Response to Melisa's Blog

Melisa made a good point, that the best piece of work could be worthless if nobody is going to read it. So whatever we write we have to keep a reader in mind. I would waste my time writing this blog if I know nobody will ever read it. All writings must have their readers. Another point Melisa made is about objective part of the resume. I had that problem also. I'd say objective is the hardest part of any resume. I used to skip it but then resume seems to loose its purpose. Or I wrote what kind of job I'm looking for. But employer must know how he will benefit from hiring me. So now it is easier from me to word it with reader-employer in mind.

What I've learned from English 402

Looking back at the beginning of this semester I can say that I took one of useful and practical classes that helped me to improve my communication and writing skills (I see how my grades improved over the course). I've learned about rhetoric, reader-centered approach and target audience. So from now on, every time I write something I mentally check myself to ensure I use those three approaches. Also I got familiar with business writing in general, e.g. memos, proposals, letters etc. I find all of these extremely helpful in my future career.

Response to Jeff Schafer's Ch.17

Jeff made an interesting point about having an eye contact with the audience you talk to. I talk in front of 15-20 people every Monday for 10-15 minutes at my work as a safety person. I remember when first I started, I was embarrassed so I was skimming over the heads trying not to look in my co-workers' eyes and I mostly read from my notes. But later the more I was taking the more confident I became. I think I got used to my audience. I can feel myself relaxed. I have my notes in front, but I memorized the most of material so I can speak in conversational manner now. However, when I think of my presentation in class I'm a little bit nervous. I think I'll prepare an outlined talk.

Chapters 17 &18 readings

Ch.17
This is just in time chapter right before we are preparing for our presentation. This chapter already helped me to design my presentation. I made a mental notes on how and what I want to say to my audience. I originally intended just a verbal presentation. But the book advises to use the graphics while speaking. This makes your presentation more professional, more prepared, and more persuasive. So I will keep in mind this useful tips on how to make a better presentation. Also, what readers could find handy is writer's tutorial on creating a listener-centered presentation. This tutorial talks about power-point presentations, how to make them more organized, what to include in presentation to make a better effect on listeners.

Ch.18
Creating any sorts of web stuff including this blog is kind of confusing for me, since I'm not a computer savvy person. This chapter mainly talks about creating web pages and websites. They fall under the same guidelines as any other written documents that are created with reader in mind. You follow the same steps, e.g. define objective, purpose, gather info, etc. The only difference that this category of communication is more technologically inclined. The good thing though is that there is a lot of software available to help to facilitate a process of creating web pages and websites. But what differs websites from other forms of written communication is that after you created your web page or website, it is very important for your audience to find it in world wide web. Otherwise, it is a waste of time and resources, if your message will remain unnoticed. At this point the book gives some tips on how to make you website "visible" to your potential readers.

Response on movie "The Persuaders"

I was indeed impressed with this movie. When they were talking about politics, especially when they manipulated with words to win voters, I remembered The Declaration of Independence, where Thomas Jefferson in order to gain support to separate from England, originally wrote:"...life, liberty, and the pursuit of property." But a lot of people were poor and did not have any property, so he changed property to happiness, to remove this tension. I think this is when marketing came to existence.

Response to Holley's ch 9 blog

Like Holley says, nowadays we receive so much emails so first thing we do is look for the title. If there is something important we open it. Otherwise, it goes directly to recycle bin unread. So, as the book teaches, in order our email to be opened, read, and considered, we need 1)to give a proper title for my email, and 2)to tell reader how he/she will benefit from the information we are sending. And of course, we have to write with reader in mind.

Ch 2, 9, 10

Ch.2
This is probably the most important chapter in the entire book, because before we utilize all our skills about ability to write, we need to be hired first. So here resume comes into play. Resume is our ethos. Just by looking at our resumes, employers can make a pretty accurate picture about who we are. So it is extremely important to have a nicely done resume, because they judge a resume not only by its content, but also by how it draws an attention, i.e. is it looking good enough so employer can start dig in it, or may be it will go automatically to the bottom of the pile. Also, book talks about cover letters, that accompany our resume. It tells how to write a good letter, so it will appeal to potential employer.

Ch.9
This chapter talks about how to start an effective communication and how to create messages that grab readers' attention. Writer of the message must:
* announce the topic
* tell his/her reader how they will benefit from the information that they received.
These two both must be considered.
The book also suggests that writer of the message must state the main point at the beginning. It will help readers to find what they want or need most. This chapter is very similar to those that talk about memos, proposals, etc.

Ch.10
As it is important to properly start our communication, it is also important to properly finish it. So this chapter teaches how to end our communication in order not to ruin otherwise a good beginning. This chapter gives 9 guidelines on how to finish our communication. Depending on the situation, our audience and objective we can effectively manipulate with these guidelines to create a successful communication.

Response to Ch.14

I have read some blogs on ch 14 and found that majority of us have a problem revising our own writings. I don't know why we ignored such a simple technique: clear up your head from what we just wrote, to let some time pass and than reread it again. I myself noticed when I get my writing back on next class and read it again I notice what I would change. My errors become so obvious, but first time I did not see them. So, it will be helpful in the future to use this simple and useful advise to distance ourselves from our work. And maybe tomorrow I will read this blog again and find some errors and glitches I'd like to fix.