Introducing Your Description

Goals

Analyze the rhetorical situation and determine the appropriate audience or users of written communication, considering the needs of global audiences and people with disabilities. [CLO 1]
Use conventions of various workplace genres, such as proposals, instructions, correspondence, reports, and slide decks, with understanding of how the genre conventions can be used as heuristics and as principles of arrangement. [CLO 4]

The Task

What I Want You to Do

Answer a series of questions to gather details for your technical description. You will later incorporate the information in your technical description and in your recommendation report. The questions in this activity come from Markel & Selber’s Table 20.1, “Questions to Answer in Introducing a Description.”

Why I Want You to Do It

These questions go through the key aspects of a technical description. Answering each question and then including that information in your technical description ensures that you fully describe the object or process.

How You Do It

Only one of the two “Introducing Your Description” activities counts toward your course grade. Since you do the activity that matches the topic of your technical description, there is no need to do both activities.

Choose the version of the activity that matches the topic for your technical description:
- Introducing Your Description of an Object
- Introducing Your Description of a Process
If you would like to gather your answers before you begin this activity, use the list in Markel & Selber, Table 20.1, “Questions to Answer in Introducing a Description” or download the Word document version of the questions:
- Word document version of Introducing Your Description of an Object
- Word document version of Introducing Your Description of a Process
Add your answers to the questions, either composing them in the form, OR copying from the Word document if you did your work there.
Submit your answers to the questions:
- Submit here by 11:59 PM on Friday, March 26.
- If you need more time, submit your answers by 11:59 PM on Monday, March 29.
As you work on your technical description, incorporate the information from your answers in your project.

Obtaining the Points for Your Work

You track and grade your own work in this course. Be sure to complete the following tasks:

Track your work in your Weekly Work Log.
When you submit your work, the points will be recorded in Canvas Grades automatically. I will review your answers. If I find that you did not put in appropriate effort or did not do the expected work, I will adjust your grade accordingly.