Course Content

Technical Writing Triage is a condensed version of longer courses that are presented both face-to-face and online, which identifies the key professional and technical writing in today’s workplace, and then discusses the most common problems / issues, and provides quick, easy-to-implement solutions to correct the problems and produce high-quality, effective communications. There are six major topics to be covered, with the top 3-5 problems, along with solutions and strategies for correcting or avoiding each problem area.

1. E-mail and Social Media: The most common types of e-communications will be identified, along with main problems and issues. Strategies for assuring clarity, positive tone, and results-focused outcomes will also be covered.
2. Abstracts: We will discuss the structure of abstracts, and identify common problems with abstracts. Strategies for outlining and producing abstracts for different occasions will be detailed, and examples provided.
3. Resume/Professional Profile: We will discuss strategies for maintaining a “one-stop shopping” resume and strategies for honing it for special purposes and occasions. We will discuss specific formats to use, from an in-depth CV to one or two-page resumes, one-page professional profiles, and one-paragraph biographical sketches.
4. Image Editing: Identifying common problems and pitfalls with images used in presentations, communications, websites, social media, reports, and more will be detailed. We will discuss ideal settings and quality issues, and will review popular image editing programs, along with their uses and special attributes.
5. Presentations: We will identify the most common needs for presentations, and will discuss both scripted and unscripted presentations, and discuss the advantages, disadvantages, and best-use for each. We will then review best practices, along with identifying common pitfalls and solutions / remedies.
6. Technical papers and reports: We will discuss the types of reports that you’ll be expected to produce in today’s workplace, and review the general structure of them. We’ll discuss the “must-have” elements in a report, and then identify the places that are most likely to be problematic. We’ll then list the tactics that are most effective in identifying your main purpose and then collecting the information you need. We’ll also review the best “building block” approach to creating reports.

Structure of the E-Symposium

Each e-symposium consists of one-hour live e-symposium, along with material for one full day of independent study. The live portion will be followed by a full day of independent study (not a live event). The one-hour live e-symposium can be accessed from any computer anywhere in the world using a high-speed internet connection. After the event is over, you will receive via email information about accessing the asynchronous segment (not live) which consists of a recording of the event, your independent study materials, to be accessed and studied at any time. You will be able to email responses to the readings, along with your study question answers for CEU credit (if you sign up for the extended package).