Writing Titles & Abstracts

1. Writing Titles & Abstracts by Jennifer L. Bowie

2. Writing Your Title • Huff recommends: • Informative • Brief • Appealing to a larger group of readers • Making it interesting • Challenging reader expectations What do you think? Does this change for a presentation vs an article and so on?

3. Example Titles: Good or Bad? • He Surfs Like a Girl: Exploring Gender and Sex Differences in Web Navigation (Bowie) • Who We Are, Where We Are, What We Do: The Relevance of Research (Hayhoe, TC) • Toward a Meaningful Model of Technical Communication (Hart & Conklin TC) • Introducing Seniors to New Media Technology: New Ways of Thinking For a New Target Group (Schwender & Köhler TC)

4. Example Titles: Good or Bad? • The Rhetorical Minefield of Risk Communication (Kostelnick JBTC) • Surviving the Design and Implementation of a Content-Management System: Do the Benefits Offset the Challenges? (Pennington JBTC) • Learned Correctors as Technical Editors: Specialization and Collaboration in Early Modern European Printing Houses (Malone JBTC) • Online Education in an Age of Globalization: Foundational Perspectives and Practices for Technical Communication Instructors and Trainers  (St. Amant TCQ) • Immersion in a Digital Pool: Training Prospective Online Instructors in Online Environments  (Cook TCQ) • Exploring Electronic Landscapes: Technical Communication, Online Learning, and Instructor Preparedness  (Meloncon TCQ)

5. Informative Abstract • Most common form of abstracts in articles • Stands alone in terms of meaning • “Capsule” or summary of the article • Sometimes just called a summary or abstract • Written for a general audience • Adds no new information • Presents information in this sequence: • Identifies issue or need that lead to the report • Offers major findings from the report body • Includes a condensed conclusion and recommendations (if any)

6. Informative Abstract: Example Although there is myriad research about the Internet and the web, there is limited research on sex and gender differences in web use, especially regarding navigating websites. As a step towards understanding possible differences, I draw from an extensive research study on sex and gender differences in web use. From this study, I present three key areas of sex differences and two key areas of gender differences in web navigation and two key areas of gender differences. Along with these differences, I provide several implications for web design. I recommend technical communicators consider not only these differences, but other possible differences to better create truly “users”-centered design.

7. Descriptive Abstract • Describes the article • Focuses on nature and extent of article • Presents a broad view • Helps readers determine if they want to read the abstract • Offer no major facts or results from the original • Focuses on methodology not results

8. Descriptive Abstract: Example Sex and gender differences in web navigation methods are examined in a usability testing-based research project

9. A Look at Some Abstracts Exploring Electronic Landscapes: Technical Communication, Online Learning, and Instructor Preparedness Lisa Meloncon University of Cincinnati Instead of focusing on technologies of online delivery, specific course design, or reporting on the successes or lessons learned of an online or distance education course, in this essay I focus on the readiness of technical communication teachers for teaching in online settings. Using ideas gleaned from cultural geography, specifically the concept of reading and interpreting landscapes, I develop a framework for instructors to determine their willingness, readiness, and preparedness to teach online. The final section of this essay provides an example of using this framework based on my explorations into my readiness to teach online. I find that self-selection for online instruction is a critical step in developing powerful instructional settings and allows technical communication teachers to cross or remove existing boundaries within their own pedagogical practices. Technical Communication Quarterly 2007, Vol. 16, No. 1, Pages 31-53

10. A Look at Some Abstracts Immersion in a Digital Pool: Training Prospective Online Instructors in Online Environments Kelli Cargile Cook Utah State University This article argues that the online environment is optimal for teaching prospective instructors how to develop and implement online courses. To support this claim, the author draws on hypertext theories to define the online course archive as a constructive hypertext and to describe the work the course archive is able to do when used to instruct prospective online instructors. The claim is further supported through a quantitative and qualitative analysis of a course archive. Technical Communication Quarterly 2007, Vol. 16, No. 1, Pages 55-82

11. A Look at Some Abstracts Learned Correctors as Technical Editors: Specialization and Collaboration in Early Modern European Printing Houses Edward A. Malone University of Missouri–Rolla The technology of movable type in early modern Europe created new communication challenges (e.g., typographical errors) for book producers. These challenges were greater with books written in learned or foreign languages or about scientific or technical subjects. Printers experimented with different strategies to ensure correctness, but the best solution came from delegating jobs to specialists. Freelance scholars were employed by authors, printers, and booksellers to correct books before publication, and some of these learned correctors were early versions of technical editors. Their history may offer insight into current communication concerns, such as the role of learned correctors in our present technological age. Journal of Business and Technical Communication, Vol. 20, No. 4, 389-424 (2006)

12. A Look at Some Abstracts Introducing Seniors to New Media Technology: New Ways of Thinking For a New Target Group Schwender, Clemens; Köhler, Christoph As adults get older, they face somatic (such a eyesight, hearing, motor control) and cognitive (such as information processing, memory, multitasking) restrictions. These restrictions also affect the reading and understanding of technical documentation. In a three-phase program, we investigated the documentation-related problems of seniors and developed solutions. Phase I: We read and discussed a chapter of a handbook for a mobile phone with older adults to find out where the problems were. Phase II: We reformulated and redesigned that chapter with another group of seniors. Phase III: We tested the final version against the original with yet another set of our target population. Briefly, the three phases of the test revealed that on the somatic level, seniors need an appropriate font size. On the cognitive level, they need clearly structured information and less computer terminology. Most likely all audiences would benefit from these changes. Technical Communication, Volume 53, Number 4, November 2006, pp. 464-470(7)

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