English 421Y: Technical Writing Online

Week 13 was focused on deciding how to break up the work for the project and how to approach the audience issue. On Monday, I initiated an AIM chat for everyone to meet and discuss their concerns and desires for this project.

The Thompson Handbook gives a good outline of the research process that we should follow. We have already analyzed and decided on the subject we want to cover for the white paper project. The next steps will involve reviewing tests that discuss the topic and considering the elements of the issue of renewable energy. We will first want to find out what has already been said and proposed as a solution. Another important thing to gain from these texts is the knowledge of whether people are satisfied with the state of these text’s solutions.

This activity report will summarize the progress I have made since the start of the English 421 White Paper Project.

This first week involved introducing myself to the other members of the group through email. I spent about 15 to 30 minutes familiarizing myself with google docs since this was the way we decided to share documents among the group.

Group 8 has chosen to cover the topic of oil dependence and renewable energy solutions. Our plan right now is to have the white paper address how these renewable energy solutions can reduce our dependence on oil. The topic of renewable energy is a broad spectrum which ranges from some of the most simple solutions to the rather complex. The subtopics we will cover in the report, including pros and cons, will encompass wind power, water power, solar power, nuclear power and smart-grid technologies. In these sub-topics, pros, cons, and currently implemented system examples will be discussed.

From the reading this week, I gathered many details about White Papers. When I began the reading, I wasn’t entirely sure what was meant by the phrase but now understand. White papers are used in many contexts from business, to industrial, and even governmental. The similarity is that the subject of the White Papers is often technical and the goal is to achieve certain credibility and reliability with the reader. The format is also generally similar with a title page, executive summary, body/argument, and conclusion.

The layout of the novice ebay instructions is a typical 8.5 X 11 inch paper. I chose this layout because it is my hope that the user will be able to print out the instructions on a home printer which normally doesn't have any larger print option. I placed pictures where I thought they would be most effective in relation to the instruction steps. The novice instructions contain a more step by step approach that can be followed consecutively from beginning to end.

The types of usability tests that I will employ upon turning in my instructions project will include document markup, and a read and locate test. These tests will be performed during a peer review. The three main questions I want to focus on answering are ‘Can they find it?’, ‘Can they understand it?’, and ‘Can they do it?’. These will help me determine whether my instructions are getting the point that I want them to make across to the readers.