Chapter 1. Analyzing the Persuasiveness of a Technical Document
1.1 Section Title
Background
“As you know,” Laramie McIvers says, “we’re carrying out our annual review of our media materials, and I’d like you to help me with the message in our Safety Culture policy statement.” Laramie oversees the media campaigns run by the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission (U.S.NRC), and you are interning as his assistant. You are an environmental engineering major thinking about a possible future career in clean energy, and you have concerns about the environmental effects and safety of nuclear power plants. You took this internship to learn more about the benefits of nuclear energy and the industry’s regulation.
“Okay,” you say. “What would you like me to do?”
“Take a look at the Outreach and Education pages on our website,” Laramie says, clicking to the page displaying the Safety Culture poster (Document 8.1). “Safety is our top priority, and we want to make sure people operating nuclear plants understand that.”
“I got that,” you say. “Anything in particular you’re concerned about?”
“Not really,” he says. “But we want to make sure people working in nuclear facilities are paying attention to our policy. I’d like you to design some kind of survey to find out what employees think about the Safety Culture poster—what’s working and what isn’t.” He gives you a budget and a deadline.
Download the document below, and then begin your assignment.
Your Assignment
Once you’ve familiarized yourself with the case background and the document, complete the assignment below. Your instructor will tell you how he or she would like you to submit your work.
- Study the Safety Culture poster (Document 8.1) and browse through the related information on the NRC website to gather additional background information. Using the discussion of persuasion in Chapter 8 (including the sections on your audience’s broader goals, kinds of evidence, using visuals, and appealing to emotions responsibly), draft a set of questions for a survey questionnaire you can distribute to NRC-regulated facilities. (For information on writing questionnaires, see Chapter 6; for information about testing documents with users, see Chapter 13.)
- Write a 1,000-word memo to Laramie describing your thoughts about your draft questionnaire. Explain what you think the potential problems are with the persuasiveness of the poster, and explain why your questions will elicit useful information about people’s attitudes toward it.