English 420Y - Business Writing Online

After reading through the table of contents and chapter 12 and other parts of the book I think that there are plenty of things I will learn through this class. I expect the substance of this course to be very informative, especially about writing new types of documents I've never heard of before. Just in reading through chapter 12 I've realized there are things such as a white paper and recommendation reports. I've never even heard of either of these but there is a good chance I will have to write some of them in career. I expect to learn a lot more about documents I've heard of as well.

After reading the section “Writing for business and the workplace” on the Thomson Handbook, I found four points to be of great importance: First, the Role of Technology in Business, second, Effective Cover Letters and Resumes third, Effective Memos and finally, Effective Case Analysis.

After going through the table of contents, I find some interesting material for me from the Thomson Handbook. Since I am a foreign student having Spanish as a first language, Part 11, Grammar for Multilingual Writers, seems very interesting. It surprises me that this section is included in the book, and this is what I am most looking forward to in the class. I have not practiced writing papers in English in a long time, so I am motivated to get practice in order to improve my overall writing skills.

What I really thought was good about the reading was it’s focus on several different types of documents one would see in a professional setting. At first I thought the whole article was going to be concerned which just resumes and cover letters, which is good to know but is something I have been exposed to before as opposed to the other types of documents. It was also good to see what types of documents exist in the professional world, beyond the resume and the memo. I’m in a field that is not stereotypical in the sense that I do not deal with customers or clients.

After reading the material in the book, I think this course will be very beneficial. I expect to have to create a cover letter and resume using the guidelines listed on pages 224 through 231. The use of examples will be very helpful to me. Being mostly a visual learner, having an example of what a proper cover letter and resume looks like will be of much benefit to me. I also expect to learn how to write other documents properly, such as a memo, a white paper, a case analysis, and a recommendation report.

I think the content covered in the text is very important for effective professional writing. As future employees for various companies, we should all be very comfortable with the material. It is important that we are not only familiar with the text , but we should be very comfortable in applying the knowledge we gain from the text and I think that can be obtained from a lot of practice and also effective feedback and critique.

1. Dell, PG Finance, Intern, Austin Texas Still defining requirements Supervisor: Hollie Osbourne June 2007 Department of Homeland Security, Office of the Chief Financial Officer, Washington, DC Student June 2006 – Jan 2007 Learn how large organizations monitor and evaluate performance of components and programs Supervisor: Rhonda Brooks Purdue Athletic Department, West Lafayette, IN Jan 2006 – Jan 2007 Tutor Help student athletes with assignments and studying for exams Supervisor: None Purdue Information Technology, West Lafayette, IN

After reviewing the text, I have come to the conclusion that English 420 is centered around creating professional business documents. The book seems to be more of a guide of how to create these documents rather than just paragraphs of information. The text book will help with this class as well as in the business world. I hope to be able take the information provided and use it to construct business documents when called on to do so.

After reading the assigned reading, it has given me a better understand of what to expect for this course. The book covers many areas that will beneficial to my writing skills. The main areas that I am interested in the section that focuses on resumes. This will be helpful to update my resume and also help to correct errors I may have made. The book is going to cover many areas including mainly analyzing different types of documents that are common in the business world. The book will help me also prepare a better cover letter which can help me to obtain a job that I want.

When I finished the reading in the Thompson Handbook, I had a better understanding of what is required to do well in this course and in my professional career. The book gives very useful examples on how to write a proper cover letter and resume. The list of questions on page 221 were helpful in clarifying what a prospective employer expects to see. I have written cover letters and resumes in other classes; but, it was never a detailed, in-depth process. I feel like the handbook will give clear guidelines to insure my resume will be noticed and considered.