Module 4 & 5

In Module 4, most of the text describes how to go about planning, writing, and revising written items. The book explains how to save time when writing a paper, such as only using one-third of your time to actually "write" your paper, and use the rest of your time for planning and revising. When planning for your paper, you can use techniques such as brainstorming, freewriting, clustering, and talking to your audiences. Now, when it comes to revising, there are three steps: Revising, editing, and proofreading. And when writing an especially difficult paper, it is best to plan to revise the draft at least three times. There are two different revisions, one thorough, and one light, each depending on the amount of time available to revise each piece. It is also best to always check for grammar and spelling errors. You may want to swap papers with another because it's easier to proofread something that you haven't written. The process of drafting, getting feedback, revising, and getting more feedback is called cycling. To improve upon the feedback you get, tell people which aspects of your writing you'd like to focus on. I found it interesting how the author told us how to overcome writer's block. Ideas include participate actively in the community, talk positively to yourself, talk about writing to other people, etc. The more you talk to people and interact with people, the more you will learn from your audiences and how to better communicate to them through your writing.

Now in Module 5, the author goes in depth about designing documents, slides, and screens. It is important to use white space in order to emphasize material that you are trying to deliver to your audience. Other simple rules include to use headings, limit the use of words set in all capital letters, use no more than two fonts in a single document, and to decide whether to justify margins based on the situation and the audience. When designing presentation slides it is essential to use large fonts, bullet point phrases, and keep everything short and to the point. Good web pages have both good content and an interesting design. The opening page is the most important. Just like someone opening a book, if there is no hook to draw the reader in, they will not continue to read. With the web, if the opening page has no "hook," there will be no interest in going further on into the web site. The only way to know if your design works is to test it with your audience. If they like it or if they don't like it, they will let you know.