Touchstone 2.2: Informative Comparison/Contrast Draft
SCENARIO: Your workplace has experienced significant change recently, and your department is expected to respond to change with innovation. Your immediate manager has asked you to determine one specific innovation for your department; you will be responsible for the implementation of this innovation.
Your manager has asked you to first create an informative report in which you explore how this innovation might be implemented. Once they approve or provide feedback on this, they would like you to create a recommendation report for the department manager.
ASSIGNMENT: For this assignment, you will create an informative report in which you identify an innovation that you would like to implement and compare and contrast possible methods of implementation. The purpose of informative writing is to convey information. Informative writing is unbiased, and the goal is to present concepts and research objectively. Specifically, you will research several methods for implementing your chosen innovation, ultimately focusing on two of them. In your report, you will compare and contrast these methods based on two or three factors that you choose (e.g., cost, technology requirements, accessibility, etc.). Your audience for this assignment is your supervisor.
Remember that for this report, you are not trying to persuade or convince the audience that one method is better or worse than the other; you are instead informing the reader about the similarities or differences between the two methods in an objective manner.
In order to foster learning and growth, all essays you submit must be newly written specifically for this course. Any recycled work will be sent back with a 0, and you will be given one attempt to redo the Touchstone.
A. Assignment Guidelines
DIRECTIONS: Draft a 3-4 page informative comparison/contract report in which you:
1. Include a thesis that conveys the two methods of implementation you will be comparing and contrasting, as well as the 2-3 factors of comparison/contrast that you will be discussing.
1. For example, if the innovation you’d like to implement is more rapid communication between teams, you could discuss two different instant messaging tools that the company could implement and compare/contrast them through the lenses of cost, usability, and efficiency.
2. State your thesis in an introductory paragraph.
3. Include 4-6 body paragraphs organized according to either the point-by-point or block method for comparison/contrast writing, which you learned about in this unit.
4. Using APA format, cite and reference 2-4 reliable primary or secondary sources that you used to learn about these methods of implementation and the points of comparison/contrast you chose.
5. End with a concluding paragraph that restates your thesis in different words and provides a concluding thought.
6. Write in the informative mode throughout the composition, using objective language.
7. Minimize mechanical and stylistic errors.
8. Answer the reflection questions listed below.
B. Reflection Questions
DIRECTIONS: Below your assignment, include answers to all of the following reflection questions.
1. Did you use the point-by-point or block method to organize your body paragraphs? What made you decide to organize your essay in this way? (3-4 sentences)
2. Consider the experience of writing in the informative mode. How was this different from other writing assignments you have done? Did you find it difficult to refrain from providing your opinion on the different methods you explored? (2-3 sentences)
3. How did you use technology throughout this process, both in writing your report and finding sources? (2-3 sentences)
5. Remember that the writing process is a recursive process, and your first draft of an essay is rarely your last. Which part of the draft did you struggle with the most, and why? Since you will be revising this Touchstone in the next unit, think about how you can improve the draft once you continue the writing process with revision and editing. (3-4 sentences)
D. Requirements
The following requirements must be met for your submission to be graded:
* Double-space the outline and use one-inch margins.
* Use a readable 12-point font.
* All writing must be appropriate for an academic context.
* Composition must be original and written for this assignment.
* Plagiarism of any kind is strictly prohibited.
* Submission must include your name, the name of the course, the date, and the title of your composition.
* Submission must include your informative comparison/contrast draft and reflection questions with the components described in the guidelines above.
* Include all of the assignment components in a single file.
* Acceptable file formats include .doc and .docx.
E. Additional Resources
The following resources will be helpful to you as you work on this assignment:
1. Purdue Online Writing Lab’s APA Formatting and Style Guide
1. This site includes a comprehensive overview of APA style, as well as individual pages with guidelines for specific citation types.
2. Frequently Asked Questions About APA Style
1. This page on the official APA website addresses common questions related to APA formatting. The “References,” “Punctuation,” and “Grammar and Writing Style” sections will be the most useful to your work in this course.
3. APA Style: Quick Answers—References
1. This page on the official APA Style website provides numerous examples of reference list formatting for various source types.