I have graded all of the Writing Guides for the Workplace. In this post, I am providing details on how you all did on the projects so that you know what you can work on to improve in your next project.

Overall Feedback for the Class

• Basic requirements met by all teams: Every writing group had a guide that fulfilled the minimum requirements for the assignment. There was an introduction, discussion of the necessary number of kinds of writing, and a conclusion. Many, but not all, included professional bios for the writers at some point in the document. Most incorporated graphics into the design and layout appropriately.
• Cohesive, unified content and design in the best work: The best writing guides had a strong, unified first appearance. It was clear that all of the information belonged together in a single document. Deeper examination showed that the content matched in length and detail as well, contributing to an overall polished, professional document. In guides that struggled with this quality, the layout and headings did not always match from one kind of writing to the next, and the content for the different kinds of writing showed different amounts of detail and effort.
• Underdeveloped sections: In some cases, the information in the text was the bare minimum, showing little work or effort on the part of the group. It appeared to be little more than a reformatted version of the information that was included in the Analysis Tables. After a month to work on the project, guides should have had much more detail.
• Ineffective design choice: The most common design error was an overuse of centered text for the content of the guide. In terms of design, remember that the best design for text is flush left, ragged right. Centered text is harder to read. More details are on the Ten Ways to Improve Your Writing page on the course website.

Grade Strategy

I have graded all of the Proposal for Writing Guide Group Project. In this post, I am providing details on how you all did and what you can do if you are not happy with your grade. Please read the information carefully and note the related dates.

Overall Feedback for the Class

• Basic details clear for most teams: Most of you included a list of kinds of writing with a short description, who would be responsible for investigating it, and the format you will use for publishing. All the plans will work in terms of these details, and I’m eager to see what you come up with..
• Not in proposal format: The assignment was to create a polished proposal, similar to the proposal you might write in the workplace for a project. In some cases, teams included planning information that would not typically be included in a final draft, or copied over the assignment and used it as a Q&A template. The readings from the 2/27 post (titled Group Guide Proposal Overview) included examples of what a proposal looks like.
• Underdeveloped sections: In some cases, the information in the text was the bare minimum, providing only general information and/or few details. Ideally, the proposal should think through more of the issues and provide enough information for the reader to fully understand the project that is proposed.
• Unclear formatting choices: The significance or underlying purpose of the formatting choices for some proposals was hard to understand. For instance, there could be a section of text that was underlined or in a red font, but I didn’t know what I was supposed to know about the content because of the formatting choice. For instance, if you are looking at a financial document and some of the numbers are in red, you know that the numbers indicate a loss or debt. I couldn’t figure out what these choices meant.

Writing Group Revision Dates

Revision Activities for the Proposals

I have created a new assignment so that those groups that want to put in additional work can improve their grade on the project. You can revise and submit to this Revised Assignment. This revision opportunity is your last chance to improve your work. There will not be a second round of revisions.

If you earned an A or are satisfied with the grade you earned, do nothing. Otherwise, follow the guidelines below to resubmit your work.

1. If I made a mistake
   Send me an email message or a private message on Slack with the details. I’ll fix it.
2. If your proposal had any of the issues listed above
   Revise your proposal as a group to improve your work, adding whatever is missing or tweaking the design. Upload the revision by the date in the table above, and I will regrade your work.
3. If something else is going on
   Send me an email message or a private message on Slack with the details. I’ll see what I can do to help you.

Grading Revisions

If you complete the revision: Because of the way Canvas works, I will exempt your original proposal grade. The revision grade will take the place of original proposal grade.

If your group does not choose to revise: I will exempt this revision assignment.

For exempted assignment: You will see an EX in the gradebook. The exempted assignment is like a dropped grade. It won’t figure into the final course grade.

I have graded all of the Analysis of Writing in Your Field Assignments. In this post, I am providing details on how you all did and what you can do if you are not happy with your grade. Please read the information carefully and note the related dates.

Overall Feedback for the Class

• Complete tables for most students: Most of you did a good job following the instructions in the assignment by including all of the required information. I hope that the self-assessment for the project served as a checksheet to make sure you had everything you needed.
• Not much creativity in content or design: Most of you went the safe and easy route, matching your information and table to the examples. I didn’t see any risktaking in the content, though some of you did do a very nice job in designing the table with colors and other features that made them easy to navigate.
• Missing project self-assessments: The most frequent error in the submissions was failure to include the self-assessment sheet for the project, which included 10 points for self-reflection. The error was frequent enough that I made a shortcut so I didn’t have to type it out each time. The self-assessment was explained in Step 5 on the Assignment page.
• Centered text: The second most frequent error was use of centered text for the contents of the columns. In terms of design, remember that the best design for text is flush left, ragged right. Centered text is harder to read. Centered headings are okay, but the entire document should not be centered. More details are on the Ten Ways to Improve Your Writing page on the course website.
• Putting in full effort: In a few cases, tables showed a minimum of effort. The columns included obvious or general information that provided little information about the kinds of writing. For example, in the ethics column, some wrote simply that the document “should be professional.” That should go without saying really. All writing in the workplace should be professional. In these cases, I would like to see more evidence of critical thinking and research into the topics.

Revision Activities for the Analysis Project

I have reopened the assignment so that those of you who want to put in additional work can improve your grade on the project. This revision opportunity is your last chance to improve your work. There will not be a second round of revisions.

If you earned an A or are satisfied with the grade you earned, do nothing. Otherwise, follow the guidelines below to resubmit your work.

1. If I made a mistake
   Send me an email message or a private message on Slack with the details. I’ll fix it.
2. If you forgot the project self-assessment
   Go back to Step 5 on the Assignment page, and follow the instructions. Upload the self-assessment by the date in the table below, and I will regrade your work.
3. If there were problems with the content or design of your table (like centered text or missing information)
   Revise your table to improve your work, adding whatever is missing or tweaking the design. Upload the self-assessment by the date in the table below, and I will regrade your work.
4. If you did not submit your work at all
   Do so by by the date in the table below. You will lose a full letter grade for missing both the due date and the end of the grace period.
5. If your grade was lowered because you submitted your work after the grace period ended
   You can revise your project to improve other aspects; however, you cannot recoup the points that you lost by submitting your work after the grace period ended.
6. If something else is going on
   Send me an email message or a private message on Slack with the details. I’ll see what I can do to help you.

Writing Group Revision Dates

Credits: Infographic was created on canva.com. Star icon from The Noun Project, used under a CC-BY 3.0 license: rating by Guilhem. Burruss Hall by joepyrek on Flickr, used under a CC-BY-SA 2.0 license.