Proposal Presentation Memos and Handout

Assignment Worth: 5 points

Grade Received: 90%

Goal:

“Reflect on your overall group proposal effort.  Demonstrate an understanding of how to manage complex group tasks.  Show that you can produce a tactful, professional summary critique of colleagues.”

Taken from http://www.faculty.english.ttu.edu/fricke/ASSIGN_present_handouts.htm

Assignment:

Due on this day were our Brochure and Ticket (our handout). And also due were our individual memos My Proposal Presentation Memo, Nicole’s Proposal Presentation Memo, Jenee’s Proposal Presentation Memo. This was the final assignment in our group project and gave us each the opportunity to respond to the feedback from our peers on our presentation. I thought we did great. No one likes to stand in front of a group of people and talk. Especially when no one really seemed to be as interested in our assignment as us. I mean you were the one who worked on it and developed a passion. I think we did alot better then the other groups.

Overall:

If I could go back, I would have us practice our presentation with the power point. I got really nervous and was not sure what to say. We also were not spread equally in the front of the class. So I would definitely change those two things. The class is almost over yeah! Get excited!

Formal Group Proposal Report

Assignment Worth: 15 points

Grade Received: 99%

Goal:

“Develop a formal proposal report as described in Chapter 19 of the textbook.  Practice presenting information, analyzing it, and recommending a particular course of action or viewpoint based on this analysis.”

Taken from http://www.faculty.english.ttu.edu/fricke/ASSIGN_proposal.htm

Assignment:

We had to turn in our Formal Group Proposal Report, since we had submitted it early we had made all the corrections and had a near perfect document. This had to be a 12-16 page formal proposal report. To add to our written materials we included and Example Tech Announcement, Collage of pictures taken around campus, and an Insert for the Daily Toreador. For our presentation we were going to use a Handout and Brochure so we attached these to our report.

Dr. Art evaluated our report based on how clearly it incorporated these questions and criteria. 

In terms of organization, our report might of included any of the following standard formal report sections:

• Letter of transmittal (if appropriate)

• Title page

• Informative abstract or Executive summary

• Table of contents

• List of illustrations (if appropriate)

• Introduction (background, problem, solution, criteria, purpose statement, overview of the rest of the document, or other pertinent information)

• A methods section (description of how you did or would research the issue and/or solution)

• A results section (if you performed preliminary research)

• An analysis section (evaluation of proposed solution or comparison of several options)

• A conclusion and/or recommendation section

• A qualifications section (if appropriate)

• Glossary (if appropriate)

• References

• Appendices (if appropriate)

Overall:

I was stressing at this point. I had not seen the final report and wanted to read it over. I was responsible for making the insert for the DT, the collage, and the handout. I had a really great idea to make the handout into a ticket. I was excited about presenting in class. Being in charge of something that interest you in important. I like to take pictures and am pretty creative so I took on the art aspect of our project. Jenee is goon on the computer and had a good program to make brochures, so she took on that. Nicole did all the editing. It is important to divide your group equally and give each person an equal assignment. That way the grade given will be the grade YOU EACH DESERVE! Just a lil advice

Proposal Rough Draft and Progress Memos

Assignment Worth : 3 points

Grade Received : 88%

Goal:

“Practice writing short, detailed, informative progress memos that will help people to understand what you’re doing and why you’re doing it.  Clear, realistic progress memos are a great tool for showing other people that you’re a competent professional.  They prove that you can effectively manage your own projects.” Taken from http://www.faculty.english.ttu.edu/fricke/ASSIGN_proposal_rough.htm

Assignment:

For this assignment, you had to turn in; 1) Proposal report rough draft, and 2) Individually-completed progress memos

Our group turned in the final draft early to get corrections and feedback. Therefore we had no real rough draft. The rough drafts due on the regular (non-early submission deadline) were not returned before the final draft was due. 

Here are our individual memos.

Nicole’s Progress Memo for our Proposal Rough Draft

Jenee’s Progress Memo for our Proposal Rough Draft

My Progress Memo for our Proposal Rough Draft

Overall:

At this point the project was becoming more time consuming. We all contributed great ideas. I was really anticipating our group presentation already. I wanted everyone to see our handouts! I am so glad Nicole suggested we submit our final draft early. This allowed our grade to increase much higher. I really wished I had submitted all previous assignments early because now I had seen the major difference submitting early can do to your grade!

Proposal Plan Memo

Assignment Worth : 3 points

Grade Received : 95%

Goal:

“Practice developing realistic detailed time and work estimates.  Practice clearly describing project ideas, plans, and estimates in a way that shows you are capable of managing complicated group projects.  Practice seeing potential problems early and getting help to resolve these problems in a way that saves people time and effort in the long run.” Taken from http://www.faculty.english.ttu.edu/fricke/ASSIGN_proposal_plan.htm

Assignment:

This was the first assignment as a group we had in Technical Writing. In my group it was; Jenee Boyd, Nicole Heinlein and I. We were all so glad it was an all girl group. For this assignment we had to turn in a Group Proposal Plan Memo.  Before we even did anything we had to come up with an idea for this entire proposal group project. We had several ideas but decided on doing ours on Texas Tech Traffic and Parking services. We have all experienced grief from this division of TTU. I have gotten only one ticket, so luckily I was able to get it dismissed since it was my first. We wanted to address the mis-communication between traffic and parking and faculty/students. There are multiple signs spread around the campus and they can be so confusing. We each emailed Nicole our typed individual sections that we had divided in class. I was responsible for the overview and summary. Nicole was our overall editor. She said her boyfriend was an English major and would not mind looking over our assignments with her.

Overall:

This first part of the group project was very easy. I typed my two sections while at work and it took an hour or so. I was lucky to be put in such a great group. We are all responsible and close to graduating. We focused on finishing our assignments quickly and submitted them early! I know, it was about time.

Instructions Analysis

Assignment Worth: 10 points

Grade Received : 80 %

Goal:

“Practice testing and improving instructions.  Hopefully, the instructions you choose will in some way be related to your major or your future career.  You can, however, choose to analyze any set of instructions that can be user tested.” Taken from http://www.faculty.english.ttu.edu/fricke/ASSIGN_instructions.htm .

Assignment:

For the Instruction Analysis you had to turn in 1) Resubmitted Instruction Selection Memo assignment (including instructions), 2) Usability test notes and results (two or more separate trials) and 3) Instructions analysis memo

For the  instruction selection memo, I had choose to do my instructions on my new phone, the Treo 650. My major is Human Development and Family Studies and Nursing. I could not practice giving anyone a shot or counseling…so I decided to do my instructions on my difficult phone. The treo 650 smartphone is a new age phone that is often compared to a palm pilot. I received my phone and had no idea how to even turn it on. After I figured that out, I couldn’t figure out how to make a call and the problems progressed. I figured this assignment would be a perfect way for me to learn how to use my phone.

For the usability test notes and results, I tested the instructions on my two roommate’s and I thought it was hilarious. They were really struggling and could not believe I knew how to work the phone. The biggest problem with the phone is the screen has to be “waken – up”. This is like saying the phone has a screen saver and like your computer you have to move the mouse or press a key to stop the screen saver. For the treo 650 you have to press two buttons right after the other and after you figure that out, your good to go. The purpose of the screen “sleeping” is because the phone is a touch screen…I know I am so high tech

My memo was pretty good in length and took some time.

Overall:

I enjoyed this assignment much more then some of the other memos. I think you definitely should pick instructions you can learn from. Whether something directly related to your future career or something you are curious about working. Once again, I do believe if you submit this assignment early you will have a much higher outcome than me. I really regret not turning in my assignments early.

Instructions Selection Memo

Assignment Worth: 3 points

Grade Received : 78%

Goal:

“Practice testing and improving instructions.  Ideally, it would be nice if the instructions you choose are in some way related to your major or your future career.  However, you can choose to analyze any set of instructions that can be user tested.” Taken from http://www.faculty.english.ttu.edu/fricke/ASSIGN_instructions_select.htm

Assignment:

For the Instruction Selection Memo I choose to do my instructions on my new phone, the Treo 650. We had to turn in a set of Instructions  and the instruction selection memo. The memo was supposed to be approximately one page (a formal memo) to Dr. Art, that describes why you chose these particular instructions.  I pretty much wanted to figure out how to work my phone and could not think of anything else to do instructions on. In the memo you also had to answer the following questions:

• Who is the intended audience for these instructions?

• What qualities of this audience are reflected in the instructions, and how?

• What are the goals (explicit and implicit) of these instructions?

• How do these instructions connect to your current academic major and/or future career plans, if at all?

• What criteria will you use for testing your instructions?

• If you cannot find a person who represents the intended audience to test your instructions, how will this affect the usefulness of your usability testing?

• If your instructions describe something that cannot be accomplished in class (for example, a 2311 course assignment), or are aimed at accomplishing a complicated goal (for example, a policy memo or set of ethical criteria), or otherwise don’t fit the format of simple stepwise directions, how will you perform and document meaningful usability testing? 

• Taken from http://www.faculty.english.ttu.edu/fricke/ASSIGN_instructions_select.htm

 

Overall:

 

I was ready to get to the analysis of the assignment. The memo was not time consuming. I found it very beneficial how Dr. Fricke included questions to answer in your memo. As long as you clearly and fully answer each question you will get a good grade. Also be sure your heading is always correct. The best way to prevent minor mistakes, is to submit your assignment early!

 

Formal Memo

Assignment Worth : 6 points

Grade Received : 92%

Goal:

“Practice writing relatively long, complex memos that are clear, efficient, well organized and grammatically correct.  Complex formal memos are a bit like small reports.  However, unlike most of the reports that you’ve written for other classes, memos are addressed to specific people and are often meant to convince them of something.  To write an effective memo, you will therefore need to carefully analyze your particular audience and provide information in a format and tone that clearly matches their specific needs.  This assignment will help you to understand each step of the process.” Taken from http://www.faculty.english.ttu.edu/fricke/ASSIGN_memo.htm

Assignment:

The Formal Memo I did was over possible changes to this technical writing course. I think people do not understand what they are supposed to be getting out of technical writing. It seems like one of the many college courses you are forced to take but will never use in real life. I had the exact same attitude. In order to succeed in this course and any college course you need to put effort into it. It is all about your attitude as well. I would get so bogged down by all the assignments due each week and I decided to make my formal memo over changes we could all benefit from. I suggested making each technical writing section pertain to different majors. Since I am a Human Development and Family Studies major, I would take technical writing – human development and family studies, or an architecture major would take, technical writing – architecture. I think things would be a lot better this way. All our assignments would focus on possible things we would do in the future with our degrees.

Overall:

This assignment took me a while to complete because I was so focused on not offending Dr. Fricke and his relation to the technical writing course. I wanted to express very clearly that in no way was I someone to be giving direction or orders. I wanted to offer my opinion and that was it. I think because I really took a lot of time on re-reading my memo that reflected in my grade. We were given a class period to correct our formal memo and re-submit it at the end of the class. I took full advantage of this and I think you should too. Email your formal memo assignment to yourself, that way you can open it up in class and edit. I forgot to do this, so I had to re-type the document but I still finished in time.

Resume and Job Letter

Assignment Worth : 6 points

Grade Received: 60%

Goal:

“Practice creating a resume and job letter tailored to a specific professional field and job position. Practice clearly communicating your qualifications and abilities with concrete details, efficient organization, and effective formatting. Also practice following up on important professional contacts like interviews.” Taken from http://www.faculty.english.ttu.edu/fricke/ASSIGN_resume.htm

Assignment:

The Resume and Job Letter assignment was our first major assignment to complete. I originally thought this assignment would not take too long to complete, so I put the assignment off for the last minute. I thought this because I had already made a resume in my Human Sciences Seminar class (HUSC 3214). The resume was reviewed by the career center and I made all the advised corrections. I assumed I had a solid resume. Dr. Fricke helped me find an example resume to follow. I referenced the resume from http://www.resumesamples.info/i/cv-sample.gif

As for the job letter, this was the first time I have ever had to write one. I was lost. Dr. Fricke’s course web site tells you exactly what he expects but I was lazy when it came to checking his web site. I would take brief notes in class and follow that and if I forgot something I’d check back to his web site. Our job letter was supposed to be addressed to a specific individual that had direct influence over our future job.

My grade suffered because I did not check my job letter or resume thoroughly for grammar errors. For example, I had Tx typed on my resume and Dr. Fricke wanted it to be TX. Somehow my paper got smudges of ink, that I did not notice, this caused a decrease in my grade as well. You have to pay attention to details in this class.

Overall:

This assignment was useful because the corrections Dr. Fricke suggested allowed me to have a very professional resume. I haves used this corrected version for the jobs I have applied to. I would definitely suggest taking advantage of Dr. Fricke’s allowance of early submission. If you take advantage of that you will definitely make a better grade than I did. I am not proud of this assignment grade.
 

Hello

The purpose of this weblog is to help future ENGL 2311 students complete the course with success . I have uploaded my major assignments and written my personal reflections for each. I hope this weblog will help you throughout the semester.