ctomazin's blog

During the course of this week, our team has conducted research (at least three postings per member). We have also held several communication sessions by telephone, email, instant message, and chat room. We are now in the process of writing our first draft of the paper. We have broken down the sections of focus for each member to be the following: Randy – introduction and conclusion, Colin – Advantages of Google Docs, Dale – Disadvantages of Google Docs. The first draft is coming to completion and should be up by the due time.

Based on the information I have read about white papers, I would say that a white paper should be designed and created in a process similar to the following.

By this Friday night, I have sent my contact information to my fellow group members and began communication with them. I have also re-read the project 3 description and thought about potential organizations to bring up in a group discussion this weekend. I have created a Google Docs account and began familiarizing myself with the white paper genre. I believe our group will be meeting this weekend to discuss our project plan and begin to divide up our work.

Attached are my resume and cover letter. Please feel free to comment on them. Thank you.

While searching for cover letter examples, I found two of particular interest. The first can be found at http://www.collegegrad.com/jobsearch/Best-College-Cover-Letters/Sample-C.... Starting at the top, I think this example could have used more contact information in the header such as an email address or phone number. Moving on to the body of the letter, it seems like all of the major bases are covered. The mention of the specific name of a person who made a referral is a plus as are the specific qualities of a good candidate that are mixed in with the body of the letter.

I have written a T Letter to DANA Corporation, a world leader in the supply of axles; driveshafts; and structural, sealing, and thermal-management products; as well as genuine service parts. The position is a Co-Op, and I believe my personal skills would be a benefit to the company based on the listed attributes.

The articles assigned for reading really reminded me of how resumes try to “sell” the writer rather than just provide background information for the person doing the hiring. I now see the importance of sending out a resume that is tailored more specifically to what the company is hiring for rather than a generic resume. For example, the location I am working at this summer hires engineers like myself for production management.

For the usability test of my instructions for the Sony ICF-218 Dream Machine Radio Alarm Clock, I chose my brother to perform the testing, and I believe his comments will be very helpful in my editing. To start off, the user is proficient in using electronic devices such as televisions, computers, and, of course, alarm clocks; however, he did mention that this unit would be difficult to use without the manual due to the advanced functions such as date and automatic daylight savings time adjustment.

I found chapters 24 and 25 to be both interesting and useful. My favorite sections were the discussion of contrasting verbal and visual content (Chapter 24) and the sections discussing the color wheel and a sample poster display. The section about contrasting content got me thinking about whether an instructions reader will trust written or graphic content more. This is definitely a consideration I will make when designing my directions although the content should match anyway. I also like the fact that the book includes web addresses to other resources on the subject.

For the instruction project, I intend to write a basic user manual for my SONY Dream Machine radio alarm clock. The tasks I intend to provide include but are not limited to setting the time and alarm time, tuning the radio and adjusting volume, and using the snooze and sleep options. I also intend to include troubleshooting any problems that may occur with the device. The length should be 5 to 10 pages as is typical with small appliances, and the format will be a small pamphlet roughly 5 X 7".