Week 14 Instructions: Finalizing Your Recommendation

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

This week you continue working on your Recommendation Report, using the outline that you created last week to guide your work. The Writing activities for this week focus on the front matter and the back matter of the report.

The due date for the finished Recommendation Report has been extended to Friday, April 30, with the grace period ending at 11:59 PM on Monday, May 3. This extension allows for changes to the Feedback Discussions that should allow everyone to get responses from classmates and have time to use that feedback to update their work.

Optional Reading Activities This Week

This week’s optional readings focus on more resources for writing your recommendation report, including tips on writing a purpose statement for your introduction and adding visuals as you work on the body of the report.

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

📚 To Review This Week

Reading work for this week focuses on reviewing information in the textbook and relevant pages in Canvas. You read these resources earlier in the term, so there are no additional points this week.

• Textbook chapters and sections suggested in the Writing activities.
• Documentation and Citations for Your Projects
• Professional Design for Reports

📝 To Write This Week

• Recommendation Report: Writing Your Letter of Transmittal
• Recommendation Report: Writing Your Abstract
• Recommendation Report: Creating Your Table of Contents (Do this activity last, after the rest of your report is complete.)
• Recommendation Report: Writing Your Executive Summary
• Recommendation Report: Providing Your References
• Recommendation Report: Writing Your Appendixes

💬 To Discuss This Week

• Review the Discussion Feedback Changes page, which explains how the peer review system works and provides links to documentation.
• Provide peer feedback using the Rubric for the Recommendation Draft Feedback Discussion (9 points)  by Friday, April 23 (no grace period, date necessary so that writers have time to incorporate suggestions in their reports.
• Check in on the Questions about the Recommendation Report Discussion twice (by 11:59 PM on Wednesday, April 14 and by 11:59 PM on Friday, April 16).
• Participate in the Questions about the Recommendation Report Discussion as desired. Note you have three weeks to participate in the Discussion three times. See more details in the assignment.

📓 To Track This Week

• Track and reflect on the work you have done for the week in your Work Log for the Week of 04/19, reviewing the Weekly Work Log Guidelines as needed.
• Complete the Week of 04/19 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 19–23 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