Reports: What they do and how to write them

Reports and Other Longer Documents

Define: Report is a generic term for a variety of documents that vary in form and
purpose.
Ex: Check lists, interoffice memos, e-mails, letters to clients, and full blown documents

Main purpose of a formal report is to present the results of a detailed project. A detailed project often involves considerable capital, time, and effort.

Different types of audiences:
(1) the layperson
(2) the executive
(3) the expert
(4) the technician
(5) the operator

Personal examples: Senior Project
Internship in Mexico

Every communication situation involves three fundamental components: a writer, a message, and an audience.
Do not assume different things for the report.
The report is more important than the investigation to the writer’s career.

Draw an Egocentric Organization Chart with four degrees
Ex: (1) you
(2) audiences in own group
(3) audiences in close proximity to your group
(4) audiences elsewhere in the organization
(5) audiences outside the organization

Know your audience: A systematic characterization is made in terms of operational (daily concerns and attitudes, his role within the organization, etc), objective (education), and personal characteristics (age, attitude, etc)

Ex. Dad writing down information after having a talk with a coworker

IMPORTANT: Write report without “stepping on anybody’s toes” or without embarrassing anyone

Operation characteristics example: Senior Project – stripping post (loss of jobs)

Primary audiences – who makes decisions or act on the basis of the information a report contains
Secondary audiences – who are affected by the decisions and actions
Immediate audiences – who route the report or transmit the information it contains
Roles rather than individuals provide continuity.
Ex. Senior Project (Old head industrial engineer and plant floor manager moved/promoted so had to present my project and what I was doing to new ones)

What Management Looks For In Engineering Reports
(1) What’s the report about and who wrote it
(2) What does it contribute?
(3) What are the conclusions and recommendations?
(4) What are their importance and significance?
(5) What’s the implication to the Company?
(6) What actions are suggested? Short range? Long range?
(7) Why? By whom? When? How?

Five broad technological areas
(1) Technical problems
(2) New projects and products
(3) Experiments and tests
(4) Materials and processes
(5) Field troubles

NOTE: The writer of a report for management should write at a technical level suitable for a reader whose educational and experience background is in a field different from his own.

Management Responsibilities
(1) Define the project and the required reports
(2) Provide proper perspective for the project and the required reporting
(3) See that effective reports are submitted on time
(4) See that the reports are properly distributed

Abstract has two purposes:
(1) it provides the specialist in the field with enough information about the report to permit him to decide whether he could read it with profit
(2) it provides the administrator or executive with enough knowledge about what has been done in the study or project and with what results to satisfy most of his administrative needs

General rules for writing the abstract
(1) Your abstract must include enough specific information about the project or study to satisfy most of the administrative needs of a busy executive.
(2) Your abstract must be a self-contained unit, a complete report-in-miniature.
(3) Your abstract must be short.
(4) Your abstract must be written in fluent, easy-to-read prose.
(5) Your abstract must be consistent in tone and emphases with report paper, but it does not need to follow the arrangement, wording, or proportion of the original.
(6) Your abstract should make the widest possible use of abbreviations and numerals, but it must not contain any tables or illustrations

Ten Report Writing Pitfalls:
(1) Ignoring your audience
(2) Writing to impress
(3) Having more than one aim
(4) Being inconsistent
(5) Overqualifying
(6) Not defining
(7) Misintroducing
(8) Dazzling with data
(9) Not highlighting
(10) Not rewriting

Final Draft of Proposal for Scuba Diving

Executive Summary:
Studies show that the more experienced a diver is, the more likely they are to have an accident. Experienced divers think they can cut corners, that the rules are for beginners; what they do not realize is that diving rules are grounded on human physiology and physics. No matter how experienced or physically fit a diver is, there are limits the human body cannot pass. This document will prevent diving accidents resulting from the failure to follow the rules by making the fundamental physiological and physical laws behind the rules of diving comprehensible to all so that divers internalize them.

Introduction:
Many people discover the underwater world and learn the basic rules of diving. However, very few people understand that the sources of the diving rules are very simple physiological and physical laws. Consequently many don’t internalize the rules, underestimate their values, take risks and eventually have an accident. The purpose of this document is to make the fundamental physiological and physical laws comprehensible to all so that the diving rules become meaningful to divers and are fully internalized.
60% of recreational diving accidents happen to experienced or very experienced divers (levels 3 to 5 and instructors) with a median age of 34 years. These divers knew the rules, were officially sanctioned as good and proficient divers, yet did not understand enough the fundamental nature of these rules and chose to ignore them.
As a result, this document will review the fundamental laws of diving with a strong emphasis on clarity and basic understanding. Each law is concluded with a real life application to diving, allowing the reader to deepen their understanding of the law. A table that summarizes the list of accidents versus the laws involved along with a one page summary will conclude the document. This document will approach the rules of diving not from a moralistic point of view nor from a legalistic point of view but from a fundamental physics law point of view to allow better comprehension and internalization of the rules.
Searching on the internet, I found sites with advice by experienced divers and sites which required the reader to have great technical skills in the field of biology, physiology, and physics. I did not find a site that showed the fundamental physics, biology, and physiology behind diving and did not present the technical information in a way that was easy to comprehend at the high school level without having technical expertise in the field.

Body:
• Current Situation
o In the book, Open Water Diver by the SSI, there are 15 pages dedicated to the understanding of physiology (half on basic physiology and half on the symptoms) out of 214 pages. Only three percent of the book is spent on understanding the physiology of diving, and it does not include any physics about diving.
o According to the May 2007 issue of Undercurrent, there are no concrete figures for the number of newly certified divers each year and for the number of active US divers (active divers are defined as divers who are diving five or more times a year). However, Ben Davison, publisher of the newsletter, Undercurrent, estimates that there are 1.2 million active divers plus or minus 15 percent.
o The same physiological and physics laws apply to most accidents when they happen. They happen because people fail to follow basic rules not because they are unknown but because their values are not understood.
 According to the yearly report by the FFESSM (Federation Francais d’Etudes et de Sports Sous-Marins) in 1998, 40 percent of accidents that occurred were by divers ranging from level 3 to 5. (French scuba diving levels are as follows: Beginner, Level 1, Level 2, Level 3, Level 4, and Level 5.) 80 percent of accidents were from decompression sickness. There were 320 diving accidents recorded.
 In the Statics of Diving Accidents by Dr. Bruno Grandjean, the chart shows diving statics from 1995 to 2004. You see a general trend where over 40 percent of diving accidents happen to level 3 to 5 divers and instructors each year.
 The Statics of Diving Accidents by Dr. Bruno Grandjean showed 335 diving accidents in the year 2004. Of the 335 diving accidents that were recorded, 21 percent were due to errors in the procedure. Errors in procedures include running out of air and ascending to the surface too quickly.

• Project Plan / Methodology
o Intro
o Table of contents
o Physiology
 Blood (hemoglobin carries O2 and CO2)
 Circulation of blood in the body (blood going to the tissues is 500 m2 of capillary veins)
 Breathing (lung capacity, exchange of CO2/O2)
o Physics
 Archimedes
• Experimental test
• Principle
• Application to diving
 Notions of mass, density and weight
 Notions of pressure
• Force exerted by a solid
• Force exerted by a the air
• Force exerted by a liquid
• Hydrostatic pressure experimental test
• Fundamental principal of hydrostatic
∆p = pN – pM = omega * h = ro * g * h
Where:
pN = pressure at point N
pM = pressure at point M
Omega = weight of the volume of liquid
Ro = weight of the volume of mass
h = difference of elevation between the horizontal plane containing N and the horizontal plane containing M
g = Earth’s gravity
• Absolute pressure
 Boyle-Mariotte Law
• Experimental test
• Law
At constant temperature, the volume V of a gas varies inversely proportional to the absolute pressure
P1*V1 = P2*V2
• Application to diving
o Lung Volume
o Diving Time
o Floatability
o Computation Tables
 Dalton’s Law
• Experimental test
• Law
“At a given temperature, the absolute pressure of a mixed gas is equal to the sum of the partial pressure that these gas would have they occupied alone the total volume.”
pa = absolute pressure of the mixed gas
pp = partial pressure
The partial pressure of a gas from a mixture is equal to the product of the total pressure of the mixture multiplied by the volume percentage of the gas under consideration
pp = X/100 (percentage volume) * pa
• Application to diving
 Mechanism of gas dissolution in a liquid
• Experimental test
Open a soft drink bottle or a bottle of Champagne and watch the bubbles rise up
• Henry’s Law
“At constant temperature and at saturation, the quantity of gas dissolved per unit of volume in a liquid is proportional to the pressure of the gas above the liquid”
• Tension
p = kC
Where
p = pressure of gas,
C = concentration of gas in solution
k = constant of Henry relative to couple gas/liquid
• Under saturation, saturation, over saturation
• Tissues
• De-saturation – Over-saturation
 Temperature
• Water temperature impact
 Optical underwater
• Description
• Application to diving
 Sound
• Diving
o Conclusion
o Edition
o Index

• Qualifications
o As a Diver
 Certified SSI (Scuba Schools International) diver
 Dived in the US and in France.
 Enjoy being around and going into the water
 Know French and American scuba diving instructors who can give me insights into advanced scuba diving rules and experiences
o Scientific Knowledge
 Engineering student
 Mastered all the basic physics and physiological concepts that are used in this document
 Took a math course in differential equations
o Capacity to organize for comprehension
 Demonstrated communication skills in four different languages
 Capacity to adapt the message to the level of understanding of my recipients
 Examples
• Explaining to Mexican workers different ways to improve efficiency
• Presenting to the manager of the factory different wa

• Timeline
o Sept 14 – Sept 28
 Physics
• Archimedes
• Notions of mass, density and weight
• Notions of pressure
• Boyle – Marriotte Law
• Dalton’s Law
• Mechanism of gas dissolution in a liquid
• Temperature
• Optical underwater
• Sound
o Sept 29 – Oct 5
 Introduction
 Table of Contents
 Conclusion
 Edition
 Index
 Physiology
o Oct 6 – Oct 10
 Research
• Examples
• Drawings
o Oct 13 – Oct 16
 Final Review
Conclusion:
Focusing on basic fundamental laws and their application to diving is a theme that will be used throughout the document to obtain a better comprehension of the rules. This will allow the reader to internalize the rules, and be less inclined to take risks and skip the rules when nobody is around to enforce them.
This document will make an effort to use graphics by borrowing heavily from the internet to reinforce the text’s message. Examples for each law will help the reader compute real life examples.
Most, if not all, of the information found on the internet is very technical and detailed or would give rules and then answers without explaining how the answers were derived. The reader is expected to know complicated math and have significant knowledge of physiology and biology. This document is unique because it attempts to cover all the fundamental laws of physiology and physics that are available at the high school level and makes them understandable and applicable for diving. There are no expectations of high level biology, math, and physics knowledge. This document will provide the answers and the methods to which the answers are found.
May this document prevent accidents for all of us that “know better” or don’t have time to memorize “the rules”.

Talking Points For Business and Technical Correspondence

Business and Technical Correspondence
3 forms of business and technical correspondence
(1) letter
(2) memo
(3) email

(A) Making Your Correspondence Get Results by David Lewis
(1) Write for him, not to him
(2) Personalize your letters
a. Pronouns are very effective
(3) Mastering your personality in print

The difficulty lies in making your letters sound more the way you talk without completely writing as if you were talking to the person. Personal Experience: You are more likely to get results by keeping your letters short and simple. (Especially if you are emailing to people of and in different countries) The higher ups do not have time to try to read and understand a lengthy paragraph causing them to skip the letter entirely. Making it easy for them to understand and read is essential.

(B) “I Have Some Bad News for You” by Allan Glatthorn
How to Break Bad News:
(1) Successful manager is people-sensitive, able to empathize
(2) Bad news is best delivered face to face, allowing the person to express their opinion and to make sure there is no hidden message
(3) Everyone values honesty and forthrightness

The Indirect Bad News Message
(1) THANKS – begin with positive statement
(2) BECAUSE – state reasons for rejection first
(3) SORRY – present the bad news
(4) THANKS – another expression of appreciation

Reasons for Using: You want further contact with the petitioner, you want to project the image of a caring individual, and/or because you believe the petitioner won’t be able to handle a more direct statement.

The Direct Message of Bad News
(1) THANKS – courteous expression of appreciation
(2) SORRY – move quickly to bad news (stated directly)
(3) BECAUSE – reasons come after (stated directly)
(4) THANKS – message ends courteously but the door is closed

Reasons for Using: You want to discourage any further requests from the petitioner, want to project an image of toughness and directness, and/or are addressing an individual who prefers forthrightness and equates indirectness with softness or dishonesty
(C) How to Write Better Memos by Harold Mintz
Memos are primarily used for:
(1) informing people of a problem or situation
(2) nailing down responsibility for action, and a deadline for it
(3) Establishing a file record of decisions, agreements, and policies

Organization of the Memo
Should answer three basic questions concerning its subject
(1) What are the facts?
(2) What do they mean?
(3) What do we do now?

Literary Qualities
A memo needs to be clear, brief, and relevant. Also needs to have a personal, human approach.

Format of the Memo
To and From Lines – Names and Departments
Subject – Summarize it in ten words or less
Distribution – only to people involved or interested
Text – Use applicable headings listed after the three questions under
“Organization”
Paragraphs – If numbering or lettering them helps in any way, do it
Line Spacing – Single space within paragraphs, double space between
Underlines and Capitals – Used sparingly and only to emphasize important points
Number of Pages – some companies max 1 page memo – therefore need second
or third memo to back it up
Figures and Tables – Use them, enhance impact of memos

(D) How to Use Bottom-Line Writing in Corporate Communications by John Fielden and Ronald Dulek

Comprehension is the Key
High Cost of Comprehension
Time and mistakes is money.
Programming for Inefficiency
Social Upbringing
Educational Programming
Indoctrination into Anxiety
What can I do?
Responsibility of the individual - Reject your social and educational
programming
Learn to write efficiently and organize your messages to make it easy and
fast to comprehend
Develop self confidence to send bottom-line messages upward in nonsensitive messages
Have A/The Superior’s And Subordinate’s Credo posted on the door of each manager and subordinate respectively

(E) E-Mail: Presenting a Professional Image by Janis Fisher Chan
For A Seamless Style: Use language that communicates clearly, accurately, and
Concisely
Use Active Language
Use Plain English
Avoid Inflated Language
Cut Out the Clutter: Eliminate Unnecessary Words
Use only one word for a one-word idea
Avoid unnecessary repetition
Use specific Language
Strengthen Those Sentences: Use Short, Simple, Focused Sentences and Good
Grammar
Watch Those Modifiers
…Use Complete Sentences
Keep Sentences Short, Simple, and Focused
Avoid Choppy Sentences
Make Sure That Subjects and Verbs Agree
…Use Pronouns Correctly
…Use Gender-Neutral Language
Use plural instead of singular pronouns
Eliminate the pronoun altogether
Speak directly to your reader
Structure the sentence so you can use “who”
..Punctuate Properly: Use Commas, Semicolons, and Other Punctuation
Marks to Help Convey Your Message
Pointers for Using Commas
Avoid comma splices
Don’t set off essential information with commas
Don’t use a comma to separate a group of words form the
subject of the sentence
As a rule, use a comma after an introductory clause
Pointers for Using Semicolons
Two Primary Uses
Join two closely related independent clauses
To separate elements in a series that already
contains commas
Pointers for Using Apostrophes
Apostrophes used to signify ownership
Apostrophes that replace the missing letter in contractions
Pointers for Using Dashes and Parentheses
Make writing more expressive

Problem Statement 1,2,3

Problem Statement 1

Many people discover the underwater world and learn the basic rules of diving. However, very few people understand that the sources of the diving rules are very simple physiological and physical laws. Consequently many don’t internalize the rules, underestimate their values, take risks and eventually have an accident. The purpose of this document is to make the fundamental physiological and physical laws comprehensible to all so that the diving rules become meaningful to divers and are fully internalized.

Problem Statement 2

Ideally, experienced divers should internalize the rules and know the inherent risks in diving. However, studies show that the more experienced a diver is, the more likely they are to have an accident. Experienced divers think they can cut corners, that the rules are for beginners; what they do not realize is that diving rules are grounded on human physiology and physics. No matter how experienced or physically fit a diver is, there are limits the human body cannot pass. This document will reduce and hopefully prevent diving accidents by negligence of the rules by

Problem Statement 3

As divers become more experienced, they become cocky and feel that the rules are for beginners because they were never taught why the rules exist. The rules are based on human physiology and physics. No matter the diving experience or physical fitness, the human body cannot go past a certain limit. This misconception and lack of information leads to diving accidents which can result in death. This document will inform divers the reasoning behind the rules, allowing them to internalize the rules, and ultimately prevent diving accidents.

Draft of Proposal

Executive Summary:


Introduction:
Many people discover the underwater world and learn the basic rules of diving. However, very few people understand that the sources of the diving rules are very simple physiological and physical laws. Consequently many don’t internalize the rules, underestimate their values, take risks and eventually have an accident. 60% of the recreational diving accidents happen to experienced or very experienced divers (levels 3 to 5 and instructors) with a median age of 34 years. These divers knew the rules, were officially sanctioned as good and proficient divers, yet did not understand enough the fundamental nature of these rules and chose to ignore them. The purpose of this document is to make the fundamental physiological and physical laws comprehensible to all so that the diving rules become meaningful to divers and are fully internalized. May this document prevent accidents for all of us that “know better” or don’t have time to memorize “the rules”

Body:
• Current Situation
o In the book, Open Water Diver by the SSI, there are 15 pages dedicated to the understanding of physiology (half on basic physiology and half on the symptoms) out of 214 pages. Only three percent of the book is spent on understanding the physiology of diving, and it does not include any physics about diving.
o The same physiological and physics laws apply to most accidents when they happen. They happen because people fail to follow basic rules not because they are unknown but because their values are not understood.
 According to the yearly report by the FFESSM (Federation Francais d’Etudes et de Sports Sous-Marins) in 1998, 40 percent of accidents that occurred were by divers ranging from level 3 to 5. (French scuba diving levels are as follows: Beginner, Level 1, Level 2, Level 3, Level 4, and Level 5.) 80 percent of accidents were from decompression sickness. There were 320 diving accidents recorded.
 In the Statics of Diving Accidents by Dr. Bruno Grandjean, the chart shows diving statics from 1995 to 2004. You see a general trend where over 40 percent of diving accidents happen to level 3 to 5 divers and instructors each year.
• Project Plan / Methodology
o Intro
o Table of contents
o Physiology
 Blood (hemoglobin carries O2 and CO2)
 Circulation of blood in the body (blood going to the tissues is 500 m2 of capillary veins)
 Breathing (lung capacity, exchange of CO2/O2)
o Physics
 Archimedes
• Experimental test
• Principle
• Application to diving
 Notions of mass, density and weight
 Notions of pressure
• Force exerted by a solid
• Force exerted by a the air
• Force exerted by a liquid
• Hydrostatic pressure experimental test
• Fundamental principal of hydrostatic
∆p = pN – pM = omega * h = ro * g * h
Where:
pN = pressure at point N
pM = pressure at point M
Omega = weight of the volume of liquid
Ro = weight of the volume of mass
h = difference of elevation between the horizontal plane containing N and the horizontal plane containing M
g = Earth’s gravity
• Absolute pressure
 Boyle-Mariotte Law
• Experimental test
• Law
At constant temperature, the volume V of a gas varies inversely proportional to the absolute pressure
P1*V1 = P2*V2
• Application to diving
 Dalton’s Law
• Experimental test
• Law
“At a given temperature, the absolute pressure of a mixed gas is equal to the sum of the partial pressure that these gas would have they occupied alone the total volume.”
pa = absolute pressure of the mixed gas
pp = partial pressure
The partial pressure of a gas from a mixture is equal to the product of the total pressure of the mixture multiplied by the volume percentage of the gas under consideration
pp = X/100 (percentage volume) * pa
• Application to diving
 Mechanism of gas dissolution in a liquid
• Experimental test
Open a soft drink bottle or a bottle of Champagne and watch the bubbles rise up
• Henry’s Law
“At constant temperature and at saturation, the quantity of gas dissolved per unit of volume in a liquid is proportional to the pressure of the gas above the liquid”
• Tension
p = kC
Where
p = pressure of gas,
C = concentration of gas in solution
k = constant of Henry relative to couple gas/liquid
• Under saturation, saturation, over saturation
• Tissues
• De-saturation – Over-saturation
 Temperature
• Water temperature impact
 Optical underwater
• Description
• Application to diving
 Sound
• Diving
o Conclusion
o Edition
o Index

• Qualifications
o I am a certified SSI (Scuba Schools International) diver. I dived in the US and in France. In addition, I enjoy going into the water. I know French and American scuba diving instructors who can give me insights into advanced scuba diving rules and experiences.

• Timeline
o Finish 8 to 10 pages per week
o This will allow the completion of 25 pages by Oct 4.

Conclusion:

Talking Points for pp. 1 - 49

Socrates:
(1) "the unexamined life is not worth living"
(2) Important for 3 reasons
(a) insisted on doing the right thing regardless of consequences
(b) ethics is a matter of pleasing God
(c) ethical behavior requires active social involvement, whether as a teacher, civic leader,
or social critic

Plato:
(1) considered the founder of philosophy
(2) philosophy is a matter of discovering and pursuing truth
(3) and Socrates held that teachers have a responsibility to instill both ethical values and
rhetorical arts in their pupils
(4) ethics and rhetoric are closely tied, but ethics comes first
(a) the ONLY purpose of rhetoric is to serve ethics
(5) ethics is metaphysical and idealistic
(6) "to know what virtue is"

Aristotle:
(1) ethics ultimately stems from the divinely ordained nature of things
(a) practical affairs -> the ethical course of action had to be determined in a debate
(2) ethical judgements have to be rhetorically argued in order to reveal the intrinsic goodness of
the differing sides and to allow one to prevail
(3) ethics is the study of what is involved in good actions
(4) ethics is a subject that does not allow hard and fast answers, like mathematics does
(5) ethics is about what is sought for its own sake - goodness itself - and not for the sake of
something else such as money or success
(6) Doing the right thing for its own sake
(7) Virtuous -> the disposition to seek after the good
(8) humans are creatures of habit; therefore, habitually virtuous by deliberating about the
ethical and behaving accordingly
(9) does not declare absolute rules
(10) ethics is not metaphysical or idealistic
(11) "The object of our inquiry is not to know what virtue is, but to become good men"
(12) Ethics in technical communication would not have to do with technology itself but rather
with our decisions about how and when to use it

Nobel and the Nobel peace prize?

(13) moral wisdom must be combined with practical wisdom in order to yield ethical action
(14) ethics cannot be reduced to politics or the law because it must guide us when the law or
political rules are silent or in error

The Sophists: (The Lawyers?)
(1) are no absolutes and that communication is immensely powerful precisely because it shapes
minds, hearts, values, and decisions
(2) values are relative because they depend on circumstances
(3) rhetoric is only a skill, a collection of techniques that could be readily acquired by anyone
(4) ethics and rhetoric are closely tied but rhetoric comes first
(a) rhetoric allows the negotiation and persuasion that defines social values
(5) rhetoric and its techniques are quite separate from ethics

Kant:
(1) emphasizes duty and respect for others, regardless of personal consequences
(2) ethical theory is based on a sense of duty, which is important both for what it is and for what
it is not
(3) all humans are endowed with a sense of moral reason
(4) From this obligatory nature of ethics derives the fundamental importance of duty as the
responsibility to carry out these directives regardless of anything else, solely because it is the
right thing to do
(5) fundamental ethical principle, the categorical imperative: "Act as if the maxim of your action
were to become by your will a universal Law of Nature."
(6) Theory of duty is founded on the radically autonomous free will and its capacity to choose
otherwise and on its reasoned self-persuasion not to choose otherwise. It is duty based in
freedom. Whereas, we usually think of a duty as an onerous burden and a limitation of our
freedom.

Feminist Ethical Thinkers:
(1) cornerstone of ethics -> genuinely caring relationship

Hegel:
(1) values are arrived at socially
(a) by forces that were working to preserve their own self-interest
(2) modern "rehabilitator" of the sophists

Perelman:
(1) our language is our values
(2) Persuasion amounts to a process of social negotiation, ratification, and propagation
(3)

Burke:
(1) values are worked out socially and rhetorically rather than received from on high
(a) rhetoric worked to shape value judgements

Weaver:
(1) Values come before our discourse rather than stemming from it

Rationalists, social constructionists, and other theorists have shown that all language use entails ethical values and cannot do otherwise

Mark Wicclair and David Farkas:
(1) distinguish ethics from relativistic, self-interested approaches, the law, and religion
(2) humanistic approach to ethics -> how to be "a good human being"
(3) 3 ethical principles
(a) goal-based (e.g. utilitarianism)
(b) duty-based (e.g. Kantian ethics)
(c) rights-based

Project Proposal

Executive Summary

Introduction

• Thesis
• Problem Statements

Divers do not internalize diving rules because they are not made meaningful to them. Divers do not understand the physics and physiology behind diving, just the results.

• Solution

Teach divers the physiology and physics behind the rules of diving in order to make them more meaningful to them

Body

• Current situation

Accidents result from failure to follow the rules. Divers may not internalize diving rules because they are not meaningful.

• Project Plan

see organization in PAFEO analysis

• Qualifications

I am an amateur diver; however, I know experienced divers who would be able to provide me with insight into the diving world.

• Timeline
  

Conclusion

Making the diving rules more meaningful to divers will allow them to internalize the rules resulting in fewer diving accidents. In order to make the diving rules more meaningful, the physiology and physics behind diving will be explained. This will also teach divers the physics and physiology of diving.

Talking Points for Problems with Language (pp. 49 - 115)

1) 2 principles
a) write everything as clearly, straightforwardly, and simply as possible
b) write in a manner or style in which you would be comfortable speaking
2) Different types of gobbledygook
a) Legal Talk
b) Academic Talk
3) Zinsser's 4 articles of faith
a) humanity
b) clarity
c) simplicity
d) brevity
4) Ways of avoiding sexist language
a) Address your reader
b) Eliminate the pronoun
c) Replace pronouns with articles
d) Use plural nouns and pronouns
e) Alternate male and female pronouns throughout text
f) Use both pronouns and vary their order
g) Use specific, genderless nouns
h) Substitute job titles or descriptions
i) Repeat the noun or use a synonym

Class Blogs

http://sharkey314.blogspot.com
http://myenglish314.blogspot.com
http://brennan314.blogspot.com
http://techwriting314ryan.blogspot.com
http://english314annadimitri.blogspot.com
http://technicalwriting314.blogspot.com
http://minermementoes.blogspot.com
http://myENGLH314.blogspot.com
http://brittaj.blogspot.com

http://kylerodo.blogspot.com/

PAFEO Analysis for Scuba Diving

Purpose:
1) To understand the sources of diving rules
2) To make the diving rules meaningful to divers so they are internalized
3) To prevent diving accidents
Audience:
1) Beginners to Experts
Format:
1) Experimental tests to illustrate concept
2) Description of the law or rule involved
3) Application to diving
4) Examples of exercises
Evidence:
1) Biology books
2) Physics books
3) Diving books
Organization:
1) Intro
2) Table of Contents
3) Physiology
4) Physics
5) Conclusion
6) Edition
7) Index