Today you will complete peer review for the third 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 January 6

For today’s session, please review the following, as necessary:

• 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 January 6

• Complete the Reading Quizzes on Chapters 10 and 11 by 11:55 PM tonight (01/06).
• Complete the peer review activities:
  • Post drafts for Project 3 in the forums.
  • Respond to two students in the forums.
  • Revise your Project 3 based on the feedback.
• Write your reflection memo and submit your project.

• Writing your reflection memo.
  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 project.

• Sharing your project links.
  For this project, your reflection memo will give me the link to your proposal. Use the project assignment and the Writer’s Checklist on pages 296 of Markel to check your work. In particular, make sure that your proposal that includes all the required components.

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 “P3: Proposal.”
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 and what grade have you aimed for (see expectations on the course website)?
7. 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 convert and share documents (see more tips below).
8. Tell me what I need to know to understand the information you have included in your document.
9. Tell me anything else you want me to know about the the layout and design.
10. Add a concluding section that tells me anything else you want me to know about your project.
11. 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).
12. Submit Project 3, and save a copy of the confirmation and submission ID. If something goes wrong in Scholar, you can contact 4HELP with that information.
13. You’re done! Project 4 will be the job application materials you proposed in Project 3.

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.

• Post drafts for Project 3 in the forums by 9 AM Eastern.
• Respond to two students in the forums by 5 PM Eastern.
• Revise your Project 3 based on the feedback.

Posting Your Drafts for Project 3

1. Convert (if necessary) and share your proposal on Google Docs so that your classmates can comment on the draft. Use the How do I use Google Drive for peer review? FAQ if you need instructions.
2. Go to the Project 3: Proposal Peer Review forum, and start a new topic:
   • Give the topic your name or your username (e.g., “Traci’s proposal”).
   • 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 proposal in Google Docs. You can follow these instructions to make your link clickable.
   • 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 3 Drafts

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

1. Go to the Project 3: Proposal Peer Review forum, 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.

2. 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.
   • As you check the documents, check that the proposal includes the following required sections and add a comment if anything is missing:
     • summary (p. 282–283)
     • introduction, which explains the findings of the writer’s research and the writer’s needs (p. 283)
     • proposed tasks, that is what the writer proposes to create for Project 4 (p. 283–286)
     • task schedule for Project 4 (p. 287–289)
     • evaluation techniques (p. 289), which outlines three levels of work for Project 4:
       • Average Work ( a C project)
       • Above-Average Work (a B project)
       • Excellent Work (an A project)
3. Go back to the forums and add a reply to your classmate’s topic that includes this information:
   • Add an overall comment that sums up what you thought of the draft(s).
   • Give 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 6 PM Eastern so that your classmate can respond if you need more information.

Today we will go over the assignments for Project 3 and Project 4, which are related to each other.

Readings for January 5

There are a lot of readings listed because I am posting everything for Project 3 and Project 4. The information should help you make decisions about how to proceed with the next two projects. For today’s session, please read the following:

• Assignment for Project 3 and 4.
• Project 3: Proposal Grade Expectations (regarding the grade on Project 3).
• Project 3: Evaluation Section (what you propose for assessing your work on Project 4).
• Project 3: Proposal Tips.
• Additional resources for Project 4 (like info on LinkedIn).
• Details on your proposal and Chapter 11 of Markel.
• Information on résumés and cover letters and Chapter 10 of Markel.

Work for January 5

• Complete the Reading Quizzes on Chapters 10 and 11 by 11:55 PM on Tuesday, 01/06.

• Begin work on Project 3. Take time now to explore the various resources on job application materials listed in the readings so that you can make an informed decision about what you will propose.

• If you have any questions about the assignments, go to the forums and post them in the Questions about Projects 3 & 4: Job App Materials forum. Please indicate whether your question is about the proposal or about the job application materials themselves in your subject line.

• Job Hunting Online with Jolie Miller

• Up and Running with LinkedIn with Brad Batesole

• Git Essential Training with Kevin Skoglund

• Job Search Strategies with Valerie Sutton

• Designing a Resume with Steve Harris

• Creating an Effective Resume with Mariann Siegert

• Length: The proposal will take about 3 to 5 pages, single-spaced. As you might guess, the exact length will vary. Your layout and font choices will effect how long the proposal is, of course. Likewise, if you have tables, illustrations, screenshots, or other graphics, those will all probably make the proposal longer. Don’t get hung up on the length. Write what you need to for me to understand what you will do for Project 4.

• Persuasive Techniques: As the textbook mentions, proposals are all about persuasion (see pp. 279–282). Your job is to persuade me (your reader) that you have made the right choice for the job application materials you will write for Project 4. Think about how you can show me that your choices will help you meet your goals (for instance, get a job, build a professional online presence, etc.)

• Evaluation Section: The evaluation section of your proposal will explain the goals you are setting for Project 4 and tell me how you want me to assess your work. The Project 3 Evaluation Section page provides some more details and includes two examples of what to include in the section.

• Charts: If you want to create a chart in your proposal, use the Lynda.com video for tips on how to set up your data and create your chart on Google Drive. You will need to login via Virginia Tech for free access to the video.

• Trouble deciding? If you can’t decide what to propose, let me suggest you choose setting up or improving your LinkedIn profile. LinkedIn will walk you through all the different information you can include. It is almost a fill-in-the-blanks résumé builder. You can even export your information to begin work on a more traditional résumé.

Important Dates

• January 6: Project 3 Rough Drafts for Peer Feedback, due by 9 AM
• January 6: Project 3 (informal proposal) due by 11:55 PM
• January 7: Grace period for Project 3 ends at 11:55 PM

• January 8: Project 4 Rough Drafts for Peer Feedback, due by 9 AM
• January 9: Project 4 (job application materials) due by 11:55 PM
• January 10: Grace period for Project 4 ends at 11:55 PM

The Name of the Projects

For simplicity’s sake, I will refer to your work for these projects as “job application materials”; however, you can actually focus on an internship application, a scholarship application, or a similar kind of position. Furthermore, what you write doesn’t actually have to be an application for anything. You might work on a professional web portfolio or a LinkedIn profile, for instance. The task can be defined broadly, as you will see as you read on. So while I will call it “job application materials,” remember that it can be many other things.

The Project Assignment

You may need a job or a scholarship or an internship. You may need to begin building a personal presence online. You may want to establish yourself professionally so you can network with future colleagues. No one assignment that I can design will ever fit what each one of you needs, so for this assignment, you will choose what kind of job application materials are relevant for your future. You will choose the task, do the necessary research, establish the criteria for excellence, and reflect on how well you do. This assignment is meant to be personally meaningful and useful. If it’s not, you have no one to blame but yourself.

The assignment has two parts:

• Project 3 is your informal proposal. Research the job application expectations for your field using the information in chapter 10 of Markel, your experience from internships and other jobs in your field, and the details from the Virginia Tech Career Planning Guide (available online or in print from Career Services on the Blacksburg Campus). Write an informal proposal with background on what you have found out and an explanation of what you will create for Project 4. Set expectations for your Project 4 work, with levels for C, B, and A work.
• Project 4 is your job application materials. You will create whatever job application materials you proposed in Project 3, with my approval. The specifics for this project will be up to you.

Details

Step 1: Conduct your research

You probably know a bit about what you will need to gather for a job application after you graduate. For Project 3, you will build on that knowledge by doing a bit of research on what someone in your field needs to develop. Research the job application expectations for your field using the information in the textbook, your experience from internships and other jobs in your field, and the details from the Virginia Tech Career Planning Guide (available online or in print from Career Services on the Blacksburg Campus).

You can also rely on discussions with colleagues where you have worked, advice from faculty in your major, and information from other students and alumni. Review position listings for your field as well in order to see the kinds of material companies ask for. Look at the kinds of materials that are specifically requested as well as the kinds of resources companies often consult.

Step 2: Choose a focus

Based on your research, you should choose a broad focus for your job application materials. Some (not all) possible options are the following:

• Find a job posting you want to apply for and write the materials it requires.
• Find a internship posting you want to apply for and write the materials it requires.
• Find a scholarship you want to apply for and write the materials it requires.
• Create a personal website that provides a portfolio of your work and basic biography or resume.
• Clean up your online presence online and establish profiles in places that will help you network or get a job (like Academia.edu, LinkedIn or GitHub).

Additional examples are also available. I encourage you to choose whatever project is most helpful to you. Take advantage of this assignment to get something done you’ve been putting off or to get ahead on (or add to) your job search.

Step 3: Complete Project 3 by proposing your job application materials

Following the information in chapter 11 of Markel, write an informal proposal, in memo format addressed to me. Explain what you discovered in your research and what you propose to compose for Project 4. Your grade on Project 3 is based on the Proposal Grade Expectations.

Because this will be an informal, internal proposal, you will not need to include all the components listed in the textbook. Please include the following sections and information in your proposal:

• summary (p. 282–283)
• introduction, which explains the findings of your research and your needs (p. 283)
• proposed tasks, that is what you propose to create for Project 4 (p. 283–286)
• task schedule (p. 287–289)
• evaluation techniques (p. 289), which outlines three levels of work for Project 4:
  • Average Work ( a C project)
  • Above-Average Work (a B project)
  • Excellent Work (an A project)

You will submit this project in Scholar on January 6 with a short reflection memo. I will provide more details in the post for January 6. I will check your work and give you feedback so that you can adjust your plans for Project 4 if they are not appropriate.

Step 4: Complete Project 4 by creating your job application materials
Complete the work you have proposed for Project 4. Create whatever job application materials you have proposed, working to meet whatever grade goals you have set for yourself.

In addition to the job application materials that you propose to write, you will write a short reflection memo that explains the choices you made for Project 4. I will provide more details in the post for January 9.