Document Development Exposition: Workplace Correspondence

Explain in detail your document’s development from planning to finish, describing your
challenges, how you overcame them, and what you learned.

Planning

During the planning stages of writing my email and memo, I focused on gathering and organizing the
results from the usability test on my instructions and organizing them into the different revisions I
was going to suggest. When planning the layout of my memo, I felt that I should go through each
section of the instructions and describe which (if any) parts the users noted problems with.
Ultimately, I used this information to come up with two recommendations to discuss at the end of
the memo and include in the email to my “manager.”

First Draft (for peer editing)

In composing the first draft of my memo and email, I did my best to follow the guidelines as provided
in the lecture and PowerPoint. For the email, I kept it brief, yet still making sure to hit all the main
points; I explained how a usability test was conducted, what the overall results were, and what
recommendations I suggested, and of course included a proper greeting at the beginning and end of
the document. As for the memo, I aimed to include enough information without making the
document too long and disinteresting. I wrote this document in order, starting with a small section
with background information, followed by the usability test results, further recommendations, and a
conclusion. The conclusion was the hardest section for me to write, as I initially had trouble because I
felt like I was saying the exact same thing I had just stated when discussing my results. Ultimately, I
decided to include more information/wording about how this would relate to the company I was
theoretically working for.

Second Draft (for your packet)

During this round of revisions, I applied the feedback I received from my peers, as well as a few other
things I realized needed to be changed. For example, I felt I should include more information after
signing my name on the email, so I added “Recipe Author” as well as a place for a phone number.
Additionally, I elaborated some more on the problems that users came across during the usability
test under the “Usability Test Results” section. Lastly, I switched two of the sections; I switch them so
that the recommendations section was after the conclusion. Other than that, it was hard to make
other revisions as I did not receive much other feedback from the peer reviews/edits.

Final Draft (for your portfolio)

 Document Development Exposition: Workplace Correspondence

For revisions for my portfolio, I focused on Dr. Sindelar’s feedback and mainly fixated on revising the
organizational layout of my memo. With that in mind, I shortened the “Recommendations” section
and elaborated even more in the “Usability Test Results” section. I tried to discuss each of my
issues/findings equally in my memo, and likewise revise my recommendations (as needed). I also
rearranged my “Usability Test Results” so that they now are organized by finding, rather than by
section of the instructions. Ultimately, the content of my memo stayed the same, some of the
information was simply moved around so that it makes more sense for the reader.