WRTG 293 Introduction to Professional Writing Assignments

WRTG 293 Introduction to Professional Writing Assignments

Week 1 Discussion

DQ1 joining Career Quest

Please access the Career Services website at the following url:

/current-students/career-services/

Then access the CareerQuest website by selecting the option indicated at the right:

careerquest

Then select CareerQuest for Students, as indicated by the red arrow below:

carqueststudents

Proceed through the interface to join the CareerQuest community as a student and complete your profile.

Explore the various options in CareerQuest, including recently posted jobs and other resources and online tools. Joining the CareerQuest community will help you complete various upcoming tasks and assignments in this class.

For this discussion topic, please write a few sentences to your fellow classmates about anything interesting you found through CareerQuest.

Please note that you will not be able to see other students’ responses to this discussion topic until you post your response.

DQ2 Career Planning

In week 1, one of the resources provided for you is a video that introduces you to Career Services. In this discussion topic, you will consider some of the advice that the Career Services unit provides on career planning. This information will help as you pursue the first writing assignments in the class.

To start, please access the Career Services website

You will see the following list of items:

careerserv2

Select Career Planning, as indicated by the red arrow above. After you select this link, when you scroll down, you will see the following three sections, outlined in blue in the image below:

Choosing a Major

Strategies for Career Goals

Career Insider by Vault

careerserv3

Please select at least one of the sections. Peruse the information. Write one paragraph of 125-200 words describing what you found when you examined this information.

Please note that you will not be able to see other students’ responses to this discussion topic until you post your response.

DQ3 locating a professional conference in your field

This discussion topic is designed to help you prepare for writing assignment #1, the report on the professional organization and conference.

Please access the writing assignment instructions by selecting Assignments in the top menu and selecting WA1 – report on professional organization and conference.

Read through the instructions. Then locate a conference sponsored by a professional organization in your field.

In responding to this discussion topic, please post the following:

The name of the organization

The url of the conference it sponsors (this can be the most recent conference or the upcoming conference)

A few sentences about why you picked this conference for writing assignment #1

WRTG 293 Introduction to Professional Writing

Week 2 Discussion (WRTG 293 Introduction to Professional Writing Assignments)

DQ1 Resume and cover-letter tips

Please access “Get Tips for Crafting Your Resume and Cover Letter” from Career Se

Peruse the resources and tutorials offered.

In responding to this discussion topic, share three strategies you learned from the resources on either resumes or cover letters or both. Try not to duplicate a strategy given by another classmate. When this discussion is completed, we might have a plethora of tips and strategies that are very useful.

Please note that you will not be able to see other students’ responses to this discussion topic until you post your response.

DQ2 sample resume walk-through

Please access the following url:

https://www.careeronestop.org/ResumeGuide/SampleResumeWalkThrough.aspx

You will see the following interface.

Please click on the various sections of the sample resume walk-through, as pointed to by the red arrows below. Read through the various pieces of advice given.

sccap of resume walkthrough

Please write three pieces of advice you found from the website.

Please note that you will not be able to see other students’ responses to this discussion topic until you post your response.

DQ3 post a rough draft of your resume here

This discussion topic is designed to help you get started on writing assignment #2, the resume and cover letter.

For this discussion topic, please complete the following:

1. Post a resume for yourself that you have on file now. You can post it as an attachment in Word, PDF, or RTF format.

If you do not have a resume on file now, you can use the tips and strategies from this week’s resources to help you create a draft of a resume.

Please note that this is a draft of a resume. You don’t need to post a polished, perfect resume to this discussion topic.

2. Respond to at least two other students on their resumes. Try to give at least one area that could use improvement. You might draw upon the tips given in the Resume Tutorial that was given in Content for week 2 or from the Resume and Cover Letter tips page that was given in Content for week 2. You can also draw from the sample resume walk-through that was linked to in this week’s activities.

Your suggestions for improvement can be a short paragraph. You don’t have to write a whole essay noting to your classmate how to improve the resume.

Please be professional and encouraging as you give advice to your classmates on their resumes.

The resume should be posted by Sunday. Your advice to two other classmates is due next Wednesday.

(Of course, please feel free to post your resume before Sunday and your advice before next Wednesday.)

WRTG 293 Introduction to Professional Writing

Week 3 Discussion (WRTG 293 Introduction to Professional Writing Assignments)

DQ1 Using VMock to get feedback on your resume

This discussion topic is designed to help you write writing assignment #2, the resume and cover letter.

In week 2, you viewed a video tutorial on VMock.

In this discussion topic, please answer the following questions:

1. What category did you chose when you submitted your resume to VMock—Entry-Level/Career Changer, Experienced/Career Advancer, or Federal?

2. Give one piece of advice that VMock provided you for Impact.

3. Give one piece of advice that VMock provided you for Presentation.

4. Give one piece of advice that VMock provided you for Competencies.

5. At the top of the interface, VMock has the following:

You can increase your score by ___ points. See how.

When you clicked see how, what advice did VMock give you?

DQ2 using Resunate to get feedback on your resume

In week 2, you viewed a video tutorial on Resunate.

In this discussion topic, please answer the following questions after you have submitted your resume to Resunate and have worked through the interface to improve your resume.

1. Were you able to increase your Job Focus score? If so, how did you increase it?

2. Give one piece of advice that Resunate suggested to you to improve your resume.

DQ3 post a second draft of your resume for your fellow students to see

In week 2, you submitted a rough draft of your resume to a discussion topic.

In this discussion topic, please do the following:

1. Respond to this discussion topic and attach your updated resume to your response. Your updated resume can be as a Word, PDF, or RTF file.

2. In the actual discussion topic response, please write a short paragraph describing some of the changes you have made to the resume since week 2, when you posted the first, rough draft of the resume.

WRTG 293 Introduction to Professional Writing

Week 4 Discussion

DQ1 your experience in practicing an interview with Quinncia

In week 3, you viewed a video tutorial on Quinncia.

For this discussion topic, follow the steps in the video tutorial to upload your resume and then take a practice interview.

Then answer the following questions:

1. When you uploaded your resume, did you receive any additional feedback from Quinncia that you had not received by using our previous tools?

2. List three pieces of advice that Quinncia gave you during this practice interview. As you can see from the tutorial, Quinncia gives advice after you answer each question. You can choose three pieces of advice that you received after some specific questions if you would like.

DQ2 examining a set of poorly written instructions

Before you start, you will want to read the following. These readings are provided for you in Content for week 4.

Scenario: Anderson College (Part I)

Jay Williams’ Ineffective Instructions

D.A. Jameson, “Management consulting and teaching: Lessons learned teaching professionals to control tone in writing

Also in week 4 of Content, please become familar with the content and advice at these websites:

David McMurrey, “Instructions: Tell Them How to Do It!”

Wikibooks — Writing Instructions

Instructions: How to Write Guides for Busy, Grouchy People — Jerz’s Literacy Weblog

Then answer the following question in responding to this discussion topic:

As you can see from the scenario, a former student worker at Anderson College wrote a set of instructions for Anderwson college that are not well written and are not professional enough to distribute to the faculty members and students of the college.

As you peruse the McMurrey, Wikibooks, and Jerz resources on how to write instructions., and as you examine the set of poorly written instructions, please list at least three problems with the instructions, using the these three resources as a guide. Your response can be a few sentences.

DQ3 an email message to the student worker

Before you start, you will want to read the following. These readings are provided for you in Content for week 4.

Scenario: Anderson College (Part I)

Jay Williams’ Ineffective Instructions

D.A. Jameson, “Management consulting and teaching: Lessons learned teaching professionals to control tone in writing

video — “Using a Holistic Approach to Writing Business Emails”

After reading the scenario, the set of instructions written by Jay Williams, and the Jameson article, please complete the following:

Imagine that you are Dr. Richard Johnson, Dean of the Undergraduate School at Anderson College. You will write an email message to Jay Williams, the student worker, informing him that his instructions are not suitable to be distributed to the students and faculty at Anderson College.

Keep in mind the Jameson article. You want to maintain proper tone and professionalism. While the instructions that Jay wrote are not professional and would be embarrassing to send to the students and faculty members, you do not want to seem unprofessional in your message to Jay. In addition, he is a student worker. You don’t want to overly criticize him in your message.

In responding to this discussion topic, write the following:

the subject line of the email message you write

the body of the email message.

WRTG 293 Introduction to Professional Writing

Week 5 Discussion (WRTG 293 Introduction to Professional Writing Assignments)

DQ1 writing a memo to the faculty members at Anderson College

This discussion topic will also involve the following readings. They are provided in week 4 of Content.

Scenario: Anderson College (Part I)

Jay Williams’ Ineffective Instructions

D.A. Jameson, “Management consulting and teaching: Lessons learned teaching professionals to control tone in writing

In week 4, you identified some of the problems with a poorly written set of instructions. You also rewrote the set of instructions.

In this discussion topic, please complete the following:

Write a memo to the faculty members at Anderson College informing them of the revised instructions and where they can access them.

Please follow the advice provided in the resources in week 4 of Content about writing a memo. In addition, you can be creative in directing the faculty members to where they can access the new set of instructions. You can make up the name of a folder on Google drive or some other folder on the cloud.

This is an internal memo. However, some faculty members might not remember the details about the instructions that the previous student worker wrote. For this reason, you will want to introduce the memo with some level of detail of the history of the instructions, let them know that the instructions have been revised, and let them know where they can access them. Of course, you will want to provide them with your contact information in case they have additional questions.

This is a discussion topic. You will want to reply to this discussion topic and write your memo in the discussion text box.

DQ2 a problem in your workplace or community

Please consider a problem in your workplace or community that you would like to solve. The problem you identify should be focused and solvable.

Some examples might be the following:

Your workplace should use texting to communicate among employees for some situations, rather than email

The alley behind your townhouse community has trash and debris building up. It should be cleaned up.

An intersection in your community should have a traffic light.

Your company now uses Google mail. You feel it should switch to Outlook.

The printer in your department is networked to every computer in your department. Employees waste valuable time walking to the printers to pick up their printouts. Each office should have its own printer.

The library in your community does not have enough books. The library has a policy of disregarding books that are not checked out within a year. This results in many potentially popular books being eliminated.

A sidewalk in your community is in significant disrepair. It should be broken up and redone.

The staff members at your place of work should have a person to confide in to complain or blow the whistle on other employees who are not performing well or who misbehave. There is no Human Resources unit to which an employee can share reports in confidence. You need this type of HR unit or person.

The football field at your local high school has items that need to be repaired. Perhaps the scoreboard, the bleachers, or the field itself have problems that need to be addressed.

Please take some time to consider a problem in your workplace or community, one that can be solved by an individual (e.g., a manager, owner, department head, etc.) or a group of individuals (e.g., a board of directors).

Respond to this discussion topic by stating the following:

whether the problem you have identified is a community problem or a workplace problem

what the problem is

how it can be solved or at least addressed

who can implement this solution

You can write one or two sentences for each of the four items above.

DQ3 how you will demonstrate the problem

Please consider a problem in your workplace or community that you identified in the previous discussion topic.

Then respond to this discussion topic by stating the following:

what evidence is there to show that this problem exists?

how will you demonstrate this evidence to your decision-maker?

Some examples could be the following:

If you are writing about an intersection that needs a traffic light, you might show pictures of the intersection, or even show a brief video of the intersection showing its precariousness. You might also interview 3-4 people who live near or drive through the intersection.

If you are writing about the need for repairing the local football field, you might show pictures of the items in disrepair. You might also interview 3-4 people who have experienced the problem.

If you are writing about a need to move from Google mail to Outlook, you might show screen captures of what the Google mail interface looks like alongside screen captures of what the Outlook interface looks like.

Please note that, in this discussion topic, you do not have to show the pictures, interviews, videos, or screen captures. You simply need to state the ways in which you could demonstrate the problem.

WRTG 293 Introduction to Professional Writing

Week 6 Discussion (WRTG 293 Introduction to Professional Writing Assignments)

DQ1 rewriting the instructions from Jay Williams (response to 2 other students required)

This discussion topic will also involve the following readings. They are provided in week 4 of Content.

Scenario: Anderson College (Part II)

Jay Williams’ Ineffective Instructions

In week 4, you identified some of the problems with a poorly written set of instructions written by Jay Williams, the student worker.

In this discussion topic, you, as the new student worker, will rewrite thise set of instructions. In this discussion topic, please complete the following:

1. Download the poorly written instructions on how to adjust the discussion settings in LEO.

2. Rewrite the instructions using the same graphics that are in the poorly written set of instructions. Please read part II of the Anderson College scenario to

3. Attach your rewritten instructions to this discussion topic.

4. Respond to at least two other students’ rewritten instructions and give them one or two pieces of advice or encouragement.

DQ2 a piece of primary research for your short report

In last week’s discussions, you determined a problem that you want to write about, and you have considered some ways that you can demonstrate that problem.

In this discussion topic, please post one example of primary research you have found to help you persuade your decision-maker of the problem.

Some examples are the following:

If you are writing about an intersection that needs a traffic light, you can attach a . jpg file with a picture that shows the intersection.

If you are writing about the need for repairing the local football field, you can attach a jpg file with a picture that shows items in disrepair.

If you are writing about the need for repairing the local football field, you can attach interview questions you asked of a local resident and the answers that the resident gave.

If you are writing about a need to move from Google mail to Outlook, you can attach a .jpg file with a picture that shows how Outlook looks. WRTG293 All Weeks Discussion Papers

WRTG 293 Introduction to Professional Writing

Week 7 Discussion – Vasquez: the differences between academic and business writing

To complete this discussion topic, you will access the article by Felix S. Vasquez, “Differences between Academic and Business Writing.” The article is available in the e-reserves for this class.

To access the article, please take the following steps:

select Content in the top menu bar of LEO.

select Class Resources

select eReserves

click on the eReserves icon on the interface

locate the article among the list of eReserves articles available.

Professor Vasquez is writing about teaching writing skills in Spanish to students for whom Spanish is not a native language. However, that issue is not the focus of our discussion here. His analysis of business writing and academic writing is the focus of this discussion.

Please answer all of the following questions based on what Vasquez writes in his article, not based on your own understanding. In addition, please do not simply copy text from the article. Please summarize what Vasquez writes in the article, and use quotation marks for occasional quotes from the article if you would like to.

According to Vasquez, what are the similiarities between academic writing and business writing? Try to come up with at least three of them. Please write a paragraph or two in posting your answer.

According to Vasquez, what are the differences between academic writing and business writing? Try to come up with at least three of them. Please write a paragraph or two in posting your answer.

Reflect on three experiences in this course. You can choose from among the writing assignments and from among the discussion topics. What differences have you noticed between the writing that you have done in this course and the writing you completed in a composition course (e.g., freshman composition, or something of that nature)?

Your answers can be a brief paragraph.

WRTG 293 Introduction to Professional Writing

Week 8 Discussion (WRTG 293 Introduction to Professional Writing Assignments)

DQ1 Setting goals

Please watch the following video. Then answer the questions below.

1. Please share a goal you have developed and, if possible, share how you applied the SMART strategy outlined in this video.

3. Please comment on any tools or resources from Career Services that might help you reach one of your goals as you complete WRTG 293.

DQ2 post a draft of your report for your classmates

1. Respond to this discussion topic and attach a draft of writing assignment #5, your short report to the decision-maker, to your response. When you respond, you might indicate to your fellow classmates the status of this rough draft. Perhaps it is a complete report. Perhaps you have half of it completed and are working on the other half. Perhaps you can attach only a couple of sections of it. Overall, this is a rough draft, and it is understood that what you are attaching to this discussion topic is not your final, polished, report to the decision-maker.

2. Please provide feedback to at least one other student’s report. In your feedback, you can offer suggestions for how to make a section clearer, you can ask questions about a point being made, you can suggest ways of persuading the decision-maker, etc.

When selecting a peer to whom to provide feedback, please select someone who has not been given feedback on the paper yet. WRTG 293 Introduction to Professional Writing Assignments

 

MORE INFO 

Introduction to Professional Writing

Introduction

Writing is a skill that can be both useful and fun. However, it’s not always easy to know where to start if you want to get into professional writing. In this article, we’ll look at some reasons why people need professional writers and what makes up a professional writer’s job description.

What is Professional Writing?

What is Professional Writing?

Professional writing is a term that refers to any type of written work that someone might produce for work or school. This could include anything from an email you send your supervisor during a meeting, to an academic paper you wrote in college. The key difference between professional and non-professional writing is how well it represents the person who wrote it; in other words, if the author seemed like they were trying too hard or didn’t care about their audience’s feelings (or both), then their writing would not be considered “professional.” However, if they sounded natural and relaxed while writing—even if they had no idea what was going on—then this would qualify as “professional.”

Professional writers produce written material for clients who need to reach a particular audience or readership.

Professional writers produce written material for clients who need to reach a particular audience or readership. They are hired by businesses, non-profits and government agencies to develop a written communication strategy.

Professional writers work with clients to develop a written communication strategy that includes:

• the target audience(s) of the content you want to create; * information about what your business/organization wants to communicate; * how it will be distributed (e.g., print materials vs online); * how it will be consumed (e.g., read versus watched); * who will receive it and when they should receive it

Professional writing requires an understanding of audience, style and voice, along with an openness to criticism.

When you write, it’s important to understand your audience. You should know who they are and what they want from you. For example, if your job requires that you write a report on the history of education in America, then it would be wise for you to focus on this topic only because most people interested in this topic are likely teachers or students of education at universities with an undergraduate or graduate degree program related to their field of study. If instead, your job required writing about how fast food restaurants affect health outcomes among children (which might also be interesting), then it would probably not make sense for such a report since most people interested in such information would not necessarily have any interest in learning about how fast food affects health outcomes among children—they would simply want facts about how many calories were consumed during meals purchased from specific locations like McDonalds restaurants owned by different companies within various countries around the world; therefore making such an article irrelevant or redundant

Why do we need professional writers?

You may be wondering why it’s important to learn how to write well. The answer depends on your career, but most people can agree that written communication has become an essential part of modern life.

The ability to communicate effectively is a skill that takes time and effort to develop. It requires constant practice, especially if you want your writing style consistent across all kinds of media (such as web content or print publications). It also requires an open mind, since there are many different approaches used by professionals who use their writing skills every day—from blogging about their experiences with new products at work for example

Some people will say that computers can write for us.

Some people will say that computers can write for us. But this is a false dichotomy: computers are not good at everything, and humans are not better at everything. We need to work together to create the best writing possible.

The fact that computers and humans have different strengths and weaknesses means they can’t do everything perfectly by themselves—but they can make valuable contributions when paired up with humans who know what they’re doing (or even just get some pointers).

However, writing is about more than just words on a page.

Writing is about more than just words on a page. It’s about communicating ideas, thoughts and feelings through writing.

Writing can help you communicate your ideas clearly and concisely to others so they understand what you want them to know. You can help yourself understand how we use language by reading good examples of what works well in written form (like dictionaries).

You can also use writing to make others feel things for us as readers such as sympathy or joy when we read about someone doing something kind for another person or feeling despair at their suffering because of an illness or injury caused by someone else’s actions towards them – all these emotions come from the context provided by our understanding of those involved in the story being told through words which have been put together into paragraphs sentences etc..

Writers create text that helps others to understand ideas and thoughts, often before they have been fully formed.

Writers create text that helps others to understand ideas and thoughts, often before they have been fully formed. As a writer, you’re able to help others understand the problems they face, their needs and the solutions you can provide for them. This is an important skill for any professional—but especially so if your job involves helping people solve problems!

Professional writers are in demand as businesses, non-profits and government agencies rely on their expertise to communicate their messages effectively.

Professional writers are in demand as businesses, non-profits and government agencies rely on their expertise to communicate their messages effectively. In fact, professional writing is one of the most popular career paths for graduates of professional writing programs.

As a professional writer, you’ll have an opportunity to use your communication skills to help people understand complex ideas and communicate them clearly. You can also use this skill set in many other areas such as policy development or marketing strategy; however, your primary focus may be on business communications or public relations (PR).

Conclusion

Writing for a living is a career with many opportunities. There are many different types of work, from ghostwriting to book development, as well as opportunities in communications and more. In this article we’ve covered some basics about what professional writing is and how it can help you. If you’re interested in learning more about becoming an author or journalist, be sure to check out our guide on how to start your own blog or website today!