Midterm Reflection

1. ENC 3250 PROFESSIONAL
WRITING: MIDTERM
REFLECTION
BY: ALESHA TACKETT
10/09/2015

2. CHAPTER ONE: THE WRITING PROCESS
In this chapter I learned the 5 steps of the writing
process which include:
• Preparation
• Research
• Organization
• Writing
• Revising
• When preparing for your writing I learned that you
need to find the purpose of your writing. When doing
your research you need to find credible sources to
back up your claim. When organizing you need to
think about the design, layout, and the format. The
writing step is your rough draft. Revising is when you
check over all your work, correct any mistakes, and
also make sure your work is clear to the reader.

3. CHAPTER ONE: THE WRITING PROCESS
AUDIENCE
• In this chapter I learned a lot about the audience and how you
always have to consider their needs and wants. You always
want to ask questions to yourself before beginning your
writing. For example: who your readers are, who is going to be
reviewing your document, what is your reader expecting, and
also knowing information about your reader can help you a lot.
According to our text book you have to determine the readers’
needs relative to your purpose and goals by asking key
questions during preparation (Alred, Brusaw, & Oliu, 2012).

4. CHAPTER ONE: THE WRITING PROCESS
To learn how to incorporate the 5 steps of the
writing process I had to write an analysis
assignment that revolved around purpose and
audience. I had to analyze their purpose for
the video that was made and if it was an
efficient way to relay the information to the
passengers. This learning matters because in
anything we write we have to know our
purpose and think about how our audience is
going to take our information. This will help
me all throughout my life to write clearer and
more organized. The goals I am going to set is
to check everytime I write something that it

5. CHAPTER 2: WORKPLACE
TECHNOLOGY
In this chapter I learned about adapting to technologies,
tips about emailing, tips to instant messaging, selecting
the type of medium most appropriate, and
communicating properly on the internet.
In order to adapt and learn about new technology you
have to experiment using it on your own. Our text book
uses the word “play” with the technology until you
become familiar with it. If you cannot figure it out on
your own our textbook suggests many different options
for help which include:
• Help Manuals
• Online Tutorials
• Internet Searches

6. CHAPTER 2: WORKPLACE TECHNOLOGY
In order to incorporate this into my assignment I learned
to choose the correct type of style to deliver my message.
Learning to use different types of technology is key when
wanting to deliver blogs, forums, emails, and any type of
communication. If you do not know how to use
technology how are you going to communicate efficiently
to your audience and readers. This will help me with
writing papers, emailing people with higher authority, and
also to become a better communicator.

7. CHAPTER 4: CORRESPONDENCE
In this chapter I learned the process of
writing business messages. You have to
know when you can be formal versus when
you can be informal. It all depends on your
audience and your relationship with that
person. I learned about the style of the
business messages which is you have your
opening, the goodwill, and the closing. In the
opening you have to make sure you identify
the subject and the purpose for your
message. In the goodwill you need to write
clearly for the reader to understand. In the
closing you have to let the reader know what

8. CHAPTER 4: CORRESPONDENCE
• I learned to do correspondence by rewriting a complaint letter
that was written in total sarcasm. I had to be careful with my
word choice, and the way I portrayed my tone to be. The tone
of voice has to come off as honest, sincere, and committed.
This matters because if you come off as disrespectful the
reader might not reply or will also come off as disrespectful
towards you. Learning to use the appropriate tone of voice
comes in handy in every environment, especially when it comes
to family, school and work.

9. CHAPTER 10: STYLE & CLARITY
In this chapter I learned to devolving my writing in a way
to make it clear to my reader what is going on. All my idea
need to be related and make sense together not just a
bunch of jumbled up words. A key thing I had to watch for
in this section was my word choices. The choice of words
chosen shows how important it is not to use biased
language, how important it is to know business writing,
and lastly to know about the “you” viewpoint. Another key
thing I learned was to avoid biased and sexist language
because it can be offensive to the reader.

10. CHAPTER 10: STYLE & CLARITY
I learned to use style and clarity in my
writing by doing a practice draft proposal
memo. This matters because in the
professional world you are always going
to be writing people with higher authority
of you and if it does not sound
professional they are not going to want to
look at you if there's a candidate with
highly business communication skills.

11. · CHAPTER 7: DESIGN & VISUALS
In this chapter I learned the importance of
appearance. No matter if it is the font style, color,
background, charts, tables, anything, it all has to
match and be laid out in a certain way for it to
look nice and professional. You want to catch your
readers attention, not make them lost. You have
to grasp an understanding for the design
principles.

12. · CHAPTER 7: DESIGN & VISUALS
In order to learn and practice with this concept I
had to make my own PowerPoint or type of
presentation and also had to judge another
websites design layout. If the reader is confused
with how you have everything placed or even
there is too much stuff bundled together the
reader will get bored and will not have the
attention span to continue looking at your
website. This helps for the future when you have
to make advertisements, commercials, flyers, etc.

13. WORKS CITED
Alred, Gerald J., Charles T. Brusaw, and Walter E. Oliu. The Business
Writer's Handbook. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2012. Print.