English 420Y - Business Writing Online

After looking through the content of The Thomson Handbook I found a lot of interesting information and it looks like there is a lot of good stuff to look forward to learning in this course. Actually this book looks like it could have came in handy a couple of years ago right when I started college. It has a lot of useful information like how to site MLA and APA. It also has interesting content on revising, editing and proofreading which is something that I think a lot of people have problems doing especially with their own work.

I am happy to see that the reading covers more than just the typical resume and cover letter. Its not that these documents are not important, but there are others that can serve as a beneficial supplement when searching for a career. I am really glad the reading provided detailed examples and tips of what successful resumes should include. The question, "How long should my resume be" has always been an issue when I am making a new one. I want to include all important information, but not force a recruiter to read a book when glancing at my interview.

I expect that this course will help prepare me for what I will have to deal with writing on a daily basis in the corporate world. Since many other classes have emphasized the resume I expect only a brief review before we move on to other topics. I expect the grading in the course to be very clear and that we will be able to check our progress periodically. In other courses I have been able to view my participation grade at least two or three times during the semester to see if it is satisfactory.

Reading Thomson Handbook was very helpful to realize the benefits we can get from this course. Both web and usage glossaries had many words that, although I’m sure for many people are normal, they seem less common for me having learned English as a second language. I expect to get from this course the fundamental rules, which might not be obvious sometimes, that would lead to professional and elegant writing.

After going through the table of contents, i was surprised to see that the Thomson handbook doesn't only help us in areas such as writing and reading in the Business world., but it also teaches us how to put our sources in the right manner. Other areas of the reading that i found very interesting were the parts when it talked about how to write a resume letter and showed us an example of what a cover letter looks like on page 225. Seeing and reading those examples gave me a better understanding of what a resume should be contained of and what a cover letter should look like.

While scanning the contents of The Thomson Handbook, I found a lot of information about technical writing and writing appropriately for an audience. For example, the table of contents lists sections on writing critically, presenting information, and writing using technology. The glossary also provided a lot of useful information about this text, especially about technology. I expect this course to put a heavy emphasis on technical writing. I hope to learn more about how to effectively communicate my ideas to an audience.

I expect this course to enhance my writing skills as well as my communication skills. Even though I am almost finished with college I can see where these tools could have made some of my situations in the classroom or job better. For example, this past year I was Vice President of the Rotaract Club I could have served the club better. I would have been a better Vice President, if the memos and e-mail’s I sent were more of an interest to the audience I was trying to reach.

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 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.