- examine the need for manual testing and the relationship with product testing
- write and evaluate a manual based on the prepared manual plan (including a table of contents, index, front matter, and sample chapters)
- become familiar with the mode of discourse typically employed in technical manuals (that is, writing to do)
- evaluate the different means of communicating technical information (for example, flow charts, decisions, trees, illustrations) and understand the uses and applications of each
- examine the characteristics of conversational writing and practise writing technical materials in a conversational style
- understand the uses of examples in technical manuals
- understand the role of editing in the preparation of technical manuals
5. Basic Manual Production
Successful students will use MS Word to
- format revisable and reliable copy
- structure documents into sections with dynamic headers and footers
- create and use templates and styles for consistency in a series of manuals
- test and debug the manual
Students who successfully complete this course will
- gain an overview of the technical skills required by professional communicators
- learn the methodology for planning technical communication projects
- understand and know when and how to use appropriate writing and formatting conventions
- learn how to use industry-standard software to produce a project such as a manual
- understand the writer’s role in the team approach to technical communication projects
- be familiar with key trends and issues in the field of technical communication
Students are expected to be self-motivated and to demonstrate professionalism, which includes active participation, good attendance, punctuality, effective collaboration, ability to meet deadlines, presentation skills, and accurate self-evaluation.
Evaluation will be based on this general format:
| Short assignments (4 to 6) | 60% |
| Manual project | 30% |
| Professionalism/participation (as defined above) | 10% |
| 100% |
Coursepack of required readings from professional association journals
Acceptance into the Post-Degree Diploma in Professional Communication
or a minimum of 45 credit hours including a university-transfer course in English, Communications, or Creative Writing with a grade of B or higher
or permission of the Professional Communication coordinator
None
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