Aaron M's Writing with Visuals

Creating and using visuals in your writing is not only really fun to do, but also is a very effective way of getting your message across. There are a number of reasons that people use visuals to assist them in their writing. Visuals can highlight important sections in a report. They can also explain things in our writing. It could also provide further detail about a particular engine design or maybe it could be on a list of directions on how to put together a shelf. They can be anywhere at anytime. They are used all the time in our word. Visuals are also a great way to connect to your audience. When you are addressing a younger crowd, you will want to use more visuals to keep their attention as opposed to older and more mature audiences. These are just a few examples of why visuals are used in our day to day writing.

Designing a visual for your particular writing project can sometimes be a challenge. You have to know quite a number of things about your project before you can begin.
Who am I writing to?
What is the purpose of my project? To illustrate, sell, direct?
Can visuals help me explain a process or illustration in my writing project?
Do I need to make my visuals PowerPoint ready?
These are just a handful of questions that you can ask yourself about visuals and your writing projects. Visuals can be any number of things. It can be a simple icon, an image of something, or a very complex flowchart that lists the organizational structure in any given organization. So when preparing to create a project with visuals, make sure you start out by getting an understanding of the purpose behind your work and if visuals can help you achieve that.

When using visuals, you have to be careful who’s visuals you are using. A majority of people today, will just simply go on the internet and grab a great looking visual off of the world wide web and stick it right in their project. In order to do something like this, you need to ask the owner of the visual’s permission first, and then you have to properly cite it in your project. Copying a visual without citing the source can be the same as plagiarism on many schools and businesses.

So the next time you are writing a project and want to use visuals. Remember to ask yourself, what will be the purpose of my project, what visuals will help my purpose, and am I using the visuals correctly? These simple questions will help you in finding the best way to make your project look great.


Picture Source: http://askabiologist.asu.edu/research/ecosystems/images/ecosystem_types.jpg

David S. Learning Professional Writing Through Videos

It seems today that most people prefer watching videos than listening to a professor speak or reading a long paper. And if you are anything like me, most likely you are not really listening to the professor's lecture in class and never end up reading those 40 page chapters they assign you in your textbook. Let's just admit it: There are way more important things that you are thinking about...what bar you are going to this weekend and when you are going to clean up your house after that party you had last weekend (so you can have another one this weekend).

Fortunately for people like you and me, there are more fun and entertaining ways to learn. The answer: Videos. Videos for learning professional writing tips are at the tips of your fingers on YouTube and a variety of other streaming video sites online. I'm sure you have went to YouTube before and searched for a music video or you just really wanted to watch Charlie get his finger bit again! If you are familiar with YouTube, then you are one step closer to finding videos on professional writing tips. And if you are not familiar with YouTube fear not, it is so easy a caveman can do it (pun intended).

It is very simple to find professional writing videos on YouTube. Here is a short step-by-step guide:

1. Turn on your computer and open up an internet browser...Obviously!
2. Type in www.youtube.com into your internet browser bar.
3. At the top of the page of YouTube, where there is a blank space, type in the writing tip you are looking for. ie. writing effective emails, writing a resume, job application writing.
4. Click on search and multiple videos will show up.
5. Scroll to the video that sounds most like you are looking for and click on it.
6. You have now mastered the complicated art of searching for videos on Youtube!

Videos on Youtube and similar sites are a great source of information. If you have trouble listening to your monotone professor, or reading books for hours on end, videos provide you a great way to acquire information in a quick and to-the-point manner.

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=unggnlyr18M

David B. Team Projects, Oh the Irony

So I'm sitting in the library at school, trying to catch up in my professional writings course, and what do you know, my blog topic is ironically writing on "team projects"-something I hadn't been doing for my peeps, "Hometown Bloggers" in the class for the past two weeks. (I bet I give my two cents now, word.)

At this point, after reading the instructions posted in Angel for "Week Nov.9-Nov.16", I'm thinking "YouTube." I'll kill two flapping assignments with one blog and post a video in my blog. This is what I found most interesting:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=atQmWHOBCYM

Watch Now, Then Return To Blog.

Alright, I know we're not in jail, just the confined cells of our keyboards, but we might can take some ideas from this. I'm not debating the ideas of the video, just simply stating, "like these inmates trying to get their second chance, we too- the Hometown Bloggers, should have an objective in our blogs." Doing this all on the same blog page is a wonderful start and creates the first step of efficiently executing a team project-expressing individual ideas in a convenient, communicative location (i.e.- Hometown Bloggers! represent).

Want to move on to the next step? Replying to blogs and giving opinions in a courteous fashion, will only strengthen the objective of the project. Come and blog with me, brothers and sisters, our education awaits, our networking thrives; we are Hometown Bloggers! (picture me with blue and white war paint on my face writing this in a scotish kilt)

DB, out

David B. Writing Concisely

Hey all you Hometown Bloggers! Sorry about my misunderstanding of where to post my blogs. I've got one of these Google accounts now, so I'm ready to rock...and write with all my heroic Hometown Bloggers! Here's my blog from last week, that was posted in our forum on Angel by mistake:

In my recent reading of an article put out by the OWL at Purdue Univiersity, I picked a few nifty, little tricks for writing those clear "easy-to-read" sentences needed in business writing. When one utilizes what they call the Paramedic Method, one can write the concise sentences required to stimulate the bored business client and get business done. Here are some ideas extracted:

• refrain from verbs ending in "ing" and the unconscious word "is"
• reduce the use of prepositions
• avoid overuse of any word
• tie subjects together with simple action verbs

It's amazing how many ideas and points you can make to back up the big picture of your writing just by following this method; and you'll do it in half the page space. Feel Free to the link below:

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/635/01/

Resume and Cover Letter Writing by: Jorge C.

Today we are going to talk about key aspects of getting a job. There is no right way of writing a resume, yet it requires being neat, free of errors, and easy to follow and understand. After taking these rules into consideration you are free to be as creative and unique as you want. The goal of a successful resume is to get you an interview and in order to do that you need to capture the attention of the recruiter. The most important thing that you should keep in your mind when trying to make your resume unique is to do a lot of research. You need to research the industry, the company, and the person in charge of recruiting, and anything that would help you to make your resume better. Employers are going to receive a lot of resumes and no matter what creative style, design, or template you use somebody did it first. Your resume becomes unique when you can make it for a specifically for an employer and it doesn’t seem generic.

Cover letters are very important in their own way too, because that is the first thing the employer reads about you, and it helps them as a guide during the interview. Cover letters have the same effect as first impression does when you meet someone for the first time; it is really hard to change your first impression of that person. Your cover letter is what is going to allow distinguishing yourself from the pack and looking interesting. Getting an interview is like the dating process, you need to sell yourself making the other party believe that you are business. You need to show your best qualities and provide interesting examples, because if it is boring the girl isn’t going to call you back. Again, you have to research that party see what she likes and make yourself be in the same page, if they like team work and good ethics you know you have to mention that somewhere in your resume, cover letter, and interview. You have to make it seem like you both have the same goals and interests.

I think these should be enough to get you started in the process of applying for a job. Although, if you want more detailed information make sure you check the links provided below. Remember, getting a job is like getting a girlfriend or boyfriend you need to make yourself look extra good, and unique. Research is critical to make sure you hit the right spots to make you compatible and be in the same page with the other person.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1sJbuNmqtEg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5bWALrP8gY

Danielle G's Website Advice

The internet is filled with numerous websites. Sites that are for selling, sites that are for answering; there are so many sites that it can make your head spin! So what is the point in adding another website that may not even be viewed? Well, it all depends on what your website is about and how to make sure that millions of people will view it and want to be involved in it.

When creating a website, you want to make sure that first you have enough time to invest into it. No matter how many bells and whistles your website has, it won’t matter unless you have time to dedicate to it. Time is the most important step when creating a website. Once you have figured out your time management, it is time create the perfect website.

The next step is choosing the perfect name. A name can make or break your website. It is important to let your potential customers know who you are and what your website is about before they even click on your link to explore your site. If your name doesn’t explain exactly what you represent, then most likely customers won’t want to represent you.

Once the perfect name has been chosen it’s time for the fun to start, designing your website! The design process is purely up to you. You can design your website whatever way you would like, just make sure that your design isn’t to overpowering or come across in a confusing way.

After you have managed to create the perfect look for your website you are up and ready to start your site. The final process is figuring out how to survive the dreaded search engine. You can have the perfect name and perfect design but none of that will matter if no one can find your site. There are thousands of programs that can help you choose perfect key words that can help customers find you and allow your website to be viewed around the world. Another way to reach out to potential users is to advertise. No one can see your website if they have never heard of you. Behind every great website is great advertising and marketing.

No one said starting a website is an easy process but with the right time and dedication you can turn your brilliant idea into a brilliant website.

Source:
http://www.trinity-dallas.org/user/website_jpg.jpg