WRIT 3029W: Business and Professional Writing, Spring 2012

Hey all!

As you put together your presentations, please remember to make it engaging and not boring or generic. 

Cheers,

Trent

Hey all!

Regarding the Rhetorical Analysis:

I've received a few emails about the subject of your rhetorical analysis; however, I haven't received an email from everyone. Pick an web presence (personal identity or corporate identity) and run with it. The purpose of this assignment is to give you a chance to do a quick and dirty analysis of a website and think about how it can connect to larger issues of business ethos (authority).

The best guide for what questions you can ask is here. I created my own, but this list is better. These questions matter because they relate to trust, authority, persuasion, delivery, and other important aspects of not only business discourse but all discourse. These questions are not meant to be rules; they're guidelines.

When you write your analysis, break it down into sections: introduction, type of site, purpose, etc. You don't have to use those section headings, but they are a way for you to start thinking about the site before you and how to translate your critique of it to paper.

The paper is only 2-3 pages single-space (not including a title page and cover memo). You can also include screen captures, if it helps with your analysis. Please do not abuse this though.

If you have a question or are confused about the assignment, please let me know. I can't read minds, so if you don't ask, then I don't know.

Regarding the Class Schedule:

We will not have normal class on Tuesday. This will be a workday for your rhetorical analysis. I will be available in our classroom for the duration of our meeting time to help you with your rhetorical analysis.

On Thursday, we will have class and use some of our time as a peer review session for your rhetorical analysis. So, please bring in a hard copy draft of your rhetorical analysis. Bring whatever you have, and we'll all work together and offer feedback.

In addition, you will need to be ready to commit to a particular website technology on Thursday. So, spend some time between now and Thursday looking at the ones we've talked about (e.g. Posterous, Tumblr, WordPress.com, etc). Mess around with them, and then pick one and run with it. Let me know what technology you're going to use, and I will help you plan out what info you should put on it and how.

Since this week is turning into a work week, we will not have any readings. Instead, we'll talk about the pros and cons of using technology to represent yourself, what it means for business discourse, and how we can use technology to manage positive and negative aspects of our online identities.

As always, if you have questions, please ask!

Cheers,

Trent

Hey all!

I hope your spring break was fun, relaxing, and successful. It's time to get back into the swing of things, and we are now on the down slope of the semester. We still have a good amount of material to cover, but I think we're in a good place to finish out the semester strong.

So, here are some things to recap:

1. We're working on our rhetorical analysis and website project at the moment. This is a time consuming project, so please consciously work on it to make it as great as you can. This is something you'll carry with you when you leave the course.
2. We need to make sure that we have the subject of our rhetorical analysis selected, and our website tool selected.
3. I should have your cover letters and resumes back to you this week.
4. I sent out the mid-semester survey. Please do your best to complete it ASAP. If you missed my email, it's anonymous and available here.
5. Our main focus for April will be proposal writing and presenting. We need to decide if we want our proposal assignment to be a collaborative assignment or not. If you're nervous about presenting in front of people, please don't worry. I will help you.

Let me know if you have any questions, and let's finish the semester out strong.

Now, here's a funny Simon's Cat video that is absolutely accurate:

Cheers,

Trent

Hey all!

Here's the information you need for the cover letter part of your Resume and Cover Letter assignment. I've also updated the schedule for this week. 

Cover Letter: 1) you need to locate an actual job ad/internship, etc. that you can apply for, 2) you're going to write your cover letter for that specific job/internship, 3) you will need to provide the link or copy of the job ad/internship, etc. to me, so I can offer feedback on your cover letter based on the actual ad, and 4) you will need to revise your resume accordingly.

A cover letter is narrative (one page) outlining why you are qualified for a job, what you bring to a job, and how your experience makes you the ideal candidate. (See Workplace for good examples)

Schedule Change: I'm moving the readings for this Tuesday (Feb 28th) to next Tuesday (Mar 6th). We will instead spend the entire class this Tuesday talking about Twitter, shape and concision of writing, and cover letters. 

We will have class this Thursday (Mar 1st), and we will do a cover letter workshop and peer review. Please bring in a hardcopy draft of your cover letter to class this Thursday, and we'll review them. Also, for those of you who didn't bring in a resume last week, you can bring one in this Thursday as well, and we'll try to get to them. 

Your Resume and Cover Letter assignment is due Mar 4th by 1155pm in Moodle. Submit this assignment as one file. 

Please let me know if there are any questions!

Ciao,

Trent

Hey all!

When we start to write our business proposals, they won't look like this. Though, it's crazy enough that it just may work.

Cartoon by xkcd // Creative Commons licensed: CC BY-NC

Cheers,

Trent

Hey all!

Here are the small changes I've made to our schedule:

Resume and Cover Letter are due on March 4th in Moodle by 1155pm. 

Blog post about Twitter is due Tuesday February 28th on your blogs. This isn't so much a change but a reminder. I know some of you have already done your blog entries for the week, but you need to do your Twitter evaluation entry by next Tuesday's class meeting too. 

Let me know if you have questions. 

Cheers,

Trent

Hey all!

Here are some great thoughts on job interviews, and I think it would be beneficial for you to consider them as you prepare for the workforce outside the university. 

Why I Won't Hire You from Lifehacker

Cheers,

Trent

Hey all!

Here's my thought about Moodle:

Trent

Hey all!

Amber Backus tweeted out this video under our hashtag on Friday. I found it hilarious and similar to our krappy memo exercise. We might watch it in class and do a little analysis on Tuesday, which I'm sure will be followed by laughter. Enjoy!

Cheers,

Trent