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Re: Teaching a practical business writing class and looking for professional rubrics
Subject:Re: Teaching a practical business writing class and looking for professional rubrics From:Robert Lauriston <robert -at- lauriston -dot- com> To:techwr-l List <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> Date:Mon, 17 Aug 2009 13:42:38 -0700
I think the most common mistake I see less experienced technical
writers make is getting bogged down in accomplishing a task in the
particular way they started doing it rather than recognizing that it's
taking too long and switching to a more efficient approach. For
example, it's sometimes much faster to fake screen shots by cutting
and pasting elements in Photoshop than to go through all the steps to
get the software to show what you want on screen.
Another common problem is belaboring the obvious. Unless you're
writing a "Windows for Dummies" book, you don't need a screen shot
showing how to select Open from the File menu, or how to click OK to
complete a dialog box.
On Mon, Aug 17, 2009 at 11:56 AM, Rob Hudson<caveatrob -at- gmail -dot- com> wrote:
> Hello Everyone,
>
> I'm putting together a business writing course for undergraduates and
> wanted to survey the professional community about rubrics, or criteria
> lists, for various business and technical writing assignments. I
> figure that since you are all professionally experienced, you might
> have good insight into what you'd like to see from new
> technical/business writers.
>
> To ask it another way, what are the most common mistakes or problems
> you see from new writers in the workplace? I can back those ideas into
> criteria for assignments.
>
> I want to stay in touch with the professional world as I move forward
> in this class.
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