Class Minutes 9/15/08 by Megan

CLL 410 Minutes
Writing for Environmental Professionals
September, 15 2008
Taken by Megan Todd

Attendants: Don, Nicole, Yumie, Amanda, Julie, Owen, Josh, Chris D., Benjamin P., Bobby P., Sarah K., James M., Megan C., Daniel, Chris L., Megan T.

Assignments for Next Class, 09/17/2008:
• Resume
⁃ One full page
⁃ 12 Pt. font of choice
⁃ Attached copy of job description
• Read section on Cover Letters in the Online Technical Writing Link
• Interview Narrative
⁃ 1-2 Pages
⁃ Important: Do not forget to include a bibliographic reference

Guidelines for Submitting Assignments:
• Email Don a copy to look over ahead of time
⁃ Send in .txt or .rtf formatting
• Bring to class a hard copy for peer-review and discussion

Class Discussion, 09/15/2008:
• Questions to Ponder:
⁃ "What do you see yourself doing 5 years from now?"
⁃ "What do you really want to do in LIFE?"
• A 5 year plan is important to:
⁃ strategically direct your future
⁃ begin taking responsibility for your actions
⁃ understand the consequences of you actions
⁃ make rhetorical and career concerns real
• Challenges to 5 year planning relate to:
⁃ changes in plans, situations, and circumstances
⁃ relative difficultly of reflecting back 5 years when you are young
• Consider:
⁃ An average job lasts 7 years
⁃ Divorce usually occurs after 7 years
⁃ Every cell in the human body is replaced after 7 years

Note: A 5 year plan provides the rocky shore where the waves of ideas and plans may ebb and flow.

• Question:
⁃ "What stops us from doing what we really want to do?"
• Barriers may be:
⁃ Money
⁃ Land
⁃ Time
⁃ Qualifications
• Vocation:
⁃ Gives financial stability
• Avocation:
⁃ Gives spiritual essence and value
⁃ Is a definition of self

Resumes:
• When applying for a position:
⁃ Try to stay in skill level of qualifications
⁃ Include avocational interests
⁃ Use rhetorical (meaning to express in terms intended to persuade or impress) strategies to organize thematically
• Readability:
⁃ Symmetry
⁃ Violations of typographic symmetry catch reader's attention
⁃ Violations of resume structural symmetry are unattractive
⁃ Content
⁃ Bulleted lists are easier to read, advisable if 24 or younger
⁃ Dense paragraphs are too time consuming to read

• Graphics and Design:
⁃ White Space
⁃ Even out white and black space on the page
⁃ Special Formatting
⁃ Bullets
⁃ Italics/Bolds
⁃ Terse Writing Style
⁃ Brief phrases/sentences
⁃ Typography
⁃ Font types
Examples: Arial, New Times Roman, Helvetica, Veranda
No cursive--it's too hard to read
⁃ Point sizes
Signify importance of headings
⁃ Upper/Lower case
Upper case hard to read, unless using small caps
⁃ Rule of Three
Stick to three variations
Too much is too confusing
⁃ Consistency
Stay consistent with variations
Contributes to overall structural symmetry
⁃ Page Fill
⁃ One filled page
⁃ If two pages, fill both
⁃ Grammar Usage

Revisions to Past Class Minutes:
Applause for James and Megan C.
Few changes needed--well done!
Suggested Random Act of Kindness
Turn off the lights of empty class rooms when passing