Today you will complete peer review for the first project and then submit your work by the end of the day. Remember that you have a 24-hour grace period if you need an extension.

Readings for December 30

For today’s session, please read the following:

• Editing and Proofreading tips and skim Appendix B of Markel.
• Guidelines on “Organizing a Memo” in Markel, on p. 232.
• FAQs on the Google Drive system.

Work for December 30

• Complete the peer review activities:
  • Post drafts for Project 1 in the forums.
  • Respond to two students in the forums.
  • Revise your Project based on the feedback.
• Write your reflection memo and submit your project.

Optional

To get to know your classmates a bit better, read through the remaining bio statements that are posted. If you notice anything you want to comment on, feel free to post additional replies.

We will follow this basic peer review process for all of the projects in the course:

• Post drafts for Project 1 in the forums.
• Respond to two students in the forums.
• Revise your Project based on the feedback.

Posting Your Drafts for Project 1

1. Follow the instructions in Step 1 of How do I use Google Drive for peer review? to set up sharing permissions for your documents. You need to share your draft with “Anyone with the link” or “People at Virginia Tech with the link” so that we can read your work.

2. Go to the Project 1: Professional Biography Statement board in the forums, and start a new topic:
   • Give the topic your name or your username to help keep things organized. For instance, if I were setting up a new topic, I would name it “Traci’s Bio Statements” or perhaps “Tengrrl’s Bios.”
   • If you do not want to share your last name in the forums, change it in your Google Doc to a pseudonym. You can use a generic last name like Doe or Smith, or you can change it to Lastname.
   • Share the link to your bios in Google Docs (and About.me, if you wrote one). You can follow these instructions to make your link clickable.
   • If you have written more than one bio, please label them so that your readers will know what they are reading (for instance, you might note one is a formal bio for the company website, and the other is an informal bio for the internal company newsletter).
   • If you have any specific concerns that you want your readers to consider, add a note on that as well.

3. Be sure to Preview your forum post to make sure everything shows up the way you want it to, and then Submit your message.

Replying to Project 1 Drafts

Next, you will reply to the posts of some of your classmates:

1. Review the instructions in Step 2 of How do I use Google Drive for peer review? to learn how to use the Comment features in Google Drive.

2. Go to the Project 1: Professional Biography Statement board in the forums, and read the drafts of at least two of your classmates and add a reply with advice and encouragement (more below).
   • Find one post that no other student has replied to (so that we can be sure everyone gets a reply).
   • Find a second post that has only one other student reply.

3. Use the Share link to go to your classmate’s draft on Google Drive and do the following:

   • Check the title of the document(s), and add a comment to tell your partner if it is clear and effective.
   • If you notice any spelling errors, punctuation errors, or typos, mark them as you read, but please focus more on the content rather than editing.
   • Add comments on the content of the draft. Comment on at least three things your classmate does well and at least three things that your classmate could improve on. It’s fine (excellent, even) to include more than the minimum number of comments.

4. Go back to the forums and add a reply to your classmate’s topic and add an overall comment that sums up what you thought of the bio(s) and gives your classmate some encouragement.

Reviewing the Comments You Received

Once you have finished adding comments to your classmates’ projects, return to your own draft, read the comments that your classmates have given you, and add replies as appropriate. For instance, you might thank your partner for catching an error, ask your partner for more detail on feedback you don’t understand, or share a revision and ask your partner if it is an improvement. Your goal is to reply by mid-afternoon so that your classmate can respond if you need more information.

• Writing your reflection memo.
  As I explained in the assignment, the reflection memo is your chance to tell me anything you want me to know about your project. I will read your reflection before I read the bios.

• Sharing your project links.
  For this project, your reflection memo will give me the link(s) to your biography statements on Google Drive and to your About.me profile if you created one.

Writing Your Reflection Memo and Submitting Your Project

Follow these instructions to submit your work:

1. Go to the Assignments tab on the left menu in Scholar.
2. Choose “P1: Professional Bio Statement.”
3. Scroll down to the text box below the headings Submission and Assignment Text. You will write your reflection memo in this box. (Alternately, you can write in a word processor and copy/paste your text into this box.)
4. Add your memo headers (To, From, Subject, and Date). For your reflection memo, you’ll use the following:
• Address your memo to me (Traci) and from you (use your name).
• Add a subject line that indicates this is your reflection memo and which project it is for.
• Add the current date.
5. Insert a horizontal divider line using the button indicated with the red arrow in the image below:
   
6. Introduce your project—what are your overall goals, what grade have you aimed for, and what documents have you written for the project?
7. For each part of the project you have written (e.g., the formal bio, the informal bio, the About.me profile), do the following:
   1. Label the document so I know whether it is a formal bio, an informal bio, or an About.me profile.
   2. For the formal or informal bio, add the Share link to the document on your Google Drive. Use the instructions for how to get the Share link on the FAQ site if you are unsure how to share documents (see the tips below).
   3. Explain who the audience for your statement(s) is. What do I need to know to understand the information you have included and the tone you have used?
   4. For the About.me profile, add the link to your public page.
   5. Tell me anything else you want me to know about the bio, including the content, the layout and design, and any images you included.
8. Review the information for your bio statements. You should have a block for each piece you have written that tells me what it is, gives me the link, and tells me about it.
9. Add a concluding section that tells me anything else you want me to know about your project.
10. Agree to the Honor Code by clicking the checkbox at the bottom of the page in Scholar. You cannot finish submitting the project without clicking that checkbox (and it’s easy to miss).
11. Submit your Project, and save a copy of the confirmation and submission ID. If something goes wrong in Scholar, you can contact 4HELP with that information.
12. Celebrate! You’ve finished the first project!

Tips on Using Google Drive

The FAQ site has step-by-step instructions for tasks you will complete with your Google Drive, including converting your document if you have worked in another word processor, adding comments, and sharing your documents are all included.

To make sure that you can submit your first project smoothly, pay attention to the following FAQs:

• If you worked in something other than Google Drive, you can use your preferences to automatically convert files you upload to Google Drive automatically.
  This step is important so that I can use the commenting features in Google Drive.
• If you already uploaded a document to Google Drive, check the format of your files and manually convert the files on Google Drive if necessary.
• Follow the instructions on how to set permissions and get the Google Drive Share link to get a link that will allow me to read and comment on your document.

Note that if your documents are in the wrong format or the permissions do not allow me to comment, I will return your work ungraded.

For today’s session, please read the following:

• Details on the importance of audience and purpose and chapter 4 of Markel.
• Strategies for adapting your writing to the needs of your readers and chapter 6 of Markel.
• Examples for Project 1, to help you understand the assignment.

Work for December 29

Today is about making sure you understand the course policies, getting set up, and generally touching base with one another. If you have technical difficulty with today’s class work, don’t panic! Send me an email at tengrrl at vt.edu and let me know what you need help with.

Please complete these tasks:

• If you have not registered on the forums, follow the instructions in the 12/27 post to do so by 11:55 PM Monday. Be sure to verify that you have read the syllabus as well. I will turn off open forum registration at midnight to lock out the spambots, so make sure you get registered today.

• Go to Tests & Quizzes in Scholar, and complete the reading quizzes on Chapter 4 and Chapter 6 of Markel by 11:55 PM on Friday, January 2. See the policies for quizzes on the course logistics page, and see the Announcements in Scholar for details in the change of due dates for this first week of classes. The syllabus mentions a syllabus quiz. We’re going to skip that for now.

• Review and analyze some example bio statements in the forums. If you have any questions (today or in the future) about the first assignment, go to the Questions about Project 1 topic in the forum and add them. You can skim through this topic for answers as well.

1. Read several of the biographies linked below. I gathered a range of biographies from different kinds of sites. Please be sure to read at least one formal company/academic bios and one informal bio.

   Formal bios

   • Corps of Cadets Staff Biographies
   • Draper Aden About Us page
   • Virginia Tech Athletic Fund Staff
   • Federal Mogul Corporate Leadership
   • American Veterinary Pathology Associates
   • Rackspace Leadership
   • Uncork-It Team

   Less formal bios

   • Bike Barn Staff
   • WSLS Staff
   • Campus Automotive Staff
   • Faces of the Forest Service
   • Special Olympics of Virginia Staff & Board of Directors (there aren’t bios, but mouse over the photos)

2. Go to the Analyzing Example Bio Statements post in the forums and talk explain what you can tell about audience and purpose for the bio statements based on the information they include and the tone of the biography. There are some questions there to help you get started.

3. (Optional) Once you have posted about your readings, read through what others had to say, and reply to one or more of the ideas or questions that your classmates have posted.

This site is the official home for our Winter 2015 course (CRNs #40079). Information on all assignments, daily activities, and related resources will be posted here. Check this site regularly for the details on what to do for the course.

Readings for December 27

For today’s session, please read the following:

• The pages for the Syllabus, Assignments and Forum Posts & Participation.
• Information on course logistics.
• Details on the characteristics of technical writing and chapter 1 of Markel.
• Suggestions for writing collaboratively and chapter 3 of Markel.
• The assignment for Project 1: Professional Biographies.

Work for December 27

Today is about making sure you understand the course policies, getting set up, and generally touching base with one another. If you have technical difficulty with today’s class work, don’t panic! Send me an email at tengrrl at vt.edu and let me know what you need help with.

Please complete these tasks:

• Complete the following on the forums:
  1. Register on the forums. Be sure to choose the discussion area for Technical Writing for Winter 2015.
  2. Please choose a professional, classroom-appropriate username. This is a public site, so realize that the name you choose will be publicly available. If you do not want to use your real name on a public forum (for instance, because you are in the witness protection program), use a pseudonym, and email me to tell me that pseudonym and your real name.
  3. Go to the Syllabus board and add a reply to the “Syllabus Verification Thread” that confirms you have read the syllabus. Your post will serve as confirmation that you are enrolled in the course.
  4. If you have any questions about the syllabus, course policies, or anything related to the class, create a new topic and ask your question.

• Get familiar with your Google Drive account, which is connected to your vt.edu email address. (If you have forgotten your password for your VT Google Apps account, follow these instructions.) If you have never used Google Drive before, you can learn more by watching relevant portions of Google Drive Essential Training with Jess Stratton. (Login required; lynda.com resources are free to VT students.)

• Go to Tests & Quizzes in Scholar, and complete the reading quizzes on Chapter 1 and Chapter 3 of Markel by 11:55 PM on Monday, December 29. See the policies for quizzes on the course logistics page.

• Get started on Project 1 by reviewing advice on writing bio statements and discussing what you found in the forums. If you have any questions (today or in the future) about the first assignment, go to the Questions about Project 1 topic in the forum and add them. You can skim through this topic for answers as well.