Part Number Exercise Accessible Document Design In addition to clarity and conci
ID: 3446990 • Letter: P
Question
Part Number Exercise
Accessible Document Design
In addition to clarity and conciseness, a third trait of effective technical writing is accessibility (page layout—the way the text looks on the page) or readability. Look at the following paragraph:
Regarding part number 315564-000, we received 541 units of wafer #3206-2. These were rejected. For the same part number, we received 643 units of wafer #3206-4. These were accepted. Three hundred and twenty-nine units of wafer #3206-5 from the same part number. These were accepted. Next, 344 of part number 315564-000’s wafer #3206-6 were accepted. However, the 143 units of wafer #3206-7 (same part number) were rejected. Finally, all 906 units of wafer #3206-8 were rejected. These also were from part number 315564-00.
The above paragraph consists of 84 words and ten sentences. The average number of words per sentence is only 8.4. Because the sentences are not too long, the writing is concise.
Next the text is clear, due to specificity of detail. However, despite the clarity and conciseness, this writing fails.
Why? Essentially, this paragraph is unintelligible. The page layout makes it nearly impossible for the reader to understand the text and reading it is tedious.
Directions: Clarify the above paragraph by designing an accessible image. Use highlighting techniques (such as tables; headings and subheadings; different font sizes; column lines; and white space). You don’t need to all the highlighting techniques – just enough to make it easily readable.
Explanation / Answer
Part Number Units Wafer Status 315564-000 541 #3206-2 Rejected 315564-000 643 #3206-4 Accepted 315564-000 329 #3206-5 Accepted 315564-000 344 #3206-6 Accepted 315564-000 143 #3206-7 Rejected 315564-000 906 #3206-8 Rejected