EasyPak This is the history of a fictional company written as an "anchor piece" students must refer to many times during a high school course. It is one document in a substantial amount of supplemental material created for an Introduction to Finance course. I was tasked with creating curriculum that would capture the imagination of at-risk high school students. Given the interests of this age group, basing the fictional company on a successful MP3 player seemed like a natural thing to do. While your organization may not need to teach employees basic finance, (or about MP3 players), it may need other types of training or curriculum developed. I am a certified classroom trainer and a curriculum developer/instructional designer.

Quality Manual I have years of experience as a Quality Engineer. During those years 80% of my time was spent writing something or other, and that is how I learned the fine art of technical writing. This sample is the first few sections of a quality assurance manual written for a previous employer. All references to the company have been replaced, but it is otherwise unchanged. One of my areas of interest is helping northeast Ohio companies maintain their quality management systems. Since I have designed two of these systems myself, maintaining this type of documentation is second nature.

Rubric This rubric is designed for a summative assessment of compare-and-contrast essays. It is designed using a four-factor, limited characteristic format. The project this was created for relied on student assessment products which were almost always oral in nature and rather short. A more complicated instrument was inappropriate. I now have a collection of 126 modular rubrics that can be easily modified to the needs of any subject. They assess performance in just about any type of activity found in a grade 7-12 classroom, and some of them also work at the college level.

Inspection procedure This example is specific to a quality assurance setting, but a procedure is a procedure. It would be just as easy for me to write procedures for a user or software manual, or an on-line help system.

Chapter 9 Do you watch many movies? Have you ever seen the 1986 movie called The Money Pit featuring Tom Hanks and Shelley Long? (Here is a plot summary for those of you that missed it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Money_Pit.) I have owned two of these disasters and have the gray hairs to prove it! My experiences have been collected into a book manuscript which is essentially complete. This sample is Chapter 9 which discusses personal safety. This chapter is not as funny as the movie, but then getting hurt is no fun either.

Scope and sequence One of the things I enjoy doing as a technical writer/instructional designer is combining parts of my background for a project. This scope and sequence is an example of that. My computer knowledge and two IT certifications were combined with my understanding of curriculum development and the needs of a classroom instructor.

Course map Working with subject matter experts to define the content of a course is impossible without a course map. They are also essential to make sure state standards are incorporated.

Linux article I have a very high interest in mobile phones, and follow the industry closely on a daily basis. I also have experience with Linux that goes back to 1998. Linux is influencing the mobile phone industry in unexpected and very interesting ways. This article explores current circumstances in the mobile handset market as of September 2008, and make a few predictions for the future. With the same amount of effort, this article could have been written as a product whitepaper or advertorial, and formatted as both print and on-line product information.

These samples have been selected to highlight the wide range of projects I have been involved with. My intent is to show that a capable, versatile technical communicator can write just about anything, while bringing a fresh perspective and an open mind to the project. What can I create for you?