When I first registered for technical writing, I was dreading a class where I would have to write many boring documents that served no purpose.  However, my initial thoughts of how the class was going to be were wrong.  I did not realize that technical writing would focus more on teaching me how to focus on your audience when you write documents and to tailor your writing for different situations.  I thought that the class would focus on different types of grammar and sentence structures, so I was relieved when I found out we would be learning more useful applications of writing documents.

I think that I will be using many of the types of writing styles that we discussed in class in my future jobs.  I am already using my resume and cover letter writing skills in my search for a job and design techniques in all of my documents.  I will use memo writing in my future job to communicate with my boss and colleagues.  Also, as a counselor or social worker, I will probably use some type of report writing to write up case summaries and the like.  My audiences for my writing will be varied.  At times I will be writing for my boss, for myself, and for others.  I will use my knowledge of multicultural writing in my job because I will most likely have to communicate with people from other cultures.  For example, I may have to tailor some of my writing to the Hispanic population because of the large Hispanic population in this area.

Overall, I have been pleasantly surprised by how different this class was from my initial expectations.  I have learned many valuable skills that I will continue to use not only in other classes, but in future jobs and daily activities.  I feel that this class has been a valuable learning experience for me.

I think that there were both negative and positive elements to all three of the proposal plans presented.

I think that there are various strengths and weaknesses in the proposal for the feasibility study on a pedestrian tunnel. One strength is that the tasks are well thought out and very detailed. They tell the reader exactly what they plan to do in order to get their information. Also, their plan is well researched. However, I think that some of their methods are flawed. One weakness is that they only plan to survey 100 students on their opinion about the need for a pedestrian tunnel. They claim that the enrollment at Texas Tech is about 29,000, so I believe that more students should be surveyed. Additionally, surveying only those students at the University and Broadway crossing may skew the survey results. These students are actually crossing University, so they may be more inclined to say that a tunnel in necessary as opposed to students who may park on campus or cross the street to get to campus at a different location. Also, students may not take the time to fill out a survey if they are hurrying to get to class. I think that a better method would be to survey students at the student union when students will have more time, or survey students during class if a professor approves.

The second proposal is a proposal on improving food inspections of Lubbock restaurants. This proposal also has strengths and weaknesses. A strength of the proposal is that it gives a clear timeline for the tasks. However, I find this proposal confusing overall. First of all, the proposal is for improving food inspections of Lubbock restaurants. What exactly does that mean? In both the survey and the questionnaire, people are asked if the quality of their eating experience has improved in the past year. I do not see how asking someone about the quality of their dining experience relates to improving food inspections. People may say that their experience has improved but that does not necessarily mean that the food inspection has improved. I also think that giving the questionnaires about only low-performing restaurants is a weakness. A person’s impression of a restaurant has more to do with timeliness and service than with different health codes. Someone from the general public would probably not know just by eating at a place that a code is being violated. It may be a better tactic to have inspectors inspect these restaurants once before the new regulations are put into place and then maybe every three months to track the progress.

The third proposal is a proposal for the renovation of the intramural fields. I think that this proposal is fairly well though out and well organized. The steps of the proposal and the timeline are easy to follow. However, I think that there are some weaknesses to this proposal. First of all, I think that the timeline for this proposal is too strict. Most of the proposal steps are only given one to two weeks to be completed. Since this proposed project is being done outdoors, the team needs to account for things such as weather delays and give more time on their schedule for these things. Also, this plan never mentions why these renovations need to be done. There should be some type of research into whether these renovations are economically feasible and if they are needed at all. It seems like this is more like a process description than a proposal plan.

According to the Gestalt psychology, the mind recognizes patterns and wholes as more than the sum of their parts.  Designers use the Gestalt principles in many different ways.  These five design principles are balance, alignment, grouping, consistency, and contrast.  The Texas Tech IT department uses these principles in their bulletin.  Some of these principles are used effectively, while some could use improvement.

The first Gestalt design principle is balance.  Balance in a document creates a sense of stability.  Balance is created when the top and bottom of a document and the left and right sides of a document are weighted the same.  In my opinion, I do not feel like the IT bulletin uses balance very effectively.  The top of the document is very graphic-heavy, while the rest of the document is very text-heavy.  The bulletin does use a three column grid design, which is helpful.  However, the placement of graphics seems random and not balanced.  The different graphics are not aligned and lead the reader’s eye away from the text.

The second Gestalt principle is alignment.  Alignment is achieved by aligning information either horizontally or vertically on a page.  This helps a reader identify information either as a unit or as different levels of information.  The bulletin uses vertical alignment.

The third Gestalt principle of design is grouping.  Grouping means that items on a page that are near each other are seen as a unit.  Grouping is useful to break up information into smaller blocks that are easier to read.  Grouping is used in the IT bulletin by dividing the information into columns, using white space, and using headings. 

The fourth Gestalt principle is consistency.  Consistency is when the design features are consistent throughout a document.  Typefaces and sizes should be the same for headlines of similar importance.  Also, lists should be numbered is they are sequential and bulletted if they are non-sequential.  The IT bulletin uses both numbers and bullets for its lists.  However, the list that is numbered in not sequential, therefore, it should not be numbered.  It should be bulletted instead.

The fifth and last Gestalt design principle is contrast.  Contrast is used to make items in a document look different.  Contrast is used in the IT bulletin by using different colors for different items.  For example, the headings are in green, while the other items are written in black.  Also, the top part of the document has a green background, helping the white lettering stand out.

Overall, I think that the IT department did a good job of using the five Gestalt principles of design: balance, alignment, grouping, consistency, and contrast.  However, there is always room for improvement in document design, and some improvements could be made to this document.  

According to Johnson-Sheehan, ethics are systems of moral, social, or cultural values that govern the conduct of an individual or community.  Basically, ethics is doing the right thing.  What make ethics such a gray issue is that the “right” thing to do can very from person to person.  Some people think that as long as no one gets hurt, what they are doing is all right.  As we have seen in class, ethics play a very big part in the workplace.  We’ve learned that ethics plays a part in such things as resumes and job letters, and also in other forms of communication on the job.  In class we talked about employers monitoring their employees by reading e-mails and monitoring their computer use, but also by installing GPS monitors on the employees company phones and cars.  I think that there are two major ethical issues to consider here.  First of all, the company may think that what they are doing is ethical, whereas some employees may disagree.  Employees should be made aware that they are being monitored, not to make them paranoid, but to allow them to make an informed decision about whether a company that does this type of thing is one that they would like to work for.  This is an example of balancing your ethics with those of your company.  If a company that you work for has ethical standards that are our of whack with your own, you have to decide if maybe some other company would be better for you.  The other side of this issue is that employees shouldn’t give their employers any reason to have to monitor them.  An ethical employee would not abuse the company’s car, phone, computer or time.

Even outside of the workplace ethical dilemmas can play a part in communications.  For example, while working on my resume for class, it was very tempting to “beef up” the things that I had done in order to make myself look better.  However, one must stop and figure out whether what they are doing vibes well with their personal standards.  If it does not, they should not do it.  Doing one unethical thing, no matter how small it may seem, could lead to bigger issues in the future.

In conclusion, ethics can at times be a very complicated issue.  It is very important to establish your own ethical code and work very hard to comply with it.  It is very easy to think that one time won’t hurt or that adjusting your ethical standards to get something that you want will be okay. 

I enjoy reading books and watching movies from all different types of genres.  Some of my favorite genres include romantic comedy, romantic suspense, comedy, and thrillers, but my very favorite genre would have to be suspense.  I have never actually thought about why I have been particularly drawn to this genre until this assignment and have realized that the suspense genre has always interested me from the time I was young.  When I would watch movies and read books as a kid, I always preferred the ones where you never really knew what would happen next.  I think I read just about every Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys book I could get my hands on as a child, while the movies I watched were more like Disney’s “The Rescuers” and “Robin Hood” than “Cinderella”.  For me, I think that I prefer this type of genre over the others because I really do not have all that much suspense and drama in my own life.  I like to escape into the different stories and try to figure out what will happen next.  In my life, I pretty much know what will happen next.  For instance, I know that tomorrow I will go to my classes, go to work, do some homework, and go to bed.  I never happen to fall upon some secret society and have to work out its mysteries or get a random phone call from someone with a bomb threat.  Reading suspense books and watching suspense movies provides a sense of adventure and excitement in my life that I would otherwise not have.

            After reading “Buckle Up for the Ride”, a chapter from Carolyn Wheat’s How to Write Killer Fiction, I have a better understanding of the suspense genre.  I now see that when a writing a book or a screenplay, one must subscribe to a particular pattern in order to ensure that the reader will feel certain emotions.  If I were to write a suspense novel or screenplay, I would definitely have to have some dimension of fear in the story.  Wheat compares reading a suspense novel to riding a rollercoaster.  When someone first gets on a rollercoaster, there is a sense of anticipation.  You must use this in your suspense novel in order to get the reader interested.  You must also create characters that your readers will be interested in.  You want your story to invoke a sense of fear and anticipation in your reader and to make them feel whatever your characters are feeling. 

            I think that knowing the history of a genre is very beneficial to a writer.  It helps to know what has worked in the past and what general formula has been used to capture an audience and get them to buy and enjoy your work.  If you do not follow the historically successful formula, you may not meet much success yourself as a writer of suspense.