ENGL 420: Business Writing

This is the last week of the semester. Our final projects were due and we gave our last presentations. It was interesting listening to what the other groups created for their clients. There were many great creations that all seem beneficial for the organizations the class worked with. You could tell everyone put a lot of work and effort into making something for their client. I was happy with how our own brochures turned out and am excited to show our client what we created. No readings were assigned this week.

This week the reading responses were about oral presentations. Soon we will be giving our presentations to the class and presenting our material to the D.A.R.E. officer. So these readings will prepare us for those. We want to make sure we our professional but we won't need to make it too formal. We are just meeting with one individual officer in charge of D.A.R.E. We want to make the atmosphere relaxed and comfortable. The only material we will have will be our printed brochures. We won't be using a power point or any other means of presenting.

Our meeting from last week with our contact person was canceled but we were able to meet with her today. We showed Janet Shepherd our proposal and discussed what was in it. We talked about the main topics involved within each brochure. She agreed with us about how important the issues we want to discuss within the brochures. Within each brochure we will be talking about basic facts and statistics of alcohol, marijuana, and tobacco. Then also we will include warning signs and how to start a positive conversation with the parents' children.

This week as a group, we created our proposal. We also decided individual responsiblities. We are creating 4 brochures on different topics for the D.A.R.E. program. We are all going to create our own brochure by this Wednesday. We had scheduled a meeting with the D.A.R.E. police officer, Janet Shepherd, for Friday morning. However, something came up and she needed to reschedule. So we are now planning on meeting with her Tuesday morning. We hope to show her our proposal and share more of our ideas with her.

This week the readings were focused on plagiarism. This is a concern with any research and writing a person does. It is so important to remember to cite any sources you use. When you do not cite, it is considered stealing. You are using another person's words as your own. I know when I am writing a paper and using information from a source I try to remember citing. I do not want to try and say someone's words are my own. However, at times it can slip my mind. I have never purposefully left out a citation or source.

The readings and videos this week were very helpful. I had not heard of a gantt chart prior to this class. Therefore, I found the YouTube videos extremely informational. It gave me a lot of insight into what gantt charts are. Also, reading the article titled, “Ten Rules of Effective Communication," provided me with new ideas and information. By reading it on my own and then discussing it in class, I was able to understand it a lot better and get others view point on the topics.

This week we started project 3. Our first assignment was creating a memo. The reading provided explained memos to us. After reading I had a better understanding of how to create a memo and what needs to be included. As a group we created our memo proposing 3 ideas. We gave a background to each organization and explained what we would do for them. The example memo, the powerpoint and the reading all assisted us in creating our memo.

The group I am in for the White Paper Project have decided to continue working with the D.A.R.E. program for this third project. We believe there are many improvements that can be made for this program. For the this project we are planning on focusing more on the parents of students that are involved in the D.A.R.E. program. Another client I would consider for this project would be the Boys and Girls Club of Lafayette. This organization provides many opportunities to the youth in this community.

This week oral presentations were done. It was very interesting hearing all the information on the different topics discussed. We are also beginning project 3. I am looking forward to this new project. I am ready to start something new. My group is using the same topic that we used for our White Paper Project, however we are ready to create something new for this program. This third program may be difficult but I believe it will also be rewarding. We will be able to create something for our clients that they may actually use in the future.

This week we finished our rough draft. We all completed sections of the paper. Michael went through everything and worked on the design and fixed any errors. I am sure there are still many improvements for us to make. We'll work on that next week after getting peer reviews back.