During the Employment Project, you will learn strategies for seeking and securing employment or an internship, with particular attention to the documents people normally use to represent themselves and their prospects to potential employers. This project asks you to work individually, but there will also be chances for you to work with your peers to exchange ideas and feedback in your blogs.
Locate a real and specific job or internship for which you are qualified and prepare the application materials for it. If you already have a good job, find one that would be an advance for you, then prepare application materials for that position. Step 1 of the project asks you to learn about and use various web-based resources for job seekers and ultimately to select one real job to pursue. Step 2 asks you to prepare the all-important cover letter (i.e., "Job Application Letter"). Step 3 asks you to prepare a print resume suitable for such a position. In Step 4, you will assess your experience in a "Project Assessment Document." In the process of completing each step, you will work closely with your peers and your instructor to shape your writing so that it represents you and your experience fully and effectively.
This project emphasizes several important goals that all professional writers should bear in mind and that are consistent with those of the Professional Writing Program at Purdue. In the Employment Project, you will learn to shape your writing for very specific situations and purposes:
Writing in Context
Analyze professional cultures, social contexts, and audiences to determine how they shape the various purposes and forms of workplace writing, such as persuasion, organizational communication, and public discourse, with an emphasis on
Writing Process
Develop and understand various strategies for planning, researching, drafting, revising, and editing documents that respond effectively and ethically to professional situations and audiences.
Research
Understand and use various research methods to produce professional documents
Step 1: Skills Inventory, Job Ad Analysis. Start this step by completing the Job Search Activity 12-1 (p. 221) in The Thomson Handbook. In a blog post, respond to each of the questions with a few sentences, or a list. Then, using the resources listed on page 222 of The Thomson Handbook ("Using Print, Campus and Internet Resources") and the course calendar, find a job ad and copy and paste it (or provide the link) in a blog post. In the same blog entry, write a one-paragraph description of the position in your own words (see the sample in The Thomson Handbook, p. 223-224), and a two-paragraph discussion of why you have chosen this position and why you believe you are qualified for it. Be sure to match your specific skills and experience with kew words from the job ad. Your skills inventory, job announcement, and job ad analysis should be posted to your blog by Friday, June 15, by midnight EST. See the Calendar for Week 2 for additional details.
Step 2: Print-Based Resume. Your printable resume (one page in length) should adapt features drawn from the samples presented online or available for review at the Online Writing Lab. It's critical that you shape your resume to the specific job or internship you have chosen to apply for (that it's suited to the context), so be sure to include only the relevant aspects of your professional experience. Your writing needs to be error-free, concise, and presented in an easily readable format. Draft due for peer review: Wednesday, June 20 , by midnight. Your resume draft should be posted to your blog as a PDF attachment to a blog message that explains the nature of the attachment and invites peer feedback. Read these directions for converting your documents to PDF format if you have any questions about the process. You should also review the principles, guidelines, and resume samples in The Thomson Handbook (Chapter 12, pages 226-232). Pay special attention to the Project Checklist "Evaluating Your Resume's Content" and "Evaluating Your Resume's Design" on pages 228-229. Ask yourself these questions as you prepare your final draft.
Step 3: Job Application Letter. The job application letter is critical to your efforts to secure a job, perhaps as critical as your resume itself. For Project 1, your letter should be no longer than one or two pages (one is preferable in most cases), following the suggestions and models discussed during class. You should submit the draft of your application letter to your blog for peer review by midnight on Monday, June 25. Your letter should be attached to a blog post that includes a cover note that follows guidelines for Eliciting Good Response and the PDF version of the letter. (Read these directions for converting your documents to PDF format if you have any questions about the process.) Review the sample in The Thomson Handbook, p 225. Your letter should be context-specific and should contain the required five parts (heading, greeting, opening, persuasion, closing) in the format shown.
Step 4: Project Assessment Document: As you near the end of your work on the Employment Project, prepare a two-page overview and analysis of your deliverables and the process you used to complete them. Your Project Assessment Document should answer most of the following questions, each of which is tied to the major goals of the assignment:
Writing in Context
How did the particular job you applied for affect how you wrote your letter? Did it change or affect how you presented yourself? How did applying for this position help you understand aspects of your experience you might need to develop more?
Process
What was the most challenging document to produce and why? Briefly describe and explain one of the significant revisions you made to this document after your initial draft.
Research
Which research resource proved to be the most beneficial for you? The least? Explain.
Collaboration
What was one way that peer feedback helped you improve your work? How did responding to the work of others help you improve your own work?
Project Management
How well did you plan your work on this project? What might you have done differently?
Document Design
What is the most effective aspect of your deliverables in terms of presentation or design? Have you deliberately adapted a standard form in an unusual or creative way? If so, why?
Your Project Assessment Document is due when you turn in your completed Employment Project on Thursday, June 28, by midnight. Your final submission will include the following items, in a single PDF file, in this order:
Attach this file to a blog post with the subject "Employment Project Final" and include brief submission notes explaining the nature of the attachment. The file should be in PDF format, and the file name should follow this naming convention:: lastname-EmploymentProject.pdf. Read these directions for converting your documents to PDF format if you have any questions about the process. Final Employment Project Due Thursday, June 28th.
The Employment Project is worth 20% of your course grade. The breakdown for each of its components is as follows: Step 1: Skills Inventory and Job Ad Analysis (10%); Step 2: Print Resume (40%); Step 3: Job Application Letter (40%); Step 4: Project Assessment Document (10%).
When grading your project, your instructor will pay particular attention to see whether you have effectively adapted your documents to the job for which you have applied. Your writing will need to be precise, accurate, and well-suited to the context (the job/field) and to the rhetorical occasion (in terms of tone, style, and content). In this case, a generic, catch-all resume and cover letter will not satisfy the requirements of the project. Specifically, the following criteria will apply:
You will have opportunities to revise your work throughout the process and will be permitted to revise once again after receiving your grade on the project, subject to these restrictions: 1) you make substantial revisions (a few fixes alone are not enough to raise a grade); 2) you turn in your revised project within one week of the date that it was returned to you with a grade; 3) you include submission notes that specify precisely what you did to improve your work.
In composing your response, you might find it easier to first just to go through and address all the questions on a sheet of paper or in a document file. Your tone should be informal but professional and not overly casual. A friendly voice in feedback is good; many writer's are more comfortable at accepting cricitism of their work when it come from a good-natured, sympathetic responder.
Also, when talking about specific areas of the author's text, be sure to include specific quotation within your feedback. Take advantage of the fact that you can easily copy and paste to point directly to what you are referring to from the draft. (Try using Firefox or Safari's "tabbed browsing" to keep multiple windows easily available during this type of peer review.).
In composing your response, you might find it easier to first just to go through and address all the questions on a sheet of paper or in a document file. Your tone should be informal but professional and not overly casual. A friendly voice in feedback is good; many writer's are more comfortable at accepting cricitism of their work when it come from a good-natured, sympathetic responder.
Also, when talking about specific areas of the author's text, be sure to include specific quotations within your feedback. Take advantage of the fact that you can easily copy and paste to point directly to what you are referring to from the draft. (Try using Firefox or Safari's "tabbed browsing" to keep multiple windows easily available during this type of peer review.).
The Corporate Communication Project asks students to examine and respond to a real world corporate crisis—the grounding of several JetBlue airplanes due to ice storms in February 2007. After analyzing the situation through several texts, students will write a press release and business letter from the company that addresses the crisis.
Students will read articles about JetBlue's crisis and visit the page of The JetBlue Customer Bill of Rights, JetBlue's official response. After reading and analyzing this material, students will write a press release to the general public and a letter to JetBlue customers. After completing these documents, students will analyze the official JetBlue communication in comparison to their own rhetorical strategies.
Step 1: Press Release. Following the models provided, students will write a press release from JetBlue to the general public addressing the crisis. Students must decide the tone, content, vocabularly and rhetorical strategy that will be both commercially and ethically effective. The press release should be between 250-500 words and follow the standards of clarity, conciseness, correctness, audience awareness, and professionalism discussed in the course. The rough draft for peer editing is due Monday, July 2.
Step 2: Business Letter. Based on the principles outlined in the Thomson Handbook, students will write a business letter from JetBlue to the customers affected by the crisis. As with the press release, students must decide the tone, content, vocabularly and rhetorical strategy that will be both commercially and ethically effective. The letter will be a single page and follow the conventions of the genre as well as the standards of clarity, conciseness, correctness, audience awareness, and professionalism discussed in the course. The rough draft for peer editing is due Friday, July 6.
Step 3: JetBlue Text Analysis: After completing their own documents, students will analyze JetBlue's official letter to customers (attached below) to determine how its rhetorical strategy compares with their own. Students should first contrast the difference between the two documents and then discuss the different effects that each will have on an audience. Finally, students should determine which documents would be more effective and how they would revise their own work after seeing this document. The Analysis is due along with the final project on Wednesday, July 11.
Instructors' Note: Obviously, because press releases and business letters are provided, the temptation exists to borrow heavily from these documents while writing your own. However, the project requires you to produce an original document as a learning experience, so the instructors will be watching for blatant similarities between the official and student versions of these texts.
The Corporate Communication Project is worth 20% of your course grade. The breakdown for each of its components is as follows: Step 1: Press Release (30%); Step 2: Business Letter (30%); Step 3: Analysis (40%);
The Corporate Communication Project will be graded based on its rhetorical effectiveness, professionalism, and ethical consideration. The instructor will grade based on the following criteria:
You will have opportunities to revise your work throughout the process and will be permitted to revise once again after receiving your grade on the project, subject to these restrictions: 1) Your revision should be substantial (a few fixes alone are not enough to raise a grade); 2) you turn in your completed revision within one week of the date it was returned to you with a grade; 3) you include submission notes that specify precisely what you did to improve your work.
During the Service Learning Project, students will learn how to work collaboratively to produce a professional project for a real world client. Groups of 3-5 students will produce specific documents for a local non-profit organization determined by the instructor. While producing these documents, students will demonstrate their understanding of audience awareness, research, documentation, ethos, professionalism, conciseness, document design.
The instructor will form student groups and assign each group professional documents based on the demands of a specific non-profit agency. Based on an analysis of the non-profit agency, an understanding of their specific requirements, and comprehension of the course principles, the groups will research and produce the necessary documents. Because each group will be producing the same documents as the other groups in its section, clients will vote at the end of the project to select the documents they will use. This means that there is a competitive element to this project.
Step 1: Group Gantt Chart. In a thoroughly executed Gantt chart, students should lay out group goals, a time table for the completion of each goal, and the individual responsibilities of each member. Each Gantt chart must include all duties and deliverables necessary for project completion as well as color coding and a key that specifies which group member will complete each duty. There are many resources online to help you produce your chart, including instructions for using Microsoft Excel to make it. Just Google "gantt chart" for more information, and use the samples provided on Week 5 of the calendar. Due Friday, July 13.
Step 2: Group Activity Reports. Groups are also responsible for weekly activity reports (250 words) in order to keep the instructor informed of the progress that the group has made over the week. Activity reports (submitted as professional emails) are due by midnight, each Sunday, starting with week five (week five's report is due Sunday, July 15, and so on) and concluding in week eight. Please always give this email the subject "Group # Activity Report."
Step 3: Weekly Individual Work Blogs. Because the course and the professional world stress the value of documenting work, individual students are required to keep weekly work blogs of the tasks they have completed. These blogs (200 words each) should briefly and professionally describe work completed by the author and how this work contributed to the goals of the group. Work blogs (posted to the "Work blogs" category) are due by midnight, each Friday, starting with week five (week five’s activity report is due Friday, July 13th, week six's is due Friday, July 20, and so on) and concluding in week eight. Please label all work blogs "LASTNAME Work Blog Week #."
Step 4: Group Document Drafts: Because these documents are for a professional client, several drafts are required to ensure quality. Groups will turn in a draft of the project in weeks six and seven, July 18th and 24th. Each draft should demonstrate significant progress towards completion of the project.
Step 5: Group Peer Review: Each group will have their project peer reviewed by members of the other section. Your instructor will partner your group with a group in the other section. Each group member should post a 200 word review comment to that project by midnight of Wednesday, July 25th. For peer review to run smoothly, it is vital that each group posts its draft by midnight of Tuesday, July 24th.
Step 6: Group Final Draft: A final draft of the project is due at the end of the course. The final draft should meet all of the standards specified by the client and be ready for professional use. Final drafts are due Wednesday, August 1st.
Step 7: Individual Assessment: At the end of the project, each student will fill out the Project Assessment Form evaluating the final project and each group member's participation. Project Assessment Forms are due Friday, August 3rd.
The Service Learning Project is worth 20% of your course grade. The group portion of the project is worth 80% of project grade, and the individual portion is worth 20%. The breakdown for each of its components is as follows: Step 1: Group Gantt Chart (5%); Step 2: Group Weekly Activity Reports (10%); Step 3: Individual Work Blogs (10%); Step 4: Group Drafts (10%); Step 5: Group Peer Review (5%); Step 6: Group Final (50%); Step 7: Individual Assessment (10%).
For the service learning project, the client will contribute to the final grading process. The client will select one project for professional use, and that project will be the only project that receives an A. Other projects will receive an A- or less based on the following criteria:
The final course project cannot be revised because of time constraints. However, multiple drafts will ensure that groups get plenty of feedback to improve their projects.
Students enrolled in Tirrell's 420 course will be working with the Community and Family Resource Center (CFRC), a local non-profit organization. A one-page statement about the organization and some of its programs is available here.
Groups will produce two versions of a brochure soliciting prospective volunteers for CFRC's annual Christmas Day Dinner event: one full-color version and one grayscale version. Document specifications and support files are below. Some of the information is general, so your group will be expected to make design decisions. Remember that you will receive feedback from CFRC on two drafts before the final documents are due. Any questions that you have for the client or about the project should be directed to me.
As you put together these brochures, keep the following in mind:
Above all, groups should respond to direction provided by the client. The client's needs are paramount.
Content:
Brochures should contain the following:
Context:
These brochures will be available at the South Side Community Center, and they will be disseminated at CFRC's other events, as well as at volunteer drives in businesses, high schools, universities, and churches.
Audience:
The audience for these brochures is very broad. Many volunteers are recruited from the locations mentioned above (businesses, high schools, universities, and churches). Also, many volunteers are people who make use of CFRC's services, including Christmas Day Dinner. This means that the audience encompasses a very large range of ages, educational backgrounds, and socioeconomic levels. The brochures must be readable for those with low eyesight, comprehensible for those with low literacy, yet also professional to appeal to businesses and donors.
Medium:
Both the full-color and grayscale brochures should fit onto either standard 8.5" by 11" or 8.5" by 14" white or single-color paper. A standard tri-fold or four-fold brochure is possible, but feel free to be creative in your design. Because your master files may require revision by CFRC, they must be in either Microsoft Word or Microsoft Publisher format.
Because this project is not built around topics relevant to your majors, I have grouped students randomly based on their position in the Drupal users list. I will email each group to initiate contact between members. The groups are listed below:
Group 1 (Group 1 wiki) (Group 1 chat)This is the Service Learning Page for students enrolled in Weber's 420 course. This summer, we are doing a service learning project with the Clinton County Humane Society (main page) in Frankfort, IN. Our contact person is Cindy Loveless, but to keep her email box from flooding with messages, please send questions to me and I will forward them along to her.
Each group will produce two documents for the Humane Society: a general information brochure and a caring for your pet brochure. The Humane Society has written what they would like included in each. You will notice that much of the phrasing below is very rough and vague, so it will be the job of your group to expand and refine the ideas below as you put together your brochures. You will also notice that the Caring For Your Pet information is still vague, so your group will do some required research finding and using sources to expand that section. I am still working on getting photographs from the Humane Society for inclusion in the brochures. However, I also recommend using royalty free image sites such as FreeImages.com, ImageAfter.com, and Dreamstime.com. Please do not use images from Google Image search, as they could be copyright protected.
As you put together these brochures, consider several aspects which will be crucial to your grade.
General Information
Please include some kind of introduction. Many people in our own community still don't know we are here or where we are located. In 2006, the shelter took in over 2,100 animals serving all of Clinton County and adopting many pets out of state. We have many youth and adult volunteers and give presentations to schools, 4-H clubs, girl/boy scouts, adult service groups and anyone that we can.
UPDATED: For year ending 2006, the shelter took in over 2,100 animals. Of those, many were reclaimed by owners, 83 were sent to rescue groups and 658 animals were adopted and found homes. The healthy wildlife we bring in is re-released into the woods on our property.
Mission Statement: The Humane Society's mission is to prevent cruelty and neglect to animals by operating an animal shelter for homeless, abandoned, and unwanted animals; by operating an adoption center for healthy animals; by investigating cruelty and abuse cases; and by educating the public in responsible pet ownership.
Location: We are located in Frankfort's TPA park. Specifically, from I 65, take the state road 28 exit (this is exit #158) and turn east to Frankfort. Follow 28 to the square and turn north (left) on main st. Follow main to Kyger st. At Kyger Street, turn right (east). Follow Kyger to tennis courts and take the left side of the Y into the park. There are signs from there.
From state road 28 east, follow 28 west into Frankfort. At Maish Rd., turn right. Follow Maish road to stop sign and turn left on Washington Ave. Follow Washington Ave to Catterlin. Turn right onto Catterlin. Catterlin will bring you into TPA park. Follow signs from there.
Hours: Open M & T 1-6, Wednesday closed, Thurs 1-7, Fri 1-6, Saturday Noon - 4 and Sunday 1-3.
Phone: 765-654-7717
E-Mail: cchs04@sbcglobal.net
We would like to include our link to petfinder. That would be www.cchumane.petfinder.org
List of needed items: HE laundry detergent, cat litter, 39 gallon trash bags, postage stamps, bleach, puppy and kitten chow, leashes and dog & cat toys/supplies.
Fundraising: We would like to include our new kennel sponsorship. The problem with this is that it is so new, we don't have it quite nailed down yet. We are thinking of three levels. $150, $100 and $50. We are open to ideas from your class about what to call each level that would work for both cats and dogs. For example, we don't just want to call it the gold, silver and bronze levels.
Caring For Your Pet
"Now that you dog is home."
Welcoming a new dog or puppy is exciting. However, in our human excitement, we must consider the changes for our new friend. For example, a puppy may have just been weaned, taken away from it's mother and even siblings. The animal's whole world has changed and we need to make that change as easy and comfortable as possible.
Could we have something general like the above paragraph at the beginning?
Then, topics to include:
Introducing to the family and other pets.
Food and water (try using same food or mixing until changed)
Crate Training
After the initial adjustment:
Vaccination Protocol
Flea and Heartworm Prevention
Spay/Neuter and Why
Cost of owning a pet
We could also include Four Seasons weather tips and pet safety.
We would also like something similiar for cats except change the crate training part to "using the litterbox." A huge mistake people make with cats/kittens is just turning them loose in a house and thinking they will use a litterbox. Common sense tells us that if I don't know where the bathroom is in a new house, why would a cat know where the litterbox is? They have to be confined to a smaller area for a few days and let out with supervision to ensure the cat gets well established. Also there are certain ways of introducing animals, cats and dogs.
Because this project is not built around topics relevant to your majors, I have grouped students randomly based on their position in the Drupal users list. I will email each group to initiate contact between members. The groups are listed below:
Group 1 (Group 1 wiki) (Group 1 chat)
Stephen Sandquist
Cory Mlinac
Alayna Willis
Daniel Sanchez
Group 2 (Group 2 wiki) (Group 2 chat)
Kim Macko
Pratyush Kamdar
Soo Yun Kim
Bryce Sexton
Group 3 (Group 3 wiki) (Group 3 chat)
Alexander Urban
Muhammad Faheem Aslam
Archit Aggawal
Terri Ricks
Group 4 (Group 4 wiki) (Group 4 chat)
Elizabeth Snyder
Gwenda Huhges
Maria Cristina Villacres
Roy Marschke
Group 5 (Group 5 wiki) (Group 5 chat)
John Cummins
Samana Tejani
Laura Lewandowski
Matt Koppelman
