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Reply to question #1 about "they". I use the plural pronoun all the time
mostly out of political correctness. If I happen to notice noun/pronoun
disagreements during editing of my work, I'll try to change noun to also be
plural. If I don't catch it, I don't worry about it.
Reply to question #2 about putting online help in your portfolio: if it fits
on a floppy, put it on a floppy. Otherwise, burn a CD with all of your
samples on it.
I've been on both sides of the fence in terms of submitting my work to get a
job and reviewing the work of others.
When applying for the last three jobs, I've e-mailed a help file with my
cover e-mail and Word/Txt résumé. In fact, the help file I sent is an old
one that contained a fancy old résumé with hyperlinks into samples of my
work. I turned the compression way up high in order to get it down to 1.44
MB to fit on a single floppy.
As an interviewer, I like seing electronics samples of peoples work. It
tells me immediately how well they use their tools. (HINT: Use Word styles
correctly and diligently. I hate seeing the "normal" style in multiple
"abnormal" ways -- body text, bolded text, italic text, bulleted lists,
flush-left, centered, different tab stops. Abnormal uses of the normal style
causes problems in Word and makes it more difficult to re-use sections of
the document in other places.)
Glenn Maxey
Voyant Technologies, Inc.
Tel. +1 303.223.5164
Fax. +1 303.223.5275
glenn -dot- maxey -at- voyanttech -dot- com
> -----Original Message-----
> From: bounce-techwr-l-58477 -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
> [mailto:bounce-techwr-l-58477 -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com]On Behalf Of
> jhamilton%XN_TECHNOLOGIES -at- xn-tech -dot- com
> Sent: Friday, April 06, 2001 10:54 AM
> To: TECHWR-L
> Subject: pronouns and portfolios
>
> #1--After reading part of one of Geoff Hart's replies, I got to thinking
> about the agreement issue in using the word "they" when you're talking
> about someONE.
<snip>
> I'm a student (and a tech writer intern), and we had a discussion about
> this in a grammar class where the teacher said using "they" as a pronoun
> for an unidentified someone may eventually become common usage.
> Personally, I think it's a great way to overcome the "s/he" conundrum,
> although I avoid it in my papers. What do you think?
>
> #2--I will someday need to create a portfolio for potential employers.
<snip>
> Also, my most significant project has been online help.
> How can I put THAT in a portfolio, and what
> have y'all done to get documents released to put in your portfolios?
>
> Janet Hamilton
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