Weekly Reflection (Week 10)

        

This week, we learned on writing style for commercial website. Miss Amreet said that we need to write succinctly. How? Firstly, we have to be positive in writing. For example, you can see the difference between these two sentences; “do not write negative statement.” And, “write positive statement.” Which one is better? Of course you might choose the second statement.

            Next, you need to trust your reader. For example, your blogs should not be like a manual book. Therefore, you have to be brief in explaining things. Then, Anglo-Saxon words are always preferable than French or Greek’s words. As the Anglo-Saxon words are way better and easier. The example is shown below;

ANGLO-SAXON	FRENCH	GREEK
Ask	Interrogate	Question
Dead	Deceased	Defunct

Not only that, we need to use bullets and remove redundancies. For redundancies, the examples are; past experience, close proximity, begin to initiate, free gift, basic fundamental, and same exact thing.

Next, the word used in the blog should be shortening inflated phrases. For example, it is far suitable to use suddenly instead of all of a sudden.

When writing in a blog, use a conversational style by sounding like ‘you’, but only better. Next, plain terms should be used, for example, by using extemporaneous discourse versus impromptu speech. Then, idioms should be avoided. Please spell acronyms and be wary of trend terms;

Kerfuffle: Disturbance fuse
Staycation: Vacation at home

Other guidelines you may practice are set the right tone, put title and subtitle and finally chunk the information.

On this week too, we had to submit the homepage assignment. 

Thus, this is the homepage my partner and I had built together.

http://munstarzs95.wix.com/braceletbyus

Weekly Reflection (Week 9)

During this week, Miss Amreet taught us on the important styles for informative websites. When we do an academic writing, technical or even scientific writing, it is important to use MLA/APA/The Chicago Manual of Style/Scientific Style and Format: The CBE Manual. Secondly, for the style in academic writing, there are three sections that we must consider, first is the front matter. Second is the body and for the third section is the back matter. For the front matter, we need to have the title page, abstracts, executive summary, table of contents and list of illustrations. Meanwhile, for the body part of academic writing, we need to add the introduction, survey of literature, research questions, methods, results, conclusion and recommendation. As for the third and final section, we can consider putting the glossary, list of symbols, references, bibliography or appendix.

            There are many styles in writing an academic writing. It all depends on the ‘field’ itself. Firstly is lab report sort-of-writing. Next are interim reports and site studies. Most sites that publish and archive academic articles and industrial reports offer different versions of each item-one for reading on screen, the other for printing (html,pdf). Next, all publication and copyright information should be included in the document (before printing). Finally, the pagination should also be correct.

            After that, we learned on the technical, academic and scientific style. Usually, scholarly and scientific journal writers employ specific subject-and audience-driven technique. But we need to avoid jargon. Jargon is actually sentences may be densely packed with technical terminology. They are written for expert who are comfortable with the vocabulary and syntax of their field. As for the complex syntax; the text features a substansial number of complex, compound and complex-compound sentence structure. Next, if we use symbols and equation, it is critically important to proofread all symbols and technical terms for even slightest error. Whereas words, phrases or entire passages in other languages; some academic discourse adopts the convention of assuming that well-educated scholars in literature and the humanities should have a reading familiarities with Latin, German, French, and possibly ancient Greek. Meanwhile, it is recommended for us to have extensive explanatory footnotes/endnotes. This is because, many scholarly works provide footnotes and/or endnotes to help clarify and explain historical, scientific, arcane, or archaic materials.

           

            Next, we also learned on how to construct online help files and manuals. They are often created as a separate small programs that can be accessed from the toolbars on powerful games and software commonly in use. These sub-application tend to incorporate detailed contents, indexes, hyperlink, multimedia files, and search functions. Not only that, online manuals and help files are created for various purposes. Firstly, it is for product ownership, use, and care. Secondly, it is for product repair and maintenance. Thirdly, it is for policies and procedures and lastly, it is for system administration and management. Last but not least, this online help files and manuals have to be user-friendly in design. The rule is to not make visitors work too hard. We then also learned on a few guidelines when working as a writer. Firstly, we need to welcome visitors to the site. Secondly, maintain a respectful tone. Thirdly, do the work by putting some thought and planning into resources we put online. Fourthly is to simplify things. We may use bulleted lists, alphabetical indexing and logical categories. Fifth, we can provide printable version and finally, keep distraction to a minimum.

Link to Academic Webpage

This is the link to the website which my pair, Munirah Binti Mohd Yusoff and I built to promote Diploma in English course by using wix.com;

http://syahira269.wix.com/dieupsi

Weekly Reflection (Week 8)

During the one-hour class, Miss Amreet assigned us to find three websites which are good and three which are bad in terms of layout, grammar and font used. Miss Amreet also told us that she will teach us the style for commercial website on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, during the two-hour class on Wednesday, Miss Amreet asked us to discuss within our group for the digital story-telling assignment. Next, Miss Amreet called the leader of each group to inform her about the progress of the assignment.

Weekly Reflection (Week 7)

During the one-hour class, Miss Amreet taught us on the writing style for the web. I learned on the style of the writing itself because this would be beneficial for us later when we designing the homepage. As for the formal kind of website, I learned that I need to use formal language with correct grammar whereas for the informal websites, I still need to use correct grammar but the writing style can be a bit informal. I found that the best way to state the time in our writing is like this; 7a.m instead of 7AM, 7 ante meridiem, or 7 in the morning. This is because it is a lot shorter and clearer to write this way. Finally during designing the website, I also need to consider the font uses. The size should not be too small or too big. Meanwhile for the colour of the font, it is best to use only three colours in websites rather than too many. This is to avoid confusion for the readers while reading our websites.

            The topic during Monday’s class is continued during the two-hour class on Wednesday. It is clear to us that Lingo words such as brb (be right back) and lol (laugh out loud) are strongly forbidden for formal websites as this can confuse a lot of readers. Some of the question asked during this class are cliché’s and swear words okay? Likewise, for business purposes, all these aspects are not allowed and forbidden. Often we encounter with gender bias during writing. We tend to use ‘he’ instead of ‘she’, thus absolutely it shows gender bias. Therefore, it is best to addressing people as one when you are speaking about people in general or directly to the reader. 

Next, I also learned the grammar rules like the use of apostrophes and the use of me or I. If you are the subject of a particular sentence, thus we need to use I instead of me. For example; Sally and I went to the movies. Finally, I learned about malapropism and spelling mnemonics. For example, mouses or mice? Accommodate or accommmadate? Miss pell or misspell?