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Subject:Re: TECHWR-L Digest - 12 Jan 1999 to 13 Jan 1999 From:"Hyde, Barb # IHTUL" <Barb -dot- Hyde -at- TULSA -dot- CISTECH -dot- COM> Date:Thu, 14 Jan 1999 16:49:31 -0600
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> Subject: TECHWR-L Digest - 12 Jan 1999 to 13 Jan 1999
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> Kate:
> It sounds like an uphill, if not hopeless, battle to me. If your
> instructional designers are so in love with their construction that they
> can't see the Procedure is superfluous in a guide that contains nothing
> but, your arguments are not going to make much difference.
>
> That said, try this argument: This audience is in front of you
> because they are neophytes. You are in front of them because we want them
> to become confident, competent users, not to impress/intimidate them with
> techno-talk. When headings are written in natural language, they serve as
> a bridge between the student and the new task to be learned. 'Note
> Addition
> Procedure' is inflated techno-talk for the real-world task of 'Adding a
> Note.' Students will respond much more confidently to 'Adding a Note.'
>
> Barb Hyde
> Wind at your back
>
> >Kate Schommer writes:
> >Tech writers in my department like to use the gerund form for headings
> >in our manuals: "Adding a Note." However, our instructional designers
> >have insisted that we use the form "Note Adding", or even better, "Note
> >Addition", so that they can tack the word "Procedure" on the end in the
> >related training materials.
> >Can anyone support my argument that "Procedure"
> >is unnecessary in an OJT training guide that consists of nothing BUT
> >procedures?
>