Activities

1
Activities

• Given below are 3 beginnings to pieces of
  correspondence. Each of the pieces of
  correspondence requests employment with a company
  or laboratory. For each beginning, consider the
  following areas structure, language, format, and
  mechanics (grammar, punctuation, and usage).
  Identify the area that is the weakest. The
  purpose of this exercise is two-fold (1) to help
  you identify writing problems in a more precise
  fashion, and (2) to make you comfortable with the
  writing terms structure, language, format, and
  mechanics. .

2

• 2116 MONROE STREETMADISON, WISCONSIN
  53711SEPTEMBER 15, 1997
• DR. DAVE CABEMANAGERAIR QUALITY SERVICES1515
  CAPITAL OF TEXAS HIGHWAY SOUTHAUSTIN, TEXAS
  78746
• DEAR DR. CABE,
• PROFESSOR KEN POTTER AT THE UNIVERSITY OF
  WISCONSIN-MADISON RECOMMENDED YOU AS A CONTACT
  PERSON FOR A POSSIBLE POSITION AT AIR QUALITY
  SERVICES. I AM A GRADUATING SENIOR IN CIVIL
  ENGINEERING WITH A MAJOR EMPHASIS IN
  ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING (PLEASE SEE THE
  ENCLOSED RESUME). THE PAST TWO SUMMERS I HAVE
  GAINED EXPERIENCE WORKING WITH MONTGOMERY WATSON,
  A COMPANY THAT SPECIALIZES IN GROUNDWATER
  TESTING. BECAUSE YOUR COMPANY IS A NATIONAL
  LEADER IN REDUCING AIR POLLUTION FROM COAL
  PLANTS, AN AREA THAT INTERESTS ME GREATLY, I
  WOULD LIKE YOU TO CONSIDER ME FOR A POSSIBLE
  POSITION.

3
weak in format. This piece of correspondence has
the following format problems

• Having all capital letters makes the reading
  difficult
• Little white space exists either vertically
  (between address and greeting, for example) or
  horizontally (no indents on paragraphs)--for that
  reason, the letter appears crowded
• The comma following the greeting should be a
  colon

4

• 5939 Seminole Court, 206Madison, Wisconsin
  53711November 13, 1997
• Dr. Patricia N. SmithDirector of PersonalSandia
  National LaboratoriesLivermore, California 94550
  
• Dear Dr. Smith
• In last months Engineering Educator, Sandia
  National Laboratories advertised positions
  beginning next June for undergraduate
  researchers. Would you please consider me for one
  of those positions? I am a junior in chemical
  engineering at the University of
  Wisconsin-Madison, however, I am deeply
  interested in engineering research. Because
  Sandia is such a prestigious research laboratory,
  I would like a position at one of it's
  facilities. I have two major areas of research
  interests how chemical kinetics effects the
  design of reactors and heat transfer.

5
weak in grammar, punctuation, and usage. This
piece of correspondence has the following
mechanical errors

• Wrong word "personal" should be "personnel"
• Possessive error the word "months" should be
  "month's"
• Run-on sentence "however" is not a coordinating
  conjunction
• Wrong word "it's" should be "its"
• Incorrect use of semi-colon in fourth
  sentence--writer should use a colon
• Wrong word "effects" should be "affects"
• Faulty parallelism "heat transfer" is not
  parallel to first item in list, "how chemical..."

6

• 5939 Seminole Court, 206Madison,
  WisconsinNovember 13, 1997
• Mr. Stephen ArcherManager of OperationsThe
  Trane Company3650 Highpoint DriveSan Antonio,
  Texas 78217 Dear Mr. Archer
• Are you inundated with job application requests?
  Well, I'm sorry to say that this letter is yet
  another for your pile, but here it goes I am a
  forthcoming graduate in mechanical engineering
  and am interested in the design position that you
  have advertised for your company. Academically, I
  stand well within the top half of my class. A
  failure to be glib on exams prevented me from
  qualifying for Tau Beta Pi. However, this failure
  has not prevented me from succeeding in any other
  endeavor.

7

• weak in language. This piece of correspondence
  has the following language errors
• Tone in first two sentences is cute--not the
  appropriate attitude for a job application letter
  
• Tone goes out of control in fourth
  sentence--"failure to be glib" smacks of sour
  grapes
• Last word of paragraph is pretentious

8
STUDIARE IN GRAN BRETAGNATo graduate, you must
maintain a 2.0 grade point average, not only in
your cumulative grade point average, but also in
the courses in your major (your major grade point
average). Just like your cumulative and quarter
GPAs, your major GPA is a weighted average of all
the letter graded courses included in the
calculation. Transfer courses from non-UC schools
do not count in the GPA.
9

• First or Undergradute Degree
• Bachelor of Arts BA (Materie Umanistiche)
• Bachelor of Science - BSc (Materie Scientifiche)
• Bachelor of Education - BEd (Scienze
  dellEducazione)
• Bachelor of Engineering BEng (Ingegneria)
• Bachelor of Law LLB (Diritto)
• Bachelor of Medicine - MB o BS (Medicina)

10

• Un Higher (post-graduate)Degree si consegue, dopo
  il First Degree, a completamento di un periodo di
  studio 'taught courses', da concludersi con una
  tesi di ricerca.
• Tra i più comuni degree qualifications che si
  possono ottenere troviamo
• MA Master of Arts
• MSc Master of Science
• MBA Master of Business Administration
• LLM Master of Laws
• Mphil Master of Philosophy
• Mlit Master of Literature.
• Dopo aver completato un Higher Degree si può
  ancora conseguire il Doctor of Philosophy
  PhD/DPhil, che rappresenta il massimo livello di
  studio raggiungibile in una determinata

11

• Il periodo di studio dei Postgraduate Taught
  Courses può variare da nove mesi a due anni
  molti Taught Masters Courses durano dodici mesi.
  Un MPhil generalmente si consegue dopo almeno due
  anni di studio, mentre il Doctorate si consegue
  dopo un minimo di tre anni di ricerca.
• Ogni percorso di studi universitario si articola
  secondo diversi piani didattici, consentendo ad
  ogni studente di rendere compatibili le proprie
  esigenze con l'impegno previsto per gli studi,
  infatti si può scegliere tra

12

• Honours Degree viene approfondita una materia
  di studio. Il corso dura solitamente 3 anni ma
  anche 4 soprattutto in Scozia.
• I corsi in Architettura, Medicina, Odontoiatria e
  Veterinaria durano 5 o 6 anni.
• Joint Honours degree vengono studiate due
  materie in maniera meno approfondita.
• La durata del corso è di 3-4 anni (spesso 4 in
  Scozia)
• Combined Honours degree - vengono studiate tre o
  più materie in maniera meno approfondita.
• La durata del corso è di 3-4 anni (spesso 4 in
  Scozia).
• Ordinary (or General)/Pass degree Più materie
  vengono studiate ad un livello meno avanzato.
• La durata del corso è di 3 anni.
• Sandwich course corso integrato ad almeno un
  anno di esperienza lavorativa.
• La durata del corso è di 4 anni.
• La frequenza ai corsi è obbligatoria e a tempo
  pieno.
• Modular courses
• I cosiddetti modular courses sono strutturati in
  maniera da differire al secondo anno la scelta
  della materia in cui ci si laurerà. Nel primo
  anno si affronta lo studio di varie materie, per
  poi restringere il campo ad una o due,
  successivamente.