English 421Y: Technical Writing Online

My first assignment on this project was the potential sources aspect of the proposal. I wasn’t quite sure what needed to be done for this so I basically just looked up some sources that looked good in terms of research. I know there are many different sources on this subject which is wind turbines for domestic applications. It is one of those subjects that is gaining popularity so there are many different places where you can research and or buy these products. I started looking around using google and found a plethora of sites that involved these turbines.

White papers provide unbiased information on problems that particular companies might be experiencing in the business, industrial, and governmental world. You can think of a white paper as a “beefed” up brochure type paper that goes into much more detail than your typical brochure. White papers often deal with a technical situation that needs to be explained in a very detailed manner. These documents generally follow a certain format that includes a title page with an executive summary, a body broken into “chunks”, and a conclusion to sum it all up.

At first glance my expert instructions would appear to be the easier one and the novice instructions look to be the harder of the two, but they are in fact the way I labeled them. The expert instructions are for the Taurus Model PT1911. I made these out to be the expert instructions because I believe stripping down the pistol is harder. The whole part involving the recoil spring is very difficult because the spring has so much tension it can be very hard to get back into place and reassemble and I have actually hit myself in the head with the spring the first time I took it apart.

As stated in chapter 12 the context in which your document will be used may play a big roll in what kind of document you actually create. I took this into consideration because I am doing instructions on how to take apart two different guns. I figured that if someone were to be disassembling a firearm they would most likely have grease and oil on there hands. That’s why I decided to make a document that can be printed and laminated to protect it from the dirty hands and surfaces that may come into contact with it.

Visual content can be used by itself to portray a message. You don’t always need to have writing with visual content because just looking at a picture can give you all the information you may need. There are many different types of visual aids, but photographs, illustrations, and charts and graphs are the most widely used ones. A computer is one of the easiest ways to create visual content. You can create a screenshot which is like a digital photograph of what is on your computer screen. This can be useful to aid others when giving instructions through a computer.

My new project will be detailed instructions on how to disassemble and reassemble two different types of firearms. I am using two different guns to display instructions for a beginner type and an expert type person who needs to know how to take apart a gun for cleaning. For my novice instructions, I will be demonstrating how to take apart a Remington 870 Express 12 gauge shotgun. I chose to use the shotgun for the beginners because it is a little easier and has fewer parts, which makes it better for novice users.

This week’s readings focus on what needs to be included in written instructions and technical descriptions. Chapters 19 and 20 reiterated the fact that when you use writing to convey any kind of message you need focus on your audiences needs. It stated that you should use the 5 W’s and H questions to help you include the proper information. I think that the video from Common Craft shows a very well put together presentation on how to use Google docs.