What I Learned...

I have learned a great deal from this class. It has been helpful to learn about professional writing in many different forms not just for the business world. The memos were definitely a good type of writing to practice. I feel very confident about writing them in the future. The proposal was also a good document to cover, and I think the knowledge I learned will come in handy. I found it interesting to learn about freelance writing. I enjoy writing and may someday choose to try a pitch if I find something exciting to write about. I enjoyed the group project. It was fun to work together to make up a company.

This class helped me to learn how to write in a more concise way and make my voice more professional. In the future, I believe many of the topics covered in class will help me to be a better employee.

Response to Traci's Chapter Reading Post

Traci highlights some important points from chapters 17 and 18. She explained that she doesn’t enjoy public speaking and often gets nervous. I liked my public speaking class and although I was nervous, I definitely improved my skills. Visual aids do need to be short and to the point. People often try to use their aid to talk for them which can ruin a speech. Also, if the visual aid is unclear or doesn’t truly represent your topic you can confuse people. It is a good idea to keep the speech short and structured to make sure you don’t get lost when delivering and to help your audience follow you. As the chapter said, always keep your audience in mind.

The web can be used to communicate with a target audience. Always, again, keep your viewer/audience in mind. It is easy to leave a web page so it is important to catch your readers’ interest quickly. The text must be interesting and well written. Like Traci, I never considered tailoring a web page to the disabled. On the other hand, I have never designed a web page.

Chapters 17 and 18

Oral presentations are difficult and Chapter 17 gives some good tips for making them great. I like the idea of thinking about your listeners and communication goals. This goes back to always thinking about your readers when writing communications but is especially important when giving oral presentations. Making sure you are within the time limits is also important. Visual aids always offer added difficultly. Trying to juggle them around and know what your saying can be hard. I have always done an outlines talk which makes knowing what to say easier and you will probably feel more at ease. The book lays out that you should make certain your listeners are able to follow what you are saying. I suggest presenting to someone for their input before the actual presentation.

I have never designed a web page or website but chapter 14 has some good ideas about how to make them great. Anticipate you readers and know what they want. Without this you will never have any readers. Mapping out the site is always a nice touch for usability. Visually, the site must be appealing so people will want to stay and see what you have to say.

Resonse to Son's Chapter Reading Post

Son gave great insight on chapter 2, 9, and 10. Chapter two went over writing with the reader in mind. We have been learning this all semester but now it is being applied to different types communication such as resumes and application letters. Son listed three aspects to a reader-centered approach: be clear and concise, use simple wording that gets the points across, and use appropriate persuasion. I liked Son’s thought that we have to “brainwash” readers to do what we want. Hopefully, they are already agreeing with us and all we have to do is convince them to take action.

Chapters nine and ten offered interesting ideas for opening and closing communications. Son said that, for him, the hardest part of a paper is the introduction. I have trouble writing conclusions. I feel that I good at writing attention grabbing introductions that make people want to read my papers. When it comes to the conclusion I have a hard time finding enough to say and also have difficultly rewording my main points. The book offered many good ideas for both introductions and conclusions helping both Son and myself.

Chapters 2, 9, & 10

Chapter two gave great insight on how to write a professional resume. Writing concisely is very important in order to keep the resume down to one page. When I recently redid my resume I had to eliminate information. It was hard because I thought all the information was useful but I had to think for an employers’ perspective and try to see what they might want to know. The professional objective is something I have heard of but never used. It can be helpful for employers to see what you want to do for the company to show that you’ve thought about it and really care.

Chapter nine had useful tips on how to begin your writing. Some ideas I found interesting were: a persuasive subject line in emails, state your main point, offer to help your reader solve a dilemma they are facing, and provide readers with the necessary background information. These ideas will definitely help your readers actually read what you give them and not skim.

Chapter ten gives tips on how to close a communication. Repeating your main point is especially important to help your readers remember what you were saying. Referring to a goal stated earlier can help to call your reader to action by reminding them of the reason for your writing.