Project Memorandum

Date: December 11, 2017

To: Erin Lebacqz, Instructor
From: Emily Hopkins, Student
Subject: English 219 Job Performance Review
CC: English 219 Classmates
The purpose of this memo is to discuss the course outcomes of English 219, and to give an
analysis of how well I met these goals in my projects over the course of the semester. The
outcomes I will be discussing include Project Analysis, Production and Delivery, Content
Development, and Content Management. In addition, I will be discussing my main goal for
myself, which was to achieve a concise yet informative writing style. I will number the outcomes
in the order of which they were mentioned to make it easier to navigate this memo.
1. Project Analysis (#2)
As a writer, it is vital that writing attracts the intended audience. Without this, a writer
will be unable to achieve their goal. This class taught me how to identify my audience,
because my audience was not always what I first expected. I had to be very specific in
pinpointing my audience, so that I could format my writing to match the needs and the
wants of my audience. For example, in my RFP, I had to revise to match the needs of my
audience. Before revisions, I had not defined my audience specifically enough, so my
descriptions were too vague. In writing a Request for Proposal, I was requesting to
propose investment within my organization, so my audience was my investors
specifically, not just my customers. To better address the investors, I had to make my
plan of action more detailed and specific to time and location, because I know that
investors would want to know where their money was going.
My project exposed me to the idea that technical documents can occupy and respond to
social justice and community service contexts. Because my project was a non-profit
organization addressing a womens rights issue, I was able to incorporate social justice
issue and community service contexts into my technical documentation. By using a
technical writing style to address social justice issues, it appears more serious and
necessary to address. The more serious and vigilant an author is with his or her writing,
also aids in gaining trust from its readers.
2. Production and Delivery
To be well versed in technical writing, one must be able to write in many different forms.
In this class, we learned how to write many different forms of documents, including
memos, RFPs, and proposals. Not only did we learn how to write different documents,
we learned how to make multi-modal forms of technical writing and presentation through
videos and websites. By doing projects, I had the ability to analyze my own technical
 writing skills, and use previous experiences to help me accomplish these tasks. I have
several years of work experience in office settings, so I felt as though I had avid
experience in technical writing. However, when I started doing the assignments for this
class, I realized the multitude of forms of documentation and writing techniques that are
necessary to be able to have well-rounded technical writing skills. Prior to this class, I
had a lot of experience writing memos, emails, and constructing presentations. After this
class, I have gained a lot of experience with other forms of technical writing and have
gained exposure to different documentation that could benefit me in my future career.
3. Content Development
When I first signed up for this class, I thought that technical writing was its own genre,
and I would be writing in the same style for my projects. This was entirely untrue. In fact,
I realized that technical writing involves many different genres, and many different tones.
For example, memos are concise and informative yet informal. Memos are more useful in
an office setting to fellow employees. In the case of the RFP and Proposal, I had to focus
on making it very informative and concise, but also a formal and call to action type
document to lay out all necessary information for my audience. On my website, I had to
use vague and hopeful language to gain the support of the public. In my PSA, I had to use
emotionally appealing, persuasive language to grab the attention of the public. For
example, my PSA was intended for an audience of parents, and my language alluded to
the free will of their own daughters. In my experience, content development is directly
related to Project Analysis, and the genres develop based upon the needs of the audience.
4. Content Management
This class taught me to take information, and use the content obtained to my advantage.
There is a huge surplus of information available about contraceptive distribution and
womens global health and education, but it is vital to filter information and use what is
the most valuable to the argument. For my research report, I had to be selective in the
data I was using, because although there was good data regarding contraceptive use in
India, I needed to focus on contraceptive use in rural India. Because rural India was my
interest point, I needed to filter the information gathered to best match my argument.
5. Concise Yet Informative Writing Style
This personal goal was likely my biggest challenge throughout the semester. As a writer,
I tend to gravitate towards descriptive and flowery language. In addition, I often have
trouble with passive tense grammar. I tend to use phrases such as in order to and very
important. However, this class has taught me to pay more attention to my writing, and to
cut down on my word usage. Now instead of writing the previously stated phrases, I
simply write to and important. In classes before, I was expected to write to reach a
word count. In this class, I have learned that concise writing can be more valuable and
informative than any other writing style. This class taught me to write for a purpose.
If you have any comments or questions on my Job Performance Review, I can be contacted by
email at hopkinse@unm.edu. Thank you for your time!