Blog Posting #1 : Reader-Centered Communication and Writing Emails

Part 1:
         Chapter 1 describes several ways of  how writing at a workplace differs significantly from writing in school. This chapter helps us to develop a "you attitude" by following the reader-centered approach to writing. This chapter provides advice on creating effective communications that are persuasive and useful for the readers and gives reader-centered strategies that we can use for brief communications. One difference between in school writing and work place writing that I found interesting is that it should satisfy different readers in a single communication. As students we have usually just written to a single reader, but at a work environment, we will have to prepare communications that will be delivered to one or more people that will have different concerns, interests, familiarity with our specialty, etc. I was surprised to learn that we will have to use distinctive types of communication at a work place such as memos, business emails and letters, project proposals, and progress reports. Each of the types of communication has its own convention which we have to follow. I think we will use the important strategies taught in this chapter in the future. Towards the end of the chapter, Anderson provides reader-centered strategies that can be used for any technical communication such as beginning by identifying specific task the reader will perform, talking with the readers, highlighting the points that the readers will find persuasive, and several others.

Part 2: 
           Anderson provides advice on considering a reader centered approach for writing job application letters. We can apply these advice in the email our team will be sending. The first guideline that we can follow is to define our email's objectives by identifying the questions professors wants it to answer. We will have to consider what professors expect to see when reading the email. We need to provide specific reasons for wanting to work for the particular project and since it's a team based project, we will have to display that we work well in team based environments. Before sending the email, we will have to learn more about the project and the host company through searching the web or contacting the company. Before sending in the final email, we have to create drafts that demonstrates our knowledge about the project , lists all the skills and qualifications our team members possess in order to contribute to the success of the project, and why we have chosen the desired projects. Finally, we should revise the email by reviewing our tone and assuring it present a good image of us before sending it in.

Part 3: 
     Subject line: CS2200 Project 5 grading question

Hi Anirudh,
      My name is Gilu George, and I’m taking CS 2200 this summer. I wanted to get in touch in you because of a troublesome matter. For my Project 5, which I spent the entire week on, I was able to finish the project and turning it in. However, it was buggy because I was getting a segfault that I could not figure out how to fix. That’s the worst part about segfaults—how to solve them. I consulted with one of the TA’s, and he told me that I may receive a 0 for the project. I am extremely shocked and depressed by this, because I have worked so, so hard on that project, and I can’t afford a 0. I’m already in the D range for this really tough course that I’ve spent countless nights on, and I really do not want to retake it. So can I please get a lot of partial credit instead of a 0? It makes no sense because it doesn’t list in the syllabus that a segfault results in a 0. Which is why I am emailing you right now, to ask if I would get a 0, and if so, if I could get partial credit. Please take my situation into consideration. I tried my best, but I couldn’t solve it.

Thank you,
Gilu

 I will be analyzing this email that I wrote to CS 2200 head TA recently. Above I have included the email. I have followed certain guidelines listed in chapter 23. I have stated my main point up front and led off with it. I have kept it short and given informative subject line, given the reader the background information they needed. What I have not done is written separate email for the followup emails later on. I have just used the "reply" attribute to continue the conversation. This has resulted in some discontinuity. The relevant portions was scattered in multiple emails which had caused some confusion. Another guideline that I didn't follow is the use of headings and lists. In order for the reader to quickly grasp the issues presented in the email, headings and bulleted lists should have been made. Since this email was sent to a teacher's assistant who is also a student, even though  I used a formal greeting in salutation, I just used a semi-formal tone in the body of the email. But I learned that it is important to use the appropriate level of formality that would match the reader's expectations and preferences. Another way I could have improved my email is through letting the reader know how to contact me through the email system's "signature" feature.