Cover: Technical Communication with 2021 MLA Update, 13th Edition by Mike Markel; Stuart A. Selber

Technical Communication with 2021 MLA Update

Thirteenth Edition ©2021 Mike Markel; Stuart A. Selber

The ebook has been updated to give your students the latest guidance on documenting sources in MLA style and follows the guidelines set forth in the MLA Handbook, 9th edition (April 2021).

Technical Communication prepares students to make the leap from writing in college...

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ISBN:9781319459703

Cover: Technical Communication with 2021 MLA Update, 13th Edition by Mike Markel; Stuart A. Selber

Proven advice, best practices, new technologies

The ebook has been updated to give your students the latest guidance on documenting sources in MLA style and follows the guidelines set forth in the MLA Handbook, 9th edition (April 2021).

Technical Communication prepares students to make the leap from writing in college to writing in a variety of workplace settings and contexts. Full of clear, practical advice and real-world examples from a range of sources, the text gives students practice with the kinds of writing processes and products they’ll encounter on the job. The new edition shines a light on the challenges of writing in a variety of contexts across a variety of media and continues to provide thorough guidance with new examples that prepare students to become effective, responsible communicators in a technologically saturated world.

Technical Communication is now available with Achieve, Macmillan Learning’s break-through digital platform. Achieve puts student writing and revision at the center of your course, with a dedicated composition space that guides students through drafting, peer review, source check, reflection, and revision. Developed to support best practices in commenting on student drafts, Achieve is a flexible, integrated suite of tools for designing and facilitating writing assignments, paired with actionable insights that make students’ progress towards outcomes clear and measurable. Fully editable pre-built assignments support the book’s approach, and an e-book is included.

Features

A consistent focus on audience and purpose teaches students to apply the principles of technical communication and adapt effectively to every writing situation and genre. Integrated advice and strategies for intercultural communication help writers meet the needs of diverse audiences.

Real-world sample documents are drawn from a range of disciplines and topics relevant to technical communication—from healthcare to marketing to engineering—as well as a wide range of print and digital sources. The sample proposal, progress report, and recommendations report work together as a sequence to demonstrate the variety of documents that can be involved in a single large project.

The student-friendly design serves as a model of the book’s own advice, with helpful checklists, annotated visual examples, easy-to-reference guidelines, and easy-to-follow cross-references in the margins.

Ethics Notes in every chapter remind students to consider the ethical implications of various writing situations and choices, always encouraging the highest standards of professionalism.

Tech Tips take a rhetorical approach to using technology, explaining why and how to use widely available digital tools for common writing tasks, such as reviewing edits, formatting documents, and creating charts.

Opportunities for practice in every chapter include Document Analysis Activities, Exercises, and Cases, which get students working on real-world documents in the context of workplace scenarios.

New to This Edition

The ebook has been updated to give your students the latest guidance on documenting sources in MLA style and follows the guidelines set forth in the MLA Handbook, 9th edition (April 2021).

Achieve with Technical Communication combines an interactive e-book with high-quality multimedia content and ready-made assessment options:

  • Fully customizable, pre-built writing assignments that expand on the cases in Part 4, guiding students through multiple drafts and helping them to focus on key goals for each genre
  • LearningCurve adaptive activities covering the first ten chapters of the text as well as the most serious grammatical errors and ESL topics
  • End-of-chapter cases that offer convenient downloads of the documents students need to work with
    Digital writing tutorials that suggest ways to use free or common tools
  • A test bank that supports summative assessment. 

Strategies for Online Communication boxes explore how issues of digital communication are handled by workplace professionals. Actual professionals share their strategies and insights on managing recurring content, crowdsourcing data and information, using multiple modalities in technical communication documents, and moderating user forums. Each feature includes annotated examples.

New coverage of nontraditional resumes and online interviews enhances existing guidance on finding a job. Coverage of  the essentials of creating a traditional cover letter, resume, and other job application materials is joined by new material illustrating alternate resume formats, including infographics and video resumes, along with realistic tips on when and whether to consider these options. Chapter 15 also adds new material on preparing for and participating in online job interviews.

A heightened focus on the relationship between print and digital provides students with the framework and support they need to read, conceive, and create content across mediums and platforms. Enhanced with examples, this renewed emphasis includes new coverage on leveraging the benefits of both media in the same end-user context and new Tech Tips on designing print and online documents and creating graphics.

New samples and examples throughout the text provide up-to-date models and opportunities for students to analyze real-world technical communication from a variety of contexts, such as comparison-based data visualizations and a video-based tutorial.

"Unlike other texts of a similar nature, Markels text showcases how the documents students write in the classroom apply to real-world experiences. It is both appealing and useful."

- Mikayla Beaudrie, University of North Florida

 

"Technical Communication is well designed, creatively organized, and provides great examples. The graphics section and document testing chapters are great as are the many resources available in the text."

- Lisa Abney, Northwestern State University  

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Table of Contents

Contents
Preface for Instructors
Introduction for Writers


Part 1  Understanding the Technical Communication Environment
1 Introduction to Technical Communication
2 Understanding Ethical and Legal Considerations
3 Writing Technical Documents
4 Writing Collaboratively

 

Part 2   Planning the Document
5 Analyzing Your Audience and Purpose
6 Researching Your Subject
7 Organizing Your Information


Part 3  Developing and Testing the Verbal and Visual Information
8 Communicating Persuasively
9 Emphasizing Important Information
10  Writing Correct and Effective Sentences
11  Designing Print and Online Documents
12  Creating Graphics
13  Evaluating and Testing Technical Documents


Part 4  Learning Important Applications
14  Corresponding in Print and Online
15  Applying for a Job
16  Writing Proposals
17  Writing Informational Reports
18  Writing Recommendation Reports
19  Writing Lab Reports
20  Writing Definitions, Descriptions, and Instructions
21  Making Oral Presentations


APPENDIX   Reference Handbook
Selected Bibliography
References
Index
Index of Selected Features

Headshot of Mike Markel

Mike Markel

Mike Markel was director of technical communication at Boise State University. The former editor of IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication, he is the author of numerous articles and six books about technical communication, including Ethics and Technical Communication: A Critique and Synthesis.

Headshot of Stuart Selber

Stuart Selber

Stuart A. Selber is Professor of English at Penn State University where he directs The Penn State Digital English Studio and the Program in Writing and Rhetoric. He is a past president and Fellow of the Association of Teachers of Technical Writing and a past president of the Council for Programs in Technical and Scientific Communication. Selber has received several national awards for outstanding research, including the Ken Rainey Award for Distinguished Research (Society for Technical Communication), which is a lifetime achievement award. Selber has also been honored with the Jay R. Gould Award for Excellence in Teaching Technical Communication (Society of Technical Communication) and the Ronald S. Blicq Award for Distinction in Technical Communication Education (IEEE Professional Communication Society).