Nancy Hernandez
August 11, 2021
Professional & Tech. writing – ENGL 3900
My name is Nancy Hernandez and I’m a CMS major. One thing you should know about
me is things I enjoy in life inspire me to pursue them. In Chapter one “Introduction to Technical
Communications” is about ways that people exchange information or how people interact with
technology to solve problems. For example, the textbook mentions that we do this when we
purchase a brand-new device. As natural instinct, we open the packaging and look for the user
guide to understand how the device works. Or if a person was to undergo a major surgery, they
would first look online to get information about the procedure to ease their worries.
Another form of technical communication that the first chapter talked about is the usage
of e-mail, texting, social media, blogs, etc… the use of these mediums allow the world to easily
interact with one another. With all these forms of mediums it can get overwhelming in
understanding which one you should use. That is where different cultures and the type of
business comes into play. Depending on the context of what businesses are trying to target. It’s
very important that the form of communication for example, whether or not to communicate via
e-mail or the use of tone is appropriate for the setting to avoid any misunderstandings in the
workplace or general. When we think of careers that involve writing most often it’s usually
associated with careers like journalism or careers in news broadcasting but everyday normal jobs
like medical professions, STEAM jobs, lab techs, attorneys, etc… All require some form of both
written and oral communications. For example, a doctor would need to type up a report about a
patient’s health status and then use verbal communication to communicate the results back to
other doctors and the patient. In “Meeting the Needs of Specific Audience” the chapter is about
how technical communication is used in writing to reach the correct audience. An example the
textbook gives is the one where your showing a architectural client what their new office
building would look like.
This type of technical communication might involve you to describe the details in what
the process might look like in order for the client to understand. Once you have the technical
Communication down you will have to analyze your documents audience and purpose. In 2.1, it
states that in order to do this you must analyze your target audience, the background and the
needs, along with the preference of your readers. You may have to ask yourself some questions
in the process such as “Who is the main audience for this document?” Or “what is your
relationship with your audience?” Your primary and secondary audiences are very important.
Primary would be the immediate audiences. Your secondary audience would be the individuals
outside the immediate circle who will be needing the information directly.
My first goal would be to hopefully get an internship for the career I’m working on. I
plan on doing this by gathering as much as work experience as possible and reaching out to
places so that I have as many opportunities to choose from and not be limited to one place.
Second goal would be giving myself time to self reflect. I could do this by making a journal to
document all of my thoughts I have through out the day. In a way, this is like a form of technical
communication because I’m using writing to communicate with myself. My third goal would be
to go out with my friends. Most of the time I’m always texting them because they live far from
me and texting and calling is our only form of communication. It would be nice if I could reunite
with them and talk to them in person. My fourth goal is working on being a lot more social when
meeting new people. I tend to avoid meeting new people because of my shyness it’s important I
improve on my oral communication because it would stop me from meeting new people and
experiencing new things I may like.