FINAL LEARNING LETTER 2pgs

To use these goals as main headings for my final letter, I’ve revised them for conciseness:

· Develop a more personal writing style

· Enhance my day-to-day writing skills

· Increase my ability to write meaningful and more direct correspondence

Develop a more personal writing style

In my current job as a Network Defense Manager, I have a daily obligation to communicate with my superiors, coworkers, subordinates, and third party organizations to accomplish my tasks. Most of my correspondence is via the use of email messages. I have learned that effective communication is an important factor in my job. That is the only way that work gets done.

A strength of my personal style has always been my ability to gather information and collect factual data. Concrete, indisputable data serves as justification for my response and feedback. Providing my factual details in my correspondence also allows the recipient(s) to review my sources and references to either accept my information or lead to further discussions on the topic at hand.

In Week 1 of the course, I began to add to my well-researched messages a couple of more personal touches that I believe have been effective with my readers. For example, I now open my emails with a brief, friendly greeting and a Plain English version of the main point I want to make. I usually sign my emails.

Enhance my day-to-day writing skills

My daily obligation to communicate with my superiors, coworkers, subordinates, and third party organizations affords me the chance to work on enhancing my day-to-day writing skills. Taking this course has really opened my eyes to conducting personal evaluations of my writing. For example, I’ve set up my work computer so that I can run my MS Word Spelling & Grammar checker before sending off important email messages. I may have scores that show I’m using more technical terminology than I used for in my illustrated business-style report, but I try to use shorter sentences now when I’m explaining highly technical processes. Here’s an example from a recent email:

Here’s how to identify Spam in your AOL account:

· If you haven’t already set up your computer to send suspected Spam messages to a special Spam folder, set it up now.

· When a Spam message appears in this folder, right-click the sender address.

· View the pull-down menu as shown below.

· At the bottom of the above menu will be “View Message Source.” (See below.)

· Here’s where you can make a decision about whether the message is really from a trusted source—or not.

Notice that I’m also making use of an illustration/screen shot to explain technical material. I find that I can save words and increase understanding by explicitly introducing and following up on illustrations I use.

The greatest opportunity to improve my writing skills that I have discovered, however, while in this course, is peer review. I don’t believe there is a better way to improve your writing skills than having another person review your work. This is commonly referred to as a having a “second pair of eyes” look at your writing. I now ask one or another of my co-workers, depending on the topic, to read a sensitive message if I’m not feeling confident about the tone of voice that might be coming through to the reader. Just getting one other person’s quick impression can make the difference between a reader taking what I’m saying in the way I intend it—or not!

Finally, our quick review of basic punctuation in Weeks 2 and 3 got me to thinking a little more clearly about such things as when to use a colon as opposed to a semicolon. In the past, I often used a semicolon to introduce a list, when a colon was what I needed.

Here’s an example from an early draft of my illustrated report:

Online backup

This is slightly more difficult, but still relatively simple; Create a Carbonite account, download and

install the client, select the folders you want to keep safe, wait for the backup to complete.

Here’s how I’d present this information today:

Online backup

Online backup is slightly more difficult than USB backup, but still relatively simple:

· Create a Carbonite account

· Download and install the client

· Select the folders you want to keep safe

· Wait for the backup to complete

Notice that I’d not only use a colon (rather than a semicolon) to introduce my list but that I’d bullet the steps in the process to make them easier to understand.

Applying more effort to verifying documents that I draft or produce is one goal that I constantly struggle with because once I have drafted an email or a document, I do not want to exert any more effort into checking the document for clarity, errors, etc. Often, I feel as though drafting the document has taken a lot of energy to accomplish and I have so much other work to do that I can’t afford to waste any time to review the information I wrote.

However, my supervisor reminds me from time to time when I make simple grammatical errors on administrative paperwork such as leave and overtime requests that I submit. These documents are already in template form; all I have to do is fill in the pertinent information that takes minimal amount of time. Making these repeated mistakes forces me to ask myself, “If I am making errors on simple documents, what errors am I making on larger, more important documents?” Our review of punctuation has increased my determination to take a second look at the correctness of even routine kinds of writing that I do.

Increase my ability to write meaningful and more direct correspondence

The analytical thinker within me has a tendency to ramble. Increasing my ability to write meaningful and more direct correspondence involves learning how to get to the point. Throughout the course, I learned that the bottom line up front (BLUF) method works really well against combatting the “ramble.” BLUF helps me to stay on topic and helps to provide a “blueprint” of the message I am preparing to draft.

I’ve discovered that this main point (Bottom Line) can be in a number of places, but that it definitely needs to be in a Subject Line and first paragraph. I believe this letter illustrates my new habit of including my main point or topic in at least these two places. I include the topic of my letter in a Subject slot (see above), and I include it again in my opening paragraph with the words “I would like to revisit each of those goals as a basis for my final learning letter.”

To further help readers access documents, I’ve begun to use a blueprint and have been trying to develop the habit of starting with a main point. Especially when conveying somewhat technical information, I’ve found that taking a minute or two to jot down the two or three main parts of it helps me to get myself organized. It seems to help my readers as well—I don’t seem to be getting as many replies with questions that suggest that my reader has read only my first paragraph or so! Using a blueprint (see above) has certainly helped me write this final letter without too much rambling.

Ultimately, I believe I’ve made some progress towards the three goals I set in Week 1 with the intention of becoming a more clear and readable workplace writer. I’ve gotten used to receiving advice from others and have become a little more confident in giving it to others. Just talking about writing in a specific, practical way has been helpful.

Sincerely,

Jacob Landless