Writing Project Reflection

For this recent project, actually starting it was the hardest part. When I read it, I already knew what position I was going to take, but it was hard to express it. The only thing I can think of that could have helped was to write everything down first.

I'm very proud of my teammates that've come through in the project. I was worried initially, but I realized that everyone's schedules are varied and chaotic, and therefore it was kind of hard to adjust, as I was used to the kind of teamwork that requires sitting down and discussing the problem. I learned how to communicate between people to get some ideas going, as well as try conveying my opinion.

I have a good feeling about this project, and no matter what, I will know that I gave it my best shot.

Interview of Individual in your Profession

Ok, I did an interview with a teacher here at Chander/Gilbert. His name is Ted Wolter, who also does graphic design freelance. also Since this is the last day of class, I might as well get this over with.


What kind of technical writing do you do?
Mostly e-mail communication...setting up meetings, asking printers what they need, such as what file format do they want a picture in [a pdf as opposed to an JPEG]. As far as for teaching goes, I write the course descriptions, syllibi, surveys, and reports.

Reports?
They are reports for the school in regards to the art department, such as class enrollment, or results from a survey.

What do you have to consider in your writing in regards to audience, purpose, etc?
Clarity, accuracy, and no persuasion. I'm supposed to satisfy what the client wants, not what I want. I might make a recommendation [for the project], but if they say "I want this text over here", then I have to do it.

What issues do you encounter with writing?
If something isn't clear enough, but I'll try rephrasing it if necessary.

Why is writing important in this field?
It is essential to be a good communicator, especially if you are applying for a job. If you can't express yourself well, it doesn't matter how well your portfolio looks. Graphic design in particular also have to take writing in consideration. They have to consider the way text looks and is laid out.

In essence, technical writing is not only limited to the base, technical aspects, but the visual as well.


To: Ted Wolter
From: Monica Arceo
Re: Interview


Thank you for taking your time for the quick interview regarding technical writing, and especially showing me an example of what you write on a daily basis. I found it very interesting and applicable for what I want to study.

Sincerely,

Monica Arceo

Final Grammar Diagnostic and Reflection

First, my grading:

Sentence Grammar: 13 out of 17
Basic Grammar: 7 out of 9
Punctuation & Mechanics: 16 out of 18
Usage & Style: 4 out of 6

Total: 80%


I checked the first one, and I realized that I got the exact same score! >___<

From the score, I felt that I had stayed in the same place from where I started. However, as I took the last diagnostic, I felt more confident with the answers I chose than the first time I did it. I felt I got more wrong because it was something I really didn't know rather than guessing. I only wish I could check the individual scores of the first test, so I could see in what areas I actually improved on.

Deadline reflection (11-28)

Ok, I've gotten into contact with Tim and Josh so far, but I think my project's going good so far.

I'm surprised at how many people have dropped in the past week or so D: I'm actually kind of shocked. But kudos to the people who've stayed the course! (augh that's such a pun when you think about it)

Alright, now to get this class over and done! *sparkles*

Elizabeth: http://wwwtoshi.blogspot.com/2006/11/november-28-hw1-reading-reflection.html

Jeff: http://gorf959.blogspot.com/2006/11/october-31-hw55-evidence-and-research.html

Tim: http://rayburn78.blogspot.com/2006/11/october-31-hw-1-reading-reflection.html

Sam: http://www.xanga.com/RohanRider762/550578630/eng111-1121-deadline-reflection.html?nextdate=last

Onita: http://onita-eng111sec2538.blogspot.com/2006/11/from-workplace-literacy-chapter-9.html

FURL activity (11-28)

I decided to group this into one blog post. More detailed notes are found on my Furl...what the heck, I'll copy and paste:

General Writing Site: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/
This is the OWL (Online Writing Lab) from Purdue University. It gives tips and instructions on handling the writing process, as well as to cite your paper. It also discusses various forms of writing, such as creative and job searching. It is very good for helping you learn how to write anything.

The Writing Process: http://www.studygs.net/writing/
This is a very thorough, step-by-step guide to the pre-writing process of writing. It starts off with suggesting how to start a thesis, audience, and how you will address your topic. Then, you can start outlining your ideas; in other words, brainstorm. Then, it gives tips on how to start writing the draft. Revision comes next. It gives several questions to consider while you proofread. This site is a wonderful guideline for the writing process.
Prewriting: http://www.esc.edu/ESConline/Across_ESC/WritersComplex.nsf/3CC42A422514347A8525671D0049F395/CE2B510E7D9975AE852569C3006ACCCC?OpenDocument
This is a very good guide on how to prewrite. Some people have trouble organizing their ideas or don't like making maps or trees. This page gives alternatives, as well as starting points as to where you can develop your own ideas to get started on writing. This is helpful for writing any future papers.

Planning: http://www.sussex.ac.uk/Users/ssfj3/study2.html
This is like pre-writing, but more of a "structure planning" method. Most formal writing will break ideas into three points, topped with an introduction and conclusion. It gives a very good example of how to stucture your ideas when you write a paper.

Drafting: http://www.uottawa.ca/academic/arts/writcent/hypergrammar/partopic.html
This is helpful for writing a "topic sentence", which will state the thesis of your paper. In other words, the main idea of your paper. It breaks down a sample paragraph and states how the topc sentence connects the ideas in the paragraph. This is good for helping you develop your main idea in a formal paper.

Revising: http://www.teachertidbytes.com/Teacher_St_Tutorial/Writing/TheWritingProcess/rewriting.html However simple this guide is, it helps give general guidelines on proofreading. It also suggests keeping some questions in mind as you proofread a paper, such a if the ideas flow with each other. It's a good starter for someone who doesn't know what to look for while revising.

Drafting: http://www.bgsu.edu/offices/acen/writerslab/handouts/computer.htm
This is a small guide warning to not rely solely on computer proofreaders. They can pick out simple grammatical and spelling errors, but not complex ones, such as usage. "Which" and "witch" are spelled correctly, but if you use "witch" in place of "which", then it is incorrect. Also, it suggests that if it makes a suggestion that you don't like, you shouldn't keep it anyway just because it said to. This is something everyone should read, since lots of people are notoriously dependent on them

Annontated Bibliograpy (11-28)

Work with headers and footers. Retrieved 29 November 2006 from the Microsoft Website: http://office.microsoft.com/training/Training.aspx?AssetID=RP011217011033&CTT=6&Origin=RC011217001033

This webpage was a tutorial on how to add headers and footers on PowerPoint slides. I decided to chose this because it could come in handy for this presentation, or a future one. Besides, I had no idea you could put page numbers or headers on a PowerPoint slide. Anyway, it starts off by explaining what you can use the headers and footers for, and where the option for adding them are. Then, it gives step-by-step explanations on how to add and edit them. Also, it teaches about special situations. For example, if you wanted to make a title slide, but not include a page number on it, you can click a box to prevent this. Finally, it prompts you to download a temporary PowerPoint file to practice with.


Arrowood, J. Take the Pressure Off of your Presentation. Microsoft Office. Retreived 29 November 2006 from http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/workessentials/HA100074301033.aspx.

This article talks about how to organize yourself for a stress-free presentation. This would fit more approapriately with oral presentations, but some of the tips would help with mine. Most people put all what they want to say on the slide itself, and expect it to "talk" for them. To solve this, you can make a notes section on the slide, and print it out with what you want to say, and leave hightlights on the slide itself. This way, the audience can focus what you are going to discuss. Secondly, reading off the slide can bore the audience. Instead on relying on just text, you can add animation, sounds, or pictures to liven the presentation. Audience engagement is not limited to your presentation. If you are doing a oral presentation, you can do quizzes, question and answers, activities, or just pass hand-outs. As long as your audience can feel like a part of the presentation, they will pay more attention to you.

Reading Reflection (11-28)

I read Chapter 9 of Workplace Literacy, and it discussed tips on how you can effectively give presentations, and use PowerPoints.

First, it discusses the advantages of using presentations over written reports. I believe this is true, because more people will remember what a presentation said ather than glancing from a paper. Also, you can be more persuasive with body language and voice.

Then, it gives some tips, which some I learned about in my communications class! For example, I learned how giving an introduction, transitions, and conclusions help the audience make sense of your ideas. It also brings up how to effectively use visual aids, so they can help emphasize your message, not overpower it. I liked the examples of visual aids they give, and how you can use them to their full potential.

Finally, it goes into PowerPoints, which caught my attention. I took the tips they had into consideration, like how to add notes. I wasn't sure how to, but now I do! A lot of it I knew already, but it was good for a refresher, and there were some things that were new to me.

Annontated Bibliography x2

Dombrowski, Paul. (2000). Ethics in technical communication. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

I have decided to use our book as a guide to help me understand my ethical dilemma. The first few chapters explains several "point of views" when it comes to making an ethical decision. In the back, it gives suggestions as to how I should approach it, but I have decided to read them and come up with my own conclusions instead. After all, two people can share the general point of view, but not the exact same one. For the group portion, it will be especially helpful, since the assignment calls to analyze the problem from the many "perspectives" such as Kant, Aristotle, or utilitarian.

Frankfurt, H. (1994). An alleged asymmetry between actions and omissions. Ethics, 104(3), 620. Retrieved Tuesday, November 21, 2006 from the Academic Search Premier database.

This article comes from a discussion of another article. Frankfurt discusses the "Moral Obligations and Omissions" article by Jeremy Byrd. The original article discusses how we can be morally responcible, even if we fail to act. Frankfurt's article comments on "Moral..." and puts his own thoughts into what Byrd wrote. For example, he made up a story about saving a drowning boy. Even if the boy was going to drown anyway, would we be morally obliged to attempt to rescue him? This is a good article discussing the basics of having moral responsibility without action.

Deadline reflection (11-21)

Well, this week's been kind of busy, with starting WP#4 and all. Hopefully this coming one we can get it really rolling. I hope "Black Friday" is kind to me.

Anyway, I've been reading some interesting older posts. Good stuff with some digging around. It was kind of hard at first to find some good posts....


Jeff: http://gorf959.blogspot.com/2006/11/october-31-hw56-annotated-bibliography.html
Mirelle: http://rustybloggy.blogspot.com/2006/11/hw7-101706-deadline-reflection.html
Onita: http://onita-eng111sec2538.blogspot.com/2006/11/deadline-nov.html
Sam: http://www.xanga.com/RohanRider762/547491381/eng111-1031-eng111-blog-responding-to-question-5-pp-187-188-of-ethics.html?nextdate=last
Tim: http://rayburn78.blogspot.com/2006/11/october-24-hw7-annotated-bibliography.html

Reply to Ethics question #3 (11-21)

The only person that has written a response so far was Wendy (http://wendymart.blogspot.com/2006/11/response-to-question-3-ethics-due.html). I'm sure there'll be more soon.

I liked her response on how we should consider how ethical both we and the employer need to be. Of course, we need to take responsibility for our actions, but the employer is at fault if they do something unsavory. The best thing we can do as writers is to chose the most ethical pathway.

Grammar Work (11-21)

using tenses correctly 90%

pronoun reference 50%

gerunds and infinitives 85%

subject verb agreement: 40%

I was surpised with the first one, because I have problems using the right tense. The second one was one I definely felt good about working on. The third one I wasn't sure what gerunds were, but I kind of understood what they were after doing this exercize. The fourth...it was a fill in the blank :(. But it was very helpful, and from this, I can figure where I can improve with my grammar.

Deadline Reflection (11-14)

Wow, I've been more caught up than ever! Everyone's been either in the same spot, or moved up one. I only wished I waited to reply to really new blogs, but the 21st is coming up! O___O

This past week was really busy with the WP#3 final to be done. The exercizes in MyCompLab were really helpful, as were the peer reviewers that've read my paper. I'm just getting acquainted with wp#4, and I really want to get things started fairly soon, since there's so much to do in all places...as you were.

Elizabeth: http://wwwtoshi.blogspot.com/2006/11/november-7-hw3-peer-review-reflection.html

Wendy: http://wendymart.blogspot.com/2006/11/response-to-question-3-ethics-due.html

Tim: http://rayburn78.blogspot.com/2006/11/october-24-hw-6-primary-secondary-and.html

Mirelle: http://rustybloggy.blogspot.com/2006/10/hw5-10306-reading-reflection.html

Charlene: http://charlenelusby.blogspot.com/2006/10/september-19th-hw-1.html

Ethics question #3 (11-14)

After reading the chapter, and reflecting on the questions presented, I realized how optimism can lead to destructive consequences.

At what point does a healthy optimism become untenable and unethical?
Optimism for a project is crucial, because that is the one thing that keeps you working on it on the first place. But when the means to acheive the goal are beyond reach or comprehension, then it becomes nothing more than a fascade. The "Star Wars" project, on initial proposal, sounded like a wonderful idea, but as the technical details came out, there was either no way to prove it worked or could even be started at all. The project became just as fanciful as its namesake. I still can't believe they suggested using particle rays....

Though the data might not originate from us, at what point should we raise ethical questions about honesty, for example?
I don't think there should be a "point", but rather as soon as we hear of it. Data can be skewed to suit the self-interest of the author or audience. We should always be thinking critically as soon as we are presented with information, even coming from a position higher from us. To go along with an unethical statement makes us as unethical as the person coming up with the information.

At what point does innocently portraying your position favorably goes too far? And with whom does the responsibility lie, you or your employer?
I think it crosses the line when many people have criticized your argument, but you still perceive it as being true or ethical. Or, when it blindly follows the information, althought it could be incorrect or unethical. As for responsibility, it is your decision to believe the information, so it is your fault. Your employer can press you to believe a certain way, but you have the choice to accept it, or resign, such as David L. Parnas did when he could not stand the unethical argument of the "Star Wars" project

Writing Project Reflection (11-4)

WP#3 was perhaps the one paper I've worked on the hardest this semester...but also the most engaging. I've never liked writing persuasive papers, although I've been told my work reflects the opposite. But, practice never hurts.

Anyway, this project helped me persuade to propose something I had to believe in. I feel that if you want someone to accept a proposal, you have to have faith in whatever you're proposing and present it in a manner that says "I believe in this because of this and that, and I think you should too". So I had to believe that graphic tablets were going to help students before telling someone who might not know what tablets are.

It also helped me write in a very precise and professional manner, a far cry from how I wrote in WP#2. I had to make sure I wasn't redundant or used awkward words.

Overall, I felt really proud of my paper, and almost can't wait for the next one. Almost lol.