ENG286 Minnesota State Negotiating Technical Texts and Contexts Memo

ENG286 Minnesota State Negotiating Technical Texts and Contexts Memo

Examine the pages of the manual’s introduction, found on the following pages, and read them carefully. Briefly analyze what you see as the manual’s purpose and audience in some notes to yourself. In your examination, consider whether the tone established by the manual has adequately addressed the purpose and audience as you understand them. Feel free to make lists and expand on arguments as you require for the notes to be useful to you.

Prepare a memorandum on your findings for Jody. The memo should present your informed opinions about the manual and provide numerous examples of important areas of concern from the manual. As an added precaution, it will be helpful for the memo to provide a brief summary in case Jody wants to use it as a quick reference as she talks with Capitani later on Monday. Keep in mind what a summary ideally needs to do for reader-users. Think through, as well, all of the contextual issues surrounding what you write in the rest of the memo and how you write it. Although Jody clearly wants your input, she has admitted to having already formed her opinion of the manual. And, though she says she doesn’t want you to feel as though you have to agree with each other, she’s obviously decided to ask you, at least partly because she’s curious about how you’ll respond. Clearly, your job does not rest on how well you perform this task; however, the intangibles (such as making certain kinds of impressions) are the things that often help to persuade people about your abilities. Given the contextual elements, think through what appropriate appeals you may make in an explanation of your findings.