Intro. & Establishing Goals & Analyzing The Audience
Analyzing The Audience
Analyzing The Audience & Researching Audiences
Researching Audiences
Researching Audiences & Ensuring The Validity Of Data And Sources
100
What does the term "technical writing" refer to?
Documents prepared to help a relatively large but specific group of readers make a decision, perform a task, or learn about a topic.
100
What does the secondary audience consist of?
Any other people who later come in contact with the material.
100
What is an "internal document"?
One that is intended to be used only within the company or organization that prepared it.
100
Focus groups, verbal surveys, written questionnaires, and structured interviews are all...?
common methods of gathering information about readers.
100
What are "structured interviews"?
One-on-one research experiences in which each participant is asked the same questions in the same order.
200
What is the first goal when writing technical material?
To define objectives.
200
What are the three strategies the writer can choose from for presenting the material based on the audience's experience and knowledge?
Highly technical, semi-technical, or nontechnical.
200
What is an "external document"?
It is written for readers that do not work for the company that prepared the document.
200
What are "focus groups"?
Groups of people similar to the intended audience of the document that can be gathered and asked their opinions about what material the document should include and how the information should be presented.
200
Periodicals, personal experience, experiments, lectures, websites, books, related documents, and interviews are all ways...?
writers can research technical materials.
300
What will the goals of "defining objectives" guide?
The format and language of the document, and serve as benchmarks to gauge the document's completeness and quality.
300
When should a writer choose the highly technical presentation strategy?
When the audience's background with the subject is similar to the writer's.
300
What should a writer research when analyzing the audience for a document?
Possible technical or accessibility issues.
300
What can focus groups be?
Online or in person.
300
Those references can be divided into two categories: primary and secondary sources. What do primary sources do?
They offer firsthand experience with the subject.
400
What are the two types of readers of documents?
Primary and secondary.
400
When should semi-technical presentations be used?
When the anticipated audience is familiar with the topic, but has less experience, specialized training, or expertise with the subject than the writer.
400
What should technical writers also analyze?
How the primary and secondary readers differ.
400
What is a "verbal survey"?
A way in which a technical writer may find out more about what the intended audience needs by asking potential readers specific short answer questions and recording the answers.
400
What do secondary sources include?
Material that other people have drawn from primary sources.
500
What does the primary audience consist of?
People who need the information and will use it to make decisions.
500
When should a writer choose the nontechnical presentation?
When the audience has little or no knowledge of or previous experience with the topic.
500
What is a worksheet used to organize and summarize the likely readers' characteristics and needs?
A technical brief.
500
What are "written questionnaires" used for?
To ask short-answer questions.
500
Relevancy, reputation, reliability, bias, age, and verifiability are all ways to...?
judge potential references and make sure they are all appropriate as source material.