The last chapter we read in Markel chapter 14 i think is especially important with all of us entering the job market soon. Nearly all of us will have to use technical communication to communicate in our jobs. Chapter 14 talks about how we use emails, memos, and business letters to do so. If you are incapable of writing a formal technical email, memo, or business letter you will A not be taken seriously and B probably will not get hired in the first place or be fired very quickly when you don't figure it out.
The chapter talks about how knowing who your audience is by analyzing them is very important to writing all three of these types of documents. You need to plan this out and find out what is important to add in the writing. This can be done by researching your audience and what they will find necessary to pay attention to your document. Looking at your audience you can also determine which type of document can best be used.The chapter talks about how picking the right form and how formal you make it are very important.
Chapter 14 gave us many tips on helping the way we communicate to each other. I've found out this semester that a lot of do not know how to write an email while being light but formal at the same time. The way we use an email is not the same from person to person. You do not talk to your boss or co-workers like you would your family or friends.
A lot of editing and proof reading should go into these three writings. If your spelling and grammar or facts are off most business associates will not take you seriously. Everyone should pay close attention to their technical writing. I think we've further learned in this class why W.S.U is so large on their writing performance amongst their students. We are looked at positively by employers as a university because we put a lot of effort into our professional skills. Writing is one of the most important skills to have to future employers!
Sunday, May 1, 2011
C.R.A.P Principles
The C.R.A.P principles we learned in class were to help us look at our own work on resumes and also look at others in the future.
The C.R.A.P principles stand for:
Contrast - this is what separates each section of our resumes so you can tell the difference between each subject matter on the resume. The principles talk about how this can be defined by using type, color, size, line, thickness, shape, space, and etc.
Repetition - This talks about the format we follow in our resumes. A good resume will have repetition throughout it so that it does not look sloppy.
Alignment- The alignment makes sure that each section area aligns with one and other and everything is not just all over the page. (All lettering should be left, right, or center aligned, and ect.... It should follow a pattern.
Proximity- The last proximity talks about each similar part of the resume are placed close together and separate elements are placed further apart.
These principles are the main four things any good resume should have. We looked at several resumes as groups in class to practice using the C.R.A.P principles. I think that these principles should be common sense to all of us as seniors really. I think everyone got the idea though and we spent a little too much time during that class period looking at them. They are very vague principles. A resume in my opinion can have all of these principles and still be (crap). I think that most people that are attending college know what they need to set up their resume as it is a standard idea.
The C.R.A.P principles stand for:
Contrast - this is what separates each section of our resumes so you can tell the difference between each subject matter on the resume. The principles talk about how this can be defined by using type, color, size, line, thickness, shape, space, and etc.
Repetition - This talks about the format we follow in our resumes. A good resume will have repetition throughout it so that it does not look sloppy.
Alignment- The alignment makes sure that each section area aligns with one and other and everything is not just all over the page. (All lettering should be left, right, or center aligned, and ect.... It should follow a pattern.
Proximity- The last proximity talks about each similar part of the resume are placed close together and separate elements are placed further apart.
These principles are the main four things any good resume should have. We looked at several resumes as groups in class to practice using the C.R.A.P principles. I think that these principles should be common sense to all of us as seniors really. I think everyone got the idea though and we spent a little too much time during that class period looking at them. They are very vague principles. A resume in my opinion can have all of these principles and still be (crap). I think that most people that are attending college know what they need to set up their resume as it is a standard idea.
Markel Chapter 2- Ethics and Legal Considerations
Markel chapter 2 was actually really helpful to read while writing our ethics paper! The chapter talks about ethics and legal considerations. It sets us off to think about what is important to us when we enter the job world and how to cover ourselves in all different fields.
In this chapter Markel talks about the four major ethical obligations an employee has to the company or employer they work for.
The four duties:
1.) Employee must be capable of fulfilling their job duties and also be honest about their capabilities in performing those duties.
2.) The employee must be truthful at all times- this should help all ethical dilemmas that could potentially happen.
3.) The employee must maintain confidentiality- if others were to find out certain things about the company or potential plans it could affect business.
4.) Employee must be loyal to their employer
I believe that these guidelines are very broad and that most employers would wish for their codes of ethics to be written a little more throughly. These codes however cover a broad range of jobs and help for people learning about ethics! By following guidelines like these we can all determine and should already have the sense to do what is right and wrong. Markel talks about how these can sometimes get skipped over or forgotten when we are technically communicating.
In this chapter I really like how it talks about working against each other and how ethical lines can get crossed very fast like! This is really important as many businesses are competitive with each other and sometimes forget about ethics to one and other when they're working for a similar goal. In my career this is important because people can choose a wide array of event venues or planners. people often can easily cross each other by steeling each other's clients or claiming others work for their own. They can also lie about their services such as the price or quality to gain a client they think will go to one of their competing event planners. It can also get messy because of technical communication because we don't always know when we are taking others clients or claiming their work because we now have to do research on this. It is important to study ethics before going out into the workforce and double checking our own values.
In this chapter Markel talks about the four major ethical obligations an employee has to the company or employer they work for.
The four duties:
1.) Employee must be capable of fulfilling their job duties and also be honest about their capabilities in performing those duties.
2.) The employee must be truthful at all times- this should help all ethical dilemmas that could potentially happen.
3.) The employee must maintain confidentiality- if others were to find out certain things about the company or potential plans it could affect business.
4.) Employee must be loyal to their employer
I believe that these guidelines are very broad and that most employers would wish for their codes of ethics to be written a little more throughly. These codes however cover a broad range of jobs and help for people learning about ethics! By following guidelines like these we can all determine and should already have the sense to do what is right and wrong. Markel talks about how these can sometimes get skipped over or forgotten when we are technically communicating.
In this chapter I really like how it talks about working against each other and how ethical lines can get crossed very fast like! This is really important as many businesses are competitive with each other and sometimes forget about ethics to one and other when they're working for a similar goal. In my career this is important because people can choose a wide array of event venues or planners. people often can easily cross each other by steeling each other's clients or claiming others work for their own. They can also lie about their services such as the price or quality to gain a client they think will go to one of their competing event planners. It can also get messy because of technical communication because we don't always know when we are taking others clients or claiming their work because we now have to do research on this. It is important to study ethics before going out into the workforce and double checking our own values.
Saturday, April 30, 2011
KATZ's The Ethic of Expediency
This week for class we read a very long article on ethics to get us in a mindset to write our ethics paper. The article addresses rhetoric used in the holocaust. This specific article talks about the morals for governing people or Germany during the Nazi Party. The reason to read this paper was also to talk about technical writing and determine whether or not the article was a good piece of technical writing. It is basically a legal document to control people and okay it by using rhetoric. The article which was very confusing at first turned out to be explaining how they could improve extermination vans at the time. I think it was a good piece of technical writing because I think when the author of the writing was writing it they had in mind that they wanted to change peoples minds about the process of changing these vans. I think it is good because they use rhetoric to dehumanize the people at the time. With that being said I think the article is really evil and terrible but it served it's point.
Ethics Event Planning and Organizational Communication
After graduation from W.S.U I plan to work for a company doing event planning. Although I'm not sure what type I want to go into yet I think my ideal job would be doing planning for a company that did weddings and other similar events. For my ethics paper for this class I plan to discuss the ethics of this business.
While doing research online for the paper I discovered that most businesses that do event planning they all follow pretty much the same ethical guidelines for the most part. Some of the companies have large extensive lists of ethics and others have short broad definitions of ethical guidelines.
I discovered that all of the companies think that it is a very important ethical code to establish a contract with all potential clients. By doing this most companies an stay out of trouble. They all value being true to the customer first for the majority of the time. While researching I have discovered that a lot of the ways I think about the business and the ethics I should follow agree with my personal ideas.
While doing research online for the paper I discovered that most businesses that do event planning they all follow pretty much the same ethical guidelines for the most part. Some of the companies have large extensive lists of ethics and others have short broad definitions of ethical guidelines.
I discovered that all of the companies think that it is a very important ethical code to establish a contract with all potential clients. By doing this most companies an stay out of trouble. They all value being true to the customer first for the majority of the time. While researching I have discovered that a lot of the ways I think about the business and the ethics I should follow agree with my personal ideas.
Sunday, March 6, 2011
presentations
The focus of this week was to finish up our 1984 unit. We were assigned an assignment to present newspeak to the class room. The idea was to come up with new ideas and see if the class liked them or did not. I think it is a little tedious for a business English class to be focusing so much on one novel. I really would love to get more focused on technical stuff that will be more useful to our future careers or finding employment.
I think probably the most useful part of this presentation is the public speaking/presenting to the class if anything. Most people don't like public speaking and find it painful so it is a good thing to practice. A lot of employment you will have to present information to people at work or train them information.
I think probably the most useful part of this presentation is the public speaking/presenting to the class if anything. Most people don't like public speaking and find it painful so it is a good thing to practice. A lot of employment you will have to present information to people at work or train them information.
Sunday, February 27, 2011
chater 21- Oral Presentations
Chapter 21 which talks about oral presentations did not give me that much insight into doing them that I did not already know. A lot of the information was a repeat from when I took com 101 or public speaking. It talks about the same format which we used for that.
I don't think the example that the book gets on preparing for speeches by saying them out loud is that helpful. I think by doing it in your head helps a lot more. I think this gives you a pretty good estimate of how long the presentation should actually last.
I really when doing a presentation like to follow the Extemporaneous way of doing it. Making an outline always works well for me and just following close. I feel like the scripted way of doing a presentation like the text talks about makes you sound like a robot and you end up looking at note cards not focusing on your audience which is why you are giving the speech in the first place.
I don't think the example that the book gets on preparing for speeches by saying them out loud is that helpful. I think by doing it in your head helps a lot more. I think this gives you a pretty good estimate of how long the presentation should actually last.
I really when doing a presentation like to follow the Extemporaneous way of doing it. Making an outline always works well for me and just following close. I feel like the scripted way of doing a presentation like the text talks about makes you sound like a robot and you end up looking at note cards not focusing on your audience which is why you are giving the speech in the first place.
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Markel Chapter 4 Week of Jan 25th
Chapter 4 was about writing collaboratively. This is important because most businesses work with "team work" which often calls for numerous people looking over one object. In the end the project should end up being really well written but also looking as if one person wrote it and not sloppy. We already practice collaboratively writing in school when we work on group projects, so we all know the ups and downs. The Markel chapter 4 starts out talking about the problems of writing collaboratively then goes on to talk about the positive sides.
This is very important especially in this class as we work on a lot of group assignments. It helps us split up work and take the load of one person. It also creates problems though as people don't always agree and there's always a free-rider in most groups. It's especially relevant because we use Google Docs in this class a lot and it teaches us how to not get frustrated when their are two or more sets of eyes on a paper changing things.
This is very important especially in this class as we work on a lot of group assignments. It helps us split up work and take the load of one person. It also creates problems though as people don't always agree and there's always a free-rider in most groups. It's especially relevant because we use Google Docs in this class a lot and it teaches us how to not get frustrated when their are two or more sets of eyes on a paper changing things.
week of 2/1/11 Instruction Manual
I think the instruction manual assignment helped us not only learn how to write an instuction manual that is very detailed, but also taught us the importance of communicating so that people we work with understand every step. When you don't say things the correct way things can be misconstrued. Not only do people communicate differently when they are very similar we have a vast array of different types of people in the U.S. who think and speak differently so it's important to go with a universal approach when constructing an instruction manual. We learned this after our first attemt. We did not think that people could mess up an object so simple.
When we started having another group work on the project their's looked similar but was not exact. We'd missed telling them how much clay exactly they needed when building the object so it was not preportioned correct and the object was not the right size in areas. By being able to watch someone else fail at our directions we were able to fix them when re-writing our next set of instructions. It was very hands on and overall the perfect way to learn how to write a good instruction manual.
When we started having another group work on the project their's looked similar but was not exact. We'd missed telling them how much clay exactly they needed when building the object so it was not preportioned correct and the object was not the right size in areas. By being able to watch someone else fail at our directions we were able to fix them when re-writing our next set of instructions. It was very hands on and overall the perfect way to learn how to write a good instruction manual.
Markel Chapter 16 and 19
Chapters 16 and 19 of Markel are a lot like the other chapters. They give you guidelines on how to prepare to write a successful proposals and reports. In chapter 16 we learn about proposals which are very vital in business decisions. People in business will not take you seriously if you don't pay attention to detail when writing one. Knowing who you are writing a proposal to is very important, for example your own company, or another company. It is also to make sure you have all the facts clear so that you look like you know what you are dong.
My parents own their own business and have to write proposals to other stores all the time so they use solicited proposals when they are trying to get another business to supply to their store. They tend to use an unsolicited proposal when selling to other businesses they feel would save from buying their products as they run a liquidation tool store. I found some valuable information on some of the proposal ideas for them. It was also valuable information because I plan on going into event coordinating. I will need to work with supply businesses by using proposals.
Chapter 19 talks about writing recommendation reports. I used to work at Nissan so I've gotten pretty good at writing recommendation letters. You use them everyday pretty much in any business. When writing one you almost always give a definition of the problem that has occurred. It is then followed about a way or possible ways that problem can be potentially resolved.
My parents own their own business and have to write proposals to other stores all the time so they use solicited proposals when they are trying to get another business to supply to their store. They tend to use an unsolicited proposal when selling to other businesses they feel would save from buying their products as they run a liquidation tool store. I found some valuable information on some of the proposal ideas for them. It was also valuable information because I plan on going into event coordinating. I will need to work with supply businesses by using proposals.
Chapter 19 talks about writing recommendation reports. I used to work at Nissan so I've gotten pretty good at writing recommendation letters. You use them everyday pretty much in any business. When writing one you almost always give a definition of the problem that has occurred. It is then followed about a way or possible ways that problem can be potentially resolved.
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