Reading Response Week 6
After reading Chapter 24 and 37 in The Thomson Handbook, I think our group followed the principles but I think we could add more to improve our brochure. In Chapter 24 on page 559 of The Thomson Handbook, it states that the functions of photographs are to convey information and content and help your reader see what you mean. The photo in our brochure of the decorated gym with lots of tables shows the audience the large number of people that attend the Christmas Day Dinner and also shows the success of last year’s dinner with 3,000 meals. The photo of the long food line with volunteers serving at the Christmas Day Dinner demonstrates the importance and the need for a large number of volunteers as well as the number of people that attend this dinner.
Chapter 37 focuses on the importance of sentence variety in order to keep the audience’s attention and interest in what they are reading. Our group used good sentence variety but I feel we should use more use of bullets to separate information so that the audience doesn’t feel overwhelmed with reading too much text at one time. I also think we emphasized the important words when we started the sentence with “winter articles of clothing” and “warm holiday meal”. This allows the reader to know what the sentence is about before finishing the whole sentence and also provides the reader with the main parts of the Christmas Day Dinner.
Repetition is also discussed in Chapter 37. On page 768, it states “the skillful, deliberate repetition of a word or phrase is an effective way to emphasize a key idea.” Our group used the repetition of a drop cap to guide the reader’s eye to each section. We also used repetition by mentioning the importance of volunteering or showing the importance of volunteering through our pictures. We also stated that volunteering can include volunteering time, donating money, or sharing words with others about the importance of volunteering. It is clear from our brochure that volunteering is necessary for the Christmas Day Dinner and is also very important.
Comments
Comment
I think we need to be more various in our writing too. Not only that, condense what we have already said to more of a complete thought. I feel we utilized good use of imagery, but even a couple more pictures wouldn't hurt, just for lasting appeal for the reader. Since our text is so detailed it may be hard for the reader to locate the main points, so we may need to emphasize certain areas better, and one possibility you suggest is use of bulleted points. This is a good means of making things stick out more, so it’s definitely a possibility we should consider. It is good that we did emphasize phrases like “winter articles of clothing,” and ” warm holiday meal” especially at the beginning of the sentence, because like the book indicates, readers will remember the beginning and the end of the sentence the most. By using these clauses in the beginning, we have a strong use of the primacy effect. Much of what we read about we properly included in our brochure, but we still have a large area for improvement. I feel these two chapters will help us to reach our goal.
Comment
I think that our group’s use of pictures fits well into our brochure. The pictures convey the message to the audience and shows how being a part of the Community and Family Resource Center can impact many individuals in need as well as make an impact in the life of the volunteer. Our group picked good pictures to utilize repetition and also make a good point on how volunteering and being a part of the CFRC is such a great opportunity. Another topic that you pointed out in our brochure that makes an impact is our use of words. How we emphasized certain phrases such as “a warm holiday meal,” helps create an emotional appeal to the audience resulting in an action for them to volunteer.
Comment
You make some good points about our rough draft. I agree the photo with the gym and decoration is great for the audience we have. This picture really is a good example of the program and shows it success. Our brochure does look slightly over whelming. I know anytime I see a long paragraph of stuff my eyes glaze over and I do not want to read it. This is something we can work on fixing. I think that you make some excellent points about our brochure but I think we still have some stuff we can do. So far I think we have done a good job.
Reply
Our group also tried to use photographs in our brochure to convey many important messages to our audience. As we listed the different volunteer positions that we needed to organize and fulfill this Christmas dinner event we tried to put important pictures with high impact next to certain volunteer positions. We thought that this would show that this volunteer position really is needed and that it is important not only to the organization but to the people that attend this event on Christmas. So I agree with you and the book that many photographs in the right places can have a high impact on the brochure and the outcome of the brochure.
Reply
After reading those chapters I also felt that my group did a pretty good job of following some of the principals mentioned, but there are also parts that we could improve on to make our brochure more effective. Chapter 36 pointed out the importance of sentence variety, which I think many times people may look past when writing a brochure. Variety helps keep the reader interested and not feel like the text is never going to end. Repetition is also very important because it keeps things looking organized and like they all flow together. It can also help ingrain certain ideas or phrases into someone's head if they are repeated often enough. This can help them remember your product or service.