English 421Y: Technical Writing Online

This week Group 3 met and divvied up the work for the project. My main task this week was to create the Gantt chart. In previous classes I have used Microsoft Project to create Gantt charts. However after seeing the video of creating one using Excel, I don’t think I will ever go back to using MS Project. I’m sure that it has it’s uses but when one only needs to create a simplistic Gantt chart, Excel is the way to go.

Research. The backbone of most major educational writing endeavors. Something that most of us have done to some extent since we started school. This week’s reading covered various ways with which to not only conduct research but also to organize the resulting data efficiently.

One thing that I learned that I plan on using in my own research is a research journal. This will greatly help me not only write a more thorough research blog but also help me track the various sources I’ve found.

I have not accomplished much of anything in regards to this group project. I sent an email out to the group on Tuesday to try and get some ideas going about a topic. Since I tend to be quite busy it is very helpful for me to get things organized as soon as possible so that I can plan around an conflicts.

From reading the few pages in Thompson and the white paper about white papers (does that make it a meta-white-paper?) I have solidified some things that I have also gleaned from personal experience. The main thing is that when done properly white papers are quite useful and informative. However when done improperly, white papers can be nothing more than useless propaganda pamphlets.

I have attached both a booklet version so that you can see what it is supposed to look like as well as a page by page version it make it easier to read on the screen.

My instructions might look out of order in the PDF but that is due to the fact that it is meant to be printed out and folded into a booklet. Sorry for any confusion it might cause. There are page number at the bottom to help.

After reading the chapter from TCT I can definitely attest to the fact that I have turned in "finished" rough drafts, which is obviously due to not allowing for enough time to properly edit my document. After a few bad grades due to simple spelling mistakes, I realized how much I could benefit from allowing for time to edit.

Each page will be 8.5"x5.5". This way a small booklet can be created.

*Note: The actual design file is 8.5"x5.5" however when I converted it to a PDF it put it on an 8.5"x11" sheet of paper. This is why it looks too small.