Entrance Into the World of Scholars

1. Entrance Intothe World of Scholars Hillary Wentworth, Writing Specialist

2. Session Breakdown Written Communication in an Asynchronous Setting: • What is expected? • What is appropriate to expect from others? • Viewing written correspondence as the intersection of audience, purpose, and tone. • E-mail and discussion post etiquette, cyber civility, and modeling excellence.

3. Take a Moment to Reflect Be honest with yourself. Have you ever: • Compared yourself to a classmate based on what he or she wrote in a discussion post? • Made an assumption about a classmate based on what he or she wrote in a discussion post? • Discredited a classmate’s discussion post because of the quality of the writing? • Experienced any of the above in the workplace when reading e-mails, memos, and so forth?

4. What Would You Do If… You read this on a discussion thread: • The move from a structuralist account in which capital is understood to structure social relations in relatively homologous ways to a view of hegemony in which power relations are subject to repetition, convergence, and rearticulation brought the question of temporality into the thinking of structure, and marked a shift from a form of Althusserian theory that takes structural totalities as theoretical objects to one in which the insights into the contingent possibility of structure inaugurate a renewed conception of hegemony as bound up with the contingent sites and strategies of the rearticulation of power. All one sentence!

5. What Would You Do If… You were assigned to write a persuasive group paper about insects and one of your group members contributed this: The country of Alvania has a problem. That problem, specifically, is the lack of laws governing insect cruelty in Alvania. Several groups of activists have banned together to pass laws so that crickets and cockroaches no longer have to suffer at the hands of the heartless, emotionless Alvanian people. Evidence exists that suggests that the young boys and girls in Alvania suffer mental illness because of the way their parents slaughter and consume insects. The point is that killing and eating insects in Alvania is an injustice. Inflammatory language Citation?

6. What Would You Do If… You received this message: “We are getting less than 40 hours of work from a large number of our EMPLOYEES. As managers, you either do not know what your EMPLOYEES are doing or you do not CARE. In either case, you have a problem and you will fix it or I will replace you. NEVER in my career have I allowed a team which worked for me to think they had a 40-hour job. I have allowed YOU to create a culture which is permitting this. NO LONGER. You have two weeks. Tick Tock!” (Delves, 2001)

7. What Do These Examples Show? Present Yourself Well Pay attention to • how your words will be received based on word choice and the evidence you present • how your words come together to form a coherent thought • how your words come together to reflect a strong understanding of written English.

8. What Do These Examples Show? Be Courteous • The golden rule still works; do unto others as you would have them do unto you. • Pay attention to your emotional reaction and present a civil tone even when you do not agree with the content of a post or message. • Be aware of your audience, purpose, and tone to create a culture of communication excellence.

9. Asynchronous Communication • Most of the communication you will have while here at Walden and in the professional world will be asynchronous, meaning that it does not happen in real time. • Unlike a traditional classroom environment (e.g., raising your hand, discussing in a group), your written self will represent you as a Walden student

10. Asynchronous Communication • Most asynchronous communication you have comes in the form of e-mail and discussion posts. • Exceptions exist, but the following information can enhance the quality of asynchronous written communication and help facilitate online discussion.

11. E-mail Etiquette

12. E-mail: Subject Lines Rock! Good subject lines are arrows to the message that you are sending: • All important information should be available in the subject line. • People are less likely to lose the e-mail. • People are less likely to ignore it.

13. E-mail: Use Salutations In initial communication, use salutations to ease into back and forth electronic conversations. Personalize correspondence, just as you would in a formal letter. RE: Request to attend conference Hi, Maria. Sorry . . . We just don’t have money in the budget right now. All the best, Betty RE: Request to attend conference No can do.

14. E-mail: Reply vs. Reply All Questions to ask when you choose Reply All: • Does everyone need to know? • Do I want everyone to know? • Could this message upset anyone on the original e-mail? • Who is the audience for this piece of communication?

15. E-mail: Be Concise • Using an economy of words is essential. Paragraphs v. Bullet Points Before we get started with the project, we need to make sure that we nominate a team leader (I am willing to volunteer), create a calendar of timelines and due dates, set up our group work space on Blackboard, and set up an appointment with the Writing Center. Before we get started with the project, we need to: - Nominate a team leader - Create a calendar of timelines and due dates - Set up our group work space on Blackboard - Set up an appointment with the Writing Center.

16. E-mail: Be Concise • Having read your message, the reader should know exactly what you need and should want to do what you’ve suggested. • Ask yourself: • Is the purpose of the message in my opening line? • Do I ask my reader for a specific action? • Does my reader understand my time limitations?

17. E-mail: Punctuation and Spelling • Use proper punctuation and correct spelling • Misplaced commas can cause miscommunication • Typos or run-on sentences could convey that the sender sent the email in haste Your recipient may wonder why he or she should take time for a detailed response if you as the sender did not take time composing the message.

18. E-mail: Avoid Acronyms Unless you are positive everyone reading your message knows all of the acronyms, avoid their use. TO: Jim G.; Kris P.; Ernesto E.; Velma Q.; Susana R.; Enrico A.; Robin R. RE: IMF needs a Q-RET before the ASC3 is filed with a PET All: Received your IMF. Did you talk to the folks in Q-RET about first getting a DERT? The new REM in PET will need you to fill out an ASC3 if you are going to pursue TXMX certification. Thx.

19. E-mail: Avoid Being Curt Be concise—but not clipped. One boss lost her star employee based on a two-word e-mail she sent to him following a major presentation that stated simply: Good job The employee felt it was a sarcastic jab, and he started sending out resumes. The issue was cleared up in an exit interview. His boss said later that she lost a lot of money by omitting one exclamation mark.

20. E-mail: Avoid Emotional Responses Compose in Haste; Regret in Leisure • Avoid immediately sending an e-mail or responding to a discussion thread while angry. E-mails are not the place to express anger. • Consider if you would read it out loud to the person if he/she was standing in front of you. • If an e-mail is questionable, save to your draft folder and return to it later.

21. E-mail: Avoid Passive Aggressiveness • Passive aggressiveness is easy to spot in asynchronous communication. • Your initial response to a classmate’s writing or a work colleague’s e-mail might be sarcastic, but jokes and tone are often misunderstood in an asynchronous environment.

22. E-mail: Avoid Passive Aggressiveness Passive Aggressive Direct Our deadline is tomorrow and someone needs to edit and post our work to Blackboard. I know I sent out an email about this last week, but, apparently, it seems it might not have been read? Our deadline is tomorrow, and Jane, I know you volunteered to edit and post our work to Blackboard. Will you still be able to meet this deadline?

23. E-mail: Patience Is a Virtue E-mail is a form of mail. • We do not assume an immediate response when we put a letter in the mail, but we get impatient while waiting for a response to an e-mail.

24. But… • Responding to a discussion, contributing to a team assignment, providing peer commentary or review, communicating with your faculty or capstone chair, and many other forms of academic and professional communication requires attention to deadlines. • In addition, such communication requires attention to word choice, grammar, and etiquette, so set aside time for proofreading your e-mails before sending.

25. E-mail: Caps Lock • Using all caps looks like yelling. • Don’t do it. • EVEN IF YOU FEEL LIKE YELLING (actually, especially if you feel like yelling). • Remember that this is communication between you and another person (not a computer).

26. Caps Lock: Non-Walden Example AS OF THIS POINT I HAVE NOT RECEIVED A RESPONSE FROM ANYONE. THE DIRECTORS WERE BUSY MISSING THE FORECAST BY 200 HOURS YESTERDAY SO THEY DID NOT HAVE TIME TO RESPOND. BEFORE I SEND THE DAILY REPORT I AM GOING TO GIVE YOU 4 HOURS TO REVIEW THE NUMBERS YOURSELF. I AM SPENDING A TREMENDOUS AMOUNT OF TIME ON THESE REPORTS AND I DO NOT INTEND FOR IT TO BE WASTED IT DOES NOT HAVE TO BE SAID BUT I WILL SAY IT ANYWAY - PROFITABILITY IS A FUNCTION OF YOUR JOB RESPONSIBILITY  Thanks.

27. Caps Lock: Walden Example • To: WritingSupport@waldenu.edu I HAVE TRIED to schedule an appt. NO open times through April!!!! WHY can't i sign up??????????? I need a TUTOR. I need March 15, March 22, or March 29 or last resort, April 12. WHat is going on that I don't see any days for me to sign up for an appt??????????????????????????????

28. E-mail: Answer and Anticipate • As a recipient of these types of e-mails, try to recognize patterns and answer preemptively. • Send an e-mail acknowledging the receipt • No matter the delivery, respond to e-mails using proper etiquette. • Neutral tone (rather than aggressive or emotional)

29. Discussion Post Etiquette

30. Discussion Posts Similar rules apply to discussion posts: • Be concise • Use proper spelling and punctuation • Avoid acronyms, curt and passive aggressive phrasing, and caps lock Treat your discussion post like a mini paper.

31. Posts: Academic Voice • Write smoothly • Use transitions • Avoid abrupt shifts in topic • Vary sentence structure • Write concisely • Simplify • Write objectively • Avoid bias and maintain a neutral tone

32. Posts: Academic Voice • Just as in course papers, avoid contractions and colloquialisms • Do not include feeling words (e.g., feel, believe) • Practice being a scholar

33. Posts: Evidence • Use information from your sources to enhance your posts and responses • Course readings and videos • Journal articles • Trusted websites • Ask yourself if using personal experience is appropriate for the prompt

34. Posts: Organization Just as in e-mail: • Beginning Introduction • Middle Main points and support • End Conclusion

35. Posts: Responses Just as in e-mail: • Personalize and thank. • Even if you disagree, do not become emotional or judgmental. RE: Discussion Post #1 I think you are just plain wrong. That theoretical approach would go horribly in emergency room nursing. RE: Discussion Post #1 Jody, You bring up some good points. However, have you thought about the theory’s applicability to emergency room nursing? The theory of caring might be more beneficial due to the patients’ stress level. --Bob

36. Best Practice Suggestions Elementary Principles of e-composition: • In e-mail messages, keep paragraphs short. • Make the paragraph the unit of composition (the paragraph is the house for one idea to live in). • Use the active voice. • Omit unnecessary words. • Put statements in positive form. • Use definite, specific, concrete language.

37. Did you know? Webinar Archive

38. Questions? Thanks for joining me this evening! • Use the Question box to ask for clarification • Future questions: • writingsupport@waldenu.edu (tutors) • editor@waldenu.edu (editors)