OUTLINE / OVERVIEW / GOALS

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OUTLINE / OVERVIEW / GOALS
www.msu.edu/wrac/pw/ events gt Fall 2009
Events gt workshop notes and materials

• explore the world of professional
  writingintellectually and professionally
• construct a list of distinctive professional
  skills and goals
• practice explaining to others (e.g., internship
  directors, recruiters, interviewers) what
  professional writing is

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YOUR STRENGTHS

• work individually
• think about what drew you to Professional
  Writing think about what you like to do and
  where your passion lies
• brainstorm some responses to the following
  questions
• what do I like to do?
• what am I good at?
• what particular experiences have I had?
• where do I feel most confident about my abilities?

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PASSIONS / LIKES
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STRENGTHS
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EXPERIENCES
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• work in pairs or small groups to brainstorm some
  responses to the following questions
• what sorts of jobs, job titles, or job
  descriptions do you think of when you think of
  professional writing?
• what sorts of work do you think of when you think
  of professional writing?
• what sorts of problems do you think professional
  writers address and work to solve?

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JOBS
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WORK
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PROBLEMS
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DISTICTIVENESS

• think about the courses youve taken, the
  projects youve worked on, the documents youve
  produced, and the lists we just generated
• brainstorm some responses to the following
  question Youre in an interview for an
  internship or job, and the interviewer asks why
  should we hire you for this position?
• how are you distinctive as a professional writer?
  what particular projects and documents have you
  done that make you distinctive?
• what co-curricular/work/internship experiences
  have you had that contribute to making you
  distinctive?

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WHAT MAKES YOU DISTINCTIVE?
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• attention to and skill with visual design/visual
  rhetoric
• experience in other disciplines or areas gt e.g.,
  TC/DMAT, nutrition/health studies, anthropology,
  English, HCI, video game theory, photography,
  journalism
• attention to and deep understanding of
  audience/user needs
• ability to collaborate and manage projects
• skills in editing gt peer review, developmental
  editing, copyediting
• skills in web authoring gt front end (design,
  interface, navigation), back end (coding,
  server-side issues, client communication)
• writing skills gt writing creatively, with panache
  and poetic flair writing informatively, with
  clarity, conciseness, and comprehensibility
  writing persuasively

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• ability to design and conduct usability testing
• research skills gt online, library/archival,
  observational, interviewing, etc.
• multilingual speakers/writers
• awareness of/experience with cultural diversity
• experience with different genres, venues, and
  audiences (e.g., developing flyers for expectant
  mothers, avid video game player/designer, doing
  usability testing for library search tools)
• practice in teaching/tutoring/training gt in
  classes, within collaborative groups, in Writing
  Center
• skills in publishing gt understanding how to deal
  with other writers/authors, managing publication
  processes

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PW PROGRAM gt EXPERIENCES

• develop a distinct professional identity
• add new talents to your repertoire
• do professional writing work
• take distinctive courses that help you build
  skills
• develop and expand your portfolio
• develop professional contacts build a network
• collaborate and work with faculty and other
  students collaborate and work with community and
  industry practitioners
• go to talks and presentations participate in
  workshops and events

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PW PROGRAM gt OPPORTUNITIES

• develop a distinctive professional identity
• develop a sense of goals
• develop both range and depth of skills
• depth identity and expertise in a specialized
  area
• range ability to do a variety of things
• develop marketability
• develop professional work experience
• learn new things expand your repertoire, push
  your boundaries, shore up gaps, develop new
  skills, discover what youre good at
• seek out faculty, students, and other
  professionals who can help you
• document your work and your development

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Who am I as a professional writer?

• look back on the lists you just created, and your
  responses to the earlier prompts
• craft a 23 sentence response to the following
  questionsand imagine delivering this response in
  a conversation
• how would you answer if a family member or friend
  asked you why professional writing? what do you
  want to do?
• how would you answer if a job recruiter asked you
  whats professional writing? what do you do?

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• I am Dyana Males and I work for a subsidiary of
  the Michigan State Medical Society, known as
  Medical Advantage Group. I am the Communications
  Coordinator and I write content for all web
  sites, newsletters, annual reports, print
  materials, press releases, media articles, and
  many other things. I research and book the best
  conferences for each company to exhibit at and
  attend.
• I am working on instituting document formats and
  writing styles into the subsidiary companies. I
  am meeting with web developers to discuss format,
  the CEO to coordinate a communications plan, our
  risk groups to understand audience, and MUCH
  MORE!

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• I am Ben Rubinstein. I'm a Publicity Intern at
  Folio Literary management (and in five days I
  have an interview at Random House I will
  hopefully be their newest Publicity Assistant).
  I design new methods for informing people about
  newly released books, including the pitching of
  articles to publications/bloggers, and the
  creation of promotional widgets to be shared via
  social networking sites. I use my knowledge of
  rhetorical analysis to identify audiences and
  devise dynamic strategies to engage them.

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• I am Casey Wright. I work for TechSmith Corp., a
  software company, as a User Experience
  Researcher. I conduct research to ensure that our
  software products are usable and to understand
  how people expect to interact with interfaces in
  general.
• I communicate findings from this research and
  usability principles to product developers and
  designers to help guide user-centered design of
  our products.

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• I am Lisa Shaw. I just finished an internship
  with Coastal Living magazine as a member of the
  copy desk. My primary responsibilities were to
  fact check and proofread articles for accuracy,
  grammar, and style. I also worked closely with
  the Travel and Market editors, producing original
  content for the website and magazine and
  assisting them with errands, shipping, and
  calling in products.
• Presently, I am traveling as much as possible,
  and planning to start teaching English in South
  Korea as early as November of this year.

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• I am Adam Robert Clegg.  I work at University
  Relations Marketing and Creative Services
  department as a web developer.  I take designs
  prepared by our design staff and turn them into
  usable CSS, PHP, and Javascript websites,
  sometimes complete with multimedia features like
  streaming video.
• I also help solve functionality problems with
  client web sites as well as update existing
  sites. In addition to this I sometimes train
  clients and fellow co-workers on technologies
  that help them add and edit their web content
  easier. This often includes composing and
  re-purposing guides on how to use such software
  and techniques.

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• I am John Phillips, and I work at Campbell-Ewald
  (an ad agency) as a user interface engineer. As a
  UIE, I work with a team of developers planning,
  building, and maintaining marketing sites for our
  clients.
• Communication plays a large part in knowing how
  to communicate technical issues in a
  non-technical manner to other people within the
  company who dont fully understand what we do.

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• I am Andrew Saulter and I work at JSTOR in Ann
  Arbor as an Interface Specialist. I am one of two
  employees who handle working on front end code
  for our sorely needed web site redesign. I take
  Photoshop comps and turn them into valid,
  accessible, and cross-browser pretty XHTML-strict
  pages. When I get home from JSTOR, I hop online
  and work with John Phillips and Tyler Smeltekop
  (PW alum, PW senior) on our company, Tridea
  Design. When Im not doing that, Im coaching
  girls high school basketball. PW writing skills
  helped me hone my portfolio and resume to stand
  out from other web designers who might have had
  more technical training than I did in school. On
  the job, PW skills help me justify design
  decisions, convey meaning in written
  communications, and present my ideas/work in
  group meetings.

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• I am Stephanie Green and I work at Pearson
  Education, an educational publishing company, as
  a media assistant. I assist two different
  departments responsible for the content
  development and course production of the online
  media that accompanies our math textbooks.
• As an assistant I create spreadsheets, maintain
  databases, keep track of schedules, and do
  various administrative tasks. Communication and
  organization are two key elements of my job.

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NEXT STEPS

• fold this language and these skills into your
  resume
• draft a cover email/letter for a job, introducing
  yourself and articulating your skills
• practice explaining who you are and what you can
  do!

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UPCOMING WORKSHOPS
www.msu.edu/wrac/pw/

• Preparing Resumes and Cover Letters
• Friday, October 23 _at_ noon
• Thinking about Your Portfolio
• Friday, November 13 _at_ noon
• Keep an eye out for Writers Bloc workshops!