We will finish this week with peer review for Project 2. Your projects are due on Tuesday, and we’ll begin Project 3, an Informational Report and Proposal on Job Application Needs, on Thursday.

Class Work for September 25

Today we focus on peer review. Here are the tasks to complete for today’s work:

• Refresh yourself on using the comment system in Google Drive.
• Post drafts for Project 2 in the forums.
• Respond to two students on Google Drive and in the forums.
• Review the comments on your own work.

Important Dates

• Thursday, Sept 25 by noon: Project 2 Rough Drafts Due for Peer Feedback
• Tuesday, Sept 30 by 11:55 PM: Project 2: Writing in Your Field Due
• Tuesday, Oct 7 by 11:55 PM: Project 2: Writing in Your Field Deadline (end of grace period)

Refresher on the Google Drive Comment System

If you need a reminder on the comment and sharing systems in Google Drive, use the step-by-step instructions for how to use Google Drive for peer review on the FAQ site, which includes details on how to share your document, how to comment, and how to respond to comments.  If you need a more detailed explanation, be sure to check out the Lynda video on “Commenting on a file.”

Posting Your Drafts for Project 2

You will post the share link to your draft in the forums:

1. Go to the Project 2: Analysis of Writing in Your Field forum, and find the topic you created with your name or your username and career or field (e.g., my example was “Traci, college writing instructor”).

2. Post a reply in your topic, doing the following:
   • If you do not want to share your last name in the forums, change it in your draft to a pseudonym. You can use a generic last name like Doe or Smith, or you can change it to Lastname.
   • Share the link(s) to your Project 2 draft(s) in Google Docs, using the FAQ linked in the section above. You will have a link to your spreadsheet, and if you are going for an A, you will also have a link to your analysis memo.

3. Let your classmates know about any specific concerns that you want them to consider as they comment on your draft.

4. Be sure to Preview your draft to make sure everything shows up the way you want it to, and then submit your post.

Responding to Your Classmates’ Drafts

Follow these instructions to respond to your classmates’ drafts:

1. Read and comment on the drafts of at least two of your classmates:

   • Find one post that no other student has replied to (so that we can be sure everyone gets a reply).
   • Find a second post that has only one other student reply.

2. Use the Share link to go to your classmate’s draft on Google Drive and do the following:

   • Check the title of the document, and add a comment to tell your partner if it is clear and effective.
   • If you notice any spelling errors, punctuation errors, or typos, mark them as you read, but please focus more on the content rather than editing.
   • Add comments on the content of the draft. Comment on at least three things your classmate does well and at least three things that your classmate could improve on. It’s fine (excellent, even) to include more than the minimum number of comments.
   • If your classmate has included the optional analytical memo, check whether the draft addresses all six characteristics of technical communication. If anything is missing, add a comment that lets your partner know.

3. Once you finish commenting on the document, go back to your classmate’s post in the forums and add an overall comment that sums up what you thought of the paper and gives your partner some encouragement.

Reviewing the Comments You Received

Once you have finished adding comments to your classmates’ projects, return to your own draft, read the comments that your partner gave you, and add replies as appropriate. For instance, you might thank your partner for catching an error, ask your partner for more detail on feedback you don’t understand, or share a revision and ask your partner if it is an improvement. Your goal is to reply today so that your classmate can respond if you need more information.

Today, we’ll look at examples that are similar to the memo you can write if you are aiming for an A on Project 2.

Class Work for September 23

These are the tasks to complete for today’s work:

• Discuss your focus for Project 2.
• Read and discuss some example memos analyzing tech writing documents.
• (Optional) Analyze the Microsoft layoff email.
• Be sure you are comfortable with Google Drive’s spreadsheet tool.

Important Dates

• Thursday, Sept 25 by noon: Project 2 Rough Drafts Due for Peer Feedback
• Tuesday, Sept 30 by 11:55 PM: Project 2: Writing in Your Field Due
• Tuesday, Oct 7 by 11:55 PM: Project 2: Writing in Your Field Deadline (end of grace period)

Focus for Project 2

Thank you for your posts about your careers and fields of study. You all have a great start on the second project.

As you work on your spreadsheets, don’t panic if you find that you have an empty slot on your spreadsheet. If one of the columns is irrelevant for one of the documents you have listed that is okay. Likewise, if you cannot find an example of the document online to link to, that’s okay too. Remember, however, that you need to account for those empty spaces in your reflection memo when you turn in your work next week.

If you have any questions about Project 2, post them in the Questions about Project 2 topic in the forum or email me.

Discussing Example Memos

The example memos included on the Project 2 assignment page were written by students who were analyzing a piece of technical writing in their field using the six characteristics of technical writing that are explained in Markel, Chapter 1. If you are aiming for an A, these memos are similar to what you need to write. Note that I have updated the list with new examples, as some of the examples disappeared from the Internet.

Today, I want you to review them and think about what makes some better than others. It’s useful to understand what makes a good memo even if you aren’t aiming for an A. You will probably write more memos (in the form of email messages) than anything else during the arc of your career.

Here’s what you should do for today:

1. Read through the Example Analysis Memos. You don’t have to read every word, but look at them well enough to get a sense of how they work, what they do well, and what they could improve on.

2. Go to the Discussion of Example Memos topic in the forums and weigh in on which of the examples seemed more effective. You can quote someone else’s post or just start in on your own ideas. You will find some guiding questions in the forum post.

Optional Post: Looking at the Microsoft Memo

Back in July, Microsoft Executive Vice President Stephen Elop released an email that was sent to all employees, announcing layoffs and the reasons for the job cuts. At the time, many people criticized the email (for instance, Microsoft Just Laid Off Thousands of Employees With a Hilariously Bad Memo).

Read the original email and visit the optional forum topic to say what you think of the Microsoft email announcement. Having just read about writing memos and email messages, do you think it’s as bad as the story says? How would you feel if you got this message? What could you do to improve it?

Setting Up Your Spreadsheet

Just to repeat the note from last week:
If you have never worked with the spreadsheet tool in Google Drive before, please explore it a little bit so that you can ask any questions you need to. Your spreadsheet needs to be a native Google Drive document, not an uploaded PDF, Word doc or Excel spreadsheet.

You can set up your spreadsheet similar to the example, but feel free to add or change the column headings to fit the writing in your field.

If you need a tutorial, go to the Virginia Tech login for Lynda.com, and then watch the section on Working with spreadsheets. You are only entering text in your spreadsheets, so you don’t need to worry about making calculations or using functions and formulas.

Class Work for September 18

These are the tasks to complete for today’s work:

• Talk about kinds of correspondence.
• Learn about you attitude.
• Post about your field for Project 2.
• Set up your spreadsheet.

Important Dates

• TODAY, Thursday, Sept 18 by 11:55 PM: Project 1: Professional Biography Statement Deadline (end of grace period)
• September 25: Rough Drafts for Peer Feedback, due by noon
• September 30: Due date for Project #2 (no forum posts will be due that day)
• October 7: Grace period ends. All work must be in by 11:55 PM

Kinds of Correspondence

Chapter 9, “Writing Correspondence,” discusses letters, memos, and email messages. If your experience will be anything like mine, you will probably write more email messages than any other kind of correspondence in your day-to-day work.

The table in the textbook on p. 219 outlines the differences between types of correspondence. Use the information there as a guideline, but also pay attention to the practices where you work. It’s completely possible for one company to rely on formal letters and another company to rely almost exclusively on email messages. There is no universal right decision. Instead, there are decisions that are right because they match a company’s or organization’s standard practices. Let the company’s practices be your guide.

Remember that the “Writer’s Checklist” (pp. 238-239) gives you a nice summary of the important concepts in the chapter. If you are writing the optional memo for Project 2, be sure to use the Memos section of the checklist as you write and revise.

Using You Attitude

You Attitude is the concept of focusing on the needs and interests of the reader in technical and business writing. It’s all about seeing things from the audience’s perspective and situating information so that readers understand and accept it.

The textbook has a short explanation on pp. 220–221, and you can find more information in “What Is the ‘You Attitude’?”

Posting About Your Field

Today’s forum post will help you begin Project 2. I’ve outlined below what I would like you to do. You can’t do today’s posts incorrectly. Just begin gathering ideas according to the directions. Also you’re not in competition with one another. Don’t worry if someone is further along than you are.

1. Go to the Project 2: Analysis of Writing in Your Field forum.

2. Create a New Topic, and use a subject line that includes your name (or nickname) and your career/field. I would create “Traci, college writing instructor.” Be as specific as you can be with your career/field. For example, don’t say, “computer science,” if you could say, “Android Game Development.” Adding your career to the subject line will help with the process of replying to one another.

3. In the body of your message, provide some background on your career/field choice. Tell us a little bit about the field and how you ended up in it. Think of your audience as people who do not know the nuances of your career options. Explain your career in lay terms. Aim for a few sentences here.

4. Next, tell us a little bit about your experience with writing in your field. Have you done lots of writing? Have you watched others? Again, you just need a few sentences.

5. Finally, brainstorm some of the different kinds of writing people do in your career/field. Aim for at least 5, and include a few words about how the writing is used if you can.

6. Review your response, and add headings for each of the three sections to help organize your post. Submit your post when you happy with what you have.

7. Reply to a classmate’s post, offering suggestions and encouragement. Choose a post that no one else has replied to so that we can be sure everyone gets a response.

8. (Optional) Write a second reply to someone else. Use the career info in the subject line to find someone in a field similar to your own if you can. Again, offer suggestions and encouragement.

Setting Up Your Spreadsheet

If you have never worked with the spreadsheet tool in Google Drive before, please explore it a little bit in the next few days so that you can ask any questions you need to. You can set up your spreadsheet similar to the example, but feel free to add or change the column headings to fit the writing in your field.

If you need a tutorial, go to the Virginia Tech login for Lynda.com, and then watch the section on Working with spreadsheets. You are only entering text in your spreadsheets, so you don’t need to worry about making calculations or using functions and formulas. If you run into trouble, post a question in the Questions about Project 2 section of the forums or email me directly.