Agenda

Technical Writing Basics
Tuesday, January 9, 2018, 11:00 AM – 1:00 PM CST

   Correspondence

      • Business letters: formats and types of business correspondence

      • Memos and electronic mail: advantages and disadvantages of internal communication

   Best Practices in Technical Documents

      • Document elements: using formats to establish the order of content in document front matter, body, and end matter

      • Document types: correspondence, specifications, reports, instructions and proposals


Planning Documents
Tuesday, January 9, 2018, 1:30 – 3:30 PM CST

   Effective technical communication characteristics

      • Ensuring accuracy, clarity, conciseness, coherence, and appropriateness

   Defining purpose and audience

      • Identifying the document purposes and assessing your audience’s needs and expertise

   Organizing and planning

      • Developing work strategies to set priorities and to make the best use of writing time

      • Creating project plans outlining specific details for a predictable and logical structure to help your audience understand technical information


Writing Documents
Wednesday, January 10, 2018, 11:00 AM – 1:00 PM CST

   Writing

      • Adopting an appropriate style and tone

      • Using effective sentence construction

      • Constructing effective paragraphs

      • Building sentences and paragraphs

      • Using sentence variety (emphasis, parallel structure, subordination)

   Designing documents

      • Page layout and design considerations

   Graphics

      • Creating and integrating visuals


Revising and Editing Documents
Wednesday, January 10, 2018, 1:30 – 3:30 PM CST

   Editing for grammar and style

      • Choosing the right words and technical terminology

      • Using the punctuation and mechanics correctly

      • Ensuring clarity (ambiguity, awkwardness, logic errors, positive writing, voice)

   Reviewing content

      • Checking accuracy, completeness, and effectiveness

      • Checking unity and coherence

      • Ethical issues

Webinar Instructions

All attendees must log-on through their own email – attendees may not watch together if they wish to earn continuing education credit. HalfMoon Education Inc. must be able to prove attendance if either the attendee or HalfMoon Education Inc. is audited.

Certificates of completion will be provided for each webinar attended and will be sent via email in PDF form about five business days after the date of the conclusion of the series.

Webinars are presented via GoToWebinar, an easy-to-use application that can be run on most systems and tablets. Instructions and login information will be provided in an email sent close to the date of the webinar. It is highly recommended that you download, install and test the application before the webinar begins by clicking on the link in the email.


GoToWebinar system requirements:

Operating System:
Windows 7, Windows 8 or Windows 10 Mac OSX 10.9 (Mavericks) – 10.12 (Sierra)

Web Browser:
Chrome v34+, Firefox v34+, Internet Explorer 8+, Microsoft Edge v12+, Safari v6+

Internet connection:                   Hardware: 
Minimum of 1Mbps                       2GB RAM or more

Credits

Architects: 
     8.0 CE Hours

AIA:
     8.0 LUs

Engineers: 
     8.0 PDHs

Continuing Education Credit Information

HalfMoon Education is an American Institute of Architects-approved continuing education sponsor (No. J885), and is deemed an approved continuing education sponsor for architects in New York. These webinars are not approved for Florida architects. Other states do not preapprove educators or courses. Check each webinar for the number of continuing education hours available. HalfMoon Education is an approved engineer continuing education provider in Florida, Indiana, Louisiana, Maryland, New Jersey (Approval No. 24GP00000700), New York (NYSED Sponsor No. 35), North Carolina, and North Dakota. Other states do not preapprove educators or courses. These webinars offer engineer continuing education credit in all states. Check each course listing for the number of PDHs available. Participation and knowledge retention will be verified for these webinar events, certificates of completion will be provided, and LUs will be reported to the AIA. Please see individual course listings for credit approval.

Speakers

Dr. Mark Decker, PhD

Professor and Department Chair in the Commonwealth University of Pennsylvania’s English Department

Mr. Decker teaches Technical Writing and Writing Technical Manuals in support of the Professional Writing minor. Dr. Decker has PhD and MA degrees in English from The Pennsylvania State University (2001, 1997) and he graduated summa cum laude in English from Utah State University (1995).

While an undergraduate, Dr. Decker worked for several years as a staff writer for Aerotech News and Review, an aerospace and defense industry trade newspaper published in Lancaster, California. During graduate school, Dr. Decker was a member of the Leonhard Center for Technical Writing Initiative, a collaboration between Penn State’s Department of English and College of Engineering designed to promote an exchange of ideas between technical writing instructors and the scientific and engineering communities. Dr. Decker also taught Business Writing, Technical Writing, and an Advanced Technical Writing course that enrolled graduate students from technical and scientific disciplines.

After graduate school, Dr. Decker spent four years at the University of Wisconsin-Stout, where he taught Technical Writing in support of that school’s major in Technical Communication and served as the advisor for the student chapter of the Society for Technical Communication. Dr. Decker has given presentations at several national and international conferences and has published both a book and a co-edited book as well as several scholarly articles, book chapters, and encyclopedia chapters.

There are 4 Courses in This Seminar

Technical Writing Basics

Technical Writing Basics

January 9, 2018 Webinar Dr. Mark Decker
Planning Documents

Planning Documents

January 9, 2018 Webinar Dr. Mark Decker
Writing Documents

Writing Documents

January 10, 2018 Webinar Dr. Mark Decker
Revising and Editing Documents

Revising and Editing Documents

January 10, 2018 Webinar Dr. Mark Decker