English 421Y: Technical Writing Online

This week I spent the majority of my time (not literally) reviewing the instructor's comments on our groups project submission and making adjustments to better my section. The main change that I made was to encompass an additional section, related to the discussion of the economic efficiency of the closed loop geothermal system. I left this out for the rough draft as there was still a little confusion within the group as to how we were going to present this information.

This week our group focused our attention on collaborating all of our gathered information and obtained knowledge, and creating a unified white paper. We used time toward the beginning of the week to coordinate the design of our white paper, and settle upon a mutually acceptable format, based on our thumbnails we each created. The group eventually decided to base this format off of my thumbnail. In this way, the white paper would feature a two-column style, to take proper use of white space, and incorporate a balance of illustrations and color distribution.

For this entry, I'd like to elaborate farther on research conducted relative to my specific area of interest, that being horizontal closed-loop geothermal systems. Another source that I found very useful on this topic was...

http://www.geo4va.vt.edu/

For this week's tasks related to the final group project, I focused my attention on creating a document thumbnail and completing research. In creating the document thumbnail, my goal was to outline a structure for our white paper that I felt would be appropriate. I used many of the example white papers provided by the instructor as a guiding source. In viewing these examples, I noticed several consistencies which I carried over into my design. First, I made sure to take proper advantage of white space.

In this next blog entry, I'd like to focus in on more of the statistical facts that I've collected via research into horizontal closed-loop systems. I think that such data will be pertinent to the usability and immediate credibility of any information that our white paper provides, and that it is completely necessary for us to achieve our desired project outcome. In researching statistics, I planned to gather data that would meet our main objective of informing the primary audience, the contractor, on the appropriate heat pump system for any given scenario.

For our group's white paper, my area of research is focused on horizontal closed-loop heat pumps. This category of heat pumps is one of several that collectively define the main array of geothermal heat pumps used today. My first thought, before beginning research, was to decide on a course of action. I really wanted to stay with our white papers purpose, which is essentially to provide accurate, unbiased information concerning geothermal heat pumps, in such a manner that the primary reader, the contractor, will be able to tailor a specific product or technology for the homeowner.

This week's reading from TCT focused in on the various aspects of ethics that are involved in constructing technical documents, namely white papers. As the author noted, these ethical issues could be broken down into 3 particular categories: personal ethics, social ethics, and conservational ethics.

This week's tasks for ENGL421 began with the reading assignment and response concerning research. This reading was very relevant to our groups white paper project as our research will begin shortly, and individual research blogs, tracking this effort, will also be due in a matter of time. For my portion of the group's research, I've decided to focus in on an online approach. This seems quite fitting for this course, as it is online, but I think it will also be the most efficient and accurate way for me to gather information.

This week our group made significant progress with our white paper project. We began by constructing a thoroughly thought-out Ghantt chart. In doing this, our main goal was to distribute the various tasks evenly between all of the members, and also plan out a course of action. These tasks were divided between the five weeks available for the project, namely weeks 12 thru 16. The first week was focused on the project proposal, while the current week was focused on the construction of a Ghantt chart and the outlining of a research plan.