• Time Required
• 7–8 hours, including reading time

This week marks the middle of the semester, so it’s time for you to look over the work that you have done, the effort that you have put in, and what you have learned. You’ll examine your work and consider where and how you put in your best effort.

You will write a progress report that evaluates the work you have done so far in the course and that lets me know how confident you are about reaching your goals for the course.

There is still plenty of time to meet your goals so do your best to honestly think about what you’ve accomplished and what you still need to do.

 

What You Will Learn & Practice

• How to analyze your audience and purpose so that you can choose supporting material that is convincing to your readers and decide the best way to present information clearly and effectively. [CLO 1]
• How to find and evaluate ethical evidence in secondary sources, such as books, articles, podcasts, and videos, and through primary research, such as observation, inspection, experiment, and interview, that supports your position. [CLOs 2 & 3]
• How to write documents you may encounter in the workplace, such as letters, memos, instructions, proposals, reports, and presentations. [CLO 4]
• How to use colors, layout, and formatting that make your documents understandable and easy to read and how to take advantage of design principles, including contrast, repetition, alignment, and proximity, to communicate your ideas effectively. [CLO 6]

 

Activities to Complete

📚 To Read This Week

• Markel & Selber, “Writing Progress and Status Reports,” from Chapter 17, “Writing Informational Reports,” pp. 468–478
• Markel & Selber, “Writing Memos,” from Chapter 14, “Corresponding in Print and Online,” pp 386–388
• Strong Subject Lines
• Checking for Specific Details in Your Progress Report
• LinkedIn Learning video Using in-progress reports to communicate with clients (2m 12s) 

📝 To Write This Week

• Complete the Chapter 17 Review, which will help you draft part of your progress report.
• Reflect on your work so far in the course, and compose your Midterm Progress Report.
• Follow the Midterm Progress Report Form Instructions as you complete your progress report.

💬 To Discuss This Week

1. Check in with your Accountability Group, according to the agreement that you have made.
   • Be sure that group members understand that the Midterm Progress Report has a short Grace Period, which ends at 11:59 PM on Wednesday, March 16.
   • Remind your group that Work Logs have a 5-day grace period and must be submitted by March 16.
2. There are no Feedback Discussions this week. Since you are writing about your grade this week, it would be a FERPA violation to ask you to share that information with others in the class.
3. If there is anything you want advice on, post in the Questions about the Midterm Progress Report Discussion. You can check this Discussion for answers as well.

📓 To Track This Week

• Track and reflect on the work you have done for the week in your Work Log for the Week of 02/28, reviewing the Weekly Work Log Guidelines if needed.

 

 

Photo credit: Virginia Tech Hokies by Big Ed’s Photos on Flickr, used under a CC-BY-NC-ND 2.0 license.