Due: Wednesday, May 19

Write a one- to two-page memo (at least one full page) introducing yourself, as well as explaining your interest in your major / future career, describing how this class will impact both.

Introducing Yourself
The main goal of this assignment is to introduce yourself to me while practicing memo writing. The different components of the memo will allow me to get to know you and understand how this class can best meet your writing needs. As with all memos, be succinct but complete in your ideas; organize your thoughts well. As your audience, I will want to be able to scan through your memo quickly, but I will want thorough discussion of you, your interests, and your writing needs:

• Interest in Your Major—Why are you here? Why are you doing what you're doing? Understanding what experiences have shaped your ideas / interests and knowing your motivation(s) will allow me to help you tailor the writing assignments in this class to your particular interests.

  Example: Is there a specific experience (or a number of experiences) that drew you to your major? What was this experience? Why did it have such an effect on you? Explain how this experience shaped your interests.

• Future Career—What attracts you to your future career, and why? In your major you study general principles in your field; you may study a lot of material that won't be as focused on your interests / career goals. What specific types of tasks do you wish to perform in your career? Why?

  Example: In any engineering field you study a broad range of concepts. However, an aerospace engineer may wish to focus specifically on developing fighter planes for the Air Force because of an interest sparked by an uncle who served in WWII; a mechanical engineer may wish to develop racing chasses as a continuation of childhood go-cart building. You're not just going to be "an engineer"—describe your specific career interest.

• Impact of English 314—How will this class help you in your career? What types of things do you know about yourself, your writing, or your ability to accurately convey your ideas to others that you would like to further develop in this class?

  Example: Don't just say, "This class will help me communicate my ideas with other people who may not understand technical concepts." That's probably a given for most of you... What knowledge do you have—that you may take for granted—that you will need to be able to convey to an audience with less understanding of your field? How can this class help you better articulate your ideas to others?

Purpose
Consider your Rhetorical Purpose for this memo: you are writing this memo about you; therefore, using "I" in this memo is appropriate. When talking about your interests, you can say things like, "My most influential childhood experiences, such as LEGOs and Tinker Toys, helped shape my current interests and develop skills in mechanical engineering." You don't have to—and wouldn't want to—phrase your ideas in this memo generically or in third person, as it would sound quite awkward: "The most influential childhood experiences, such as LEGOs and Tinker Toys, helped shape current interests and develop skills in mechanical engineering." Experiences of whom?

Time Restriction
The second purpose of this assignment is to simulate a rush-deadline project you may receive from your future employer. In the workplace, you will not always be able to work overtime on a project, take work home, or ask for an extension. Therefore, this assignment will be done in class; you will have one hour to complete the memo.

 Tip:  To help ensure spelling correctness and save time, turn on the spell-check feature in Microsoft Word:

PC	Macintosh
Under  Tools  in the menubar, click  Options...  In the window that opens, click the  Spelling & Grammar  tab Check the  Check spelling as you type  checkbox Click  OK	Under  Word  in the menubar, click  Preferences...  In the window that opens, click the  Spelling and Grammar  bullet Check the  Check spelling as you type  checkbox Be sure the  Hide spelling errors in this document  checkbox is not checked Click  OK