English 421: Technical Writing

While I was evaluating potential strategies in my head, my initial response was to hang back and see what other people thought.  With such a large group of peers, no clear command structure existed, and I was hesitant to give my input for fear of appearing to "take control."  I think this observation applies to the white paper project, especially since we will be writing in groups.  While a rigid command structure is not crucial to group writing--and in the case of writing with peers may actually be detrimental--, a form of defined leadership helps to expedite the writing process.  Without it, the group will pursue many different unrelated directions, much like when we began the shipbuilding process.  Some people looked up the directions online, others looked to group the directions according to the pictures given, and still others tried to order the directions within our white-paper groups.  However, once Andy convinced everyone to use the picture-base method, the process moved forward instead of being scattered. Analogously, leadership helps to focus the effort of writers, and leadership is crucial to group writing.

 

The second observation I made was that the information was very dispersed due to the number o people in the class.  As a result, arranging the information into a useable form was difficult; however, once arranged the information allowed us to begin the building process.  Technical writing, in general, and white papers, specifically, perform this same purpose.  They take information from a wide range of sources and distill it down to a single document that the audience can use to accomplish a particular goal.  In essence, the writer plays the role of middle man, facilitating the reader's access to the desired information.

In these two ways, the shipbuilding exercise mirrors technical writing.  First, group writing requires defined leadership which provides the group with clear direction.  Second, role of the writer is similar to the action of putting the ship building directions back together; the writer must find the relevant information and then present it in a useable format.