1. Memo
Date: October 27, 2014
From: Craig Holden
To: Design / Tech Writers
Subject: Progress and Final Reports
___________________________
Synopsis
Basic Assignment: write and submit a progress report and a final report
To be submitted
1. Progress Report by November 15, 2014 2. Final Project Report by December
You will be writing several papers during the course of this semester. Each of them will
describe one or more works of art from your book or other sources. In order to accurately iden-tify,
describe and compare them as well as possible, use the following outline as a guide. Don’t
write the papers in outline form however, just use this as a reference to make sure you remember
everything in its right order.
Also, remember that a scholarly paper should not be written in a casual style. Papers for
this class or any other (with the exception of creative writing classes) should not use slang. Hu-morous
or sarcastic statements should be kept in the personal opinion section of the paper. At
least one photo of each artwork should be included in the appropriate place.
I Identify first piece (title, artist, date, medium. Include at least one photo of the piece
here.)
A Complete subject matter
Include theme, style, and any visual element or design principle which might ap-ply.
This is only a mechanical description. Don’t try to tell me what the artist is
thinking. Only describe what you see. Include at least one photo of the artwork
here.
B. Content.
What does the artist want you to feel, think about the piece?
Think about it. Try to put yourself into the picture. Give me your opinion of the
piece. I don’t care whether or not you like this image, but treat it objectively until
you get to this part.

2. Tech. Writing 218, Spring Semester, 2014
(If you are asked to compare two or more pieces of art, repeat this process for each piece you
are assigned. If you are only writing about one piece, the above is sufficient.)
II Comparison.
Compare all of the art work. Talk about differences in style,
Emotion, effectiveness of each piece. Is one style more likely to create an emo-tional
response - or deeper emotion - than the other? Why? Is the artist interested
in emotion, or is the image a formal presentation of shapes.
Do the people in these images seem like real folks to you? Or are they just
shapes? Why?
III Opinion
Which do you like the best? ( you might not like either of them.) Why? Which
(if any) is most effective? Least effective? Why? What would make it more ef-fective?
All papers should use a normal amount of margins on all sides.
Points will be deducted for papers less than the required length. Im-ages
of the pieces will be needed.. Check each assignment instructions
for specific details. Write in 12 pt font, double spaced, submit all pa-pers
in Word Doc. Or RTF (rich text format), so that I may open them
more easily, please. Papers written in Word Perfect will not be ac-cepted.
Please have someone proofread your papers before you turn
them in. I will note incorrect grammar, spelling, etc in the first paper,
but after that, they will count against you. Rules pertaining to plagia-rism
will be followed strictly. Please don’t do it.
, 2014
--------------------
Overview
As I said in the projects overview, it is important for you submit reports to me about your work
on the group projects so that I can ascertain accurately how much each member contributed, and
grade accordingly. Note that the combined point total for the reports is equal to one project --
so these are important to your grade.

3. Tech. Writing 218, Spring Semester, 2014
Simply put, the reports will tell me how and what each group member is doing. Because of the
nature of group work, it happens sometimes that some people end up doing more work than oth-ers,
some people slack off or drop out and do nothing, some people do work but don’t do what
they’re supposed to, others go above and beyond, etc. One of the reasons for the reports is that
they give me a look into each group member’s individual contribution.
If you are not happy with how your project came out, with the work of your group mem-bers,
or something like that, the reports are where you can explain it all. The idea ulti-mately
is that your grade isn’t dependent just on the project itself, but also on your individ-ual
input. In this way, people who don’t contribute lose points even if the project itself is
good, and people who do a lot of work and put in a lot of thought are rewarded even if the
project doesn’t turn out so well. (Notice that the rubrics for the group projects have Par-ticipation
factor worked into the scoring).
The idea isn’t for you to be snarky about your partners. Rather it is to be honest about the pro-cess
-- if you didn’t work as well as you should have, but you explain that honestly in the reports,
I’ll appreciate that. What matters most is what you learn, not how the project turns out. But you
need to tell me that.
Details
Both reports should be in short report (memo) format, clearly written, etc. Use of headers,
bullet points, etc., to break up large text blocks is always appreciated. The more detailed and
specific you make them, the better idea I’ll have of what you’ve done and the kind of effort
you’ve put in.
Obviously the Progress Report is to give me an update in three weeks on how these projects
are going, who’s doing what, etc. I expect this report will be shorter than the Final Report,
which should summarize all activities on both projects. You might look again at the section on
Progress Reports in the chapter we did on Short Informal Reports.
Both reports should include an honest description of what each group member is actually con-tributing
(or has contributed) to each project. Did each person do what they were assigned?
How well did they do? How well did their work mesh with your and the others?
The final report should also include an honest description of what YOU actually contributed to
the project. As a part of this, discuss what you think you brought to the project that was valua-ble,
what you might have done better, what you learned from this project, how this work and the
content of this chapter might be relevant to your profession.
The reports can include anything you think is important such as:
-- a record of conversations

4. Tech. Writing 218, Spring Semester, 2014
-- notes from meetings
-- attendance (or lack thereof) by group members
-- agreements that have been made between members, etc.
It should be clear from the reports --
-- who was in attendance at meetings
-- what was discussed
-- how and to whom different tasks or jobs were assigned
-- progress of each member since the last meeting
-- any work the group does while together, etc.
-- what specific work each member has done
-- who went where, spoke to whom, etc.
Each report should include information on BOTH group projects, the pamphlet and the instruc-tions.
So, for instance, the section on the pamphlet project might include:
-- a description or discussion of how the work was divided / assigned before you began
-- who is to find (or who found) the business or organization you approach?
-- who made (or is to make) the initial contact?
-- who completed discussions with the contact person?
-- who found artwork / graphics to include in the pamphlet or web page?
-- who wrote the text to go on the pamphlet or web page?
-- who designed and carried out the layout of the pamphlet or page?
-- who edited the text, graphics and layout?
The instruction project information should follow similar lines, relevant to that project, i.e.
-- who wrote (or is to write) the first draft of instructions?
-- who will conduct each test?
-- who were the testers, and which group members were with them when they tested?
-- where did testing take place?
-- what is the progress of the drafting and testing procedures (how are things going?)