Chapter 3 Discussion

In this chapter, we learn the importance of strategic planning before writing proposals. We need to consider the rhetorical situation.

1. As proposal writers, we are naturally enthusiastic about our topic. How do we determine which information is "need to know" and which is "want to tell?" We may think the audience needs to know a lot more than they actually do. On the other hand, as experts in the field, we may assume the audience is already familiar with our subject and leave out important explanatory information. To solve this dilemma, we probably need to have other readers look at our proposal to tell us if we giving too much information or not enough.
2. We need to consider all our readers: primary, secondary, tertiary, and the gatekeepers. Honestly, I hadn't considered tertiary readers. How are we supposed to imagine which people who might want to use our proposal? And how can we cater to these people if we don't know who they are? It seems like tertiary readers just refer to everyone else, which is too broad a category.
3. Before this class, I hadn't thought much about context. It seems especially difficult to consider the ethical and political contexts. It seems that every proposal has the potential for some sort of ethical problems. Internal Review Boards exist to minimize the harm that will come to human subjects in research, but sometimes even they can't foresee possible damage. The political context of MAPC faculty will affect how I choose my committee. I already know that some professors in the department don't get along at all. I need to do some investigating beforehand to make sure my committee can work well together.
   

Progress Report 6/19/08

Introduction
I am writing a proposal for what I hope will become my master's thesis. I want to study the Net Generation's communication styles, specifically the ways they express themselves online. I am interested in seeing if this generation distinguishes between formal and informal communication. The study will involve analyzing online writing samples of the Net Generation and sharing them with people in other generations to learn from their feedback. This should give me insight on the way new technology changes the way we communicate and how these changes affect intergenerational exchanges.

Work Completed
This week was focused on editing the proposal. Since my project plan section needed the most work, I spent some time on Monday rewriting it in paragraph form and updating the method. My plan has changed quite a bit from when I first started. I also thought about style and made a style sheet, which I posted here. On Wednesday we worked on some front matter, and I made a letter of transmittal and a title page. We're doing presentations for the class today. For mine I used the screen capture program, Jing, to record a facebook profile. I talked about different parts of it as I scrolled through.

Next Steps
I need to edit the writing of the proposal quite a bit and then move it to InDesign to add the style features I've thought about. I also want to improve my presentation if I have time. Then I'll need to write a report documenting the what, how, and why of all the decisions I've made. I'll package the final deliverables and turn them in by 9 am on Monday.

Conclusion
I have a busy weekend ahead. I'm glad we have a couple of extra days to work on everything, because I doubt I would have been able to get everything done by tomorrow. I'm glad that I have rough drafts of my proposal and my presentation done, but I still think each of them needs a lot of work. Writing the report will probably be the most time-consuming project I have to work on, since I haven't even started it yet. If I explain each decision I made in detail, I think it will probably come to ten pages, but I'm going to try to be concise and keep it shorter in the interest of time. It's hard to believe this class is almost over. It's only been a few weeks, but I feel like I've accomplished a lot in this short amount of time.

Chapter 12

Summary: The Final Touches
Before this point, we've been working on separate sections of the proposal. Now we need to look at it as a whole and see how well it flows together. The chapter talks about adding front and back matter and revising.

Points to Discuss
I've been thinking about what front matter to add to my proposal. I don't think I need all the parts mentioned in the book. I will have a title page, but I don't think I want to devote a whole page for the table of contents. I'm thinking of organizing my front matter like this:

1. Title Page
2. Executive Summary
3. Bio and table of contents on one page

Since I won't have a qualifications section, I'd like to put my bio in the beginning. Does this seem like the right amount of front matter?

The chapter also lists an extensive amount of back matter. I really don't think I need anything other than a bibliography. A lot of the other sections seem more relevant to business proposals. The only other one that I might include is the glossary of terms. But so far, I haven't really used any terms that anyone in the MAPC faculty wouldn't understand. If I only have a few unfamiliar terms, it will probably be more effective to define them in the body of the proposal.

I remember the first day of class talking about revision as a "re-vision." The book seems to agree with this definition of revision. It seems like a good idea to take a couple of days off from the proposal and then look at it again with fresh perspective to make sure it makes sense. I know that my purpose and method have changed quite a bit from when I first started writing. But I am not used to revising. Usually I just write a paper and turn it in. So this process is foreign to me, but I can see the value of doing it.

Chapter 11

Summary
So from this chapter we get the following main points.
Graphics should

• Tell a simple story
• Reinforce, not replace text
• Be ethical
• Be labeled and placed properly

Discussion Points

• I am intrigued by the use of the word "story." In a book, I was reading recently, one of the characters pointed out that human beings prefer the narrative structure. A story, unlike an argument, is seen as non-threatening. If we view our proposals as stories, perhaps we can persuade our readers in a subtle way.
• I completely agree that graphics should not replace written text. I am very much a verbal learner. That is I need words to help me understand information. But I understand that graphics can be helpful to visual learners. Having both the visual and the words in a proposal can ensure that the information is reaching all readers.
• The question of ethics in graphics is interesting. Over the weekend, I was talking to someone about ethical graphics and he brought up the point that graphics can never be objective. Statistics are always used to emphasize the writer's point. We always choose which information to display (that which supports our argument) and which information not to display (that which contradicts our argument). If this is the case, can a graphic ever be completely ethical?
  

Style sheet

Line Level

• Font: Palatino Linotype
• Font size: 12 point
• Italics for foreign language words, terms used as terms, and emphasis
• Underline for titles of books, magazines, journals, plays, movies, and radio or television shows
• Quotation marks for titles of short stories, magazine or journal articles, and specific episodes of radio or television shows

Paragraph Level

• Leading: 1.5
• H1: Lucida Sans Typewriter, 16 pt., bold, centered
• H2: Lucida Sans Typewriter, 14 pt., bold, left justified
• H3: Lucida Sans Typewriter, 12 pt., italic, centered
• H4: Lucida Sans Typewriter, 12 pt., italic, left justified
• H5: Lucida Sans Typewriter, 12 pt., regular, centered
• H6: Lucida Sans Typewriter, 12pt., regular, left justified
• Justification: Left, use hyphens sparingly
• First line indent for paragraphs, hanging indent for bibliography
• Sequential lists: Numbers with periods after them and 5 spaces before the text
• Nonsequential lists: bullets

Page Level

• 3 columns, each 2.5 inches wide
• Margins: 1 inch on all sides
• Header: title of section, left justified
• Footer: page number, right justified
• Images, pullouts, and sidebar information in the column on the outer edge of the page
• Charts and tables across all 3 columns in the top half of the page

Graphics Level

• Captions: Arial 10 pt., italic
• Labels: Arial 10 pt.
• No borders for graphics
• Full color for images
• Charts and graphs: use different color for each bar, line, or pie piece

Document Level

• Standard white 8.5 x 11 paper
• Bound with plastic sheets covering it

Progress Report 6/12/08

Introduction
I am writing a proposal for what I hope will become my master's thesis. I want to study the Net Generation's communication styles, specifically the ways they express themselves online. I am interested in seeing if this generation distinguishes between formal and informal communication. The study will involve analyzing online writing samples of the Net Generation and sharing them with people in other generations to learn from their feedback. This should give me insight on the way new technology changes the way we communicate and how these changes affect intergenerational exchanges.

Work Completed
Over the weekend, I put all the separate pieces of my proposal together into one rough draft. I also put all my sources together as a bibliography. So far I have 20 sources, although I don't cite them all in my proposal. I worked on expanding the current situation/literature review section. I've done some thinking about my presentation. Although we talked about film in class, I don't think that's the best medium for my topic. Since I'm discussing communication on the Internet, I'm going to use screen capture software record different sites I visit and a voice over with my observations. I've decided to look at a Facebook profile, a blog, an e-portfolio, and Epsilen (a combination social networking and e-portfolio site).

Next Steps
My proposal still needs a lot of work. It's only about halfway complete. The project plan needs the most work, as it's still only a rough outline. I also need to work on my presentation. Before I record, I have to decide exactly which sites to visit and make notes about what I want to say about each one. The final proposal and the presentation are due a week from tomorrow, so this upcoming week is going to be a busy one.

Conclusion
It still seems like I have a lot of work to do. I'm glad I have a rough draft of the proposal. Actually, the proposal should be the easy part. The presentation will probably be more challenging, as I've never used this screen capture program before. Luckily, my colleagues in the MATRF can help me. This week is going to be challenging, but if I manage my time efficiently I should be able to finish everything.

Chapter 9 Discussion

This chapter emphasized the importance of style when editing. I feel that it would have been helpful if this chapter came earlier. Personally, I don't do much editing after I've finished a paper, so I try to construct my sentences carefully the first time I write. Luckily, I had a technical editing class last semester and that book had a chapter on style. So I am familiar with some of the techniques mentioned in this chapter.

Discussion Points

1. I agree with the beginning section that says that style should not be used to conceal a lack of content. Yet, students often use style to hide the fact that they don't know what they're talking about especially on essay tests. I know I've done this in the past. Most of my teachers were fooled although a couple saw through it. Did the rest of you ever do this? When I'm writing my thesis, I need to make sure that I know my information as I write. I've got my timeline, so I can budget enough time to do the research instead of trying to put something together at the last minute.
2. Contracts are often difficult to understand, because they use a lot of technical jargon and go into so much detail that people tend to skim them. As a result, many people may be signing something they don't understand. I think the writers of these contracts may do this purposely. It would be against their interests to make their documents clearer, because then people would be more likely to realize they're getting a bad deal. Do you think that style is ever intentionally used to obscure meaning?
3. I disagree with the breathing length idea for a sentence. It doesn't take complex compound sentences into account. The whole premise that people only breathe at the end of a sentence is false. We also breathe at other marks of punctuation, such as commas and semi-colons. A long sentence without any punctuation at all might be difficult to read, but as long as there are breaks built into the sentence there shouldn't be a problem.