WRTG293 All Discussions – November 2018

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WRTG 293 students,

This discussion topic is
designed to help us understand what professional writing is and what academic
writing is.

To complete this discussion
topic, you will access the article by Felix S. Vasquez, “Differences between
Academic and Business Writing.” The article is available in the
e-reserves for this class.

To access the article, please take the
following steps:

·
select Content in
the top menu bar of LEO.

·
select Class Resources

·
select eReserves

·
click on the eReserves
icon on the interface

·
locate the article among the
list of eReserves articles available.

Professor Vasquez is writing
about teaching writing skills in Spanish to students for whom Spanish is not
a native language. However, that issue is not the focus of our
discussion here. His analysis of business writing and academic writing
is the focus of this discussion. That analysis will be very helpful to
review as we begin our course.

Please answer all of the
following questions based on what Vasquez writes in his article, not based on
your own understanding. In addition, please do not simply copy text
from the article. Please summarize what Vasquez writes in the article,
and use quotation marks for occasional quotes from the article if you would like
to.

1.
What are some of the problems that poor writing causes for
businesses? Please do not copy your answer from the article.
Please summarize what the article says on this issue and use quotation marks
for occasional quotes from the article.

2.
What are the similiarities between academic writing and business
writing? Try to come up with at least three of them. Please write
a paragraph or two in posting your answer.

3.
What are the differences between academic writing and business
writing? Try to come up with at least three of them. Please write
a paragraph or two in posting your answer.

Please note that you will not
be able to see other students’ responses to this discussion topic until you
post your response.

Must post first.

WRTG 293 students,

This discussion topic is designed to help
prepare you for Writing Assignment #1, “Rewriting a Set of
Instructions.”

Please download the Word document in writing
assignment #1 that features the poorly written set of instructions.

Then complete the following steps in
responding to this discussion topic:

1. Peruse the McMurrey, Jerz, and Wikibooks
resources on how to write instructions. They are provided in the list
of items for Content for week 1.

2. Examine the set of poorly written
instructions. List at least three problems with the instructions, using
the these three resources as a guide.

Please note that you will not be able to see
other students’ responses to this discussion topic until you have posted a
response to it.

Must post first.

WRTG 293 students,

For this discussion topic, you will want to read the
instructions for Writing Assignment #1, “Rewriting a Set of
Instructions.” The assignment instructions provide some context
for this discussion topic task.

The poorly written set of instructions that you examined in week
1 were written by a student worker at Anderson College.

Imagine that you are Dr. Richard Johnson, Dean of the
Undergraduate School at Anderson College. You will write an email
message to the student worker informing her that her instructions are not
suitable to be distributed to the students and faculty at Anderson College.

Keep in mind the Jameson article we read in week 1 as well as
other resources you are reading for week 2. You want to maintain proper
tone and professionalism. While the instructions the student worker
wrote are not professional and would be embarrassing to send to the students
and faculty members, you do not want to seem unprofessional in your message
to the student worker. In addition, she is a student worker. You don’t want
to overly criticize her in your message.

Write the body of your email message below.
You don’t have to worry about the subject line of any other part of the
email message for this task.

You can make up the name of the student
worker in writing the email message.

Please note that you will not be able to see
other students’ responses to this discussion topic until you post your
response.

Must post first.

WRTG 293 students,

Please watch the following short video on how to write an
effective email message.

Then respond to this discussion thread by writing an email
message for the following situation:

You are a student in WRTG
293. You think that there is a writing assignment due on week 2.
However, you are not sure. In addition, if there is a writing
assignment due, you are not sure what assignment is due. Finally, if
there is a writing assignment due, you are not certain on what day it is due
– is it Saturday, or is it Sunday?

Please construct an email
message to your instructor to ask for clarification on these points.

In composing your email message, write what
your subject line will be in addition to your actual message. In other words,
you will have the following:

Subject:your subject line goes here

Message:

your message goes here

Please give feedback to at least one other student’s
response to this thread. In your feedback, feel free to draw upon
the advice in the video or the advice giving in the reading for week 2.

Please note that you will not be able to see
other students’ responses to this discussion topic until you post your
response.

Must post first.

WRTG 293 students,

In week 3, one of the resources provided for you is a video that
introduces you to ‘s Career Services. Some discussion topics in the
upcoming weeks, and our last two writing assignments, will focus on becoming
familiar with Career Services and its various resources and in becoming more
familiar with one’s own field of study and career goals.

Please access the Career Services website at .

You will see the following list of items:

Select Career Planning. If you scroll down, you will
see the following three sections:

Please select at least one of the
sections. Peruse the information. Write one paragraph of 125-200
words describing what you found when you examined this information.

This discussion topic will help inform your work in the coming
weeks of the class.

Please note that you will not be able to see
other students’ responses to this discussion topic until you post your
response.

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Consider a time when you received or engaged in communication
with an employer. This might have been a letter, an email, or even a text
from an employer. It might have been a conversation between you and
your employer.

What did your employer do in this communication
that made you receptive or unreceptive to the message from the employer?

Your answer should be 1-2 paragraphs.

Please note that you will not be able to see
other students’ responses to this discussion topic until you post your
response.

Must post first.

For Writing Assignment #1, you rewrote a set of instructions.

In addition, for Writing Assignment #2, you sent an email
message to Dr. Johnson explaining the changes you made to the instructions.

In this discussion topic, please complete the following:

Write a memo to the faculty members at
Anderson College informing them of the revised instructions and where they
can access them.

Please follow the advice provided in the resources for this week
about writing a memo. In addition, you can be creative in directing the
faculty members to where they can access the new set of instructions.
You can make up the name of a folder on Google drive or some other
folder on the cloud.

This is an internal memo. However, some faculty members might
not remember the details about the instructions that the previous student
worker wrote. For this reason, you will want to introduce the memo with
some level of detail of the history of the instructions, let them know that
the instructions have been revised, and let them know where they can access
them. Of course, you will want to provide them with your contact
information in case they have additional questions.

This is a discussion topic, not a writing
assignment. You will want to reply to this discussion topic and write
your memo in the discussion text box.

Please note that you will not be able to see
other students’ responses to this discussion topic until you post your
response.

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WRTG 293 students,

Please access the CareerQuest website for students at .

https://careerquest..edu/page/students

Proceed through the interface to join the CareerQuest community
as a student and complete your profile.

Explore the various options in CareerQuest, including recently
posted jobs and other resources and online tools.

Write a few sentences to your fellow
classmates about anything interesting you found through CareerQuest.

Please note that you will not be able to see
other students’ responses to this discussion topic until you post your
response.

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Students,

Please watch the following video. Then answer the
questions below.

1. Please share a goal you have developed
and, if possible, share how you applied the SMART strategy outlined in this
video.

2. What is your major? Did you choose
your major as a result of specific goals you had established? Please
explain in two or three sentences.

Please note that you will not be able to see
other students’ responses to this discussion topic until you post your
response.

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WRTG 293 students,

Please access “Get Tips for Crafting Your
Resume and Cover Letter” from Career Services .

Peruse the resources and tutorials offered.

In responding to this discussion topic,
share three strategies you learned from the resources on either resumes or
cover letters or both. Try not to duplicate a strategy given by another
classmate. When this discussion is completed, we might have a plethora
of tips and strategies that are very useful.

Please note that you will not be able to see
other students’ responses to this discussion topic until you post your
response.

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WRTG 293 students,

Please access the following url:

https://www.careeronestop.org/ResumeGuide/SampleResumeWalkThrough.aspx

You will see the following interface.

Please click on the various sections of the sample resume
walk-through, as pointed to by the red arrows below. Read through the
various pieces of advice given.

Please write three pieces of
advice you found from the website.

Please note that you will not be able to see
other students’ responses to this discussion topic until you post your
response.

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WRTG 293 students,

After you have watched the videos ”You Will be Googled” and
“Online Reputation Management: Welcome to the War” (you will find
them under the Week 8 content), discuss experiences you have had in any of
the following ways:

·
you were on a hiring committee
for a position, and you Googled one of the candidates

·
you Googled yourself

·
you were being considered for
a position at an organization, and the representatives from the organization
Googled you.

Describe your experience in any one, two, or
all three of these situations. This is our last discussion in which you are
required to interact as a class. As you leave the class, use this discussion
as a place to receive advice from classmates and to give advice to classmates
regarding one’s online presence.

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WRTG 293 students,

Please read through the following problem-based scenario about a
credit card company manager who receives an application for a credit card
from Todd Riley, who is not old enough to apply for a credit card without a
cosigner.

Then write a short response to Todd as the scenario describes.
Your response should be about 150-200 words in length.

This might be considered a conventional “bad news”
situation. Nonetheless, consider whether you are really giving Todd bad
news. He can, after all, get a credit card if he
takes some extra steps.

In addition, please respond to
at least one other student’s post in this discussion thread. In
your response to a fellow student, comment on the organization, word choice,
tone, or whatever else you feel is appropriate. Please draw upon
the Jameson article in your response to your fellow student. Your
response to the other student can be two or three sentences.

Problem-Based Scenario

You are the credit manager for FlashExpress,
a growing credit card company, and your department receives hundreds of
applications for credit cards each month. Frequently, you receive
credit card applications from individuals under the legal age who are
applying for a credit card. Legal regulations prohibit you from issuing a
credit card to underage applicants unless a parent or other guarantor cosigns
with them. If the minor does not pay, then the guarantor becomes responsible
for the account. In addition to requiring a guarantor, FlashExpress requires
underage applicants to fill out an additional supplemental form.

In your role as credit manager, write a
letter to Todd Riley, a 17-year-old underage applicant, responding to his
request for a credit card. Consider your audience, the context, and the
purpose of your letter. Your letter should explain that you have enclosed a
necessary supplemental form, along with a new credit card application, both
of which need to be filled out. The guarantor must sign both forms. To
expedite processing, Todd should mention on the top of the application that
he has applied for credit previously and should return the application and
supplemental form directly to you.

Taken from Smart, K. L., Hicks, N., & Melton, J.
(2013). Using problem-based scenarios to teach writing. Business Communication Quarterly, 76(1), 72-81.
doi:10.1177/1080569912466256

Please note that you will not be able
to see other students’ responses to this discussion topic until you post your
response.

Must post first.

WRTG 293 students,

You wrote a response to Todd Riley in the previous week.
Mr. Riley had applied for a credit card with your company,
FlashExpress. However, he was 17 years old and not of age to apply for
one on his own.

Please read pages 74-79 from the article, “Using
Problem-Based Scenarios to Teach Writing,” by Hicks et al. Then
answer the following questions.

1. This article provides three
possible responses to Mr. Riley. How is response #2 an improvement over
response #1? Please write two to four sentences in your response.

2. How is response #3 an improvement over
both responses #1 and #2? Does response #3 read like a “bad
news” letter? What strategy did Paula Persuader use in her
response to Mr. Riley that was different from those of the two other writers?
Please write two to four sentences in your response.

3. Please describe a situation in which you
had to write a message of bad news. Without giving away names or
personal information, please describe in as much detail the situation you
encountered. This could be a denial of a request from a customer, a
note to a contractor that you no longer want his or her services, a message
to a company indicating that you are returning a product, etc. Did you
apply any of the principles outlined in this article? The authors in
this article state that not all “bad news” situations are
necessarily bad. In Todd Riley’s situation, it was turned
into an opportunity by Paula Persuader. You might comment on whether
you used this type of language in your personal situation.

Please note that you will not be able to see
other students’ responses to this discussion topic until you post your
response.