EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION Participation Journal Week1-10
2016.05
Group member: 2281523 Jiaying LIU 2251304 Qihang XIE 2185226 Liang WANG
Jiaying LIU(Lily) Week 1 What is academic culture in Australia? I would like to talk about academic culture in Australia, which mainly consists of three parts. The first part is the positive attitudes of students, teachers and someone who are involved in academic in Australia. People are willing to learn more knowledge and skills. Sometimes people dig into what they are learning or work out problems independently, or they discuss and share information with others. All of them would like to make their learning and work more effective, which is the second point. They will not waste time. Finally, they always study, ask questions, explore the unknown things and respect intellectual property. School also provides Multi-cultural education which may benefits the whole country. What is research? Research is a process of formulating hypothesisďźŒproblems or specific topics .Researchers need to experiment, practice, record and collect information and data. After being analysed, as the evidence, the information and data will make the research much more scientific. Why do we write reports? After an experiment, a meeting, a class or something else, we need to record the procedure and useful information we have got. We can find out what we need directly if we write reports. It will help us memorise and complete work or study. It also witnesses achievement. In my view, these are the reasons why do we write reports. Week 2 How can we find a research topic? When we write a research paper, choosing a strong topic is very significant. After reviewing the topic section outlined, we can ask teachers for their suggestions. Or we select the topic which we are interested in and ensure that it can be supported with enough material is available. Discussing with friends or research group members is also a good way to find the topic. Everyone can change opinions and figure out what he or she want to research. Then we can find the topic much more easily. How can we focus our topic and question it? We should narrow our topic to something manageable. There will be too much information if the topic is too board. After that, we can think about what questions would audience have and what questions connect topic like how, what, where, who, when. Something we cannot answer is what we should research for. We can get the key points and start our research. How can we find credible information and use it effectively in our assignments? We always rely on web sources when we write papers. However, there are many other sources are also useful and good. Firstly, we can use books which include many facts as sources. Magazines which contain information for your specific assignment are also good choices. Generally speaking, news magazines are better than popular interest magazines. In addition to these sources, information from journal articles, news and dictionaries can make assignments more scientific. With these sources, we can find credible information and use it effectively in our assignments.
Week 3 What makes a good report? When we get down to reports, we should think about how to make a good and successful one. Before writing, we need to spend some time on discussion and collecting relevant information from what we have read or experience. After that, reports must be written by using words properly and correct grammar, and this is an essential requirement. A report should be structured well and logically in order that people who pay attention to it can read and get what they want to know from report much more easily. Materials in the report should be correct and adequate and they should be used in a coherent order. The clear and brief expression without unnecessary jargon can also make it easy to understand a report. All these aspects mentioned above are important to make a good report. What is effective reading and how does it contribute to writing a great report? Reading effectively is important to people. In an effective way, we will not spend too much time in the process of reading, and we can understand what the writers want to talk about and their theories more quickly. On the other hand, we can get information and key points from texts more easily with note-taking when we prepare for writing a report. We do not need to spend too much time to gather materials for reports, so we can concentrate on structuring reports. Effective reading plays an important role in writing a great report. Week 4 How are opinions and positions different? Having an opinion and maintaining a position are two absolutely different things. Opinions are beliefs and ideas about a specific topic of people. They may be original, not universally accepted and it is perhaps uncertain personal judgments or comments. Positions is the situation that someone is in. For instance, when people face with some events, people have to choose whether they do or not. It is the position they have. It may represent an attitude. Therefore, there is a huge different between opinions and positions. How can we use language to modify our position? To express our own positions clearly to others, we need to make our expression more complete. We should speak something in persuasive and emotive way to peruse others. In addition, we can use some scientific information from reports. The information we use need to be put logically. Written language is also important as the verbal one when we express our positions. Beyond that, we should use body language and eye contact to pass what we want to say to listeners. Frequent eye contact means honesty and forthrightness. The audience will get close to what we are talking about if we have facial expressions and gestures. It will help audience to understand your position and feelings. These ways are very helpful to modify our position. WEEK5 How can we make our arguments flow well? In arguments, we are willing to make others accept our conclusions or argument and convince others to understand and agree with us. Firstly, we should build up confidence to persuade our audience and ask ourselves whether our argument makes sense. Make a draft
with good structure and make sure it will be logical. We can quote sources and establish facts to support our argument. List out facts sequence them and consider their importance, clarifying related values for the audience logically. In addition, we can show understanding of opponent, switching roles. Finally, we need to know how to respond to criticism. Think about what audience will ask and treat criticism as a way of completing conclusions. These steps will help us persuade our audience to believe our conclusions. How can we take a stand? Taking a stand is to publicly express an opinion. At the beginning, we can take something we stand against, and turn it around. We should not beat around the bush. Using facts to support our argument is one of the most important part of taking a stand. We should quote facts are proved by authority. Logic and reason will support argument. Use reasonable evidence instead of your own experience without scientificity. WEEK6 How is gender relevant to communication? The biggest difference between men and women and their style of communication boils down to the fact that men and women view the purpose of conversations differently. Women are more tentative, polite and expressive in conversation, while men are more assertive and powerful. Men are more goal-oriented, and they express their views directly to achieve the goal of communication. Women want to feel respected and devoted, and men want to feel needed, appreciated, and admired. Men use language to enhance social dominance, while women are expected to use communication to develop relationships and social connections. Women are more emotional, and men are more rational. Sometimes it is more easily to communicate with people have same gender because they can understand each other. How does culture shape our communication? Culture is a set of shared values that a group of people holds which affects how you act and think. Every culture has rules that its members take for granted. What we learn in our centuries and where we live affect our value. Therefore, the way we communicate with others has differences. We speak different languages, take different stands, and look things from different angles. When we say something to someone has different culture, we need to respect each other and consider others’ feelings. Cultural meanings render some behaviors as normal and right and others strange or wrong. Week 7 How can we link information together properly? We need to use the words which are more straightforward, simple, clean and attractive in order to arouse the reader's sympathy. Propose topics to pave the way for the following theme. Work to control filler words to connect context. These words should be used properly. For example, to add extra points, we can use the words like furthermore, further, not only‌but also, what is more. Use proper words to lead to the opposite or opposing beliefs, opinions, and so on. Then we can link information together properly. What are the elements of a clear, convincing argument?
Set up your problem, and argue. Develop your reasoning. If you don't have that supporting evidence, your argument is just nothing. Just as in an essay you'd craft a thesis statement, you need to define the main point you're trying to make and assemble supporting evidence that backs it up. Accepting one lesser point from the other person and showing that you can change your mind, and that you have mutual agreements in the matter will open up the other person to your side of things. Be confident, make it personal and stay calm. Understand your opponent. Identify the other person's objections and motivations. Eventually, every link in your argument rings true, and you attain your argument. WEEK8 How can we write good introductions & conclusions? Introductions and conclusions can be the most difficult parts of papers to write. They act as a bridge. Use attractive first sentence to hook readers, such as asking a question or using a quotation. Or lead with a proper fact. Talk about what will be in the report briefly without sweeping generalizations, follow up with background information and do not announce purpose directly. Preview and build the structure of our report logically and clearly, considering readers. Avoid a vague, disorganized, error-filled, off-the-wall, or boring introduction which will probably create a negative impression. Conclusion and introduction should balance each other. Conclusion should reflect the Introduction. Add a few words of caution to conclusions. Combine all these, we can write good introductions and conclusions. What are readers looking for? Most of readers read books because they are willing to escape daily lives and share others’ imagination and mind. Books offer us a different feeling and an amazing adventure. Readers care about characters and stories. They prefer simple sentences than complex ones. Readers want to understand what you are talking about in your articles or books. They do not need generalizations. They want to feel what writers and characters feel. Sometimes, readers are looking for the fact. On the other hand, readers may want to have an unique experience. WEEK9 How does the 'voice' change with the type of text? When we are speaking something, we need to express different contents and emotions. We can control pitch, speed, tone and volume of voice to do it successfully. For instance, when announcers are talking about news which are delightful, their volume of voice will be high and speed will be high. On the contrary, when they speak sad news, the volume will be low and also, speed will be low. In addition, sometimes proper silence and interval will be better than words in the correct time. How much and what are we communicating beyond language? People use words to transmit their thoughts, but it is not all the time. Sometimes, people use something side from the words. People can use gestures, facial expressions, body posture, position and keeping proper distance to the listener, eye movements, touching and contact, and dress and appearance instead of simply speaking or writing words. It becomes more important, because it can add valuable information to messages that you are sending and help you control conversations. For example, if you use some gestures, facial
expressions, eye contact and have interaction with the audience while you are addressingďźŒ the audience will understand what you are talking about more easily. WEEK 10 What makes good visuals in a presentation? Firstly, we should have a plan. We need manage time of presentation. A good PowerPoint with simple background, enough slides and interesting images will be very helpful. Show a shocking photo intelligently. It will leave a deep impress on the audience. Play a short video which is directly relevant to content. Using body language while you are speaking and dressing properly are also important because this is your presentation and audience pay most attention to you. Break complex data and diagrams down and make them interesting. The audience will not be bored easily. These may help you make good visuals in a presentation. What captures the audiences' attention? Using a special headline. The headline will attract audience to listen to your following presentation. Tell an attractive story which is related to your topic and it need to be appealing. It will help audience to focus and feel what you say. Make audience connect to what you say. Ask a question which can provide much food for thought to the audience. Use a powerful quote, which will make your presentation more scientific. State an impressive statistic or a gripping fact. The audience will pay more attention on what they want to know from the statistic and fact. These things can capture the audiences' attention.
Qihang XIE(Sherry) Week 1 What is academic culture in Australia? What is research? Why do we write reports? In the reference, we often think the academic culture means consciousness of innovation and creativity, it is a culture that pursue the truth, and it has an important standard in the campus culture. In a way, academic culture includes the literature and art, science and technology, the education condition and artistic appreciation of resident and so on. Because there are many difference between different nature and cultural environment, academic has its own obvious character. In Australia, academic culture represents on many aspects-----Less scheduled class time, the need to be a more self-directed learner, less individualized attention from professors or lecturers, more active discussion in tutorial classes, an argumentative, not descriptive, style of writing in essays and exams, few, but heavily weighted, pieces of assessment late in the semester and a different approach to grading assignments. Research is a work that find the basic reasons and more dependent evidence on one’s own initiative, then increase reliability and robustness of the undertaking. But why we need to write report? Because when people read report, they can understand our ideas clearer. And also, if we talk to people face-to-face, it cannot evidence after we talk. But if we write them on a report, we can find the evidence that what we think and what we talk whenever we want. Week 2 How can we find a research topic? How can we focus our topic and question it? How can we find credible information and use it effectively in our assignments? To choose a research topic, we need to know what subject we good at. Like scientists is good at science, doctors good at medical science, everyone has things that they good at. If we find a topic we good at, we can finish it easier obviously. And also, the topic we choose must be we interested in. If unfortunately, we find a topic we do not interested in, we will find that we focus on the topic difficulty. We can find the data in the Internet, and of course, pick something that we interested in. Although the data we find is not interesting, but we need to find the interest in it in a
different angle. And then, we need to stop exploration, because when we find something interesting to say, we will stray away from our topic quite a lot. Although there are lots of data in the Internet, but we had to know many data in Internet is wrong, or just pick some sentences and words in an essay, then analyzes them. So, it is very important to distinguish which one is correct and which one is wrong. In my opinion, I suggest that we had to find the data in the reliable resources, such as newspaper or academic website, it will be more reliable. Week 3 What makes a good report? What is effective reading and how does it contribute to writing a great report? As we know, there are two targets when we write report, one is to summary what we have learnt, another is tell us an important skill that use in the work place. In this two reasons, write the clear report is very important. In my opinions, there are many things make a good report. For example, a good report will be more focus on the topic than the essay, and give the clear direction. And also, the sources must be acknowledging and authoritative. When we do research, we also need to read the data effectively, which will make our report better and more clear. In the early time in our whole life, our textbooks give us the ‘truth’ and fact, the only things we need to do is remember them. But now is not, we need to read the data with the questions, which is means effective reading. At first time, we need to skim the data, which will know the outline of the data. Secondly, we had to know, although the data is come from the authority website, it also will have mistaken. So the most importantly, we need to read the data with the doubt attitudes. Effective reading also has a positive effect of a good report, because reading effectively means we will get more information than others. Week 4 How are opinions and positions different? How can we use language to modify our position? The opinions mean someone think something is right, but positions are mean that someone trust it. In a way, position is deeper than opinions. In other way, positions same as location, but opinions just the thought of someone. And also, the difference between opinions and positions can showed by in opinion paper and position paper.
Let us first consider what an opinion paper is. In an opinion paper, the student expresses and argues a personally held opinion. The opinion presented can, on occasion, be supported by empirical evidence, though more often the opinion is supported not by empirical evidence, but by intellectual logic and emotional engagement. In contrast, position papers are supported by reasonable preponderance of empirical evidence. Conclusions drawn in the paper are dictated by the evidence, though the interpretation of the evidence may be skewed by the personal agenda of the writer. The most important tool that we can use language to modify our position is we can use our body language. Firstly, we need to know the “power posture”. Secondly, we need to avoid handheld devices. Thirdly, we need to be mindful of your facial expression. Lastly, Gesture when you speak. Week 5 How can we make our arguments flow well? How can we take a stand? To make an argument flow well, firstly we need a structure, which can discuss our argument clearly. A structure needs a proposition, which means a statement that is declared by a declarative statement that can either be true or false. Also commonly referred to as a claim. It also needs a statement that truth is used to infer that of others, and think of this as a building block for an argument, or a link in a chain with the last link being your conclusion, which named premise. What is more, there are inference, which means the relationship that holds between the premises and the conclusion of a logical argument, or the process of drawing a conclusion from premises that support it deductively or inductively. Lastly, it is a proposition whose truth has been inferred on the basis of other propositions assembled with it in a logical argument, which named conclusion. When we take a stand, we need to do many things. For example, take something you stand against, and turn it around. If you hate rape, stand for equal rights for women. If you don’t believe in war, why not fight for peace instead? Want to stop the destruction of the environment for our own amusement? Stand up for land preservation and responsible use of resources. Don’t waste your time fighting the symptoms. Use your energy to support a real solution to the underlying problem.
Week 6 How is gender relevant to communication? How does culture shape our communication?
Our ideas about gender differences in communication styles are constantly evolving and are shaped by circumstance. For example, my brother grew up with three sisters and was, therefore, influenced by a culture of females. On the other hand, my husband grew up with brothers and sisters and lived in a diverse neighborhood. His communication style was so flexible; he was a chameleon when it came to adjusting to different social environments. While men are more concerned with problem-solving and establishing hierarchy, women are more tuned into regulating closeness and distance, and maintaining social cohesion; however, we are all under the influence of social behavior, the intricacies of a multi-cultural society and other social factors including economic realities. With all this at play, a simple conversation may not be so simple after all. Culture forms a paradigm through which a person views or experiences the world. Someone in the United States may communicate from a different perspective than someone from an undeveloped nation, for instance. An American may complain about job pressures and social constraints, while an immigrant worker talks about opportunities and freedoms provided by work. Such different points of view can make it difficult for the two workers to share openly. Many industrialized countries, including the United States, Britain and Canada, tend to rely more heavily on electronic technology for communication as it becomes available. In Japan, face-to-face communication remains the ideal, in spite of access to advanced technology. In the U.S. work setting, efficiency and productivity are often goals with business communication. In many South American countries, business communication is a blend of small talk and work talk. The goal is to build rapport prior to or while doing business. It is important for American business leaders to slow down and take the time to establish relationships with global business partners. Week 7 How can we link information together properly? What are the elements of a clear, convincing argument? To link the information together properly, the first thing is keep the sentence in the best length-not very long that make the client feel boring. The best way is every sentence keep in about twenty words. Besides, try your best to use the formal sentence instead of inverted sentence, because the formal sentence is more powerful and more understanding. What is more, use the new information and the old information to strengthen the relation between
the points. Last but not the least, use the link words. There is no doubt that an article that use the link words will more attractive than an article that does not use the link words. In my opinion, a clear and convincing argument has lots of elements. Firstly, to analyses the questions deeper and clearer. Besides, has a clear point. What is more, the point is in a new point of view. Last but not the least, has a strong ability to summarize the point of view. Week 8 How can we write good introductions & conclusions? What are readers looking for? The introduction is the first paragraph of the main body of your paper. If your instructor requires you to write an abstract, your paper will begin on the page after the abstract; otherwise, begin on the page following the title page. Use a serif typeface, such as Times New Roman, and set your word processing program to double space the lines. Center your title on the page; don't use boldface type or underlining with the title. On the next line, indent an inch using the tab key and begin your introduction paragraph. The conclusion is the final paragraph, where you restate your thesis and tie together the ideas that support it that you have referenced, spelled out and argued for in earlier paragraphs. Don't just restate the information, but put it into logical order -- as it should be in the body of your paper -- like a series of steps the reader can climb, illustrating the connections between each piece that reinforce your thesis. End with a suggestion for either further study or action that should be taken. It is the readers, we are told, who don’t want small penises or capacious vaginas or expired condoms or crying heroes or functional humans who have been sexually assaulted and are not healed by magical sex. But I am a reader, too, and I want all of these things. I want everything. I want, as a baseline, fiction that is about humans. Also, and more to the point, there is a way in which we tell ourselves — we, as romance readers and writers and editors, pretend among ourselves — that this kind of policing is not harmful, when it is, actually. It’s harmful to our culture, our social fabric, to perpetuate a narrow idea of who is and isn’t allowed to be sexy, what is and is not sexually okay, what can and cannot be permitted romantically. Week 9 How does the 'voice' change with the type of text? How much and what are we communicating beyond language?
The present paper focuses on the role that voice quality plays in the signaling of speaker affect, broadly defined to include aspects of speaker attitude, mood, emotion, etc. The experiments described are very exploratory in nature and part of ongoing research on voice source variation in speech and on its function in communicating paralinguistic, linguistic and extra linguistic information. As part of this endeavor, we have been working towards the provision of acoustic descriptions of individual voice qualities. Although the work has been mainly analytic, synthesis has been used to test and fine-tune our descriptions, and further to explore how individual source parameters or combinations of them may cue particular voice qualities Body language is a kind of nonverbal communication, where thoughts, intentions, or feelings are expressed by physical behaviors, such as facial expressions, body posture, gestures, eye movement, touch and the use of space. Body language exists in both animals and humans, but this article focuses on interpretations of human body language. It is also known as kinesics. Body language must not be confused with sign language, as sign languages are full languages like spoken languages and have their own complex grammar systems, as well as being able to exhibit the fundamental properties that exist in all languages。 Body language, on the other hand, does not have a grammar and must be interpreted broadly, instead of having an absolute meaning corresponding with a certain movement, so it is not a language like sign language, and is simply termed as a "language" due to popular culture. Week 10 What makes good visuals in a presentation? What captures the audiences' attention? To make a good presentation, there is no doubt that the visuals are very important. Here are five ways to make sure your visuals help your presentation instead of hurting it. Firstly, speak your words — don’t write them on your slides. And also, use beautiful images to supplement your content. Besides, make your diagrams interesting – but not selfexplanatory. What is more, Use data visualizations to clarify information – not repeat it. Last but not the least, balance what you say with what your presentation delivers. The great speakers are very good at capture people's attention, here is ten ways that they always use. Firstly, start with the unexpected. Secondly, make it about them. Thirdly, keep it concrete at the start. Fourthly, keep it moving. Fifthly, get to the point. Sixthly, arouse emotion. Besides, keep it interactive. What is more, write clear headlines. Last but not the least, let there be you.
Liang WANG(Alice) Week 1 What is academic culture in Australia? What is research? Why do we write reports? Faculty people often use a range of words to describe the concept of “academic culture”, including the ‘wisdom of life’, ‘intellectual creativity’, ‘intellectual activity’, ‘vibrant knowledge culture’, and ‘academic climate’. Depending on where people from, they may find some differences when studying in Australia. The University in Australia provides a wide range of academic support during people studies there. Less scheduled class let the learner need to be more self-directed, less individualized attention from professors and more active discussion in tutorial classes. Few but heavily weighted style of writing in essays and exams, pieces of assessment is a different approach to grading. Although people may be very familiar with and successful in their own country, there will be many academic difference in anotherwhich even spoken the same language. Research is one of the important part in academic culture, which is an often-misused word, its usage in everyday language is very different from the strict scientific meaning. This term usually refers to find the required information in different ways. Research is the way to establish facts through the systematic investigation, which shapes people’s understanding of the world around them. It can make the understanding more in-depth for people and society, so as to formulate appropriate measures, improve the quality of life. Usually the process of research will be use in many types of reports and the communicate information of it has been compiled as a result of research which analysis the data and issues. The true value of research may be assessed through a report. For example, the usage of purpose funds application report can help government to investment grants and awards, it also can be used in interest payments on loans and lending. Therefore, to write a good report is very important because it not only showing writing skills but also show the logic, clarity and the ability to simplify the complex issues. Week 2 How can we find a research topic? How can we focus our topic and question it? How can we find credible information and use it effectively in our assignments? Only once people have selected their research topic, they can begin to work on actually doing the research. A research topic can be find in many ways and places such as any contemporary or emerging issue in your area of interest, ask a academic or potential supervisor in your area of interest about topics they are researching and perhaps take a portion of that, or ask your school manager or someone senior in your organisation. If people decides which research topic they choose, they can make a plan (outline) for their reports, think about what information they need for each part, then try to find it through the internet, books, magazine even music. Write a good introduction of background from the research topic, give a topic sentence for each paragraph and analysis around it. All the
information collected should be academic, think about the topic at the same time when you write it, write it as comprehensive as you can. Research the key words of the report is a good way to find creaible information, find out some academic articles and pick up the sentence or ideas you want, try to use it in your own words. When choosing a topic, it should not matter to you what you find out, you must be unbiased and not expect a particular finding. Because some information on the internet is not correct, so please be careful to use them. Finally remember to think about what you research problem might be, try to solve them when write your report.
Week 3 What make a good report? What is effective reading and how does it contribute to writing a great report? To write a good report is not a easy thing. It include many things that people need to think. Such as people should think about the abstract first, like a summary which need to include all details of your report. Then you need a thesis statement and the topic sentence for your introduction. Then you should write 2-3 body paragraphs, each part of your report needs a topic sentence and you should write your paragraph around each topic sentence you have. Most important is the conclusion of your report which need to summarize the whole reports, the better conclusion you write, the higher grades you get. Effective reading is help the people make things easily when they reading an article, which is very important for student to write a report. Because a good report need a lot of information from many academic articles and essays. Usually most of them have very long sentence and it is difficult to read, the student can not waste their time only on reading, therefore they need to practice effective reading skills to help them read quickly. The student need to know their structure of the report very clearly, they can exactly catch the key words from the article, which can help them keep the time. Also effective reading can make the language more academic and formally, it is much easier to get good feedback and marks from teacher. Week 4 How are opinions and positions different? How can we use language to modify our position? An opinion, whether it is grounded in fact or completely unsupportable, is an idea that an individual or group holds to be true. An opinion does not necessarily have to be supportable or based on anything but one's own personal feelings, or what one has been taught. Having opinions and doing something about it are two different things. We have to define our time horizon, figure out how much risk we’re willing to take, and then maybe, just maybe, we can then find a position to possibly initiate. Leave the rest to th Position is how a person or thing is placed or an opinion or where a person or thing is located in relation to others. Some of the things we say with our bodies can help us reinforce why we are saying it. Another important function of body language is to express our feelings about what we are discussing. Body language can help us determine how someone feels about what they are saying. For example, a person may tell her boss that she would be happy to take the account but her body language might indicate that she is actually not at all happy about it. This can be an important tidbit that can help a manager, and others in a leadership
position, determine who is the best person to handle this assignment. If her heart isn’t in it, she may do an adequate job when another employee might turn this small job into a lifelong client.
Week 5 How can we make our arguments flow well? How can we take a stand?
The word “argument” does not have to be written anywhere in your assignment for it to be an important part of your task. In fact, making an argument—expressing a point of view on a subject and supporting it with evidence—is often the aim of academic writing. Your instructors may assume that you know this and thus may not explain the importance of arguments in class. In academic writing, an argument is usually a main idea, often called a “claim” or “thesis statement,” backed up with evidence that supports the idea. In the majority of college papers, you will need to make some sort of claim and use evidence to support it, and your ability to do this well will separate your papers from those of students who see assignments as mere accumulations of fact and detail. In other words, gone are the happy days of being given a “topic” about which you can write anything. It is time to stake out a position and prove why it is a good position for a thinking person to hold. Make a good argument is very important for the academic reports. How to take a stand depend on what argument you have. For example, there ia an argument that students will cite the strongest evidence from the novel as they write an argument essay in which they answer the following prompt: One opinionis ‘Simply because we were licked a hundred years before we started is no reason for us not to try to win’. Based on this opinion, we should give evidence from the text to support your thinking, and be sure to take into account what people who disagree might say.” Students will have to weigh the evidence based on Atticus’s role as both a parent and community member. Taking a stand is the first step but, ultimately, taking a stand for something is what’s required. Week 6 How is gender relevant to communication? How does culture shape our communication? Oftentimes men and women use different processes for decision making and leadership. Women tend to be more relationship oriented and accomplish tasks by building relationships first. They then know who to ask and are comfortable asking others to get things done. Men tend to be more task oriented and go straight to the task. They build their relationships when they are in the task or project. It is also different in leadership style and communication style. Because women are more relationship oriented, they tend to lead by consensus. Men tend to be more hierarchical and include only the people closest to them at their level in the decision making process when they think it is necessary. In non-verbal behavior women will nod their head to show that they are listening. Men leave the conversation thinking that a head nod means agreement and will be surprised to find out that the woman didn't agree at all. When a
woman is speaking to a man and he does not say anything and stays in neutral body language to show that he is listening, a woman will interpret that as the man being bored or not understanding what she is saying. Men and women are two different biological in the world, So certainly there are some differences in the thinking and communication. Culture impacts the ways in which people communicate as well as the strategies they use to communicate. The different life experiences people have based on cultural norms also affect the interpretation they have of messages delivered by others. Culture is an essential part of conflict and conflict resolution. Cultures are like underground rivers that run through our lives and relationships, giving us messages that shape our perceptions, attributions, judgments, and ideas of self and other. Cultural messages shape our understandings of relationships, and of how to deal with the conflict and harmony that are always present whenever two or more people come together.
Week 7 How can we link information together properly? What are the elements of a clear, convincing argument? When we write an essay or report, even doing an assessment, there is no doubt that we need some information resources to help us understand the topic. The internet have lots of information which we cannot use it all, therefore how to choose and link the information together is very important. Firstly, when you write a report, the first thing is to make an introduction to link all parts of the report together, it is like an abstract so you need to make sure what information you are going to use in every part of the report very clearly. For body paragraph, before you research your information, you need to know the key words, then enter the key words in the internet, you will find a lots of article, this way can help people to save the time. When you find all the information, try to write them in your own words and link every sentence together, it will be very clearly. When planning a persuasive essay, follow these steps: 1. Choose your position, know the purpose of your essay. 2. Analyze your audience. Decide if your audience agrees with you, is neutral, or disagrees with your position. 3. Research your topic. A persuasive essay must provide specific and convincing evidence. 4. Structure your essay. Figure out what evidence you will include and in what order you will present the evidence and following are different ways to support your argument: 1.Using facts is a powerful means of convincing. Facts can come from your reading, observation, or personal experience. Note: Do not confuse facts with truths. A "truth" is an idea believed by many people, but it cannot be proven. 2. Using statistics can provide excellent support to your argument. Be sure your statistics come from responsible sources. Always cite your sources. 3. Using quotes from leading experts that support your position is an invaluable tool. 4. Using examples enhances your meaning and makes your ideas concrete.
Week 8 How can we write good introductions & conclusions? What are readers looking for?
Each student will prefer to work on their introduction and conclusion at a different stage in the writing process. Some like to start the introduction first, others will write it slowly as they construct the body, while others leave both the introduction and the conclusion until the end. But whenever you begin to write them, the introduction and the conclusion should be the last parts you finalise. Both of these sections work as summaries of your essay, so you need to wait until the body is completed before you can give an accurate overview of what you've written. In addition, a good introduction should try to alert the reader’s interest - the reader should be keen to read your essay! You might try: giving a real-life example of the kind of thing you are going to write about that contains unusual or colourful details; beginning with a relevant quotation (from anywhere except a dry textbook), or beginning with some startling statistics that indicate the significance of the topic. Instead, a good conclusion should draw together all the points that were discussed and consider the 'sum' of their meaning, or, their overall significance, be a logical ending to what has already been discussed and make suggestions for how the topic needs to be further investigated, or speculate on what is likely to happen in the future. We should write something different from others, catch the reader’s attention and makes them want to read on. Following the thesis, you should provide a mini-outline which previews the examples you will use to support your thesis in the rest of the essay. Not only does this tell the reader what to expect in the paragraphs to come but it also gives them a clearer understanding of what the essay is about. Week 9 How does the 'voice' change with the type of text? How much and what are we communicating beyond language? For example In iOS, the default voice for speaking text in iOS is the same voice as Siri, but if you want to switch it up and hear something different you can change the text-to-speech voice quite easily. Switching voices is a bit more fun than you’d expect though, at least with English, because you end up with different accents as well. To get use out of this you’ll first need text to speech enabled in iOS, you can do that along the way if you haven’t enabled it yet. To check what the new voice sounds like, switch over to any app with text, tap and hold on a word or phrase, then choose “Speak Selection” to hear the new voice. If you want your iPhone or iPad to sound exceedingly proper, it doesn’t get much better than the British English voice of Daniel. I’ve always been a fan of Australian accents so I went with Australian English, but all voice choices are very high quality. Obviously changing back to the default Siri voice is just a matter of choosing your primary countries language. Clear communication is important in any situation, even where language is not a barrier. However, repeated communication is not clear communication. If someone does not understand what you’re saying for the first time, repeating the same sentence slower and louder does not clarify anything. The solution is to reword the sentence or to find a different means of communication such as hand gestures or even drawing. It is important to pay attention to whom you’re talking to and how you’re communicating with them. Keep in mind that lack of communication usually leads to both parties walking away in frustration. Everyone needs to make an effort to communicate effectively and respectfully, and many times that means using more than language to achieve that. The next time you sense an imminent communication breakdown, get creative; we are more than the languages we speak.
Week 10 What makes good visuals in a presentation? What captures the audiences' attention? While a big portion of a presentation’s quality is up to the presenter, the quality of the visuals augmenting the presentation play a bigger role than most people think. The key to building a good presentation is to know and remember the purpose of each of its components. Ideally, the visuals in a presentation should complement what the speaker is talking about. Here are five ways to make sure your visuals help your presentation instead of hurting it. 1. Speak your words — don’t write them on your slides. 2. Use beautiful images to supplement your content. Beautiful images help people to remember what you are talking about at the time. 3. Make your diagrams interesting – but not self-explanatory. Diagrams are a great way to help explain complicated concepts, but make sure that you actually address the diagram in an interesting way. 4. Use data visualizations to clarify information – not repeat it. Data visualizations are the best way to present data. 5. Balance what you say with what your presentation delivers. Above all, remember that the visuals aren’t the whole presentation. When you’re building your presentation, don’t dump all of the knowledge into the visuals. If you do that, then there’s nothing left to present. If you want to prepare a sermon that will keep your audience’s attention, here are 8 things you can do: 1. Make it personal. When your audience feels like they know you, they will be more inclined to listen to what you have to say. 2. Make it interesting. A great way to connect with your audience is to talk about something that interests them. 3. Tell stories. People love stories. It’s like our brain is wired for stories! When someone starts to tell us a story, no matter how clumsily, we always want to know how it ends. 4. Make them do something. Another way to engage your audience during your sermon is by making them do something. 5. Use more senses. People love watching a screen, it’s like a magnet. 6. Start and end great.