Technical

Writing
Dr. Will Kurlinkus
Director of Technical Writing
What is Technical Writing?

Who here has seen

technical/STEM writing
happen in a job/internship
setting?
 Materials
1.  Introduction to
Grant Writing
2.  Rocket Surgery
Made Easy
3.  Dedicated
notebook
Assignments
1.  Application Packet (Resumes and Cover
Letters)
2.  Technical Instruction Set
3.  Scientific Grant Proposal
4.  Usability Test (Website or App or ?)
User-Centered Communication
Making designs human by researching and
learning about who our audiences are and
adapting our texts for that group.
›  What will people read and not read?
›  What are people experts at?
›  What do people care about?
›  What are people confused by?
›  What do people trust and not trust?
“Most accidents are attributed to human
error, but in almost all cases the human
error was the direct result of poor
design.”
—Donald Norman
Make a User-Persona For Yourself
Think about your past experiences with writing for other
classes, being graded on writing by your engineering and
STEM professors, the types of things you get graded on,
and the types of experiences you’ve had writing in the
real world (outside of classes—whether on Instagram,
creating videos, etc.)

›  What will you read and not read?

›  What are you an expert at?
›  What do you care about?
›  What are you confused by?
›  What do you trust and not trust?
›  What makes you mad?
›  What makes you appreciate a course/professor?
Who Are You?
›  Name
›  Major
›  Future career
›  Tell us about an experience (good or
bad) you’ve recently had with writing.
 User-Centered
Assignments Design
1.  Application Packet ›  What will people
(Resumes and read and not read?
Cover Letters) ›  What are people
experts at?
2.  Technical
Instruction Set ›  What do people
care about?
3.  Scientific Grant
›  What are people
Proposal
confused by?
4.  Usability Test ›  What do people
(Website or App) trust and not trust?
Who am I? What
do I know and care
about?
›  Have worked as a professional
grant writer (funding multi-
million dollar STEM projects), a
user-centered researcher for
healthcare clinics, a resume
consultant, and an English
Professor.
›  Expert at using users’ nostalgias
to create meaningful designs.
›  PhD in English from Ohio State
›  I direct the technical writing
program but also teach the
sociology of technology, digital
media production, and about
technology and culture (e.g.
YouTube, Facebook) generally.
§  What’s the most meaningful thing you own?
§  Do you use Facebook’s On This Day?
§  When and why do people accept or reject
innovative new designs
The Basics
›  Technical writing is about the communication
of technical information to lay audiences and
alternatively technical audiences.
›  This course is a reading, production, and
discussion course. You will be doing all 3.
›  Attendance is required in this course.
›  All the documents created in this course hold
the potential to be (and actually have been
used by former students as) writing samples in
the future, treat them as such.
Common Errors
1.  Not coming to class (after 2, your unit grade is
lowered by a full grade. 6 absence fail)
2.  Not reading assignment sheets
3.  Not turning assignments in on time (5% off per
day late)
4.  Not paying attention to changes in
assignments/readings during class
5.  Not completing homework/forums. (10% of
your final grade)
6.  Not coming to peer-reviews prepared.
(missing them can result in a 4% deduction off your unit
grade)