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November 13, 2009

To whom it concerns,

I strongly support Eric Roberson’s application to the Master of Science in Professional Writing and
Technical Communication program.

I have known and worked with Eric for nearly four years. In that time, he has demonstrated a deep
passion for concise and clear writing. That passion is what has driven him to obtain an education as a
professional writer and particularly as a professional technical writer.

In an ideal world, Eric would be working for me. I manage an organization of six technical writers and
one localization technician. The realities of budget have prevented that association and I consider it a
loss both personally and to Symantec on the whole.

In spite of that, Eric and I work closely – our particular focus being the application of an innovative
community‐based approach to the development and publication of online support documentation for
Symantec’s Control Compliance suite of applications.

To integrate this novel approach, Eric is both eminently suited and unsuited. He is suited, in that his gift
for structuring and presenting information in the best possible way is exactly one of the key skills
necessary to make this approach successful. He is able to use that skill to mentor those to whom it
comes less naturally.

Unsuited, in that the method calls for a relaxed approach to grammar, structure, and formatting – often
sacrificing all three to the goal of delivering information more quickly. This relaxed approach runs
headlong into Eric’s intense passion and dedication to good and precise writing. Yet, rather than throw
up his hands in frustration, this has actually intensified Eric’s mentoring efforts fully in the belief that
good writing and rapid delivery are not mutually exclusive.

I can think of no one of my acquaintance in the technical writing community who demonstrates Eric’s
combination of enthusiasm for writing and his dedication toward reaching the perfection of that craft. I
recommend him without qualification.

Best regards,

Gary Rabideau
Manager, Knowledge Management
Symantec Corporation

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