Chapter 1, Additional Case 1: Annual Reports as Technical Communication

Chapter 1, Additional Case 1: Annual Reports as Technical Communication

This case is best for groups.

Background

You are part of the documentation team for Canon. Fujio Mitarai, president and CEO of Canon Inc., has asked your team to evaluate one of the company's past annual reports to determine how well it fulfills the characteristics of a technical document and the measures of excellence presented in the text. In this case, you will analyze an annual report and report your findings to Mr. Mitarai.

Your Assignment

Follow these steps to carry out this task.

  1. Read Chapter 1 of the text, focusing on the characteristics of a technical document and the measures of excellence in technical documents. Annual reports, which publicly owned companies are required to publish, could be thought of as examples of technical documents.
  2. Study the Annual Report from Canon. (To print the annual report, select the printer icon on the left side of the toolbar in the Acrobat window, not the printer icon on your browser.)
  3. Consider to what extent the Canon annual report demonstrates each of the six characteristics of a technical document discussed in Chapter 1 of the textbook. Describe your findings in a one-paragraph response for each of the six characteristics. Also consider how well the Canon annual report fulfills each of the eight measures of excellence described in Chapter 1. Draft a one-paragraph response for each measure of excellence.
  4. Write a 500-word memo to Mr. Mitarai presenting your findings. (See Chapter 14 for a discussion of memos.)