I should be done commenting on everyone’s résumés and cover letters by this evening (things have been a little tense around here). Remember, these are portfolio assignments, so you’ll have to revise them for your final portfolio–I grade on your process (and progress). Although the following suggestions aren’t for everyone, make sure you review some general suggestions for improvement located here.
Everyone has revision to do, so don’t let the amount of commenting scare you (too much). Re-read the assignment guidelines. Also, and this is VERY important, please notice that I offer summative comments AND comments in annotations. In order to read all my comments, you might have to scroll right on your Canvas submission. If you don’t see my overall comments AND the annotations, you’re missing my entire feedback.
Don’t dismiss the above distinguishing Comments and Annotations. You must revise your portfolio work based on my suggested feedback. If you don’t see all that feedback, you might not revise your documents appropriately for the Final Portfolio, which will seriously hurt your grade. If you don’t understand the above description, ask me now. Waiting until June 28th to learn the difference will be too late.
Chapter 8: Reports and Other Such Fun
Chapter 8 basically stresses the need to understand audience and purpose for particular types of reports. Of course, reports are industry specific, so we need to be careful about generalizing. However, there are important components of the chapter that can be generalized as effective types of technical communication.
Some questions
- What attributes make the reports in Appendix C effective report for the busy executive?
3rd ed. “Mechanics ad Treatment of Alzheimer’s Disease” pp. 391-416
2nd ed. “Animal Rehabilitation” pp. 350-367 What attributes make the report - “Marketing CSU–Status Report” on pp. 186-188 (3rd ed.) an effective marketing campaign report? What about the effectiveness of the report “Radon Causes and Concerns” on pp. 159-163 (2nd ed.)
Research Discussion Introduction
Whatever we do, let’s just preview Proposal, Visual, and Annotated Bibliography due in two weeks on Monday, 6/21.
Consider the following questions for our research discussions:
- What is research?
- How would you find information on…?
- What is epistemology?
- How do we determine a source’s credibility?
- What are the annotated bibliography requirements?
What is research? Why do it? Why is it something people devote their lives to? What does it mean to research a topic? Where do you start? When do you stop? How do you come to a conclusion? Do you or should you come to a conclusion?
I know what you’re thinking: “Hold on! Can’t you just tell us what to do?” Well, I could, but where’s the fun in that?
Think about how you’ve conducted research and where you learned to research. Think about the research assignments you’ve done for other classes (in high school or college). What were their purposes, and how did you create a research “paper” or final project?
Epistemology
How do we make knowledge? How do we take data and make it information? Let’s consider those questions as we explore epistemology. This should lead us into a page on Thinking Critically about Research.
Source Credibility
Are all sources equal? What makes a source credible or not so credible? Below are the names and descriptions of some types of sources you may encounter:
- Popular media—Time, Newsweek, The Washington Post, The Charlotte Observer
- Internet sources—sources which exist solely online and do not mimic “traditional” print sources:
(The links below should open up in new windows)- Legitimate: CNN.com, Salon.com, World’s Greatest Webpage, etc.
- Maybe not so…the Onion
- Encyclopedic and dictionary types: Wikipedia, Dictionary.com, Nobel Prize winners, etc.
- Sources found on the Internet—databases and online “card” catalogs
- Trade and business sources—white papers, consumer reports, other sources for semi-technical to highly technical
- Specialized/Government Sources—commissioned reports, expert panels, empirical research
- Scholarly/peer reviewed/refereed sources—same as above
- Authoritative sources—the above three types of sources and usually primary sources or sources that have proven their reliability for offering credible information to a specialized group
Next Class
Tomorrow (6/09), your Set of Instructions assignment is due, so make sure you have that finished. We will finish up our research discussion and then move onto discussing Technology from a social perspective–don’t forget to read the supplement. Please have that reading done before the Midterm because there will be questions on your Midterm Exam based on that reading.
Speaking of your Midterm Exam…it’s on Thursday, 6/10. It’ll open on Canvas at 8:00 am. Once you start, you’ll have 90 minutes to complete the exam. It closes promptly at 11:00 pm.