Discussion Question - Technical Writing English class

 Part 1:

"Just the Facts, Ma’am" Please respond to the following:

• From the e-Activity, assess how well the news release follows the inverted triangle approach. Be sure to provide the date, title, and the company which released the news.
• Create a best practice to determine how many facts are essential when writing a summary for an informative report (see attachments for textbook chapter on informative reports).

 

Week 5 eActivity

• Go to the PR Newswire Website located here (https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/news-releases-list/). Click on “Specialty News” under “News Releases” to choose a recent news release pertaining to the category of “Science & Tech.” Be prepared to discuss.

  

Part 2: 

Pick a students post to make a substantive response to in at least 150 words that furthers the discussion. (Choose one)

A.)

From the e-Activity, assess how well the news release follows the inverted triangle approach. Be sure to provide the date, title, and the company which released the news.

The News Release from Nielsen followed the inverted triangle approach well.  The first sentence of the article summarizes the purpose and topic of the article.  The article is about the release of a two year study findings about the “Digitally Engaged Shopper”. The first paragraph provides more detail about the topic.  For example, the prediction that in five to seven years, most of the grocery shopping will transition to online.  Also, the first paragraph provides some specific spending figures.

The paragraphs in the middle of the article provide details about the study’s anticipated vs. the actual online grocery spending.  Additionally, it had a list of improvements for retailers and manufacturers to prepare for the changing trends and infrastructure.

At the end, the article lists section headings about the companies responsible for the study.   

This organization allows readers to skip to the sections that are of interest.  They don’t need to read the entire article if they are not interested in the details.

Reference

Nielsen.  (Jan 29, 2018). FMI and Nielsen Report: 70% of Consumers Will Be Grocery Shopping Online by 2024. Retrieved from: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/english-releases/fmi-and-nielsen-report-70-of-consumers-will-be-grocery-shopping-online-by-2024-300589495.html

Create a best practice to determine how many facts are essential when writing a summary for an informative report.

· The textbook suggests, to read the article twice, then cross out the information that does not relate directly to the main idea. This method can be used to eliminate the details that do not need to be listed in the summary.

· Include the article source and information in the first sentence.

· The first sentence should describe the article contents, or the theme of the article.

· Use present tense.

· Paraphrase carefully without copying the words exactly as in the source.

· The contents of the summary need to reflect the proportions of the article.   The summary should not summarize a portion, but the entire article.

 B.)

From the e-Activity, assess how well the news release follows the inverted triangle approach. Be sure to provide the date, title, and the company which released the news.

An article provided by PRNewswire on 01/29/2018 at 5:05 PM ET states that Ur-Energy Inc has acquisitioned a gold exploration project in west-central Nevada. The opening paragraph and remaining body does follow the inverted triangle approach. The opening paragraph includes the following:

1. Who –  Ur-Energy

2. What –  Acquisition of a gold exploration project

3. When – Today, 01/29/2018

4. Where – 2100 acres in west-central Nevada

5. Why – There is mining potential

They follow up the main details with the other important details. In this case that they became aware of the mineral deposits due to a geologic database that they acquired with the purchase of Pathfinder Mines Corp in2013. This database shows high grade gold and silver in the project location.

The new release finishes up with other information about the acquisitions, geological database findings, as well as the detailed information about the types of minerals and their quality found in the area.

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ur-energy-announces-new-gold-project-and-initial-sample-results-300589804.html

C.)

From the e-Activity, assess how well the news release follows the inverted triangle approach. Be sure to provide the date, title, and the company which released the news.

The news release I found is titled The Internet Crosses 4 Billion-user Mark and was released by We are Social on 01/29/2018. The inverted triangle approach includes answering the questions who, what, when, where, why, and how in that order as the article progresses. This news release answered all of those questions and utilized the triangle approach. The pattern for this release is as follows:

· Who - Hootesuite and We Are Social

· What - Digital in 2018 report

· When - 01/29/2018

· Where - the report is included in this new release

· Why - to reveal the influence of social media on the growth in the Internet user population

· How - by communicating the findings that support the premise that social media has had a huge impact on amount of users worldwide.

Create a best practice to determine how many facts are essential when writing a summary for an informative report.

A best practice to determine how many facts are essential when writing a summary for an informative report would be to choose only facts that pertain to the main topics that are in the report. The summary should be short and to the point. 

References:

· Smith-Worthington, Darlene. Technical Writing for Success, 3rd Edition. Cengage Learning, 2011. [Strayer University Bookshelf].

· https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/the-internet-crosses-4-billion-user-mark-300589817.html

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