4000 University Blvd Orlando, FL September 18, 2013

Andy Todd Librarian BCC/UCF Joint-Use Library Cocoa, FL

Dear Andy Todd:

My name is Christopher Bates and I am in Professor Barbara Kyle's Technical Editing class. Megan Whitney, Elizabeth Averhart, and I have the privilege of helping you fine tune the Nursing Research Libguide. We feel honored that you are allowing us the opportunity to practice our burgeoning skills on the tool you have created.

Before beginning, please understand that we are very new to this and we humbly ask for your patience in advance. Any mistakes or overreaches we make in the process should be laid squarely at the foot of our collective naiveté.

To begin, the organization of the information could provide easier access and understanding if the pattern was consistent. The site map would allow quicker access to any tab if it remained in the left hand margin. The navigation is very difficult for the less technically experience and in order for a document to be fully effective, all sources using the Libguide must be able to understand how to use the basic functions. Also, the ability to increase font size would help for the older generation or students who wear glasses.

Providing readers with a constant, neat organized outline aids readers in better comprehension. Use bullets or numbering to list the steps of a process and italics to emphasis the important words could solve this issue. While bullets would help organization, the format of the steps should be simplistic. This would facilitate better flow to the document.

Next, sentence structure is very important in comprehension. The more information a person sees on one page, the more overwhelmed they will become. Eliminating some of the extra information and “noise” from the page will simplify the overwhelming feeling and leave the reader with only the information they need. Simplification is the key to better understanding.

Finally, jargon and ambiguity can create confusion for some readers. Mainly terminology would delay the time of understanding because readers would be constantly referring back to the glossary. Providing a miniature icon with a question mark could allow the reader a miniature pop-up definition for further understanding. Furthermore, the use of abbreviations should only be used after fully defining the word. Although, the main audiences of the Libguide are the nursing students, others who may use the Libguide would find it hard to follow due to the abbreviations not being explained or elaborated on. Allowing the document to be versatile would help the groups who are less informed.

Christopher Bates� 9/23/13 11:04 PMComment [1]: Students or end-users

Christopher Bates� 9/23/13 11:04 PMComment [2]: As noted before (and in the textbook) all current browsers support this capability within the software architecture.

Christopher Bates� 9/23/13 11:10 PMComment [3]: Neatly

Christopher Bates� 9/23/13 11:05 PMComment [4]: We would suggest using…

Christopher Bates� 9/23/13 11:10 PMComment [5]: Unnecessary

Christopher Bates� 9/23/13 11:06 PMComment [6]: a better flow of

Christopher Bates� 9/23/13 11:08 PMComment [7]: I would recommend deleting this section. Or at best, highly editing it so Andy doesn’t feel like we – undergraduate students – are explaining things to him in a condescending fashion. Consider the third paragraph of my letter for my suggestions on how to handle this.

Christopher Bates� 9/23/13 11:08 PMComment [8]: Delete

Christopher Bates� 9/23/13 11:09 PMComment [9]: We would suggest providing a question mark icon with a pop-up definition of unusual or jargonistic words.

Christopher Bates� 9/23/13 11:14 PMComment [10]: Andy does define the terms – just not on every page where a term appears.

Christopher Bates� 9/23/13 11:10 PMComment [11]: delete

Andy Todd November 21, 2013 Page 2 Christopher Bates� 11/21/13 3:18 PM

Deleted: September 18, 2013

Overall, the Libguide provides the necessary information to complete the quiz. However, as stated above, editing a few aspects can help to eliminate confusion for readers. First, providing easier access to navigation would help readers. Next, simplicity is the key to better comprehension. Having a consistent flow and organization pattern allows readers to follow steps better. Finally, making the document usable for all types of people would enhance its effectiveness. Using jargon and abbreviations hinder the learning process along with difficult terminology. The suggestions given will help all readers of the document better understand the important information needed.

Before we jump into the process, we have a few questions that will streamline our efforts and keep us on track:

! How flexible is the structure of the website? What can we change and what must remain as-is?

! We understand that the Libguide primarily supports a quiz. Can we have a few sample quizzes for reference? We believe that it is imperative to study the test to make sure our editing supports that end.

! How many terms are absolutely necessary for the student to understand to use the search functions? Some of our editing team has used OneSearch frequently, and didn't know what a "boolean" search was until they started working on this project. We would like to make sure that only the information that is absolutely necessary is stressed.

! What (if any) feedbacks have you received from professors or students? Will you please share that with us so we can avoid any foreseeable mistakes?

We would be remiss if we didn't ask for your own suggestions.

! What do you envision as an end result of working with student editors? In a best case scenario, what will the Libguide look like in a few months?

! What do you believe are the Libguide's most important challenges? What would you like us to work on? What needs to be addressed first? Are there any specific areas we should focus on, any immediate goals that you would like our help with?

We look forward to working with you. We hope that by the end of the semester we will have done our part to help you, the UCF library, as well as the nursing students.

Kind Regards,

Group 1: Megan Whitney, Christopher Bates, and Elizabeth Averhart

Christopher Bates� 9/23/13 11:18 PMComment [12]: this is an unknown (unless you have studied the quiz and are in a position to make this judgment).

Christopher Bates� 9/23/13 11:14 PMComment [13]: We cannot be certain that there IS confusion among nursing students. We are simply trying to be of assistance

Christopher Bates� 9/23/13 11:11 PMComment [14]: with greater learning and ease.

Christopher Bates� 9/23/13 11:18 PMComment [15]: Quite honestly, I’m not sure what purpose this paragraph has. Do we really need to recap our goals? So soon?

Andy Todd November 21, 2013 Page 3 Christopher Bates� 11/21/13 3:18 PM

Deleted: September 18, 2013