This semester, we covered diverse topics from punctuation and formatting to team building and getting a job. You learned how to produce letters, memos, and e-mail. What were your favorite topics? How have your skills and thinking changed? In short, what did you learn and how are you using it?
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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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My favorite topic was learning how to properly format memos and e-mails in a work environment. Before this class I didn’t know how to format any type of letter, memo or even an e-mail. Now I have applied the formatting in all the topics we’ve learned, especially in e-mails. I taught the proper formatting to my bosses and they have made a memo on how to properly write e-mails and letters to other companies. Overall, this class taught me more then I thought it would and I have been applying it to every aspect of my life thus far.
My favorite topic in this class was learning how to correctly write APA style papers. I enjoyed researching and formatting the paper to sound very professional.
My skills and thinking have changed after taking this class. I learned a lot about different writing rules and am less likely to make mistakes in my writing than before. This class has also changed my thinking. I am more likely to review my punctuation, word usage, and sentence structures. Before writing anything, I always think “less is more” because I don’t want anything I write to sound wordy. I want my writing to be easy to read and understood by anyone.
Overall, this was a great class and a wonderful learning experience. Professionalism is important in any career or everyday assignment in order to sound credible. Therefore, I will take the skills and concepts I learned into any writing I do in the future.
My favorite topic was Culture and Diversity. We experience or see situations that involves multiple cultures and diversity. On top of that, we are all different in age, character, and belief. We need to be open minded and need to know how to build relationship through communication with others. And I believe we’ve learnt how to communicate and give feedbacks effectively.
I think my writing skill has gotten better. I still need to work on details such as commas and wordings. I try to edit even on social media posts to make them simple and clear.
Hello everyone,
My favorite topics this semester were commas, semicolons, and formatting letters and e-mails. I liked the commas and semicolons because they are subjects that I feel I have improved on a lot. Before taking this class, I felt like I was good at using commas and semicolons. After taking the class, I now know I needed to improve because I was using them wrong sometimes. Learning how to format better was also one of my favorite things because I have always struggled with formatting papers, letters, and e-mails. It feels good to know that I am now formatting right and can send out a good business letter or paper.
My thinking has changed a lot after taking this class. Before I learned the skills from this class, I was not very confident in my writing. I now think of writing that is something that is not that hard. My skills have become a lot better and they will continue to get better because I am going to keep trying to improve.
I hope everyone in the class has improved on at least one thing like I have. I also hope that everyone keeps using these skills in the future.
Best regards,
Tatyana Zambrana
My favorite topics were the letters and memos. It really helped me to have so much practice with professional business letters. I’ve used the skills I’ve learned regarding letters, memos, and email in my current job at the library. When requesting interviews for promotions within the library system, I use the best email skills I can. Additionally, when they require a written request for interview, I include a professional letter, signed and formatted perfectly.
My skills have changed slightly, and I think my thinking has changed drastically. Initially, I thought I knew a lot about formatting and professional writing. My mom is the head of a national non-profit organization, and throughout my life she has taught me tips about writing professionally. I thought her pointers gave me an advantage over others. This class has taught me more than anything, that there are always ways to improve my writing.
My current growing edges are mainly in the realm of punctuation. I hadn’t really studied punctuation since high school, and even at that point I thought I already knew everything there was to know. I want to perfect my punctuation, and be sure to check and double check in my editing.
Thank you for such a good, challenging semester!
Courtney
The reason I enjoyed to course so much was the applicability of the content. That being said, my favorite topics were resume and email creation. I believe these two documents are arguably the most important taught in the course.
My thinking changed most after learning about active voice. This concept helped streamline my writing and make my message more clear. This has also transcended to my real-life work communications. Doing so, I have enabled my communications to become more professional and efficient.
Though this course was requirement for my major, I am glad I took it. Professor Young exposes us to different types of documents that we should master on our professional journey. In short, the skills taught are invaluable to professional communications.
Hi Everyone,
This semester I learned many new things. My favorite topic was e-mails and letters. I am happy to finally understand the right way to write a e-mail. I have been practicing writing e-mails to all my teachers. My formatting and grammar skills have improved so much taking this class. I will be keeping my books to use as a resource for anytime in the future.
I hope everyone enjoyed this semester like I did!
Jordan Szorc
Hello everyone,
My favorite topic was Office Communications. Chapter 4 in our Professional Writing book walked us through proper formatting for E-Mail, which is something that has been a great benefit for me at work. I have been able to improve my skills when writing an e-mail. Knowing now that less is better, my e-mails are much clearer and professional . Overall, this class helped me improve my writing skills although I know I need to continue to work on it.
All the best,
Josie Esparza
I have a few topics that I enjoyed this semester, but one of them was Cultural Sensitivity. This chapter made me realize why it is sometimes difficult to understand where my grandmother is coming from with some things that she talks about, likewise when I tell her things sometimes I must explain what I am talking about more in-depth than I would if I were talking to someone my age. I feel it is important that I always remember that older people have lived through things that I did not have to so they may have different viewpoints on certain topics that I may not agree with.
This class has helped me improve my writing skill immensely. I feel as if what I learned about punctuation will stick with me more than anything considering I am still in college and I am required to write for every class I am taking. It’s so easy to write a good paper but it’s easier to lose points due to punctuation. I will continue to work on my punctuation in any and all written works that I produce.
Hello Class,
I really enjoyed working on the information that will be required of me in a future job choice. I liked working on my resume and cover letters. I enjoyed learning that you can write a thank you letter for having an interview with someone. I like being able to understand a little bit more about business type letters.
The favorite thing I learned is how to format e-mails to make them quick and easy to understand. I am very cautious about my spacing and I always make sure to address the person I am sending it to and also close with a respectable closure.
I have changed a lot of my comma rule usage, however, I know that I do still struggle with this. Hopefully over the summer I can sit down and really read the comma rules and let them really sink in. I have also changed the way I start out my letters I make it an effort to appeal to the ‘you’ that I am writing to in my letters or e-mails.
I have changed my thinking on what I am writing by putting some more meaning behind what I am saying. I try to make sure that I edit and often leave my work and come back to it to make sure I am seeing what I need to change. I am trying to be more professional to anyone I am writing an e-mail so that I can find myself in a pattern of the right way to write an e-mail. I enjoyed this class I had a big take away. I am happy that I was able to take this class. I hope that all of us as students are able to see at least a small change in the way we are writing. Have a great break everyone.
Best of luck,
Rachel Ewart
One of the main themes that I found so helpful in this course was just how well every topic could be applied. Many times I find myself trying to find what use the material would be of when applied to everyday situations, I did not have to look hard in this class.
I have not found myself making any massive changes to my writing, but many smaller ones. Rather it be spacing once instead of twice after a period, checking the formatting of documents multiple times before starting or writing an e-mail in an appropriate fashion.
Overall the course was incredibly helpful and the discussion between students really helped me retain the material. I have already began applying multiple concepts that we covered into my everyday life!
Hello Professor Young,
This course was very helpful in my career journey. You have taught us a variety of principles and skills that I know I will be putting to use in the future. Some of my favorite topics include: formatting business letters, writing follow-up letters, and learning the proper use of semicolons.
I have noticed since learning these skills that my writing has improved not only in this class, but in my others. I realized that there are always ways to improve yourself and practicing is a big part of self-growth. I learned that procrastination is laziness and you will feel better about things if you take your time with them.
I think I will continue to proof read my writings and to double check my grammar. If I think something is “perfect”, I should go over it again because more than likely I will notice an error the next time around. I’m happy with all the feedback from the discussion postings because it gave me an insight to other perspectives.
All the best,
Jessica Vasquez
Hi Professor Young,
I have learned a lot this semester. We have gone over so much and I believe that it will help me for my future. Like I have said multiple times, I have never written a resume or cover letter. These two things were very important to practice. You gave us good feedback that I really used to make my assignments better. I learned how to write memos and how to format business emails. As a future teacher I believe emails are very important. I will be using emails to communicate with parents and other coworkers. This has been a useful and helpful class.
I really enjoyed working with you and everyone else in my class.
Kaitlin Musenbrock
Hello Everyone,
Two of my favorite topics were the letters and the grammar/ punctuation lessons. I’ve learned a lot from comma placement, word usage, and how to construct a letter, memo, and email. I believe that my skills have changed based on what type of letter I am creating. I noticed I have opened my eyes more to word usage to make my writings sound more interesting. I still have to work on my formatting to make it perfect but it’s a work in progress. In the future I plan on focusing more on how to format my papers better and choosing the proper punctuations.
Hello everyone,
My favorite thing that we learned this semester was the letters to potential job employers. Also all of the formatting for papers was really nice because before I didn’t know how to format papers or letters properly. I have always struggled with my grammar, especially with commas. This class has helped me so much with my grammar and editing skills. It also taught me that writing will be part of my everyday life.
Hello everyone,
My favorite topic was learning how to properly format an e-mail, and how to communicate on a day-to-day basis in the work environment. I also enjoyed every discussion topic on the chapters we read. I enjoyed it because we were able to professionally communicate with our classmates. I learned a lot about constructive feedback. Overall, this class was an enjoyable experience. I never thought that learning about writing would be this fun.
All the best,
Marisa Torres
My favorite topic was learning how to develop business documents. Before this semester, I was unfamiliar of how to correctly format and develop a business document. Now with the skills that Professor Young has taught me, I am much more confident when writing these documents. Writing business documents will be a huge part of your profession, becoming familiar with them now will help in the long run. I have become less self conscious about my wiring this semester and the skills I’ve learned in this class will help me immensely.
My skills and thinking have definitely changed since I’ve been in this class. I’ve learned so much about writing and how to properly develop a paper, what to think about when writing a document, and to be aware of certain things when writing.
Hello everyone,
Throughout the semester, we learned a variety of different skills that will be useful in our futures. In my opinion, the most important thing that I learned was in regards to the PEER model. This allows me to always maintain the focus on what I am writing, who my audience is, and the points I am trying to get across.
One of the many things that I found useful was the exercises in writing business documents. I know that in the future I may be required to utilize this knowledge and I feel that I am well prepared. I plan to apply the skills that I have improved upon to my future projects.
Hello everyone,
This semester my favorite topic we covered was learning how to write E-mails. Writing an E-mail is something that we all will have to use at some time in our lives. Learning how to format one correctly was very helpful. It also was very helpful that we practiced responding to different scenarios. We practiced responding to coworkers and angry customers. This is very practical and useful for the real world.
I have learned a lot about formatting this semester and I will carry that with me forever. My attitude about writing has completely changed this semester. I no longer dread writing and put it off until last minute. I now work on it in steps, and see it as a way to express myself. This course has completely changed how I feel about writing. I never thought it would be something I enjoy.
My favorite topics this semester were how to properly write e-mails and APA formatting.
Before this class, I struggled with writing emails because I was never sure on how I should start them off or how they should be formatted. Since taking this class my e-mails look and sound more professional and are taken seriously. I also learned how to use APA formatting, which I have never really used before. This came in handy this semester when I had to write a paper using APA style formatting.
Overall, this class was a great experience and has taught me new skills that will help me later on in life.
Personally, my knowledge of formatting business documents seemed to experience the most positive growth. Before this class, numerous no no mistakes were made while writing emails, which have since been eliminated. Also, my letters have become more tailored to the audience to whom I am writing — focusing on the positive, limiting the use of “I”, etc.
There still exists a deficit in the realm of editing, however. When points were lost this semester, 9/10 the points were deducted due to lapses in editing. Regardless of the time allotted to editing, there were always minor typos that remained unnoticed by me, yet our hawk-eyed professor always deftly illuminated them =)
Looking towards the future, I now know where my shortcomings fall. This will hardly be the last writing intensive course of my curriculum, so there is still hope I will one day become an “incurable editor”. There is a wealth of knowledge in the textbooks we purchased for this class, hopefully we will all continue to peruse the pages from time to time.
My favorite topic was learning how to create a cover letter and resume. Before this class, I never paid much attention to how I formatted my resume. Now I’m more alert on the mistakes I was making. I feel that my resume is like a first impression, and will help me with getting an interview for my future career.
I learned a lot of writing rules for commas and semi colons, so I’m applying that in my writing. I ‘m more aware of the simple mistakes that can make my writing more difficult for my reader. This class has also changed my sentence structures. I’ve always made my sentences or paragraphs wordy to make them look longer, but I’ve learned that it’s better to get straight to the point.
Every skill I’ve learned I will apply to every aspect of my work environment. This class has taught me how to write professional documents, how to communicate on the job, and how to correctly format my writing. I believe the skills I’ve acquired will be used in my work place now, and in my future career setting.
This year I have learned a lot and throughout the class it has made me a better writer. I personal didn’t have a favorite chapter because I felt as if the book was made to help each one of us to improve in some way. I just want give thanks to Dr. Young for making a wonderful book and I hope one day I can return with a well written paper just for you.
This semester, my favorite topic was resume and cover letter formatting. It is a priceless skill to effectively format and word a resume and cover letter. I am excited for the advantage this skill will give me in the future. I also greatly enjoyed learning about proper word usage, and concise communication. This was one of my biggest struggles in writing. I am now confident in business writing, and know what to edit in communication. Before this class I had no idea how important that formatting is to appearance and professionalism. I always shrugged formatting off as a formal, unnecessary annoyance. Now I know that proper formatting can make or break interview opportunities and business exchanges. This class has taught me to write in a flow, and edit later instead of editing as I go. This skill has helped my work speed tremendously.
My favorite topic was formatting memos, letters, and editing. I considered myself a very weak writer before taking this. This class gave me knowledge, and made me feel more confident in my writings. I have applied the concepts I have learned in my daily life of writing., so that I may write in a professional manner . This class has been informative and I would recommend to other students. All in all, this class made me take writing more serious.
My favorite topics have been around team building. This made a really big impact because I am a newer leader within the company I work for. Although I did a lot of what I do now in my previous position, the job is more challenging because there were a lot of behind the scenes portion of the business. Being aware of gender, generational differences, and proper etiquette are just a few things that allowed me to become a better leader.
The amount of structure that has went into my communication after my learnings have improved ten folds. I am grateful for everything I have learned in class because the information will show throughout my career. It was a pleasure reading all of the discussions and receiving feedback. This class has helped me to become a better person.
All the best,
Jesse