Advice

Business Writing with Angie Rogers has been a really good class. Mrs. Rogers is a really good teacher and just a really nice person in general. I feel like I learned a lot that I will be able to use in the future. I guess the best advice I could give for this class is just to do all of the assignments. It may seem like there are a lot of them, but they're not very difficult and they really add up in the end. You can pretty much always expect to do well on the assignments as long as you just do them. Also, get to know people in the first few weeks of class so that you will be able to pick a good group of people to work with on your client project. It takes almost the whole semester to complete, so it's important to have responsible group members.

Ethics Research

My partners and I decided to research the recent controversy about Eliot Spitzer, the previous governor of New York. Spitzer was well-known for trying to put an end to unlawful activity on Wall Street, but recently his own wrongdoings were discovered. He was caught on a federal wiretap arranging a meeting with a high-priced prostitute. He apologized for his behavior and referred to it as "a private matter." He talked about how he had disappointed his family and the public. He never actually came out and said exactly what he was talking about. Apparentally, he was supposed to be the governor who brought ethics back to the state of New York. I thought it was also interesting how the the governor taking Spitzer's place was already admitting to his extramarital affairs at a press conference a day after taking over.

Response to "Ethical Lapses Distract U.S. Workers"

I think that it's really sad to hear that 73% of workers in America have encountered ethical lapses while on the job, but it's even worse that only 36% are even affected by them. When I hear things like this, I can't help but feel discouraged. Sometimes, I have to force myself to remember that there are good people and things in this world, even if it seems hard to believe. I think that the reason there are so many ethical dilemmas is because people have become too tolerant of them and won't stand up for what they really believe in. One reason for this may be that people fear getting in trouble or even fired from their job. Ethical lapses don't just affect a few people, but on average will affect multiple employees in various ways. People have enough things to worry about while they are at work and don't need the added stress that a situation like this creates. Ethical lapses in the workplace are not only detrimental to employees, but also to the company as a whole due to the low morale and non-unity they cause.

Writing on the Web vs. Writing on Paper

Writing on the Internet and writing on paper are very much alike, but are also very different. They are similar in that they both require you to understand the purpose for your document and your audience who will be receiving it. You also need to perform the same amount of research when writing on paper and the Internet. Organization and the use of plain language are very important for both mediums. Of course, it is always important to not have typographical or grammatical errors in any type of writing. Writing on the Internet and writing on paper are different in that writing on the Internet is more difficult because of the importance of getting your point across quickly. When transferring a document that was formerly on paper to the web, you might want to consider converting it to a PDF file. This will display the pages of your document exactly as they appear on paper.

Spring Break

Spring break was really nice this year. I didn't go anywhere exciting, but just went home. It was really relaxing, though, and went by so fast. It was good just to be with my family and play with my pets. I was kind of disappointed that the weather wasn't that great, though. My grandmother just had surgery recently, so I stayed with her for a few days and just kind of helped her get around. My boyfriend had also been in Turkey for a month, and he came home the last part of the break, so it was exciting to see him. My brother and his fiance came home for Easter, and my mom cooked lunch for the whole family. I also got to go shopping a bunch over the break, which was a definite plus. I don't know why, but for some reason when I got back, I was just not motivated to do any school work, which is not good. It feels like we should be out for summer break already. I guess we only have about four more weeks of school left from now, though, so I've just got to push through it.

"Lying on Your Resume" Response

I thought that this article was really interesting. I can believe that many people lie on their resumes, but I don't think that it's right. I don't see how some people think that they are going to get away with lying about big things, like having a master's degree. I can definitely see where people may feel that they need to tell "white lies" to make themselves a little more appealing to an employer. This would be especially true for someone that has been out of work for a long time and desperate to find a job. I didn't ever think about the fact that lying on your resume could hurt other people, but it makes sense. It could potentially keep people who are actually qualified for the job from getting it, which isn't fair. If you lie on your resume and get a job, you won't ever be able to live up to the expectations of your employers because the expectations will be based on false information. I think that it would be helpful for people who are not satisfied with their resumes to be informed about how to handle resume dilemmas in an ethical way.

Presentations

I thought that all of the presentations over the last few weeks were interesting and really fun to listen to. There were a few that stood out to me, though, and those were Casey's presentation on Zambia and Lindsey's presentation on Hershey's chocolate.

I thought that Casey's presentation was really interesting because I don't know very much about Africa and I've always wanted to go there. Her pictures were really pretty and they enhanced her presentation. She also knew a lot of interesting facts about her topic because she has been there.

Lindsey's presentation was equally as interesting as Casey's and was very unique. I've never been to Hershey, Pennsylvania, but it seems like it would be really fun, from the way Lindsey talked about it. The most interesting part of her presentation, to me, was when she taught us how to taste chocolate. I never even knew that people did this and that it was so similar to wine tasting.

I really enjoyed all of the presentations. They were a nice break from normal class.