Process Activities

process

[Return to the Workshop Agenda.]

Goals

  1. To increase your awareness of how your process influences the success of your workplace documents.
  2. To recognize the value of planning, testing, and revising.
  3. To understand that reader-based testing leads to identification of the most important cues requiring revision.

Class Discussion Activities (15 minutes)

1. Think about the USGS writer from “The Geologist’s Trousers.”

2. How would planning efforts have improved the letter delivered to the Nebraska rancher (see this blog post on planning content and this one on planning organization)?

3. There are three types of document testing (see this blog post):

  • text-based (spell check, readability, etc.)
  • expert-based (peer review, legal review, etc.)
  • reader-based (focus groups, usability, etc.)

What could the writer have learned about cues in the letter from each type of testing?

4. How will planning and testing help you develop a successful MSA practicum proposal? An executive summary for your practicum report? A résumé? A LinkedIn profile?

[Return to the Workshop Agenda.]