You Know

DQ1
Date: January 22, 2013
To: Marcilio Farias
From: Sallye Mayberry
Subject: What parts of the writing process have you followed without difficulties?
Per your request, I follow the writing process without difficulties by finding out what my audience would like to hear, their likes and dislikes are important when it comes to writing a successful paper. Once I captured my audience attention, I find writing to be less difficult and easier to achieve at my writing goals. In the writing process, taking the right steps in the writing process is what makes it less difficult to follow and easier to challenge. Having a strong thesis is what I’ve learned to followed without difficulties “The first step in the process is to decide which steps in the process to follow, and how.” Locker-Kienzler, pg. 135
What elements of the process have you forgotten? When writing a paper, it takes a lot of processing to have a strong paper. How to capture the audience? How to research and get good information? What steps to take to get this whole process started so that you can capture your audience?
What parts of your writing process seem most successful? When I am writing, brainstorming, prewriting, free writing, and a good outline with a strong thesis is what makes a writing process seem most successful. Knowing what captures your audience, and making sure your paper flow from beginning to end will give you the best tools to have with a most successful writing process.

Hello Sallye, class,

Thank you for the first comments to this first question, and for detailing your experiences with reviewing your own work -- I always learn a lot when I revisit my old threads. At times is an argument that I could have improved, or a citation that would better illustrate a case, or a typo, or spell case that sometimes we all let slip onto our keyboards.

Your commentary touched a very important issue that I would like to elaborate on a littel bit -- thank you for bringing the subject to the forum: the connection between research and quality of information.

For a fortunate coincidence, I have just come from a web meeting about difficulties of online college students when facing a research challenge. In the discussions, it was unanimous the observation that most of the time there is some confusion between "search" and "research" -- it is very easy to search for a subject matter (in a search engine, for example) and consider that resource "the" original source of information. And here is the reason why Faculty always prioritize the Online Library as the main source of information for our academic work.

You can always narrow the preliminary task of searching for resources to peer-reviewed articles. In our Library page it is located on the homepage of the resource. For instance, when you open the General Resources link in our home page, you see three of the resources under the General Resources link offering a peer-reviewed/scholarly materials filter.

Databases are different from search engines. On a search engine you type a sentence, a question, or a word, or a group of words to obtain results. But when you go to a Library, you are on databases territory -- and databases do not use natural language like the Internet. So, the best thing to do is to take a couple of minutes and jot down the keywords that summarize the topic you want to search for. As an example you may need to know "What are the effects of a low protein diet on the elderly?" Many people are used to doing a Google search and typing in the entire question. When using the library resources it is best to use your keywords. In this case we would select (effects, low protein, diet and elderly).

Then the following question needs to be addressed, "In which database resource do I search?" The 3 general information resources are provided by ProQuest, EBSCO and Gale and are found under the General Resources tab. You can find a little bit of everything in these resources including articles, videos and excerpts from books, journals, magazines and newspapers. Near the box where you will put the keywords you should see a checkbox for limiting your results to Full Text and/or Peer Reviewed results (this is true with many of our other resources too).

Last, it is likely that most of you use the basic key-word search, which is the most used form, and perhaps the most intuitive technique. But you can add more elements (also called operators) to your narrowing process :

a) you can use boolean indicators like "and" "or" and "not" to reduce/narrow results. Eg: "tissue samples AND national studies OR regional studies"
b) you can use proximity indicators like "with" or "near". Eg: "juvenile crime WITH death penalty NEAR east coast"
c) you can use a question-based or phrase-based search: Eg: "what is juvenile crime rate in the east coast?" or "juvenile crime rate in the east coast"
d) you can use truncation, which is a way to "help" the search engines to work. (As you know, computers do not "think" -- artificial intelligence is not a fact yet, and I doubt it will be... -- so you need to help them to think) = search engines will not give you results for "violent" if you type "violence". If you want results for both, you need to use a truncation =which is the use of a symbol (usually an asterisk *, but it can be a /, or a $, or a % ) after the key work, or key words used in your search bar. Eg. "violen*, or violence*; or music* -- results will give you more results.

Then the "research" begins...

Thank you for bringing the matter to the forum,
Best,
Marcilio

Jan 22, 2013

To: Marcilio Farias

From: Krystal Weathers

Subject: Analyzing the Writing Process

After review of my paper I realize there are several mistakes that I have continued to make during the writing process that I was not aware of until now. Completing a writing assignment involves several steps there are many in which I should focus more on.

Why Writing Has Not Been Successful

While I was working on my last writing assignment regarding technological advancements, I mainly focused on the amount of information that I could find on my topic and from what reputable sources. I allowed one concentration to completely disregard the other important aspects of writing such as formatting, grammar, and punctuality.

I have forgotten what makes a source credible and what to do when you cannot find a credible source. I struggle with learning creative ways to do research. I become self-paced and tend to skim through items to avoid reading long passages. Some topics of no interest to me become very hard to research and my writing has suffered because of this.

Why Writing Has Been Successful

Writing is definitely a great deal of joy when it is done by choice. So far I have been able to revise and edit very well. I do not stress about my first copy as I always revise, edit, and then produce a final copy. I have also been able to consider the audience point of view. I continue to grow into the idea that the purpose of me writing is not to appease myself but to appease an audience and to provide an expanded view of ideas, theories, justification, and the many dimensions that writing creates.

The most successful for me so far has been my ability to build interest. Beyond the grammatical errors, improper formatting, and unintentional mistakes, I usually find a way to grasp the attention of my readers. It is not the reaction that I seek so much, but it is the ability to engage you.

(University of Phoenix, 2008, pp. 621-623). Formats for Letters, Memos, and E-mail Messages. Retrieved from University of Phoenix , XCOM285 website.

Krystal Weathers [e-mail] ( CST )al Weathers 9026725854

January 23, 2013

To: Marcilio Farias

From: John Horne

Subject: Analyzing the Process of my Last Project

As you requested, I have reviewed the assigned text on pages 136 through 140 of Business and Administration Communication. I took a second look at the assignment that was previously completed last week and identified some weaknesses and strengths within my writing skills. I was able to identify some writing techniques that I follow without difficulty, elements that I had forgotten, and some parts of my writing process that seems to be most successful.

Techniques I Follow Without Difficulty

In my opinion, the planning phase is one of my strongest techniques. According to the text within this phase, choosing the pattern of organization such as making an outline, making a list, and making headings is a process in order to gather the information and place it in some form of rhyme and rythm. When I have project that is required, deciding on the topic and gathering intelligence requires different measures. Yet, as the intelligence or data is retrieved, I tend to make an outline identifying major discussion headings and sub-headings along with quick, short statements to back up or explain the headings. This outline is normally not a 'formal ' outline since I use it as a guideline to flow from one topic to another. Also with my outline, or list as it may seem, I am able to move topic discussions around.

Generally, if the topic is one that I am able to choose, or at least decide on the depth of the discussion topic, conducting the research, and making all necessary pre writing steps along with continued writing techniques are often more easier to complete.

Elements of the Process that May Have Been Forgotten

Some of the writing techniques that I had forgotten, or at least lost a little touch with is the 'free writing ' and 'clustering '. Although I am familiar with these techniques, they are not widely used by myself when writing. This is mainly because these techniques are not favored by me therefore, I tend to shy away from the steps or techniques that could possibly be used or benefited from. Brainstorming can often be difficult for me to use since I can not have an idea and use an unbiased decision on the topic. Whether the topic is one that is of interest to me or not, human nature plays a major factor, and it often requires more work and thought processes. I do tend to look at both sides of a topic when in discussion, but to write a piece on a topic, I generally already have my ideas and thoughts.

Clustering has never been a favorite of mine since the techniques and ideas of the process does not leave room for flow-of-thoughts. When presented with clusters of ideas, it is simply that to my viewing, a cluster with no rhyme or rythm.

Free writing can often be helpful to jot down ideas, but it can also be a hindrance to me since after conducting the free writing technique, I feel as though I have to go back and 'proof ' the writing rather than using the information for the desired piece that is to be completed. All in all, these techniques are still affective if used properly and used periodically in order to better understand and perform the tasks with the techniques.

Parts Found to be Most Successful

One part of the writing process that I find to be most successful within me is the revising of the piece. Once I have the ideas on paper in a flow that I think is good. I put the paper away for a while and then come back to it later in order to get a somewhat fresh look. Although I know that I am the author, I try to visualize the scenario in my head, almost as though I am watching the story in my head as I read it. This gives me a chance to make cosmetic and major changes in order to help the intended audience better understand the message. Although the writing piece may be 'informational ', it is still possible to visualize the intended message. By doing this, I am able to add more clarification or elaboration along with maybe taking some things out that may not be of importance.

Overall Analysis of my Writing Style

As I look at my overall writing style, I realize that perfecting the writing style will never be achieved since there is always critique rather from another pair of eyes or a program designed to check for effectiveness. The only way to become good at writing is to continuously work on different techniques, and processes even if they are the least desired steps. Practice makes perfect, or at least effectiveness.

Thank you for the response, John, with the thorough analysis of your own writing process (in advertising this kind of discussion is called metacommunication -- which is when communicators talk about their own process of communication). And I could not agree with you more when you approach the process as a continuing activity that will never become "perfect" because it is a process -- and all processes adapt to audiences, to purposes, to objectives. The excellence of a writer is that effort in practice, because as Locker and Kienzler so eloquently put on Chapter 5, "Like skilled performances in other arts, writing rests on a base of work." (page 136, paragraph 1) This base of work lies on practice, lots of practice.

I appreciate the memo, and the insights to the forum.
Best,
Marcilio

January 23, 2013
To: Marcilio Farias
From: Rosanne M. Grajewski RMG
Subject: Writing Process Analysis
As you requested, I have reviewed the academic paper written in Week Three, and discovered parts of the writing process that appear effortless, successful, and challenging.
Parts of the Writing Process that Seem Effortless
The parts of the writing process that seem effortless include the revising and editing of an academic paper. When revising, sometimes changing the arrangement of the document’s order, or making sentences clearer and more precise is necessary to reflect a personal flow in writing. In addition, editing the final assignment for typos, incorrect usage of grammar, and punctuation seems more effortless than other parts of the writing process.
The Most Successful Parts of the Writing Process
What seems to be the most successful part of the writing process is a reflection of points not being deducted because of there being incorrectly spelled words, incorrect usage of grammar, or incorrect punctuation within the academic paper.
The Challenging Elements in the Writing Process
The most challenging elements in the writing process include the revising of and planning of an academic paper. Although revising the arrangement of a paper has been effortless, having someone else look at the document for constructive criticism is difficult to accomplish. For example, although referring to the Reference and Citation Examples is a way to correctly format citations and references, sometimes they are incorrect. Since no person in my circle is able to catch those errors because of not being familiar with formatting them correctly, they make it through, and points are deducted, making the revision incomplete.
The Forgotten Parts of the Writing Process
The forgotten parts of the writing process include gathering the information needed to ensure that the requirements for an academic are complete. This includes setting aside enough time in the planning process to make sure that the information in the document is as thorough and accurate as possible. Not gathering the required information for an academic paper before it is due is a reflection of not using one’s time effectively, which can be viewed as being neglectful and careless.

Locker, K., & Kienzler, D. (2008). Chapter 5. In Business and administrative communication (8th ed. pp. 136-140). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill. Retrieved from the University of Phoenix eBook Collection database (Retrieved January 23, 2013)

Rosanne Grajewski

DQ3

a. Text 1 (from an answer to an Inquiry)
Enclosed are the tow copies you requested from our pamphlet, “Using the Internet to market Your products.
The pamphelt walks you trough the steps of planning the Home Page (The first page of the web cite, shows examples of other Web pages we have designed, and provide a questionaire that you can use to analyze audience the audience and purposes

This is the correct way this paragraph should be written.

Enclosed are the two copies you requested from our pamphlet "Using the internet to market your products". The pamphlet walks you through the steps of planning the home page (the first page of the website), shows examples of other web pages we have designed, and provides a questionnaire that you can use to analyze the audience and purposes.

As you can see there were several mistakes in this paragraph that spell checker and grammar checker missed. Starting at the beginning you should notice the word "two" is misspelled. There should be no period after pamphlet and you should put a quotation after products. The next thing that is wrong is the word "through" is misspelled. Home page should not be in caps and web cite is spelled website. The last thing is that the word audience should be taken out of the text.

b. Text 2 (from a performance Appraisal)
Most staff accountants completely three audits a month. Ellen has completed 21 audits in this past six months she is our most productive staff accountant.
Her technical skills our very good however some clients feel that she could be more tactful in suggesting ways that the clients accounting practices courld be improved.

Here is the correct way to write this paragraph.

Most staff accountants complete three audits a month. Ellen has completed 21 audits in the past six months. She is our most productive staff accountant. Her technical skills are very good. However, some clients feel that she could be more tactful in suggesting ways that the clients accounting practices could be improved.

The first error is the word "completely" should be complete. The next error is the use of the word "our" which should be "are".Next you should start a sentence with the word "however". The last thing is the word "courld" should be "could".

One should take into consideration all the different ways to go back and double check your work. Revising is when you go back over your work and make things make more sense and try to shorten the length of the work. The next thing is editing. When you edit, you go back through the paper with a hi-lighter and mark on all of your mistakes that need to be fixed. The last thing you should do is proofread. I believe that one should spend the most time proof reading making sure that the entire paragraph makes sense. I believe that proof reading can eliminate most of your errors.

Hi Class,

Text 1 (from an answer to an Inquiry):
Enclosed are the tow copies you requested from our pamphlet, “Using the Internet to market Your products. The pamphelt walks you trough the steps of planning the Home Page (The first page of the webcite, shows examples of other Web pages we have designed, and provide a questionaire that you can use to analyze audience the audience and purposes.
Text 1 Revised:
Enclosed are the two copies you requested from our pamphlet, “Using the Internet to Market Your Products.” The pamphlet walks you through the steps of planning the home page (the first page of the Web site), shows examples of the other Web pages we have designed, and provides a questionnaire that you can use to analyze the audience and their purposes.
Text 1 Explained:
The spelling checker caught the typos (1) tow, (2) pamphelt, (3) trough, (4) cite, and (5) questionaire.
The spelling checker did not catch the missing capitalization in the title, “Using the Internet to market Your products, the missing quotations at the end of the title, and the word web. The word Home Pageshould not be capitalized, and there is a parenthesis missing after the word cite. There should be an s after provide. Audience is repeated twice, and audience and purposes and shows examples of other Web pages we have designed is incorrect grammar usage.
Text 2 (from a performance Appraisal):
Most staff accountants completely three audits a month. Ellen has completed 21 audits in this past six months she is our most productive staff accountant. Her technical skills our very good however some clients feel that she could be more tactful in suggesting ways that the clients accounting practices courld be improved.
Text 2 Revised:
Most staff accountants complete three audits a month. Ellen has completed 21 audits in the past six months, and she is our most productive staff accountant. Her technical skills are very good, however, some clients feel that she could be more tactful in suggesting ways that clients’ accounting practices can be improved.
Text 2 Explained:
Although there are several mistakes in Text 2, WritePoint did not identify any mistakes. Completely is incorrect because most staff accountants complete 21 audits, and since they have done so in the past six months, the past six months is appropriate. There should be a comma after months, and the word and should be placed after the comma to separate the compound sentence. Our and courld are two incorrect spellings not identified by WritePoint.

There are differences between revising, editing, and proofreading. Revising is the process of going over one’s work to ensure that it meets the necessary requirements. For example, the purpose of this response is to ensure that it explains what revising means, so that it can be compared to the editing and proofreading processes. Editing is the process of going over and correcting the mistakes that one notices in one’s rough draft. This can include correcting misspelled words, or omitting words that do not belong such as how the word audience was repeated twice in the same sentence in Text 1.Proofreading is the process of reviewing the final draft to make sure that it has absolutely no errors. This is what one can do before turning in a final assignment. To become a better writer, I believe that I need to revise my documents more carefully to ensure that all of the included sources and references are correctly cited. Mastering this skill will help me to become a better writer.

Locker, K., & Kienzler, D. (2008). Business and administrative communication (8th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill. Retrieved from the University of Phoenix eBook Collection database.

Hi Michael,

After reviewing your editing corrections, I realize that I did not make the following changes:

I did not change Web site to website, but instead capitalized Web and used the word site as a separate word. The reason for doing this is because of seeing it spelled this way in Chapter 5. Here is one example from the text: "Jane Garrard, the Vice President for investor and media relations at Tupperware Brands Corporation is responsible for producing an earnings release statement for the company Web site, every quarter" (Locker-Kienzler, pg. 135). I believe I have seen it written as website before as well, but wonder if one way is preferred over the other.

In the sentence, Her technical skills are very good however some clients feel that she cold be more tactful in suggesting ways that the clients accounting practices could be improved, I took a different approach than you did, but am finding myself pondering on whether or not I did it correctly. I wrote, Her technical skills are very good, however, some clients feel that she could be more tactful in suggesting ways that clients accounting practices could be improved. I did it this way because of believing that the sentence flows better with the transition that although her skills are very good, there is room for improvement. "Transition words and sentences signal the connections between ideas to the reader" (Locker-Kienzler, p. 126). Please note that I do not believe that beginning a sentence with however is incorrect, I only want to share with you how I evaluated it.

Locker, K., & Kienzler, D. (2008). Chapter 5. In Business and administrative communication (8th ed., pp. 126-135). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill. Retrieved from the University of Phoenix eBook Collection database (Retrieved January 23, 2013)

DQ2
Mr. Hansen,

After review of the training policies in place I have made the necessary changes to counteract the quality issues we have witnessed in the previous months. First, bumper molds will be blasted every 5 oven cycles. Second, resin will be weighed and bagged prior to shift start. Third, all employees ' will initial each part that they manufacture. The initialing of the part is stating that the employee has measured and inspected the bumper and it is of acceptable quality. Fourth, shift lead will inspect all bumpers and initial with his/her approval. With the new polices in place the employees ' will be accountable for the parts they produce. Leads will be held accountable for training their employees ' on what is an acceptable bumper. With these policies in place we should see a steady decline in defective parts making it to the customer.

Sincerly
Brian Cooley

Mr. Aborita,
I have been thinking about our discussion the other day about some of the issues we are having with our current use of communication. I would like to discuss implementing a solution that would improve our formal communication. I would encourage and recommend that we have employees take a writing class that the company would pay for so that we can eliminate some of the miscommunication. It will cost the company money but will improve our reputation and eliminate most of the issues that we have been encountering. The second is to eliminate the informal communication that is going on. This will get us accustomed to writing more formally and will make it easier for us to write correctly and fluently. I believe that these two suggestions will eliminate the problems with promises that we make and increase the productivity in or delivery system. It will also increase our professionalism and our perception to our customers.

January 23, 2013
Ms. Lisa D. Martin, Wage Attachments Specialist
2526 Bermuda Lake Drive, Suite 201
Brandon, Florida, 33712
Dear Jackie:
Recently, managers have been noticing that many of their existing new and existing employees are having trouble in the area of writing skills. One of the major job requirements is that employees are able to communicate on a professional level with internal as well as external customers.
Managers are concerned that many or their employees have writing deficiencies. This issue should be addressed quickly to avoid any costly ramifications. Below is a recommendation for employees to utilize the words “who” and “whom” as a train or re-train tool in order to improve one of the most basic writing skills based on an article “Are Writing Deficiencies Creating a Lost Generation of Business Writers?”.
An email will be distributed company-wide with simple writing guides. The first and most common writing deficiency is the use of the words “who” and “whom”. There are specific times that these words are used. A good writer knows when to determine whether to choose these words as a rule or strategy. The emails will illustrate whether the words function is as object or as a subject. References for this particular topic correlate with Quible, Z. (2007. p. 34). “Are Writing Deficiencies Creating a Lost Generation of Business Writers?”
Please review and advise with any additions, corrections or suggestions.
Sincerely,
Lisa D. Martin

Lisa Martin [e-mail] Eastern Standard Time (EST)

DQ4

To: Class
From: Taney A. Batiste
Subject: Bypassing

Dear Class:

When two people use the same word or a group of words to define different things or actions, this is called bypassing. Bypassing happens when the writer of a message does not use the correct word or group of words to deliver the desired message. When bypassing happens it can result in confusion for the receiver of the message; which can then cause delays in the completion of the task, unnecessary phone calls, and frustration for both parties. Additionally, because one word or group of words can have many meanings, it is very important to choose the word or words that best delivers the intended message.

In order avoid bypassing and to be sure that the correct message is delivered, the writer 's definition of the word or words used are to match the meaning that the they want to send. This may require the writer to take the time to review the actual definition in the dictionary for its accurate denotation. In the end, the extra effort will go along way in making sure that the information is delivered to receiver accurately and clearly.

Respectfully,

Taney Batiste

References: for this particular topic correlate with Quible, Z. (2007. p. 34). “Are Writing Deficiencies Creating a Lost Generation of Business Writers?” Please review and advise with any additions, corrections or suggestions.