Week 12 Instructions: Structuring Your Recommendation

• Time Required
• 5–6 hours, including reading time

It’s finally time to begin working directly on the Recommendation Report project.  By the end of this week, aim to have your research complete and 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.

Changes to the Grace Period

Be sure that you read the Announcement: Changes to Grace Period for Writing Activities, which explains how the grace period for the writing projects is being extended. The grace period for other work will remain as usual.

Optional Reading Activities This Week

This week’s optional readings this week focus on research and your report’s structure—just what you need to complete the writing activities for the week.

To find the optional reading activities, check the “Canvas Announcements & Course Advice” on the Course Home. The posts show up in the Twitter feed for @HokieTengrrl Links to an external site., which you will find on the course home in Canvas. If you read them and watch the related videos, be sure to note the time in your Weekly Work Log.

 

Objectives for this Week

By 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]
• Conduct research appropriate to workplace problem solving, such as literature review, evaluation of online resources, interview, and site inspection. [CLO 2]
• Interpret research findings with understanding of ethical and human implications. [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]
• Apply principles of effective visual design for print and electronic presentation, including hierarchical, chronological, and spatial arrangements. [CLO 6]
• Identify and apply the principles of effective style in the composing of usable, reader-centered written communications. [CLO 7]

 

Activities for this Week

🛌Spring Break Day, Tuesday, April 6

• Take a break from this class this week. The work is light to be sure you can take some time off.
• Because of the short work week, you will earn only 50 points, rather than the typical 60 points.
• Dates are different as well:
  • To lighten your load, the grace period for this week’s work is extended to Friday, April 16.
  • Note however that you will have the work for Week 13 to do next week as well.
• I will take Tuesday off as well. Look for responses to any email or Canvas messages that you send me Wednesday afternoon or evening.

📚 To Read This Week

• Markel & Selber, Chapter 18: “Writing Recommendation Reports”
• Announcement: Changes to Grace Period for Writing Activities
• Detailed Sequence of Projects (review as needed)
• Effective Report Titles

📝 To Write This Week

• Complete the Outline Your Report activity to set up the structure for your report.
• Gather ideas in the Brainstorming Your Intro activity.

💬 To Discuss This Week

• No Discussing work since we have a Spring Break day.

📓 To Track This Week

• Track and reflect on the work you have done for the week in your Work Log for the Week of 04/05, reviewing the Weekly Work Log Guidelines as needed.
• Complete the Week of 04/05 Self-Assessment to claim the points for the work you have done this week. You have an unlimited number of times to complete the self-assessment. Your points will be recorded automatically when you submit your quiz.
• Complete the Self-Assessment of Optional Reading Activities from April 5–9  to claim points for your optional reading.

🎯 Optional Work Available

These links provide more information about the optional work for those working towards a grade higher than a B:

• Optional Activities Overview
• Optional Reading Activities
• Optional Writing Activities Instructions

Note that you can also use these activities to make up for points missed earlier in the term.

 

 

 

Photo credit: NTSB MWL 2019-2020 - Ensure the Safe Shipment of Hazardous Materials by the National Transportation Safety Board on Flickr Links to an external site., used under a CC-BY-SA 2.0 license. The image is from the NTSB Most Wanted List 2019-2020 Links to an external site..