ENG 123 1.2: Reviewing Summaries, Forming Teams

Posted on August 24, 2022 by insignificantwrangler@gmail.com

Today’s Plan:

  • TPS and Discussion [20 minutes]
  • Team formation [5 minutes]
  • Searching in Summon (and maybe Google Scholar) [15 minutes]
  • Homework [5 minutes]

Reviewing Summaries

Today we are going to start off with Cathy Davidson’s Think-Pair-Share method for generating discussion. Davidson describes:

In Think-Pair-Share, you hand out index cards and pencils (this is not necessary but it somehow sets the mood fast and fast is important in TPS). You set a timer for 90 seconds (really, 90). And you pose a question. For example, if this were a class on “Why Start With Pedagogy?” I would ask everyone to take 90 seconds to jot down three things (there are no right or wrong answers) they do in their classrooms to engage students. When the timer sounds, I then have students work in pairs for another 90 seconds in a very specific, ritualized way. Their objective in this 90 seconds is to, together, come up with one thing to share with the whole group, it can be a synthesis of various comments on both cards, but one agreed upon thing to share. BUT before that each person has to hear the other. One member of the pair reads their three things while the other is silent; then the second person reads to a silent listener. Hearing your own voice in a classroom—and witnessing being heard– is the beginning of taking responsibility for your own learning. It’s not only about meeting someone else’s criteria but setting the bar for yourself. There is also something about the ritual of writing down, then reading to someone else, that allows the introvert to speak up in a way that avoids the panic of being called on and having to speak extemp before a group. It is extremely egalitarian—it structures equality. The final 90 seconds involves going rapidly around the room and having one person in each pair read their contribution.

Here is your question: what is one thing that stood out in your article? Can you frame that thing in terms of a “Beef. It’s What’s for Dinner” meme (as in Noun. It’s what’s XYZ.)?

Team Formation

Ok, let’s see how this works out. To Google Docs!

Searching in Summon, Google Scholar

I will ask everyone to identify an academic, peer-reviewed source mentioned in a Scientific American article. [What is peer review?]. Revisit the article you summarized and look for links to studies, names of researchers, etc.

Now let’s see if we can find that resource in our University’s library.

For instance, let’s say that I was working on Gillam’s Bees article. Scanning through it, I see a quote from Michele Simon, who Gillam describes as “a public health lawyer who specializes in food issues.” So what happens if I try Jeff Pettis?

Once we have found our article in Summons, then we want to add a link to it in our Workspace.

Homework

First, please print a copy of Derek Mueller’s article on Worknets.

Read another article from Scientific American listed in the Workspace. Ideally, every team member should read a *different* article. In Canvas, write a short summary of the article that compares/contrasts/connects/questions the first article you read (put them in conversation somehow–what is different? what does this one add? How can we describe the relationship between them?). There’s a turn-in for this assignment in Canvas.

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ENG 225 1.T: Trolley Problems

Posted on August 23, 2022 by insignificantwrangler@gmail.com

Today’s Plan:

  • Course Introduction
  • An Intro to Ethics
  • Let’s Talk Trolley Problem
  • Attendance and Intros
  • Homework: Read Sicart, “Moral Dilemmas in Computer Games” and complete the Canvas Quiz (not really a quiz)
  • Homework: Purchase/Download The Walking Dead

Introduction to Ethics

Today I want to give some sense of what constitutes ethics. I’ll start by attempting to differentiate ethics from morals. Both ethics and morals are a part of what we call practical philosophy–rather than dealing with “what is,” practical philosophy deals with how we should act. In simplest terms, both the study of ethics and morals deal with right and wrong. Generally, morality is thought to deal with personal convictions developed via abstract or religious/spiritual principles. Morals can be stated as laws: “thou shalt not kill.” Ethics are thought to be rules derived from “external” agencies–our secular social/institutional contracts. Ethics are far more fuzzy and ambiguous, and often arise as questions that problematize morals. “Thou shalt kill if a solider in war.” And something can be ethical, but not moral and vice versa. Murder, then, is almost always immoral and usually unethical (except, for say, the soldier example, which we wouldn’t call “murder”). However, adultery is often immoral, but it isn’t necessarily unethical (while it is against our understanding of right/wrong, it isn’t something socially deemed illegal–even legally it is grounds for divorce but not prison).

This is the standard distinction between morals and ethics. I should say that I find this distinction between morality and ethics a bit too simplistic. I think of ethics otherwise. For me, morality is the study of the rules that govern our behavior, our internalization of the rules, what we value and believe. The spiritual-internal vs. secular-external distinction isn’t particularly productive for me. I don’t care if the rules come from state agencies or spiritual institutions. Again, morality is how we develop and internalize the rules: thou shalt not kill. A moral. I am not particularly concerned where the rule comes from or who enforces it.

Ethics, for me, signals how we employ, actualize, our moral values in lived experience. It is how/whether we (choose to) act. If morality is our sense of what should be, ethics is the study of how we actually act. Ethics operates in relation to morality, always in its shadow, and often in the places where morals break down. I think the study of ethics is the most interesting when we encounter a situation in which or moral convictions come into conflict. Again, if we believe that “thou shalt not kill,” then how do we also celebrate the soldier? How do we operate in the face of competing morals?

My understanding of ethics is heavily indebted to the work of philosopher Emmanuel Levinas. Levinas’s work encourages us to recognize our aversion to difference, and the lengths humans will go to eliminate alterity (that which is strange, different, unknown or unknowable to them). He jests that we have an allergy to the strange and different, to the other. We seek to “joyously possess” the world as a certain knowledge. Such possession is akin to mastery–to rule the world without question. To eliminate questions that make us uncomfortable. Rather than deal with the other, we desire the same–we desire to know, label, categorize, understand something. Facing something we do not know, or cannot know, brings out the worst in us. To be ethical, for Levinas, is to learn to inhabit this discomfort, disequilibrium and repress the desire to transform something Other into something familiar, what he calls “the same.” To welcome the other as an other, to let them be different, rather than to convert them into the “same” thing that I already know.

Ethics, for Levinas, is learning to recognize and prioritize others, to put their needs ahead of our own. Ethics becomes extra complicated when we realize that others make different demands on us–and no matter how generous we might want to be, we cannot give everything to everyone. To give to one other often means we have to take away from an other. Justice requires I choose between the competing demands of the other and the neighbor.

More than just an analytical science of how we act, ethics for me marks our ability to handle, to process, the unknown. How do we feel, and respond to our feelings, when we encounter the strange? Do we curl back in repulsion? Express exasperation (*why do they do that? that’s so weird?*). Or do we become self-critical? Do we invite reflection (*why don’t I do that?*).

How/do we welcome the stranger? Something different? Further, what happens when we encounter something we cannot control, when we have to make a decision with no clear right answer, when we face something that resists our mastery?

What does this have to do with the distinction between morality and ethics? I believe that the more we recognize and study ethics (as moments of moral indecision), the more we learn to choose when no one true, certain, “right” answer is evident, available, or even possible, the more ethical–the better people–we will become.

Our first major project, which will cover the next 5 weeks, questions whether games, by constructing *sophisticated* ethical problems, can make more ethical in the Levinasian sense I have just worked out.

The Trolley Problem

Let’s talk about the Trolley Problem, created by Foot and complicated by Thompson. Very simply: the trolley problem is a philosophical thought experiment created in the 1970’s by philosopher Philippa Foot. If you have a laptop or mobile device in front of you, then click the following link.

Let’s play 4 quick choose your own adventure games.

So, if you haven’t guessed by now, here is my theory for what video games have learned is their unique province: they can leverage the emotional unrest, affectation, difficulty, disequilibrium of Trolley Problems. Foot’s trolley problem is meant to explore the moral consistency, or lack thereof, people use to make life or death decisions. Video games can proceduralize this thought experiment, to make it more visceral or “real.” We feel the decision–this kind of feeling is called “affective” or pathetic (deriving from the Greek term for emotion, patheos).

In a book or a film, we are left to watch the trolley driver pull the switch or not. The author decides. The author justifies. Perhaps she does so to secretly stir our outrage, to get us to deconstruct her flawed reasoning. She can spur reflection, contemplation, resistance. But we are always a bystander to the action, distanced from the choice. We are witness.

But not so in a game. I remember my first play through of Dragon Age: Origins. The details are a bit foggy–I remember encountering some elves and some werewolves. The werewolves were created by dark elven magic? And then, like Frankenstein’s monster, abandoned by their creators. At some point a wolf had killed an elf. Maybe it was self-defense? I honestly don’t remember. But I remember, unexpectedly, having to decide which species to exterminate. Only one can survive. Neither is innocent. And there is no heroic path to saving them both (well there is, but you are probably only going to have that option if you have made a series of other decisions, and only about 1 in every 10 player unlocks that “perfect” ending). The game forced me to be responsible. I must pull the lever and determine who gets hit by the train.

I’ve played games since roughly 1984 on my Atari 2600. I’ve murdered hundreds of thousands, if not millions of aliens and demons and terrorists and zombies and horde (“For the Vangaurd” or “For the Alliance!”). I’ve killed all these things from a moral position that authorizes their death. I’ve never been troubled by all this killing. Those aliens threaten our light. Those demons threaten Tristram. Those terrorists threaten democracy. Those zombies would eat me and the few others remaining in Raccoon City. I killed them all without friction. (Save for Silent Hill 3, one of the greatest mindfuck games of all-time unfortunately lost to history–“they look like monsters to you?”).

But Dragon Age interrupted my joyous possession of the world, my righteous action, my moral foundation. It stung me. This was something different. I introduce the Trolley Problem, the lever, the notions of disequilibrium, ethics, and agency as a way of thinking about games. I imagine many of you are already thinking of games that leverage this dynamic. Soon we will work together to generate lists of games–AAA, mobile, indie–that we can play and explore as a class (in addition to my required experience: Walking Dead episode 1).

Attendance and Intros

Syllabus too (stuff about games).

Homework

As I indicated above, our first project investigates how video games incorporate ethical decision-making. Not all games do this well–what we need is some theoretical material that gives us a lens for viewing and analyzing games.

We’ll be using the lens constructed by scholar Miguel Sicart, first reading one of his essays and then chapters from his book Beyond Choices. As you read Sicart, keep asking yourself: how does the terms, distinctions, ideas he articulates help me answer these questions:

  • What should/shouldn’t game designers do to make effective ethical dilemmas in their games?
  • What should/shouldn’t players do to have more powerful ethical experiences while playing games?

To get us started, I want to read Sicart’s 2013 article “Moral Dilemmas in Computer Games” (you will find this in the Files section of Canvas). I’m not sure how much experience you have reading academic articles, so I’ve designed a Canvas “Quiz” to help structure your reading. Academic articles often have dense, disciplinary-laden prose; given that these articles are written for experts in the field, they do not always define key terms. Further, academic articles often have to acknowledge key debates even if that isn’t the purpose of the article (for instance, you’ll notice Sicart spends a lot of time reviewing definitions of “game play” early in the article–although I do think that section contains some useful and important information).

I expect reading the article and answering the questions will take you somewhere between an hour to an hour and a 1/2.

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ENG 301 1.T: Welcome. Let’s Talk about Jobs

Posted on August 22, 2022 by insignificantwrangler@gmail.com

Today’s Plan:

  • Syllabus
  • Ross 1240 Computer Lab
  • Project One Overview
  • Email Assignment
  • Brumberger and Lauer Assignment

Syllabus Review

Yeah, sure, starting with the syllabus is cliche. But this course probably works a bit differently than others you’ve taken for a couple of reasons. First, because I use labor-based grading. Second, because this course is designed less as a vehicle to teach you something, and more as a vehicle for you to develop a skill.

Ross 1240 Computer Lab

Starting next week, we’ll be meeting every Thursday in the Ross 1240 computer lab. Tuesday’s we’ll continue to meet here in CAND 2260.

Icebreaker

Let’s try a thing.

Brumberger and Lauer on Jobs

Our first project is rooted Eva Brumberger and Claire Lauer’s article “The Evolution of Technical Communication: An Analysis of Industry Job Postings.” I developed this project in conjunction with research I conducted as I was developing professional writing courses for UNC’s Writing minor. I was charged with developing 3 courses that would help both Writing minors and English majors be better prepared for the job market. This charge led me to research job advertisements for English majors, and Brumberger and Lauer (2015) stands as the most recent and comprehensive study I found.

However, their article focuses on “technical communication.” This designation can have many meanings–sometimes it is merely a synonym for professional writing. But not in their case–they use it (as do I) in the more precise sense of developing documentation (instruction manuals), product testing (usability reports), and working with scientific experts to communicate scientific/technical knowledge. Our department doesn’t have someone with those specializations–so as much as I appreciate their research, I wanted something a bit more relevant to a smaller department. Their research speaks more to folks at large research institutions with Professional and Technical Writing major, more specialized faculty, and software licenses such as MadCap Flare or Adobe RoboHelp. We are a much smaller department with 5 tenure-track faculty (and none of us, I think, would claim Professional or Technical writing as a core specialization–we have experts in Rhetorical Theory, Public Rhetorics, Cultural Rhetorics, Compositionists, etc). So the question that drove my own research, which you will learn to recreate, is: what skills, technologies, characteristics can UNC focus on to maximize your preparation for today’s job market?

In answering that question, I’ve turned my attention to Professional Writing jobs outside of technical writing. During my research, I came across a specialized job listing site–mediabistro.com. From their “About Us” page:

Mediabistro is the premier media job listings site and career destination for savvy media professionals. Whether you’re searching for new job opportunities, striving to advance your career, or looking to learn new skills and develop valuable expertise, we are here to strengthen and support your professional journey. We have the tools and resources to help you navigate your own path and find career happiness.

In addition to job postings, mediabistro.com offers resume services and courses on professionalization and personal brand building. Rather than turning to a more popular site like monster.com, I used mediabistro.com because it focuses specifically on jobs involving writing and communication.

I spent the month of June 2018 scanning every job ad posted to mediabistro.com. I filtered out jobs that:

  • Called for experience in television production (especially those that required years of on-air experience)
  • Called for extensive experience as a field journalist (although I retained jobs open to those without journalistic experience; a few jobs were looking for bloggers or content contributers)
  • Required degrees in finance or accounting
  • Required extensive experience with Google Ads and/or other Customer Relationship Management (CRM) softwares (Salesforce was particularly popular)
  • Required applicants bring a client log with them
  • Required management or hiring experience (the term management is quite slippery in adverts; sometimes it means “manage a team” and clearly indicates the need for leadership experience. Sometimes it means “manage our twitter account” and isn’t, per se, a leadership position)
  • Required backend coding skills
  • Required extensive graphic design portfolios (I did retain entry level graphic design jobs)
  • Required 5 or more years of experience
  • Telemarketing jobs, part-time jobs, or unpaid internships

After filtering out these jobs, I was left with a corpus of 375 jobs.

Over the next two weeks, you will “code” 20 jobs from this corpus. We will talk about qualitative coding in class on Wednesday. In addition to familiarizing you with the job market, and the tech, skills, and characteristics for which employers seek, you will also learn a staple Professional writing/ qualitative research method: corpus coding (and a few methods that go with it, such as norming a coding scheme and ensuring the reliability and validity of data).

Here are the stages / parts of the Job Analysis Project (which we will be working on for approximately the next month).

Job Corpus. This is the collection of job ads (from June 2018) from which you will choose 20. Then you will code those job ads.

Job Coding Scheme. Here is a link to the coding scheme. I have slightly modified the scheme used by Brumberger and Lauer. After we read Brumberger and Lauer, I spend two classes coding ads a class (norming sessions). This familiarizes them with coding and qualitative research methods. When there is disagreement on a code, we take a class vote.

Collective Job Code Spreadsheet. Students highlight text in the google doc job ads and insert their codes as comments so that other students can review them. The more students that input codes, the better! This creates the data they need for their report. So, after students code a job ad (inserting comments in the Google Doc), they should insert a link to that document (from the corpus) into the spreadsheet (the job title) and put their codes into the spreadsheet too. (I know this sounds complicated, but I can probably show you this in 3 minutes).

Personal Research Data Spreadsheet. Students make their own, personal copy of that file. They then select the jobs from the spreadsheet that they want to use in their report and make another spreadsheet that they can use to produce graphs. I do this in Google Sheets, you could also probably do it in Excel (Sheets is just more convenient to share and easier, IMO, to use). If you need help turning tabular data into a graph, I can show you quickly (it literally just takes a right-click, then playing around with some menu features for labeling axis and formatting).

Job Report Rubric. Because professional writing is so different than academic writing, I spend a lot of time familiarizing y’all with the rubric. We do this by assessing papers as a class and comparing our evaluations. Below are some sample papers; we will use the rubric to score some sample reports before we finally draft, share, and revise the final reports. Trust me, you can do this.

So, that’s a lot of stuff–but like I said, that will comprise nearly the first month of class and I’ll be here to walk you through every step.

Let’s try coding a job advertisement or two.

Homework For Thursday / Tuesday

For your first assignment, I would like you to send me an introductory email. Your email should be a professional, yet friendly, introductory business email. You should probably Google some guidelines for how to write that email.

Pro-tip: when writing an email to a faculty member, it is helpful to consult this chart [especially if you don’t know how faculty rank works / you don’t know a lot about who is teaching your class].

DO NOT USE CANVAS TO SEND ME THIS EMAIL. I cannot reliably respond to emails sent via Canvas, nor can I include them in emails to our community partners. So, part of this exercise is asking you to send me an email from your preferred email address, one that you check regularly. It is okay to use your unco email for this, if that is the one you prefer. But please cc your other, non-unco email into the message so that I have access to both.

My email address is marc.santos@unco.edu.

Your email should do a few things:

  • introduces yourself (and your academic/professional trajectory, major? minor? what year? future plans?)
  • explains your interest in the course (what are you hoping to learn? why are you here?)
  • details any professional or creative writing experience you have
  • details any social media or graphic design experience you have (including software proficiencies). Personal social media experience counts, too
  • asks me a question (about the class, about myself, about the job market, the writing minor, or about life, liberty, and/or the pursuit of happiness)

Also note the Brumberger and Lauer, “The Evolution of Technical Communication: An Analysis of Industry Job Postings” assignment in Canvas. The Canvas assignment has details on the reading response post (you can find the Brumberger and Lauer reading in the files section of Canvas). I will talk a bit more about the B&L reading and your required discussion post in class on Thursday–the reading and discussion post are due prior to next Tuesday’s class.

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ENG 123 1.M: First Day

Posted on August 16, 2022 by insignificantwrangler@gmail.com

Today’s Plan:

  • Syllabus & Intro [15 minutes]
  • Article Overview 25 minutes]
  • Homework [5 minutes]
  • Take a Walk [10 minutes]

Syllabus

Hi I’m Dr. Marc C. Santos. You may call me Marc, Santos, Dr. Santos, or Professor Santos. Do not call me Mr. Santos.

Here’s a helpful infographic.

Okay, now let’s read the syllabus. Let’s read the syllabus.
Things to highlight:

  • Teaching research before argument
  • Labor-based grading and Canvas

Let’s talk methodology.

Choose Your Own Adventure

Alright, here’s a link to our workspace. I’d like to take 8 minutes and have you read one of the articles on the list. After which, I’ll give you a few minutes to plan a response to the following three prompts:

  • I read…
  • It was about…
  • One interesting, surprising, questionable thing was…

Quick Take: How to Read an (Academic) Article

When I assign a reading, I expect you to:

  1. Print out a copy of the article. Don’t try to read something on which you will write on screen
  2. As you read, have a pen at the ready. Don’t use a highlighter. Underline, mark the margin, or place a question mark as you go
  3. Every time you underline or mark the margin, write a comment at the top of the page. Studies show that writing things down helps us remember them. It also helps us start inventing the material we will need to write a summary or comparison. Don’t read passively, but actively. Don’t consume, engage.

Homework

Read another article from the workspace linked above for Wednesday’s class. Note: you can chose an article from a different topic if you want. No one is locked into a topic after one class.

Write a 200 word summary of the article. The summary should:

  • Identify the thesis of the article
  • Explain the methods the author used to support her claims and/or explain important methods used by others who the writer cites in support of her claims
  • Identify a debate, controversy, point of contention in the article
  • Note use the words “thesis,” “argument,” “findings,” or “method(s)”

Note that we will meet in Ross Hall 1240 computer lab on Wednesday.

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ENG 301 16.R: Jeff Buckley Time

Posted on April 28, 2022 by insignificantwrangler@gmail.com

Today’s Plan:

  • Expected Grades: Reflection on Labor-Based Grading
  • Constructing a Linkedin Profile
  • Developing a Web/Portfolio
  • Final Resume and Cover Letters

Reflection on Labor-Based Grading

This semester, I have been participating in a Teaching for Inclusion and Equity program and have submitted an article on anti-racist, labor-based assessment for publication. This class was my second attempt at a completely labor-based system, and I have mixed feelings regarding the results. On the one hand, I should say that the quality of the job reports and the community engagement materials were both quite high. (You would know if they weren’t, since I would have re-written whatever you turned in and given you a C for making me do that).

My central argument for labor-based grading is to create an environment that is explicitly less stressful. I told you on the first day, when I introduced it, that if you just hand everything in, and it looks like you tried, then you would earn a B on the course, and I laid out the criteria for doing extra work and earning an A. The “extra” experiences are meant to be ones that almost act as mentoring and professionalization activities–what some might identify as the “hidden curriculum” of a university. Often the academic success of white/encultured/affluent students over that of non-white/first-generation/less-fortunate students concerns awareness of and willingness to use these resources.

But, to my surprise, very few people took advantage of these additional opportunities. So, um, why?

Let me share a reflection I wrote for my TIE program yesterday and we can talk.

Building a Linkedin Profile

Let’s just say that this video by Professor Heather Austin provides perspective.

  • Basics: Get a Headshot
  • Slogan: Max of 300 words
  • About: Split into Summary (Who you are, who you help, how you help them) and the Expertise (block of resume-style skills). Keep paragraphs short.
  • Skills: Pick the “big” three. Then a handful more.
  • Experience: Be descriptive

Resources:

Find me on Linkedin: Marc C. Santos (www.linkedin.com/in/marc-c-santos-967a8a17)

Developing a Web Portfolio

Final Job Materials

I will be reviewing cover letter drafts tomorrow morning. After that, I will open up a Canvas assignment for revised materials (resumes and cover letters) due next Friday.

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ENG 651 Week 15: Resumes, Cover Letters, Linkedin

Posted on April 19, 2022 by insignificantwrangler@gmail.com

Today’s Plan:

  • Grades
  • Next Week’s Class
  • Peer Review Resumes (?)
  • Drafting Cover Letters
  • Building a Linkedin Profile

Grades and Next Week’s Class

I have updated the gradebook to reflect the assignment values listed in the syllabus. If you would like to revise any assignments between now and when grades are due, let me know.

ABO Book

Let’s start off with some basic advice. Writer’s checklist. Focused paragraphs.

But let’s talk follow-up (FlexJobs). But first, a scene.

A few other resources:

How I Conceptualize Cover Letters

As we discussed last week (and I imagine we will discuss further tonight), a big challenge with resumes concerns constructing a document that can beat a machine and at the same time engage a human. It is a balancing act.

At least that is one hurdle with which we don’t need to deal with cover letters. The challenge of the cover letter is to convey, in a few short paragraphs, the value (explicitly?) and energy (implicitly?) you will add to an organization. In addition to being a high stakes writing sample, it is also an elevator pitch, an introduction, a first date, a sales proposal, an intellectual and professional biography. A lot has to happen quickly.

I’ll offer the following outline for cover letters:

  • First paragraph. First sentence: position for which you are applying. “Thesis statement” as to why you are a good fit and/or interested in the position [pay attention to the specifics in your add, look for tests/prompts/possibilities].
  • Second paragraph. Storytime. Chances are your thesis involves something you can do. Tell a story about the time you did the thing. Are you applying for a marketing job? Tell a story about how you developed content for a social media channel. Applying for a grant writing position? Tell a story about the time your under/graduate class partnered with a local non-profit and you researched/developed stuff and/or liaised with folks to do things. Ideally, your story should have a what I did–what effect that had narrative structure, but it doesn’t have to. The point here is to take one thing you discuss in the resume, the best thing, and turn it into a paragraph of meaningful prose.
  • Third paragraph. Do you have a second awesome story? Cool. Tell that too! If not, then think about how you can translate your academic success and abilities into language that shows you are a strong fit for the position. If the ad stresses personality, then can you use something like the psychometric test to sell yourself? Is there something that the ad indicates as a requirement that you can indicate you are familiar with (or something similar, that given your familiarity with Adobe Photoshop and Premiere, you are confident that you will be able to learn InDesign quickly and/or given your interest in expanding into digital marketing, you are currently enrolled in a HubSpot social media marketing certification course?)
  • Concluding paragraph. Open with a reiteration of your interest in the position. Close with the standard stuff–you look forward to an interview to further discuss your qualifications / the position (is it about them? Or about you?)

What does a story look like? Here’s one from Hannah Hehn:

In the past semester I earned the title Creative Director of The Crucible Literary Magazine. In this post I’ve overseen the production of our Fall 2021 issue, working with the editors, editor-in-chief, and social media directors on the content, layout, themes, and promotional materials for the edition. This semester we worked with a document design class here to design the cover and internal visuals as part of a contest. This entailed consulting with the design class as well as The Crucible’s President and Vice President extensively to make final decisions. Working individually played a large role as well, both in creating a possible internal design for the edition, and in editing the final products for printing within our tight deadlines.

And here’s one by Carl McDonald:

During my education, I took part in a team tasked with assisting a local nonprofit, Santa Cops of Weld County, to find and apply for grants. This project included locating grants through various grant databases, including the CRC America and the Foundation Directory Online, familiarizing ourselves with the grant application process, and writing the proposal itself. I focused my efforts on a Build-A-Bear Charitable Giving grant, which procured 120 stuffed bears for at-risk kids the following Christmas.

I also assisted Impact Locally, a nonprofit in Denver, in the same capacity as an intern this summer. I worked remotely, giving weekly updates about my research and progress. At the end of my internship, we were selected by Colorado Blueprint to End Hunger for a substantial grant to continue food distribution to the homeless through the Covid19 crisis.

Building a Linkedin Profile

Let’s just say that this video by Professor Heather Austin provides perspective.

  • Basics: Get a Headshot
  • Slogan: Max of 300 words
  • About: Split into Summary (Who you are, who you help, how you help them) and the Expertise (block of resume-style skills). Keep paragraphs short.
  • Skills: Pick the “big” three. Then a handful more.
  • Experience: Be descriptive

Resources:

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ENG 301 15.T: Cover Letters

Posted on April 19, 2022 by insignificantwrangler@gmail.com

Today’s Plan:

Rest of Year Schedule

  • Today: Cover Letters
  • Thursday: Review Resume Drafts in Class [Please submit your resume by Wednesday at midnight]. Here is a link to the class notes on resumes.
  • Tuesday, April 26th, Cover letter drafts
  • Thursday, April 28th, Linkedin workshop

ABO Book

Let’s start off with some basic advice. Writer’s checklist. Focused paragraphs.

But let’s talk follow-up (FlexJobs). But first, a scene.

A few other resources:

How I Conceptualize Cover Letters

As we discussed last week (and I imagine we will discuss further tonight), a big challenge with resumes concerns constructing a document that can beat a machine and at the same time engage a human. It is a balancing act.

At least that is one hurdle with which we don’t need to deal with cover letters. The challenge of the cover letter is to convey, in a few short paragraphs, the value (explicitly?) and energy (implicitly?) you will add to an organization. In addition to being a high stakes writing sample, it is also an elevator pitch, an introduction, a first date, a sales proposal, an intellectual and professional biography. A lot has to happen quickly.

I’ll offer the following outline for cover letters:

  • First paragraph. First sentence: position for which you are applying. “Thesis statement” as to why you are a good fit and/or interested in the position [pay attention to the specifics in your add, look for tests/prompts/possibilities].
  • Second paragraph. Storytime. Chances are your thesis involves something you can do. Tell a story about the time you did the thing. Are you applying for a marketing job? Tell a story about how you developed content for a social media channel. Applying for a grant writing position? Tell a story about the time your under/graduate class partnered with a local non-profit and you researched/developed stuff and/or liaised with folks to do things. Ideally, your story should have a what I did–what effect that had narrative structure, but it doesn’t have to. The point here is to take one thing you discuss in the resume, the best thing, and turn it into a paragraph of meaningful prose.
  • Third paragraph. Do you have a second awesome story? Cool. Tell that too! If not, then think about how you can translate your academic success and abilities into language that shows you are a strong fit for the position. If the ad stresses personality, then can you use something like the psychometric test to sell yourself? Is there something that the ad indicates as a requirement that you can indicate you are familiar with (or something similar, that given your familiarity with Adobe Photoshop and Premiere, you are confident that you will be able to learn InDesign quickly and/or given your interest in expanding into digital marketing, you are currently enrolled in a HubSpot social media marketing certification course?)
  • Concluding paragraph. Open with a reiteration of your interest in the position. Close with the standard stuff–you look forward to an interview to further discuss your qualifications / the position (is it about them? Or about you?)

What does a story look like? Here’s one from Hannah Hehn:

In the past semester I earned the title Creative Director of The Crucible Literary Magazine. In this post I’ve overseen the production of our Fall 2021 issue, working with the editors, editor-in-chief, and social media directors on the content, layout, themes, and promotional materials for the edition. This semester we worked with a document design class here to design the cover and internal visuals as part of a contest. This entailed consulting with the design class as well as The Crucible’s President and Vice President extensively to make final decisions. Working individually played a large role as well, both in creating a possible internal design for the edition, and in editing the final products for printing within our tight deadlines.

And here’s one by Carl McDonald:

During my education, I took part in a team tasked with assisting a local nonprofit, Santa Cops of Weld County, to find and apply for grants. This project included locating grants through various grant databases, including the CRC America and the Foundation Directory Online, familiarizing ourselves with the grant application process, and writing the proposal itself. I focused my efforts on a Build-A-Bear Charitable Giving grant, which procured 120 stuffed bears for at-risk kids the following Christmas.

I also assisted Impact Locally, a nonprofit in Denver, in the same capacity as an intern this summer. I worked remotely, giving weekly updates about my research and progress. At the end of my internship, we were selected by Colorado Blueprint to End Hunger for a substantial grant to continue food distribution to the homeless through the Covid19 crisis.

Link to annotated sample letters.

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ENG 651 14: Resumes and Cover Letters

Posted on April 12, 2022 by insignificantwrangler@gmail.com

Tonight’s Plan:

  • Review Job Coding
  • Review Your Job Ads
  • Generating Content for Your Resume (and Cover Letter)
  • Homework

Generating Content for a Professional Resume

Strategy: The Brain Dump. List all of the things you can do. Think of when/where you’ve done them. Let’s think about the coding sheet we used for the last project, and let’s pick out 4-6 skills that you think are your strong suit. List them. Brain Dump.

A few resources on translating academic work and teaching into professional job materials:

Wright & Dol. See article attachment; see sample resume description [could this go in a resume or a cover letter? Top of the resume for a person? Or bottom of a resume? Where to position this?]. See Wonderlic.

Another resource to help identify strengths/compatibility: Big Five personality test.

Here is my heuristic/template for starting a resume

How to Conceptualize Cover Letters

As we discussed last week (and I imagine we will discuss further tonight), a big challenge with resumes concerns constructing a document that can beat a machine and at the same time engage a human. It is a balancing act.

At least that is one hurdle with which we don’t need to deal with cover letters. The challenge of the cover letter is to convey, in a few short paragraphs, the value (explicitly?) and energy (implicitly?) you will add to an organization. In addition to being a high stakes writing sample, it is also an elevator pitch, an introduction, a first date, a sales proposal, an intellectual and professional biography. A lot has to happen quickly.

I’ll offer the following outline for cover letters:

  • First paragraph. First sentence: position for which you are applying. “Thesis statement” as to why you are a good fit and/or interested in the position [pay attention to the specifics in your add, look for tests/prompts/possibilities].
  • Second paragraph. Storytime. Chances are your thesis involves something you can do. Tell a story about the time you did the thing. Are you applying for a marketing job? Tell a story about how you developed content for a social media channel. Applying for a grant writing position? Tell a story about the time your under/graduate class partnered with a local non-profit and you researched/developed stuff and/or liaised with folks to do things. Ideally, your story should have a what I did–what effect that had narrative structure, but it doesn’t have to. The point here is to take one thing you discuss in the resume, the best thing, and turn it into a paragraph of meaningful prose.
  • Third paragraph. Do you have a second awesome story? Cool. Tell that too! If not, then think about how you can translate your academic success and abilities into language that shows you are a strong fit for the position. If the ad stresses personality, then can you use something like the psychometric test to sell yourself? Is there something that the ad indicates as a requirement that you can indicate you are familiar with (or something similar, that given your familiarity with Adobe Photoshop and Premiere, you are confident that you will be able to learn InDesign quickly and/or given your interest in expanding into digital marketing, you are currently enrolled in a HubSpot social media marketing certification course?)
  • Concluding paragraph. Open with a reiteration of your interest in the position. Close with the standard stuff–you look forward to an interview to further discuss your qualifications / the position (is it about them? Or about you?)
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ENG 301 13: Rhetorical Resumes

Posted on April 7, 2022 by insignificantwrangler@gmail.com

Rhetorically Constructing Resumes

One reason I like analyzing job ads is that I think it helps you internalize some of the expectations and desires employers have. Over the years, I’ve gotten to the point where I can read an ad and identify cases where I can see that they don’t necessarily know exactly what they want–but I can think of another ad that probably speaks to their needs and desires. You probably won’t develop that sense just looking at 25 ads, but I do hope our first project made you a bit more comfortable analyzing an ad.

When I teach resumes at the undergraduate level, I emphasize the importance of an rhetorical approach. Rhetoric here means two things to me:

  • First, it means that I attempt to read what the other person wants, thinks, values, and prioritizes
  • Second, it means that I approach the situation without an expectation of control or mastery, that I understand that the situation calls for a calculation of risk

I contrast this rhetorical approach to the more “philosophical” approach that tends to drive the advice one would get from career services or from many resume books and websites. Philosophical approaches try to teach hard and fast rules for developing materials. Do this! Don’t do that! They are often more concerned with their own preferences; and thus overwrite the wide chaos one finds in ads with a more simple and controlled framework. They also tend to be more conservative when it comes to voice, tone, and content. I am skeptical of this kind of “cookie cutter” approach.

Rather, I think you should approach your job materials less in terms of a baking recipe and more in terms of a high stakes poker game. When you play poker, the cards you hold are important. But equally important is your ability to read your opponents, and to make sure that you adjust your play based on theirs. You cannot plan out a poker strategy before you play the game–you can have ideas, certainly–but those ideas have to be re-calibrated once the game starts and you begin familiarizing yourself with the players.

In terms of a job search and the construction your materials, it is useful to have drafted in advance material for a resume and a cover letter. But the resume and cover letter you send to a potential employer should always be transformed based on the position for which you apply. And these transformations shouldn’t be merely cosmetic–you should create content that you think speaks to that particular organizations needs.I’ve been on the job market twice in the past 15 years, and both times I started with a default letter and CV. This doesn’t mean I recommend writing a completely different letter for every job. I don’t, no one has time for that. [job letters-unc (teaching new media and tech writing), msu (digital rhetoric research), tamu (classical)]. But I do recommend spending time reading an ad carefully, thinking about how you arrange material, and making sure that the language you use in a letter matches up with the language you find not only on an ad, but also on an organization’s website (mission statement, about us, projects). Your resume and cover letter should show organizations how you can use research and rhetoric to craft more compelling prose.

Rhetoric is the art of adapting a message to a particular audience, of recognizing the affordances and advantages of a particular situation. It always involves elements of risk and chance. I believe job searches are particularly arbitrary–there is no system or pattern to what employers look for because every employer, every human resource director, is different, and brings to the process her own preferences, methods, and attitudes. The best we can do is to learn to analyze, listen, and think through possibilities–to be aware of the potential choices we have and to make precise calculations for every position to which we apply. While we can’t be certain, we can do our best to know our audience(s), and to tailor ourselves to their preferences.

Some Practical Advice that May Even Be Useful, in Some Situations, Some of the Time

Okay, with those rhetorical reservations in place, let me tentatively offer some advice. First, we need to make sure we are designing resumes that are ATS (applicant tracking system) compliant. This is probably the biggest change I have had to deal with in the 12 or so years that I have taught resumes–the increasing difficulty and prioritization of designing a document that 1) can “beat” the machine and 2) is still persuasive, compelling, and/or readable to a human being. The advice 10 years ago focused on the importance of keywords (previous link). So does the advice today . I think our Project 1 Coding Sheet is a great generic resource for identifying keywords–but be sure to code any advertisement to which you plan on applying to see if you can identify idiosyncratic language. Also, preparing resumes for ATS has implications for style and design. (Note: see tool at the bottom, see Common mistakes, short video)

So let’s assume that we’ve beaten the machine. Now our resume is in the hands (or more likely on the screen) of a human resource director or a manager who needs to wean a stack of 20-25 candidates down to a stack of 5 for interviews. Now we might have to beat the dreaded six second scan.. But beware keyword stuffing!

Let’s close this section with a review of some generic but staple resume advice–a few Squawkfox articles.

Resumes Part 2

New for 2022, Plain Text Resume

Sample Resumes.

Wright, Dol, and Collins (2011). See sample resume description [could this go in a resume or a cover letter? Top of the resume for a person? Or bottom of a resume? Where to position this?]. See Wonderlic.

Another resource to help identify strengths/compatibility: Big Five personality test.

Here is my heuristic/template for starting a resume

Volunteer / Potential Internship Opportunity

Greeley Game Night.

Homework Due Sunday, April 17th

Hi all. As you finish up your Community Engagement Projects, I have two small things for you to do. They are inter-related, so copying your answers for the first should help you complete the second.

  • First, complete the Project Reflection form [Note: this isn’t just a gotcha assignment; project postmortems are very common in the professional world, where you have a meeting after a major project’s completion to talk about process]
  • For the Deliverable #2 in Canvas, I’d like each team to submit a memo. The memo should list all team members, link to all team deliverables (anything from Deliverable #1 and anything finished since then). It should have some language that I can potentially copy/paste into my memo for clients regarding the project and the deliverables. Finally, it should have some instructions for how either a) an intern or b) another group next semester should approach/improve/extend/utilize your work. Again, you only need submit one of these per team. Again, a few of the questions in the reflection form should help generate this content.

Homework For Next Thursday

For next week’s class, I would like you to identify a job or internship for which you want to develop materials. Next week we will spend 20 minutes analyzing your ad and then 15 minutes generating content for a resume (I have a few heuristics to help with this process).

I will reserve the final 40 minutes of class next week for you to meet with your group and finalize your Deliverable #2.

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ENG 651 13: Advertising Job Advertisements, Rhetorically Constructing Resumes

Posted on April 5, 2022 by insignificantwrangler@gmail.com

Today’s Plan:

  • Analyzing Job Ads
  • Rhetorically Constructing Resumes
  • CEP Check Ins (and Reflection)
  • Homework

Rhetorically Constructing Resumes

One reason I like analyzing job ads is that I think it helps you internalize some of the expectations and desires employers have. Over the years, I’ve gotten to the point where I can read an ad and identify cases where I can see that they don’t necessarily know exactly what they want–but I can think of another ad that probably speaks to their needs and desires. You probably won’t develop that sense just looking at X amount of ads, but this awareness should make you more familiar, and thus hopefully more confident, as you start developing your own materials.

When I teach resumes at the undergraduate level, I emphasize the importance of an rhetorical approach. I contrast this rhetorical approach to the more “philosophical” approach that tends to drive the advice one would get from career services or from many resume books and websites. Philosophical approaches try to teach hard and fast rules for developing materials. They tend to be more conservative when it comes to voice, tone, and content. I am skeptical of this kind of cookie cutter approach.

Rather, I think you want to approach your job materials less in terms of a baking recipe and more in terms of a high stakes poker game. When you play poker, the cards you hold are important. But equally important is your ability to read your opponents, and to make sure that you adjust your play based on theirs. You cannot plan out a poker strategy before you play the game–you can have ideas, certainly–but those ideas have to be re-calibrated once the game starts.

In terms of a job search and the construction your materials, it is useful to have drafted in advance material for a resume and a cover letter. But the resume and cover letter you send to a potential employer should always be transformed based on the position for which you apply. And these transformations shouldn’t be merely cosmetic–you should create content that you think speaks to that particular organizations needs. [Look at my job search letters]. This doesn’t mean I recommend writing a completely different letter for every job. I don’t, no one has time for that. But I do recommend spending time reading an ad carefully, thinking about how you arrange material, and making sure that the language you use in a letter matches up with the language you find not only on an ad, but also on an organization’s website (mission statement, about us, projects). Your resume and cover letter should show organizations how you can use research and rhetoric to craft more compelling prose. [job letters-unc (teaching), msu (new media), tamu (classical)].

Rhetoric is the art of adapting a message to a particular audience, of recognizing the affordances and advantages of a particular situation. It always involves elements of risk and chance. I believe job searches are particularly arbitrary–there is no system or pattern to what employers look for because every employer, every human resource director, is different, and brings to the process her own preferences, methods, and attitudes. The best we can do is to learn to analyze, listen, and think through possibilities–to be aware of the potential choices we have and to make precise calculations for every position to which we apply. While we can’t be certain, we can do our best to know our audience(s).

Some Practical Advice that May Even Be Useful, in Some Situations, Some of the Time

Okay, with those rhetorical reservations in place, let me tentatively offer some advice. First, we need to make sure we are designing resumes that are ATS (applicant tracking system) compliant. This is probably the biggest change I have had to deal with in the 12 or so years that I have taught resumes–the increasing difficulty and prioritization of designing a document that 1) can “beat” the machine and 2) is still persuasive, compelling, and/or readable to a human being. The advice 10 years ago focused on the importance of keywords (previous link). So does the advice today . I think our Coding Sheet is a great generic resource for identifying keywords–but be sure to code any advertisement to which you plan on applying to see if you can identify idiosyncratic language. Also, preparing resumes for ATS has implications for style and design. (Note: see tool at the bottom, see Common mistakes, short video)

So let’s assume that we’ve beaten the machine. Now our resume is in the hands (or more likely on the screen) of a human resource director or a manager who needs to wean a stack of 20-25 candidates down to a stack of 5 for interviews. Now we might have to beat the dreaded six second scan.. But beware keyword stuffing!

Let’s close this section with a review of some generic but staple resume advice–a few Squawkfox articles.

Homework

For next week, I’d like everyone to code and review the codes for 25 job ads from our corpus.

  • Austin [every advertisement ending in 2]
  • Amy [every advertisement ending in 3]
  • Cole [every advertisement ending in 4]
  • Emily [every advertisement ending in 5]
  • Erika [every advertisement ending in 6]
  • Jacob [every advertisement ending in 7]

Coding Resources:

Coding in Google Docs is fairly simple–you only need to insert a comment to add a new code, or leave a comment to query (challenge) and existing one. I have added an assignment in Canvas that asks you to identify at least three comments you left on ads (these can be shorthand and we will review in class next week).

Additionally, I would like everyone to identify a position (job application or internship) for which they would like to at least theoretically apply. Your position can come from Linkedin, Monster, Media Bistro, Handshake (UNC’s job/internship application portal), anywhere. I’ve set up a portal in Canvas to turn in your Potential Job Target.

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