• Time Required
• 8–10 hours, including reading time

 

Welcome to Week Twelve of the course.

The writing activities for this week focus on the body of the report. By the end of the week, you should have a working draft for all five sections of the body (shown in the image below).

Next week, we will work on the front and back matter, so that you can compose a complete rough draft before Thanksgiving Break. After Break, you will complete your draft. The Grace Period for all open work in the course closes at 11:59 PM on Friday, April 28.

Holidays & Events This Week

• Arab American Heritage Month continues through April 30.
• Ramadan continues through Friday, April 21.
• Passover, a Jewish holiday, began at sundown on April 5th and lasts until sundown on the 13th.
• Easter, a Christian holiday, is Sunday, April 9.
• Good Friday in the Eastern Orthodox Church is Friday, April 14.
• Vaisakhi is marked on Friday, April 14. The holiday celebrates the Sikh New Year.
• Pascha, or Easter, in the Eastern Orthodox Church is Sunday, April 16.
• Virginia Tech’s Day of Remembrance is also Sunday, April 16.

If you observe these holidays or events and need me to adjust your due dates, send me a message in Canvas.

Objectives for this Module

After completing this week’s activities, you address the following course objectives:

• 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]
• Prepare to conduct research appropriate to workplace problem solving, such as literature review, evaluation of online resources, interview, and site inspection. [CLO 2]
• Consider the ethical and human implications of my situation. [CLO 3]
• 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]
• Collaborate with classmates in planning, researching, writing, revising, and presenting information. [CLO 5]

Activities to Complete

📚 To Read This Week

• Chapter 7 of Markel & Selber, “Organizing Your Information”
• Chapter 18 of Markel & Selber, “Writing Recommendation Reports”
• Recommendation Report Criteria
• Tip Sheet: Recommendation Report
• Technical Help with Documentation in Word Processors

📝 To Write This Week

• Develop the body sections for your Recommendation Report, using the these resources:
  • Writing Your Introduction
  • Writing Your Methods Section
  • Writing Your Results Section
  • Writing Your Conclusions Section
  • Writing Your Recommendations Section
• Try out strategies from the course by submitting these activities:
  • Try-It #21: Brainstorming Your Report Intro
  • Try It #22: Integrating Your Sources

💬 To Discuss This Week

• Optional ways to discuss class issues:
  • Post public questions in the General Q&A Discussion in Canvas if it can be shared with the class.
    
  • If you have a private question, send me a message with the Canvas Inbox.
  • Ask a question or make a suggestion anonymously with the Anonymous Questions & Suggestions form.

 

📓 To Check-In This Week

• Fill out the Week 12 Check-In Survey to let me know how you are doing in the course.