Monthly Archives: September 2014

Beginning of Class Writing: Anderson’s TC Chapter 4, Planning for Usefulness

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During the first ten minutes of class, write your summary of chapter four from Paul Anderson’s Technical Communication: “Planning for Usefulness.” This is one of the most important thing to consider when you are writing documents and other communications in the workplace: how do you make your communications useful for its audience? What strategies does Anderson give us to plan for the usefulness our communications need?

Project 1, Peer Review of Skills-Based Resume

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Like in your previous peer review session, I would like you to write a memo summarizing the feedback that you received and your plan for revision.

Before our next class, write a comment on this blog post in memo format (address it to me and your teammates–using full names) that summarizes the feedback that you received (giving credit to your teammates who made the suggestions) and describes what changes you will make to your resume draft for the final draft. You do not have to do everything that your team has recommended, but you should make reasoned choices based on their feedback and your own ideas as you improve this resume draft.

Project 1, Peer Review of Experience-Based Resume

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During today’s class, you will get into teams of approximately 4 people.

Exchange copies of your resume with one another.

When you read other people’s resumes, makes notes on their resume about how YOU would make it better. Are there typos? How would you organize the information better? Are all of the verbs in the same tense? Are there more action verbs than descriptive adjectives and adverbs? Are there specifics that would make their experiences more interesting, engaging, and useful?

After you complete reviewing all resumes as a team, take turns asking for oral feedback from your teammates that you will take notes on. From reading one another’s resumes and talking about what recommendations you make, you should take this as an opportunity to learn from one another’s resumes, too.

Before our next class, write a comment on this blog post in memo format (address it to me and your teammates–using full names) that summarizes the feedback that you received (giving credit to your teammates who made the suggestions) and describes what changes you will make to your resume draft for the final draft. You do not have to do everything that your team has recommended, but you should make reasoned choices based on their feedback and your own ideas as you improve this resume draft.

Also, before our next class, create a skills-based resume and bring three copies to Monday’s class. There will be a lot of overlap between the two resumes, but as you will see, the way information is presented will be different. This raises issues of usability and audience needs. It also is a useful tool for thinking through your abilities and how to communicate those abilities to a potential employer. I would not be surprised if by making a skills-based resume that you get ideas about how to improve your experience-based resume.

Beginning of Class Writing: TC Chapter 23: Writing Reader-Centered Letters, Memos, E-mails, and Digital Exchanges

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For today’s class, you read Chapter 23, Writing Reader-Centered Letters, Memos, E-mails, and Digital Exchanges in Anderson’s Technical Communication. Spend the first ten minutes of class writing a summary of the chapter. Some questions that might help you write your summary include: what is the difference between letters, memos, emails, and digital exchanges? How are these things similar? What purpose might each of these communications serve?

Beginning of Class Writing: TC Chapter 2, Overview of the Reader-Centered Communication Process: Obtaining a Job

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For today’s class, you read Chapter 2, Overview of the Reader-Centered Communication Process: Obtaining a Job from Anderson’s Technical Communication. Take the first ten minutes of class to summarize your reading in a comment on this blog post. Remember to use the memo header for these beginning of class writing assignments:

TO:

FROM:

DATE:

RE: (Create your own meaningful subject)

(Your summary)

Use the entire ten minutes for writing to improve your writing ability over time. Think of this as a writing workout. You’re doing repetitions that will pay off over time.

Beginning of Class Writing: TC Chapter 20

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For today’s class, you read Chapter 20: Creating and Delivering Listener-Centered Oral Presentations from Anderson’s Technical Communication. Take the first ten minutes of class to summarize your reading in a comment on this blog post. Remember to use the memo header for these beginning of class writing assignments:

TO:

FROM:

DATE:

RE: (Create your own meaningful subject)

(Your summary)

Use the entire ten minutes for writing to improve your writing ability over time. Think of this as a writing workout. You’re doing repetitions that will pay off over time.

Beginning of Class Writing: TC Chapter 1

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For your first beginning of class writing, I would like you to comment on this post. In your comment, you should first format your message in this manner to practice with the memorandum or memo format:

To: Professor Ellis

From: Your first and last name

Date: Today’s date

Subject: Summary of Anderson’s TC Chapter 1

Write your summary beneath. Your summary should capture what you remember and think is most important to know from the chapter. Some questions to help guide you: What does Anderson say about audience? What three things do readers do when they read something? What six reader-centered strategies does Anderson offer you? Why are ethics important?

What’s most important about your in-class writing is that you put forth the best effort and all of the writing is your own. Put things into your own words unless you want to place something Anderson writes into quotation marks followed by the page number in parentheses like this: Anderson writes, “The fact that readers respond to a communication moment by moment is important to you as a writer” (Anderson 16).

In the time allowed, you might not be able to summarize the entire chapter. Focus on what seems important to you and use the full time for writing. I want this writing to help you improve your writing over time, which means that I will be evaluating these on best effort with attention given to observing change over time.

Introducing Project 1: Getting a Job and Communicating in the Workplace

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For your convenience, I have copy-and-pasted the text of the Project 1 assignment sheet below. However, you should download and print this PDF of this assignment for your notebook: ellis-jason-eng3771-project-1.

Introduction

 

In Unit 1: Getting a Job and Communicating in the Workplace, you will create a portfolio of job-search documents and experience a mock interview. We will use the revision process (drafting, reviewing, and revising) to improve your deliverables. For those students who engage in this process wholeheartedly, you will generate a portfolio of job-search documents that are ready for use with appropriate tailoring and revision for the specific jobs for which you apply.

 

 

Project Deliverables

 

  • An experiential resume
  • A skills resume
  • A job ad research memo
  • A job application letter
  • A job application portfolio
  • A mock interview reflection memo

 

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