ENC 3250 Professional Writing

Elliot Hutchinson

March 9, 2015

MIDTERM REFLECTION

ASSIGNMENT

News -> What? Is it bad? -> Start with nice/neutral statement.

Reason -> Why? Don’t start with this!

Details -> How? Don’t tell them what they already know.

Closing -> Now What? Action and/or honey statement.

FUNCTIONAL OUTLINE

I have used the functional outline for each assignment so far. I find it useful when fi rst creating a document for an assignment to fi ll it with:

TODO: insert News paragraphTODO: insert Reason paragraphTODO: insert Details paragraphTODO: insert Closing paragraph

I use the functional outline to remind myself what content should go in each paragraph. It has been a very valuable tool!

FUNCTIONAL OUTLINE

Clear Is it obvious what you are informing, requesting, or persuading?

Concise Remove extra words and information already known.

Complete Be sure to include news, details, closing.

Correct Double-check format, grammar, punctuation, spelling, and word

usage.

Courteous Be polite and professional with tone.

5 CS

The 5 Cs make this course and writing professional correspondence so easy. They serve as a checklist that I routinely cycle through and ask if my writing meets the criteria. I use this aid for each of my assignments and I have even used it in writing some emails this semester!

5 CS

Audience Know who you are writing for. Use “you” viewpoint.

Context Your writing is read within a certain bias and environment.

Purpose Your writing should answer the what and why.

Ethics Avoid deception and don’t withhold info. Take responsibility and avoid passive voice.

Introduction Focuses reader’s attention.

Conclusion Shaped by audience, purpose, and context.

CHAPTER 1: THE WRITING PROCESS

I’ve found that reminding myself that my writing is meant to be read by a particular audience keeps me focused on writing for the prompt.

This helps establish a link to the purpose of the document as well as the context that it will be read in and what assumptions and biases my reader might have.

CHAPTER 1: THE WRITING PROCESS

Email Watch grammar and tone. Easily forwarded, sent to unknown recipients (BCC), never really

deleted. Send courtesy reply if you need more time.

Instant Messaging Acceptable to use abbreviations. Keep conversations constrained to a single topic.

Text Messaging Don’t use text messages for important information.

Social Media Be professional as content is public.

CHAPTER 2: WORKPLACE TECHNOLOGY

Correspondence Establish good will with “you” viewpoint. Be respectful, modest, polite, tactful. Use indirect pattern for negative correspondence. Help the reader by using headings.

Complaints Be careful with tone. Explain why the problem happened.

Letters Used for external communication. Block style. Continue pages with two lines of text and add a header.

Memos Internal organization communication. Utilize headings and lists for clarity.

CHAPTER 4: CORRESPONDENCE

I didn’t know the diff erence between a letter and a memo prior to this module, so I found it useful to think that one is what you would send outside and one is what you would send inside. Being respectful, professional, and maintaining a courteous tone are important in all correspondence, but especially with complaint letters. I also learned that an indirect approach can help with negative subject matter. I used this in the complaint letter assignment to help with the tone.

CHAPTER 4: CORRESPONDENCE

Parallel Structure Elements in a sequence should share the same form.

“You” Viewpoint Gather the reader’s attention by writing from their perspective. Use you and your but watch for accusatory statements.

Clichés Avoid commonly used expressions. May not be understood by audience with different cultures.

Vague Words Be clear and concise with concrete words.

Logic Errors Non sequiturs: conclusions that don’t follow what came before. Post-hoc rationalization: contributing cause to whatever

follows.Concise Words

Avoid modifiers that cause redundancy in ideas.

CHAPTER 10: STYLE & CLARITY

Layout Use grouping, alignment, proximity, similarity, to segment

content.Design

Use white space to enable chunking of content. Use color to segment sections.

Headings Assist the reader by highlighting the topic. Signal new topics. Carry headings over to the next page if last line.

Lists Capitalize first word of each item. Be consistent with form of each item.

CHAPTER 7: DESIGN & VISUALS

Content from chapter 7 helped in analyzing the two not-for-profi t websites as well as the analysis of a poorly designed website. I am developing 3 websites this semester so this material has been topical outside of this course, as well. Using color to help segment and denote new sections to aid the user is useful in designing UI which is a big part of software development.

CHAPTER 7: DESIGN & VISUALS

ENC 3250 Professional Writing Course MaterialThe Business Writer’s Companion 7 th Edition Instructor Sheila Bolduc-SimpsonNormanEinstein, CC BY-SA 3.0, http://

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ionian_Sea#mediaviewer/File:Ionian_Sea_map.png

Andrew Taylor, CC BY 2.0, https://www.fl ickr.com/photos/profi lerehab/6956509317/

Adrian Clark, CC BY-ND 2.0,https://

www.fl ickr.com/photos/adrianclarkmbbs/3041954566/in/set-72157607752583617

Juhan Sonin, CC BY 2.0, https://www.fl ickr.com/photos/juhansonin/3254322054/in/set-72157627141978784

REFERENCES