Collaborative Project Update

For our collaborative project, my group will be presenting how to write effective definitions and descriptions.  We have met for two class periods so far to work on the project.  In the first class period we learned what the project was going to be about, and then were divided into groups and assigned our particular document.  We then had a brief period of time to begin to discuss how we wanted to go about doing this project.  Our group spent that time reviewing the chapter in our textbook on definitions and descriptions.  We then agreed that for the next class period we would all read the chapter in more detail and also find some outside resources that might help us further understand our topic.  As I read the chapter, I typed up an outline of the main points and brought a copy in for each member of our group.  Yesterday, we went over what we felt was the important topics in the chapter and discussed how we would divide the workload.  Kate will be working on the introduction and discussing how to write definitions.  We will also be sending her all the resources we use, and she will assemble our work cited page.  I will be working on discussing how to write descriptions and the conclusion of our presentation.  I will also be assembling the powerpoint presentation.  Jaimin will be finding and discussing particular examples of good and bad definitions and descriptions.  We are hoping to gear our examples to be relevant to college students.  As there is such a diversity in majors in our class, we want our examples to be relatable and understandable to everyone.  We are also hoping to come up with something creative to use in addition to our powerpoint that Jaimin will put together.  For tomorrow, we agreed to have researched our individual parts and determined what we plan to talk about so we can begin to assemble the presentation.

Project 2: Instructions

For our second project, I will be writing instructions for spinal immobilization.  I'm an EMT and when I was taking classes for my certification, we learned these techniques by watching the instructors once and then going off to practice on our own.  I think it would have been helpful to have a document with all the steps listed on it to refer to during those first couple tries on our own.  It can be an awkward process until you get used to it, and we were constantly glancing over to other groups or asking our partner, who's being strapped to the board, questions.  Having to wear a cervical collar and get strapped to a board is uncomfortable.  You don't really want to be answering questions, and you can't move around to show you're partner what to do next, so having a step-by-step guide as a reference would be helpful.  We had one given to us for medical and trauma assessments, and we were able to learn how to perform those much faster, where as some of my classmates struggled with boarding right up until the state exam.

Readings for February 6th

Chapter seven focused on designing effective documents and websites.  The chapter posed five major goals to adhere to when designing a document or a website:

• make a good impression
• help readers see the relationship between the information
• make it easy for readers to find the information relevant to them
• help the reader understand the information
• help the reader remember the information

The section I found to be the most helpful was when the chapter talked about making a document or website easy for the reader to navigate.  Most people reading a technical document aren't going to read the entire thing, but instead are likely to only need to read a specific section.  You want to make it easy for them to find the information relevant to them, so they are not wasting their time skimming the entire document.  

I think this is even more important for websites.  When people go to a website, they usually have one specific question they need answered, and you want it to be quick and easy for them to find the appropriate information.  I find it difficult to find information with the new design of the BSU website.  I remember in one of my classes last semester we were trying to find the Undergraduate Research page to use the powerpoint they have for making a poster presentation.  The entire class was trying to find it, and it took over ten minutes before someone actually did.  This can grow frustrating, and, if you're a company, you don't want people to become aggravated because they can't find what they are looking for.

Document for Project #1

For our first project, I will be analyzing the lab report titled "Nerve Growth Factor-induced Neurite Outgrowth in PC12 Cells Involves the Coordinate Induction of
Microtubule Assembly and Assembly-promoting Factors."  The lab report is about a type of specialized cells that can be manipulated into becoming neurons when injected with a particular neuronal growth factor called NGF.  During my cell signaling class last semester, we did a semester long project working with this unique phenomenon of PC12 cells, which got me interested in the subject.  It will be interesting to analyze the effectiveness of a published lab report as a technical document, and maybe improve the effectiveness of the reports that I write myself for classes.