4. Assignment 1: Content planning and development
Suppose you need to describe a product, situation, concept, or process to a group of non-experts. You decide to develop a one-page document (300–500 words) to explain, inform, or convince your audience to take a certain action.
First, answer the following questions, and then use your answers to guide the development of your document.
Use the guiding principles from The Elements of Style to develop your content. When in doubt about grammar, usage, and style, refer to the Chicago Manual of Style or another style guide you have access to (see Section 3.3)
Note
This is an open-ended assignment. Please select a topic you are interested in or are currently conducting research on.
A. Content planning questions
- Who is your audience? Describe them in a few sentences.
- What do they want to accomplish?
- What is your goal for providing the content?
- What constraints do you have?
- Which style manual or guide do you use as a reference?
B. Content development
Once you have answered the questions above, develop your content using a two-step approach:
- Define the structure of your content and identify the topic of each paragraph; and
- Draft and refine your document by consulting a particular style manual or guide.