I’m a professional editor and writer based in Atlanta, Georgia. I’m currently living the dream as a stay-at-home mom and writing about alopecia areata on Substack.
Most recently, I was a senior technical writer for ADP. In this role, I helped the Lyric human capital management (HCM) product team create client-facing release notes. My responsibilities included managing the release notes process, collaborating with developers and UX designers to bring release notes into the product, and reviewing LLM-generated release notes for clarity and accuracy.
Previously, I was the editor for Zeta Tau Alpha for more than three years. In that role, I oversaw the production of the Fraternity’s quarterly magazine, Themis, and edited educational materials, resources for collegians and alumnae, and other print and digital assets for the Fraternity, the Zeta Tau Alpha Foundation and the Fraternity Housing Corporation.
I completed the Master of Arts in Professional Writing program at Kennesaw State University in 2023. My concentration was applied writing, and my sub-concentration was composition and rhetoric. I earned my bachelor’s degree in English with a minor in professional writing from Kennesaw State University in 2016.
You can learn more about my work on this site and view my resume on Google Drive.
The pieces in this portfolio, particularly those on the Other Projects page, showcase my skills as an applied writer whose goal is to blend personal and practical in ways that best meet the audience’s needs. Much like my writing goal is to blend the personal and the practical, my philosophy on editing is to maintain the author’s voice while polishing the piece to match the brand or company voice.
Philosophy of Technical Communication
Introduction
As a professional communicator, my goal is always to convey information clearly to meet the audience’s needs. Technical communication is collaborative, and therefore creative in nature, requiring contributions from subject matter experts, professional communicators, and other project stakeholders. I view these relationships as partnerships in which all parties, including the intended and unintended audiences, have a vested interest in the production of effective, useful forms of technical communication.
Theoretical Grounding
“The most valuable thing that many organizations produce, today, is information.”1 That information might be for end users, employees, potential clients, or another audience, but the result of all technical communication should be a resolution of disequilibrium2 and the ability to make better decisions.3 In other words, after using an effective piece of technical communication, the audience member(s) should feel confident in their ability to overcome the obstacle in front of them and where applicable, use the knowledge gained in other situations or to help other users facing the same obstacle.
The catalyst for producing technical communication should be audience or user need, with an emphasis on usefulness rather than mere usability and an effort to make the end-communication compelling.4 The communication piece should blend the Greek concepts praxis and techne5, or practice (descriptive and prescriptive) and art, or the ability to use judgment that takes into consideration technology, culture, and public policy, perhaps more appropriately described as societal systems.6
Practical Approach
Just as practice without theory is less than useful, so is theory without practice. Information must be clear, yet not overexplained, and concise, yet detailed. Ideally, technical communication will also be compelling and meet the users where they are from knowledge and technology (e.g., dynamic, accessible content for computers, tablets, or mobile devices, or clearly designed print documentation) standpoints. How I assess audience knowledge and technological capabilities varies by project but often takes into consideration what information has been shared before and on what platforms and writing in a way that is digestible for the smallest screen.
Furthermore, the development of technical communication cannot happen in a vacuum. In the workplace, collaboration looks like consulting with subject matter experts and designers as well as listening to the audience.7 Technical communicators must also take into consideration current political, economic, social, and accessibility factors. I have experience collaborating with multiple departments on multiple projects simultaneously and welcome differing perspectives.
Editing Philosophy
I support authors throughout the complete writing process, from shaping ideas, purpose, and desired audience in conceptual editing to the minutiae of punctuation and spelling in copyediting.* I view the writer-editor relationship as a partnership in which the editor advocates for the writer while simultaneously helping the writer make informed choices, and my love of language makes every project interesting. Most of my experience has fallen under the umbrella of applied writing.
*Not sure what kind of editing you need? See the bottom of the Editing Work page to learn about the different levels of editing.
1. Hart-Davison, William. Solving Problems in Technical Communication, 56. Edited by Johndan Johnson-Eilola and Stuart A. Selber. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2013.
2. Santos, Marc C., and McIntyre, Megan M. “Toward a Technical Communication Made Whole: Disequilibirum, Creativity, and Postpedagogy.” Composition Forum 33 (Spring 2016):
3. Ornatowski, Caesar M. “Educating Technical Communicators to Make Better Decisions.” Technical Communication 42 (1995): 595.
4.Hart-Davison, William. Solving Problems in Technical Communication, 55. Edited by Johndan Johnson-Eilola and Stuart A. Selber. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2013.
5. Miller, Carolyn. “What’s Practical About Technical Writing?” in Technical Writing: Theory and Practice, 14-24. Modern Language Association, 1989.
6. Ornatowski, Caesar M. “Educating Technical Communicators to Make Better Decisions.” Technical Communication 42 (1995): 596-598.
7. Hart-Davison, William. Solving Problems in Technical Communication, 63. Edited by Johndan Johnson-Eilola and Stuart A. Selber. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2013.
Resume
Find my resume, philosophy of technical communication, and project PDFs on Google Drive.
Ensley Fraschillo's Portfolio 