English 2210-003 Professional and Technical Communication

Date: December 9th,2022

To: Dr. Lisa Meyers
From: Alissa Wiwi
Subject: Reflective Memo for the Final Portfolio

I am writing this memo as a means to reflect upon the rhetorical choices made throughout the
three sequences within this course and the Student Learning Outcomes for ENGL 2210:
Professional and Technical Communication.

The ‘Project Planning’ outcome states that the student participates in “planning, researching, and
composing technical documents (as a lifecycle process) in teams and individually”. This
outcome is demonstrated the Formal Report. There were several different aspects of research that
went into the report. In the ‘Methodology’ section, details how exactly research was conducted
was conducted and what areas I focused in are discussed. Furthermore, I enlisted the help of a
current college student to better understand the issue at a population known to experience food
insecurity within my reach. The student and I conducted research within the dining hall to get her
firsthand experience. In this report, I utilized both individual and collective forms of research to
make recommendations.

The ‘Project Analysis’ outcome reflects upon the student’s ability to identify “a document’s
readers and a document’s context relative to practices of composing for specific global, diverse,
and multicultural audiences. Understanding how technical documents occupy and respond to
social justice and community service contexts”. This is evidenced in the Postmortem PowerPoint
Report. In this presentation, we identified what the problem of social significance was and how
that may make our audience feel. Specifically, we focused on the Mr. Clean advertisement that
inadvertently made suggestions about women in relation to sexism and social rights. From a
company standpoint, we wanted to make changes that would appease and show our audience we
cared. Issuing an apology required us to recognize our audiences wants and understand the
importance that a formal apology can play in a social aspect.

The ‘Content Development’ outcome states that the student understands “how genre conventions
impact writing”. I feel that this outcome was demonstrated in both the video and written
instructions. Specifically, in the written instructions, we have formatted the information in easy-
to-follow steps that utilize command voice, as well and as an introduction and conclusion to state
the purpose and address the audience. The same steps are present within the video and clearly
state those steps but give way for the viewer to pause and follow along, as would be expected
with the format of any video instructions. Without the necessary conventions and general
sentence structure, it would have been possible for our instructions to be difficult to follow or
even incorrect in nature. Using the correct conventions in both types of instructions allowed for
our audience needs to be met with accuracy and clarity.

The ‘Organizational Design’ learning outcome states, “Practicing strong research skills with
primary and secondary sources to generate appropriate content. Generating strong research
questions and developing clear research practices”. This outcome was demonstrated in my
formal report regarding food insecurity in New Mexico. In both my list of references and in my
discussion throughout the report, I utilized both primary and secondary sources as research for
my topic within my report. Specifically, I found research articles done by a variety of researchers
and their observations on different factors and their relation to food insecurity. My secondary
source was input from a student at UNM and her experience with types of food and information
in the dining halls.  Using both types of sources allowed me to research and make
recommendations that would be appropriate as to the ways in which we can address food
insecurity for New Mexico as a whole but also for a community directly within our reach.

The ’Written Communication’ outcome states, “Composing clear, stylistically responsible prose
that avoids error and pays attention to audience needs”. In our written instructions this outcome
is demonstrated as we have numbered steps that use command voice, but the steps are written in
a format appropriate for our audience. Our audience, anyone looking for a snack, primarily kids
and their parents, can easily follow along and never question what certain words may mean.
Every step is explained in the most clear and simple way possible. In our video, the same is true
but additionally our video has visual aids with writing inside. In doing this, it catches the
attention of the viewer and makes them listen for the audio recorded step that follows in the
coming seconds.

The ‘Visual Communication’ outcome states, “Using visual design principles to develop
audience-friendly data displays”. This is clearly demonstrated in both the written and video
instructions. The written instructions have bold lettering for the title, an original picture of the
sandwich, red lettering for our warning, and numbered steps. The video instructions include
several visuals, as you can clearly see someone from above making the sandwich itself. The
video instructions provide a general image as to what the product should look like and step by
step images of how to reach that point. In having so many visual elements, its aides the audience
and helps to clarify any trouble they may potentially have while attempting to make a peanut
butter and jelly sandwich, especially since our instructions serve to guide young audience
members like children through the process.

The ’Reviewing and Editing’ outcome implies across various “media and contexts, ensuring final
clear style, user-centered writing, and error-free spelling and mechanics”. One area within my
portfolio, although is applicable across a range is the Postmortem PowerPoint report. On the
recommendations slide of the report, our group had originally said, “to appease the community,
the CEO”. As we were reading through all of the slides, we determined that from a consumer
standpoint, this statement more than likely would not have come across in a positive manner and
that the company was only taking the complaints because of a loss of money. To bring our focus
back to seriousness of the situation we changed the phrasing “To rectify” to better address the
audience with an attitude seeking forgiveness. Without this change as a result of editing, the
response from an audience would have likely been worse as opposed to this small change in
phrasing.

The ‘Content Management’ outcome states that the student gains “knowledge of the organization
and management of digital and textual information and learning the basics of information from
architecture, web content management, and social networking”. This idea can be seen within one
of our first assignments. The fable memo is reference to the understanding of software. Prior to
this assignment I had never written a memo and was learning all of the different format elements.
The memo follows general format with the correct margins and spacing alongside other digital
information which further shows my ability to format a document without the use of a template.

The ‘Production and Delivery’ outcome describes that the student is capable of “developing
skills in presenting information in multiple modes and in various media: web, paper, oral, and
video. Applying delivery skills to emerging technologies”. An excellent representation to this
outcome is the video instructions. These instructions not only include visual elements like the
step number that appears across the screen at the beginning of each step but also having someone
orally talk through the steps as a way to help guide the viewer through the process. Having both
visual and oral elements to this assignment helps to better meet the needs of an audience.

To further reflect upon my progress in writing, I believe that my strongest piece of work is my
written instructions. The written instructions include all necessary components such as a title,
introduction with purpose, materials, a warning, notes, simple steps all written in command
voice, and even a concluding statement with congratulations. My group and I analyzed our
audience to better understand their needs and how we could design instructions that would
accommodate them accordingly. We included a variety of different visual elements that were not
only visually appealing but helped separate the elements of the document that would
chronologically make sense and be easy to follow. Additionally, it’s important to note that out of
all of the sequences and assignments, I believe that the Formal Report is my weakest assignment.
The report itself has all the necessary components present, and I researched my topic in great
detail. I already had previous knowledge of the topic beforehand and with additional research,
there was the possibility that several different elements discussed within the formal report could
become muddled together. Even with this in mind, I enjoyed the research and writing process for
this report.

To conclude, as the semester and the number of topics we cover has progressed, there are several
takeaways I have from this course. Firstly, this course has exposed me to several different types
of professional documents that I previously had no experience with. Not only in understanding
these document’s purpose but also in writing a version of these documents. Prior to this class, I
had never written a memorandum or a refined resume. This is helpful in not only career aspects
but for school purposes as well. While I have had previous experience writing emails to
instructors and professors, information taught in this class helped me reinforce several of those
ideas and better communicate with those around me. As a whole, this course in beneficial to
students not only academically but what for comes to follow as well.

If you have any further questions or comments regarding the content discussed in this memo,
please contact me at (505)515-1234 or by email at awiwi02@unm.edu