The numbers [e.g., 1-a] refer to the Writing Tasks in each Unit. Submit all these items together. Please combine them into one Word or pdf document. You can submit the portfolio at any time during the course, but the most common time is between Grammar Quiz #3 and the Formal Report:
- 1-a Self introduction
Write an introduction of yourself, giving information you are comfortable sharing online. Examples may include education, work experience, and other interests, to give you some ideas. If your personal introduction is a bit short, you may want to discuss a topic of your choosing instead. Your topic could be responses to readings or other course materials, consideration of examples of good [or bad] writing, or writing strategies that have worked really well for you [or those you found unhelpful].
- 2-b Post three blogs and respond to three blogs.
Save Word documents of all six to include in your portfolio. If you do not want to participate in the online blogs, merely create messages and responses that would be appropriate if you were actually posting them, and save them as part of your portfolio. Provide links to the blogs to which you are responding.
In your first blog post, introduce yourself. Remember that your blog posts are [potentially] going out to the entire world; do not share too much specific information. General experience, education, work experience, and hobbies are good topics.
- 4-a Find TWO documents. Answer all seven questions about both documents. One or two sentences per answer are sufficient.
Find 2 sample documents to study. These should cover topics that you are interested in reading from the standpoint of your major field of study. Don’t worry too much regarding the length of the item, but articles that are about 1000 words in length are ideal for the purposes of this unit. If you find a particularly good source for articles in your field and you think others in the course might have similar interests, feel free to post your source in the discussion area or inform your Open Learning Faculty Member.
Answer the following questions in a short paragraph for each document, drawing upon principles covered in the additional readings in this unit.
- How would you evaluate the content of each specific document in relation to the others? What did you find particularly valuable or insightful, or what seemed to be lacking in this regard?
- What line of argument was presented in each specific document, and how clearly was this presented?
- How was each document organized in terms of sections, subsections, and paragraphs? How did you feel the organization of each item contributed to your ease of understanding it?
Answer the following questions for each document, based upon concepts from the textbook.
- What evidence did you find in the document concerning the level of knowledge expected of readers?
- How were technical key terms handled for readers without adequate experience in the field?
- What was the “fog-index” rating for the document, and how do you think this affected your ability to understand the document effectively?
- What evidence can you find in each document that it was written for readers from various cultures?
As you answer these questions and reflect on the content, post messages online in the discussions to involve others in the course. As you interact with others, consider modifying and refining your answers.
- 4-d Preview the final research project assignment [please see the document entitled Simplified Version of Assignments for CMNS 1811.].
I uploaded my final project in the files, please write this according to my final project.
Do not submit a formal proposal as described in the unit. Contact the instructor if you are unsure of your topic. For the portfolio, briefly, informally, mention your topic and what you hope to accomplish in the report. This document can be in point form if you wish.
Read through all of the instructions for your Final Research Report Project under the Assignments Overview tab carefully. Don’t worry too much about the evaluation criteria at this early point; concentrate on the parts of the assignment description that give you a sense of the whole research project.
Select a topic that interests you and that you believe you can research effectively. Propose a research project with a scope sufficiently narrow to allow completion during the course. You also need to convince evaluators of both your interest in the project and its potential value to others. Because this course is open to a wide range of students, there are almost limitless possibilities here; the following list of principles and questions may help you select a topic that suits your specific needs and abilities:
- The focus of this course is upon technical writing. What general field of study do you want to explore on your own?
- There needs to be a balance between what you know and what you need to know regarding a topic. If you have too much information to begin with, you may not learn much; also, if you have too little information to begin with, you may not learn much. How much do you know regarding this field? Would you rank yourself at a lay, low-tech, or high-tech level of knowledge?
- Every area of study has disagreements. If you only want to be told what to think about any topic, it is not a good area for individual research. You need to select a topic for which you can carefully weigh the competing arguments to critically evaluate such things as strength-of-evidence. How interested are you in the disagreements within this field of study?
- Where you are unwilling to change your beliefs and opinions, you are not ready to engage in independent research. How much do you think your ideas about the topic will need to change as a result of your study?
- There should always be a target audience for your research, no matter how basic the level of education targeted. How will others benefit from your choice of study?
Write a research topic proposal in accordance with the following instructions:
- You need to have proposed a research project with a scope sufficiently narrow to allow completion during the course.
- You also need to convince evaluators of both your interest in the project and its potential value to others.
- Write a one- to two-page discussion where you propose a research topic and discuss your own interest in the topic, as well as its potential value to others.
- 7-a [Named Reflection 7a] Complete two practice assignments [Case Studies]from the end of Chapter 9 in the text book [pp. 221-222]. Submit them as part of your Unit Writing Tasks portfolio, not separately.
- Read all the practice assignments at the end of the chapter of the textbook.
- Select a practice assignment, complete it, and post it in the discussion area.
- Select a different type of practice assignment, complete it, and post it in the discussion area.
- Reflect on whether you have the sort of correspondence skills you are likely to need, and perform additional practice assignments as needed until you have practised this sort of writing sufficiently for your future career.
- 10-a Complete the summary and submit it as part of your Unit Writing Tasks portfolio, not separately.
An indispensable part of writing research findings is the summarization of results, data, and ideas of others. This task requires you to provide an overall summary [250 words] of a written resource. The resource you are summarizing should be about 10 times that length [2000 to 3000 words]. The instructions are as follows:
- Provide a link to an online article of 2000 to 3000 words and a summary you have written that correctly identifies the main claim [thesis] of the article, its chief supporting argument, and each of the main supports for the thesis.
- Keep your summary to as close to 250 words as possible.
- Post your summary online by the end of this unit.
- 11-a Create the survey, but don’t submit it separately.
Submit is as part of your Unit Writing Tasks portfolio. Use a variety of question types – multiple choice, Likert scale, yes/no, open-ended questions, etc., as described in the unit. Be sure to include an introduction and instructions for completing it. Try to write it so that you can use it and its conclusions as part of your research report content, but this is not a requirement.
In a short online post:
- Compare the features, advantages, and disadvantages of each type of primary research introduced in this unit concerning your major field of study.
- Consider modifications of, and limitations to, each primary research technique relative to your field of study.
