Technical Communication Strategies for Today, Global Edition, 2nd edition

For introductory courses in Technical Communication.

All of the topics and genres students need—in fewer pages and at a significantly lower price

Students want their textbooks to cost less, and they want comprehensive topical coverage presented in a succinct and clear writing style. Technical Communication Strategies for Today offers both and speaks to today's students. Instructional narrative is “chunked,” so that portions of text are combined with graphics. The chunked presentation also integrates an awareness of how documents are read—often skimmed by readers seeking the information they need, and it models the way today’s technical documents should be designed.

The contemporary writing style is matched by an approach that accurately reflects the modern day computer-centered technical workplace: Technical Communication Strategies for Today presents computers as thinking tools that powerfully influence how we develop, produce, design, and deliver technical documents and presentations.

MyTechCommLab is not included. Students, if MyTechCommLab is a recommended/mandatory component of the course, please ask your instructor for the correct ISBN and course ID. MyTechCommLab should only be purchased when required by an instructor. Instructors, contact your Pearson representative for more information. MyTechCommLab is an online homework, tutorial, and assessment product designed to personalize learning and improve results. With a wide range of interactive, engaging, and assignable activities, students are encouraged to actively learn and retain tough course concepts.

• Each chapter places an emphasis on the activity of producing effective documents by following a process approach that mirrors how professionals communicate in the technical workplace and how students learn in the classroom.
• An open design facilitates learning by presenting material graphically and in accessible chunks of information.
• The text incorporates the newest technology-driven changes in workplace communication with in-depth discussions of email, instant messaging, working in virtual teams, making Web sites, blogging, podcasting, incorporating digital audio and visuals in documents, using PDAs, negotiating ethical situations in electronic communication, and more. Student writers learn practical skills they will be asked to apply in the contemporary workplace.
• Annotated sample documents throughout show students worthwhile examples of workplace writing, usually on topics of intrinsic interest to a variety of student majors.
• Exercises and projects,abundant at the end of each chapter, give students opportunities to work individually or in teams and are designed to challenge students with realistic workplace writing assignments.
• "At Work" boxes in each chapter feature interviews with working professionals about how they communicate in a variety of workplace situations offering students a glimpse of the challenges faced in real world settings.
• "Help" boxes in every chapter describe how a specific computer application or related strategy can be used to improve the production and presentation of workplace communication.
• "At a Glance" information boxes serve as study aids and self-check reviews of major topic discussions for "need-it-quick" information.
• "Take Note" call-outs supplement the main text with tips for understanding concepts and are quick asides to readers who desire more information on a subject.

• New microgenres feature that allows students to work on smaller assignments
that help them build up to more complex genres (Chapters 5-11).
• New organization of the text that places all of the major technical communication genres at the front of the book
to encourage students to write earlier in the semester (Part 2).
• Chapters on e-mail, letters, and memos
that have been combined to better reflect how e-mail has become a primary form of correspondence in many workplaces.
• Strategies for using social networking in the workplace
to collaborate with colleagues and work with clients (Chapter 3 and 15).
• Combined chapter on research
that helps students quickly locate electronic, print, and empirical sources and cite them properly.
• New sample documents that provide even more examples of the types of communications
you will be generating and reading in the workplace, including a technical description (Chapter 6), a status report (Chapter 9), and a poster presentation (Chapter 10).