Date: Mar 31, 2017

To: Traci Grant

From: Lijuan Shattuck
Re: Rhetorical Choices on Technical Manual Project

The purpose of this memo is to explain the rhetorical choices that I made while doing this assignment.

The first steps in approaching a project such as this assignment, is to make a project plan. In my
project plan I have considered the following aspects:

Choosing a topic
In this assignment, I am creating a Makita cordless impact driver user manual. This type of technical
manual is related to my Mechanical Engineering major. This assignment helps me to practice how I
would write a technical manual in the future for a product I might be developing as an engineer.

Purpose
The purpose of this manual is to inform consumers on what a Makita cordless driver is and how to use
it.

Audience
My audience is non-specialists. My intent is to provide a simple explanation of the Makita cordless
driver to my audience so that they can easily operate the tool by reading this manual.

Research
I used the Makita companys website information as my reference. I also used one of the articles from
the SLCC database which provides information about the advantages of cordless impact driver tools.

Context of Use
This manual is designed to be in physical form. I have used three technical writing elements in the
manual: technical definition, technical description, and technical documentation to provide a users
guide for proper operation of this tool.

In this manual, I used a cover page that has a topic name, picture of the topic, and a table of contents.
This illustrates the organization of this assignment. Word choices were made not in technical terms,
but using more commonly understood terms for an intended audience that has either basic knowledge
or no knowledge of the tool and its use. First, this manual provides a formal and an extended definition.
Four sources are provided in the extended definition: a description, a historical back ground,
advantages, uses and applications. Most sentences use the to be verb format. The second part of this
manual is a technical description. I detailed each component of the topic by numbering physical parts.
In some paragraphs photographs were provided with labels for individual parts of the driver. These
labels are referenced in the text so that the reader can visually see the part being explained. Some
paragraphs use a process description to focus on step-by-step instructions. In most sentences, the to
be verb format was used. The last part of this manual is technical documentation. Step-by-step
instructions provide single actions using the command voice. Most steps have attached images that
help my audience visualize and understand the context better.
I used the Adobe INDESIGN program to design this manual. I am not a proficient user of this program,
however I aware that there are many options available. With more practice with INDESIGN I could
produce a users manual that appears less like a Word document and more like a reference manual or
pamphlet. When designing this manual, I concentrated on the following elements:

Contrast
Contrast was used in the headings and subheadings using different font sizes. Subheadings were also
underlined and this helps the reader to easily identify them.

Repetition
All the subheadings are same font size and underlined. All text is the same font size.

Alignment
I used left alignment. The images are placed on the right side and aligned or with text box. The reader
can connect the text to the images allowing them to understand quickly and more fully what is being
explained.

Proximity
Topics are grouped by subheadings. All the related information is under each subheading. This will help
the reader to better understand each category of the information. For example, in the battery section I
only talked about battery information. Then when reader wants information about the battery, they can
refer to the battery section and they wont have search through entire text to find relevant information.

I have followed a peer suggestion to use the Makita companys website information as my main source.

In this assignment, I have engaged in literate practices such as: doing research, reading the technical
writing style, and thinking how to design this technical manual project.

Any suggestions you might have would be appreciated. Please point out to me any problems that you
notice or anything that I have omitted by responding by email at (lijanshattuck@gmail.com)