September 12, Hw #1, Reading reflection

Concise Guide: On page 51 in chapter 3, Tips for Proofreading, I found this to be useful. One tip that was given was, proofread from the hard copy. It stated, that research shows that people read more perceptively from a printed page than from a computer screen. Hard copies are also easier to mark up and make comments on. I will do this when reviewing my own paper and with peer reviews. I personally like looking at a hard copy. Throughout this class the tips from this page will be a good reference to go back to.

Web Pages: The web page from the University of Washington had several points that stood out to me. In the first couple of paragraphs of the article under Starting Strong, it talked about the importance of grabbing the reader's attention. If you do not grab the readers attention within the first paragraph or the first one third of resume you are going to lose your reader's interest. The information that you put down in the beginning, your experience should keep the reader wanting to learn more about the rest of the resume. Providing information such as your experience and the way you describe it should be linked directly to the position that you are applying for.
Something else that I enjoyed from the article was "Accomplished Statements". When describing how your skills and experience match the job that you are applying for, you should describe them as a "Accomplished Statement". Accomplished statements should be brief and action oriented. They also should specify results and include measurement in numerical terms. Thirdly, avoid being to general without supplying a qualified measurement. It also gave a list of action words that they recommended using to start your statement.
Thinking back to all the resumes that I have put together over the years I really did not spend the time preparing a resume. When describing my work experience I would sometimes just list my past position titles followed by listing my job duties for that position. I would be so general. I am going to do my best to grab the readers attention in the beginning of the resume and describe my experience as a "accomplished statement".
The web page from Wesleyan University gave tips about a cover page. You should count how many sentences that you start with "I" when qualifying yourself in your cover page. If this the case change the wording in your sentences. Looking back at some of my old resumes and cover pages, I started many sentences with "I".