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Author: Jason W. Ellis
Beginning of Class Writing: 140-Character Summary
Today’s beginning of class writing will be very brief, because we want to spend more time on peer reviewing your Project 1 documents and LinkedIn.com Profiles. Your response for this writing assignment includes two parts.
First, imagine that you work for the magazine that you read for today’s class, and you’ve been tasked with announcing the article that you read on the magazine’s official Twitter feed.
Write a memo addressed to a co-worker with a subject of “Summary of Magazine Article for Official Twitter Announcement.” Briefly explain in once sentence that the following copy (i.e., writing) may be used on the magazine’s official Twitter feed.
Begin a new paragraph and write no more than 140 characters summarizing the article. This limitation actually opens new opportunities for how you think and write. Instead of being too verbose, you have to focus what you say with a laser-like intensity. Include at least one hashtag, or metadata related to the content of the article. Conclude your tweet with a link to the magazine’s website, which will not count toward your 140 characters. Use Word’s word count feature under the Review tab in the Ribbon to carefully check your character use.
Finally, write an APA bibliographic entry for the article that you read for today’s class. Your APA bibliographic entry does not count toward your tweet’s character count.
Copy-and-paste your memo into a comment made to this blog post.
Syllabus and Project 1 Updates
As we discussed during class last night, we’re making these changes to the syllabus’ schedule:
- Wed, Mar. 13: Peer review of your skills-based resume, experience-based resume, and job application letter. Each of these should be no more than one page long. Make yours look like the models that I gave you–altering the categories as needed for your abilities and experience. Bring three copies of each document. Also, connect to one another and to me on LinkedIn.com.
- Wed, Mar. 20: Project 1 is due. Bring one printed copy of each deliverable: skills-based resume, experience-based resume, and job application letter. I will evaluate your LinkedIn.com profile online/separately. We will begin Project 2 on this day (one week later than originally planned, but with plenty of time for you to do a quality project).
Beginning of Class Writing: Paraphrasing a Passage Memo
For today’s beginning of class writing assignment, you will practice paraphrasing the paragraph that sets out the argument or emphasis from the article that you read for today’s class. Or, you can paraphrase a passage from the article that highlights what the article is discussing. The target audience is a co-worker.
Paraphrasing is a form of citing the words and ideas of someone else by taking what they have written and re-writing it into your own words followed by an in-text citation and a References entry. It does not mean changing a few words of what the author wrote and calling it a day. Instead, you read what they have written, think about the idea that they are conveying in their words, and then with their writing put away, you write that idea down using your own words. The in-text citation shows that you are giving them credit for the idea, but by using your own words, you are able to improve the flow of your writing without the jarring insertion of a quote.
Use this template for your memo, but feel free to rephrase some of the supplied text below to meet your needs:
TO: Scottie Pippin
FROM: YOUR NAME
DATE: 3/6/2019
SUBJECT: Interesting article about [what is the article about]
When you have a chance, I think you should read this article about [write a short phrase describing the article’s main focus], because [imagine a reason why your co-worker should read it–help his thinking on a collaborative project, a new opportunity, something fun, etc.]. In particular, you should check out the author stating/arguing/implying [write one or two sentences paraphrasing the paragraph that sets out the thesis or emphasis of the article] (Last, year, p. #).
Author, A. A. (Year). Title of article. Title of Periodical, volume number(issue number), pages.
These resources will be for Project 1 review after you complete the beginning of class assignment.
http://career.opcd.wfu.edu/files/2011/05/Action-Verbs-for-Resumes.pdf
Beginning of Class Writing: Citing Keywords in Context
For today’s beginning of class writing assignment, you will be writing a memo to a superior who has asked you to find and cite three sources that mention a particular keyword. These citations provide the reader with the selected keyword in context, or how it is used in the sentences that you find during the exercise.
First, you get to pick the topic/keyword from the article that you brought into class. Scan your article for that keyword and find a sentence or sentences that use the keyword that you select. Type this quote into a new memo that follows this format:
TO: David Robinson
FROM: YOUR NAME
DATE: 2/27/2019
SUBJECT: Keyword in Context: YOUR SELECTED KEYWORD
As requested, I am sending you the three quotes below that provide some context for the keyword, YOUR SELECTED KEYWORD. The first comes from an article that I read, which is about PROVIDE A ONE PHRASE SUMMARY OF THE ARTICLE THAT YOU READ FOR TODAY’S CLASS. The second and third were articles that I found with a LexisNexis database search.
“TYPE IN THE KEYWORD CONTEXT QUOTE FROM YOUR ARTICLE” (Author, year, p. page number).
Author, A. A. (Year). Title of article. Title of Periodical, volume number(issue number), pages.
This second article is about TYPE IN A BRIEF PHRASE DESCRIBING THE GIST OF THE ARTICLE–YOU NEED NOT READ THE WHOLE THING, USE THE TITLE AND FIRST PARAGRAPH FOR CLUES.
“TYPE IN THE KEYWORD CONTEXT QUOTE FROM YOUR ARTICLE” (Author, year, p. page number).
Author, A. A. (Year). Title of article. Title of Periodical, volume number(issue number), pages.
Finally, the third article is about TYPE IN A BRIEF PHRASE DESCRIBING THE GIST OF THE ARTICLE.
“TYPE IN THE KEYWORD CONTEXT QUOTE FROM YOUR ARTICLE” (Author, year, p. page number).
Author, A. A. (Year). Title of article. Title of Periodical, volume number(issue number), pages.
To locate your second and third quotes, use the LexisNexis database to search for your keyword. Find articles that have a byline (identified author) and that are locally relevant (preferably US sources instead of those published in other countries).
Beginning of Class Writing: Memo with Cited Passage and Citation
For today’s beginning of class writing assignment, write a memo addressed asking a subordinate to research a topic that you read about in the magazine article that you brought to class.
First, consider your audience and how you should address a co-worker who you supervise. Cordiality and professionalism should figure into your approach.
Second, consider how to help this person do the work that you’re asking. They need to know the topic that you’d like them to research. This should be as specific as possible. Context would help them quickly grasp what it is you’re asking them to learn more about. Some explanation and a quote from the article will help them do this.
Third, I would suggest framing your memo in this way: Open with a one sentence introduction that includes what you’re asking for and a deadline when they should return what they find. Then explain that you read about this topic in a magazine article about <give a one sentence summary of the article>. Next, suggest that this passage from the article should help you get started–cite the passage as demonstrated below and follow it with an APA citation for the article. Finally, thank them for their help in a concluding sentence.
Example memo:
TO: George P. Burdell
FROM: Jason Ellis
DATE: Feb. 20, 2019
SUBJECT: Research requested on China’s one-child policy
Please research China’s one-child policy and write a brief report about how it might affect our business plans there. Please send me your report by Thursday, Feb. 28.
This quote from a recent article in Time magazine about China’s aging population might help get you started:
“The scale of the problem is partly due to the legacy of the one-child policy: history’s biggest social-engineering experiment. Introduced in 1980 to reduce the number of hungry mouths to feed, the policy eventually began to act as a hitch on growth, prompting Beijing to permit parents to have two children from 2016. The policy now stands to be scrapped, with a draft civil code published in August 2018 omitting any reference to ‘family planning'” (Campbell, 2019, p. 50).
Campbell, C. (2019, Feb. 18 and Feb. 25). The gray wave set to crash into China. Time, 193(6-7), 48-53.
Thank you for your assistance with this.
In the next phase of class, we will return to Project 1. We’ll look at an example job ad and job application letter (cover letter) that responds to that ad (embedded below). For Project 1, you will want to find a job ad that you would like to apply for (I would suggest an entry-level position, internship, or CUNY Service Corp). Write your letter in response to this ad and create correspondence between one of your resumes and your letter.
eng1133-job-application-letterBeginning of Class Writing: Concise Summary of Article and APA Citation
For today’s beginning of class writing assignment, write a memo addressed to a colleague. It’s purpose is to let your colleague know the main point of the article in exactly 100 words plus/minus 5 words (use your word processor to check the word count of the body of your memo). Also, you will want to end your memo with an APA citation of the article. An example of this is included below, and more information is available here.
APA Reference Examples:
Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C. (Year). Title of article. Title of Periodical, volume number(issue number), pages.
Henry, W. A., III. (1990, April 9). Making the grade in today’s schools. Time, 135, 28-31.
After spending about 30 minutes on this assignment, we will use the rest of class time to work on Project 1. The files linked below will be given out as handouts and discussed during class to help facilitate our progress on Project 1.
eng1133-sample-resume-experience-blank
eng1133-sample-resume-skills-blank
Beginning of Class Writing: Summary Memo for Coworker
At the beginning of class today, we will discuss what a memorandum or memo is and what purposes a memo might serve in the workplace.
Then, using the magazine article that you read before today’s class, you will have an opportunity to write a memo summarizing what you have read. Follow the instructions below to write your memo in a word processor of your choice, save your work, and copy-and-paste your completed memo into a comment made to this blog post.
These are the parameters for this deliverable:
- Begin with a memo header (to, from, date, subject)
- Write at least 250 words summarizing the article in your own words.
- No citations should be made in this first assignment.
- This summary should be based on your memory of the important points of the article and expressed entirely in your own words.
- Your audience for this summary memo is a coworker who shares your education and background.
- Its purpose is to share the main points made in the article with a coworker who might be interested in the content of the article.
Welcome to ENG1133!
Greetings, all! Welcome to ENG1133, Specialized Communication for Technology Students led by Professor Ellis. We’re going to work together this semester to build deliverables (i.e., types of documents meant to serve a set of criteria, fulfill a specific purpose, and appeal to a particular audience) that will form a portfolio of professional examples of your communication skills.
