1. By Lynn H. Deming Presented By Kristin Cook

2.  Introduction  Focus of Article  Oral to Written Tradition  Writing today  Types of Technical Writing  Conclusions  Questions

3.  In the Past  Conventional wisdom dictated these facts:  Narrative perspective  Writing Objectively  Passive Voice  Professional Distance  Maintain Credibility  No conversation or Dialogue

4.  Scholars Today  Recently rethought this idea.  Now use active voice  If appropriate for topic, use first person  Writers of Scientific and Technical Information  Analyze the audience  Scrutinize the subject  Avoid interaction  “Dilutes or contaminates the objectivity and authenticity of the data”

5.  Reexamine our writing and teaching styles in technical writing  “Humanistic endeavor” – Carolyn Miller  Will improve writing  Narrative- gives the reader a mental image of what is happening

6.  Oral Tradition  Direct communication of information  Real, not imaginary interaction  Direct response from the audience  Written Tradition  No longer direct interaction with audience  Reach a larger audience

7.  Some areas in the media where communication with the audience  Most technical writing lacks that interaction

8.  Correspondence  First person  Empirical research reports  First person  Readers will “see” the involvement  Proposals  Memos and Letters  First person  Multivolume Documents  Combination of first and third person

9.  Manuals  Different sections-Different narrative perspectives  Command Form  Active imperative voice  Mechanism and Process Descriptions  Third person

10.  Remember that we are talking to someone  Add active voice whenever you can  Incorporate the reader in the topic  We are role players