Category: Lecture

• Brief Introduction
• Beginning of Class Writing Assignment
  • Click on the title of this blog post, “Week 15,” scroll down to the comment area, and write at least 250 words in response to this week’s readings. You can summarize the readings, you can relate the readings to your own experience or something else you have read or learned about, etc. Any writing of 250 words or more that are related to the readings are fair game for this weekly assignment at the beginning of class.
  • Post your comment after 15 minutes even if you don’t reach the 250 word minimum threshold.
  • Why we are doing this: It helps you organize your thoughts before discussion and it gives you regular writing practice.
• Some helpful info:
  • Graduate School Notes
  • Tips for Improving Your Writing
  • Financial Planning Advice in the WSJ
• Discuss Ted Chiang’s “The Truth of Fact, the Truth of Feeling” and Magyar’s presentation on SF for Technical Communicators.
• Look around for models and examples of portfolios by other professionals in the field to continue revising and improving your own portfolio in the future after our class ends. These are some examples doing different things in each website/portfolio:
  • https://www.sophiavo.com/
  • https://www.dgnicholson.com/
  • https://www.allidurrant.com/
  • https://katewrightson.wordpress.com/
  • https://annasdiehl.weebly.com/
  • https://www.jessicaldehn.com/
  • https://writetechie.com/
  • https://zabefails.com/
  • http://www.jennajaco.com/p/blog-page_21.html
• Open discussion.
• To submit your final work in the class:
  • Send a brief, professional email to Prof. Ellis that includes a link to your Professional Portfolio (Shared Google Doc or OpenLab ePortfolio–make sure it is viewable by someone who is not you!) and a link or attached file for your Weekly Logbook.
    • Professional Portfolio
      • Your resume and a generic cover letter can also be a part of your portfolio.
      • Include links to other places where you are visible online, such as LinkedIn and other social media networks.
    • Weekly Log
      • Remember to add an entry to your logbook for each week until the end of the semester and keep all of your logs in a single file (Google Doc, Word docx, OpenOffice odf, etc.). Include the first date of a given week for each entry at the top of the page. Write at least 250 words about your current or past experience as appropriate. For example, if you are currently in an internship, your logs should record your experiences, thoughts, challenges, solutions, etc. that you find significant each week. Or, if you have completed your internship, your logs can be about experiences, projects, interactions with people in the workplace, challenges, solutions, etc. based on your past experience. And, if you are continuing in a new internship for additional experience, you can write about that, too. The point is to write at least 250 words per entry with one entry per week about your experience in the internship.
      • Why we are doing this: It helps you articulate your work experience so that you may better reflect on, consider, remember, and act on those experiences as you transition into the workplace. Additionally, it gives you extra writing practice, which research shows will automatically improve your writing ability.
• As Garrison Keillor says, “Be well, do good work, and keep in touch.”

• Brief Introduction
• Beginning of Class Writing Assignment
  • Click on the title of this blog post, “Week 14,” scroll down to the comment area, and write at least 250 words in response to this week’s readings. You can summarize the readings, you can relate the readings to your own experience or something else you have read or learned about, etc. Any writing of 250 words or more that are related to the readings are fair game for this weekly assignment at the beginning of class.
  • Post your comment after 15 minutes even if you don’t reach the 250 word minimum threshold.
  • Why we are doing this: It helps you organize your thoughts before discussion and it gives you regular writing practice.
• Discuss the readings assigned for Week 13 and Week 14.
• Discuss internships
  • How are they going?
• Discuss what’s due next week: Send a brief, professional email to Prof. Ellis that includes a link to your Professional Portfolio (Shared Google Doc or OpenLab ePortfolio–make sure it is viewable by someone who is not you!) and a link or attached file for your Weekly Logbook.
  • Professional Portfolio
    • Your resume and a generic cover letter can also be a part of your portfolio.
    • Include links to other places where you are visible online, such as LinkedIn and other social media networks.
  • Weekly Log
    • Remember to add an entry to your logbook for each week until the end of the semester and keep all of your logs in a single file (Google Doc, Word docx, OpenOffice odf, etc.). Include the first date of a given week for each entry at the top of the page. Write at least 250 words about your current or past experience as appropriate. For example, if you are currently in an internship, your logs should record your experiences, thoughts, challenges, solutions, etc. that you find significant each week. Or, if you have completed your internship, your logs can be about experiences, projects, interactions with people in the workplace, challenges, solutions, etc. based on your past experience. And, if you are continuing in a new internship for additional experience, you can write about that, too. The point is to write at least 250 words per entry with one entry per week about your experience in the internship.
    • Why we are doing this: It helps you articulate your work experience so that you may better reflect on, consider, remember, and act on those experiences as you transition into the workplace. Additionally, it gives you extra writing practice, which research shows will automatically improve your writing ability.
• Review readings and homework for next week.

• Brief Introduction
• Beginning of Class Writing Assignment
  • Click on the title of this blog post, “Week 13,” scroll down to the comment area, and write at least 250 words in response to this week’s readings. You can summarize the readings, you can relate the readings to your own experience or something else you have read or learned about, etc. Any writing of 250 words or more that are related to the readings are fair game for this weekly assignment at the beginning of class.
  • Post your comment after 15 minutes even if you don’t reach the 250 word minimum threshold.
  • Why we are doing this: It helps you organize your thoughts before discussion and it gives you regular writing practice.
• Discuss the readings assigned for Week 13.
• Discuss internships
  • How are they going?
• Discuss the Professional Portfolio
  • Include at least 10 deliverables (can be from internship, classwork, or your own initiative)
  • Each deliverable needs an accompanying reflection of at least 250 words that describes the document’s purpose and context, your rhetorical strategy, and your methodology of creating it (i.e., workflow).
  • In the coming classes, I will demo two different ways to create your portfolio so that it is public facing and easily linkable on your resume, LinkedIn Profile, etc.:
    • Google Docs with a sharable link (an example)
    • OpenLab/Wordpress website (an example)
    • See previous announcement post for links to more examples.
• Weekly Log
  • Remember to add an entry to your logbook for each week until the end of the semester and keep all of your logs in a single file (Google Doc, Word docx, OpenOffice odf, etc.). Include the first date of a given week for each entry at the top of the page. Write at least 250 words about your current or past experience as appropriate. For example, if you are currently in an internship, your logs should record your experiences, thoughts, challenges, solutions, etc. that you find significant each week. Or, if you have completed your internship, your logs can be about experiences, projects, interactions with people in the workplace, challenges, solutions, etc. based on your past experience. And, if you are continuing in a new internship for additional experience, you can write about that, too. The point is to write at least 250 words per entry with one entry per week about your experience in the internship.
  • Why we are doing this: It helps you articulate your work experience so that you may better reflect on, consider, remember, and act on those experiences as you transition into the workplace. Additionally, it gives you extra writing practice, which research shows will automatically improve your writing ability.
• Review readings and homework for next week.
• Look through your course work and internship work for examples of your writing to include in your professional portfolio. This can include deliverables that you wrote by yourself and as part of a team. Have at least 5 on hand for next week’s class when we will work on the reflections for these deliverables during class.

• Brief Introduction
• Beginning of Class Writing Assignment
  • Click on the title of this blog post, “Week 12,” scroll down to the comment area, and write at least 250 words in response to this week’s readings. You can summarize the readings, you can relate the readings to your own experience or something else you have read or learned about, etc. Any writing of 250 words or more that are related to the readings are fair game for this weekly assignment at the beginning of class.
  • Post your comment after 15 minutes even if you don’t reach the 250 word minimum threshold.
  • Why we are doing this: It helps you organize your thoughts before discussion and it gives you regular writing practice.
• Discuss the readings assigned for Week 12.
• Discuss internships
  • How are they going?
• Discuss the Professional Portfolio
  • Include at least 10 deliverables (can be from internship, classwork, or your own initiative)
  • Each deliverable needs an accompanying reflection of at least 250 words that describes the document’s purpose and context, your rhetorical strategy, and your methodology of creating it (i.e., workflow).
  • In the coming classes, I will demo two different ways to create your portfolio so that it is public facing and easily linkable on your resume, LinkedIn Profile, etc.:
    • Google Docs with a sharable link (an example)
    • OpenLab/Wordpress website (an example)
• Weekly Log
  • Remember to add an entry to your logbook for each week until the end of the semester and keep all of your logs in a single file (Google Doc, Word docx, OpenOffice odf, etc.). Include the first date of a given week for each entry at the top of the page. Write at least 250 words about your current or past experience as appropriate. For example, if you are currently in an internship, your logs should record your experiences, thoughts, challenges, solutions, etc. that you find significant each week. Or, if you have completed your internship, your logs can be about experiences, projects, interactions with people in the workplace, challenges, solutions, etc. based on your past experience. And, if you are continuing in a new internship for additional experience, you can write about that, too. The point is to write at least 250 words per entry with one entry per week about your experience in the internship.
  • Why we are doing this: It helps you articulate your work experience so that you may better reflect on, consider, remember, and act on those experiences as you transition into the workplace. Additionally, it gives you extra writing practice, which research shows will automatically improve your writing ability.
• Review readings and homework for next week.
• Look through your course work and internship work for examples of your writing to include in your professional portfolio. This can include deliverables that you wrote by yourself and as part of a team. Have at least 5 on hand for next week’s class when we will work on the reflections for these deliverables during class.

• Brief Introduction
• Beginning of Class Writing Assignment
  • Click on the title of this blog post, “Week 10,” scroll down to the comment area, and write at least 250 words in response to this week’s readings. You can summarize the readings, you can relate the readings to your own experience or something else you have read or learned about, etc. Any writing of 250 words or more that are related to the readings are fair game for this weekly assignment at the beginning of class.
  • Post your comment after 15 minutes even if you don’t reach the 250 word minimum threshold.
  • Why we are doing this: It helps you organize your thoughts before discussion and it gives you regular writing practice.
• Discuss the readings assigned for Week 10.
• Discuss internships
  • Where is everyone at in work or applications?
• Discuss the Professional Portfolio
  • Include at least 10 deliverables (can be from internship, classwork, or your own initiative)
  • Each deliverable needs an accompanying reflection of at least 250 words that describes the document’s purpose and context, your rhetorical strategy, and your methodology of creating it (i.e., workflow).
  • In the coming classes, I will demo two different ways to create your portfolio so that it is public facing and easily linkable on your resume, LinkedIn Profile, etc.:
    • Google Docs with a sharable link (an example)
    • OpenLab/Wordpress website (an example)
• Weekly Log
  • Remember to add an entry to your logbook for each week until the end of the semester and keep all of your logs in a single file (Google Doc, Word docx, OpenOffice odf, etc.). Include the first date of a given week for each entry at the top of the page. Write at least 250 words about your current or past experience as appropriate. For example, if you are currently in an internship, your logs should record your experiences, thoughts, challenges, solutions, etc. that you find significant each week. Or, if you have completed your internship, your logs can be about experiences, projects, interactions with people in the workplace, challenges, solutions, etc. based on your past experience. And, if you are continuing in a new internship for additional experience, you can write about that, too. The point is to write at least 250 words per entry with one entry per week about your experience in the internship.
  • Why we are doing this: It helps you articulate your work experience so that you may better reflect on, consider, remember, and act on those experiences as you transition into the workplace. Additionally, it gives you extra writing practice, which research shows will automatically improve your writing ability.
• Review readings and homework for next week.

• Brief Introduction
• Beginning of Class Writing Assignment
  • Click on the title of this blog post, “Week 9,” scroll down to the comment area, and write at least 250 words in response to this week’s readings. You can summarize the readings, you can relate the readings to your own experience or something else you have read or learned about, etc. Any writing of 250 words or more that are related to the readings are fair game for this weekly assignment at the beginning of class.
  • Post your comment after 15 minutes even if you don’t reach the 250 word minimum threshold.
  • Why we are doing this: It helps you organize your thoughts before discussion and it gives you regular writing practice.
• Discuss the readings assigned for Week 9.
• Discuss internships
  • Where is everyone at in work or applications?
  • Write It Forward
    • IPG Health’s Write It Forward Internship Program.
• Weekly Log
  • Remember to add an entry to your logbook for each week until the end of the semester and keep all of your logs in a single file (Google Doc, Word docx, OpenOffice odf, etc.). Include the first date of a given week for each entry at the top of the page. Write at least 250 words about your current or past experience as appropriate. For example, if you are currently in an internship, your logs should record your experiences, thoughts, challenges, solutions, etc. that you find significant each week. Or, if you have completed your internship, your logs can be about experiences, projects, interactions with people in the workplace, challenges, solutions, etc. based on your past experience. And, if you are continuing in a new internship for additional experience, you can write about that, too. The point is to write at least 250 words per entry with one entry per week about your experience in the internship.
  • Why we are doing this: It helps you articulate your work experience so that you may better reflect on, consider, remember, and act on those experiences as you transition into the workplace. Additionally, it gives you extra writing practice, which research shows will automatically improve your writing ability.
• Review readings and homework for next week.

• Brief Introduction
• Beginning of Class Writing Assignment
  • Click on the title of this blog post, “Week 8,” scroll down to the comment area, and write at least 250 words in response to this week’s readings. You can summarize the readings, you can relate the readings to your own experience or something else you have read or learned about, etc. Any writing of 250 words or more that are related to the readings are fair game for this weekly assignment at the beginning of class.
  • Post your comment after 15 minutes even if you don’t reach the 250 word minimum threshold.
  • Why we are doing this: It helps you organize your thoughts before discussion and it gives you regular writing practice.
• Discuss the readings assigned for Week 7.
  • Morford, M. (2015, September 26). How not to be a networking leech: Tips for seeking professional advice. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/27/jobs/how-not-to-be-a-networking-leech-tips-for-seeking-professional-advice.html
    • The HR Edge
    • Ms. Morford’s LinkedIn Profile
  • J. Bloch, “Envisioning career paths in technical communication: A survey of participants in a technical communication graduate program,” 2012 IEEE International Professional Communication Conference, Orlando, FL, USA, 2012, pp. 1-8, doi: 10.1109/IPCC.2012.6408639. [Download from https://ieeexplore-ieee-org.citytech.ezproxy.cuny.edu/document/6408639]
    • Department Website at Northern Kentucky University
    • Dr. Block’s LinkedIn Profile
• Discuss internships
  • Where is everyone at in work or applications?
  • Write It Forward
    • IPG Health’s Write It Forward Internship Program.
• Weekly Log
  • Remember to add an entry to your logbook for each week until the end of the semester and keep all of your logs in a single file (Google Doc, Word docx, OpenOffice odf, etc.). Include the first date of a given week for each entry at the top of the page. Write at least 250 words about your current or past experience as appropriate. For example, if you are currently in an internship, your logs should record your experiences, thoughts, challenges, solutions, etc. that you find significant each week. Or, if you have completed your internship, your logs can be about experiences, projects, interactions with people in the workplace, challenges, solutions, etc. based on your past experience. And, if you are continuing in a new internship for additional experience, you can write about that, too. The point is to write at least 250 words per entry with one entry per week about your experience in the internship.
  • Why we are doing this: It helps you articulate your work experience so that you may better reflect on, consider, remember, and act on those experiences as you transition into the workplace. Additionally, it gives you extra writing practice, which research shows will automatically improve your writing ability.
• Review readings and homework for next week.

• Brief Introduction
• Beginning of Class Writing Assignment
  • Click on the title of this blog post, “Week 7,” scroll down to the comment area, and write at least 250 words in response to this week’s readings. You can summarize the readings, you can relate the readings to your own experience or something else you have read or learned about, etc. Any writing of 250 words or more that are related to the readings are fair game for this weekly assignment at the beginning of class.
  • Post your comment after 15 minutes even if you don’t reach the 250 word minimum threshold.
  • Why we are doing this: It helps you organize your thoughts before discussion and it gives you regular writing practice.
• Discuss the readings assigned for Week 7.
  • Morford, M. (2015, September 26). How not to be a networking leech: Tips for seeking professional advice. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/27/jobs/how-not-to-be-a-networking-leech-tips-for-seeking-professional-advice.html
    • The HR Edge
    • Ms. Morford’s LinkedIn Profile
  • J. Bloch, “Envisioning career paths in technical communication: A survey of participants in a technical communication graduate program,” 2012 IEEE International Professional Communication Conference, Orlando, FL, USA, 2012, pp. 1-8, doi: 10.1109/IPCC.2012.6408639. [Download from https://ieeexplore-ieee-org.citytech.ezproxy.cuny.edu/document/6408639]
    • Department Website at Northern Kentucky University
    • Dr. Block’s LinkedIn Profile
• Discuss internships
  • Where is everyone at in work or applications?
  • Write It Forward
    • IPG Health’s Write It Forward Internship Program.
• Weekly Log
  • Remember to add an entry to your logbook for each week until the end of the semester and keep all of your logs in a single file (Google Doc, Word docx, OpenOffice odf, etc.). Include the first date of a given week for each entry at the top of the page. Write at least 250 words about your current or past experience as appropriate. For example, if you are currently in an internship, your logs should record your experiences, thoughts, challenges, solutions, etc. that you find significant each week. Or, if you have completed your internship, your logs can be about experiences, projects, interactions with people in the workplace, challenges, solutions, etc. based on your past experience. And, if you are continuing in a new internship for additional experience, you can write about that, too. The point is to write at least 250 words per entry with one entry per week about your experience in the internship.
  • Why we are doing this: It helps you articulate your work experience so that you may better reflect on, consider, remember, and act on those experiences as you transition into the workplace. Additionally, it gives you extra writing practice, which research shows will automatically improve your writing ability.
• Talk about new extra credit opportunity.
• Review readings and homework for next week.

• Brief Introduction
• Beginning of Class Writing Assignment
  • Click on the heading of this blog post title above–“Week 6,” scroll down to the comment area, and write at least 250 words in response to this week’s readings. You can summarize the readings, you can relate the readings to your own experience or something else you have read or learned about, etc. Any writing of 250 words or more that are related to the readings are fair game for this weekly assignment at the beginning of class.
  • Post your comment after 15 minutes even if you don’t reach the 250 word minimum threshold.
  • Why we are doing this: It helps you organize your thoughts before discussion and it gives you regular writing practice.
• Discuss the readings assigned for Week 6.
• Discuss internships
  • Where is everyone at in work or applications?
  • Write It Forward
    • IPG Health’s Write It Forward Internship Program.
• Weekly Log
  • Remember to add an entry to your logbook for each week until the end of the semester and keep all of your logs in a single file (Google Doc, Word docx, OpenOffice odf, etc.). Include the first date of a given week for each entry at the top of the page. Write at least 250 words about your current or past experience as appropriate. For example, if you are currently in an internship, your logs should record your experiences, thoughts, challenges, solutions, etc. that you find significant each week. Or, if you have completed your internship, your logs can be about experiences, projects, interactions with people in the workplace, challenges, solutions, etc. based on your past experience. And, if you are continuing in a new internship for additional experience, you can write about that, too. The point is to write at least 250 words per entry with one entry per week about your experience in the internship.
  • Why we are doing this: It helps you articulate your work experience so that you may better reflect on, consider, remember, and act on those experiences as you transition into the workplace. Additionally, it gives you extra writing practice, which research shows will automatically improve your writing ability.
• Review readings and homework for next week.

• Brief Introduction
• Beginning of Class Writing Assignment
  • Click on the heading of this blog post title above–“Week 5,” scroll down to the comment area, and write at least 250 words in response to this week’s readings. You can summarize the readings, you can relate the readings to your own experience or something else you have read or learned about, etc. Any writing of 250 words or more that are related to the readings are fair game for this weekly assignment at the beginning of class.
  • Post your comment after 15 minutes even if you don’t reach the 250 word minimum threshold.
  • Why we are doing this: It helps you organize your thoughts before discussion and it gives you regular writing practice.
• Discuss the readings assigned for Week 5.
  • NYC Metro Chapter of the Society of Technical Communication (STC)
• Discuss internships
  • Where is everyone at in work or applications?
  • Write It Forward
    • IPG Health’s Write It Forward Internship Program.
• Weekly Log
  • Remember to add an entry to your logbook for each week until the end of the semester and keep all of your logs in a single file (Google Doc, Word docx, OpenOffice odf, etc.). Include the first date of a given week for each entry at the top of the page. Write at least 250 words about your current or past experience as appropriate. For example, if you are currently in an internship, your logs should record your experiences, thoughts, challenges, solutions, etc. that you find significant each week. Or, if you have completed your internship, your logs can be about experiences, projects, interactions with people in the workplace, challenges, solutions, etc. based on your past experience. And, if you are continuing in a new internship for additional experience, you can write about that, too. The point is to write at least 250 words per entry with one entry per week about your experience in the internship.
  • Why we are doing this: It helps you articulate your work experience so that you may better reflect on, consider, remember, and act on those experiences as you transition into the workplace. Additionally, it gives you extra writing practice, which research shows will automatically improve your writing ability.
• Review readings and homework for next week.