English 421Y: Technical Writing Online

This week was primarily spent researching and preparing to write the rough draft. I began the week by researching the main differences between the three browsers that we are comparing. The other members of my group are researching the individual browsers, but since I am the writer I need at least an idea of the general differences between the browsers to start. After researching these differences, I began to research the needs of IT departments.

This week has been quite busy for me! From researching to writing the group activity report, things have kept me moving. Moving in the right direction though! I began the week off by sitting down and thinking of the different functions of our cost analysis that would need to exist. Once I outlined several different areas that our cost analysis should include I began researching these and documenting what I found accordingly. I found many different publications online with loads of useful information.

Individual Activity Report-Chris Kirkwood
Week 14
For: Professor Rivers

This week was spent finishing up research and making sure the group was all on the same page as far as work and organization. I completed my research on Opera functionality through using the program and searching the web. I found a lot of information from users who liked a particular feature or function and then tried them myself. For example, I tried the custom button feature where you can program a button perform a custom operation which saves time and allows the user to browse the internet how they want. I’m starting to think that I might switch from Firefox to Opera.

This individual report consists of information that accrued during week 14 of our white paper project. At the start of the week I developed ideas to use for the creation of our white paper design. After designing a few ideas I implemented them in Adobe Illustrator to present my design. I began to review/critiqued my other group member’s concept designs to collect information to start putting together a final white paper layout design.

This week I was focusing my attention on thumbnails and research. I created my thumbnail with the idea that I wanted some color to the top and bottom of my white paper. I realized after looking at my group member’s thumbnails that a two column idea will look better for our white paper. I think we will stick with the idea of using a 3D graph like the one I used in my white paper. I also included in my thumbnail what a sample cover page may look like if we went with my layout.

This report is the summary of the progress toward the White Paper project, mainly working on the research and creating a thumbnail; starting from last Monday (April 13) to today (April 19).

This past week was spent doing research, designing a thumbnail, and creating a draft of my section. During the first few days, I began taking notes from the sources I had found last week. I also searched for new sources as I came across topics that needed more explanation or enhanced credibility. I was then able to come up with an organized series of facts and opinions using Microsoft OneNote, and I also completed my three research blogs for Friday.

During week 14, the major goal was to complete the research blogs and thumbnail step of the project. On Monday we met on AIM to discuss the progress of the project and future tasks. To start the research blog I did my first research blog on the basics of hydroelectric power in the United States. For my first research blog I wanted to focus on the basics of hydroelectricity and the history in the United States. I also completed the normal blog for the weekly reading response.

This week I spent my time researching material for my research blogs. I did not realize that three of them needed to be done so I figured I should finish all them right away so I had time to work on other aspects of this project. Since I did not know about these research blogs I thought my teammates would not know about them either. I sent an email out and it seems they did not know either. I researched three different topics that ranged from the competition of SharePoint to the various features it has to offer. I learned quite a bit and I know it will help when writing our rough draft.