This is the post for the week of April 30, 2018.

We are down to the last three days of the semester. To those of you graduating, best of luck to you in your careers. To everyone else, good luck as you continue to pursue your studies.

Readings for the Week

Review the readings from last week as necessary as you work on your final exam.

• Final Exam: Performance Review
• Advice Articles on Writing Self-Evaluations
• Changes to the Course Grading System
        (explains how to use the Course Completion Checklists)
• #SundayShare: Final Exam Resources
• #TuesdayTutorial: Determining Your Course Grade
• #WeekendWatch: Tips for Your Final Exam

Reminders

1. If you have questions about readings, research, or writing, let me know. You can send me a private message in Canvas or send me an email message.
2. All transcript opportunities have been claimed for the term. No more transcript requests are coming.

Tasks for the Rest of the Term

1. By 11:59PM on Monday, April 30, submit your 04/27 Labor Log in Canvas, if you are using the grace period.
2. By 11:59PM on Wednesday, May 2, submit revisions, transcripts, and other work for all projects due. There is no additional grace period on these projects.
3. By 11:59PM on Thursday, May 3, complete your SPOT survey. Use the advice on the #WednesdayWrite: SPOT Evaluations (coming 4/25).
4. By 11:59PM on Monday, May 7, submit your final exam in the Final Exam: Performance Review assignment in Canvas. There is no grace period on the Final Exam. If you do not submit your exam on time (or do not submit it at all), your grade in the course will be lowered.

Calendar for the Rest of the Term

This is the same info as above, presented in a table. All submissions due by 11:59 PM.

This is the post for the week of April 23, 2018.

Readings for the Week

• Final Exam: Performance Review
• Advice Articles on Writing Self-Evaluations
• Changes to the Course Grading System
        (explains how to use the Course Completion Checklists)
• #SundayShare: Final Exam Resources
• #TuesdayTutorial: Determining Your Course Grade (coming 04/24)

Tasks for the Remainder of the Term

1. If you have questions about readings, research, or writing, let me know. You can send me a private message in Canvas or send me an email message.
2. All transcript opportunities have been claimed for the term. No more transcript requests are coming.
3. By 11:59PM on Monday, April 23, submit  your 04/20 Labor Log in Canvas, if you are using the grace period.
4. By 11:59PM on Wednesday, May 2, submit revisions, transcripts, and other work for all projects due. There is no additional grace period on these projects.
5. By 11:59PM on Thursday, May 3, complete your SPOT survey. Use the advice on the #WednesdayWrite: SPOT Evaluations (coming 4/25).
6. By 11:59PM on Monday, May 7, submit your final exam in the Final Exam: Performance Review assignment in Canvas. There is no grace period on the Final Exam. If you do not submit your exam on time (or do not submit it at all), your grade in the course will be lowered.

Calendar for the Rest of the Term

This is the same info as above, presented in a table. All submissions due by 11:59 PM.

Our #SundayShare is longer than usual, with a lot of options for you to choose among. Since we only have ten days left in the term, I want to share all the resources that you can use as you work on your final exam. That way, any of you with the time to work ahead can do so.

I created a playlist Final Exam Resources on Performance Reviews, comprised of three short Lynda.com courses, 31 videos total. If you watched everything, it would take 1h 21m (but I really don’t expect you to watch every minute of every video).

Here is the table of contents for each of the courses (copied directly from Lynda.com, no links). Watch the parts that you have questions about as you work on your final.

Note: These videos have closed captioning, so they do not need transcripts.

This is the post for the week of April 16, 2018.

Click on the image for a larger version.
Source: www.grammarcheck.net

We’re down to the last days of the course, so it’s important to stay on track and finish strong. If you run into trouble, be sure to contact me so we can come up with a solution.

Calendar for the Rest of the Term

All submissions due by 11:59 PM.

Readings for the Week

Since you have your big project to share with your group this week, go back and review any readings that you need and whatever research you have found. You control your readings for this week.

If you have questions about readings, research, or writing, let me know.

Tasks for the Week

Because I want you to have the whole week to work on your Genre Analysis Report, there are no extra tasks this week. Just the essential work.

1. By 11:59PM on Monday, April 16, submit your your 04/13 Labor Log in Canvas, if you are using the grace period.
2. By 11:59PM on Wednesday, April 18, post a draft of your project in the Group Feedback on Genre Analysis Reports Discussion in Canvas.
3. By 11:59PM on Friday, April 20, post feedback on the drafts posted by your group members in the Group Feedback on Genre Analysis Reports Discussion in Canvas. Be sure to use the strategies from the Peer Review: Commenting Strategies video.
4. By 11:59PM on Monday, April 23, submit your project in the Genre Analysis Report assignment in Canvas. If you are using the grace period, submit your project by 11:59PM on April 26.
5. By 11:59PM on Friday, April 20, write your 04/20 Labor Log in Canvas. Specific questions for your log are included in Canvas. The grace period for your log entry ends at 11:59 PM on Monday, April 23.

Note: This infographic needs a text-based transcript. See the Optional Accessibility Transcript Activity for more details.

This is the post for the week of April 9, 2017.

Readings for the Week

Review this week’s reading for help with your Genre Analysis Report. These are not new readings, but they will help you with the organization activity listed below.

• Articles from the “Professional Business and Technical Writing” section of Writing Commons
  • Front Matter Components
  • Body of Report
  • Back Matter Components
• #FridayFact: Informative Headings Help Readers
• #WeekendWatch: Create Information-Rich Signposts
• Today’s Infographic (on the right)

Tasks for the Week

1. By 11:59PM on Monday, April 9, submit your 04/06 Labor Log in Canvas, if you are using the grace period.
2. By 11:59PM on Monday, April 9, submit your Progress Report in Canvas. If you are using the grace period, submit your progress report by 11:59PM on Thursday, April 12.
3. Review the readings above and sketch out a table of contents (TOC) that covers the required sections of your report. Be sure that your TOC informs your readers about the report’s contents. Incorporate your TOC in your Genre Analysis Report draft.
   Today’s infographic outlines some ways that you can write headlines, which can inform the way that you create information rich headings in your TOC.
4. By 11:59PM on Friday, April 13, write your 04/13 Labor Log in Canvas. The grace period for your log entry ends at 11:59 PM on Monday, April 16.
5. Be prepared to share a draft of your Genre Analysis Report with your writing group for peer review by 11:59PM on Wednesday, April 18.

Note: This infographic already has a transcript.

This is the post for the week of April 2, 2018.

This week you will continue writing your Genre Analysis Report, and you will write a Progress Report that tells me about your project.

This is a one-page assignment with a fast turn-around.

Based on a suggestion regarding website organization, I will begin duplicating posts from the Course Website in the Announcements in Canvas. The information is the same. The idea is to make it easier to get to.

Readings for the Week

• Progress Report Assignment
• From Technical Writing by Hamlin, Rubio, and DeSilva
  • 6. Progress Reports
    • 6.1 Functions and Contents of Progress Reports
    • 6.2 Timing and Format of Progress Reports
    • 6.3 Organizational Patterns or Sections for Progress Reports
    • 6.4 Other Parts of Progress Reports
    • 6.5 Revision Checklist for Progress Reports
• From Style for Students Online: Effective Technical Writing in the Information Age by Schall
  • Progress Reports
  • Sample Progress Report

Tasks for the Week

1. By 11:59PM on Monday, April 2, submit your 03/30 Labor Log in Canvas, if you are using the grace period.
2. Spend the majority of your time working on your Genre Analysis Report. The more work you get done this week, the easier it will be to finish on time.
3. Share a draft of your Progress Report in the Feedback on Progress Reports on Canvas by 11:59 PM on Wednesday, April 4.
   • In your message, ask your group to look at anything you are trying to improve. Let them know the kind of advice you need.
   • By 11:59PM on Friday, April 6, provide feedback to your group members, using the strategies in the Peer Review Commenting Strategies video.
   • Revise your Progress Report, using the feedback from your group members. Be sure to add any details on work you have completed since you wrote the first draft.
4. Submit your Progress Report in Canvas by 11:59PM on Monday, April 9. The grace period ends at 11:59PM on Thursday, April 12.
5. (Optional) Fill out the Completion Checklists for Midterm and for March to track how you are doing in the course. You can read more about how the checklists work in the Changes to the Course Grading System post.
6. By 11:59PM on Friday, April 6, write your 04/06 Labor Log in Canvas. Specific questions for your log are included in Canvas. The grace period for your log entry ends at 11:59 PM on Monday, April 9.

Photo credit: Progress Report by Forest Hill Society on Flickr, used under a CC-BY license.

In the Midterm Evaluation Feedback, you asked that I add some job application resources to the course. Even if you have already landed your dream job, it’s a good idea to keep your materials fresh and up to date. The Muse offers a four-step guide on How to Get Your LinkedIn Profile Ready for Your Job Search in 30 Minutes.

Read through the guide and apply the tips to your LinkedIn profile. Once you finish, share a comment based on step two of the guide, which instructs you to “Change Your Headline.”

For your comment, give us a before and after version of your headline. Here’s the example from the guide:

Before: Marketing Associate at XYZ Company

After: Marketing Associate | Content Strategist | Copywriter | I help companies build brands, engage audiences & drive revenue

You can also read through the comments that others post for ideas on how to improve your own headline. If you have additional things to say about LinkedIn, you can include them in your comment as well.

Photo credit: Linkedin Office by Open Grid Scheduler / Grid Engine on Flickr, used under public domain.

This is the post for the week of March 26, 2018.

Once you turn in your Short Proposal, you will turn your attention to the Genre Analysis Report, which is your focus for the rest of the term.

Readings for the Week

• Changes to the Course Grading System
• Genre Analysis Report (assignment)
• Similar Project Examples by Students (in the box on the right side of the page)
• Articles from the “Professional Business and Technical Writing” section of Writing Commons
  • Front Matter Components
  • Body of Report
  • Back Matter Components
• Technical Reports from Style for Students Online: Effective Technical Writing in the Information Age
• Video: Genre Analysis (Rhetorical Situation)_Part 5 of 6 by Mary Lourdes Silva, which reviews the key aspects of genre analysis:

Tasks for the Week

1. By 11:59PM on Monday, March 26, submit your 03/23 Labor Log in Canvas, if you are using the grace period.
2. By 11:59PM on Monday, March 26, submit your project in the Short Proposal assignment in Canvas. If you are using the grace period, submit your project by 11:59PM on March 29.
3. Assume that your proposal has been accepted, and begin work on your Genre Analysis Report. I have never rejected a proposed topic, but I do ask for slight changes occasionally.
4. Keep track of your sources for your bibliography. Use the instructions in Step 3 of the assignment to guide your research. This is a large project, so I encourage you to work steadily over the next month, rather than waiting until the last minute.
5. (Optional) Fill out the Completion Checklists for Midterm and for March to track how you are doing in the course. You can read more about how the checklists work in the Changes to the Course Grading System post.
6. By 11:59PM on Friday, March 30, write your 03/30 Labor Log in Canvas. The grace period for your log entry ends at 11:59 PM on Tuesday, April 4. I’ve added a day to the grace period since Passover starts on Friday and Easter is on Sunday.

Note: This video has closed captioning, so it does not need a transcript.

This is the post for the week of March 19, 2018.

This week, you’ll share the draft of your Short Report Proposal with your writing group and give feedback to everyone else in your group.

Readings for the Week

Review the texts below for help with your project:

• Short Report Proposal
• Examples, Cases & Models: Proposals from Online Technical Writing
• Proposal Writing Basics from Business Communication for Success
• Proposals from Online Technical Writing
• Peer Review: Commenting Strategies (video, 5m4s)

Tasks for the Week

1. By 11:59PM on Monday, March 19, submit your 03/16 Labor Log in Canvas, if you are using the grace period.
2. Check out the previous Daily Discussion posts that can help you improve your Short Report Proposal:
• Proposal Overview
• Persuasion and Storytelling
• Proposal Readers Don’t Want Suspense
• Reader-Friendly Proposals
• What to Include in Your Proposal
• Scheduling with a Gantt Chart
• Informative Headings Help Readers
• Creating a Gantt Chart
3. By 11:59PM on Wednesday, March 21, post a draft of your project in the Group Feedback on Short Proposals Discussion in Canvas.
4. By 11:59PM on Friday, March 23, post feedback on the drafts posted by your group members in the Group Feedback Discussion in Canvas. Be sure to use the strategies from the Peer Review: Commenting Strategies video.
5. By 11:59PM on Monday, March 26, submit your project in the Short Proposal assignment in Canvas. If you are using the grace period, submit your project by 11:59PM on March 29.
6. By 11:59PM on Friday, March 23, write your 03/23 Labor Log in Canvas. The grace period for your log entry ends at 11:59 PM on Monday, April 2.

Note: This infographic needs a text-based transcript. See the Optional Accessibility Transcript Activity for more details.

This is the post for the week of March 12, 2018.

Notes for the Week

• I hope you had an enjoyable Spring Break. This week we pick back up on the Short Proposal project, which tells me what kind of writing you will focus on in your Genre Analysis Report.
• Thank you for the midterm evaluation feedback. I have several aspects of the course that I am working to improve based on what you had to say. I will write an extra this week to update you on the changes and improvements.

Readings for the Week

This week’s readings are specific sections from your online textbooks that focus on the organization of your proposal. Even short proposals will include most of these sections. To prepare for the workplace, review all of the following information. Sections marked with an asterisk are required in your short proposal:

• From Business Communication for Success
  • 9.3 Business Proposal (scroll down to Table 9.2 Business Proposal Format)
• From Online Technical Writing
  • Common Sections in Proposals (The links below are on the same page)
    • Introduction *
    • Background *
    • Benefits and feasibility
    • Description of the proposed work * (Areas to be studied)
      
    • Method, procedure, theory *
    • Schedule *
    • Qualifications *
    • Costs, resources required
    • Conclusions *
    • Special project-specific sections
  • Organization of Proposals
• From Purdue: Planning and Organizing Proposals and Technical Reports (PDF)

Tasks for the Week

1. Practice the process of organizing a proposal with the Business Proposal Package Activities from City University of Hong Kong. Try all four of the Activities at the bottom of the page. They are drag-and-drop and multiple choice style activities, which work as a self-test on your understanding of proposal structure.
• TIP: The last of the four activities asks you to organize text into the correct order. You need to scroll down to the bottom to see the chunks of text.
2. Complete Steps 1, 2, and 3 of the Short Proposal assignment.
• TIP: For an easy way to begin drafting your proposal, I recommend copying the required section details from the assignment and pasting it into your word processor. That process will give you the details you need to include within the document, so you an begin adding your specific information under each heading.
• Be prepared to post the full draft of your proposal for feedback from your Writing Group on Wednesday, March 21.
• If you have questions about the assignment, post them in the Short Proposal Questions Discussion in Canvas. If you have a question you want to ask privately, you can send me a private message in Canvas or email tengrrl@vt.edu.
3. Watch for daily discussion posts this week and add a comment if you like. We will have posts on these topics this week:
   • #TuesdayTutorial: What to Include in Your Proposal
   • #WednesdayWrite: Review a Wikibooks Page
   • #InfographicInspiration: Scheduling with a Gantt Chart
   • #FridayFact: Informative Headings Help Readers
   • #WeekendWatch: Creating a Gantt Chart
   • Course Improvements and Changes
4. By 11:59PM on Friday, March 16, write your 03/16 Labor Log in Canvas. Your log this week covers March 3 to March 16 (because of Spring Break). You were not required to do any work during Spring Break, but if you did, be sure to record it.. The grace period for your log entry ends at 11:59 PM on Monday, March 19.

Photo credit: Gantt chart example by Vheilman from Wikimedia Commons, used under a CC-BY-SA 3.0 license. This image has a description, so it does not need a transcript.