You have worked intensely to improve your writing skills: What did you learn? How has your writing changed? Do you feel differently about writing? What were your favorite topics?
Simplifying writing for businesses and colleges since 1990
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Meet Dona,
Dona J. Young is a teacher, facilitator, and writing coach who believes that writing is a powerful learning tool that shapes our lives and careers. In addition to teaching professional writing online, she designs and facilitates corporate training programs on effective writing and communication.
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I learned many things from this class that will help me in future. I learned about constrictive feedback and how to control sentence structure. I learned that our writing should be clear and simple for other to understand it better. I learned about active voice and how important it is. Also, how to use parallel structure and how to build ideas effectively. I learned how to construct e-mail, memo, resume, cover letter, and letter of complaint. Also, how to communicate in business world and what kind of attitude you should approach with others. Yes, I do feel like my writing has improved than before. This class showed me what I have to improve on and how to make my writing better. I feel better about writing than I did before because this class guide me though writing. Some of my favorite topics were business letters, language patterns, using technology foe visual support, e-mail format and structure. This touch much more because I will be using this more for my career.
When I first signed up for this class, I didn’t know how to feel. I enjoy writing and APA, but I was still unsure as to how the class was going to go for myself. As the assignments progressed, I was surprised to learn and read topics that I did not expect to learn about in a professional writing class. I also did not expect to find such a connection between this class of professional writing and my social work classes. My social work classes helped in with completing the assignment and understanding the material by associating it with what I had learned through social worker. However, I could also see how this class could aid me in my future social work classes as well as my professional career of a social worker.
Before this class, I had never sent a fax. After reading the chapter on how to do a fax cover sheet and the process, the day after I sent my very first fax to the department of social work at IUN. I had put off sending the paperwork over due to I had a hard time finding time in my busy schedule to go to the office and hand over the paper. Learning how to do a fax helped greatly in finally submitting my paperwork.
I always dreaded the though of e-mailing as well. I never could figure out how to start my email and end it while sounding professional. Throughout the summer, I have had to send countless emails with my field supervisor concerning meeting and training for my internship. Learning how to send a professional email helped tremendously with this task.
My favorite topic has always been APA formatting. However, I enjoyed learning how to do a memo, letter of complaint, positive/negative feedback, and a cover letter as well. Previously, I have never done these before so I therefore found it extremely beneficial to learn how to do these.
I have to say that the chapter on cultural sensitivity was my favorite. This isn’t a topic I expected to learn about in a professional writing class, but as a future social worker I was ecstatic to see this was included. It’s such an important topic!
Overall, my writing has changed! I’m more knowledgeable about how to do different forms of writing and I feel more confident in doing so. What I have learned from this class I will definitely carry on in my future career.
This class has sharpened my writing skills immensely. It has brought to my attention why things “don’t look right” sometimes when I write. I have learned the importance of composing first- then you return to your writings to edit. Many of us try to write and edit in sync, which causes a writer’s block. Learning how to give constructive feedback is also a skill of mine that has improved. This I will carry into my everyday relationships and help strengthen them. My writing abilities have improved and well as my confidence with this subject. I actually enjoyed this class and highly recommend it to others; the online version was enjoyable. Thank you Professor Young.
I’ve learned a lot throughout this course, the main thing to takeaway was APA formatting. I’ve never had to deal with it before and I know I’ll be using it for practically the rest of my life. I think my writing has gotten better from all the lessons and activities I’ve done. I do feel more confident about my writing. I always thought I wasn’t very good and my papers were all over the place. I know the steps to writing a good paper and also constructing a great sentence. My favorite topics were grammar lessons, mainly the semicolons and colons. I haven’t done those types of exercises for years and it was nice to get back in touch.
Before taking this class, I was honestly dreading it. I expected to be turning in a paper every week, staying up late doing research, and having the rest of my summer taken away. After the first two weeks went by I realized that this class wasn’t about writing papers and research, it was actually about learning how to write. To my surprise, my confidence in writing has boosted after the course of this class. Dona gave constructive feedback every time there was room for improvement and helped me become a better writer each week. I know where my consistent errors are in writing, so I now know what to look for when do have to write papers. I didn’t feel overwhelmed in each topic, because there was always enough information from the book to help me understand any questions I had. This class was very enjoyable and helped improve my writing and formatting skills tremendously! Since I put in the work, I saw the results and I couldn’t be happier! My favorite topic was probably the complaint letter, just because it was a fun assignment and I liked the lessons it covered that week. My writing skills are nowhere near perfect, but I have a better understanding of what is expected of me in the future.
This class has taught me a bunch of useful things that I am able to use in the future. We learned how to properly write a business letter, resume, cover letter, thank you letter, and memo’s. It’s all things we will be doing for our future careers. Not only did we learn about documents like the ones I just listed, but we learned about all sorts of different punctuation rules. We all have learned the basics of punctuation throughout elementary, middle, and high school, but I feel like it’s something that we forget about after a while. It was great re-learning the rules, and even learning some new ones. I feel differently about my writing after taking this class. I feel more confident when I’m writing any sort of document. I’ve always had punctuation problems in the past, and I can tell that this class has helped me overcome some of my problems. My favorite was probably the grammar/punctuation forums we did. I feel like reading the chapter and seeing the examples made me understand it more. Professor Young also required us to make up at least four of our own examples. I didn’t mind doing that at all because it helped me practice my punctuation. It makes me happy that I actually learned useful things in this class that benefits me and my future career. I really enjoyed my first online course, and I recommend it to anyone who has to take a Professional Writing class.
I was terrified of taking this class, and dreaded the assignments. Looking back, I had nothing to fear. I learned the difference between constructive feedback and evaluations; I didn’t understand the difference before taking this class. I also learned how to communicate in the business world, and how words and terms can be misunderstood. I never expected to learn about cultural communication and how it effects your correspondence. This class has definitely improved my writing skills, and I will be more aware of how my tone and attitude comes across when writing.
I have gained a lot from this class this semester. Many of the assignments are things that will we be used in the professional world. My favorite assignment would have to be writing a resume. A resume is you on paper and is the first step to getting into the professional world. The most interesting topic that I read about was about feedback. Feedback is not only required in the professional world but also in everyone’s daily lives. When it comes to writing I do enjoy putting my thoughts down on paper, but editing and using correct punctuation continues to be a struggle for me. Editing is something that I will have to continue to work on will continuing my education.
I have learned quite a bit from this class. The most important thing I have learned is how to address messages that sound professional. I also learned how to professional address any problem or situation I may need to write about. I also learned more about APA style. My writing skills have definitely improved since the start of this class. I am more confident and more professional. I do feel differently about writing. Before I would cringe at the sound of a paper but know I feel like its just busy work I’ll have to do. As bad as that sounds, it really just means that I have become comfortable with the idea of writing. My favorite topics were the topics I could use in my professional future. Cover letters, resumes, and thank you letters among others will help me advance and come off as a professional. I really value what this class has taught me.
I can say that I was not thrilled about taking this class and have always tried to avoid writing classes. At the end of this class, I can honestly say that I truly enjoyed this class. I have learned so much from this class.
The most important item learned is a friendlier, softer email. I have been practicing in my daily emails at work to write a more softened email that is concise and without tone. I am also making the habit of saving my email as draft and going back about a half hour to an hour later and editing it before I send the email. Now, I always make sure to have a greeting and a closing in my email.
My other favorite topic was punctuation. I love that I have learned the proper way to use a semi-colon. I try to use a semi-colon in my writings now and notice how it brings a little more attention to the sentence.
I am not as fearful of writing now.
In this semester I have learned a lot and I actually enjoyed it! My favorite topic was communication and writing process, office communication and culture sensitivity. In office communication I learned that correct way to send and format email memo’s and letters, which I use at work on a daily bases. I fell like I can accomplish a professional writing. With communication and writing process I was taught how to structure my writings. I can identify my purpose and consider my audience. It give the correct format in the setting of the paper which I am still working on. Culture Sensitivity really open my about the different culture , how to set aside what I think is normal and consider there beliefs and culture. It also taught me that you body lauguage is important and so is communication. I’m still working on all the areas until I can master it. This class has made me less fearful of writing.
Before taking this class, I was so worried about how much writing I will be doing, how many papers I will be writing, and the level of writing is expected from me. I never liked writing; I always felt forced to do it. I have gained a lot of knowledge from the weekly readings from how to be concise when writing business document, to how to give feedbacks, to the proper way to send e-mails, to different types of communications.
I was pleased about getting the chance to review information and grammar rules that I always had hard time with. In other English classes I was assigned papers to write throughout the semester without any reinforcement of past knowledge or guidance.
The assignments were arranged in a unique way by covering different types of information from basics such as punctuation to complicated at least for me as developing a resume or a cover letter.
I actually feel much different about writing. It don’t feel as pressured as I used to feel. I think our weekly posting were so helpful because I was writing what I understood from the assigned reading and compared it with other teammates. Reading other posting made me realize how we all interpret things in a unique way.
Believe it or not, one of my favorite topics was punctuation. Having English as my fourth language, I always found punctuation challenging. Now I feel little more confident and I’m still working on improving my writing skill especially with the use of semi-colons that I never used before taking this class.
I always enjoyed writing but I have to admit that I was worried about this class. I was concerned with the fast pace and that I would not be able to keep up. Also, I thought we were going to have tons of papers to write. I really liked that each assignment we had was something I feel we will use in the future. I learned so much from this class.
I can say that I am more confident in my writing. I always struggled with grammar and punctuation but the assignments we had to do helped me. The most important thing I learned is how to write professionally. This makes a big difference in the way someone interprets your document. I have always written emails but now I can say I know how to write a professional one. I learned the importance of formatting. When you format your paper it catches the eye of the reader.
I also enjoyed our writing assignments. My favorite were the thank you letter, cover letter, and the letter of complaint. I really think the cover letter makes your resume stand out from the rest. It gives your resume a more professional look. The thank you letter and letter of complaint where fun to write.
I really enjoyed this semester. I wish everyone the best of luck next semester.
Writing can be difficult at times. It is an expression of one that may reflect differently to another. Gender, generation, and culture all play a role in how we write and how we interpret. Making a message from an “I” point of view to a “you” point of view can make a difference. These are things that sometimes get missed in our fast paced society.
This semester has given me the good foundation to build on. Keeping the flow of information, proper punctuation, and updating word usage are all key points that stood out. Learning to write then edit is still a big issue, as well as cutting out extra wording.
All the information I received this semester was very helpful. My favorite topics included feedback and cultural communication. Both involve the relationships we have with others and the harm it can cause when overlooked. Although the technical side of writing is very important, I enjoyed learning about the effects of wording. I would must rather make an error on punctuation than to have my message offend or harm another.
Writing is still a challenge for me but I will continue to learn and do my best. The information I want to share is in my head; lost at the fingers. I appreciate all the positive feedback I received from our professor and well as my team. I will continue to learn and grow, eventually becoming a proficient writer.
I have always loved expressive writing. Business and professional writing is all new to me. I found this class and the book to be extremely informative and useful. From how to use a semi-colon to cultural sensitivity, this class covered it all. Being that it was summer and this class was fast forward, it was a LOT of information very quickly. I have already revamped my resume, written emails in a professional manner, and focused once again on cultural sensitivity. I only wish I had taken this class sooner!