09/23/06 - Questions or Concerns I Have About the Course: Due 09/05

I don't have many concerns about the course. I am learning a lot and really enjoy taking this class. I guess my only concern would be completing all my assignments on time! If anyone has figured out how to categorize the posts within the blog, I would really appreciate finding out. Thanks!

I replied to Elizabeth's post on August 29th. You can view it at http://wwwtoshi.blogspot.com/2006/08/august-29-hw5-questions-concerns.html#comments

09/14/06 - What Makes a Job Application Packet Accessible, Usable, and Relevant? Due 09/05

Clear writing and good visual design make a cover letter and resume, not only effective, but also accessible, usable, and relevant. When composing a cover letter, it is important to use concrete examples and language when describing your experiences and qualifications for the job you are applying for. While constructing your resume, it is important to be as efficient as possible so that the person reviewing it can find the important details quickly and without much effort (Ex. using bulleted lists and short sentences.) It is also important to remember to only include information that is relevant to the individual job you are applying to. It may be tempting to include additional jobs in the work history section of your resume, but to remain relevant, it is best to only include jobs where you have demonstrated the current skills needed.

09/14/06 - Audience Analysis of Job Application Materials: Due 09/05

To make a job application packet accessible, usable, and relevant, you need to properly analyze your audience, purpose, and communication context.

For my job application packet, I have identified my primary audience as:

• Jim Moore, Hiring Manager
• Age: mid-forties, college education, Caucasian
• Normal to high level of interest and receptivity
• Average background knowledge
• No interview beforehand

I have identified the primary purpose of my audience to be:

• To learn whether I am capable and well qualified to perform the tasks needed and accomplish the goals set for the company
• To make an informed decision about my employment
• To refer back to this information if employed when confronted with new projects and goals

I have identified the communication context to be:

• Used in a corporate setting
• Without political, legal, or cross-cultural issues
• Under the time constraints of Mr. Moore's personal schedule

09/14/06 - Rhetorical Situation: Due 09/05

HW Assignment - Discuss experiences where you recognized the impact of audience, purpose, and context on how someone was communicating.

The most common experience where I have recognized the impact of audience, purpose, and context is with email. A Concise Guide states that email messages "tend to be more casual and are written more hastily than paper memos." If any of these three factors are neglected in an email as a result of hastiness, negative consequences may occur. In my business, I personally send each customer an Order Confirmation email. If I do not consider my audience, purpose, and context when contacting customers, I could possibly lose business because the recipient might view me (and more so my company) as unprofessional and not trust me as a result. If I construct my emails after properly considering my audience, purpose, and context, I will eliminate negative consequences and achieve my main goal with my email which is communicating the details of my customer's order.

In my experiences where I have come across someone else's writings that lacked proper consideration of audience, purpose, and context, I have found that their writings are, very simply, ignored. Because the goal (at least my goal) when writing a paper is to have it be read, I will focus my efforts on analyzing my audience, purpose, and the communication context by using the tools and recommendations found in A Concise Guide and keeping the various questions they recommend in mind.

09/12/06 - Comprehensive Grammar Diagnostic #1: Due 09/05

After much frustration from taking the Comprehensive Grammar Diagnostic quiz twice (it timed out on me the first time), it appears that I am proficient in all areas except Usage and Style. I am not completely sure what that means exactly, however I now see that I have a weakness with redundancy and wordiness. I commonly write long sentences and am confident that after taking this quiz, I will be more aware of this bad habit and hopefully correct it.

I have never considered myself to be good with grammar, so I am grateful for this quiz because it really has been an eye opener ( except I am now doubting every sentence I write :) ). I plan on checking out the tutorials and other tools offered at www.mycomplab.com to better my skills. Did anyone else have the same experience? I would also be interested in hearing about other "grammar help" tools available online.

09/05/06 HW - Reading Reflection

After reading chapters 1 & 2 in A Concise Guide to Technical Communication and the Colorado State websites, I learned many important points such as the main characteristics of technical communication and the importance of understanding your audience.

On page four in A Concise Guide, the writers list the main characteristics of technical communication as accessibility, usability, and relevance. They state that "usable information is efficient because it allows people to perform the task or retrieve the information they need as quickly as possible." In my experience, technical writers most commonly fail at achieving usability in their writings. I can think back to many times trying to install something on my computer or watching someone put together furniture and remembering the frustration we endured because we could not find the right instructions within the manual. In my opinion, anytime you need to call the 800 number for help, it is a clear indication that the technical writer failed in at least one area. During this class and in future writing assignments, my goal is to be as thorough as possible as to not neglect any important issue that will be necessary for my audience to achieve their goals.

The book, A Concise Guide, also states that when "preparing a technical communication product, you generally begin by analyzing your audience." It appears that everything you need for writing a technical communication paper is achieve in your planning stage or "audience analysis" stage. The book mentions many key questions to keep in mind, such as "who will be reading, listening to, or using this material?" and "why is this communication important?". The book also list tools for understanding your audience such as corporate style guides, user preference documents, and marketing surveys and focus groups. I mentioned earlier that I had to prepare a proposal for one of my former SEO clients. If I had known that corporate style guides existed, it would have made that project a whole lot easier. In the future, I will be sure to always seek out the company's corporate style guide.

08/31/06 - Introduction

Hello Professor and fellow classmates!

I'm Chelsea Davis - I have attended MCC for two years (part time) and am working towards an Associate in business. I am excited to take this class because not only does it satisfy my course requirements for my degree, but I will also get to learn how to properly draft a proposal! I have attempted to write I proposal in the past for one of my clients and they actually corrected it during my interview! It was very embarrassing and I hope to never run into that situation again :)

A little more about me:

I was born and raised in Arizona, have two cats: Trey and Snaps, and own a ticket broker business where I sell premium and sold out concert, sports, and theatre tickets online. I am currently redesigning my website but you can check out the old one if you want at www.IdealConcertTickets.com.

Well, that's it for now! Thanks for reading...