December 2006
Contents
1. clergy Diverse Deliverables As with most technical writers today Gil doesn t depend solely on hard copy text He and his group also produce intranet training material In addition to explaining tax law and providing common examples and applications Gil s group focuses heavily on case studies tasks that spotlight diverse tax areas and show through fact based exercises how changes in tax laws will affect clients Much of the writing from Gil s group is blended allowing for online hard copy textbook hands on activities and face to face classroom instruction Accuracy Imagine that your tax preparer has made an error on your taxes This not only would negatively impact your income status but also errors made by H amp R Block tax preparers would negatively impact the company s credibility Gil and his staff make every effort to produce training materials that are as free from error as possible With a staff of several writers consistency is always a challenge For example the writers must ensure that H amp R Block s dozens of courses consistently use periods at the end of bulleted lists or Table of Contents not write out abbreviate or use a symbol for section codes in legal documents Section section Sec sec or capitalize or not capitalize Medicare and Social Security spell out or not spell out ages 34 or thirty four To supply up to date tax information that is2. correct and consistent Gil s writers follow rigorous review sequences writers review the work of other writers proofreaders review written work editors read all text before publication Gil and his staff are talented people whose jobs demand multitasking They must e know tax laws beable to write clearly concisely and correctly be technologically savvy since each writer also must be expert in desktop publishing Most importantly Gil and his writers must be empathetic They must ask themselves about their target audience What will our tax preparers need to know when they are preparing their client s tax return After all the 80 000 end users of H amp R Block tax training materials will impact millions of people just like you and me Before our tax preparers can help us Gil and his staff must anticipate the needs of these tax preparers Knowing tax laws is important but audience recognition is essential to the successful conveyance of complex tax information e From the Front Line a real world business scenario e Case Study with assignment e Teaching Tactics focusing on unique classroom approaches e Dot Com Updates with new online sites e Factoid interesting facts to update your lectures e Editing Practice grammar workshops al FACTOID i a Dot Com Updates A Few Sites Related to PowerPoint Usage Finklestein Ellen PowerPoint Tips Blog http www ellenfinkelstein com po
3. hazardous materials training courses and exercises provides technical assistance to city businesses in developing their LEP operational plans monitors legislation and works with state representatives involved in issues related to hazardous materials and emergency response Budget Considerations Funding to support LEPC including City staff is provided through the state s Chemical Emergency Preparedness Fund in the amount of 49 927 for the 2005 2006 fiscal year LEPC also receives an additional 8 682 from the Hazardous Materials Emergency Preparedness HMEP fund for 2005 2006 Additional Funding Needs LEPC studies show a need for 122 980 for successful management of hazardous materials incidents This amount would fund requirements for technical support additional staff specialized equipment and supplies Specifically the LEPC needs 5 400 for tech support 45 610 for additional staff 65 225 for specialized equipment and 6 745 for supplies Recommendation The City of Greenleaf requests authorization to apply for a grant not to exceed 122 980 from the state government Editing Practice In the following e mail message find and correct the apostrophe errors NOTE Not all sentences are grammatically incorrect Only correct the actual apostrophe errors Check out rules for apostrophes on the next page From rtatum cmac org To tbell cmac org Subject TayShuan its probably too early to start planning for next months
4. December 2006 Technical Writing Process and Product 5e Newsletter From the Front Line Gil Charney CPA CFP Director of Tax Training at H amp R Block manages a staff of a dozen writers whose mission is to produce up to date accurate well written tax training material and course textbooks for 80 000 tax professionals nationwide That s a hard job Why Gil and his staff must overcome numerous challenges to create their tax courses including the following Audience Recognition H amp R Block s tax preparation professionals are a broad audience Some are CPAs and experienced tax preparers but many do not have extensive tax backgrounds They are all ages and come from all walks of life To communicate effectively to this diverse audience Gil and his staff try to write their documentation using common easily understandable language to explain complex tax laws Complex Subject Matter Most of us seek expert guidance with our taxes because tax laws are incredibly complex and they change constantly when new laws or regulations are enacted Gil s staff must stay up to date by researching our changing tax laws In addition Gil and his staff create over 50 different tax courses These include courses on estates employment taxes farms corporations and partnerships gift taxation foreign income taxation and sole proprietorships as well as tax information for individuals who are retired in the military or in the
5. e writer where text goes Click to add subtitle e PPt helps our students focus on page layout With PPt we can easily discuss the value of headings subheadings bulleted points and graphics PPt allows students to create hyperlinks We ask our students to hyperlink their headings and subheadings within the table of contents Then by clicking on these links the reader can access any part of the manual or proposal in any order Finally we take the word technical in technical writing seriously We believe that it is important for students to learn as much about technology as possible In the workplace they will need to be skilled in a variety of technological communication channels These will include Word e mail Web design blogging and instant messaging for example Having students write proposals and user manuals as PPt slides gives them an edge in the workplace while teaching them valuable writing skills Case Study Here s a quick way to help students practice PowerPoint use In small groups ask students to create a brief PowerPoint presentation based on the following case study Background In 2005 the City of Greenleaf created the Local Emergency Planning Committee LEPC to plan responses to hazardous materials incidents The LEPC collects and maintains information on the types and quantities of hazardous materials at facilities throughout the City develops and updates a hazardous materials plan conducts
6. ed on Elm Weird exception 2 Which is correct it s power supply is located in the basement or its power supply is located in the basement The first example is incorrect It s is the contraction for it is not the possessive form of the word which is spelled without an apostrophe Weird common error 1 People for some reason want to use apostrophe to make a word plural such as the ten employee s work at Best Buy That s wrong The correct version omits the apostrophe as follows the ten employees work at Best Buy Weird common error 2 People want to use apostrophes to make abbreviations and acronyms plural such as I bought six CPU s That s wrong The correct version omits the apostrophe as follows I bought six CPUs
7. hese rules 1 Use apostrophes to create contractions two words shortened and fused together see the words highlighted in red Ex She doesn t work there anymore She s looking for a new job ll try to help her Can t you help also In the samples above the apostrophe represents an omitted letter o in doesn t etc 99 66599 el in she s 2 Use apostrophe to show possession ownership Ex Singular possessive John s computer has crashed Yesterday another employee s computer had the same problem In the above examples the singular subjects John and an employee possessed their computers The apostrophes shows their ownership To show singular possession the apostrophes precede the final s Ex Plural possessive Six employees computers crashed last week All six of the computers hard drives proved to be infected with viruses In the above examples the plural nouns employees and computers possess the computers and the hard drives The apostrophes show ownership To show plural possession the apostrophes follow the final s Weird exception 1 People always ask what if my name ends in an s such as Jones How do I make this possessive Do I put the apostrophe after the final s or do I add an additional s The answer is either or You can write The Jones house is located on Elm or The Jones s house is locat
8. meeting but lets consider the following logistics e Time Well want to start early enough in the day to maximize everyones time but we shouldn t start too early Im suggesting a start time of 9 00 a m with a closing time of 3 30 p m That way our associate s will not be too rushed in the morning but will still be able to accomplish a lot during the day s activities Food Lets be sure to keep everyone energized I suggest coffee and tea in the morning with Danishes A heavy lunch wont work We can keep the calories down with salads and sandwiches factoring in Tom s and Phyllis allergies to wheat Hands on Workshops No one likes to just sit and listen to a speaker To keep our employees engaged I m suggesting computer workshops On each associates computer station please load the appropriate software Loading software on all 12 associates computers will be time consuming for you but doing so will allow everyone to be actively involved Certificates All 12 of the employees bosses e mail messages to me requested certificates showing CEU s Please print certificates showing that each participant has completed the days workshop and has earned 6 hours of CEU s That should take care of our planning TayShuan If you have any questions I ll be happy to help Apostrophes Apostrophes are easy They only serve two purposes e Contractions e Possession To use apostrophes correctly follow t
9. ucation training conferences government etc but also we consider PPt when used effectively to be a wonderful tool for hardcopy text handouts and oral presentations Here s What We Do with PPt 1 Long research proposals We ask our students in teams or individually to write proposals using PPt These PPt slides can be printed out and bound as hard copies In addition the students use the PPt slides as visual aids when giving their oral presentations User Manual Students in teams or individually write how to instructional manuals using PPt These PPt slides can be printed out and bound as hard copies or they can exist as electronic text When viewed electronically the user manuals can incorporate hyperlinks allowing the end user to access parts of the instructional manual as needed Why Use PPt As noted in the factoid PPt is ubiquitous in business industry and government We do our students a favor by teaching them effective PPt techniques In addition we like to use PPt for assignments like proposals and user manuals that traditionally would stick with 8 2 x 11 Word text for the following reasons e A landscape PPt slide layout demands that students write concisely a valuable tool in technical writing As noted in Chapter 3 we believe that good technical writing fits in a box When students open PPt they immediately see boxes in which text must fit A typical PPt slide showing the Click to add titl
10. werpoint_tip html The PowerPoint FAQ http www pptfaq com Paradi Dave How to Avoid Death by PowerPoint http www communicateusingtechnology com articles avoid_death_by_ppt htm Russell Wendy 10 PowerPoint Tutorials for Beginners How to Use PowerPoint http presentationsoft about com od powerpoint101 a begin_guide htm Russell Wendy Tips to Create Enhance and Deliver Your Business Presentations http presentationsoft about com od powerpointinbusiness a busines_success htm Russell Wendy 12 Tips for Delivering a Knockout Business Presentation http presentationsoft about com od powerpointinbusiness p bus_delivery htm Wuorio Jeff Presenting with PowerPoint 10 dos and don ts http www microsoft com smallbusiness resources technology business_software presenting with powerpoint 10 dos and donts mspx EDD For opposing points of view regarding PowerPoint check out the following articles Garber Angela Death By Powerpoint http www smallbusinesscomputing com biztools article php 684871 April 1 2001 Tufte Edward PowerPoint Is Evil Power Corrupts PowerPoint Corrupts Absolutely http www wired com wired archive 11 09 ppt2 html Teaching Tactics Using PowerPoint in Your Classroom We like PowerPoint We know that many people don t see the Garber and Tufte articles mentioned above However we not only see PowerPoint PPt used everywhere business ed
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