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

It’s time to begin working directly on the Recommendation Report project.  By the end of this week, aim to have the organization of your report sketched out. You should also understand how the work you completed earlier in this term will appear in your report.

The next weeks will be busy, as you complete the various sections of the report. If you have time to work ahead, this is a good week to do so! Ideally, you will have a full draft of your Recommendation Report before you leave for Thanksgiving break.

 

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]
• Collaborate with classmates in planning, researching, writing, revising, and presenting information. [CLO 5]
• 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

• Chapter 7 of Markel & Selber, “Organizing Your Information”
• Chapter 18 of Markel & Selber, "Writing Recommendation Reports"
• Chapter 9 of Markel & Selber, “Emphasizing Important Information,” pp. 198–202
• Recommendation Report Criteria
• Effective Report Titles
• Outline Tips

📝 To Write This Week

• Complete the Chapter 07 Review and the Chapter 18 Review.
• Organize your report by completing the Recommendation Outline Assignment.

💬 To Discuss This Week

• Check in with your Accountability Group, according to the agreement that you have made.
  • Be sure that group members understand that Feedback Discussions have no grace period.
  • Remind your group that Work Logs have a 5-day grace period and must be submitted by April 13.
• Post any questions you have in the Questions about the Recommendation Report. You can also check this Discussion for answers.
• You can participate in either of these discussions, depending upon when you have a draft ready to share. If you want, you can participate in both of them as well. It’s completely up to you. Just remember that if you post a draft, you will assigned two drafts to add feedback to.

  Outline Feedback Discussion

  • Follow the directions in the Report Outline Feedback Discussion to share what you have created with the class for peer feedback.
  • After peer review partners are assigned (Saturday, April 9), read drafts from your classmates and offer feedback on how to revise. Feedback is due by 11:59 PM on Wednesday, April 13.

  Second-Chance Outline Feedback Discussion

  • If you needed more time to write your script draft, follow the directions in the Second-Chance Report Outline Feedback Discussion.
  • After peer review partners are assigned (Thursday, April 14), read drafts from your classmates and offer feedback on how to revise. Feedback is due by 11:59 PM on Monday, April 18.

📓 To Track This Week

• Track and reflect on the work you have done for the week in your Work Log for the Week of 04/04, reviewing the Weekly Work Log Guidelines if needed.

 

 

Photo credit: 2013-10-09 Thinking about visual outlining #learning #sharing #writing by Sacha Chua on Flickr, used under CC-BY 2.0 license.