Professional work
To show how I've applied my graduate school training to real projects, I've included a few documents completed through on-campus internships and paid positions. These tasks align directly with what I have learned in the MTPC program and with my career goals.
Sample #1: Event Management Policy
During the second semester of my first year in the MTPC program, I interned as a writer/editor for the campus Office of Communications and Marketing, which led to a part-time summer position. Primarily, I edited and helped design a variety of documents, from feature articles for a quarterly campus magazine to more technical university-wide and department policies. Here, I have included two samples of a university Event Management Policy: Sample #1A shows each of my electronic edits using Microsoft Word, and Sample #1B is the final edited version. I edited this document according to the Chicago Manual of Style, 13th edition. To provide a quick look at the type of editing and querying this document required, I have also included a snapshot of a small section of the policy, showing my electronic edits.
Audience and purpose: This document provides the detailed policies and procedures that university department and organization leaders need to know to organize and host an event on the Auburn University campus.
Snapshot:
Sample #1A: Marked-up Event Management Policy
Sample #1B: Final Event Management Policy
Sample #2: Edited technical journal article
The following is an example of the technical articles I edit as an assistant editor for the International Journal of Acoustics and Vibration (IJAV), a peer-reviewed, scholarly journal that is located within the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Auburn University.
This quarterly journal contains four to six articles, and I am responsible for polishing both the format and text of the articles before they are sent to the managing editor for layout. Since the majority of these articles are written by international professors, one of my major tasks is to ensure the article adheres to academic English grammar as well as the journal's punctuation and style guidelines. I included here a link to an IJAV manuscript showing my electronic edits (Sample #2A) and a link to the final proof as it appeared in the journal (Sample #2B). To provide a quick look at my work, I've provided two brief samples of text from the full article: one marked-up version, Snapshot A, and one clean version, Snapshot B, as it appeared in the journal
Audience and purpose: This journal is intended to provide scholars within the mechanical engineering specialty of acoustics and vibration with the most recent research projects and findings within the field. The journal also includes book reviews and information about sound and vibration conferences.
Snapshot A:
Snapshot B:
Sample #3: Magazine feature article
As a writer/editor for the Office of Communications and Marketing, I have spent a great deal of time editing (using Chicago Manual of Style, 13th edition) and writing some articles for Beyond Auburn magazine, a quarterly publication created for the Office of University Outreach. Most of these articles are features relating to the various academic departments and organizations on campus. I have included here a sample of a feature that I generated for the School or Pharmacy by pulling the most relevant information from three separate documents and compiling the information into one article. Below, Sample #3A includes four pages: the three original pieces of information, including a news release, letter, and flyer; and the original article that I wrote and edited for the magazine. Sample #3B contains the Beyond Auburn cover and inside cover as well as the published version of the School of Pharmacy article.
Audience and purpose: Beyond Auburn magazine is primarily a publication for members the Auburn Alumni Association. Its purpose is to inform them of the most recent outreach efforts within departments and organizations, showing the university in a positive light and possibly garnering monetary contributions.
Sample #3A: Original documents for magazine feature
Sample #3B: Cover and final version of magzine feature
Sample #4: Edited professional journal article
As part of my graduate teaching assistantship, I also serve as an assistant editor for a scholarly journal, IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication. This quarterly journal includes four to five research papers, one to two tutorials, two to five book reviews, and possibly an editorial. My task is to comprehensively edit these articles, in three different publication stages, according to both the Chicago Manual of Style, 13th edition and journal style guidelines. While we may have several weeks to complete the first and most intensive stage of editing (manuscript), we often must edit the second two stages (paginated article and page proof) within a week or a matter of days. See below for examples of an article I edited at all three stages. In the first stage (Sample #4A), I used "track changes" in Word to edit, and in the second two stages (Sample #4B and #4C), I used the comment and text-edit tools in Adobe Acrobat to indicate necessary revisions.
Audience and purpose: This journal presents technical communication instructors and practitioners with new research and conclusions within the field; some articles examine teaching approaches in the field while others focus on the workplace. Tutorials and book reviews further guide technical communication professionals in either the classroom or the industry.
