For this assignment I chose to use the websites for the school of criminal justice at USM and at the University of Alabama
http://www.usm.edu/cj
http://cj.ua.edu/
I feel that these websites are very different and both have their own strengths and weaknesses. Overall I favor the University of Alabama website over the USM one. This is for several reasons.
For starters, it seems that there was considerably more time but into the UA website. It is sleek and professional looking. The USM website is...clunky. It is very utilitarian, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it is not particularly engaging; not very welcoming. The UA website on the otherhand is more inviting. There is considerably more information about the department as well as photographs and information about events. Another thing that I really like about the UA website is that there is a handy link to the department's recent publications; and important thing to consider when trying to decide where to attend graduate school.
This isn't to say that the USM website is all bad. I sort of like the "no frills" feel to it. Everything is straightforward and there is no question where you should navigate to in order to find a particular bit of information. All of this being said, if I were to have to choose one of these two schools based solely on how I felt about their websites, then I would choose the University of Alabama.
Defining objectives worksheet
Overall Purpose
1. What are you writing?-- I will be writing about a school program in informative and persuavive language
2. What prompts you to write?-- The need to encourage students to attend my school over others.
3. What outcome do you desire?-- For my website to persuade readers that my program is professional, interesting, and educational.
4. What does your reader desire?-- To be able to access information easily when needed. To learn about the programs benefits and what is offered. To learn about the department.
Reader Profile
1. Who is your primary reader?-- Current or perspective students of my program
2. What is your readers relationship to you?-- Teacher-student
3. What is your reader's job title and responsibilities?-- Student--to learn and comprehend the material presented
4. Who else might read your communication?-- Faculty, staff, administration, parents of students.
5. How familiar is your reader with your subject?-- Varies from reader to reader. Target Audience should be realtively new to it.
6. How familiar is your reader with your specialty?-- Also varies.
7. Does your reader have any communication preferences that you should take into account?-- I would imagine that one should refrain from using language that is overly formal while still maintaining a professional tone. Limit jargon.
Situational analysis
1.What events and circumstances influence the way you should write?-- I believe this would vary from section to section. If a reader wanted to know more about the history of the department then perhaps a less formal, "fun" tone should be used. If the reader, on the other hand, wanted to find out about degree requirements, then a more raw information would be desireable.
Usability Objectives
1. What are the key questions your reader will ask while reading?-- Is this school for me? Is this a place that can teach me things useful to a career in my chosen field? If a future employer looks up this website, would sort of vibe would he/she get from it (professional, not professional, etc.)?
2. How will your reader search for the answer?-- Selective reading. Depending on what type of information the reader is searching for, the will look for things like "About the department" "Publications" "Degree Plans".
3. How will your reader use the information you provide?-- Depending on the reader's purpose for visiting the site, any one of these responses could be true. I believe that a student would be more interested in how the information affects them, as in the case of a degree plan. They are likely to visit this site to get an idea of what type of classes they should take.
Persuasive Objectives
1. What is your reader's attitude towards your subject?-- They probably either already like the subject, or have some sort of interest in it. They probably wouldn't have come to the site in the first place if they weren't interested. This is the the attitude that I want my readers to have. I want them to either have an interest upon visting the site, or have an interest instilled before leaving it.
2.What is the reader's attitude towards you?-- I doubt that they will consider the maker of the site when reading. They may form attitudes regarding the faculty.
Stakeholders
1. Who else besides the readers are stakeholders in your communication?-- Myself, faculty, administration, other students in the department, the entire college.
2. How will they be affected by it?-- Each one of these will be affected differently to an extent. Obviously the more students enrolled in a department, the better for that department and the whole school (generally speaking).
Constraints
What expectations, limitations, or other factors limit the way you can write?-- The language is expected to be formal. Only the most useful information should be selected for the main links. The page cannot be overly complicated. The page should not be overly simple.
One main thing I learned from looking at these sites is that my eyes gravitated towards lists. I like lists. Lists are simple and informative. They are easy to read and provide an outline for steps that should be taken, things to remember, etc.
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Blog Assignment 2
The piece of writing/article that I have chosen to analyze for this assignment is a case brief from my Criminal Procedure class. I took this class last semester and had to read and interpret several of these case briefs as well as share my opinion on them in the form of a short report. Case briefs in this context are brief rundowns of the circumstances surrounding a particular case and its outcome. This outcome is then analyzed by the Supreme Court and a decision on whether the outcome of the case was altered by the breakdown of some procedural issue is evaluated. An assignment in the form of this type of reading and analysis is typical of criminal justice classes.
These case briefs are generally just that...brief. They are written in relatively formal language but no time is wasted on unnecessary details.The topics of these briefs vary from case to case but their connection arises from the fact that each of them contained a real or perceived violation of rights or breakdown in the criminal justice system. This has to be grievous enough to warrant review by the Supreme Court. While the Supreme Court always makes a ruling in the cases it hears, there are still other issues that arise from these rulings from time to time. Very often the cases that the Supreme Court chooses to hear are chosen because there is a great need for the issue at had to be ruled on.
The author of the textbook that this case comes form is Joel Samaha; a criminal justice professor at the University of Minnesota. He teaches criminal procedure, law, and is also a lawyer. I feel that he is very qualified to discuss the topic in depth.
The writers goal is fairly obvious, as he expresses his intent several times in the textbook. The intent is to inform the reader on the issues surrounding a given case, and then to help the reader to understand the decision that the Supreme Court made about the case and why they made the decision that they did. It is my opinion that this book is intended for students in the criminal justice or law fields as a catalyst for contemplation about where judicial law comes from and how it is made.
This being the writers purpose, I feel that he succeeded in doing what he set out to do. Upon reading the excerpts from this book that I read for my class, I became more informed about laws and procedure and the circumstances surrounding how they came into being. I also gained a greater appreciation for the way that our judicial system functions.
The language used was, at times, difficult to digest. There was a lot of legal terms and jargon that the author assumed the reader already knew. This, though, was generally true in my case as I had already taken several other lower level criminal justice classes. Even with my experience with such language, however, the reading was never easy.
This is one thing that I feel that the author could have changed. I understand that having a working vocabulary is essential in professional and scholastic settings, but I feel that Samaha overly used some jargon just for the sake of using it. I feel that the author is very intelligent and knows full well what he is talking about, but his ability to relay his information in a manner that is usable to students at my level seemed lacking. This I suppose is more of a thought process issue than a writing one.
These case briefs are generally just that...brief. They are written in relatively formal language but no time is wasted on unnecessary details.The topics of these briefs vary from case to case but their connection arises from the fact that each of them contained a real or perceived violation of rights or breakdown in the criminal justice system. This has to be grievous enough to warrant review by the Supreme Court. While the Supreme Court always makes a ruling in the cases it hears, there are still other issues that arise from these rulings from time to time. Very often the cases that the Supreme Court chooses to hear are chosen because there is a great need for the issue at had to be ruled on.
The author of the textbook that this case comes form is Joel Samaha; a criminal justice professor at the University of Minnesota. He teaches criminal procedure, law, and is also a lawyer. I feel that he is very qualified to discuss the topic in depth.
The writers goal is fairly obvious, as he expresses his intent several times in the textbook. The intent is to inform the reader on the issues surrounding a given case, and then to help the reader to understand the decision that the Supreme Court made about the case and why they made the decision that they did. It is my opinion that this book is intended for students in the criminal justice or law fields as a catalyst for contemplation about where judicial law comes from and how it is made.
This being the writers purpose, I feel that he succeeded in doing what he set out to do. Upon reading the excerpts from this book that I read for my class, I became more informed about laws and procedure and the circumstances surrounding how they came into being. I also gained a greater appreciation for the way that our judicial system functions.
The language used was, at times, difficult to digest. There was a lot of legal terms and jargon that the author assumed the reader already knew. This, though, was generally true in my case as I had already taken several other lower level criminal justice classes. Even with my experience with such language, however, the reading was never easy.
This is one thing that I feel that the author could have changed. I understand that having a working vocabulary is essential in professional and scholastic settings, but I feel that Samaha overly used some jargon just for the sake of using it. I feel that the author is very intelligent and knows full well what he is talking about, but his ability to relay his information in a manner that is usable to students at my level seemed lacking. This I suppose is more of a thought process issue than a writing one.
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Blog Assignment 1
My name is Jakki Varnado. I generally go by Jak (pronounced "Jack"). I've been in college way longer than I should have been so I've had quite a bit of experience writing. My major now is Criminal Justice. In the past I have majored in Biology, Chemistry, Religion, and History. This somewhat explains my excessive stay here.
I've written reports, critiques, and all manner of other documents. Within my major I have written numerous papers on how I would analyze laws or certain legal doctrines. The only workplace writing that I can think of that I have done off hand is run reports when I worked at Hattiesburg Fire Department. These are short narratives that give important information about what occured on a particular call. I can't think of any writing I've done for general audiences.
I don't particularly mind writing, I just don't particularly enjoy it either. The most lothesome form of writing I can think of is writing checks. I hate authorizing people to take my money.
Writing is especially difficult to me when I have no interest in the topic or feel that the assignment has no practical application. I am aware that this is generally not the case but when I feel like I am wasting my time I usually end up doing so (youtube, minesweeper, banging head on desk, etc.) and my assignment takes twice, nay, thrice as long as it should. I think that a large deal of this general lack of interest in topics that are not of my chosing in part stems from my inability to self motivate when it comes to doing things that I consider "work".
As far as what I would like to learn from this course about writing goes--despite how much of it I've done, I don't claim to know much of anything about writing so I'm sure that I will find any material in this class informative and helpful.
I've written reports, critiques, and all manner of other documents. Within my major I have written numerous papers on how I would analyze laws or certain legal doctrines. The only workplace writing that I can think of that I have done off hand is run reports when I worked at Hattiesburg Fire Department. These are short narratives that give important information about what occured on a particular call. I can't think of any writing I've done for general audiences.
I don't particularly mind writing, I just don't particularly enjoy it either. The most lothesome form of writing I can think of is writing checks. I hate authorizing people to take my money.
Writing is especially difficult to me when I have no interest in the topic or feel that the assignment has no practical application. I am aware that this is generally not the case but when I feel like I am wasting my time I usually end up doing so (youtube, minesweeper, banging head on desk, etc.) and my assignment takes twice, nay, thrice as long as it should. I think that a large deal of this general lack of interest in topics that are not of my chosing in part stems from my inability to self motivate when it comes to doing things that I consider "work".
As far as what I would like to learn from this course about writing goes--despite how much of it I've done, I don't claim to know much of anything about writing so I'm sure that I will find any material in this class informative and helpful.
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