English 421Y: Technical Writing Online

Date: April 20, 2009
To: Professor Rivers
From: Isaac Townsend, Group 1
Subject: Individual Activity Report 3

This report summarized the work and progress completed since April 12th.

After having finally nailed down a solid project idea, I spent the weekend editing and revising our proposal. After posting the updated proposal, I sent out an email to the group updating everyone to the changes that had been made, and split the research up by topic to each group member. The remainder of the week was spent mainly on researching heat pumps. I focused on finding legitimate information that our primary audience, contractors, would find helpful. This included information and details on performance, installation, and cost among other things.

I also spent time researching different white papers to find an effective and attractive design. After gathering a few ideas, I landed on a two column approach divided by large headers for my thumbnail. I also spent time reviewing and critiquing my group member’s thumbnails, which is the first step in deciding on a final design.

I also wrote the group activity report for this week. It helped me inventory everything that has been accomplished by the group, and what still needs to be done. I highlighted some good things we did as group last week in hopes to carry it into the drafting process.
I sent out an email earlier today summarizing what needs to be done in the coming days and week, along with some ideas I had for accomplishing these goals. The idea is to get everyone on board with a plan early in the week so that we can get started drafting our white paper early and minimize any last minute scrambling. This will ensure we have a better white paper with less work to do in the future, along with a more enjoyable week.