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WRIT 220: Technical Workplace Writing Skills

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WRIT 220: Technical Workplace Writing Skills

Problem Statement Assignment

This is the first step toward completing your problem explanation. Our course theme is the global water crisis, and your problem explanation will describe what a water crisis looks like in a specific location. Your solution explanation will describe a technology that could help with the water crisis in the same location.

Submission Details

Length & Format:        one to two sentences + three APA formatted sources that pass the ACT UP test

Submission:                cut and paste the content into the submission box in Assignments

Learning Outcomes

The problem statement assignment will help you achieve two of the course learning outcomes: (1) synthesize information researched from a variety of appropriate secondary sources and (2) determine effective solutions to technical problems.

Purpose and Goals

Our course theme is the global water crisis. The World Water Council defines water security as “[t]he availability of the resource in sufficient quantity and quality to ensure socio- economic development, livelihoods, health and ecosystems.” This assignment is the first step toward completing a problem explanation that describes what the water crisis looks like in a specific location without reproducing stereotypes or misconceptions.

Evaluation

Remember that the class assessment method is a type of “ungrading.” This means that you’ll receive feedback on this assignment, but you won’t receive a numerical or letter grade. On this assignment, your feedback will be “Complete” or “R&R (revise and resubmit).”

Format & Structure

Problem Statement

What’s your point? How is this a problem? Start with a rough problem statement and refine it as you go. In the end, your problem statement should be no more than two sentences long. Here are some possible templates:

Ideally,                       . In reality,                                    . In 2030,                            . Currently,                   .

The United Nations insists that we                      ; however, we’re only                      .

In the first blank, you’ll answer the following question: What is your goal or what will solving the problem achieve? Here are some ways to think about what a goal can be: mission statement, minimum requirement, industry standard, target, benchmark, or a desired condition. For us, the UN Sustainable Development Goals, the UN Human Right to Water and Sanitation, and the infographics we reviewed can be good starting points.

In the second blank, you’ll answer the following question: What is the problem or how is the current situation falling short of the goal? Here are some ways to think about what a problem can be: deviation from a mission statement, requirement, standard; target not reached; difference compared to a benchmark; condition to be improved upon; expectation that is not being met; or existing knowledge or practices that need to be better understood.

Here are some concrete examples of problem statements:

  1. According to the XY university mission statement, the university seeks to provide students with a safe, healthy learning Students living in dorms A, B, C, and D currently do not have air conditioning units, and during the hot seasons, it is common for room temperatures to exceed 80 degrees F.
  2. Ideally our users would be able to sign into their laptops and then automatically have access to all of the applications they need to In reality we use at least three applications every day to accomplish our work, and each application is protected by a password with different requirements for username & password length, and passwords also expire at different times.
  3. XYZ Company is committed to reducing the time spent compiling reports to no more than 10% of the sales manager’s time in any Sales managers are spending 20% of their time each week receiving and compiling sales reports for upper management, reducing the number of hours spent on mentoring sales staff, lead generation, and closing business.

Sources

List, using APA style, at least THREE authoritative and reliable sources that you will use for your problem explanation. Commercial Internet sites are not acceptable, and you should include full references, not just URLs. Using the ACT UP test is a good way to determine credibility, and you can find this resource in the same folder as this assignment.

Recommended Process (this is a recursive, not linear process)

Step One

‘Water insecurity” is way too broad! You should narrow it down based on a combination of

  • location where the technology is being used (if you’ve already done your solution explanation)
  • personal interest (i.e., country of origin, local issues, familiarity)
  • geography (i.e., region or country; rural or urban; specific watershed, river, or lake)
  • demographics (i.e., farmers, refugees, women and children)

Sample locations: Haiti; Pakistan; Sixth Nation, Canada; Jackson, Mississippi, USA; Great Lakes region

Sample water bodies: Citrarum River, Nile River, Ganga River, Lake Erie, Panama Canal, Ogallala Aquifer region

Step Two

These free sources are good strategy to generate ideas. These blogs will often feature water crisis “hot spots.” Then, you can use Humber Libraries databases to locate specific sources that might require a subscription:

Consider signing up for a free digital bookmarking tool such as Pearltrees or Pocket (optional). You conduct a Google search from inside the application and save webpages as you go. Then, you can organize the webpages and share findings with other users who are doing similar searches.

Step Three

Watch the video about keyword searching to discover topics. It will offer some strategies for finding sources that will help you narrow down a topic.

Great Lakes Now water news: https://www.greatlakesnow.org/news/

Reading to Understand Problems and Solutions (P&S)

Problem and/or Solution (P&S) What is the problem?

·       How does the problem happen?

·       What will happen if the problem is not fixed?

What is the solution/technology?

·      How exactly does this technology solve the problem?

·      What are this technology’s advantages and disadvantages?

After describing the parts of a technology (parts analysis) and explaining how it functions (process analysis), a technical communicator will include other types of information to help a reader develop an even better understanding of the technology.

 

Problem and solution is a pattern of organization where information is expressed as a dilemma or concerning issue (a problem) and something that was, can be, or should be done to remedy this issue (solution or attempted solution). The writer will identify different aspects of the problem being discussed and offer evidence of the problem. The writer will also identify a potential solution and support its effectiveness over or in conjunction with other possible solutions.

There are more ways to organize a problem-solution approach, but here are three possibilities:

  1. Describe the problem then proceed through diagnosis and analysis to propose a solution
  2. Propose the solution first and then explain the causes contributing to the problem
  3. Start with the problem followed by several solutions, one of which is selected as the best

The problem and solution pattern incorporates cause and effect, but it goes way beyond explaining why or how something happens to propose solutions to any negative occurrences. Because analyzing problems and solutions involves cause and effect relationships, you might see words that describe different types of causes: necessary, sufficient, proximate, ultimate.

In class, we will discuss ways to think about problems and solutions: how problems are constructed, different aspects of problems, and proximate compared to ultimate causes of problems.

If you haven’t already, review the introductory overviews entitled “Careful Reading I” and “Careful Reading II.” The organizational patterns and signal words that we are most likely to use for problem and solution analysis have been highlighted in orange.

Signal Words that Indicate Listing Patterns

Pattern of organization Signal Words
Simple or random listing and, also, another, in addition
Order of importance most importantly, finally, primarily, firstly, originally
Chronological order dates, times, first, second, third, next, then, later, after, afterwards, earlier, before, concurrently, simultaneously,

contiguously
Sequential or process order first, second, third, next, then, after, later, finally, initially,

follows, followed by, the first stage, stages, steps, the final step, subsequently
Spatial order to the left, to the right, above, below, beside, next to,

adjacent to, contiguous to, between, beneath, on top of, around, opposite

 Signal Words that Indicate Explaining Patterns

Pattern of organization Signal Words
Example / Clarification for example, to illustrate, to clarify, for instance, in other

words, that is to say, to put it another way
Definition terminology in quotation marks, bold or italics; parentheses around a phrase defining a term; is defined as; is known as; also known as; means; meaning; is; can

be understood as
Description adjectives that describe sensory characteristics (sight,

sound, smell, taste, touch)

 Signal Words that Indicate Analyzing Patterns

Pattern of organization Signal Words
Division components, parts, divide into, break down into,

separate, split up into
Classification groups of, classified as, classes, categories, kinds of,

types of, forms of, characterized by, varieties, ways
Cause is caused by, the reason that, because, due to, since,

that is why, leads to, for, causes
Effect the effect is, as a result of, consequently, thus, hence, so,

accordingly, therefore,
Comparison likewise, like, similar to, similarly, in the same way,

equally, comparable to, in common
Contrast unlike, however, but, conversely, although, whereas,

otherwise, by contrast, nevertheless, while, yet
Problem and/or solution The problem is, can be solved by, the solution is

Definition signal words and phrases

can be understood as is called known, known as
define, defined as is stated as means that
is is used to mean refers to
    the term means

 Problem and solution signal words and phrases

answer event outcome situation
advantage factor perspective solve
alternative fix plan stakeholders
asset frame possibility suggest
barriers goal potential symptom
benefit harm prevent, prevention the problem is
can be solved by hazard problematic the solution is
challenge help, helpful propose threat
concern impact provision valuable, value
conflict improvement reframing variable
contingency indicate remedy  
diagnose intervention relevance  
difficulty issue resolution  
dilemma limitation resolve  
disadvantage mitigate response  
enigma need risk  

Using Graphics to Improve your Comprehension

To improve your comprehension, you should also search for visuals. Such visuals can help establish the need for a solution, explain the complex cause and effect relationships that lead to a problem, or demonstrate the value of a solution. A search that combines the name of the technology with the problem and/or solution signal words and phrases should lead to some helpful graphics.

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