PRPCOM Module Finals

UNIT IV.
COMUNICATION FOR ACADEMIC PURPOSES
Learning Outcomes:
At the end of the lesson, you are expected to:
1. determine the genres in academic writing;

2. discuss the structure and style of academic writing;
3. manifest awareness of audience and context in writing ideas; and
4. write academic papers with appropriate tone and style.
Lesson 1: Academic Writing

Academic writing is what scholars do to communicate with other scholars in their
fields of study, their disciplines. It’s the research report a biologist writes, the interpretive
essay a literary scholar composes, the media analysis a film scholar produces. At the
same time, academic writing is what you have to learn so that you can participate in
the different disciplinary conversations that take place in your courses. You have to
learn to think like an academic, read like an academic, do research like an academic,
and write like an academic—even if you have no plans to continue your education
and become a scholar yourself.
Gillet, Hammond, and Martalla (2009) emphasized that in academic writing you
are expected to produce logically-structured ideas with well-argued, substantiated
points, taking different opinions into consideration. There are various genres of
academic writing, such as essays, reports, lab reports, case studies and dissertations.
Regardless of the genre you are writing in, your style of writing should be the same –
clear, concise, with appropriately referenced ideas. In higher education one of the
main things you will be judged on is the quality of your writing. This chapter considers
the various elements required in an academic text from word to paragraph level. It
offers advice on text cohesion and emphasises the need for planning and drafting
work.
One of the main ways that academic writing is different from other forms of
writing is in its relationship with its audience – that is to say the reader. For most students
that reader is one of their lecturers or tutors, although it could also be fellow students.
Whoever it is, the reader will be concerned with whether the piece of writing has
reached a certain standard and will use those standards to judge the quality of the
writing. Furthermore, the judgement will be made formally, with a mark or grade and
UB ENGLISH DEPARTMENT 52
perhaps some written comments. People might make judgements privately about the
quality of a letter they receive from a friend or business associate but there is no need
or expectation that they will record their verdict.
The judgements that are made about a piece of academic writing are part of
the whole process of deciding upon the quality of a person’s learning and, in turn, the
class of degree they should be awarded at the end of their studies. The standards that
are used to form those judgements may be expressed in different ways according to
the subject of study or institution but they will always be concerned with structure,
clarity and accuracy. There will also be an expectation that the writing will demonstrate
an objective approach and explore the subject matter thoroughly, resulting in a careful
analysis.
Whatever your level of study, it is important to be critical when you write an

academic piece of work. This does not mean finding fault with something, as it can
mean in everyday life. In the context of academic writing, being critical includes:
■ showing an understanding and knowledge of theory
■ demonstrating an awareness of what has been written or said about the subject
■ taking into consideration different points of view
■ using reason to make a judgement
■ not accepting ideas until they have been examined closely (and then maybe
rejecting them)
■ coming to your own conclusions
■ using your own voice
You might think this looks like a tall order, but hopefully there is nothing in the list that
you would disagree with. The same approach is used in reading an academic text,
where you need to:
■ identify the line of reasoning or argument
■ look for hidden assumptions
■ decide if the evidence used to support the argument is good enough.
Genres of Writing
Different types of academic writing are known as genres. They have distinct
purposes, forms and recognised structures. Common examples are essays, reports, case
studies and projects. Although certain genres seem more suited to certain disciplines
than others, you could well be asked to write in any of the above genres during your
study. The clue to this will be in your assignment brief, and it is worth spending time to
make sure you know exactly what type of writing you have got to produce. Whatever
the genre, there are certain things that are common to all. Academic writing:
■ uses evidence to support the points it makes
■ uses structure and order to guide the reader through the writing
■ contains references for anyone else’s ideas or work used.
Basic Structure
Structure is of major importance in a piece of academic writing and is one of the

key ways that it differs from other forms of writing. There is an expectation that the
writing will take the reader through the different stages or sections of the work, including
clear signposts along the way. Assessment criteria will almost always include how well a
piece of work has been structured. An assignment brief may give you advice on this
and you should follow it carefully.
Although different disciplines will rely on and prefer different types of writing, there are
two that are common to almost all: the essay and the report. It is worth understanding
and knowing the accepted structure of each.
1. Essay
The essay has been described as ‘the default genre’ (Andrews, 2003) and as
such cuts across all disciplines. It is used to ask you to discuss and explore something in
depth – for example the reasons for a particular event in history, the advantages and
disadvantages of a theory, the impact of a new law on society. It will usually expect
you to indicate your point of view or judgment on the topic.
Typical essay structure
An essay normally follows this structure:
1. Introduction
2. Development
3. Conclusion
4. References
The four areas play very different parts. The Introduction acts as a way in to the
main section, providing some background information on the topic and explaining
which particular aspects of it will be covered in the essay. It is normally one or two
paragraphs long. The Development section builds up the writer’s main ideas in a series
of paragraphs. These paragraphs must be linked to one another so that anyone
reading the essay can follow the line of argument and thread of the discussion. The
Conclusion draws together the main point of each of the paragraphs and can include
a statement on the opinion of the writer. Finally the References section gives full details
of any sources (books, journals, websites, etc.) that have been mentioned, cited or
quoted in the essay.
2. Report
A report is usually the result of some kind of investigation of a situation, event or

series of events. It is very common to working life so if you become familiar with its
structure and use it well you will find you are developing an important skill for future
employment. Some common examples of reports are:
■ a market research report, explaining trends and consumer behaviour
■ an annual report from a company, documenting performance
■ a survey report, presenting findings on opinions, preferences or behaviour
Typical Report Structure
Unlike an essay, a report will have sections and headings to guide the reader
through the document. Like an essay, it has a beginning, middle and end.
■ first part: title page; summary; list of contents
■ middle part: introduction; methodology; findings/results; discussion; conclusion
■ last part: references; bibliography; appendices.
The first part presents your work to the audience, rather like the opening credits
of a film or play. The summary (or abstract) is particularly useful here as it gives a
condensed version of the entire report. The middle part is where the material is
developed. Each section has a heading and takes the reader through the
investigation, analysis and discussion. The last part contains all the supporting material
that has been used in the report, for example any outside sources, the raw data or
questionnaires, if used.
3. Other Types of Academic Writing
Although essays and reports are generic terms, there are many other types of
academic writing or genres (Gillett and Hammond, in press):
■ Arts and Humanities: essay; critique or review
■ Science, Engineering and Technology: report; research proposal
■ Health and Life Sciences: lab report; reflective account
■ Social Sciences: project; case study
Academic Style
If you are not sure about the difference between formal and informal language,
try reading widely and critically. Read a popular newspaper article and a friend’s letter
or email, and then read a page of a book or a journal from your recommended
reading list. You will soon begin to see there is a difference in the style of these texts.
Formal vocabulary
Academic writing uses more formal vocabulary than spoken language. Students
often feel that it is difficult to distinguish between formal and less formal language.
The following written sentence would be perfectly acceptable for instance:
He tried to show that it was possible to lose weight and eat his favourite food.
Consider the same sentence written more formally:
He attempted to prove that losing weight whilst eating his favourite meals was
achievable.
The second example somehow seems more authoritative and is better placed in
the academic world rather than in a magazine. The reason for using formal expressions
is not because academic language is pompous, but because it is clearer. Consider the
following example:
Roberts (2007) says that lower house prices do not affect you if you are not
planning to sell your property.
Questions for Discussion
1. How is academic writing different from workplace writing?
2. What are the tone and style of academic writing?
ASSESSMENT 1
Find more formal words or phrases to replace the informal words below:
1. Research shows . . . ___________________________
2. Three problems have been found. ___________________________
3. The changes he made were bad. ___________________________
4. Lots of people think . . . ___________________________
5. There were many reasons for this. ___________________________
6. Scientists have tried to prove . . . ___________________________
7. P100,000,000.00 was given to charity. ___________________________
8. He discussed issues like famine and poverty. ___________________________
9. She has got to find alternatives. ___________________________
10. We do not have enough resources. ___________________________
Reaction Paper
One of the requirements that teachers often ask their students to submit in
college is a reaction paper. A reaction essay or report asks for your opinion, reaction,
and analysis about a text, film, experience, or issue.
Murray and Rockowitz (2020), suggest two parts of a reaction paper:
Part 1: A Summary of the Work
To develop the first part of a report, do the following:
▪ Identify the author and title of the work and include in parentheses the publisher and
publication date. For magazines, give the date of publication.
▪ Write an informative summary of the material.
▪ Condense the content of the work by highlighting its main points and key supporting
points.
▪ Use direct quotations from the work to illustrate important ideas.
▪ Summarize the material so that the reader gets a general sense of all key aspects of the
original work.
▪ Do not discuss in great detail any single aspect of the work, and do not neglect to
mention other equally important points.
▪ Also, keep the summary objective and factual. Do not include in the first part of the
paper your personal reaction to the work; your subjective impression will form the basis
of the second part of your paper.
PART 2: Your Reaction to the Work
To develop the second part of a report, do the following:
▪ Focus on any or all of the following questions. Check with your instructor to see if s/he
wants you to emphasize specific points.
▪ How is the assigned work related to ideas and concerns discussed in the course for
which you are preparing the paper? For example, what points made in the course
textbook, class discussions, or lectures are treated more fully in the work?
▪ How is the work related to problems in our present-day world?
▪ How is the material related to your life, experiences, feelings and ideas? For instance,
what emotions did the work arouse in you?
▪ Did the work increase your understanding of a particular issue? Did it change your
perspective in any way?
▪ Evaluate the merit of the work: the importance of its points, its accuracy, completeness,
organization, and so on.
▪ You should also indicate here whether or not you would recommend the work to
others, and why.
A SAMPLE RESPONSE OR REACTION PAPER
A Report on Man’s Search for Meaning
Dr. Viktor Frankl's book Man's Search for Meaning (New York: Washington Square
Press, 1966) is both an autobiographical account of his years as a prisoner in Nazi
concentration camps and a presentation of his ideas about the meaning of life. The
three years of deprivation and suffering he spent at Auschwitz and other Nazi
camps led to the development of his theory of Logotherapy, which, very briefly,
states that the primary force in human beings is "a striving to find a meaning in one's
life" (154). Without a meaning in life, Frankl feels, we experience emptiness and
loneliness that lead to apathy and despair. This need for meaning was
demonstrated to Frankl time and again with both himself and other prisoners who
were faced with the horrors of camp existence. Frankl was able to sustain himself
partly through the love he felt for his wife. In a moment of spiritual insight, he realized
that his love was stronger and more meaningful than death, and would be a real
and sustaining force within him even if he knew his wife was dead. Frankl's
comrades also had reasons to live that gave them strength. One had a child
waiting for him; another was a scientist who was working on a series of books that
needed to be finished. Finally, Frankl and his friends found meaning through their
decision to accept and bear their fate with courage. He says that the words of
Dostoevsky came frequently to mind: "There is one thing that I dread: not to be
worthy of my suffering." When Frankl's prison experience was over and he returned
to his profession of psychiatry, he found that his theory of meaning held true not only
for the prisoners but for all people. He has since had great success in working with
patients by helping them locate in their own lives meanings of love, work, and
suffering.
One of my reactions to the book was the relationship I saw between the “Capos”
and ideas about anxiety, standards, and aggression discussed in our psychology
class. The Capos were prisoners who acted as trustees, and Frankl says they acted
more cruelly toward the prisoners than the guards or the SS men. Several
psychological factors help explain this cruelty. The Capos must have been
suppressing intense anxiety about “selling themselves out” to the Nazis in return for
small favors. Frankl and other prisoners must have been a constant reminder to the
Capos of the courage and integrity they themselves lacked. When our behaviors
and values are threatened by someone else acting in a different way, one way we
may react is with anger and aggression. The Capos are an extreme example of
how, if the situation is right, we may be capable of great cruelty to those whose
actions threaten our standards.
I think that Frankl’s idea that meaning is the most important force in human
beings helps explain some of the disorder and discontent in the world today. Many
people are unhappy because they are caught in jobs where they have no
responsibility and creativity; their work lacks meaning. Many are also unhappy
because our culture seems to stress sexual technique in social relationships rather
than human caring. People buy popular books that may help them become better
partners in bed, but that may not make them more sensitive to each other’s human
needs. Where there is no real care, there is no meaning. To hide the inner emptiness
that results from impersonal work and sex, people busy themselves with the
accumulation of material things. With television sets, stereos, cars, expensive
clothes, and the like, they try to forget that their lives lack true meaning instead of
working or going to school to get a meaningful job, or trying to be decent human
beings.
I have also found that Frankl’s idea that suffering can have meaning helps
me understand the behavior of people I know. I have a friend named Jim who was
always poor and did not have much of a family—only a stepmother who never
cared for him as much as for her own children. What Jim did have, though, was
determination. He worked two jobs to save money to go to school, and then
worked and went to school at the same time. The fact that his life was hard seemed
to make him bear down all the more. On the other hand, I can think of a man in my
neighborhood who for all the years I've known him has done nothing with his life. He
spends whole days smoking and looking at cars going by. He is a burnedout case.
Somewhere in the past his problems must have become too much for him, and he
gave up. He could have found meaning in his life by deciding to fight his troubles
like Jim, but he didn't, and now he is a sad shadow of a man. Without determination
and the desire to face his hardships, he lost his chance to make his life meaningful.
In conclusion, I would strongly recommend Frankl’s book to persons who care

about why they are alive, and who want to truly think about the purpose and
meaning of their lives
Reflection Paper
The Reflection Paper is an assignment that invites you to draw on your own
experience. It is discipline and course specific and might take the form of a short paper
on course readings. Ghaffar (2014) opines that a strong reflection paper makes
insightful and unexpected connections using examples, re-evaluates prior assumptions,
develops narrative voice and a unique writing style, and incorporates brief quotes from
the course material.
Ghaffar (2014), further states that in the reflection paper, you:
• bridge comprehension of course readings with your knowledge and

experience in order to grasp the readings with greater depth
• integrate your knowledge and experience with course readings and concepts
by drawing on concrete examples
• question your assumptions about a course reading or service placement

opportunity; it also invites you to step back from your own prior beliefs and arrive
at a more complex, or new understanding of a reading, issue, or life experience
In addition, you may do the following when you write a reflection paper:
(a) Identify a fascinating issue, or concept that arose out of the course material,
class discussion or service learning placement.
(b) Relate this to your experience and/or knowledge; you can also start with your
experience and connect it to the course material.
(c) Consider how (a) helps to understand or even challenge (b) and vice versa.
(d) What are the implications of this in terms of your intellectual development,
individual growth and/or understanding, or career goals?
Examples from Reflection Papers
Subject Explanation Example

Management: Brings in When I saw the poster advertising Ai
reflect on a experience to Wewei’s exhibition at the AGO, I felt a sense
branding campaign probe course of belonging, since I come from China. I
material… was already aware that Ai Weiwei was a
provocateur and that his show was banned
in China; and this made it seem that much
more enticing, as I might never have a
chance to see it in China. When I later
reflected on this experience, I realized that
effective advertising elicits a profoundly
personal connection from the viewer.
English Literature: Re-evaluates Personally, I don’t think Chesterton’s
reflect on an essay prior description of the colour brown as “the
assumptions… primal twilight of creation” is hyperbolical at
all; in fact, brown is the colour of the earth,
from which mostly everything grows, and
which thus supports existence. More
importantly, the earth in itself is literally
primal, as it was a prerequisite for creation
of any kind. Thinking about the colour
brown in these terms made me question my
initial assumption that brown is a boring
colour.
Psychology: reflect Draws on your One type of social influence I have
on social media knowledge to experienced online is interpersonal. My
explain a personal experience using online gaming
concept… demonstrates the interpersonal dimension
of social influence discussed in tutorial.
Players are motivated to form into
organized groups in massive multiplayer
online games. When forming these groups,
various roles are played in order to
accomplish collective goals within the
group. Some of the roles include trading
information to reach a destination or goal,
while still trying to be the best player in the
group.
Service Learning: Illustrates what During my placement at CAMH working
reflect on service you have with a neuropsychiatric, I developed
placement learned from personal initiative. For example, I read the
your service articles written by the principle investigator.
placement… When he learned I was engaged at a
practical and academic level with his work,
he allocated more tasks to me. This helped
me to develop my confidence and to
bridge my academic knowledge of
neuroscience with the complexities of
working in lab where the results are not
always as cut-and-dry as they appear in a
textbook.
Technical Papers
A technical paper is a paper that reports the findings of research. It may be

written for presentation at a conference or symposium. It may also be for publication.
The Main Components of Technical Papers
1. Abstract
2. Introduction
3. Methods
4. Results and Discussions
5. Conclusions
6. References
7. Biography
Abstract. The abstract is a brief summary of the contents of your paper.
Introduction. The purpose of this section is threefold. First, you want to trace previous
work on the subject and set up the problem. Second, you need to identify how your
paper addresses that problem. That is key: explaining what you do to address the gaps
of literature or problem of the paper. Finally, you should note the broader contributions
and implications of the piece. I like to think that the contributions of a paper can be
theoretical, empirical and/or policy relevant, although often the papers published in
top journals have all three.
Data and methods. This section answers the question “How do you know what you
know?” That can be further broken down into three parts:
▪ On what kind of information or material are you basing your findings (e.g., interviews,
statistics, documents)?
▪ How did you find that information, or where did it come from (e.g., U.S. Census,
National Archives, fieldwork)?
▪ How did you analyze that information? That is, what software or analytic strategies
did you use to come up with your findings?
Results. This section contains the meat of the paper, where you present the findings
from your work, and you should keep two points in mind. First, make sure that your
results speak to the theoretical and empirical questions that your paper raises in the
front half -- in other words, that your paper is cohesive throughout. Second, and
particularly for qualitative papers, organize your results analytically or thematically --
not, for example, in chronological order or according to some other simple accounting.
You should be thoughtful about how to present your results to get the most out of your
findings.
Discussion or conclusion. You may also find a combined discussion and conclusion
at the end of the paper. What are the differences between a discussion and a
conclusion? That can vary by author or paper, and it depends on how you have written
up your results section. One way you can think about it is that the discussion section
allows you to step back from the results section and reflect on the broader story or
themes of your results and how they tie together. If you see a discussion section this
way, then you can think about a conclusion as addressing three things: 1) summarizing
what you did in the paper, including its main findings, 2) acknowledging the limitations
of your work and 3) proposing steps for future research that builds on what you’ve done
in the paper.
1. Why should we publish technical papers in journals or present in conferences?
2. How is a technical paper organized?
ASSESSMENT 2
Write a reflection paper based on the question:
“Do you sometimes take time to clarify your values in a moment of doubt or
uncertainty?”
ASSESSMENT 3
Look for a published journal online and outline the essential parts of the technical paper
by filling out the repertory grid below.
Title of the Technical paper:

_____________________________________________________________________________________
Author (s): __________________________________________________________________________
Year of Publication: ___________________________________
Introduction
(What is the
technical paper’s
purpose?
What are the
problems being
addressed by the
paper?)
Methodology
(On what kind of
information or
material were the
findings based?
How were the
information found?
How was the
information
analyzed? )
Results
(What are the salient
findings of the work?)
Conclusion
(Summarize the
information of the
technical paper.)
Reading Activity: Read the sample literature review and describe how it is written
Source: Writing a literature review.
https://www.deakin.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0009/2254869/Literature-review-sample-and-
language-tips_Deakin-Study-Support.pdf
Writing Activity:
Choose a topic that you would like to review. Read at least 5 research articles on that topic that are
published in journals. Write a literature review.
Language Focus: Discourse Markers to structure formal writing
How are paragraphs linked together?

In much the same way that ideas within a paragraph are linked, a new paragraph must be linked
in some way with the previous one. This, too, necessitates the use of discourse markers.
In the table below are some different ways in which the opening of a paragraph can link back to
what has happened before. The three basic types of paragraph-paragraph relationship are :
reinforcement of idea; contrast of ideas; and concession. Indicating these relationships builds a
'bridge' between paragraphs and makes reading the text easier.
Relationship with previous Possible linguistic formula
paragraph: Reinforcement a) A further example of this phenomenon can be seen in
of idea Foucault's work.
b) Jones (1999) further demonstrates this point in his most
recent research.

paragraph: Contrast of a) Jones, meanwhile/on the other hand, expresses this
ideas notion as 'self-defence'.
b) This argument is not, however, accepted by all critics.
For instance, Smith (1999) holds that....

paragraph: Concession a) Although the ideas of Jones (1999) are interesting and
useful, they do not take account of the growing problems
of identity theft.
b) While Roberts (2006) emphasises the importance of
Foucault's notion of the panopticon, the opposite view is
held by other commentators. For example,...
A literature review should flow between sentences as well as paragraphs. One way to
connect each theme to the next, is to use linking phrases to show agreement and
disagreement between studies.
Examples of phrases that you can use to express agreement: A number of studies
located some changes in the voting patterns of the age group (Hodges 2012; Leong,
2009; Magnussen, 2009; Nyugen 2011).
Ngyuen (2011) and Smith (2016) concur that …
Both Ngyuen (2011) and Smith (2016) have argued that …
Examples of phrases that you can use to express disagreement:
Tropea’s study differs from Rippleside’s in a number of respects.
By contrast, Tropea (2014) argues that there are other reasons for the drop in voting
rates.
On the other hand, Assad’s analysis implies that this is not the underlying cause.
Tropea (2014:5), however, argues there are other reasons for the drop in voting rates in
Victoria, a point that Rippleside (2014) has failed to mention.
A number of studies located some changes in the voting patterns of the age group
(Hodges 2012; Leong, 2009; Magnussen, 2009; Nyugen 2011), while some others
(Rippleside 2010; Tropea, 2014; Underwood 2011) concluded that in several states of
Australia, there had been very little change.
UNIT V. COMMUNICATION TOOLS
Objectives:
At the end of the unit, you are expected to:
1. present a topic following the strategies on effective oral presentation;

2. determine appropriate technology for specific communication contexts; and
3. evaluate websites based on a list of criteria.
Lesson 1: Presentations as Modes of Communication

The common mode we use in conveying our message or ideas is oral
communication. At school, you engage in numerous speaking activities such as oral
presentations. As future professionals, you must be skilled not only in writing but in
presenting ideas orally as well. You need to plan ahead to prepare your visual aids
which include a power point presentation where you apply your skills on computer
technology.
According to Woolever (2007), engineers, scientists, and others who work in

business and industry frequently give presentations at business meetings, seminars,
conferences, trade shows, public hearings, and corporate training sessions.
Types of Presentations
1. Explanatory presentations: explaining complex technology to a group unfamiliar

with the material. For example, a scientist might explain the effects of a new
drug to a hospital staff or to an interested lay audience.
2. Descriptive presentations: describing action taken or project phases completed.

For example, an engineer might describe for the client steps taken in the first
phase of an environmental clean- up project.
3. Persuasive presentations: persuading an audience of the value or safety of a

product, technology, or idea. For example, a marketing manager might need to
convince potential customers to trust—and then to purchase—a newly
developed product.
Planning and Researching
When you plan your presentation, you have to consider major factors such as
audience, method of delivery (including the visual aids), and venue. All these will add
dimensions to the planning process. You can organize ideas about your presentation
into a planning grid.
Organizing
The structure of an oral presentation can often follow a simple four-part plan:
• Introduction
• Body
• Closing
• Question and answer period
Introduction Strategy
Connect
The introduction is key to connecting with the audience and breaking the ice a
bit. Think ahead about ways you might get your audience's attention. Several questions
might give you some ideas: Why is your topic important to your listeners? How will it
benefit them? What are your credentials to explain the topic to them? How do your
interests and theirs connect? Providing answers to these questions at the beginning of
your talk will put the audience at ease and indicate to them that what you say is
specifically relevant to them.
Set the Agenda
Explain to the audience at the outset what you're going to talk about and how
you plan to organize the discussion. If you have organized your talk into three sections,
say so. If you plan to cover several key points, predict them up front. Setting listener
expectations in this way relaxes the audience and gives them a sense that you know
exactly where you're going and they can trust you to take them there. You might also
want to suggest at the beginning that you will take questions during your talk, or that
you will field questions and comments at the end of your presentation—or both.
Make Eye Contact
From the first moment, be sure you look directly at your listeners—all of them, not
just one section of the room. Speakers who make frequent eye contact with their
audience exude confidence and keep their listeners' attention much more easily. Try
not to stare at your notes, raising your head only occasionally to punctuate a point.
Presenting the Body
The "meat" of the presentation is the body—the middle section where you
present your subject matter in a clear fashion, where members of your audience are
listening, not reading, and therefore do not have the luxury of rereading or reflecting on
the material at their own pace. You thus have to present the information in ways that
allow listeners to understand it without the benefit of studying it. Here are a few
guidelines for presenting the body of your talk effectively:
Emphasize Structure
Keep listeners oriented to the organization of your material by using cues: first,
second, third... or next, finally ... or for example, in contrast, consequently..., and so
forth. These transitional cues give the audience a sense of direction and allow them to
see more clearly how the points you make fit together.
Summarize Frequently
Every time you shift topics or move to a new component of your presentation,
help the listeners follow you by summarizing briefly what you've just said, and predict
what's coming next. For example, you might say, "As you can see, then, the problems
are threefold: cost, availability, and quality. The next step is to find the best solution.. . ."
These summaries act as mental checkpoints for the audience and permit them to focus
on your ideas in clear, concise units
Use Visual Aids
Because people comprehend material in a variety of ways, it's important to

provide visuals to support the words you're speaking.
Relate Material to Audience's Needs
As is true with any effective communication, you need to continually illustrate

why the information you're presenting is useful for the specific listeners. The more you
can tie your points to something the audience is familiar with, the more interested they
will be and the more they will remember what you have to say.
Use Simple, Direct Language
Remember that the audience is not able to read and reflect on your subject, so
you need to use words they can understand quickly and easily. That doesn't mean you
should be simplistic in your language, but it does mean that you should use only terms
that are concise and clear to the majority of your listeners. Don't use 50-cent words
when 25-cent ones will do.
Vary your Sentences
Just as in prose, variety lends drama and creates interest. Convey Your Interest.
Vary your tone and volume to show genuine interest in your material and your
audience.
Pace Yourself
Slow down. Speak at a pace that allows your listeners to follow your points
without the frustration of trying to keep up with you. (It's the rare speaker that moves
through a presentation too slowly, but check yourself to make sure you create an
effective balance in your delivery between too slow and too fast.) This is one aspect of
your talk where practice is essential. If you can practice in front of a trial audience, so
much the better.
Closing Techniques
The closing is the point in your presentation where you have a chance to leave a
lasting impression. Debate teams are always given the advice to save their "zingers" for
the end because that will impress the audience (and the judges) most. In oral
presentations given at companies or conferences, the technique still works. If you want
to improve your chances for memorable closings, follow these guidelines:
Restate the Main Points
Although summarizing your main points once again may seem redundant to
you, it may not seem so to your audience. This is the only time you have to focus all of
your information for the audience in a way that they can comprehend easily. The
earlier summaries you have included in the body of your talk have been only partial.
Outline a plan for the next step. How should the audience use the information
you've given them? Answering this question emphasizes the usefulness of your material,
and it also gives your listeners a sense of direction. They are more likely to remember
and act on your ideas if you have suggested ways to do so.
End Strongly and Positively
Finish your presentation with enthusiasm for your material and a strong final
statement of its benefits. Be natural; if you suddenly change your tone to blatant
marketing language, the audience will feel manipulated. Let the strength of the rest of
your presentation work for you here. End firmly and positively without the need for a
sales pitch.
Handling the Question and Answer Period
After you have finished your presentation, it is customary to ask if the audience
has any questions. You may have fielded questions earlier in your talk, but it helps to
save some time at the end for people to respond to the entire presentation. If no one
has questions, then a simple "thank you" will serve as a nice ending. But if there are
questions, you need to know how to handle them.
Take Questions from a Variety of People. Don't focus on just one questioner and devote
most of your time there. Let as many people as possible speak.
Indicate When You Don't Know the Answers
If you are asked a question you can't answer, avoid the temptation to fudge a
reply. Instead, simply say that you don't know and turn the question back to the
audience. Perhaps someone else will be able to supply the answer. You may want to
indicate how the questioners can find out the information. Point them in the right
direction. If you can reasonably do so, commit to getting an answer for a questioner at
a later time (and keep the commitment).
Remain Even-Tempered
Occasionally, you may find audience members responding to you with hostility
or goading you to react emotionally. Don't rise to the bait. You will be more impressive if
you keep your cool and answer such hecklers with calmness rather than anger.
Sometimes humor at your own expense deflects such disruptive comments, but be
careful not to direct any humorous remarks at the questioner. Doing so may be
interpreted as making fun of the person.
End the Question Period Appropriately
Keep in mind that some people like to ask a lot of questions. You need to watch
the clock and not let the question period drift to the point where the majority of listeners
become restless. You may be cutting into the time of the next speaker, or into the busy
schedule of your audience who need to get off to their respective activities.
Designing Visuals
Types of Visual Aids
There are two types of visuals used to supplement speeches and presentations:
text visuals and graphic visuals. Good presentations contain a combination of both,
and simplicity is the key to designing them effectively.
1. Text Visuals
Text visuals consist of words or phrases that help the audience follow the flow of
ideas. They can summarize or preview major points or signal major shifts in thought.
Many presentations begin with text visuals. Typically, the first is the equivalent of a title
page: it announces the subject and the speaker. The second lists the three or four major
points that will be covered, providing a road map of what's to come. The remaining
ones emphasize the transitions between the main points— somewhat like the headings
in a written report. As a rule, your text visuals will be most effective when they contain
no more than six lines with a maximum of six words per line. Type them in large, clear
type, using uppercase and lowercase letters (not all uppercase) with extra white space
between the lines of type.
2. Graphic Visuals
You can use a variety of graphic visuals in an oral presentation the same way
you use graphics in a written document: from line, pie, bar, and organization charts to
diagrams, maps, drawings, tables, and flowcharts. However, make sure the graphics
you use for your talk are simplified versions of those that appear in written work.
Eliminate anything that is not absolutely essential, because the audience needs to
focus on the main point of the visual, not the decorative or explanatory material. As in
written documents, always label graphics with clear captions, but keep those simple,
too.
Guidelines for Preparing PowerPoint Presentations
Worthington and Jefferson (2018) gave the following guidelines for use with presentation
software such as PowerPoint:
◾ Select landscape layout for your slides. It gives you longer lines for your text.
◾ Give each slide a title or heading.
◾ Select a font that the audience can easily read from a distance, such as Times New Roman Bold or
Arial Black.
◾ Use serif fonts to improve readability. Because sans serif fonts present a cleaner, crisper image,
use these fonts for titles of slides.
◾ Choose a font size that is readable and that suggests the importance of elements on the slide.
Generally, these sizes are appropriate:
• Titles: 24–36 points
• Other text: 18–24 points
• Source notes: 14–16 points
◾ Capitalize the first letter of important words in titles of slides. Words that are in all uppercase
letters are difficult to read.
◾ In bulleted lists, capitalize only the initial letter of the first word (and, of course, proper nouns
and proper adjectives).
◾ Use the Notes section as a reminder of your next point; specific facts, figures, or quotations;
cues when someone else will be advancing the slide; or reminders such as “Make eye
contact.”
◾ If you have clip art or an image that supports the text on a slide, place it in the lower right
corner.
◾ Keep slides simple and uncluttered. Use phrases and keywords and limit the number of lines
on a slide to six or fewer.
◾ If you use transition effects between slides, make the effect meaningful.
◾ On your speaker’s notes pages, number the slides so you can quickly move to a particular
slide when someone asks a question.
◾ Do not preset timings in your slides. If you advance the slides manually, you can pace yourself.
Web Based Presentations
Online presentation software is a cloud-based platform where you can login and
create presentations in the cloud. Unlike PowerPoint and other desktop applications,
there is no download required and you work on your presentations right online.
Benefits
Because online presentation software is in the cloud, and an advanced digital
technology, there are many benefits over traditional desktop presentation software:
• Unlimited file sizes. There are no storage issues in the cloud. This means you can
make a presentation as large as you’d like with videos, high-resolution images,
infographics, GIFs and more. If you’ve ever created a massive PowerPoint deck,
gone to save it and had the whole thing crash, you know what a huge benefit this
is. Not to mention the ability to use as much rich multimedia as you want, to make
your presentation more visual and appealing to audiences.
• Easy sharing. Because you’re building your presentation online, you’re also storing it
online, meaning you don’t have to send a huge PDF or zip drive file. You can simply
send a link when your presentation is ready to be viewed. Not only is this easy for
you to do, but it’s easy for the recipient to click on it and instantly view your
presentation.
• Analytics. As with anything stored in the cloud, online software allows you to see
advanced analytics so you can view when your presentation has been viewed, for
how long and on what slides. You also can receive real-time notifications to know
when someone has clicked on your URL to view your presentation.
Jones, (2020) summarized the software for different online presentation as follows:
Which presentation software works best for...
Presentation Best For... Advantages Disadvantages

Software
PowerPoint, Google Presentation slides Most familiar Oversimplifies a topic,

Slides and KeyNote both in person and format with and limits
(Mac use only) online user and preparation. KeyNote
audience, is only for Mac
templates, devices.
embed media
Beautiful.ai Quick and easy Templates, Limited amount of

presentation slide library of background
development images, templates for free
adaptive account
layout design,
can download
to a pdf
Prezi Alternative to Present on Can only use

standard slideshow multiple templates, can cause
due to non-linear devices, a dizzy effect with
and zooming shareable, motion and zooming
feature, templates, of slides
presentation in embed media
person and online
Canva Presentations, Easy to use, Can be time

banners and many custom consuming to design
posters, design
inforgraphics, cards elements
Genially Interactive Easy to use, Best for online

presentations, visual can create presenting because
media, infographics custom media of interactive features
to embed in
websites or
blogs
Adobe Spark Social graphics, Easy to use, Best for online

web pages, videos, web and presenting, video
interactive stories mobile creation limit of 30
seconds
Piktochart Infographics Easy to use, Can be time

many custom consuming to design
design
elements
HOW TO KEEP YOUR AUDIENCE ENGAGED DURING AN ONLINE PRESENTATION
When you are presenting online, maintaining your audience’s attention presents
a unique set of challenges. What often works in in-person presentations – FASTER,
BIGGER, LOUDER! – doesn’t always translate to a virtual audience where the name of
the game is Engagement.
Understanding how to keep your audience engaged, and working with the
challenges of the medium and the technology, requires some strategic but necessary
adjustments in the design and delivery of your online presentation. Be sure to find the
right conference app as well.
Here are ways to ensure your audience keeps their eyes on your web presentation
according to Hansen (2016).
1. Increase your visibility.
The easiest and most effective way to increase your visibility is to use a webcam.
If you’re one of those camera shy individuals, at least have a simple slide with your
photo and credentials on it which you can show when you open and close, as well as
during Q&A. The more you can make yourself visible -- and not just a disembodied
voice -- the more engaged your audience will be.
2. Leverage your voice.
When you remove the physical component from your presentation, your voice
carries a much larger load. A monotone, unclear or hard-to-hear voice is magnified in
the virtual world. As your primary communication tool, you need to make sure you are
in your best possible voice.
Start by recording yourself and analyzing your strengths and weaknesses, then
get to work. There is plenty of advice online about how to improve various vocal
issues. At the least, do some simple warm-ups before your presentation. Just like a
great vocal artist, your money is where your mouth is, so don’t treat it lightly.
3 Embrace the pause.
Under the cover of invisibility, online audiences can be a very passive lot. As a
result, presenters have a tendency to go into long monologues that only further
discourage participation and encourage tune-out. Make friends with the pause.
It can be a great tool for giving your audience a chance to process what you’ve
said, ask a question, or make a comment. There are other strategic uses for the pause
as well. A pause before revealing something important can build anticipation, while
one at the end of a sentence can reinforce a key point.
4. Start on time.
Between connectivity and log-on issues, arrival times are rarely consistent among
audience members. As the host, how do you avoid frustrating the people who are on
time without penalizing the latecomers?
It is suggested that you have two openings. The first opening is a “soft” opening,
designed to get your audience engaged without revealing too much.
For example, a poll that your on-time audience can answer which leads into
your topic. Whatever your soft opening is, make sure that it is a) interesting, b) relevant
and c) not vital to your audience’s understanding of the topic.
The second opening is your hard opening, reserved for when everyone is in
attendance. This double opening is a bit more work, but pays off big by keeping
everyone happy.
5. Plan interaction.
In order to keep your audience engaged, you need to build some interaction
into your presentation. With the average focused attention span of humans hovering
around five minutes, sporadic attempts at interaction are not going to cut it.
Get your audience interacting before they hit the attention free fall by planning
some form of interaction every 4 to 5 minutes. This can take many forms, like a question,
a poll, or a white-boarding session.
Whatever you choose, just make sure you plan and prepare ahead of time so
interaction doesn’t fall by the wayside with everything else you have to keep track of.
6. Visually reinforce key points.
You can get away with using fewer slides during an in-person presentation
because it’s easier to gauge your audience’s comprehension by their expressions or
body language.
Places where you would naturally stop often get overlooked as on-line presenters
mistake audience silence for understanding.
To make sure you don’t leave your audience in the dust of confusion, prepare a
summary slide with key points covered after each section and stop to recap and take
questions.
7. Create word pictures.
In a virtual presentation, your words have to work even harder than in a live
presentation. Think about creating pictures with your words.
For instance, when describing something, use words that engage the senses.
(e.g., “it looks like a sunset,” or “it feels like a piece of crushed velvet.”) Be specific and
avoid broad generalities. (e.g., “it weighs 510 pounds” as opposed to “it’s really big.”)
Use personal stories or interesting comparisons. Listen to how your favorite

podcasters use their voice and descriptive words to draw you in.
8. Simplify your slides.
Have you ever decided not to watch a movie on that little airplane screen
because it would be too hard to follow? The same holds true for a web presentation.
Since you have no idea what size screen your audience is viewing your
presentation on (or what their connection is like), design your slides to work well on a
smaller screen. Small screens can multiply already busy graphics. Animations can
appear jerky or out of sync with your talk track.
Keep your graphics simple and crisp and limit your animations to simple fades
and transitions and you can avoid alienating any audience members.
9. Use purposeful movement
There is an area of the brain called the limbic system that is highly sensitive to
movement. Purposeful movement, i.e., changing slides or using your web tools to guide
your audience’s eyes to different areas on screen works in your favor. Random or
chaotic movement, i.e., jerky animations, a racing mouse, or rapid transitions work
against you. Wield the power of movement purposefully and wisely.
10. End the presentation on time.
While this applies to in-person presentations as well, ending on time plays even
greater importance in a web presentation where it’s easy for people to drop off or tune
out. Make it very clear upfront that you plan to stop at a specific time. When that
designated time arrives, deliver your closing and take any additional questions off-line
or schedule another call.
Keeping your virtual audience engaged is no small task. Understanding where

and how you are at risk for tune out and making some adjustments in your presentation
will help you achieve your goal and keep you from talking to yourself.
1. Why should we consider the technology we have to use in presentations.

2. How important is the introduction of your presentation?
3. How can you maintain your audience’ attention in face to face
presentation and online presentation?
ASSESSMENT 1
You have been set the task to speak about the history of space exploration,
including key individuals and major historic events. Write a short introduction to
the topic using the prompts below to organize your thoughts.
1. Refer to a local event or a recent event in the news

2. Tell a personal story
3. Read a quote
4. Ask a question
5. Refer to something that just happened in class
Lesson 2: Using Technology to Communicate
We are on the fourth industrial revolution and technology has altered the way
we work, live and relate with one another. As digital learners, you have been exposed
to various modes of communication technologies. The cellular phone allows you to talk
to someone, to send and receive e-mail, to surf the internet and even to download
music, videos or movies. Smart phones also allow online banking and remote control of
computers and other devices at work and at home.
The issue of communicating using technology is one you should be very familiar
with by now. One area of communication that is common to us is communicating with
people from around the word. The Internet, often called the Net, is a system of
computer networks that links computers from around the world in one large network.
Internet users can send email messages, chat with one another, post and read
messages on electronic bulletin boards, and gain access to databases and websites in
almost any place in the world.
Instant messaging, or “chat,” is real-time communication via the Internet. Instant

messaging can be used for chat rooms, but it can also allow two people to
communicate with one another over the internet or an online service.
Electronic commerce
One way that technology is transforming the way we communicate with each
other around the world is with the advent of electronic commerce. Electronic
commerce (E-commerce) is buying and selling merchandise and services over the
Internet. Many retail establishments have set up websites to advertise their goods and
services and to allow consumers to order these items from the comfort of their own
homes.
Managed Travel
The Internet is a valuable tool for travellers who need to schedule trips and to
book reservations. Instead of relying on travel agents, you can get on the web, use an
online booking agent, and book a plane trip, set up hotel reservations, and reserve a
rental car. You can also make restaurant reservations in larger cities. Similarly, the
Internet enables you to order tickets for music concerts, amusement parks, and sporting
events. Before you leave for your trip, you can use the Internet to research your
destination and even create a map of each of the cities you will be visiting.
Technology and Group Communication
Group communication is a key component of any organization. Often it is done

by conducting on-site meetings with project teams, staff members and other groups.
But technology has changed the way group communication occurs. Now, we have
software that enables multiple users to access the same document at the same time
and mark it for edits or other changes. You can also use group- based project-
management software to send project assignments to team members, then track the
assignments through completion.
Group or Collaborative Tools
Asynchronous Communication
Asynchronous means sending the communication at one time and the receivers
retrieve or access it at their convenience. Email is an example of an asynchronous
communication.
Synchronous Communication
Synchronous communication means at the same time, or real-time. In

synchronous distance education, teachers and learners are connected at the same
time and communicate in real time. This is much like going to class where the teacher
and students are physically present.
Teleconferencing
A teleconference is where the participants are at two or more locations and can
participate in a conference without traveling; it is a form of synchronous
communication. Teleconference can be an audioconference or a videoconference. In
addition to businesses, medical facilities are using teleconferencing nowadays.
Teleworking
We are beginning to witness another transformation of the workplace. In the pre-

industrial era, workers lived mostly in isolation. The industrial era brought people
together into cities and factories to work in a structured environment. The information
age is returning workers to their homes where they are physically isolated, yet
connected via modern technology to the virtual office.
Within this decade, it is predicted that many changes will occur regarding who is
using technology to get their jobs done. Technology will permeate almost every
business practice and drive enormous strategic and practical progress. Gone will be
most secretarial and administrative jobs. Also, managers will have to focus on
measuring efficiency and productivity rather than on tracking a group of employees
and tasks.
Telework means using telecommunications to work wherever you need to in

order to satisfy client needs. This could mean from a home office, a telework center, a
satellite office, a client’s office, an airport lounge, a hotel room, the local Starbucks, or
from your office to a colleague ten floors below the same building
The Digital Workplace
The digital workplace is widely acknowledged for optimizing workers’

productivity. The digital workplace breaks down barriers between people, information,
and processes, thereby enabling workers to do their jobs more efficiently and
effectively.
Software Tools Service Provided Workplace Solutions

Business Applications Provides employees •Human Resources
access to online •Customer Relationship
applications •Management
•Enterprise Resource
Planning
•Help desk
•Accounting & Payroll
• Contract Management
Messaging Provides inexpensive and • Instant messaging
fast way to communicate • Mobile messaging
• E-mail
• Blogging
• E-mail Marketing
Communication Provides effective • Portals and Intranet
information sharing • Chat-based
communication
• Video conferencing
• Voice over IP (VOIP)
• Helpdesk
Productivity Reduces time and • Word processing
increase efficiency of • Presentation software
employees • Spreadsheet
• Document management
• Backup storage
• Employee time tracking
• Survey and campaign
monitoring
Collaboration Provides effective •Teamwork
collaboration between • Online meeting
employees and customers • Team rooms
• Web conferencing
• File sharing
Workplace Mobility Provides employees •Mobile and smart phone
access to tools away from • Laptop and tablet
the office • Home office
Evaluating Websites
Undoubtedly, when you are asked to present in class or in the workplace, you
use the internet as your source of information. With the abundance of information
available, you must be discriminating in your information search. You must examine the
reliability of the information you are searching. Here’s a sample comparison of two
websites that you may consider.
Title of web page you are Title of web page you are
evaluating: evaluating:
World Factbook-Turkey World Factbook-Turkey
1. Look at the URL:
Personal page or site? U.S. Government Site Travel Site
What type of domain is it? Is it ____.com __X_.com
appropriate for the content? ____.org/.net ____.org/.net
__X_. gov/mil ____. gov/mil
____other ____other
Who is the publisher? Does the Publisher or Domain Name: Publisher or Domain Name:
publisher make sense? Does it U.S. Central Intelligence Agency Turkey-eztravel.com—makes
correspond to the name of the (CIA)—makes sense sense
site?
2. Scan the page
Who wrote the page? ______name: CIA staff ____Name: no author listed
______email: ____E-mail:
Is there a date? Date: May 2017 Date: _____

Is it current or old? Current enough? Yes Current enough? _______
Credentials on this Evidence? Evidence?
3. Look for these
indicators of quality
Are sources well-documented? Good documentation Little documentation on sources
Is the information complete? Seems complete, thorough General information with less
Is it altered or made up? detail. No negative information.
Are there links to other Links to other Factbook sources, Links to hotels, car rental,
sources? Do they work? Not other sites tourism sites
Are other viewpoints included? Mostly information, facts Seems like only positive
Is the information biased? information and viewpoints
4. What do others say
about the site?
Who links to this site? Many or few? Many links Many or few? Some
Opinions of it? Seem favorable Opinions of it? No negative
opinions found
Look up the author on a search N/A N/A
engine
5. Does it all add up?
Why was this page put out on ___X_Inform (facts, data) __X_ Inform (facts, data)
the Web? _____Explain _____Explain
_____Sell __X__Sell
_____Share _____Share
_____Persuade _____Persuade
_____entice __X__Entice
_____Other:______ _____Other:______
Possibly ironic? Satire or
Parody?
Is the information as good as Seems like a good source. Okay for basic facts but does
other sources? Includes positive and negative not provide any negative
information information
Web Page Information—Evaluation
Thinking about the site:
• Who is responsible for the information on the website?

• When was the site last updated?
• When was the information on the site last written?
• Does the information seem current or out or date?
• Has it won any awards? (Is there a link that gives information about the award?)
Thinking about the author of the site:
• Who is the author of the information on this site?

• What information can you find out about the author?
• Does the author seem to have the authority or knowledge to write about this
topic?
• Does the site provide a section with information on the author or organization
that published the site?
Thinking about the audience for the site:
• Does the site seem to have a specific audience?

• Does the site have advertisements? If so, what kind?
• If there are advertisements, do they tell you something about the intended
audience for the site?
Thinking about information found on the site:
• Has the information been published someplace other than the Internet?
• Is the information clear and easy to understand?
• If the information is controversial, is more than one point of view presented?
• Can you tell what information on the site is factual and what is opinion?
• Is quoted information clearly identified and properly cited?
Overall, this site:
__________Would help me a lot with my assignment
__________Links me to other sites that are helpful
__________Looks helpful but the information is too technical or hard to understand
__________Is more an advertisement than information I can use
__________Seems to be just one person’s or group’s opinion or may not be reliable
1. With the availability of information in the internet, how would you evaluate the
reliability of information?
2. Which among the collaborative tools do you consider very useful?
3. Do you believe that a digital workplace is effective?
ASSESSMENT
Assume that you need to make travel arrangements for your supervisor. She will
be travelling to South Korea for a sales convention. Using the Internet, find at least three
options for air travel, hotel reservations, and car rental. Remember that you want to be
frugal but not cheap. Prepare the information in a table.
Air Travel Hotel Reservations Car Rental
Airline Price Hotel Price Company Price
Reading Activity
Reading Activity
Increase in online chatting has adverse effects on reading skills worldwide
The worldwide deterioration of reading skills due to the increase in online chatting is continuing
per country. This is the conclusion of a study by researcher Hans Luyten from the University of
Twente. He studied the data from the international PISA-surveys (Programme for International
Student Assessment) in 2009 and 2018 in 63 countries. This was part of a large-scale
comparative research study conducted under the auspices of the OESO. During that period,
online chatting increased significantly in almost every country, but the rate of increase varied
considerably from country to country. In Japan, for example, the percentage of students
chatting daily increased from 9 percent to 85 percent, whereas the increase in Russia was
much lower (from 42 percent to 58 percent).
In recent decades, the rise of information and communication technology (ICT) has greatly
influenced the lives of people around the world. Gradually we also started to read more and
more on a screen, while a few decades ago we still read everything in paper form. The rise of
online chatting was a remarkable development in the first 20 years of the 21st century. There is
a risk that digital media can encourage superficial reading strategies, such as scanning,
skimming, and browsing, at the expense of more time-consuming strategies that allow for
deeper understanding.
The research shows a strong correlation between the country-by-country increase in online
chatting among 15-year-olds and the country-by-country decline in both reading skills and
awareness of helpful reading strategies. The rise in online chat is the cause of a loss of about 25
score points on the PISA reading scale. Such a drop implies that an average student (who
would have previously scored at the 50th percentile) would drop to the 40th percentile.
"While it is important to recognize the adverse effects of online chatting, efforts to reduce this
phenomenon seem unrealistic and pointless. Banning online chatting to improve reading skills
is just as radical as promoting a return to poverty to rid the world of obesity and other wealth-
related health problems," according to Hans Luyten.
The results suggest that a focus on mastering useful reading strategies in reading education is
necessary to maintain reading skills. The increased chatting in 2009–2018 has undeniably
coincided with a declining awareness of such strategies. It seems that students need more
support and stimulation than before to gain their awareness and mastery of useful reading
strategies.
Source: Elshout, J. (2021). Increase in online chatting has adverse effects on reading skills worldwide.
Retrieved from https://phys.org/news/2021-12-online-chatting-adverse-effects-skills.html
Discussion questions:
1. How does online chatting affect the reading skills of children?

2. Why do you think online chatting is detrimental to the reading skills of students?
3. What reading strategies can be more effective with the use of technology?
4. Share your own reading strategies using online tools.
Writing Task
Write an email to a colleague instructing him how to prepare an oral presentation.
Speaking Task: Record a video presentation on your advocacy project. Observe the
guidelines in preparing power point presentation for online audience.
Listening task: Watch a TED Talk presentation and observe how the speaker addressed
his or her audience.
Language Activity: Use modals, the passive form of verbs, and the discourse markers
below in a group conversation about digital or online tools you use in communicating
for academic projects.
Function Discourse markers, linking phrases

Sequencing - First, the first thing, first of all, firstly, the next one, to begin with,
ordering moving on to the next reason, secondly, thirdly, subsequently, on
information top of that, later, after this, finally
Adding Another thing that comes to mind, also, and, besides, additionally,
information another good example of this is, another reason for this, and one
more thing
Indicating Unfortunately, however, actually, to be honest, definitely,
opinion and essentially, frankly, basically, clearly, I'm afraid, if you ask me, sadly,
attitude thankfully, in fact, seriously, as a matter of fact
Comparing Similarly, in the same way, equally, likewise, in a similar fashion, if I
compare it to my country
Contrasting However, although, instead of, despite, on one hand, on the other
hand, in the opposite way, in contrast, whereas
Giving A great example of this is, for example, for instance, a personal
examples example is, in other words, a striking example of this, a classic
example is, a clear example of this can be seen, such as, illustrated
by
Stalling Let me think about that..., that's a difficult/interesting question, I
haven't thought of that before, well..., actually, basically
Result As a result, because of this, therefore, consequently, so, then
Generalising Generally, broadly speaking, as a rule, on the whole, it is often said
that..., in most cases, the vast majority of, a small minority of
UNIT VI. COMMUNICATION FOR WORK PURPOSES
Objectives:
At the end of the unit, you are expected to:
1. discuss the guidelines in creating effective communication materials;

2. explain procedures for communicating in the workplace; and
3. prepare communication materials related to your field of specialization.
Lesson 1: Workplace Communication

There is no denying the importance of communication in the workplace,
considering the fact that in an organization people belonging to different social and
professional backgrounds come together to work for the same goals. Often it is seen
that administrators do not realize the importance of communication at work and thus
do not convey their ideas, organizational goals, vision, etc. very clearly. When
administrators in an organization are unable to create an environment which promotes
open and clear communication, it can have negative repercussions on the work
culture and the employee productivity.
The importance of effective workplace communication are discussed below:
Creates job satisfaction- Organizations which encourage an open and easy

correspondence between seniors and subordinates face lesser employee
turnover. If the work environment is friendly where the subordinates are
encouraged to communicate their ideas to their administrators regarding work-
related issues, and their feedback is given due consideration, it motivates the
employees to work better and makes them feel valued in the organization. Thus,
effective communication in the workplace helps in building loyalty and trust
which eventually attributes to greater job satisfaction.
Lesser conflicts- Open communication in the workplace can help prevent and
resolve many conflicts. Workplace conflicts are easily resolved through open and
clear communication and mutual discussions; this can lead to personal and
professional growth.
Increases productivity- Effective communication at work is the most important
issue for the success and failure of an organization. Every organization has a set
of clearly defined goals, objectives and vision. If an administrator is clear in
his/her communication, the subordinates will know exactly what the organization
wants and thus, will be able to deliver the same to the best of their abilities. Thus,
the importance of communication skills can be judged from the fact that it leads
to better deliverance of work, increasing workplace productivity.
Formation of relationships- Open communication, whether between the

employees and administrators or between the management and employees,
leads to the formation of better personal and professional relationships. This
makes the employees feel genuinely cared for and valued, and they are more
likely to remain loyal to the organization. This creates a friendly environment and
promotes a better working relationship which is conducive to the work.
Proper utilization of resources- If an organization faces problems, crisis and

conflicts due to miscommunication between the staff members, it causes
unnecessary delays in the daily work. This leads to wastage of resources and
lowers the overall work productivity. Thus, an environment of good
communication is a must for any organization to better utilize its resources and
increase productivity.
Each of us belongs to several different organizations. For example, you may

belong to one or more business organizations, perhaps as an employee, supervisor, or
even investor. As a student you are a member of an educational organization. You
may also belong to a church, student club, and community service organizations, and,
of course, we are all members of local, state, and national government organizations.
In short, our workplace is one of many organizations to which we belong. In other
words, organizations are social collectives, or groups of people, in which activities are
coordinated to achieve both individual and collective goals.
Being communicatively competent in the workplace involves understanding

how the context of the organization influences communication processes and how the
symbolic nature of communication differentiates it from other forms of organizational
behavior. We define organizational communication as the ways in which groups of
people both maintain structure and order through their symbolic interactions and allow
individual actors the freedom to accomplish their goals. This definition recognizes that
communication is the primary tool to influence organizations and gain access to
organizational resources. To better understand key characteristics of workplace
communication, you should recognize that there are different types of organizations
and different types of communication networks within organizations. (Pearson, Nelson&
Harter (2011).
Communication Networks
Competent workplace communicators understand that the workplace

comprises multiple communication networks. Communication networks are patterns of
relationships through which information flows in an organization. Stohl (1995) describes
communication networks as capturing “the tapestry of relationships—the complex web
of affiliations among individuals and organizations as they are woven through the
collaborative threads of communication” (p. 18). Communication networks emerge in
organizations based on formal and informal communication (Stohl & Stohl, 2005).
Formal communication consists of messages that follow prescribed channels of

communication throughout the organization. The most common way of depicting
formal communication networks is with organizational charts. Organizational charts
provide clear guidelines as to who is responsible for a given task and which employees
are responsible for others’ performance. Organizational charts demonstrate that
communication can flow in several directions: downward, upward, and horizontally.
Downward communication occurs whenever superiors initiate messages to

subordinates. Ideally, downward communication should include such things as job
instructions, job rationale, policy and procedures, performance feedback, and
motivational appeals. Messages flowing from subordinates to superiors are labelled
upward communication. Obviously, effective decision making depends on timely,
accurate, and complete information traveling upward from subordinates. Messages
between members of an organization with equal power are labelled horizontal
communication.
Downward communication comes after upward communications have been

successfully established. This type of communication is needed in an organization to:
o Transmit vital information

o Give instructions
o Encourage 2-way discussion
o Announce decisions
o Seek cooperation
o Provide motivation
o Boost morale
o Increase efficiency
o Obtain feedback
Upward Communication
Upward communication is the flow of information from subordinates to superiors,

or from employees to management. Without upward communication, management
works in a vacuum, not knowing if messages have been received properly, or if other
problems exist in the organization.
Upward Communication is a means for staff to:

O Exchange information
O Offer ideas
O Express enthusiasm
O Achieve job satisfaction
O Provide feedback
Horizontal communication is important to organizational success when used to

coordinate tasks, solve problems, share information, and resolve conflict. Horizontal
communication receives much more attention in participatory organizational structures
in which employees have more opportunity to formally participate in decision making
(such as quality circles or autonomous work teams).
Horizontal communication normally involves coordinating information, and

allows people with the same or similar rank in an organization to cooperate or
collaborate.
Horizontal Communication is essential for:
O Solving problems
O Accomplishing tasks
O Improving teamwork
O Building goodwill
O Boosting efficiency
Informal communication is generally considered to be any interaction that does
not generally follow the formal structure of the organization but emerges out of natural
social interaction among organization members. Whereas formal communication
consists of messages the organization recognizes as official, informal messages do not
follow official lines. The concept of emergent organizational networks represents the
informal, naturally occurring patterns of communication relationships in organizations
(Susskind, Schwartz, Richards, & Johnson, 2005).
Competent Workplace Communication
Clearly, the ability to perceive accurately, use verbal and nonverbal symbols with
precision, and listen carefully are skills that benefit workplace.
Immediacy
When people engage in communication behaviors intended to create

perceptions of psychological closeness with others, they are enacting immediacy.
Immediacy can be both verbal and nonverbal. Smiling, reducing physical distance,
and using animated gestures and facial expressions are all examples of nonverbal
immediate behaviors whereas calling people by their first names, using “we” language,
and telling stories are examples of verbal immediacy behaviors. Although much
research exploring the positive effects of immediacy has taken place in classroom
setting, Teven, McCroskey, and Richmond (2006) reason that immediacy also should
influence workplace relationships between supervisors and subordinates. In their study
they found that supervisors who are immediate are perceived as more trustworthy,
higher in competence and goodwill, and more socially attractive. Moreover,
employees working with immediate supervisors tend to be more motivated and willing
to work hard. They conclude that organizations should devote greater attention to
helping their managers learn to use immediacy because of its positive effect on
workplace communication outcomes. Of course, as an entry-level employee you can
also use immediacy behaviors to develop positive relationships with your co-workers
and your supervisor.
Supportiveness
People engage in supportive communication when they listen with empathy,

acknowledge the feelings of others, and engage in dialogue to help others maintain a
sense of personal control. Of course, supportive communication is an important skill in
any context, including workplace settings. Research reviewed by Hopkins (2001)
suggests that supportive supervisor communication is one of the most significant factors
influencing employee morale.
To enhance your supportive communication skills, consider the following

strategies adapted from Albrecht and Bach’s (1997) discussion of supportive
communication:
1. Listen without judging. Being judgmental while listening to a co-worker’s

explanation of a problem can cause you to lose focus of what she or he is really saying.
2. Validate feelings. Even if you disagree with something your co-workers say,
validating their perceptions and feelings is an important step in building a trusting
relationship.
3. Provide both informational and relational messages. Supportive

communication involves both helping and healing messages. Providing a metaphorical
“shoulder to cry on” is equally as important as providing suggestions and advice.
4. Be confidential. When co-workers share feelings and personal reflections with
you, maintaining their trust and confidence is essential. Telling others or gossiping about
the issue will destroy your credibility as a trustworthy co-worker.
Interaction Management
Workplace communication is somewhat different from other types of

communication situations because conversations tend to flow between the technical
jargon associated with the workplace setting and other topics brought up to relieve
stress and pass time. Thus computer technicians might talk about megabytes and
megapixels one minute and speculate on who will be voted off Survivor the next.
Competent workplace communicators engage in interaction management to establish
a smooth pattern of interaction that allows a clear flow between topics and ideas.
Using pauses, changing pitch, carefully listening to topics being discussed, and
responding appropriately are skills related to interaction management.
Cross-Cultural Skills
If you speak English as a second language, you should emphasize cross cultural
skills initially to aid your transition to the workplace. First, you should ask more questions
to clarify instructions or expectations. Because you have both a new language and
potentially a new set of technical terms to learn in your workplace, questioning is the
most effective strategy for avoiding misunderstanding. In addition, you should pay
careful attention to your co-workers. By observing them and asking questions if
necessary, you can not only learn important vocabulary but also model interaction skills
with customers or clients.
Conflict Management Skills
Although the behavioral characteristics of competent communication are

desirable in all communication situations, they will not ensure that your workplace
communication is free from conflict. Workplace conflict can occur because of
mundane issues conflict management skills are not just desirable but necessary for
effective workplace communication. People often view conflict negatively because
they associate conflict with anger. However, conflict occurs anytime two or more
people have goals that they perceive to be incompatible. When one employee wants
to work late to finish a project and another wants to go home to be with his or her
family, conflict could occur. In short, workplace conflict is a fact of life—the rule rather
than the exception. A variety of techniques can be used to manage conflict
productively. Wilmot and Hocker (2005) suggest several approaches to managing
conflict:
Avoidance. With the avoidance style you deny the existence of conflict.
Although avoidance can provide you with time to think through a situation, continued
avoidance allows conflict to simmer and flare up with more intensity.
Competition. With the competition style you view conflict as a “battle” and
advance your own interests over those of others. Although the competitive style can be
necessary when quick decisions must be made or when you are strongly committed to
a position, this tactic can also be highly detrimental to the relationships between you
and your co-workers.
Compromise. With a compromising style you are willing to negotiate away some
of your position as long as the other party in the conflict is willing to do the same.
Compromise can be an effective strategy because it is a win-win proposition for both
parties, but when used too often, it can become a sophisticated form of conflict
avoidance.
Accommodation. With the accommodating style you set aside your views and
accept those of others. Accommodation can maintain harmony in relationships, but
this strategy is problematic in many situations because tacit acceptance of others’
views can stifle creative dialogue and decision making.
Collaboration. A collaborative style involves thoughtful negotiation and

reasoned compromise whereby both parties agree that the negotiated outcome is the
best possible alternative under the circumstance. Although collaboration takes more
time and effort to enact as a conflict management strategy, this approach typically
results in the best possible outcome for all parties involved.
Lesson 2: Business Letters
In the workplace, especially in business, letters serve a variety of purposes,

among them requests, claims, adjustments, sales, and goodwill responses. Letters are
an external, written channel of communication.
The tone of letters is usually conversational, but the degree of formality is

determined by the relationship between the sender and the receiver and the by the
purpose of the letter.
Parts of the letter
Letterhead
The letterhead is also called heading or return address. It is printed at the top of
a blank sheet containing all the information of the company. The letterhead displays
the organization’s official name, address, telephone and fax number, email address,
and website (if available). The letterhead may include a logo and an advertising
message such as Great Eastern Banking: A new brand of banking. It may also include a
contact person (if available).
Dateline
The dateline contains the exact date the letter was written. Since business letters
are formal letters, abbreviations or numerical dates are discouraged.
Inside Address
The inside address provides the correct recipient’s name and his or her job title or
courtesy title such as Mr., Ms., Dr., or Professor. The recipient’s address contains the
name of the department (if known and available), the company name, address and
postal code.
Salutation
The salutation is a form of common courtesy extended in business, typed double

space below the inside address or attention line. The degree of formality used in
salutations depends on how well the writer knows the reader.
Letterhead
___________________ Dateline
___________________
___________________ Inside address
___________________
___________________ Salutation
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
Message
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________ Complimentary Close
____________________ Signature Block
____________________ Notations
Figure 4. Basic parts of a business letter
The Body of the Letter
The body of the letter is the main part where one can find what the letter is
about. It contains two to three paragraphs that are either indented or arranged in a
block style. The first paragraph provides a brief introduction and the reason(s) why the
letter is written. The succeeding paragraphs are details and the information supporting
the reason(s) for writing. The last paragraph summarizes the content of the letter and
ends with a complete and clear purpose.
The Complimentary Close
The complimentary close calls for the ending of the letter in a short and polite
manner. Only the first word is written in capital letter and it ends with a comma.
Signature Block
The signature block appears three to four lines below the complimentary close.
The combination of name, title, and organization information should be arranged to
achieve a balanced look.
Optional Parts of a Business Letter
1. The subject line can be placed in three different locations in a business letter
with the word “Subject” or “RE” written either in bold or all capital letters. The
most common location is between the salutation and the body of the letter,
centered, and underlined. Another location can be at the right side of inside
address, or at the right side of the salutation.
2. The attention line can be typed in several locations: 1) centered and underlined,
before or after the salutation, or 2) written after the name of the company and
department on the inside address.
3. The enclosure notation is used when an enclosure or attachment accompanies
a document; a notation appears two lines below the reference initials.
4. The copy notation is used if you make copies of correspondence for other
individuals, you may use cc to indicate carbon copy, pc to indicate photocopy.
COVER LETTERS
A cover letter is a short letter introducing you and your resumé to an interviewer, and
it typically accompanies your resumé. Cover letters are persuasive documents that
function as an introduction, sales pitch, and overview of your qualifications as related
to the job description. Cover letters are important because they help ensure that your
resumé is read and help target your appeal for a particular job. As with any persuasive
document, a cover letter has four main sections: (1) attention, (2) interest, (3) desire,
and (4) action (Pearson, Nelson, Titsworth, & Harter (2011). The following are guidelines
in writing cover letters.
a. For salutation, use title and last name if available (e.g. Dear Dr. Smith or Dear
Ms. Jones). Do no use a first name unless you know the person well and are sure
this is acceptable. If you do not have a name for the salutation, use the title (e.g.
Dear Employment Manager).
b. For the first paragraph, gain attention and state purpose—indicate the
position or type of work for which you are applying. Mention how you heard
about the opening or the organization. You may also want to provide a general
overview of your qualifications for the position (functions as a preview statement
for your letter).
c. For the second paragraph, arouse interest and demonstrate desire—

summarize qualifications and describe enclosure. Here you want to describe
your major strengths as they relate to the position you are seeking. If possible,
mention one or two recent accomplishments that illustrate your proficiency and
effectiveness. The main idea is to create interest and show how your skills and
qualifications can be of value to the organization. Refer the reader to the
enclosed resumé for more detail on your qualifications and experience.
d. For the third paragraph, suggest action. Restate your strong interest in the
position of organization and your desire for a face-to-face meeting. Include a
statement about how the reader may contact you. Finally, express your
appreciation for the reader’s time or consideration.
Questions for Discussion:

1. How are business letters different from memorandums?
2. How are letters organized?
3. What are the purposes of letters in your own field?
4. What guidelines do you consider in letter writing?
COMMON MISTAKES
Here are five common mistakes you ought to avoid in your cover letter:
1. Don't focus on how the job will help you. You want to explain what you'll contribute to
your employer, not what your employer will do for you.
2. Don't use hyperbole. Exaggerations like 'Tm the best candidate for this job" sound like
sales tactics or bragging. Instead, make claims supported by evidence.
3. Don't claim that you have excellent communication skills. Show that you have good
writing skills by writing well. In a worse-case scenario, you say you have good writing ski!!s
bur your cover letter doesn't reflect char, so your hiring manager questions your ability co
self-assess.
4. Don't mention salary. Your first communication with a potential employer should as
mentioned before focus on what you can offer, nor what the company can offer you.
Even though employers know that employees work for money, mentioning salary this
soon in the process comes across as greedy.
5. Don't write more than one page. Most hiring managers won't turn to a second page,
so cur our unnecessary information until all that remains in your letter is the best evidence
that you're a good for the job (on one page)
HOW TO WRITE A RESUME

Your purpose in creating a resume and a cover letter and conducting an interview is to
get a job. However, you shouldn’t be satisfied with just any job. You want a job that fits
your immediate professional needs, including an adequate salary, duties that you're
capable of completing, a company culture that makes you comfortable, and
coworkers with whom you get along. You also want a job that will help you reach your
long-term professional goals. The job should be in your desired field or have the
potential to lead to said field. Your product is the physical resume, cover letter, or your
performance during the interview. The product should create a professional impression
on your audience-an impression you can create not only with the content you write,
but also with your writing style and document design.
If you’re serious about applying for a job, you ought to tailor your resume and cover
letter to that job so the hiring manager considers you as a top.
RESEARCH_________________
Starr by researching the company you're interested in. A simple online search should
reveal insights into the company culture. The ''About Us" section of the company
website is often especially helpful. If you have any professional contacts, ask them for
information. Ask key questions and take notes as you
search:
• What does the organization do?

• What makes this organization different from their competition?
• What are the organization's core values? Do they emphasize cost saving or
• do they prefer to see themselves as the cutting edge of their industry?
Depending on what you discover, you can decide how to present the information in
your resume and cover letter. For a company char values efficiency, you can include a
line about finishing projects ahead of schedule in your resume. In your cover letter, you
could share a story about how you managed your time in school so well that you never
missed a deadline.
LEARN THE JOB DESCRIPTION_______
Hiring managers complain that job candidates often don't really understand the
responsibilities of the jobs they apply for. Surprise them by reading the job description
thoroughly.
Try summarizing the job to a friend to ensure you understand what you're applying for.
Picture yourself doing the job, imagining challenges you might encounter and new
ideas you would like to implement. You can use some of those ideas in your cover
letter, and they definitely ought to come up in your interview. Many people who are
new to the workforce worry about meeting all the qualifications listed in a job
description. However, hiring managers know that they are unlikely to find a candidate
who meets every single one. Instead, think about the ways you are a march for the job
and put them in your cover letter.
ORGANIZATION____________________
Some hiring managers spend less than thirty seconds scanning a resume to decide if a
candidate meets the job qualifications. So you may have a limited opportunity to
convince an employer that you're right for the job. Resumes have conventions. These
conventions can be fluid, depending on the position or the
field, but there are some basics that remain the same. The best way to show you're a
strong candidate is to follow these basic conventions. The organization of a resume is
simple: in a document that's generally one page-bur can be expanded co a second
page co include relevant information-list your past work experience in reverse
chronological order. If you're a college student, you may nor have extensive work
experience, but you can and should also use volunteer experience, internships, and
coursework to show off your qualifications. You can refer to Appenxid B: Supplementary
Examples for sample resumes
RESUMES
• Header
• Education
• Work experience
• Volunteer Experience or
extracurricular activities
• Skills
• Awards and
Achievements
KEYWORDS
Many companies require candidates to enter their resume information in a digital

submission form in addition to the one-page resume. These online forms search through
your resume for keywords that relate to the industry and the job. The computer creates
a ranked list of candidates who march the most keywords. There's no need to write two
separate resumes (one for people and one for computers). Instead, incorporate
keywords into your resume. You can figure out what keywords the company is looking
for by reading the job description and looking at the company website. However, don't
copy the job description word for word, as it might look like you have nothing original to
contribute. Instead, use the key words and phrases naturally in your sentences. Imagine
that a position calls for a computer science major with great inter-personal skills,
Internee technology expertise, and experience with setup and maintenance of various
platforms. Your resume should include keywords from the job description to show that
you have the skills the employer is looking for. Let’s say you completed an internship
with a local IT company, which gave you direct experience working with several of the
required skills. Use the phrase accounts payable in your resume
Example: Processed hundreds of invoices per week in accounts payable department.

Maybe you don't have any accounting experience chat demonstrates your leadership
skills. You might have experience in a volunteer organization or in a school project
where you learned leadership. You can include a form of the keyword leadership in
what might otherwise seem to be irrelevant experience.
Example: Served as vice president of student association. Organized and led by

monthly activities with over one hundred participants
Header
The header of a resume contains your name, address, phone number, email address,
and website, if you have one. The font for your name should be a larger size than the
rest of the text so it catches the eye.
EDUCATION
If you're just beginning your career, your degree should come next. Your degrees should
be in reverse chronological order, with the most recent degree first.
Include:
• The name of the university or college and its location

• Your major
• Your minor
• Any distinctions you earned (such as magna cum laude)
• The month and year of your graduation (even if the date is in the future- your hiring
manager can figure it om)
• Your GPA (if it's impressive or if the employer requires it)
• If you want to include relevant coursework or school projects, include
them here or in the "Volunteer Experience" or "Extracurricular Activities" section.
WORK EXPERIENCE
This section includes your relevant work experience, including career-related jobs and
internships (even unpaid ones). For each job, include:
• Your job title
• The name of the company and its location
• The dates of employment (with the month and year)
• A bullet list of workplace accomplishments
The phrasing of your bullet list of accomplishments is critical for capturing a prospective
employer's attention. Use action verbs and brief phrases (nor complete sentences). Avoid
subjective traits like "creative innovator" or "great leadership skills:' Instead, focus on
measurable accomplishments. Any time you can use a number or derail to show the
scope of your work, do it. This is known as quantifying your work experience.
Example: Completed five marketing campaigns for Fortune 500 companies
Include between two and four bullet points for each job. Long lists are tiring to the eye,
and the hiring manager will likely move on to the next section before finishing a long list.
Volunteer Experience or Extracurricular Activities

If you don't have a lot of professional experience, you can include volunteer work or
extracurricular activities in a "Volunteer Experience" or "Extracurricular Activities" section.
Even if these experiences don't seem like they have a lot to do with your field of study,
you can show how your experiences have prepared you for the job you're applying for.
For example, if you've participated in student associations, clubs, volunteer groups,

student journals, or student projects, you can include them here. Follow the same
organization in this section that you did in the "Work Experience" section. Describe the
work you did and the qualities you learned, keeping the focus on measurable
accomplishments.
Skills
In the "Skills" section, list skills that are relevant to your industry. Some industries place
greater value on a set of measurable skills than others, so consult a mentor in your field
to find our if you need to include a "Skills" section at all. You don't need to list where or
when you learned each skill-just a short description of the skill or the name of the
technology and your level of mastery. This is an appropriate place to list foreign
languages spoken.
Awards and Achievements

Only include an ''Awards and Achievements" section if you have awards that are
relevant to the job. Academic awards such as scholarships for academic performance,
prizes in competitions, memberships in honors societies, and college and departmental
honors are all appropriate for inclusion in this section.
HOW TO MANAGE YOUR INTERVIEW
The interview is an opportunity for an employer to get to know strong candidates. Ar this
point in the process, your interviewer already thinks you have the skills to do the job, bur
he or she wants to learn about your personality and see how you'll fir with the team and
company. An interview is a chance for employers to learn about your communication
skills, work ethic, confidence, and personality. You'll probably feel nervous before going
in to an interview, especially if you don't have a lot of experience selling yourself to a
potential employer. Take ten minutes sometime before your interview to review your
strengths. If you dwell on your weaknesses or fears before you begin an interview, that
negativity might come across as a lack of confidence. If you focus on your strengths,
you'll feel more confident during your interview. Also, remember that not every job you
interview for will be the right job for you. Use the interview to evaluate your potential
employer. Do you think you will be happy in the day-to-day work at the company:' Will

the position be a good stepping stone for your career:' The interview is as much a chance
for your potential employers to impress you as it is for you to impress them.
PREPARE FOR QUESTIONS
You'll never be able to completely predict the questions an interviewer will ask. However,
if you know what interviewers generally want to get out of an interview, you can prepare
for that. Here are some potential interview questions and inquiries and why interviewers
ask them:
1. Tell me about yourself Interviewers usually use a question like this to break the ice and
help you feel more comfortable. While they might nor say it, this question is really about
your professional self. You don't have to talk about your personal life.
2. Why are you leaving your current job? If you just graduated from college, this question
is easy. Interviewers ask this question because they honestly want to know if you'll be
happy in the job they're offering. Be honest in answering this question, bur don't take the
opportunity to complain about your current job- you'll look like you have a negative
attitude.
3. Tell me about a time when Interviewers want to know how you'll handle challenges in
the job they're offering. They often gain more insight into your work style by evaluating
decisions you have made in the past, rather than asking you to speculate on how you'd
act in the future.
4. What interests you about this job? Interviewers genuinely want to know why you're
applying for the job. They may be looking for an employee who will stick it out for the
long haul, or they may want someone who loves tackling challenges. Since you can't
read their minds (and you don't want a job that doesn't for your goals), be honest.
5. What salary range are you looking for? This question is tricky, because interviewers often
already know how much they're willing to pay you, but if you name a lower figure, they
will march it without offering you their original (higher) rare. However, if you name a salary
chat's too high, you may price yourself our of the position. Research the marker rare
ahead of time to negotiate well for yourself. Before you get to the interview, brainstorm
questions you think you might be asked. Write down your answers, then rehearse them so
you get comfortable with saying them our loud. If you find a question difficult to answer,
practice it even more so you won't get caught off guard in your interview.

Reading Activity: Read the sample personal statement and highlight the personal
As a child I often accompanied my father to his small coin shop and spent hours watching
him work. When I was older, I sometimes set up displays, waited on customers, and even
balanced the books. This experience instilled in me the desire to own and manage my own
business someday, yet I understand that the business world today is more complex. This
complexity requires more education, and with that in mind, I am applying to the Master's of
Business Administration program at Indiana University Bloomington (IUB).
In addition to my helping out in my father’s business, I have had numerous other work
experiences that further enhance my qualifications for this program. My resume
enumerates the various positions I have held at Kerasotes Theaters, Chili's restaurants, and
Indiana University's new Student Recreational Sports Center (SRSC), and what all of these
positions have in common is an emphasis on serving the public effectively. Further, as an
assistant manager at the Showplace 11 and a staff coordinator at the SRSC, I have gained
valuable expertise in managing employees and creating work schedules. Both of these
positions have allowed me to develop my sales and people skills, which are extremely
important in an increasingly service-driven marketplace.
Not all of my work experience has been as a paid employee. Part of my volunteering
experience at Middleway House, the local battered women's shelter, involved extensive
work on computers, including word processing, organizing databases and creating
spreadsheets. Also, I recently participated in an internship program for academic credit
with the Eli Lilly corporation in the personnel division. As a management intern, I was able to
watch the workings of a major corporation up close and would like the opportunity to
combine my experiences with the theoretical background available in the MBA program
at IUB, with its emphasis on computers, marketing and human resources.
My successful internship is one element of my overall academic success as an

undergraduate here at IUB, yet I have also made time for a variety of extracurricular
activities, including working for my sorority and competing in intramural basketball. My
positive experiences here have resulted in my desire to stay in Bloomington to continue my
academic endeavors; furthermore, continuing my education here would allow me to
make important business contacts, with the career goal of opening my own computer
consulting firm in the Midwest.
Source: Writing Tutorial Services, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN
Writing activity
Write a cover letter and a resume for a job related to your field.
Listening Activity: Watch and listen to a recorded job interview and observe how the
applicant responds to the questions.

Speaking activity: Prepare for a mock job interview to be conducted by your instructor.
Vocabulary Activity: Technical and Legal Language
During the job interview, use strong verbs as you can see in the list below.
Critiqued adapted boosted
Disclosed supported handled
Mediated unified chaired
Networked contributed operated
Supply technical words used in the disciplines.
Business Medicine Technology Education
Lesson 3: Participating in Meetings
The most common reason to have a meeting is to discuss something face to

face. It could be a new idea, a new opportunity, a problem, to brainstorm something,
reach a decision about something or any number of things. But it all comes down to
discussion and face to face interaction. A lot of work communication is done via the
phone, email, post, newsletters, company websites, intranets and extranets. These
methods of communication have made life easier and communication quicker;
however, they still cannot replace a face to face meeting. Discussing something face
to face allows you to not only hear what is being spoken; giving you access to clues
hidden in the speaker's tone of voice but it also allows you to see the speaker. The
observation of body language and facial muscles is very important as it allows you to
read the person's reaction to what you are saying as well as what they actually think
about what they themselves are saying.
Keep in mind that the primary reasons to have a meeting are:
• To gather and impart information;
• To exchange ideas, views, opinions and suggestions;
• To discuss options;
• To solve problems;
• To make decisions;
• To devise plans.
Business meetings run smoothly when they follow an agenda written and
distributed to attendees in advance. An agenda outlines the specifics of a meeting. It is
distributed to all attendees in advance.
Starkey (2003) gives a number of important purposes of agenda:

• notifies or reminds participants of the meeting date, time, and place
• focuses participants on the meeting’s goal
• indicates the items to be discussed
• circulates any relevant documents for perusal before the meeting
• serves as a guide for the chairperson, helping maintain focus and time control
Running and Participating in Face -to- Face Meetings
Reading Activity:
Read this excerpt of a meeting and determine which guidelines are followed.
Janette is having a meeting with her team - Fabian, Lucy, and Tony
to discuss the rollout o f a software program .
Janette: Everybody is here now. So, let's get started. Now, we're here to discuss the rollout of the new
SAP
customer relationship program. You are the people who'll have to implement it and we need to
decide what you need for the rollout. So, let's look at point number one on the agenda:
resources. Fabian, would you like to start?
Fabian: Right, at the moment there's a shortage of human resources to...
J: .. .so by the time everyone has finished the training course, we should be OK. So, to sum up point
number one, we've agreed that Lucy will arrange training sessions for the rollout team together with
SAP and I'll talk to Human Resources about finding more SAP specialists.
Lucy: Thanks.
J: Good. Let's move onto the next point: budget. Tony, that's your field.
Tony: Well, I'm afraid that we have a very limited budget for this project, which means that we really
have
to be imaginative about how we allocate resources...
F: ...Does that mean training will be cut? Because look at the problems we had last year with the
database. I spoke to Billy West in the data center and he said that there was a problem with the —
J: Can I stop you there, Fabian? Let's not get sidetracked. Let Tony tell us what exactly is planned
and then we can...
J...the meeting has been very useful. We all have our action points to deal with and we know the
next steps. How does everybody feel about that?
T, L, and F: Fine. OK. Good.

J: Great! So, that wraps up everything for today. Thanks very much for all your ideas. Anybody want to
go to lunch?
Which of the following tips in running meetings did Janette follow?

1. Go through the agenda at the start of the meeting and check no items are missing.
2. Ensure good timekeeping during the meeting, making sure that participants stick to the agenda
and don't
get sidetracked.
3. Control the discussion, making sure all participants contribute where relevant and that no one
person dominates the whole meeting.
4. Summarize key decisions at the end of each agenda point.
Minutes of Meetings
Minutes of meetings are written records of the proceedings in the meeting.
Informal minutes do not follow the rules of parliamentary procedure.
Formal meetings that follow the parliamentary procedure concentrate on the

following:

1.Motions- formal proposals or suggestions determined or voted upon by the
group
2.Resolutions - statement of the will or opinions of the participants or organizers

subjected to voting
3. Reports-reports to give information about routine activities, assessment, and

achievements of members
For a motion or a resolution, an exact word or a word-for-word recording is

necessary. This holds true also for the identity of the person coming out with such motion
or resolution. However, as per agreement of the body, this person’s name need not be
revealed in the minutes.
Sample Informal Minutes of Meeting
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT MEETING
Minutes
Date: February 29, 2020
Location: CAS Conference Room
Presiding Officer : Ms. Rowena P. Fajardo
Present : Lina Lucas Tony Abad
Esther Bauzon Benjie Vargas
Fe Perez Eric Reyes
Roa Cortez Shella Ramos
Tina Paras Betty Lim
Absent : Vina Mayo Raul Goce
Cora Daza Eddie Legarda
After calling the February 29 meeting to order at 2 p.m., the head of the
Department introduced the newly hired members. She requested them to say
something about themselves.
The Head distributed copies of the outline of the activities of the Department for
the second semester. She said that everybody was free to give comments or
suggestions about the outline. Everybody studied the outline.
Miss Paras suggested that the seminar on Teaching Literature be moved to an

earlier schedule so that more professors could attend the seminar. Mr. Reyes added
that an earlier schedule of the seminar would give the Department more time to
prepare for the CAS Week.
The head said that the CAS Week this semester should be celebrated in just a
day, not a week, as the English Department used to do. After saying this, she
announced that the remaining 30 minutes of the meeting would be spent for fixing
teaching loads.
Mrs. Ramos inquired about the new policy of the school on distributing teaching
loads. The head advised her to consult the newly made Faculty Code to get a clearer

understanding of the new policy. She gave each member a copy of the Faculty Code,
and reminded the body of the schedule of the next Departmental meeting.
The meeting was adjourned at 3:00 p.m.
Prepared by:
Betty Lim
Secretary
Attested by:
Ms. Rowena P. Fajardo
Chair, English Department
Whether the minutes result from a formal or an informal meeting, they present a
summarized form of discussion using quotation or reported speech. They are not
supposed to include the writer’s opinions on what he/she recorded. Since they appear
as the condensed form of things that transpired in the meeting, these kinds of reports
need to use concise, direct, and specific language.
1. How is an informal meeting different from a formal meeting?

2. How do you prepare for meetings?
3. What are the advantages of meetings over memos or letters?
ASSESSMENT 1
The class will be grouped into two. Each group will conduct a meeting. The
groups take turns in taking the minutes of the meeting.
_____________________________________ (Organization)
MINUTES OF THE MEETING
___________________ (Date)
Opening: (call to order, time, venue, presiding officer)

_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Present: ___________________________ ______________________________

___________________________ ______________________________
___________________________ ______________________________
___________________________ ______________________________
Absent: ___________________________
Approval of Agenda:
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Approval of Previous Minutes:

_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Business from the Previous Meeting:
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
New Business:
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Additions to the Agenda:

_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Agenda for the Next Meeting:

_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Adjournment:
____________________________________________________________________________________
Prepared by: _________________________ Approved by: _____________________

Secretary Presiding Officer
Lesson 4: Memorandums
Memorandums (memos) are used primarily for internal communication; that is, they
deliver information within an organization.
Functions of Memos and E-mail Messages
1. They explain policies, procedures, and guidelines.

2. They make announcements, request information, and follow up conversations.
They save time by relaying information to many people without the need for a
meeting.
3. They also ensure that all concerned individuals receive the same message,
which would be unlikely if the message were transmitted orally.
4. Printed copies of memos and E-mail messages provide a written record of
decisions, telephone conversations and meetings.
Characteristics of Memos
1. Memos use an efficient standardized format.

2. A memo normally covers only one topic.
3. Memos may be written more informally than letters addressed outside the
organization.

4. Memos are concise.
Writing Memorandums
Opening statement: The opening presents the objective of the memo in a

sentence or two. The objective could be stating a problem, announcing new
information or changing the location and time of a meeting.
Discussion: This is the body of the memo as it appears after the opening. Memos
are straightforward. They point to a relatively simple issue, but if more details about the
problem or situation need to be addressed, use headings to introduce paragraphs that
encapsulate content and organize information. For added easy reading, the important
details can be broken down into lists and bullet points.
Closing: The closing emphasizes an action that is required on the part of the
recipient. It can also highlight what is being done to solve a problem and the steps
involved. The memo should close in a courteous way. Memos can be signed or
unsigned.
Writing the Subject line
The subject line summarizes the contents in concise language. It should:
• attract attention
• create a clear picture and present an accurate summary
• not be a complete sentence and should rarely occupy more than one line
In formatting memorandums keyed at computers and printed on plain paper, follow

these guidelines:
• Use 1 to 1 1/4 –inch side margins.
• Leave a top margin of 1 to 2 inches.
• Type in all caps the headings TO, FROM, DATE, and SUBJECT.
• Single-space everything within paragraphs but double- space between
paragraphs.
ASSESSMENT 2
The following memo has many faults in grammar, spelling, punctuation, capitalization,
word use and number form. Identify and correct the errors.
DATE: February 14, 2020
TO: John de la Cruz, Vice President
FROM: Roxanne Reyes, Manager, Payroll
SUBJECT: Departmental Error
This is to inform you that last month our central accounting department changed it’s
computer program for payroll processing. When this computer change was
operationalized some of the stored information was not transfered to the new
information database. As a consequence of this maneuves several errors occurred in

employees paycheck (1) medical benefits were not deducted (2) annuity deductions
were not made and (3) errors occured in Federal withholding calculations.
Each and every one of the employees effected have been contacted:and this error
has been elucidated. My staff and myself has been working to replace all the missing
data; so that corrections can be made by the March 30th payroll run.
Had I made a verification of the true facts before the paychecks were ran this slip- up
would not have materialized. To prevent such an error in the future I decided to take
the bull by the horns. At this point in time I have implemented a rigorous new
verification system. I am of the firm opinion that utilization of the new system will
definitely prevent this perplexing event from reoccurring.
ASSESSMENT 3
Assume that you are the President of a company and you noticed that most of
your employees are not following the company dress code. Write a memo
reminding them of your company policy.
____________________________________________________ (Company)
MEMORANDUM No. 1, SERIES OF 20___
TO: ___________________________________________________
FROM: ________________________________________________
DATE: _________________________________________________
SUBJECT: ___________________________________________________________________________
Introductory Paragraph:
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Main Points:
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Closing:
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Evaluation of the Course

1. What lesson or activity did I enjoy most? Why?
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
2. What is the most important lesson which I can apply in my daily life?
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
3. What are the new insights/discoveries that I learned?

__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
4. What topic/s do I find least important?

__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
5. What possible topics should have been included?

__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________

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Appendix A
Rubric for business letter writing
Task Description: (Teacher may explain specific assignment in this space.)

weight
Criteria 4 – Exemplary 3 – Accomplished 2 – Developing 1 – Beginning
 Accurately uses  Mostly uses  Some  Several

correct business correct business noticeable noticeable
letter format letter format errors in use of errors in use of
(heading, (heading, correct business correct business
greeting, greeting, letter format letter format
Organization 25% introduction, introduction, (heading, (heading,
body, closure, body, closure, greeting, greeting,
signature, signature, introduction, introduction,
enclosure, and enclosure, and body, closure, body, closure,
copy) copy) signature, signature,
enclosure, and enclosure, and
copy) copy)
 Letter clearly  Letter clearly  Purpose of  Purpose of
states the states the letter is unclear letter is unclear
purpose purpose  More  Main idea is not
 Appropriate  Some explanations or supported by
explanations or explanations or facts need to be explanations or
facts used to facts used to used to support facts
support the support the the main idea  Letter rambles;
Content 25% main idea main idea  Hard to follow hard to follow or
 Easy to follow  Somewhat hard  Tone is too understand
 Tone is to follow formal or too  Tone is
appropriate for  Tone is informal for inappropriate
intended generally intended for intended
audience appropriate for audience audience
intended
audience
 Typed, using  Letter typed  Letter typed  Letter not
correct spacing, with few with frequent typed; wrong
Appearance 25% font, and problems in problems in format used and
format spacing, font, or spacing, font, or hard to read
format format
 Accurate use of  One or two  More than two  Incorrect use
punctuation mistakes with mistakes in throughout the
and grammar punctuation or punctuation or letter of
Language  No spelling grammar grammar punctuation or
25% errors  One or two  More than two grammar
Usage
spelling errors spelling errors  Frequent
spelling errors
distract from
letter

Appendix B
Reflection Paper Rubric
Depth of Poor(1) Fair(2) Good(3) Excellent(4)

reflection
Writing Writing Writing Writing
demonstrates demonstrates demonstrates a demonstrates an
lack of a minimal general reflection in-depth reflection
reflection on reflection on on the selected on the selected
the selected the selected topic, including topic, including
topic, with no topic, some suporting supporting details
details. including a details and and examples.
few examples.
supporting
details and
examples.
Required Writing does Writing

components not include includes the Writing includes the Writing surpasses
the required a few required the required
components components components of the components of the
of the of the selected topic. selected topic.
selected selected
topic. topic.
Quality of Information
Information Information clearly Information clearly Information clearly
has little to relates to the relates to the main relates to the main
do with the main topic. topic. It provides 1- topic. It includes
main topic. No details 2 supporting details several supporting
and/or and/or examples. details and/or
examples are examples.
given.
Structure & Writing Writing is Writing is mostly

Organization unclear, unclear, and clear, concise, and Writing is clear,
disorganized. thoughts are organized with the concise, and well
Thoughts not well use of excellent organized with the
make little to organized. sentence/paragraph use of excellent
no sense. Thoughts are structure. Thoughts sentence/paragraph
not are expressed in a structure. Thoughts
expressed in logical manner. are expressed in a
a logical logical manner.
manner.
Grammar There are There are There are no more There are no more
numerous more than than five spelling or than three spelling
spelling or five spelling grammar errors per or grammar errors
grammar or grammar page of writing per page of writing
errors per errors per reflection. reflection.
page of page of
writing writing
reflection. reflection.

Appendix C
PURPOSIVE COMMUNICATION
RUBRIC FOR EVALUATION OF STUDENTS’ ADVOCACY PROGRAM
MANUSCRIPT
Advocacy Group:________________________________ Section:___________
Criteria Rate
PART I. BACKGROUND (10 points)
• The problem/ issue to be addressed by the advocacy is clearly defined
• There is enough literature to support the existence of an issue/ problem
• There is clear presentation of challenges of people affected by the problem
PART II. VISION AND GOALS (5 points)
• The vision is specific to the group’s advocacy
• The vision reflects the expected outcome of the advocacy
• The goals contain specific actions to achieve the vision
• The vision and goals are realistic and achievable
PART III. TARGET BENEFICIARIES (5 points)
• Specific target beneficiaries are identified
• Current situation of target beneficiaries are clearly described
PART IV. RESPONSE (20 points)
• The identified solution is appropriate for the given problem
• Programs/ projects are credible and realistic that people are encouraged to take
part in the advocacy
• There is sufficient information on the implementation of the programs or projects
• Strategies for the campaign are well-planned
PART V. CAMPAIGN SUPPORTERS (5 points)
• The identified supporters share the same values and vision with the advocates
• The supporters are sufficient for the campaign
• There are clear strategies on how to gain supporters
• The identified supporters can really help further the cause of the advocates
PART VI. RESOURCES AND ASSETS (5 points)
• The identified resources vary according to the needs of the group
• There are enough resources assets for the implementation of the programs
• The resources are accessible and available
PART VII. REFERENCES (10 points)
• There is evidence of exhaustive review of literature
• The list of references and citations follow the APA format
Appendix D
EVALUATION RUBRIC FOR ADVOCACY VIDEO
Advocacy Title:______________________________ Section:___________
Directions: Check the box that corresponds to your evaluation of the video, with 5 as the
highest and 1 as the lowest.
Criteria 5 4 3 2 1

Content
Topic is thoroughly covered in an interesting and
creative manner
Purpose
Advocacy video effectively shows desired action
Storyboard
Storyboard is thorough and descriptive
Shots
Creative shots are used for a purpose
Sound
Effective use of music, sound effects; voice levels
are consistent and understandable
Other technical elements
Video contains transitions, special effects or
graphics
Mechanics
Grammar, spelling, punctuation, capitalization are
correct
Credits/References
Credits are included; references are documented
correctly; and copyright law has been followed.
Duration
Within 5-7 minutes
Time management
Time is used effectively to create the advocacy
video
Appendix E
EVALUATION RUBRIC FOR ADVOCACY PRESENTATION
Advocacy Title____________________________________________________________________
Directions: Check the box that corresponds to your evaluation of the presenter, with 5 as the
highest and 1 as the lowest.
Criteria 5 4 3 2 1

CONTENT
Identifies the nature and scope of the problem (provides
context)
Locates us in time and place, convinces us of the necessity
for action
Articulates a clear solution, convinces us it is the best
available
Provides evidence that shows this solution is appropriate for
the given problem/context
Well-integrated use of visuals throughout the presentation;
relevance is clear
Visuals successfully enhance the argument, the advocacy is
more convincing as result
Presentation shows evidence of research and thoughtful
analysis of the problem
DELIVERY
Appropriately timed
Good posture and eye contact, and effective interaction with
visual elements
Good voice projection and enunciation
Confident, convincing, and passionate
QUESTION AND ANSWER
Strives to answer audience questions with accuracy, based
on knowledge of problem
Shows enthusiasm for spreading further understanding of
problem/solution in Q & A
Makes an attempt to engage with all questions, even if the
answer is not known
Preserves presenter ethos (eye contact, confidence, voice
projection) during Q & A

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UNIT IV.

COMUNICATION FOR ACADEMIC PURPOSES

At the end of the lesson, you are expected to:

1. determine the genres in academic writing;

Lesson 1: Academic Writing

Whatever your level of study, it is important to be critical when you write an

■ showing an understanding and knowledge of theory

■ taking into consideration different points of view

■ using reason to make a judgement

■ coming to your own conclusions

■ using your own voice

■ identify the line of reasoning or argument

■ look for hidden assumptions

■ decide if the evidence used to support the argument is good enough.

■ uses evidence to support the points it makes

■ contains references for anyone else’s ideas or work used.

Structure is of major importance in a piece of academic writing and is one of the

Typical essay structure

An essay normally follows this structure:

A report is usually the result of some kind of investigation of a situation, event or

■ a market research report, explaining trends and consumer behaviour

■ an annual report from a company, documenting performance

■ a survey report, presenting findings on opinions, preferences or behaviour

Typical Report Structure

■ first part: title page; summary; list of contents

■ middle part: introduction; methodology; findings/results; discussion; conclusion

■ last part: references; bibliography; appendices.

3. Other Types of Academic Writing

■ Arts and Humanities: essay; critique or review

■ Science, Engineering and Technology: report; research proposal

■ Health and Life Sciences: lab report; reflective account

■ Social Sciences: project; case study

The following written sentence would be perfectly acceptable for instance:

Consider the same sentence written more formally:

Questions for Discussion

1. How is academic writing different from workplace writing?

2. What are the tone and style of academic writing?

1. Research shows . . . ___________________________

2. Three problems have been found. ___________________________

3. The changes he made were bad. ___________________________

4. Lots of people think . . . ___________________________

5. There were many reasons for this. ___________________________

6. Scientists have tried to prove . . . ___________________________

7. P100,000,000.00 was given to charity. ___________________________

8. He discussed issues like famine and poverty. ___________________________

9. She has got to find alternatives. ___________________________

10. We do not have enough resources. ___________________________

Murray and Rockowitz (2020), suggest two parts of a reaction paper:

Part 1: A Summary of the Work

To develop the first part of a report, do the following:

▪ Write an informative summary of the material.

▪ Use direct quotations from the work to illustrate important ideas.

PART 2: Your Reaction to the Work

To develop the second part of a report, do the following:

▪ How is the work related to problems in our present-day world?

A Report on Man’s Search for Meaning

In conclusion, I would strongly recommend Frankl’s book to persons who care

Ghaffar (2014), further states that in the reflection paper, you:

• bridge comprehension of course readings with your knowledge and

• question your assumptions about a course reading or service placement

Examples from Reflection Papers

Subject Explanation Example

A technical paper is a paper that reports the findings of research. It may be

The Main Components of Technical Papers