Unit 1 was the start of a demanding and intensive journey through this technical writing course. Upon creating a student blog and forming a technical writing team, the first assignment was to choose a relatable and relatively complex term and use the three methods of writing definitions to explain the meaning of the term.
The Three Methods
This lesson taught students three methods of definitions: parenthetical, sentence and expanded. Each version of the same term has a place depending on the situation.
Understanding your Audience
A key takeaway from this assignment was to understand the importance of writing according to a targeted audience. This is critical in a professional role, where measuring the level of familiarity your audience will have and communicating accordingly will ensure optimal understanding. Various circumstances can lead to various levels of technical communication, such as purpose, audience and scenario. This lesson allowed me to set up a typical Real Estate scenario that would occur in a lawyer’s office and define the term Real Property to a non-technical audience.
Organization is Important
A final lesson I took from this assignment was the importance of organizing a writing work logically to ensure your reader takes back as much as possible. It was critical for the expanded definition to be laid out in a logical way in order for my audience to understand each key component of the term and then to fully understand the concept as a whole.
My First Peer Review
When reviewing someone else’s work, there is a higher level of reading analysis that is used to understand the written material as well as identifying areas that may need further clarification. The peer review allowed me to analyze a writing work objectively and offer an honest opinion on some areas that I found confusing. Reading the document multiple times ensured each sentence was fully analyzed and did not leave out any recommendations that may have been useful. This review involved a higher level of effort, since I wanted to ensure Karissa received the most helpful feedback possible in order to edit her final definitions in the most flawless way possible.
I sincerely enjoyed reading my peer’s definition of an oral and maxillofacial surgeon. Not only am I unfamiliar with dental terms, but I was able to fully understand Karissa’s explanation of the term.
Reviewing Karissa Garneau’s Definition
On the opposite end, reading my peer review from Karissa offered fantastic advice on how to finalize my term of Real Property. Receiving suggestions and opinions from my audience on the areas that did not work well is critical feedback to ensure my final draft was as complete and concise as possible.
Using Feedback for Editing
Updating my original definitions using Karissa’s suggestions and comments on her overall impressions she had helped me realize there is always a need to review instructions fully, and to always review repeat sentences that may be confusing to a reader. After finalizing my definitions I am confident a non-technical reader will easily understand the concept of Real Property.