Module 25

This module focused primarily on using visuals in a presentation. Its important to be aware of where you're standing during a presentation when you're using visuals and to be careful to not block the audience from seeing anything important. It would probably be best if you stand to your audiences left. Usin pointers are a very bad idea because they're only distractions. They don't help the audience understand anything more clearly. Also, with technology like it is today pointers aren't really necessary, because there are many other ways. What I found to be interesting in this module is that it's very important for the presenter to only show a visual when they're speaking about it. If they put it up too soon the audience wi try to figure out what it means and will probably end up missing the message the presenter is given. If you show the visual only when you're ready to talk about it's more likely to keep the audiences attention. Also, something ulemas that I found to be very important and interesting in this module was to keep in mind that when you show a visual make sure you don't start talking to it. In another words make sure you're still aware that the audience is still whom you're speaking to. This module also states that practicing with your visual is extremely important.

Module 20

Module 20
This module focused primarily on giving oral presentations. There are many different kinds of oral presentations that you can give which include informative, persuasive, and goodwill presentations. It’s important that a oral presentation is more simple when compared to a written message. Also, you should identify only one idea that you want the audience to take from your presentation. There are three basic kinds of presentations which are monologue, guided discussion, or sales. A monologue presentation is the kind that I am most familiar with and what we have practiced in class. It’s important to keep in mind what your audience already knows and what they don’t know when you’re giving a oral presentation. If you have visuals in your presentation it’s important that you don’t overload it with information. For example if you have a powerpoint only list the most important items, not everything you want to say. What I found to be most interesting and informative in this module was how to create a strong opener and closer. The module gave various examples of starting statements and closing statements, and I found these to be very helpful. I also thought that the sections on how to organize a presentation was interesting, because it gave a overview of what you should cover first and what you should end with. I also thought that the section about keys to delivering a good speech was very interesting and helpful as well. Most of them we already know, but sometimes we worry about the presentation itself and forget about our body language. Also, you should always be prepared for questions from the audience.

Module 3

This module focuses on communicating across cultures. It’s important to understand that there is diversity in the global marketplace. We can categorize cultures in a high context or low context. High context cultures mean that little is spelled out. In low context cultures the context is less important and most information is explicitly spelled out. Values, beliefs, and practices are often unconscious and affect our response to people and situations. Non verbal communication doesn’t use words and takes place all the times. Body language, personal space, and time are all ways to non verbally communicate with someone. Other non verbal symbols include clothing, colors, age, and height. What I thought was interesting in this module was the section about writing to international audiences. Most cultures are more formal than the United States and when you write to international audiences it’s important to remember to use titles, not first names. Avoid contractions, slang, and sports metaphors. Also, be flexible and open to change when writing to other cultures. Making your documents bias free so that it does not discriminate against others is also a section that I thought was important in this module. Bias free language is friendly and fair. Nonsexist language is also important and treats both sexes neutrally. It’s also important to be nonracist and nonagist, which means treating all races and ages equally.

Module 24

Module 24
This module covers long reports and gives you an overview of how to write a long report.
One of the first things mentioned in this module is how to manage your time when writing a long report, which is very important especially if you’ve never written one before. It would be a good decision to spend most of your time working on sections of the report that support your recommendation or whatever it is that you’re arguing. Setting up a long report is also a bit more complicated and this module gives many examples of how to do this properly. What I found interesting is in this module there are about fourteen pages that give examples of how you should set up each section in a long report. I found this to be very helpful, since we are currently working on a long report for our class. It’s important to know how to write a title page for your paper and there is also a example of this included. This tells the reader what the report is about, who its for, who prepared it, and the date. A letter or memo of transmittal is important because this orients the reader to the report and can create a good image of the report. Including background and history is also something that is important because later audiences who may read the report years down the road won’t be familiar with what you’re talking about.

Module 23

Module 23
This module focusses on the different kinds of reports and different patterns of organization that there are. Informative and closure reports both summarize completed work or research and doesn’t result in a action of recommendation. Feasibility reports explore alternative results and in the end recommends one. Justification reports recommend or justify a purchase, investment, hiring, or change in policy. The book also gave a great example of a justification report. There are seven basic patterns for organizing information. First compare/contrast, problem-solution, elimination of alternatives, general to particular or particular to general, geographic or spatial, functional, and chronological. These patterns can be used for the whole report or only certain parts, it doesn’t matter. What I found very interesting and informative in this module was the answer to the question of whether or not you should use the same style as other business documents. The answer to this question is, yes. However you should use a fairly formal style without slang, avoid the word you, and include all documents or definitions needed to understand the report. Also, something I found interesting was it’s very important to say what you mean in the report. The book gave some great examples of how to make your sentences more clear to the reader. Also, remember to tighten your writing and eliminate unnecessary words that are taking up extra space. It’s important that the reader doesn’t lose interest in your report, and having a bunch of unnecessary words could do that. Blueprints are overviews or forecasts that tell the reader what you will be discussing in your report, and these are very important as well. Making sure the blueprint is easy to read will help keep the readers attention as well. The book also gave many great examples of good and bad blueprints which I found very helpful.

Module 22

Module 22
This module focused on finding, analyzing, and documenting information. The importance of knowing how to find information online is very important. One way to do this is by searching for keywords. This will help narrow the search and give you the best possible results. This module discussed how to phrase your searches, for example leaving out one word such as and could affect the results that you get. Writing questions for surveys and interviews are very different. For surveys this includes a wide range of people called subjects and respondents, and for this you would create a questionnaire. Designing questions for a interview is completely different, because this should be more structured and designed specifically for the person whom you are interviewing. It’s also important to not used closed questions which can lock the subject into a response. Instead using open questions will allow them to answer the way that they want to. The population is the group you want to make statements about. Defining who your population will help you get the most helpful information. Doing things such as random sample, convenience sample, or a judgment sample can also come in handy. The sections that I found to be most interesting and important in this module was on how you analyze the information. First its very important to understand the source of the data. Analyzing numbers and words is also a important component. It’s important to be consistent with numbers throughout the assignment as well. If your data has words, make sure you understand what they mean to who said them. Checking your logic is also very important. Also, it’s okay to discuss the negative aspects or results of your project to the audience.

Module 21

Module 21
This module focused on proposals and progress reports. The chapter started off by explaining what a report is. There are many different types of reports such as informal reports, information reports, analytical reports, and recommendation reports. Also, this module addressed the question of what you should do before you write a proposal. Before writing your proposal it would be a good idea to complete at least one fourth of the research for your project. It’s always a good idea to narrow your problem or subject. What should go into a proposal is one of the most important things and to answer this question you need to have a clear understanding of the problem. A proposal must answer questions such as what problem are you going to solve, how are you going to solve it, what exactly are you going to provide for us, as well as many more. What I found to be the most important and interesting part of the chapter was the section about proposals for class projects, because this related most to our class. This section pretty much outlined what a research project for a class should have in it starting with a problem, feasibility, audience, topics to investigate, methods and procedures, qualifications, work schedule, and a call to action. I also found the examples of what a proposal for a student group report should like since we will have one due this week it was nice to see a example. Module 21 also addressed what you should include in a progress report. These can be used to enhance your image and help minimize potential problems. There are different types of progress reports such as chronological, task, and recommendation.

Modules 17 & 18

Module 17
This module focused on how to be a good listener. To be a good listener one of the most important things you can do is to not make assumptions. Also, it’s important to listen to feelings in addition to listening for facts. Being a active listener means that you can paraphrase the content, mirror the speakers feelings, state your own feelings, ask for information or clarification, and offer to help solve the problem. It’s important to show people that you’re listening. You can do this by making eye contact with the person who is speaking, lean forward, and make acknowledgment responses. Something that I found very interesting was even if you disagree with someone it’s important that you know you can still use these techniques.

Module 18
This module was about working and writing in teams. There are three types of messages that this section talked about and they were Informational, Procedural, and Interpersonal. This module focused on what roles there are to play in groups. Also leadership in groups is very important. Someone who takes on this role needs to be able to make fair decisions. Something that I found interesting in this section was how to handle conflict. To try to avoid conflict everyone should set and agree on a few ground rules in the very beginning to avoid confusion later on down the road.
It’s also very important to confront problems head on when they come up instead of letting someone’s anger build up until they explode. Responding to criticism was something else that I found interesting in this section because it’s impossible for everyone to agree on everything, but there are ways to be respectful when disagreeing.

Modules 15 & 16

Module 15
This module focuses on how to use correct grammar and the best word choice. Examples of both negative and positive words are given, and this I thought was very helpful. Also, examples of words that are considered formal and stuffy were given as well as what is considered to be short and simple. This section also talked about how different words can confuse some people, so it’s important that you’re careful about your word choice. Making sure that your message comes across clear and doesn’t confuse the reader is very important. This chapter gave a lot of examples on how to do this which I thought was very interesting and will be extremely helpful in writing letters in the future.

Module 16
This module focused primarily on how to revise your letter after you’re finished writing it. The first draft shouldn’t be the draft that you send. There could be tons of mistakes that you looked over, so it’s good to re read your letter and it’s okay to change things in order to make your message more effective and clear to the reader. What I found to be extremely important in this module was the section which discussed what one should look for when they’re revising a letter. There were many examples given of how to word your sentences. Examples of active and passive sentences were given which I found to be very helpful. Also, it’s important to eliminate excess words from your letter. If it seems to wordy it might cause the reader to lose interest in what you’re saying and they could miss your point, or they could might have difficulty understanding what the message is that you’re trying to get across. There were many examples on how to cut excess words and one that I use the most is combining sentences. Also another point that I thought was very important was how to begin your paragraphs. This section talked about starting a paragraph with a topic sentence.

Modules 8 & 13

Module 8
In this module the focus is primarily on the reader benefits, which it’s important to understand this and can help you in both persuasive and informative messages. This chapter explains what reader benefits are, how they work, and why they work. Also, in this module it guides you on how to identify what the reader benefits are. Sometimes they are easy to identify and other times it might be more difficult. A aspect of this module that I thought was interesting and important was the section which explains how detailed the reader benefits should be. Another important section was how to decide what reader benefits to use. Both of these sections I found to be important because many people might not know the answers to these questions and both of these sections give great examples of what to do.

Module 13
This module was about email messages and web writing. These are both things that most of do on a day to day basis, but we don’t really think about the etiquette. In this module it talked about how to properly set up a email. What kind of subject lines are appropriate for positive and negative emails. I thought that the examples given for the positive and negative subject lines in the book was helpful. Also, I thought that the section on when to use attachments was also very informative as well. The part that discussed whether or not it is okay to use social networking in a business situation was something that I also found to be very interesting.

Modules 11 & 12

Module 11
This module focuses primarily on negative messages, which are a very common in business. This section really focused on how the audience will perceive certain negative messages and the best way to effectively communicate them with the least amount of harm done. Also in this module it was discussed on how to organize negative messages depending on the person whom you are writing to. The reason should come first, then refusal, a alternative option, and a goodwill ending. Something in this module that I found to be very interesting and informative was the comparisons of reasons on page 175. I thought that all of these examples were very good and could be helpful in the future. This module also talked about the use of buffers as well as many other things. Another section that I found to be particularly interesting was the section on how to give bad news to a superior. This is something that could be difficult so that section I feel was very important.

Module 12
Module 12 primarily focused on how to send persuasive messages. In this section the many different types of persuasive strategies were discussed including, the direct request pattern and the problem solving pattern. This chapter informed you when it is best to use each one of these strategies. The organization for a persuasive message should be first the request for action, following that should be details, and again the request for action. This organization is relatively different from the previous methods that we’ve read about. What I found very interesting in this chapter was the section about building credibility with the audience and building emotion appeal as well. I thought these two things were very important because they are a key component in a persuasive letter, and without these two things you might not be very successful.

Module 9 & 10

Module 9
This module was very informative about the different types of formats that letters can have, and the advantages of each format. For example the best format for business letters is block format and this is what readers expect. However a modified block format is also acceptable to readers. Also the module discussed the appropriate greeting that is acceptable to the reader. For example when it is appropriate to refer to the recipient by the first name or not. In most business situations it's best to address the reader by a Mr. or Mrs. title. Also the chapter discussed the closing statements and what is best for social and business situations, as both are very different. A subject line is something else that is very important when writing letters and can tell a number of different things to the reader. One thing you could put in the subject line is if you have good news to share. This basically tells the reader what the letter is about. This module also discusses everything that should be in a letter such as reference line, how many spaces should be between each line, letterhead, enclosures, and memos. One point that I really thought was very good in this module was what to do when you know the readers name but not their gender. For this situation you could use professional titles, could call the company, or use the readers full name. Another point that I thought was also very informative in this module was how to set up memos. It gave the organization that you should use when setting up a memo and everything that you should include in the memo such as the date, time, ect.

Module 10
This module really discussed informative and positive messages in a letter. It talked about how to create an informative or positive message in the subject line, what you would say and how you would say it. A good subject line meets these three criteria: specific, concise, and appropriate.
The module talked about how you could do each of these three things. It also talked about how to organize an informative and positive message. You should give the main point, details, negatives, reader benefits, and goodwill ending. Something that I thought was very interesting and informative in this module is when it talked about the most common kinds of informative and positive messages. For example many informative messages can include something like a recording of a oral conversation, such as a message. Another aspect of this module that I found interesting was the thank you and congratulatory notes section. A thank you and congratulatory note should be short but prompt. It would be best to avoid language that could seen condescending or patronizing. At the end of the chapter it also spoke about how you can apply what you’ve learned in this module, which I found very informative as well. It’s important to consider what your purposes are in your writing or speaking. As well as who your audience will be, who will be reading what you write. The information that you include will be be based on both on both your purpose and audience, so considering them will help you tremendously. Something else that will be beneficial to you is to consider how the context will affect the response that the reader has.

Website Comparison

The two websites that I choose to look at were www.shopbop.com and www.FoxNews.com, and in my opinion both of these websites are very different from each other. Shop-bop's website is very straightforward and basically all of the options are on the home screen. On this website the use of capital letters was not used sparingly, in fact it was used on almost all of the text on the homepage, some of it advertising free shipping. I believe that’s a good strategy to advertise that as one of the first things that the audience will see when looking at this website, because this grabs their attention immediately and they’re more inclined to buy something. There is a great deal of white space on the homepage and on many of the other pages as well. If it were cluttered with a bunch of bright colors the audience would be distracted from the clothes, so I believe that is also a good design strategy. However on the homepage I noticed a few different fonts, more than two that is. I don’t believe this hurts their webpage, because there is very little text. Headings played a important role in this webpage, because without the use of headings it would be extremely difficult to navigate the webpage to find the clothes they wanted. The margins on this webpage are kept smaller than the browser so it’s not cluttered or difficult to see everything at one glance. The graphics and animation were kept at a minimum, because there wasn’t any. Also it’s easy to find the homepage, with a link on every page that you go to. There was no music on this page which I would find to be very distracting. The audience that shopbop is intended for is probably women from twenty years old to thirty or forty years old, and I believe it plays to it’s key demographic very well. Anyone who is online shopping on shopbop has probably shopped online before so they know how it works, however if someone is new at it I believe that shopbop keeps it’s website simple enough so a person could figure it out very easily.
Fox News website is completely different from shopbop in many ways. For starters the homepage is completely covered and you might even say cluttered with headlines. There is only one font used on the entire page, which I believe is a good choice because it would be completely distracting to see many different fonts. The only animation on the homepage is changing pictures of some of the top headlining stories. There’s a list of news options at the very top of the page, the different categories that one might want to look at it. That aspect of it is very straightforward and simple, however when you scroll throughout the page it’s overwhelming. It’s just covered from top to bottom with headlines. Also, there are ads on the side of the page, which I find to be distracting. However, I believe they can get away with all of the clutter and ads because it is essentially supposed to be like a newspaper, only online. Most people would think that their target audience would be older people, however on the homepage there are quite a few entertainment headlines regarding celebrities and sports. This leads me to believe that they’re also trying to target the younger generation as well, however I believe the main target audience would be anyone over the age of twenty five or thirty. Also I believe that they reach their target audience very well because it’s the news and anyone who watches it on t.v. will more than likely use their website.