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VOTE VOTE VOTE VOTE VOTE

It’s an important election for us all, whatever our positions, both nationally and locally–be a citizen and vote.

FACULTY PROFILES

• I expect that you will have posted your faculty profile to the page (here: Faculty Profiles) by Friday at the latest. For Tuesday, choose one of them and, acting not as their friend but as a peer in the organization you both work for, write them a polite and persuasive memo critiquing the profile–what would you suggest to make it even better? Place this immediately after the profile, in the same document.  We will look at everything all together next week.  (If there are particular grammar issues you want to raise, you might do that with an inserted comment bubble in the text itself.)  I would suggest that you try not to comment on the same person’s who commented on yours–don’t just trade, IOW.
  • Format: A memo (remember memo format)
  • Start by noting something specific that’s doing a good job of your common goal (in this case, making your faculty member unique and interesting while clearly explaining their work and covering what’s needed–think to yourself that you are ALL working for the same goal in this website project)
  • Given that common goal, tell them what they can do to come closer to achieving it
  • Remember to offer to discuss it further with them

GRANT PROPOSALS

• I expect by Tuesday to hear that you all have contacted your sites and either interviewed them or arranged for an interview with them (format? See last week’s post for a template). Work to prepare a compelling proposal, which is due November 15 in 8 hard copies. Contacts are on the spreadsheet here: Grantwriting Sites.

INTERNSHIPS

While you’re on that site, if you’re planning an internship for next semester and you have not yet written your name in the column (scroll right) indicating your interest in a site, please do so now.  I need to talk with each site to come up with an internship contract, I need to think about whether the site fits your skills & plans & personality to give you the best experience possible, and I need to do all this in the next few weeks–so I need to know your interests.  Unsure?  Talk to me.

Internships are 7-8 hours per week for 14 weeks (you set your schedule with your mentor). Class meets once a week on Tuesday. If you haven’t taken Elective A yet you MUST take English 3304 as well (and you might want to take it anyway–I have to say, it is one of the most useful classes for life I’ve ever experienced). If you haven’t taken Elective B yet you MUST take English 3271 (because those are the courses offered next semester, and you have to finish your coursework). 

Class, Tuesday, Nov. 8

Vorley Taylor, Director of the Office of Multicultural Affairs, will come in to talk to us about the office’s ongoing project in respecting diversity. OSU Newark now has around a 30% minority enrollment, by far the most diverse campus in the system, and a lot of university officials are taking note of that.  At the same time, our campus continues to attract a lot of students, black & white, who have not had extensive contact with students (much less friends) of other races, ethnicities, religious or national backgrounds, orientations, etc.  This campus is a new experience for many.  How can we help to promote a positive atmosphere where everyone can learn?  This is an important goal.  We will discuss together how our writing can contribute to that goal.  If you never picked up your copy of 35 Dumb Things Well-Intentioned People Say, now is the time to stop into the Student Life office and apologize for your tardiness and ask for it to skim through. I have a copy I can lend as well, if you contact me.  To prepare for Tuesday’s visit, look at (a) the website for Multicultural Affairs (note that they have several projects listed under their main page, as well), and (b) let me suggest two articles on the ongoing debates across campuses around the nation regarding free speech, microagressions, safe spaces, etc.–and let me just add that in doing a search for these, I found incident after incident of outright racist behavior and angry protests reported on campuses, which I am happy to say we have not seen (at least as publicly) here, so hopefully we’re doing something right on our diverse campus: Tolerance? and Free Speech?

Entering the final third of the class. This means that you have several projects that are in various stages of completion, and that I’ll expect you are working on throughout the week. We’ll be focusing in class on you finding your “best fit” worksites/careers.

The timeline for Week 11 looks like this–details follow below the timeline:

1. Revise your faculty profile based on Thursday’s feedback (or draft and get feedback on a first draft).
2. Research your community organization for the grant proposal and determine what you still need to know.
3. If I say below that you can, write an email requesting a short interview to fill in gaps in your research. Suggest some available times in the next 10 days.
4. Read the Internship Final Report and write a blog post about it.
5. TUESDAY CLASS: Discuss the above and examine the first module of the OSU Focus site.
6. Do some work (to be determined on Tuesday) on your best-fit work environment.
7. Tweet something campus-related (#e4150) if you haven’t yet this week.
8. Read up on the Licking County Foundation. This woman gives our 10s of 1000s of dollars in scholarships every year–you want to make a good impression with a smart question.
9. THURSDAY CLASS: Hear from Amy Dell, program officer of the Licking County Foundation.
10. Post your revised faculty profile to the class document (deadline is Nov. 3).
11. Continue work on your grant proposal (deadline is Nov. 15 ideally, worst-case backup Nov. 17).

FACULTY PROFILES

Most of you have a draft of a faculty profile.  If you do not, yet, we’ve talked and you’ve explained how and when you’ll have the draft.  You’ll want to ask 1-2 classmates to look it over before you finalize. Ask them.

• In the next week (let us aim for Thursday) you should post a page to this site: Faculty Profiles. This is different than our original plan, but here’s my thought: As you post to the group site, you can see everybody’s revised pieces and have one more chance to make any changes to yours, based on the models provided by your classmates. This will be the version I grade.
• Similarly, by the end of the semester, because there seems no way to give you much creative license on the department page, you will instead post the Profile as a product page on your own website that you have designed to highlight this faculty member (more than text). Do you have a photo? (Is it a photo that demonstrates their personality?) How will you place text on the page? Do you want to do anything with font or color? Within the limitations of your website, what can you do to make this seem like a page reflective of your faculty member?

GRANT PROPOSALS

• If you are everyone except Austin and Katie, then I have heard back from your contact at your chosen organization and they are enthusiastically wanting to participate in the grant proposal process.  Continue your research, using their website but also their written materials and articles in the local paper about them. Work to prepare a compelling proposal–then also write them to set up a brief meeting (there’s a template below for those who need one) with the contact on the spreadsheet here: Grantwriting Sites.   I told each person that you were preparing as much as possible ahead of time, and would take up about 20 min. of their time, as well as gathering the written materials–but you should feel free to also look around the site and get a feel for it, to help you write. You may want to ask them for any gaps in the information, a compelling story, and potentially a concrete program that the money would be directed to (since this seems to go over well with the “foundation,” no?) Remember that the proposal MUST be turned in to the “foundation” (all of you) on November 15 and plan accordingly.  If you miss the deadline your organization loses the chance at the money.  Austin & Katie, I have a follow-up email ready to send your people at 9:00am Monday morning and will update you as needed.

INTERNSHIPS/PROFESSIONALIZATION

Read one short article on why internships are so vital. If you google “Why do an internship?” you’ll find dozens & dozens of reasons–but here’s a nice run-down, with statistics, of the top reasons You Simply Must Do an Internship.

Whether or not you are planning on an internship next semester, read through the Final Report written to you from the 2016 interns. They discuss WHAT they did and HOW, and what the culture of the organization where they worked was like.

Write a blog post before Tuesday’s class in which you discuss two things: (1) what patterns do you see across multiple organization internship sites, in the jobs performed &/0r atmosphere and culture, &/or advice last year’s interns are giving you?  (2) regardless of whether or not you will be doing an internship in spring, where would you like to work, and why? What kind of environment most appeals to you–or IS it the environment? Is it the work itself? The goals of the organization? In other words, what motivates you to consider a worksite?

Internships are 7-8 hours per week for 14 weeks (you set your schedule with your mentor). Class meets once a week on Tuesday. If you haven’t taken Elective A yet you MUST take English 3304 as well. If you haven’t taken Elective B yet you MUST take English 3271 (because those are the courses offered next semester, and you have to finish your coursework). 

______________________

If you did not take Business Writing (Engl 3304), you may not have as clear a sense of what a professional email would look like.  Let me attach here a suggested template:

Dear (Contact First Last Name from the spreadsheet under Helpful Links),

I am ____, a student in Dr. Weiser’s Cultures of Professional Writing class at Ohio State Newark.  As practice for my professional writing minor, I will be writing a brief grant proposal for your organization for a potential $250 award. Is there a time before Nov. 12 that we can meet for about 20-30 minutes?  I am available (a few best options)_____ and you can reach me at (email or phone)_____.

I’ve already found preliminary information on your organization, but I’ll specifically want to ask you about (BRIEF note of whichever things you think the proposal is calling for and after research you think you don’t have–by the way, a good plan would be to bring the proposal with you to the interview!).  I’d like to gather any written materials you think would be helpful, too.  Thanks very much for giving me this opportunity to practice–I’ll try my best to write a winning proposal for you!  (or some other such cheery language to get them on your side)

Sincerely,

You

Ongoing:

• FACULTY PROFILE: You’ll want to interview your faculty/staff member and write up their profile. You might think of this as akin to an extended elevator pitch for this person. Who are they, what do they do, what’s special about what they do, then some interesting extras about who they are when they’re not working, &/or their dreams for the future.  Highlight what’s interesting, quote what’s memorable, just report the rest.  When we look at drafts on Thursday you will no doubt get to see how this has played out for other people, and that will help you consider your own as well. Don’t forget to take a photo of them “in their natural environment.” We might replace these with glam photos later, but it would be nice to have something that really represents the various personalities.
• TWEETING THE CAMPUS: Are you remembering to do this? Catch interesting, good moments in the life of the campus with a photo and/or tweet. Remember the hashtag #e4150.

Prepare for class 10/25 

• GRANT PROPOSALS: Now that we’ve learned a bit about nonprofit organizations, we’ll read about fundraising for them.  A fundraising proposal is not unlike any other sort of proposal you might write in your life–an appeal for a scholarship or fellowship, an appeal in a Kickstarter campaign for your entrepreneurial enterprise, a request for a grant for your research project, etc. Being able to persuade others to give you money is an incredibly useful skill personally, professionally, and socially (how about that new playground at your kid’s school, or your church’s annual giving campaign?) So we’ll practice here, with a real-life proposal for a local agency.

• There are three important components to get right in a proposal: the brand, the audience, and the structure.  We’ll talk about audience in class. Here is a reading on the structure of the various pieces that might go into a grant proposal (from the useful book Writing that Works): Grant and Research Proposals.  And here are two short pieces on the art of branding: Branding a Nonprofit, and one written by an alumnus of our campus, Branding & Telling the Story in Fundraising.  Branding is not unlike the elevator pitch for an organization.

  • With the above in mind, look at the website for Mental Health America, our next speaker’s organization, here: http://mhalc.org/  Consider what brand the website is trying to portray–if this were an elevator pitch, what would you know about MHA? Remember to consider both text and design, and also structure (what links are available, what is featured, etc.)  In fact, practice this analysis by writing it up as a short Post (#7 or #8 for most of you) on your website: what are they saying about their brand through their text/visuals?

Class Oct. 25:

Guest speaker: Jill Goddard, Ohio State Newark English alumna and currently Program and Development Director for Mental Health America of Licking County

What’s working in your writings to date–a guided tour of your websites

Prepare for class 10/27:

• Finish drafting your faculty profile. Bring a copy to class.
• Read through the grant proposal packet handout (4150 grant CFP and two winning proposals).
• Choose if you have not yet the local organization you’ll be writing a proposal for for a $250 grant, and sign up for it on the spreadsheet under “Helpful Links.”  Not sure what to pick? Google Them.  Caveats: I’d really like someone to pick St. Vincent’s Haven (we had a problem and did not successfully represent them last year); the Works & the Evans Foundation have both recently won and are ineligible (although if you wanted to write for them just as an introduction, you could of course), and the hospital and the Chamber both asked not to participate, to leave space for smaller organizations.

Class Oct. 27:

Teams meet to share faculty drafts. Goal: Make the three drafts of your team collectively the most interesting, well-written pieces of any team in the room. Dazzle everyone else.

Website layout: Look at your options (there aren’t many; the website is constrained): Come to decisions as a team as to the format and layout of your 3 profiles. Goal: Leave knowing what each of you will do to revise and post his/her page.

Discuss the 4150 Call for Proposals, what it is asking for and what it tells you about the audience.  With time, what made the winning proposals “win”?

Prepare for class 11/1:

• Possible post on what made for a successful proposal in the past.
• Research your chosen nonprofit, gathering the information that will answer some of the CFP’s required information.
• Prepare and post(?) your team profiles.

______________________

Fundraising is quite an in-demand skill. If you think you’d find it interesting or helpful, let me suggest three other readings for you for the future: A “what is grantwriting?” introduction to the field from Waddy Thompson’s The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Grantwriting (yes, it’s pretty helpful): Thompson, The Practice of Grant Writing; a later chapter on the components of a grant proposal: Thompson, The Parts of a Grant Proposal; and of course the BLS data on fundraising careers: BLS Fundraisers.

For the week after Break:

Lots is happening outside of class as you revise your website, work on one project (the faculty profile), and start to learn about the next (a grant proposal)

First, the Website, Draft #2:

___ A front page that is your revised About You, with a “work-world” photo

___ If you want it here, in lieu of or in addition to the photo you might place the video of your elevator pitch here

___ A page that says Products and links to sub-pages (how? see the help page here: https://codex.wordpress.org/WordPress_Menu_User_Guide#Creating_Multi-level_Menus)

___ A subpage that has your revised press release (best option, title the PAGE “Press Release” and then include an article TITLE in the text itself–and cut&paste is easier to read than linking to a pdf)

___ A subpage that has your revised research writing article (here you add your partner’s name, if applicable, below the title: written in collaboration with Sarah Smith)

___ If you want it here, a subpage that has your revised classmate profile

___ A page that says Posts and links to

___ 1. What makes a “Best of Blog” site? Name the site and your comments on comparison, usability, and style.

___ 2. Describe your biggest challenges and greatest triumphs with writing, using Carroll’s “Writing Well” points. 250-300 words.

___ 3. What do you want to remember to do in your own website after looking at some of what others have done?

___4. Your consulting critique of a u.osu.edu website

___ 5. Your interview questions for your classmate profile

___ 6. If you decide to leave it as a post, your classmate profile here

___ 7. Your elevator pitch, recorded, if you decide you want to leave it as a post (you can simply upload the media file to the Media Library and “Add Media” above (least successful, it’s just a link), or your can check Help to embed it or hyperlink a photo (or you can upload now and embed for the final draft).  MAKE EYE CONTACT with your camera when you record!

This is due the week we return from Break. Yes, “the week.” Just get it in. Post a note to the Canvas assignment site (“It’s ready!”) when it is.

Second, the Faculty Profile:

Finish your research over the next week, and if you’re smart you’ll start to write up those informational bits that you want to include. You have about 300-400 words total, per faculty member–leave room for quotes.  Interview your person. Remember to GATHER facts but ASK THEM questions that elicit stories or great quotes, and “How?” is particularly useful. We’re aiming to read the drafts on Oct. 27.  Remember that you can look up any faculty member and see/use what we write up about ourselves on the OSU site Research in View, at https://osu.researchinview.thomsonreuters.com/ (newer faculty have had to write more)

Third, Diversity Training:

If you can attend this, that would be GREAT. Remember, 4-5:00 Monday the 17th. NO CLASS Tuesday the 18th to encourage you to go. Regardless, pick up your free book from Student Life.

Fourth, Class on 10/20:

While you continue working on the faculty profile, we as a class are moving on to gaining an understanding of not-for-profit organizations.

• Read before class about non-profits by reading first What is a Nonprofit Organization, then two short pieces on nonprofit careers: the upbeat Careers in Nonprofits and slightly more cautionary A Career in Nonprofit.

In class we will examine the consider the local nonprofit organizations and look at a sample grant proposal, so you can choose an organization to write up a proposal for a real-life $250 grant for them.

Fair warning: Now that we’ve practiced in groups, we’ll start the day by having each of you speak your Elevator Pitch to the class.  45 seconds max, remember (and 30 is even better).  This is what you can say (modified for audience) to those nonprofits and unknown faculty members, after all.

For class October 11:

Come in with an interview set up with your faculty member. You might not get to it until after break, but have the date/time set.

Practice your Elevator Pitch. You will speak it to us three times.

I’ll try for a computer lab, or laptops, to give you a chance to finish uploading revised documents to your website in time for the Draft #2 check.

October 11

In this one day before our Fall Break, you’ll get everything revised and up onto your also-revised website.  When I’m not in a meeting (ie., tomorrow) I’ll post a checklist of everything you need.