Project 3: Document and Activity Report

Overview and Rationale

Professionals spend a significant amount of time communicating and writing. Becoming familiar with the types of communication used in your field is critical to your professional success. This assignment provides an opportunity for you consider communication you engage in as a professional.

I can't "teach" you the appropriate way to write specific documents for every professional situation because situations are varied and the communication requirements in disciplines, companies, and organizations differ depending on the needs and purposes of the groups and situations. They also change over time. However, I can help you learn to assess communication features and factors so that you can make decisions about why certain communications are the way the are, whether they are working, and how they might be improved.

As you're researching for this project, keep in mind that while we encounter various types of documents that are used for different purpose—genres—in the workplace, we don't often take the time to consider how specific features of those documents have come into being over time or the ways in which documents and other types of communication facilitate or inhibit work processes given workplace constraints and other factors.

To improve our own communication, as well as to improve communication processes in our workplaces, it's important to develop our abilities to analyze communication as a factor of the contexts and activities in which it occurs. The purpose of this assignment is to work with one type of tool—Activity Theory analysis—that allows us to thnk through the ways communication works in context.

For this assignment, you’ll

interview or observe a professional technical writer or a professional in your field who writes frequently,
collect and analyze sample documents, and
organize the information in a written report

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Project Description

Begin by reading a description of Activity Theory, the framework you'll use for analyzing documents.

Interview someone in your field (or one you're interested in) who writes as part of his or her job. Collect documents, analyze them, and choose one type of document or other artifact to discuss at length.

Analyze the artifact—including the audience, purpose, and rhetorical strategies—and situate the artifact's use within a system of activity.

Example: Lab reports serve specific functions in various fields. If your field uses lab reports, what is the primary purpose of them? The audience(s) for them? Are there specific standards for lab reports? Why? How do the standards reflect aspects of the activity? How are conventions and standards represented in a sample lab report?

Example: The New England Journal of Medicine, the Lancet, and the Journal of the American Medical Association publish research findings for medical professionals. Who uses this information? Why is it important? What standards must research findings meet for inclusion in such a journal? How might these standards be related to medical ethics?

Examples of types of documents and other communication you might consider:

Lab report
Mechanical drawing
Feasibility report
Memos
Journal articles (peer reviewed or not peer reviewed)
"White papers"
Conference presentation
Manuals (policy, user)
Website
Public service information
Proposal or Grant application
Promotional brochure

Students have used this project to evaluate and write about documents as varied as aircraft pilot weather reports, political campaigne speeches, workplace presentations, emergency medical reports, and a sherrif's department incident report.

Write a 5-6 page analysis of the type of communication that describes the communication and its genre including the features of texts and graphics—make sure to discuss organization, diction, and format and to provide specific examples to support your observations; analyzes the type of communication in terms of audience, context, purpose, etc.; evaluates the relationship of the communication to an activity.

Consider the following questions as well as questions:

What types of communication does the workplace/profession routinely generate? Where are these communications available and to whom? How are they used? (You'll want to narrow your focus to one type of communication or one specific situation or problem.)

Who is impacted by the practices and communications and how?

What are the generic standards for this type of communication? Are there specific conventions that apply? Are there professional standards? Company/organizational standards? Where are standards available? How have they developed?

Some specific issues to consider as you prepare your project include:

Audience. Who is your audience? Why is this audience appropriate for your analysis? What features of this audience inform the choices you make in writing your paper? (Are you targeting professionals in your field? Students in your field? Students in general? A general audience interested in field-related topics? A workplace audience that might benefit from your information?) Make sure to use vocabulary adjusted to your audience.

Content. What research do you need to do to understand the way the communication is used (or the reason for and results of an incident or problem)? The ethical standards that impact it? How much detail should you provide? What information will you include and why?

Organization. How should you organize your discussion? Have you provided transitions and included topic sentences?

Style. What is the appropriate level of diction (vocabulary, tone)?

Appearance. How will you format your paper? Are headings appropriate? Graphics?