Weekly Writing Assignment, Week 3

Remember to watch this week’s lecture in its entirety before proceeding with this week’s Weekly Writing Assignment and homework.

The first part of this post describes the Weekly Writing Assignment, and the second part describes this week’s homework for the current Job Application Portfolio project.

This week’s Weekly Writing Assignment will introduce you to a public and free resource of great value to you–LinkedIn Learning via the New York Public Library.

First, sign up for a NYPL Library Card and pin number if you don’t already have one. A NYPL card is free.

Next, access LinkedIn Learning via the link provided on this page in the NYPL Online Catalog. Login to LinkedIn Learning using your NYPL Library Card number and pin. After selected areas of interest, click continue to proceed into LinkedIn Learning.

Then, use the Browse and Search features of LinkedIn Learning to explore what kinds of training courses are available to you. With your NYPL Card, these training courses are all free. Watch some of the videos and try out some of the course features, such as videos and transcripts.

Finally, write a memo using the format below of approximately 250 words in length that describes what you found in your explorations of LinkedIn Learning. Are there specific courses that interested you? What are their titles? Which videos did you watch? Be specific with titles and the names of the course leaders. Copy-and-paste your memo into a comment made to this Weekly Writing Assignment post (to find the comment box, click on the title of this post–Weekly Writing Assignment, Week 3–scroll down to the comment box, copy-and-paste your memo, and click “Post Comment.”).

TO: Prof. Ellis
FROM: [Your name]
DATE: 9/29/2021
SUBJECT: Exploring LinkedIn Learning

Write one sentence in your own words describing the purpose of the memo (what you discovered in LinkedIn Learning). Then, use the remaining sentences to describe how and what you found in your exploration of LinkedIn Learning.

For this week’s homework, you should create a skills resume and an experience resume. Use the following samples and templates to help you begin (remember to hide table borders in your documents that you create–Google how to do this based on the word processing software/service that you use). The other resources below will help you with the language that you use in your resume. Save your resumes for peer review during the week after next. Next week, we will work on the job application letter and your LinkedIn Profile.

Sample Resume Documents

Resume Resources

Announcement, Office Hours on Sept. 15

Greetings, all!

I hope that you’re all well and settling into the fall semester.

Also, I hope that you’ve been using your time wisely to catch up on the first two lectures, take good notes, complete the readings, and begin on the first assignments and projects.

The Weekly Writing Assignments and associated homework are due by Wednesday, Sept. 23, which is when I will also post the next lecture (our Week 3 of 15).

In the meantime, send me your questions via email to jellis at citytech.cuny.edu or talk with me during office hours on Wednesdays from 3:00-5:00pm here: https://hangouts.google.com/call/ffqYdoXngPvd-4OB-HTtACEE

Announcement, Office Hours on Sept. 8

Hello, all!

I hope that you’re all well and working on your job research and personal experience database.

As I mentioned in last week’s lecture, I will post our Week 3 Lecture on Sept. 23.

In the meantime, send me your questions via email to jellis at citytech.cuny.edu or talk with me during office hours on Wednesdays from 3:00-5:00pm here: https://hangouts.google.com/call/ffqYdoXngPvd-4OB-HTtACEE

Lecture, Week 2

Remember to watch this week’s lecture attentively and take notes throughout. Be an engaged listener so that you are active learner. Do not proceed with this week’s Weekly Writing Assignment or homework until you’ve watched this week’s lecture.

Our next lecture will be on Wednesday, Sept. 22 due to classes not being scheduled for the next two Wednesdays. Prof. Ellis will hold office hours each Wednesday between now and the 22nd between 3:00-5:00pm using the link to the left. Prof. Ellis is also available via email or by appointment (contact information is on the left).

Weekly Writing Assignment, Week 2

After watching this week’s lecture attentively and taking notes, proceed with the following Weekly Writing Assignment and additional homework that is due by our next lecture on Sept. 22 (see the schedule on the syllabus linked to the left for details).

For this week’s Weekly Writing Assignment, you are tasked with learning more about the jobs available in your field (e.g., Technical Writing, Computer Engineer, IT Professional, etc.–you should only investigate jobs relevant to the career that your degree is preparing you for).

Use monster.com to research what jobs are available in your field. Carefully read and take notes on the jobs that you find, including job titles, location, name of company, terminology used in the listing, required qualifications, work experience, and education, pay/benefits, and any other notable patterns that you observe.

TO: Prof. Ellis
FROM: Your name
DATE: 9/22/2021
SUBJECT: Job Research

Write one sentence about the purpose of the memo (e.g., "This memo describes what I learned while researching technical writing jobs on Monster.com.").

Write complete sentences in paragraph form about what you learned about the job listings. All of this should be in your own words. 

Your memo should be at least 250 words. That's the minimum for this assignment. More is certainly welcome as the more you write will help improve your writing skills.

After you’ve completed your memo, copy-and-paste it into a comment made to this post (click on the title of this post, “Weekly Writing Assignment, Week 2,” and then scroll down to the comment area–make sure that you are logged into OpenLab!). After you’ve pasted your writing, click on “Post Comment” to add your comment.

Also, you need to complete the following homework before Sept. 22. Complete the reading on the syllabus for Week 1 and Week 2, and create another document that you will save to use for our next class when we focus on the deliverables (i.e., documents) of Project 1: Job Search Portfolio. This document can be a list with headings identifying the different kinds of information:

  • Create a new document that you will use as your personal job search database. 
  • List all of your educational, work, volunteer, certifications, and other experiences.
  • List your skills and abilities with details.
  • List your language skills.
  • List any awards and recognitions.
  • References (name, title, address, phone number, email address).
  • The more information that you can include, the better!
  • Be prepared to use this document when we return on Sept. 22.

You can also use this site that I built for all City Tech students called Job Search Advice and its video, sample documents, and links to learn more about the job application process.

Lecture, Week 1

Remember to have your notebook out and give this week’s lecture your undivided attention. It’s always important and required to watch each lecture in its entirety. Take notes so that you are actively engaged in the lesson. It’s okay to watch the lecture in chunks–just jot down the time you stop the video in your notes so that you can easily pickup where you left off when you have the time to continue the lecture.

Weekly Writing Assignment, Week 1

After watching this week’s lecture (embedded in the post above) and reading this article on best practices for emailing professors, complete your first Weekly Writing Assignment by sending an email of introduction from your official City Tech email account to Prof. Ellis at jellis@citytech.cuny.edu according to the following parameters:

  • Send an email to Prof. Ellis at jellis@citytech.cuny.edu from your City Tech email account.
  • Subject line: ENG1133 OL96 Student Introduction
  • Salutation
  • Body: Tell me about yourself, your major, career goals, hobbies, and what you want to get out of our class.
  • Closing: Sign with your name or how
    you would like me to refer to you.
  • If you need to reset your City Tech email password, go to forgot.citytech.cuny.edu.
  • And, don’t forget to signup for your free subscription to The New York Times here using your City Tech email address.

Welcome to Specialized Communications for Technology Students, ENG1133 OL96!

Dear all,

I would like to welcome you to our Fall 2021 Specialized Communications for Technology Students class! To make sure you’re in the right place, this is ENG1133 OL96. I am Prof. Ellis and I will be leading our class this semester.

It’s important that you read through this message carefully and follow my directions below to join our class on OpenLab.

Even though classes don’t begin until Wednesday, Aug. 25, the school asked faculty to reach out to students early to help everyone be ready to begin when classes begin. At any point, feel free to reach out to me by email with any questions that you might have.

Our class is completely online and we will not be meeting synchronously (meaning at the same time). Instead, our class is designated asynchronous, which means each student can watch lectures and do the work at times of their choosing as long as deadlines and due dates are met.

We will be using City Tech’s OpenLab to coordinate our class and the work that you will be doing this semester. To get you setup with the OpenLab, you will need to create an account using your City Tech email address (if you haven’t already done so), which you can do here: https://openlab.citytech.cuny.edu/register/

After you login to OpenLab with your account, you need to visit the Profile Page of our class and click on “Join Now” on the left side under the avatar image of the “Understanding” neon sign: https://openlab.citytech.cuny.edu/groups/eng1133-ol96-specialized-communication-for-technology-students-fall-2021/

Then, to access our class site where I will post lectures and assignments, and you will turn in many of your projects in the class, click on “Visit Course Site” (on the right) after you joined the course, or you can go there directly by following this link: https://openlab.citytech.cuny.edu/elliseng1133ol96fall2021/

On our Course Site, you will see this Welcome message from me at the top of the page. On Wednesday, Aug. 25, I will post the first lecture video and weekly writing assignment. I explain a lot about how the class works and what we will be doing in that video. Watching each week’s lecture, taking notes, and completing assignments are required for success in the class.

Also, look at the menu on the left side of our Course Site to find the link to the class Syllabus: https://openlab.citytech.cuny.edu/elliseng1133ol96fall2021/syllabus/. All of our class’ policies, major assignments and grades, and schedule can be found there. I go over the syllabus in detail in the first lecture video.

Finally, I will hold weekly virtual office hours on Wednesday from 3:00pm-5:00pm on Google Hangouts here: https://hangouts.google.com/call/ffqYdoXngPvd-4OB-HTtACEE. There is also a link to the weekly office hours on the left side of our Course Site. If you would like to meet with me at a different day and time, please send me an email with your availability for the coming week so that I can arrange a time that accommodates both of our schedules.

I’m looking forward to working with you all over the coming semester. Remember to contact me with questions or if anything comes up that affects your performance in the class at jellis@citytech.cuny.edu. I want us all to complete the semester successfully!

Be well and stay safe!

Best, Professor Ellis