Checking Your Project 2 Draft (3/19)

Because I will be at a convention in Indianapolis, class is working online Wednesday, 3/19, and Friday, 3/21. Office hours are canceled for this week.

For Wednesday, March 19, you will focus on assessing your work on Project 2 and planning your revision strategies. You have been working on your second project for a month now, so you should have a very complete draft by this point. For Wednesday’s session, your task is to review the information for this assignment and then apply the Writer’s Checklist to your draft. Here are the step-by-step instructions:

  1. Review Chapter 14 of Markel (“Writing Definitions, Descriptions, and Instructions”).
  2. Go through the slideshows on Writing Definitions, on Writing Descriptions, and on Writing Instructions.
  3. Make sure that the images you have chosen fit the guidelines for choosing graphics that we discussed in class. See Chapter 8 (“Creating Graphics”) of Markel if you need any additional information. Remember that screenshots are okay, but they should be properly sized and cropped to eliminate any unrelated information.
  4. Complete the online Writer’s Checklist from Chapter 14 of Markel.
    1. Log into your vt.edu Google to get to the form.
    2. Answer the questions honestly. The goal is not to check “yes” for every question. It is to answer honestly and use what you find out to improve your draft. You get credit for completely the checklist regardless of whether you answer yes, no, or other.
    3. Make sure that you click the checkbox at the end labeled “Send me a copy of my responses,” so that you have a backup and so that you can use the information to guide your revision.
  5. Check your vt.edu email for the copy of your responses, and address any of the questions that you answered “no” to. Revise your draft so that you could answer “yes” to all the questions.

Getting Help

I will be in sessions and presenting on Wednesday, March 19, so I may not see any questions you have about this activity until late in the evening. Email me if you have a question, and I will respond when I can. Generally though, just do your best work. Consult the page indicated in the textbook for more information if you are unsure of anything, and use the text space at the end to tell me anything else I should know about how the checklist applied to your work.