DISCUSSION 1
"Report Plan Suggestions" Please respond to the following:
Identify the recipient, the topic, and the purpose of your report.
Suggest potential resources and a method for gathering information that may provide support for at least one classmate's report.
The following is a comment from the professor, please make a comment and answer his questions.
A student in another class had an idea for a limited edition M&M's bag of candy that had different flavors in the candy shells. It is sort of like a combination of Skittles and M&M's. The selling point of it being a limited edition holiday thing generally goes over well. What types of sources would you considered using for your justification report? Would some form of sales data for holiday limited edition candies that can show how useful/important a limited edition treat be good for source materials?
Think of some of the available sources for your report. Peer-reviewed sources are excellent and one of the best (if not THE best) sources that you can use in your academic work. Sometimes, peer reviewed journals take a bit longer to publish because of the extensive review process. That can be one of the downsides to relying on peer reviewed material, especially if you are dealing with a very recent topical development (like Hurricane Sandy). Can you think of some other subjects that may be difficult to find in peer reviewed sources, class? Where are the best places to find these peer reviewed sources?
The following is the answer of a student to the discussion question, please make a comment.
Question: Identify the recipient, the topic, and the purpose of your report. Suggest potential resources and a method for gathering information that may provide support for at least one classmate's report.
The following is the Student Answer, please make a comment:
1. Recipient- one that receives
2. Topic- A matter dealt with in a text, discourse, or conversation; a subject.
3. Purpose of your report- It is based off of a topic but it focusing on the information that has been provided.
Potential resources and a method for gathering information that may provide for at one classmate report I would be to research the topic of the report to the fullest extent. Make sure that you have all your information up to date as well as references to back up your research,also ask questions about this topic to those who may have reliable answers for them.
The following is the answer of a student to the discussion question, please make a comment.
Question: Identify the recipient, the topic, and the purpose of your report. Suggest potential resources and a method for gathering information that may provide support for at least one classmate's report.
The following is the Student Answer, please make a comment:
Recipient : Who will be the audience of the report? Who is the report intended for?
The Topic: What is the report going to be about?
The Purpose: What is the intent of the report? Is it to persuade or is it to advise? Is it a message that needs a reply or just a direct memo telling a story? In the end the purpose is what is the reason that you are writing the report?
Potential Resources:
I have found that the Resource center has a lot of information at Strayer and I have used this information many times to write reports. I also believe that you should always have an open mind when researching and know that there are two sides to every story and while doing research if you have a open mind you may find your own opinion is not what you initially thought.
The following is the answer of a student to the discussion question, please make a comment.
Question: Identify the recipient, the topic, and the purpose of your report. Suggest potential resources and a method for gathering information that may provide support for at least one classmate's report.
The following is the Student Answer, please make a comment:
The audience of the Report and how I think they will respond.
The Topic is what the report will be about and how I feel it is important.
The purpose in writing this report will be to persuade, educate, or entertain those that are reading the report. I still have no ideas the topic I am going to write about, but I will get there.
Potential Resources: Will be newspapers, articles, biographies, online websites, experience, and the University.
The following is the answer of a student to the discussion question, please make a comment.
Question: Identify the recipient, the topic, and the purpose of your report. Suggest potential resources and a method for gathering information that may provide support for at least one classmate's report.
The following is the Student Answer, please make a comment:
My topic is "Expanding Sponaugle's Farm Equipment to include a plant and garden nursery." The purpose of the report is to convince my partners (the recipients) to expand the company's business to take advantage of the growing population in the near by community. Potential resources are existing nursery websites for competitive pricing, and the community itself for what the locals likes and dislikes as far as plants, trees, and other shrubbery go. One method for information gathering is to offer free hamburgers and hotdogs over the weekend to get the locals to drop by so we can get to know them better.
DISCUSSION 2
"Collaborative Writing" Please respond to the following:
Describe an experience you have had with collaborative writing, whether this experience was positive or negative. Explain why you think the experience turned out this way, and what you would do the next time.
If you have never had an experience with collaborative writing, explain whether or not you think you would enjoy this type of collaboration. If you had to produce a project this way, determine what you would do to ensure success.
The following is a comment from the professor, please make a comment and answer his questions.
As you touch on here, collaboration is all about using the strengths of each group member to the fullest while trying to avoid the weaknesses. Some people are better planners or organizers than they are creators. Others have strong computer skills but lack solid content. The trick to working in a collaborative process is balancing the good and the bad to come up with a solid finished project. At the end of the project, very few people pay attention to what happened when the project was coming together as long as the finished product is of a high quality and meets or exceeds the established standards. That can work in a group's favor by allowing them to be very flexible with the way the group operates. On the flip side of this equation, this can have a huge negative effect where the majority of the work is shouldered by a small percentage of the group members. In this scenario, the whole group gets the credit when in fact only a few are due that credit.
Provided you are working with people who can come together and have a genuine interest in accomplishing the goal a collaborative project can be great. What are some other ways to encourage positive interaction in the group setting? How do you make certain all the members see the common goal as the project goal? Why could group members have different goals?
The following is the answer of a student to the discussion question, please make a comment
Hey professor and class, my experience with collaborative writing was when me and a classmate had to write on the Gettysburg address. I had to write it with my friend, I ended up doing most of the work. In the beginning,he helped but I had to find all the information, I had to find most of the sources. This was a bad experience due to the factor we wasnt gathering ideas, the paper was all on me. My views quickly changed with this type of writing, I will never in my life do this again if I had the choice.
The following is the answer of a student to the discussion question, please make a comment
I have never had any collaborative writing experience in any sort of capacity aside from small projects back in middle school. I don't believe I would enjoy this type of collaboration for writing as I generally find group collaboration a hindrance because each member must adjust their skill level to match the others in order to communicate on a proper level and work efficiently. I prefer some level of autonomy, even in group collaborations, as I know I have certain skills that others do not and I feel that hindering those skills would diminish my contribution to the group. If i had to produce a project this way I would try to match up people of similar skill levels to allow them to work at their best while assigning each of them individual tasks that can be completed quickly to allow them autonomous work while supplementing to the group collaboration of the project as a whole.
The following is the answer of a student to the discussion question, please make a comment
I have no past experience with collaborative writing. I wouldn't enjoy this type of experience because to do it successfully I would have to be willing to trust that those in collaboration with me would do their part, and believe me, I have serious trust issues when it come to my fellow mankind. I'm pretty much of a loner, don't do well in group projects, and if I was forced to do a project in this manner I'm not sure I wouldn't sabotage it myself.
The following is the answer of a student to the discussion question, please make a comment
Hi Lori, Reading your post reminds me so much of myself. I am also not a last minute person. It's important that I have everything planned out even if I don't get everything finished in one day. Each day I make sure that I am getting something done so that when the project is due it's on time and ready to be presented. I have also experienced working with people that just doesn't care about the project like I do. It really wasn't fare that I had to pick up his or her slack.