Blog II : Selzer

Jack Selzer persuades the reader that his analysis of Kenneth E. Nelson’s writing is based on careful observation by giving specific evidence and detail regarding Nelson’s writing process and the procedures he used to gather the information. For example, Selzer informs the reader of the methods he used such as looking over Nelson’s notes, plans, revisions, etc. Selzer also notes that he had Nelson answer a series of questions on a tape recorder, but there were also meetings in which Selzer’s observations were discussed. The specificity found throughout the article regarding Nelson’s writing practices could only have come through extensive research and observations. Selzer provides information such as the fact that Nelson spends up to 80% of his time coming up with and assembling proposals and reports. Throughout the research article, Selzer follows how Nelson handles and composes writing projects for Waukegan Airport. There are many references to Nelson's work and attention is paid to all the stages of his writing process. We are informed that Nelson takes into consideration what format the client would prefer and that he usually uses previously written material on a project and combine it all to compose a final report. Selzer provides information about the way Nelson brainstorms or uses phone conversations with clients and discussions with colleagues to shape his writing. I think Jack Selzer does a good job of providing an in depth description of how the writing process in a work setting takes place for an individual engineer, that is Nelson.