Zac L's Trademarked Interview Tips!

A job interview is something almost everyone in their life has to deal with. Therefore it is crucially important that you are as prepared as possible for when the time comes. There are countless tips available for preparing for an interview but I have compiled what I think are the most vital for success.

1. The first and what I believe is most important is your first impression. The best way to make the best first impression is to “dress to impress”. Looking professional is always appropriate. Being on time is also included in making a good impression!

2. Before the interview, it is important that you practice what you’re going to say and answer sample questions that you could be asked.( Creating a mock interview with a friend can be very helpful)

3. You should gather as much information about the job as possible. Being prepared gives you an extremely higher chance of getting hired!

4. During the interview, you should make sure and maintain proper etiquette. This will help with your professionalism.

5. Lastly, when your interview is complete, you should prepare a thank you note. Make sure you let the interviewer know how pleased you were to have the chance to interview with him or her.( This is the most commonly forgot protocol for an interview)

All of these tips encompass what I like to call the 3 P’s: Being prepared, professional, and polite!

Jorge C Writing Completely

Writing completely

Every time you write there is a purpose and writing completely is addressing to that purpose and answering every question there is. An issue that can arrive from leaving out information is that the readers are not going to be able to find what they looking for, which would be a waste of time for them to read the work, as well as for it to be written. Readers want relevant information, presented in a manner that is clear and easy to understand. In the planning stages try to put yourself in your readers shoes. Writing completely means including all the useful information needed to fully understand the writer’s objectives. For example, a few days ago I saw this poster on my door with a title “Booza Palooza” with a big picture of a beer mug. The poster had the location and the time, with the words “Free Food and Drinks”, and asked “How good you can see with beer goggles?” I was very excited, it sounded fun so I showed the poster to my roommates and they thought it was going to be a good event. However, when we got to the place there was no food and the only drinks they had was water. After a while, a few cops showed up and started giving a speech on the issues with drinking and why it is bad for you. I thought it was completely boring, and on top of it all there were no beer goggles. I was mad with the rest of the people that went to the event. This is a clear example of what happens when you leave information out. I hope you remember this tip next time you write a paper or do a poster.

http://ezinearticles.com/?Article-Writing---Complete-Article-Writing-Tips---Part-1&id=3243865

Danielle G. Instant messaging in the professional world

When instant messaging in the professional world, it is important to know who your audience is. Whenever I am writing an email or message to a friend I never fully write out my sentences. Instead of writing, oh my gosh! Okay, I guess I will talk to you later. I would say OMG! K. TTYL :).Clearly this is NOT how you would write to your boss or fellow co-workers, unless you know this is fully acceptable.
When writing to others, and are not sure what style is acceptable. It is always best to go with plain ole english. If not, the future client or costumer can get the wring idea about you and the place you work for. To fully understand the improper way to send messages at work, I have provided a toondoo to show you what improper messaging can lead to. I have also provided a video on the benefits of instant messaging in the business world.

By dsgoldst View this Toon at ToonDoo Create your own Toon

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_AKQkqnQZQ
Sources:
toondoo.com
youtube.com

David S. How to Write A Manual

What the (explicit)! These are the words that came out of my mouth (well, maybe a little more) last week when I was trying to setup my new "easy to install" printer. I'm sure these words have also come out of your mouth many times when trying to read a poorly written manual. Wouldn't it be nice if the manufacturer of your newly purchased item only cared as much about your manual as they do their profits! Well, if your profession ever ends up being the writer responsible for these beloved manuals, here are a few tips.

1. Be familiar with the process you will be describing.
If you have never done the process before, it is best to practice it before writing about it. If it is not possible to practice it, then at least take the time to read up on it. It may be best to have an expert in the field to review your writing before finalizing it.
2. Start before the first step.
If supplies are needed, list them in order of use and the quantity needed. If the supplies are included, name each piece to avoid confusion and list what steps the supplies are needed.
3. Review your steps
As the writer, you should go through each step as you write it so nothing is left out. If it isn't feasible to actually do the steps, think them through thoroughly.
4. Numbering the steps.
Number the steps, and leave space for additions between each step. Make sure that your steps are in logical order and written thoroughly.
5. Perform your written steps.
After writing your written instructions, do the things you wrote in your manual. As you come to places where your instructions are lacking, add in the necessary information. Repeat this step until you have all the steps written down correctly and can completely perform your written task without any problems.
6. Making Headers.
Once you have all the necessary steps detailed, go through your manual to find the obvious category heads. Mark these so your reader can easily find them. Title your category heads in bold type for ease of use.
7. Write a Table of Contents.
A table of contents makes it easy for your reader to quickly access a certain piece of information. The more detailed your manual is, the more categories and subcategories you will need.
8. Select a title for your manual!
At last, select a title that is best suited for your manual.
These steps that I have written are just the basics of manual writing. Writing a manual can be an intimidating task, but following the few fundamental guidelines I have given you on this page will make you one more step closer to being a better manual writer. Hopefully, by following these steps, you will make the manual easy to read so people that read your manual don’t have to swear, kick, pout, and throw a fit when trying to figure out your manual!

Sources: http://jnd.org/dn.mss/how_to_write_an_effective_manual.html

Jorge C. Do I have to write in my career?

Writing, not that many people like the idea of writing; some people choose their majors by influencing in how much writing that career has to do. Being honest every profession you think about has some writing to do, it doesn’t matter what you do. Writing could be something as complex as a manual to a new software that your company develop or as simple as an email to your boss asking for the day off. There are many things you don’t consider writing such as prescription by a doctor, a ticket by a cop, or a rejection letter by a college, because is not long or complicated, it has been done a tremendous amount time and now is like second nature. After, this being said just keep in mind that you always going to have some writing to do.

One of the most important things we have to remember when writing is rhetoric. Rhetoric is the art of using words to persuade people, or how words work and affect audiences. Rhetoric is how you engaged your audiences into your writing. In order to do that you need to analyze the situation: purpose, audience, stakeholders, and context. Then you use this information to adjust to the situation, instead of just thinking of the document itself. Other important things to keep in mind that importance of establishing your credibility or expertise in the topic, trust, and goodwill. Technical writing in your major has to focus on the expectations, goals, situations, and needs of the readers in order to be effective.
For an example of the use of the rhetoric you could watch the youtube video is really short and it provides two example of how you could persuade people. Also, for a better explanation on rhetoric you could go to the other link.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPW00i5CH6E
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/624/01/

Zac L's Tips on How to be Persuasive in Writing

There are countless occasions where I had to convince someone to see things MY way. Whether it be my parents, teachers, or even my peers, the act of persuading someone is always a useful thing to have in your arsenal. Although you may think persuading someone to support your ideas may be easy, it can be a whole different story when writing. Therefore I have compiled a list of tips on using persuasion when writing (1 being most important and 6 being least important):
1. You must first grab the attention of the reader as quickly as possible. (preferably from the first line)
2. You must stay focused on what you want the reader to be convinced on. (don’t get off topic and stay consistent throughout)
3. You must provide examples that support your claim. (the more the better!)
4. You should be concise and to the point as the reader may not remain attentive.
5. You should also compare your claim to other related ideas.
6. Lastly, you must insure that you do not try to manipulate or bribe the reader in any way.(Although this is listed as least important, it is still imperative that you follow it!)
-The cartoon is an example of what not to do!
These tips have proven to be quite helpful for me and I can assure you that they will benefit everyone just the same!

David B.'s Guidelines to Technical Writing

Have you ever gotten a new T.V. or Video Game console, and could not figure out how to set it up? Have you ever looked in the box it came in and pulled out the instructions or just had your technical suave friend come over and do it for you? Well, anyways, I bet you then learned just how important these instruction booklets are. Now, have you ever gone through the same scenario, except you did read the instructions and still couldn't put together your new Christmas present? This would definitely be from poor instructions. Instructional writing must be very colloquial as to not render too much jargon. The people that write these books have guidelines, believe it or not, and it's dire they follow them to execute purchases to consumers and keep their product in the market. A few basic guidelines they follow are:

• Keeping technical jargon to a minimal
• using pictures if necessary to help explain
• Making sure steps are in precise order
• Giving instruction in appropriate languages
• Using a table of contents
• Using a glossary if necessary
• Writing instructions in the least amount of words possible without depleting importance.

These are just basic guidelines used to assist technical writing instructors, but there's no right way to give instructions as long as the instructions follow a basic form of organization and clearness.

D.Goldstein's Informal and formal reports

Informal reports are important in many workplace situations and can be used in the following ways:

• Introducing a proposal or plan to investors


• Describe a problem to a client


• Explain a new policy to an employee


• Announcing the status of a project to a manager

Informal reports can also be written for many different people and purposes and can be written for both internal and external audiences. Informal reports can be composed in different genre types such as:

• Memos


• letters


• Emails

The main types of informal reports that most of us have seen or been around are progress reports, lab reports and incident reports.

Formal reports on the other hand, solve problems that meet the audiences needs and expectations. Formal reports also tend to be much longer , more in depth and formatted in a different way than informal reports. The most important factor in writing formal reports is the research! Formal reports are also composed collaboratively.

The main type of formal reports are:

• Recommendation reports


• Feasibility reports


• Evaluation reports

Sources:

http://learn.seoeng.com/images/reports-available.jpg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovN0qzF48vI

David S. Interviews with Professionals Who Do Professional Writing

I have recently conducted a “virtual” interview with professional writer Christopher Moore. I asked him for some tips on how to become an accomplished professional writer and how difficult it is to become one. The following is a short script of our conversation.

Me: “How easy or difficult is it to become a published writer?”

Moore: “Becoming a "published" writer isn't that difficult. If one has a little talent and is willing to work, it's not that tough to get published in local magazines and papers. Now becoming a NATIONALLY published writer, that's a different story, and very often takes years of work and tons of luck as well. It's obviously easier to publish non-fiction than fiction, simply because there's so much more of it, but it's still not easy.”

Me: “What is the key ingredient to success in the publishing industry?”

Moore: “Honestly? Luck. I read authors every year who are better than I am and are not as successful. On the other hand, there are authors who are just horrible and they sell many, many more copies than I do. (I really only have my own experience as a measure.) The difference, as far as I can see, is luck.”

Me: “What advice would you give to an aspiring writer who is not currently a good writer or has nothing interesting to write about?”

Moore: “Well, not being very good can usually be fixed, but having nothing interesting to write about can't. If you can't think of anything to write about, it's best, probably, to learn another skill or aspire to a different career. (I'm talking about fiction here. If you want to write non-fiction, you can always work as a journalist. Then they tell you what to write.) So my advice would be, and is, if you're not very good, but you'd like to be, then take five years, learn your craft, do some writing, and if you're still not good, go do something else. You'll live a lot happier life that way. Writing is too hard to do if you aren't enjoying it and getting better.”

As you can see from this virtual interview, anyone can become a professional writer if they aspire to be one. As long as you have the will and motivation to write, your dream of becoming a published writer may just come true.

Sources: http://www.chrismoore.com/on_writing.html

Choosing a Website

http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/Evaluate.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ylp9nJpGak4

David B's Featured Presentation

Think of a time, when you were in a younger grade of education;
the clock is ticking, your mind is blank and you're soon due a presentation.
You feel you need a break, but you haven't even started;
You hope an idea will quake, but your internet's being retarted.
What you need my friend is a featured variable
for your problematic equation:
an objective,
some point goals,
and a lil' motivation.
Yo, get a poster board,
Some highlighters,
and a picture of two-
a picture of me and you.
If you roll with a posse
or think yo' Hahn Solo;
be as creative,
but as organized as
the Hometown Bloggers.
You must remember when you're presenting,
half the punned-phun is the joy in sharing.


Presented By:

David B

Featuring:

Hometown Bloggers

Aaron M's Tips to Meeting Minutes

Taking the minutes of a meeting is an incredible vital role. If you write good minutes then you will save a ton of headaches and be a lifesaver when it comes to going back in the records and having all the facts straight. A lot of the time, taking minutes is not a very popular position but it is a very necessary one. If no one can write what is going on or can look at the files to jog their memory, then many meetings can be headed for disaster which may lead to a company headed for trouble.

Some of the important things to know about when writing minutes is that you need to be as concise as possible. You don't need to record every single detail that occurs during the meeting. Just the important things, such as motions, resolutions, and votes. A good thing to do is to use the agenda as an outline to your minutes. And when you are wrapping things up and finishing your minutes. Make sure that they can be read and understood by everyone, those in the meeting and outside of the meeting. And before you send it out, it is good to spellcheck and proofread your document. When minutes are for a legal organization, then those minutes are now legal documents that the courts and IRS can look to for information. So you don't want to mess that up.

So basically the two things you need to remember is to write clearly and to write concisely. Doing just these two things will save you and others a lot of trouble and headache.

Sources: www.cartoonstock.com

Zac L's Tips on Writing Courteously

Being courteous when writing in the workplace is exceedingly important especially when your reputation is considered. In order to have your words come across the page correctly and as courteously as possible, you must insure that you maintain a positive attitude while also paying attention to the tone projected. For example, writing out of anger will only give your reader a sense of frustration and resentment. Therefore, remaining somewhat positive while writing will help you seem more courteous and your relationship with the reader will benefit as well.

Another benefit to being courteous in your writing is if your message is directed toward a prospective client. In order to network and establish close personal relationships with your buyer or purchaser, your must always remain considerate and polite throughout all communication. A “Please” and “Thank you” are always in order when trying to remain courteous. I believe that a positive attitude must always be portrayed (whether you really feel that way or not) in order to be successful. Although speaking your mind may seem like the way to go, take time to reconsider the advantages and disadvantages of your actions. It will help tremendously in the long run!