Assignments

You will be turning in and sharing your weekly progress using WordPress, provided by GSU for free. Knowing how to use WordPress is a marketable skill. So learning it is worthwhile. Because you are using WordPress, your writing is public. You, and the world, can see what everyone in this class has written. Be supportive. Learn from and help each other.

WordPress has easy to install templates. Try out lots of them. Have some fun. What does each one tell the world about who you are? Pick one that feels right. My only requirement is that the most recent post is the top post. Your post titles should include the week (Week 1, Week 2, etc.). I need to read and keep track of 28 blog posts a week, which means I need to get oriented quickly.

I'm looking for diligence, details, and precision. So typically a longer post will be more successful -- though noise doesn't count.

To set up your blog: Go to Sites.gsu.edu. Click on "Get a Personal blog." Login in using your GSU user id and password, same as you use for iCollege. You might want to play the video that's linked there. Click on Getting Started (Rocket Ship Icon) and then perhaps Pages and Posts. Click around. Experiment. Have some fun. But remember this isn't a diary. You are not the audience. A quick lesson in practical rhetoric: There's what you think you say, what you say, and what they hear. Same with writing: what you think you wrote, what you wrote, and what they understands as they read and what they remember. It is hard to make what you say match what they hear and still less what they remember. You have to understand a great many things about who they are, their context, their needs, how they filter the world, in other words. When you are communicating in person, you can rely on tacit knowledge -- a shared context, assumed roles, plausible assumptions. When writing you have to build context, create or anticipate roles, and scrutinize assumptions. When what you think you are communicating isn't what they understand, the fault may be yours, theirs, some linguistic or cultural difference, or some technical error. To make matters more complicated, you may not know they didn't understand your message as you intended, unless they can leave comments or have some other way to reach you. You need to think about how your message will be received and not just what you want the message to be. The message is just one part of the communication. Even knowing everything you can, you may still trigger responses you didn't anticipate, especially online where anonymity and animosity rule.

Your first blog post should be about your career aspirations, what you know already, and what you think you need to learn and do in order to get your first career-related job. If you have no idea what you want to do post graduation, you have a couple options. One is drop this class. We offer it frequently and you can take it when you do know. The other is use this class to carefully research a plausible career choice and create a portfolio that might get you there. You don't have to follow through. If you don't know what you want to do, email me now so we can discuss ideas for your portfolio. Keep in mind that while you will likely be spending most of your time creating the portfolio, what you put in it is actually more important. Content, content, content. What kinds of digital objects have you made and what skills and abilities does each one demonstrate?

Among all the digital objects you might included in your portfolio, consider introducing yourself via a short-form video -- like a TikTok.

If you don't have anything to put in your portfolio, we should talk (gpullman@gsu.edu). I can help.

GRADE: This assignment is PASS / FAIL. Either you added your Sites URL to the class list or you failed the first assignment.

Monica's advice about designing a prompt

You are going to use AI to help you learn about, prepare for, and build your career-launching portfolio. AIs can be powerful assistants, but they can also be misleading and they can lull a person into a false sense of knowledge, so think before you copy, paste, and edit. Look for confirmation from other sources -- friends, mentors, publications, organizations. Some sources of information are really just fronts for sales, marketing masquerading as information. Be careful.

Read Anatomy of an AI Prompt

If you want more details, read Prompt Engineering Guide

Here are links to the most prevalent AI text generators. Try them out. See if one appeals to you more than the others. It's not a bad idea to try the same prompt in more than one, to see how they differ, but your goal is to assemble the most good information you can, not choose a favorite AI (although you might).

• Bard
• Bing
• ChatGPT
• Claude
• Copilot
• Perplexity

There is also a browser plugin called Monica that you might find helpful. MS's Edge has Copilot built in now. See Tools for more.

For this week's assignment, you need to design and try out a few prompts. Start with something like the following prompt:

You may need to tweak this prompt to get useful results. You may want to follow-up with subsequent questions.

You might want to ask, for example
1. How can I gain real-world experience in my chosen field?
2. What national organization does my field have?
3. What networking opportunities does my industry offer?
4. How do make the best use of LinkedIn?
   You might want to read LinkedIn: How to get an entry level job
5. What other questions can you think of? (Answering relevant questions I didn't think to ask elevates your grade)

Synthesize what the AIs tell you.

Then give your synthesis to one of those AIs and ask it to make editorial suggestions. Then ask it to suggest ideas you haven't yet included.

Edit and post your synthesis. Write a paragraph about what additional suggests the AI offered. Then write a few paragraphs answering the following questions:

1. What did you already know?
2. What did you learn?
3. What do you need to do/learn next?
4. How are you feeling about all this at this point?
5. What else do you want to say?

Grades are awarded for thoroughness (leave no reasonable question unanswered), specificity (be concrete; don't say "dog", say what kind of dog), and clarity (don't make your readers interpret what you have written; don't assume what you've said makes sense. Write the way you know your audience will read).

GRADE:5%

This week continues what you started last week. Use AIs to learn more about what you should put into your portfolio. I asked ChatGPT, for example, "Can you tell me what a technical writer's portfolio might look like?". I got the following:

Certainly! A technical writer's portfolio typically showcases their skills and expertise in creating technical documentation. While the specific content and format of a portfolio can vary, here are some common elements you might find in a technical writer's portfolio:

1. Resume or About Me: An introduction that includes the writer's name, contact information, a brief summary of their background, and any relevant certifications or qualifications.
2. Writing Samples: The core of a technical writer's portfolio is their writing samples. These may include:
   • User manuals: Examples of user guides, instruction manuals, or product documentation they've created.
   • API documentation: Samples of documentation for software APIs or developer documentation.
   • Tutorials: How-to guides or tutorials that explain complex processes or tasks.
   • Whitepapers: Longer, in-depth documents that explore technical topics or solutions.
   • Online Help: Screenshots or links to web-based help systems they've designed.
   • Release Notes: Examples of release notes for software updates.
3. Case Studies: Real-world examples of projects the writer has worked on, including before-and-after examples that demonstrate how their documentation improved a product or process.
4. Design and Layout: If the writer has experience with document design and layout, they might include samples of documents they've formatted to make them more user-friendly.
5. Tools and Technologies: A list of software tools and technologies the writer is proficient in, such as Microsoft Word, Adobe FrameMaker, MadCap Flare, or any other relevant tools.
6. Testimonials and Recommendations: Quotes or recommendations from colleagues, supervisors, or clients that speak to the writer's skills, work ethic, and professionalism.
7. Blog Posts or Articles: If the writer maintains a blog or has written articles on technical writing topics, they might include links to these as well.
8. Visuals and Graphics: Diagrams, illustrations, or graphics that they've created to enhance their documentation.
9. Samples of Style Guides: If the writer has created or worked with style guides, they may include excerpts or examples from these guides.
10. Contact Information: A way for potential employers or clients to get in touch, such as an email address or LinkedIn profile.

Remember that the portfolio should be well-organized, easy to navigate, and visually appealing. It should demonstrate the writer's ability to effectively communicate technical information and create documentation that serves its intended audience. The specific content and layout can vary based on the writer's personal style and the types of projects they've worked on.

Perhaps I should have asked for what an entry-level technical writer's portfolio might look like. Or maybe instead of "look like" I should have written "put into." Remember to be specific. Details, details, details.

I gave Google's Bard a similar but slightly different prompt: Can you give some ideas about what to put in a technical writing portfolio? [I varied the prompt because my goal isn't to compare AIs but to get as much input as I can. But I still said "put into", which is too vague, and I didn't specify entry level, which I should have.]

Essential Elements of a Technical Writing Portfolio

A technical writing portfolio is your chance to shine a spotlight on your skills and experience. It's not just a collection of writing samples; it's a curated showcase of your ability to translate complex information into clear, concise, and user-friendly content. Here are some essential elements to include:

1. Introduction & Summary:
   Briefly introduce yourself and your technical writing background.
   Highlight your key skills and areas of expertise.
   Summarize the content of your portfolio and what you hope to achieve with it.
2. Writing Samples:
   Choose 3-5 of your best writing samples that showcase your range and versatility.
   Include a mix of formats, such as user manuals, API documentation, online help articles, blog posts, or white papers.
   Briefly explain the project context, your role, and the specific challenges you addressed.
3. Process & Methodology:
   Briefly outline your technical writing process.
   Mention the tools and technologies you use, like content management systems or authoring tools.
   Highlight your approach to research, collaboration, and revision.
4. Testimonials & Recommendations:
   Include quotes or letters of recommendation from satisfied clients or colleagues.
   This adds social proof and credibility to your portfolio.
5. Contact Information:
   Make it easy for potential employers to reach you.
   Include your email address, website, and LinkedIn profile.

Bonus Tips:
• Tailor your portfolio to the specific job you're applying for. Highlight the skills and experience that are most relevant to the position.
• Use clear and concise language. Avoid technical jargon that your audience might not understand.
• Proofread carefully for any typos or grammatical errors.
• Design your portfolio to be visually appealing and easy to navigate.

Here are some additional ideas for what to include in your portfolio:
• Awards or recognition you've received for your writing.
• Links to your blog or other online writing.
• A case study of a successful project you've worked on.
• Your resume or CV.
• Remember, your portfolio is a living document. Keep it updated with your latest work and achievements.

By following these tips, you can create a technical writing portfolio that will impress potential employers and land you your dream job.

I hope this gives you a good starting point for creating your own technical writing portfolio!

It also gave me the following link: Everything Technical Writing

You should run your own prompts even if you are planning to become a technical writer. Mine are imprecise.

I asked MS's Copilot a much more general question: "What are the five most important things to have in an entry level job-seeking portfolio?"

Here is it's response:

Career Summary

A short paragraph that describes your relevant work experience, skills, and professional accomplishments.

Mission Statement

A statement explaining your professional beliefs and expresses what you want to be, do, and have in your career.

Brief Biography

A section that allows you to showcase more of your personality and connect on a more personal level with employers.

Resume

A document that summarizes your education, work experience, and skills.

Cover Letter

A letter that introduces yourself and explains why you're interested in the position.

References

A list of people who can vouch for your skills and experience.

Certificates and Licenses

Documents that prove your qualifications.

Transcripts

Official records of your academic achievements.

Work Samples

Examples of your work that demonstrate your skills and experience.

Testimonials

Statements from previous employers or clients that attest to your skills and experience.

Awards and Recognition

Certificates or other documents that recognize your achievements.

Professional Development

A list of courses, workshops, or other training programs that you've completed.

Remember, the most important thing is to tailor your portfolio to the specific job you're applying for. Make sure that the materials you include are relevant to the position and demonstrate your qualifications for the job.

Not bad general advice, but general is all it is. You might ask follow-up questions like, You've advised me to write a cover letter. Given that I am looking for an entry level job in X profession, what should I put in my cover letter? Also, please give me an example. You might follow that up by giving it your details and asking it to write a letter for you. If you give it really good, detailed, specific, information, you might get a solid draft. Just make sure you don't post anything AI-sounding.

You can also ask for advice about how to write a resume.

Blog about the prompts you used. Copy and paste (formatted) or upload screen caps of what the prompts returned. And then write a few paragraphs about what you learned and what you plan to do next.

GRADE: 10%

Claude's step by step advice about registering a domain name

Every business needs a website and nearly every professional person needs a web presence. If you are online, using Insta, TikTok, whatever, you have an online presence. But there's a difference between an online presence and a professional online presence. You want to make sure there's nothing damaging on your social media trail, but you also want to start building a professional online presence and a website is the best way to do this. While there are Site-In-A-Box services on which one can host a portfolio, I want you to spend some time learning outside your comfort zone. (If you already know HTML/CSS, push yourself to learn more. If you don't know anything yet, good.)

Learning entirely new things can be intimidating. Tech companies know this and so they do everything they can to flatten the learning curve when it comes to using their product. But learning isn't about taking the easy way. Learning is about taking the hard way. Fortunately, the hard way doesn't cost any money. As in all things in life, you can spend money or you can spend time.

You can get a free web hosting account at spaces.w3schools.com (link below). The free version has some limitations. For one thing, while you can create new files and upload your existing files, you cannot rename a file once it is up there, nor can you move one. This inconvenience is designed to make you want to pay $5.00 a month for a better service. You don't have to do that, although you can if you like.

And you may want to because the free version also has a 20 MB cap on file space, which means that all of the files for your portfolio can't add up to more than 20MB. If you have a lot of photographs and especially if you have video, this will quickly become a problem. You may want to compress an image before uploading it. You can do this with software you already have, perhaps, or a free site like Optimizilla. There are others. Remember that "free" is a marketing tool, not necessarily a real adjective. So be mindful. For videos, you can use your website as a jumping off point to other services, like Youtube.

The next weeks are all about following directions, paying close attention, and not getting distracted. Basically you will be copy, pasting, and editing. You need to learn enough HTML and CSS to edit a website template. Be systematic. Make one change, save, check, undo or continue depending on how the change worked.

1. Always read before you click.
2. Start by reading this
3. HTML Introduction. Your goal is to get comfortable reading HTML labels and understanding how they work. You don't need to learn them all. But you should recognize and now how to write the basics: anchors (links), images, headings, lists, and basic text stuff like paragraphs, italics, bold face. You might like to ask an AI, "What are the 20 most common HTML tags.
4. Next, read How TO - Create a Free Website.
   1. Don't click on anything until you have read over the whole screen. Once you have, scroll back to the top and click on the green button that says Get Started for Free.
   2. Once you have setup an account, read the README file. Notice that you already have a file called index.html. Any content (words and HTML) you put in that file is what a person will see when they go to your URL. My URL, for example, is https://gpullman.w3spaces.com/.
   3. Click on How TO - Make a Website, scroll down to the green bar that says Try it Yourself, and then copy and paste all the code on the left of the screen into your index.html file.
   4. Save it.
   5. When you go to your url, you should see this. If so, great start! If not, retrace your steps.

Here are 4 sub how-tos you should review:

1. Page title
2. File paths
3. Links
4. Images
   If you are a photographer, you should also look at all the image options ()

HTML, which stands for Hypertext Markup Language, is used to label the parts of a digital document, the body, the headings, the paragraphs, etc. CSS, which stands for Cascading Style Sheets, is used to alter how the HTML parts appear on the screen. CSS is a lot to learn. You should learn one or two elements a day.

This week requires you to replace the place-holder text with your own words. Spend some time thinking about what you want to say. Your words matter. Who are you? What are your values? What do you want a new acquaintance to know about you on a professional level?

1. Go to your spaces.w3schools server
2. Edit the index.html nav bar so Link Link Link Link (4th one is far right) says Home Portfolio Resume About and each links to a file you will make next week.
   For example <a href='index.html'>Home</a>
3. Put a headshot of yourself in the gray box under Photo of me: [left column under About Me]
4. Change TITLE HEADING to Your Name
5. Change the dates to whatever today is.
6. Put in an image under each date, one that fills the space without stretching or otherwise getting deformed (pick an image that works).
   Find great images for free at Unsplash and Pixabay and Pexels. Or use your own.
   Getting an image to fit in the space provided requires some trial and error. You can control the dimensions of an image using width= and height =, like this<img src='file.jpg' width='250px' height='100px'> That would give you an image that is 2.5 X wider than high. If the image you chose doesn't look great in the space you have for it, find a more compatible image.
7. Here is what a B+ looks like on this assignment. An A will have more of your own content. My links work. Yours will currently give you a 404 error, file not found. That's because you haven't made files with those names yet.

   Think ahead

   How many digital objects do you have for your portfolio and how will you group them? If you are a writer, whether poetry or prose or script, you should have a section with a heading like poetry, for example, and a list of links to your poems under it. So instead of "Recent Work" you might have "Poetry". If you have more than two kinds of digital objects to show off, you will need to add (copy and paste) another section. So you would copy lines 144 to lines 150, make a new line at 150 and paste them there, above line 151 which is the off tag -- </div> -- for the whole section.

   If you have lots of poems but want to get a technical writer job, keep your Poetry section, but have a couple of technical writing genre sections as well -- How-Tos, infographics, etc. Ask an AI what kinds of thinks technical writers write. Then make some of those. If tech writing doesn't interest you, ask an AI what people who do what you want to do make for a living, even if you already think you know. There may be others.

   Blog about what you learned this week and what you plan to teach yourself next week.

   GRADE: 5%

Websites are supposed to look, act, and feel like a unified place. Imagine you are decorating your dream home. You want every room to look and feel like you even though each has a different function. The kitchen is YOUR kitchen. The family room is YOUR family room, and so on. Each space is different but they all look and feel like YOUR spaces. If a person went from one room into one that looked like someone else lived there, that would be weird. A website needs to be similarly unified.

Websites should also flow like the great room / kitchen of a modern home design. Although each space has a different purpose, they are all accessible from any one of the spaces. If a person walked into one room and then had to back out to move on, that would be awkward.

A website needs to flow from file to file while maintaining a consistent look and feel.

Website unity is created by having the same banner and navigation and dimensions from "page" to "page". We are talking about files not "pages", but old language-ways linger.

To make your website look uniform, you need to put the same header and the same navigation bar on every file except index.html, which is your front door. The file portfolio.html already has a banner and a navigation bar, so an easy choice is to replicate it, add it to resume.html and about.html. So that's what we will do. The results won't be perfect for reasons I will explain later, but close enough.

To unify your website, you need to copy and paste the following into the <style> </style> tags of resume.html and about.html -- leave everything that's already in the style tags as it is.

.navbar {  overflow: hidden;  background-color: #333;  margin-bottom:30px;}/* Style the navigation bar links */.navbar a {  float: left;  display: block;  color: white;  text-align: center;  padding: 14px 20px;  text-decoration: none;}/* Right-aligned link */.navbar a.right {  float: right;}/* Change color on hover */.navbar a:hover {  background-color: #ddd;  color: black;}/* Header/logo Title */.header {  padding: 80px;  text-align: center;  background: #006679;  color: white;}

Then you need to add the following directly under the <body> tag of resume.html and under the <body> tag of about.html.

  <h1>Your Name </h1>  <p>Your tag line.</p></div><div class="navbar">  <a href="index.html">Home</a>  <a href="portfolio.html">Portfolio</a>  <a href="resume.html">Resume</a>  <a href="about.html" class="right">About</a>

Use your browser to check your work -- the W3spaces' preview panel doesn't tell you everything you need to know. From your w3spaces URL, a user should see your entry page with a button that takes them to portfolio.html which will have links to the other files and all of them will have the same banner and navigation system.

This is technically imperfect in several ways. The page dimensions are not identical. Resume.html is centered on the screen with nice wide margins that neither about.html nor portfolio.html have. The struggle here is that we haven't built these files ourselves and don't really quite know what controls what, so heavy editing will be very time-consuming and given what we are trying to do, maybe not worth it. Still, attention to detail is a trait all employers want so we should make an effort to minimize the differences. Since resume.html is the outlier, efficiency suggests we make it conform. Look at line 51.

<div class="w3-content w3-margin-top" style="max-width:1400px;">

There is a class statement and then a style statement, which means that there are two different elements controlling the layout here. The class belongs to a collection of style declarations that w3schools provides to make pretty layouts quick and easy, as long as you don't change anything but text. We want to tinker a little bit. The style max width statement is something more local and perhaps we can mess with it to change the dimensions. So, let's comment out their line 51 and put in our own.

<!--div class="w3-content w3-margin-top" style="max-width:1400px;"-->
<div style = 'width:100%;'>

Save. View. You will need to view this in a separate browser window rather than w3's preview pane. When you do, you should see that resume.html now fills the screen the way all the others do.

Your website should now look like this, but with your content, of course.

Better, but still not perfect. When you move from portfolio.html to about.html you will notice the banner and nav bar bouncing. They are not identical. Closer, but not identical. Good enough? Good enough for me for now. Good enough for you too, unless you are going for an A+ in this class. Great content will forgive a minor technical imperfection.

Remember that the content I've got is only just slightly better than place-holder text. My picture is repeated. Why? Lazy? Maybe a few other images would be better. Images shouldn't be purely decorative. They should communicate something useful or at least create a relevant feeling. And of course you need your own words and your own information. So, edit, edit, edit.

GRADE: - 10% if it all works, looks 99% uniform, and has your information and personality on display.

I will review your website and change the grade for any of the last three assignments if you can improve or finish them by the end of this week. If you are already rocking the grade you want, start gathering the files you want to display in your portfolio, the ones that will demonstrate your job-specific skills.

Breathe. Go away if you can. Catch up if you need to. Learn a new skill. Make some new content for your portfolio.

Work on your portfolio and write a blog post about what you did this week and what you plan to do next week.

GRADE: P/F.

Work on your portfolio and write a blog post about what you did this week and what you plan to do next week.

GRADE: P/F.

Work on your portfolio and write a blog post about what you did this week and what you plan to do next week.

GRADE: P/F

Work on your portfolio and write a blog post about what you did this week and what you plan to do next week.

GRADE: P/F

You portfolio should have the following features

1. A clear audience -- who are you talking to?
2. A clear purpose -- what are you claiming to be able to do?
3. A unified appearance -- each screen should have the same navigation system and should look like all the others, with the possible exception of your index.html page, which might be a hero screen with just a one button navigation scheme.
4. Content. As much content as you can find and create over the course of this semester.

Post a link to your portfolio to your blog.

GRADE: 40% of your final.