Rutger's University's "6-P Method" to Write Technical Case Studies

© 2010 Ugur Akinci
The New York Times has published a very educational story about how Rutger University‘s technical writing program employs the “6-P Method” to create technical case studies.
According to Peter Sorrell, an instructor at the business and technical writing program, the method consists of the following Ps:
The Problem at stake, the Population affected by this problem, the Paradigm (what others have done to solve this or similar problems in the past, as well as the theoretical framework for their actions), and a real-world Plan for dealing with it.  One also needs to identify a financing source — the Patron — and a budget — the Price.
By using this method Rutgers students produce a proposal for solving the problem. It looks like a good method to me. The next time I write a technical case study I’m sure I’ll apply it.
NYT highlighted how the method was used to explain what went wrong with BP’s Gulf Oil Spill disaster.
Click here to read the full article and see how well technical illustrations were employed.