Assignment #2—Technical and/or Process Description
Length:
Value:
Est. Time:
Due:
750-1200 words
170 points
10 to 12 hours
Rough Draft (20 pts.): Feb. 15
Final Draft (150 pts.): Feb. 18
Goal:
To describe any device, concept, or process (or combination of the aforementioned) that
is technical in nature in such a way that an educated lay audience would arrive at some
genuine understanding of that same device or process. It is also possible that you might
describe a device as it is part of a technical process. You should choose a topic that is
not widely known or well understood and that you can fully explore given the
parameters of the assignment. Remember—The goal is the understanding of the
audience.
Length:
The document should be 750 to 1200 words in length and needs to effectively
incorporate at least two visuals. Visuals can be taken from any source (as long as the
source is cited) or you may create them. However, if the document requires more than
two visuals to be clear, then you must use as many visuals as the topic requires.
Consequently, it is vital that you choose your topic well and make the visuals work
hard.
Audience: The audience you will be writing for is a lay audience well outside of your own
profession or major. You can assume this audience is well educated but reasonably
unfamiliar with the thing you are describing. On this assignment, unless you wish to do
otherwise, no adjustments to the document need to be made for possible physical (either
personal or environmental) limitations.
Topic:
Teach us about something we are not likely to know. It can be a very formal topic or it
can be a little off-beat. There is room to be creative here. Also, your response to this
assignment could set the stage for your instructions assignment by functioning as part of
a larger document. This combined approach tends to improve efficiency and results
because of the lengthy focus on a single topic. Further, it better reflects how “working”
documents are actually produced. Refer to the “Instructions” assignment to better
understand how this joint venture might work.
Objective: --Help your audience understand the topic
--Present the content so all 7 C’s are met
--Choose appropriate detail
--Select and integrate effective and appropriate visuals
--Utilize effective writing strategies (i.e. analogy, narrative, comparison/contrast)
--Fill in the appropriate contexts (i.e. environmental, historical, ideological)