1. © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Longman Publishers. 1 Chapter 6 An Overview of the Technical Writing Process Technical Communication, 12 th edition John M. Lannon Laura Gurak

2. © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Longman Publishers. 2 Stages in the Writing Process  Gather and evaluate ideas and information.  Plan the document.  Draft the document.  Revise the document.

3. © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Longman Publishers. 3 The Technical Writing Process  Research often involves discussions with technical experts.  Analysis of audience needs and expectations is critical.  Complex organizational settings and “office politics” play an important role.  Colleagues frequently collaborate in preparing a document.  Many workplace documents are carefully reviewed before being released.  Proper format for a document is essential.  Deadlines often limit the amount of time that can be spent preparing a document.

4. © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Longman Publishers. 4 Make Proofreading Your Final Step During proofreading, look for  Sentence errors  Punctuation errors  Usage errors  Mechanical errors  Format errors  Typographical errors

5. © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Longman Publishers. 5 Guidelines for Proofreading  Save it for the final draft.  Take a break before proofreading your final document.  Work from hard copy.  Keep it slow.  Be especially alert for problem areas in your writing.  Proofread more than once.  Never rely on the computer.

6. © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Longman Publishers. 6 For additional help reviewing this chapter, please visit the Companion Website for your text at http://www.ablongman.com/lannon. Any Questions?