Professional Writing

My professional and technical writing experience is one of the focuses of my portfolio. Listed below are some examples of my professional and technical writing work.

Technical Communication and Representation of People with Mental Illness

Technical Communication and Mental Illness (revised)

 

 

 

One of my areas of interest in my writing and research is the impact of technical and professional communication on people with mental illness. In this investigative report, I ask what agency technical communicators have in the representation of people with mental illness. I use the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders IV as an example of a piece of technical communication that serves to represent people with mental illness because it demonstrates the complexity and power of the technical communicator’s agency in representing people with mental illness and helps to determine ways technical communicators can be more ethical in their communication. I use research on the subjects of identity, disability, and authority in technical communication in order to articulate this argument.

How Television (Mis)Represents the Culture of the Mentally Ill

Television and Mental Illness

In this investigative report, I explored the ways that television programs represent mentally ill people in ways that reinforce and undermine cultural stereotypes of the mentally ill.  I cover the issues of how the technology of television has represented the mentally ill, the stigma attached to these representations of the mentally ill, who is representing and who is being represented in the culture of the mentally ill, the purposes for representing the mentally ill and the authority they have in representing the mentally ill, if it is an accurate portrayal of this culture, and what the positive and negative effects of that representation are.

Illinois State alumni Magazine Article: Peeling Back Prejudice: Life in America a Struggle for many post-9/11

Peeling back prejudice page 1, page 2, page 3

In this article for Illinois State Alumni Magazine, I interviewed Louise Cainkar, a researcher and academic in the field of Muslim American studies who was an alumna of Illinois State.  I performed research on Cainkar’s past and Muslim American issues, which included reading Cainkar’s book on the subject.  It is an example of my ability and skill in research, ethically representing the subjects of the article, Cainkar and Muslim American issues, and writing for an audience.