↓Skip to main content

CV

Table of Contents

Alan C. Taylor #

Professional Summary #

I am a detail-oriented, highly skilled technical writer with decades of experience in creating user manuals, technical documentation, online help guides, training materials, and web content. I have excellent research and editing skills and am adept at translating complex technical concepts and practices into clear, concise, and user-friendly content. I like solving problems, have excellent people skills, and enjoy doing a job well. With a background in IT services and a Ph.D. in English, I am valuable as a liaison between developers and less technical audiences.

I am presently interested in full-time work as a technical writer.

Education #

  • Ph.D. in English, Boston University, 2012
  • Master of Arts in English, University of Oregon, 2000
  • Bachelor of Arts in English, Samford University, 1997

Professional Experience #

Senior Lecturer in Writing; Placement Coordinator #

At Dartmouth I primarily teach writing and research to first-year students. However, my technical background has provided me with opportunities to lead a variety of ancillary projects in addition to my regular teaching duties:

1. DartWrite. #

For several years (2017-2021) I led a group of web developers, faculty, researchers, and administrators who created the DartWrite Digital Portfolio Project, an e-portfolio system for Dartmouth’s students and faculty. This work was made possible by a generous $250,000 grant from the Davis Educational Foundation. The DartWrite program provided every student a digital home for their writing and other performances, affording students with an opportunity to reflect on their development as writers and showcase their work to various audiences, including future employers. We built our digital portfolios on WordPress.

  • My various roles and responsibilities in the DartWrite project:
    • Served on the committee who authored the successful grant for the DartWrite project.
    • Responsible for evaluating various CMS options and making the final decision among several competing platforms.
    • Served as project liaison between Web Services, faculty, and other campus stakeholders.
    • Authored technical manuals to support faculty and students who embraced digital portfolios for their learning or teaching.
    • Wrote scripts for support staff who gave info sessions on the DartWrite project.
    • Chief researcher investigating the pedagogical justification for using digital portfolios in the writing classroom.
    • Composed web content and produced video tutorials used to support and advertise the project.
    • Performed text-mining analysis (VSM and PLSA) of student writing over time. These data were used to fortify our pedagogy and help discover best practices for student learning.

2. Placement Coordinator. #

As Placement Coordinator I lead a group of six faculty each year who assess the writing competencies of our incoming class and provide each of the 1,200 or so students with a personalized course recommendation. Students complete several surveys and submit a placement essay writing sample. I use Python (Pandas) to perform statistical analyses of each student’s survey results which are then correlated with a faculty member’s evaluation of the submitted essay sample. I also create a data visualization of this information each year to assist our faculty in their final placement recommendations. I have created manuals for the Placement Coordinator position and for the faculty who participate in the placement process at Dartmouth.

3. Teaching Repository. #

I created and maintain an intranet-based teaching resource for faculty containing syllabi, workshop plans, and a curated collection of academic research in the field of Composition Studies. We have a “no silos” approach to our instruction, creating a teaching culture built on sharing and collaboration.

4. Department Website. #

I author and edit content for the Dartmouth Writing Program’s department website. The site uses a heavily modifed version of Drupal CMS.

Lecturer in Writing #

  • Boston University, 2009—2014

At Boston University I primarily taught writing and research to first-year students. My courses at BU were largely steeped in classical rhetoric; there was an emphasis on argumentation and close textual analysis.

Technical Writer #

I worked in the IT Infrastructure & Service Operations division at EBSCO. My primary role was to work on documenting a large software re-write as the company transitioned away from their legacy COBOL mainframes. However, I contributed to a diverse portfolio of projects during my time with the company:

  • Worked with developers to document the company’s mainframe modernization project.
  • Collaborated closely with engineers, product managers, and developers to gather technical information and ensure accuracy in all documentation.
  • Composed documentation for new software products and updates, creating user guides, installation manuals, and intranet-based help content.
  • Managed content for the company’s internal knowledge base and maintained consistency across product documentation.
  • Edited and reviewed technical content to ensure clarity, consistency, and adherence to the company style guide.
  • Worked with a team of technical writers to produce procedure manuals for technical support staff.

Coding & Software Biography #

I know Python, which I primarily use for data analysis using the Pandas library. I am also involved text mining of a large dataset of student writing using the Scikit-learn library (hierarchical clustering and sentiment analysis). I often find the need to write small programs in Bash to save myself time and headaches. I’m a Linux user and generally prefer open-source tools. I have a great deal of experience with LaTeX, which I’ve used to typeset various ready-to-print manuals for publications (an example is an earlier version of my handbook for student writers). In recent years I’ve only used LaTeX files as templates to transform markdown files with Pandoc into nicely formatted .pdfs. I know CSS, Sass, HTML, PHP. I’ve gained some familiarity with Go, mostly through various hacks to the Hugo static site generator which I use to create my websites. I know my way around Git and have experience working with others using version control though GitHub and GitLab. I’d like to study Rust. I’m also familiar with major project management software such as Jira and Asana. I’ve used most CMS and CCMS platforms and have experience with DITA XML.