TODAY

1) Report project -> Proposal project

2) The Keys to both

3) Topics: Let’s keep brainstorming

4) Brainstormnado 2: the Wrath of Narrowing

5) Homework

The report

For today, you watched my video explaining the report assignment. I don’t have a lot to add in terms of description, so I’ll stand behind what you watched.

Major take-away: this is a FACT based RESEARCHED report that can cover a topic close to COMPLETELY in 5-7 pages of text.

The proposal

Similarly, the proposal is a persuasive but still FACT based document that proposes A SPECIFIC OUTCOME (be that an action taken, a decision made, etc.) related to your key topic.

The proposal should utilize the research data from the report and should not require more data.

But why…

…are we picking topics so early?

Two reasons:

1)You need time to do research. DON’T DELAY. That will come back to haunt you.

2)We need to know your topics so we can determine your audience for the next assignment

That demographic case study

You can read the basics of the case study assignment on the course website, but there are 8 key things it needs to do…

The first four

1. Tell us who your audience is. In detail.

2. Tell us the specific traits of that audience that makes the audience different from “everyone.”

3. What is common to every member of the audience (or most– “every” might be dangerous)?

4. What are the needs of the audience?

The second four…

5. What are the desires of your audience? What do they want?

6. What does the audience know?

7. And what DOESN’T the audience know? A hint about #6 and #7… if the audience knows too little about the topic, you’ll need it to be something you can cover in great detail. If the audience knows too much, you picked a bad topic, because there’s no need for that report to exist.

8. What language and what tone does the audience expect?

So let’s circle the wagonsRight about now you should have a few potential topics from last class.

I want you to pull them out. Take a look at the questions you received so far.

Now, with your topics in-hand, and your minds open to more brainstorming, I want to hit you with some key criteria for the report and the proposal. These should help you to further constrain and re-think what might make for a good topic.

Report: Key One

I’ve said it a few times, but SCOPE, SCOPE, SCOPE.

You want a topic you can cover in five-to-seven pages. That means that some ideas are simply too big. Technical writing isn’t about big-skying. Technical writing is about restraint and precision.

Report: Key TwoThe idea is that you’re going to offer expertise or revelation with this report. This, again, reminds you of scope. How can you be an expert on something in five-to-seven pages of reporting?

Report: Key Three

Just the facts, Jack!

Seriously. This report is about FACTS. Opinions are… almost useless in tech writing.

Report: Key FourBeing organized and unfolding your ideas carefully is going be the difference between success and failure in this report. Structure is your friend.

Proposal: Key One

You want to be compelling, but compelling with FACTS. You should be proposing something that based on your research seems obvious.

Proposal: Key TwoYou should be offering the audience an easy move/easy decision. If this is still a difficult move to make, your research isn’t as compelling as it should be.

Proposal: Key Three

Your proposal should lead to one– and only one– logical course of action. Given, many problems in the world have more than one solution, but you should know from your research which of a set of potential solutions is the BEST, and your duty as a technical writer is to convince us of that with your FACTS.

Proposal: Key FourRemember: no one cares WHAT you think. They care WHY you think this is the right choice. Your opinion doesn’t matter. The solution your research points to does. It’s a small, but significant, difference.

In other words, we’re trusting your research, but it’s not about your ethos. It’s about what you found out.

Armed with this info…

Let’s look at your topics. If the answer to any of these questions is no, your topic will not work.

Can you research the topic and present your findings in five-to-seven pages?

Are you compiling information to make new knowledge? In other words, there’s not a book on this that does all the work you’d be doing, right?

Do you know how– or can you imagine figuring out how– to get the information you’d need to have factual research of the topic?

Can you think of a logical suggestion you might make– AKA the proposal– based on this topic?

Are you sure there’s no overpowering opinion or bias in place here? Because that’s going to hurt you later if there is.

And one last time– I’m not kidding about scope. Can you do this in five-to-seven pages?

Sometimes you just need to narrow

Let’s say you’re passionate about a particular topic, but it just seems too big, or you’re not sure what you’d propose after the research. That doesn’t mean you have to ditch the topic.

It means you need to focus. Allow me to illustrate.

Let’s say you want to research how the Miami campus can be more green.

Mistake one: it’s just too big. Think of all the things Miami does and uses. Think of how many potential changes there might be. We need to reign it in.

Let’s say we start with your life. The things you see every day. Let’s say you notice the heavy volume of Miami University Parking Services and University Police that roll around campus.

You could, with some careful research, find out how many cars there are, how often they are staffed, and what their duties are.

With makes, models and years, you could figure the expenditure in gasoline, and once you know all of that, you can figure the carbon footprint of that vehicle.

You might then be able to say “we’re doing a significant amount of polluting with our police and parking services vehicles on the Oxford campus of Miami University.” You could even try to compare to like-sized schools without too much effort. I mean really– do we need someone driving a PICK UP TRUCK to write tickets? (oops- opinion! )

You could easily figure the price, and the fuel consumption, for alternative vehicles. Like golf carts. Or bikes. Or if we fear a dangerous winter, snowmobiles.

You might then propose that Miami could save money (if you can save money, people love your proposal) and save the environment by switching from cars to golf carts, bikes, a snowmobile or two, and then “in cases of need” cars and trucks for police and parking services.

See how in this example we went from being green– a huge, big-sky topic– to one way to be green that can be covered and explained very well in 5-7 pages of report.

Now, having seen that…

Get out some paper.

If you want to keep your original topic(s) and they work, recopy them.If not, spend a few minutes brainstorming new potential topics. I want you to have two sheets of paper moving.

When ready, write your topic at the top of each sheet along with your name. Pass one left and one right.

Everyone comment and pass on. Keep them moving. I’ll tell you when to stop.

Comment on everything but your own. You can comment more than once on a topic as well, if it comes back to you.

For ThursdayCome in with your directions in some format that you can show them to one other person (at a time).

We will be doing a structured set of usability tests in class. Be ready!

See you then!