The question that would be explored is 'What is a good document?'. There is a wide array of scholarly debate pertaining to this question. Therefore, it is essential to outline the parameters in which this discussion would cover. For the purpose of this task, it would be confined to the group presentation undertaken by my group and the manner in which it could be refined to adhere to the desired principles of publication and design.
A good presentation writing technique is one that is directly headed to the point(Rothman 2005). With that, the relevance of Slide 27 above is a contentious issue. In my group's presentation, the notes on Slide 27 were used to explain the flowchart on Slide 26. For a more effective presentation, these repetition in slides -although in different form- should have been avoided. Instead, the presenter should explain the points verbally based on the flowchart in Slide 26, without having another lengthy slide to elaborate on it. This is supported by Reep(2006) through it's appreciation of the richness of information contained in an open-ended flowchart. This view, which suggests that the need to reemphasize on the flowchart through a wordy slide does not arise, is supported by the view of Putnis & Petelin(1996) which stated that the quality of a document is compromised when there are repetitions and lack of rightful structure.
Consistency is vital in document design to ensure that readers are aligned in terms of receptiveness towards a message. Consistency is not confined solely to the contents of the message, but also the way the message is presented(Levine 2001).
A lack of consistency in terms of typeface is evident in the examples above, with both headings having different fontsizes(Alley et al. 2006). The style of heading is also different whereby one is underlined while the other isn't. Ideally, the same standards should apply for all headings (Harris & Murphy 2006)
Apart from that, indentations should also be consistent throughout the document.
As seen above, there are incoherent usages of both normal and hanging indents, compounded with the inconsistency of bullet-point placements. The production of a proper document design would require such conflicting elements to be eliminated(Cliff 2005).
Reference List
Alley, M., Schreiber, M., Ramddell, K., & Muffo, J. (2006) 'How the Design of Headlines in Presentation Slides Affects Audience Retention', Journal of Technical Communication, Vol. 53, No. 2, pp. 225-234.
Cliff, A. (2005) 'Beyond Bullet Points: How to Use Microsoft PowerPoint to Create Presentations That Inform, Motivate, and Inspire', Microsoft Press, Redmont, WA.
Harris, R. & Murphy, A. (2006) 'The Elements of Typogrphic Style', Journal of Technical Communication, Vol. 53, No. 2, pp. 235-237.
Levine, M. (2001) 'Guide to Managerial Communication: Effective Business Writing and Speaking', Journal of Business and Technical Communication, Vol. 15, pp. 252-254.
Putnis, P. & Petelin, R. (1996) 'Writing to Communicate', Professional Communication, Prentice Hall, pp. 223-263.
Reep, D. C. (2006) 'Chp 4: Principles of Document Design', Technology Writing, 6th ed, Pearson Edu, Inc., New York, pp. 173-190.
Rothman, S. (2005) 'What Makes Good Scientific and Technical Writing?', Associated Content, retrieved online on 13 September 2009 at
