Chapter 12 Reflection

I don't mind giving talks and oral presentations; in fact, I usually enjoy giving them!  I was pleased with the mention of TED Talks early on in the chapter.  Most TED speakers are eloquent with their speech and really know how to captivate the audience with their words.  Although each speaker is different and they all present on a wide variety of subjects, all speakers seem to have amazing abilities with giving oral presentations.  Another point I really appreciate from the chapter is the mention of gestures.  I am a dancer and a kinesthetic learner, and I find it useful when speakers use their hands to help demonstrate what they are talking about.  When I speak, I tend to use gestures myself quite regularly.  Last of all, I would like to mention the chart found on page 190.  The chart lists a variety of problems matched up with possible solutions.  I found this to be very useful.  Of the problems listed on the chart, Boredom is possibly my biggest worry.  I can handle misunderstandings and disruptive behavior, but boredom is something I don't want my audience to ever experience.

Chapter 11 Reflections

First off, I was very pleased with the way they used the word “visual aids” instead of “art” in this chapter.  I believe “visual aids” is a more accurate way of describing the concepts being taught.  I am a dancer; I am an artist.  The principles I read about are very useful when considering the application of visual aids in written documents, and it was interesting to assess the crossovers into dance.  The color wheel was perhaps one of my favorite points in the chapter as it explained complementary colors, and triad/primary colors.  While I am mostly a kinesthetic learner, visuals are major supports that help me learn and understand new content.  Charts, images, and even handouts can make a world of difference for me when engaging in the learning process.  As a brief rant, I highly disliked the explanation of shapes in the chapter: “horses are shaped like horses, violins are shaped like violins, etc.” (page 170).  Overall, the chapter was insightful and offered great tips for enhancing business papers and presentations.

Chapter 10 Reflections

Chapter 10 did an excellent job with explaining the methods of writing business reports.  I found it interesting, however, that the guidelines and techniques given are not much different from those given for writing report papers for school.  The chapter quickly explained the basic steps for creating a report: Data gathering, composition, and revision.  These steps are commonly found when creating any form of report, whether in the business world or not.  One of the main differences, though, is the cover letter which is presented in the front matter of a long report.  Aside from the cover letter, all of then other aspects of a business report seemed familiar in relation to other written reports for school.  The examples at the end of the chapter were also helpful in seeing the principles in use.  I cannot imagine writing a 100 page report, but I feel confident in the ability to do so now that I can see how simple the formatting of a business letter is.

Chapter 7 Reflections

Between this M COM class and the English course I was taking earlier this semester, a lot of stress has been placed upon the importance of creating resumes, cover letters, and other documents related to seeking employment.  Both classes provide valuable information, yet I found more valuable tips from the M COM class through chapter 7.  Not only does this chapter provide detailed descriptions and examples of these documents, but it also gives helpful information for participating in interviews-- as the potential employee and even as the employer.  Interviews are a critical part of the hiring process, thus making it even more important for the job seeker to perform well in interviews.  One last tip that I appreciated from the readings was the impact of writing a thank-you letter as a follow-up to an interview.  I have never written a thank-you/follow-up letter, but I can now see the importance of doing so.  If I was an employer and I received a follow-up letter from a potential employee, I would be impressed and perhaps consider them more seriously for the job.

Chapter 6 Reflections

Before reading chapter 6, I hadn't realized how many different types of documents there are in the business world.  I am a dance major, and this M COM class is my first experience dealing with business writing.  I can write stories, research papers, and letters galore, yet business writing is still a new creature for me.  Despite the differences, there are still many commonalities between business writings and the writings I'm already familiar.  In all genre's, importance is placed on the purpose of the writing, the intended audience, and the strategy for achieving the purpose.  Something that stood out to me in chapter 6 was the information about different formats for writing letters.  The three formats discussed are full-block, modified-block, and simplified.  I will need to practice writing it each of these formats before I can comfortably identify them and understand them, but this chapter gave a wonderful guide to grasping them.

Chapter 5 Reflections

Sometimes I fall victim to thinking that my first drafts of writing projects are acceptable, especially when under a time crunch.  Chapter 5 clearly explains, though, how valuable it is to revise and edit text.  This helps with clarity, maintaining credibility, and truthful expressions.  A great method for helping with the revising process is to have a peer go over the text and have them offer feedback.  Knowledgeable editors are valuable, so someone that can provide truthfully helpful feedback is important to have.  I found it useful to go over the Ten Common Proofreaders’ Marks.  I had already seen many of them before, but some of them were new.  Now that I know all of these ten marks, editing papers ought to be more effective.  As a final note, I am not sure why it is necessary to have so many acronyms for revising and editing.  I wonder if DOCS could be just as valuable on a paragraph and sentence level, thus doing away with CLOUD and SPELL.  I understand what each of these acronyms is trying to portray, and with the regular overlap in values I believe they could be grouped together.

Chapter 4 Reflections

There are many ways to make potentially boring and difficult-to-read documents more vivid and interesting.  Some of the ways mentioned in Chapter 4 that are worth implementing are use of typography, spacing, alignment, and visual aids.  The book itself did a great job at implementing the techniques as they were being explained.  The headings are diverse and interesting, and images are found throughout the chapter to enhance the teachings.  I was disappointed, though, to find that ART was used as a title for the subheadings of Tables, Bar and Line Graphs, Pie Graphs, Photographs and Clip Art, and Miscellaneous Graphics.  Art is a pathos strategy that can help with logos and ethos.  I would debate that “art” is not the correct term for grouping these elements of visual aids.  In fact, that is probably the best term for this section:  Visual Aids.  The title of the chapter is Enhancing Visual Appeal, thus making it even more appropriate to refer to these artifacts as “Visual Aids” rather than “Art”.  Art is chiefly used for beauty and emotional influence with the expression of creative skills.  I, for one, cannot imagine a time when someone was emotionally moved by a bar graph (but that’s not to say that it hasn’t happened).  And now, to get off my soap box, I believe this chapter is very useful and informative.  I will surly reference this chapter in the future.