202C Project - Summary English PDF

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202CPROJECT ASSI GNMENTSHEETS ANDGRADI NG RUBRI CS

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FI RSTWRI TTENASSI GNMENT:THEI NTRODUCTORYMEMO

MEMORANDUM

TO: Jason Charnesky's English 202 Students FROM: Jason Charnesky, Instructor DATE: 26 August 2017 SUBJECT: A Guide to Memos and Your First Written Assignment

This memo outlines the components and qualities of an effective memo. It also explains your first writing assignment in English 202C. Notice that a memo often begins with a short statement that summarizes the scope and purpose of the entire memo. Memos vs. Letters: Generally speaking, if you are creating a hard copy document that is intended to be used to communicate within your organization you should use the memo format rather than the business letter format. You typically use memos when communicating with members of your department, upper management, employees at another branch of your company in another city, etc. Memos vs. Emails: Believe it or not, there are times when a memo is to be preferred over an email. Generally speaking, use memos to establish an official paper trail for projects or decisions. Use memos when dealing with personnel matters or matters which involve privacy concerns. Follow your company's lead when deciding which form is most appropriate. Heading Information: Notice that a memo is actually entitled “Memo” or “Memorandum.” The material at the top of the memo always includes the date, the names of the writer, and the receiver of the memo, as well as the subject of the memo. Different organizations may use other orderings for this information than the one which appears here. When you get a job, use whatever is standard for your company. While you are in English 202 use this format. Use a courtesy title (Mr., Miss, Mrs., Ms., Dr.) before the recipient's name and a job title after it to help in routing and filing the memo, unless the memo is very informal and of a temporary nature, such as a reminder to someone in your department about the meeting on Friday. (A memo to me from this class can be addressed as "Jason Charnesky, Instructor") Use a job title after your name. Remember, you are writing the memo as a function of your position in the company. Your job title conveys your ethos. (You need not make up a job title for the memos you write to me in this class. If you feel you absolutely must use a title, simply use "James Charbois, Student") The subject heading should be as short and as specific as possible, including project names and numbers. Again, this facilitates filing and retrieving the memo.

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Formatting: Memos may use any (or all) of those formatting devices we see in other documents, including the following: • Headings to help the reader skim for pertinent sections of the document. • Numbered and bulleted lists to make information easily accessible. • Typographical devices such as underlining, bold facing, italics, etc. to make headings and important information stand out. In short, do whatever you need to do in order to make your information easy to read and to understand. Paragraphing: As in all technical and business communications, long paragraphs of dense text make reading more difficult. Keep your paragraphs short and to the point. Style: Use strong, active verbs, personal pronouns, and vocabulary appropriate for your audience. Be as concise as possible.

FIRST ASSIGNMENT Create a memo and upload it as a Word document to CANVAS Taking all that was said on the previous page into consideration, write an introductory memo. DUE DATE: Digital copy to be uploaded no later than Thurs. 11:59 p.m., 24 August 2017. Hard copy to be handed in at beginning of class Friday. AUDIENCE: me, Jason Charnesky PURPOSE: to introduce yourself and to give me an idea of your writing experience and expectations for the course. Write a concise, well thought-out memo which answers the following questions: 1) Who are you? What is your name? If your preferred name is different from your “official” name tell me that. 2) Where are you professionally? What is your major? If you are working outside of school, what's your job? How long have you held it? What is your area of specialization, or area of particular interest within your field or major? What are your career goals? 3) What are your immediate professional goals? What is your next professional employment milestone? (Full time work, internship, summer job, other) What companies or graduate school programs are you considering? How much do you know about these companies?

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4) What sort of writing have you done? What is the range and depth of your writing thus far? What courses have you taken that have required writing? What sorts of documents have you produced? 5) What would you like most to work on in your writing? What do you see as an area of concern in your writing right now? What would you like to improve? 6) What are your expectations? Why are you taking this class? What do you want to get out of it? What do you expect it to teach you? Why do you think it will be at all helpful? 7) Any additional information? What languages do you speak? How fluently? What languages can you read? How fluently? Is there anything else you think I should know about you, your writing or your expectations/apprehensions about this class? Memo must be proofread. Proofreading means that there are no misspellings or typos.

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PROJECT ONE: The Rhetorical Analysis Technical communication is meant to be used, not simply read. When you produce technical writing what you are really doing is designing a tool. Every well-designed tool has some particular job it is designed to do. If the person designing the tool has no idea what that tool is going to be used for, then a very poor tool is likely to be the outcome. In the same vein, every tool (if it is well-designed) is designed to work well for its intended tool-users, and it is fashioned to work optimally through knowledge of the capabilities and the expectations of those users. Clearly, if the team designing a tool has no idea who they are designing it for, it's impossible for that tool to be optimally designed for its users. The same principles apply to professional writing. In the real world of work, no one writes just for the heck of it. And no one reads technical writing solely for the sheer pleasure of reading. Technical communication has a job to do. Its readers are meant to act upon the information conveyed: in making hiring decisions, in following technical procedures, in developing research plans, in addressing customer needs, in determining the terms of a contract, and much more. In this assignment, you will evaluate the usability of a piece of technical communication—that is, you will analyze whether the document effectively communicates the necessary information to its intended audience and you will determine where it fails to do so. In this way, the assignment will introduce you to basic rhetorical elements of technical communication. Your analysis should demonstrate that you understand the basic principles of technical communication discussed in the first chapter of your textbook and the concepts discussed in class (E.g., the 3 Rhetorical Aspects of Professional Communication; the 4 Basic Questions; the 5 Characteristics of Good Professional Writing). The process you will follow in this assignment is relatively straightforward. You will study a document and then determine how well it relies (or doesn't) on effective technical communication practices. You will then present your analysis in a memo to me. There are four steps to this assignment: (1) Choose a piece of technical communication to analyze from among the five documents I have provided, all of which were captured from the real world the night before our first class. (2) After examining all five documents, choose one of the documents or websites for your analysis. (3) Evaluate your chosen document. This will involve reading the document carefully, paying attention to the features that enable use. In other words, determine to what extent the author(s) structured the document so that readers could access and use the information effectively and efficiently. It will also mean that you will have to analyze the purpose for which the document was created. WARNING! I have been very sneaky in my choice of examples, particularly in terms of their purpose. (4) Write a memo to me that organizes your rhetorical analysis in both a logical and convincing way. I am your audience. Follow the memo format we used for the introductory memo assignment.

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a. Be concrete in your analysis. That is, cite specific examples from the document in order to make your key points. These are your basic data points. b. Be sure to analyze and not just describe the document. This will require you to evaluate —and pass judgment on—both content and design. c. Be sure the way you present your analysis is well organized. Your analysis should be 2 single-spaced pages (approximately 1000 words). Therefore, you must be as concise as possible. However, don't mistake brevity for superficiality. I'm looking for a high-quality analysis that shows you can look at a technical document with a critical eye. Potential Criteria to use in your Analysis Charnesky has introduced you to a number of criteria by which one can judge the effectiveness of professional communication: The 3 Rhetorical Aspects 1. Purpose 2. Audience 3. Adjustment The 4 Critical Questions 1. "What the hell is this?" 2. "What the hell is this about?" 3. "Why the hell am I getting this?" 4. "What, if anything, am I expected to do about this?" The 5 Characteristics of Professional Communication 1. Clarity 2. Brevity 3. Accuracy 4. Precision 5. Transparency

Markel offers a set of characteristics of technical communication: -

Addresses particular readers Helps readers solve problems Reflects an organization’s goals and culture Is produced collaboratively Uses design to increase readability Consists of words or graphics or both

Markel also lists eight measures of excellence in technical communication - Honesty - Clarity - Accuracy - Comprehensiveness - Accessibility - Conciseness - Professional Appearance - Correctness

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Use some subset of the above measures and characteristics to organize your analysis. Be sure that your analysis makes the case for why you are using that set of criteria which you have chosen.

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ENGL 202C Assignment One: Rhetorical Analysis of Technical Document Evaluation Sheet 1. Completeness. The author addresses all important aspects of technical communication as presented in the document. The author points out important aspects that are missing or not well represented, demonstrating familiarity with all aspects of technical communication. Weak______

Fair______

Good_____

Great____

2. Interpretation. The author analyzes, not just summarizes, the chosen document. Analysis moves beyond reporting on content to assess the efficacy and practicality of the document in question. The author discusses whether or not, and how well, the document achieves its purpose. The author examines design and organization in addition to content. Weak_____

Fair______

Good______

Great______

3. Support/Evidence. The author provides specific examples that back up her claims about and analysis of the document. General evaluative statements are supported with concrete details from the document. Weak_____

Fair______

Good______

Great_______

4. Organization. The analysis is organized neatly and practically. Subheadings (if used) are helpful, transitions are smooth, and topic sentences help orient and guide the reader. The proper form and format of a memo is followed. Weak_____

Fair______

Good_______

Great______

5. Style and Mechanics. The analysis is well-written at the sentence level. Grammar, spelling and punctuation are all correct. Sentences flow smoothly and are clearly written. Weak_____

Fair______

Good_______

Great______

Overall Grade______________

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PROJECT TWO: The Informative Report THE INFORMATIVE REPORT: GENERAL OBSERVATIONS

The next writing assignment you will be doing for this class is an informative report. In government, and in some industries, this sort of report is referred to as a "white paper." I will be using both terms when talking about this project. An informative report passes on what you have learned about a topic or issue; it conveys its results to a particular audience and is created in response to a particular question or concern. The informative report is often one of the first steps taken in the process of determining priorities, planning projects, forecasting budgets, or determining future strategies. When tasked with writing an informative report, you are expected to find out what is currently known about some specific topic and to present what you discover in a clear and transparent way. An informative report gives you a chance to do the following: 

Read more about an issue.

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Make sense of what you have read, heard, and seen.

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Teach others what you have learned.

Chapter 17 of our text gives a good overview of various types of informative reports.

THE INFORMATIVE REPORT: SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTS FOR THIS PROJECT Pretty much the thing everyone who graduates from college does next is look for a job. But because it is the first time most of us have ever played the "job application" game for a full-time position, everyone more or less learns the best strategies on the fly. You are in that very position. One of the most powerful predictors of a successful job hunt is whether the applicants have done intense, in-depth research on the company that interests them and on the job position they are seeking. You will conduct such research for this project. But what about all of the other folks in your position? What about your peers, Penn State students in your major who have not had the advantage of learning the theory behind such job research and the best methods for carrying it out? It would be a great help to them if you could take what you have learned

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about researching companies and jobs and present it in a document designed especially for them: people in your major, or with a similar background and interests, who are looking for a position in the same area. The primary audience for the white paper will be that group: peers who do not yet know what you will have learned about the importance of researching the companies and the positions for which you are applying. The purpose of this white paper is to explain the process of job research to an audience of job seekers much like you. The report will first explain the research process in general terms. Then the report will walk your audience through two specific examples, showing them exactly how you went about evaluating these two potential future positions against your own criteria. So the body of the white paper will contain two major sections: (1) A general overview where you explain to your primary audience the importance of research, the methods of research, and the tools for researching companies and jobs so that they can validly evaluate the goodness of fit of any company or job according to their own criteria for a good position. (2) Two specific examples of such job research. This section will show your audience all the steps you went through to evaluate two actual job positions. This section will explain whether you give these jobs a thumbs up or down, and it will show how you came to this decision. Your task here is not to convince your audience to make the same decision that you did. You don’t need to persuade them that you are right in your evaluation of the companies and jobs. But your audience needs to understand exactly how you came to your conclusions. They need to understand your methods and procedures. You are walking them through two specific examples so that they have a firm grasp of the job research process that you explained in the first major section. Finally, you will conclude with general observations and suggestions for further research. Project 2 will be a formal report, and should have the language typical of most formal papers. Your report should avoid overly-colloquial language. (Though, of course, you will accommodate your language to your audience.) It must begin with a title page, followed by a table of contents, an executive summary, the body of the report, and any appendices that are required. This report will present your research on two jobs that are actually available someplace in the real world. THE TWO JOBS MUST BE SIGNIFICANTLY DIFFERENT IN THEIR DUTIES AND/OR THEIR REQUIREMENTS. The jobs can be from the same company or from two completely different companies, or even two completely different industries. You may research a graduate school program (including medical school, dental school or the like) as a substitute for one of your jobs. The general goal of the report is allow your audience to understand how you determined whether these jobs would be a good fit for your background, your abilities and your future goals. After reading your report, your audience should be able to go do the same on their own. You might consider this formal report as preparatory work towards your job application package, our next major Project. It might make sense for you to choose a company that you are actually considering applying to. Or, if you already have a job lined up, you might consider examining a company which is one of your major competitors in the field. But you don’t have to. You may choose any company you like for this report and any job positions you like, whether you are presently qualified for them or not.

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You should begin the project with the second major section of the body. Here is a partial checklist of data you should obtain: Company Description. You will develop your own set of criteria against which you will evaluate the company. As a minimum, I expect you to know at least the following: When was the company was created? Who was its founder? What is its "foundation myth"? Where is the company headquarters? Where else is it located? What are the companies' major product lines? What is the company's most recent product line? What are the company's most recent patents? What are the most recent or important lawsuits it has been involved with? For a publically traded company, what is its current stock situation? How does this compare with its position a year ago? What is the company's "style"? What is the company's work culture? Not all of this information may make it into the body of your white paper. You might decide that for the purposes of your primary audience, some of this information is less important than other facts you have discovered. In that case, the information that is not included in the body of the report will go into an appendix, so you will get credit for all the research that you’ve done. But you yourself will know the answers to these questions, whether they make it into the report or not.

Job Description. You will choose a position offered by the company. You may also (with my permission) write for a summer job, an internship, or for a scholarship or other award. Note that you must hand in copies of the job ads you use. At a minimum, your report needs to explain the typical duties and responsibilities of this job position. Also, include any additional particular duties that one of your companies requires of this position. Where is the job position in the company hierarchy? What are its typical duties? Who do you supervise? Who do you coordinate with? Who do you report to? What is the work product for this position? What makes a good candidate for this job position? Evaluation. Based on the criteria which you explain in the report and the facts which you undercover, your white paper will conclude with an ...