Editing & Style
Fix this comma splice: The test began at 9:00, many students arrived late.
What is:
"The test began at 9:00, but many students arrived late."
"The test began at 9:00; many students arrived late."
"The test began at 9:00. Many students arrived late."
"Although the test began at 9:00, many students arrived late."
The main elements of the rhetorical situation.
What are: rhetor, audience, message, genre, context, affordances and constraints?
This workplace document uses a header with To/From/Date/Subject and is typically internal.
What is a memo?
How is UX different from UI?
What is: UI refers to the visual and interactive part of the product, while UX refers to the user's overall experience using the product.
How is UX different from UI?
What is: UI refers to the visual and interactive part of the product, while UX refers to the user's overall experience using the product.
Fix this fragment: Scientists report no human deaths due to excessive caffeine consumption. Although caffeine does cause convulsions and death in certain animals.
What is: "Scientists report no human deaths due to excessive caffeine consumption, although caffeine does cause convulsions and death in certain animals."
The six characteristics of technical communication.
What is:
1. Focused on audience.
2. Rhetorical, persuasive, purposeful, and problem-oriented.
3. Professional.
4. Design centered.
5. Research & technology oriented.
6. Ethical.
Business correspondence uses this punctuation after a salutation.
What is a colon?
What are: paraphrase testing, plus-minus testing, and task-based usability testing?
The difference between quantitative and qualitative data.
What is: Qualitative research is exploratory, using non-numerical data like interviews and observations to understand underlying reasons, opinions, and motivations, often answering "why" and "how" questions. Quantitative research is data-driven and statistical, using large sample sizes and numerical data like surveys to measure and test hypotheses, answering "how many" and "how much" questions
Fix this dangling modifier: Drenched and sore, it would be a long time before the next canoeing trip.
What is:
"Drenched and sore, I knew it would be a long time before I’d go canoeing again."
"Because I was drenched and sore, it would be a long time before I’d go canoeing again."
The four principles of design.
You should avoid this with headings in technical documents.
What is "stacking headings" and "orphaned text"?
Accessibility, universal design, and inclusive design are:
What is:
"Accessibility is focused on ensuring that interfaces and technology can be used by people with disabilities (including auditory, cognitive, physical, and visual disabilities).
Universal design aims to create one experience that can be accessed and used to the greatest extent possible by all people. Unlike inclusive design, universal design enforces a single design solution without need for adaptations or specialized design.
Inclusive design describes methodologies to create products that understand and enable people of all backgrounds and abilities."
Fix this faulty parallelism: The candidate’s goals include winning the election, a national health program, and the educational system.
What is: "The candidate’s goals include winning the election, enacting a national health program, and improving the educational system."
The three kinds of definitions.
What are parenthetical, sentence, and extended definitions?
The formula for writing a sentence definition.
What is: item = category + distinguishing characteristics?
The difference between attitudinal data and behavioral data.
What is: "Attitudinal research captures user opinions and feelings in the form of self-reported data; behavioral research observes user actions."
Four ethical approaches in technical communication are:
What are: utility, rights-based, justice/fairness, and care?
Utility (Consequentialism): Maximize overall good; minimize harm.
Rights-Based: Respect individual rights (e.g., privacy, safety, consent).
Justice/Fairness: Treat people equitably; distribute benefits/burdens fairly.
Care (Virtue Ethics): Focus on empathy, relationships, and responsibility.
The difference between copyediting and proofreading.
What is: Editing during the developmental phrase is called copyediting. Editing during the pre-production phase is called proofreading?
The five stages of the design thinking process.
Instruction sets should:
What is: be user-centered, task-oriented, concise, clear and use active voice?
We should use "stress case" instead of "edge case" because...
What is: “Edge case is a classic engineering term for scenarios that are considered extreme, rather than typical…But when applied to people and their identities, rather than to a product’s features, the term “edge case” is problematic–because it assumes there’s such a thing as an “average” user in the first place…We’re all edge cases.”
"It’s a stress case. And it’s not a stress case just because it’s a crisis moment. It’s a stress case because it pushes against the limits of your design choices, to see if they hold up. Or if they break." (Sara Watcher-Boettcher)
Explain copyright and fair use.
What is: Copyright comes from the US Constitution and is used to promotive creativity, innovation, and the spread of knowledge by giving people ownership of their ideas. Fair use allows people to use copyrighted materials freely for criticism, comment, reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.