My Interviewees as Professional Writers

This post educated me on the conventions of the consulting profession. There are certain things that they are not allowed to do based on their profession.

1.    Give us the name of each interviewee and write a short summary of the kinds of professional publications they've authored (according to their website, CV and/or other easily find able online resources that list their publications). You don't need to include all the bibliographic information for their publications, just the basic facts.

Steven Brisley: Steven writes in genres such as an instant messaging system in his company, email and large PowerPoint presentations. He keeps these publications inside his company.

Brianna Terrell: Brianna writes in genres such as an instant messaging system in her company, email, social media, and PowerPoint presentations. She keeps these publications within her company.

2.    Track down a few of their publications online. Be sure to examine at least two different publications by each interviewee(and hyperlink us to the two examples for each). What professional genres has each interviewee written in? Explain how these genres differ from each other, according to conventions, formatting, techniques, content, and anything else that seems relevant to describe.

Unfortunately, because of the profession that Steven and Brianna are in, they are not allowed to publish any of their work due to proprietary information bound by contract. In the profession of consulting, people cannot post the information they create.

3.    What is the context surrounding the two different pieces published by each of your interviewees? (See the bulleted questions on Student's Guide page 180 for specific questions about context). Cite specific details from the pieces in your answers. 

The work that they do create, in general, is intended to help the companies they are hired by be more efficient. Whether it is how they manufacture items or pay their workers, consultants cut the corners for the companies they do work for.

4.    What is the overall message of each piece? How did you decide this? Cite specific details from the pieces in your answers. 

The message is meant to make it easier for these companies to operate and conduct business. The consultants are vital to keeping these companies margins higher.

5.    What purpose is each piece trying to achieve? Cite specific details from the pieces in your answers.

With lower costs and higher margins, these companies are able to advance in their industries and become a more desirable place to work at. They become the hub of intelligent minds and advanced technologies.

Walmart. "Rob Walton on Being a Global Company" 06/02/11
via Flickr Attribution 2.0 Generic License

My Discipline

This post helped me realize the many different journals that are producing many leading theories in the business world and made me curious to read these journals.

1.    What do students in your program or department learn how to do?

Students in the Eller College of Management learn how to become a professional business person and to perform in any business environment.

2.    What do people who get degrees in this field usually go on to do for work?

People usually go on to work for high profile companies such as Pepsi Co, Goldman Sachs, and many companies on Wall Street. At these companies they serve in the financial, marketing, accounting, or human resource departments and serve as leaders as well.

3.    What drew you to this field?

What drew me to this field is the earning potential as well as the interest I had in how the markets worked and also being able to be social in my job.

4.    Name three of the leaders/most exciting people involved in this field right now in 2016. Why are they interesting or exciting to you? These could be individual people or specific companies, organizations, businesses or non-profits. Hyperlink us to a homepage professional website for each person, if possible.

Amazon is doing very interesting work because they are innovating their field and are consistently a top name in business. What’s interesting is that they are almost always losing ground in the stock market. AT&T recently acquired DirecTV. Whenever a major company acquires another, it is huge news and it will be interesting to see how things progress. Tesla is also coming up with very interesting ways on how companies can become more innovative.

5.    What are the names of three leading academic/scholarly journals in your field? Where are they published? Give us the names and locations of at least 3. (HINT: If you have no idea what the answer to this question is, try Googling “What are the top academic journals in [insert field of study]?” and peruse the results). Make the titles of each journal into a working hyperlink to the website for that publication. (NOTE: if your links aren’t included or don’t work or if the page it directs us to is blocked from public view, I will not be able to assign you full credit for this exercise).

Academy of Management Review, Journal of Finance, and Review of Financial Studies.

Gwyneth - The Daring Librarian!'s Photostream. "Mature business male conducting a meeting"
03/06/15 via Flickr Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic License

From Academia to Social Media

This post made me realize that the authors in these esteemed journals also have a personal life. As accomplished as they are, they do have a separate life from work and they are not opposed to sharing that on social media platforms.

1.    What is the name of the author (from the academic journal) that you selected and which social media networks were you able to find her/him on?

The name of the author in the academic journal I will do further research on is Sirkka L. Jarvenpaa. I was available to find Sirkka Jarvenpaa on LinkedIn and Facebook

2.    How would you describe the author's social media presence? What kinds of things are they talking about or sharing on social media? Write a brief description of what you learned about them through the listed social media feeds.

Sirkaa does not post very often. Her Facebook posts are personal, meaning that they are about her own life instead of the kind of work that she is producing as a professor at the University of Texas. I learned that she is a fan of formula one racing and that was about all that I could find in her posts.

3.    Now return to the piece that this author published in the academic journal (from Blog Posts 6.5 & 6.6). How does their persona on social media differ from their persona in the pages of the academic journal? Be specific and cite details from both the journal and the social media posts you discovered.

What differs from her social media presence and her publication in the Academy of Management Research is that her social media is non-professional in a sense. Her Facebook posts are about her family and her love for racing while her article that is published in the journal is about the theory of sharing interorganizational collaboration or protecting it. It is obvious she keeps her social media life and work life separate.

 

Ben. "University of Texas - Main Building" 11/09/08 via Flickr
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Academic Discourse & Genre

This post made me realize what kind of articles would be in a typical business academic journal and how they would be applicable. This post made me realize these journal’s importance.

1.    How many different kinds of genres seem to be published in this particular issue of the journal you selected? (Remember, genres are usually identifiable by their form, content, techniques and/or social function.)

I was able to discover 3 different kinds of genres in the Academy of Management Review.

2.    If you don't know the 'official' names for these different genres, come up with names for yourself. Identify at least three different genres within the journal issue and describe the significant formal differences between the three genres (that is, what are the key differences or characteristics that seem to be unique and distinguish them from other kinds of texts?). If you made up your own name, explain why you chose the name you invented. If you'd like, provide snapshots of the different genres (clearly labelled) to help your reader see how they look different (or are organized differently, with different conventions) on the page.

The first genre I am calling, a short essay. The next genre I am calling a quick reference guide. The final genre I am calling an experiment. The short essay is a shorter description of a theory in essay form that gives brief but concise information. The quick reference guides in this journal are broken down into different sections and described in depth but lack the visual aspect. The experiment is an explanation of an experiment that an expert in the field conducted and is explaining how it applies to the business world.

3.    Now come up with your own definition for each genre (using the name you coined, if you weren't sure what the 'official' name is for the genre). Be sure to explain what you perceive to be the purpose of each genre and how each genre might meet the needs and expectations of a target audience.

The short essay is a paper written in an essay format that is used to briefly explain a theory in an academic journal. This is usually an adaption to an already adopted theory or has little to explain within the short essay. This is used for people that would like to stay up to date in the world of economics but are not trying to spend very much time doing research. The quick reference guide is essentially a longer version of a short essay but is broken down by sub headers. The quick reference guides are used to explain a more recent theory or a more complex theory. This would be used if the reader is in need of research on a subject or is trying to become more educated. The experiment is used to explain an experiment that was conducted by the author of the paper or someone they work with. This is testing theories in actual real world scenarios. This would be used by people that are curious about how certain theories would be applied.  

 

AuBuchon, Bob. "Pen & Journal" 02/20/10 via Flickr
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic License 

Rhetorical Analysis of Academic Journal

This post allowed me to dive deeper in the Academy of Management Review which is a leading journal in the business world. The different articles were very interesting and it was cool to be holding the actual physical copy.

1.    Who are the authors/speakers published in this specific issue of the academic journal you've selected? How many different authors are published here? What do you know - or can you find out - about these people? How are the authors/speakers portrayed in the journal issue? Cite specific details from the journal issue in your answers. 

There are dozens of authors in Academy of Management Review. This issue is from January 2016 and gives a recent look at what these authors are thinking. These authors are esteemed professionals in their fields. One example of this is Sirkka L. Jarvenpaa, a professor at the University of Texas at Austin who is speaking of the theory for sharing and protecting interorganizational collaborations. These authors are portrayed as top ranking people in their fields and this seems to be an accurate portrayal.

2.    Who is the intended audience for this particular journal issue? How can you tell? Are there any secondary audiences included here? Cite specific details from the journal issue in your answers. 

The intended audience for this journal are those that are looking to become experts in the world of business. The topics being discussed are very advanced and require previous understandings of these topics. The theories are very complicated such as analyzing how people identify according to their affiliations.

3.    What is the context surrounding this particular journal issue? How does this affect the content of the journal? (See the bulleted questions on Student's Guide page 180 for specific questions about context). Cite specific details from the journal issue in your answers. 

The context surrounding this particular journal is trying to analyze how there are still many questions about how consumers behave and how managing the business can connect back to this. The point is to dive deeper into what these experts think and how they believe the economy will adjust due to different theories. Every title in this journal has something to do with a theory.

4.    What is the overall message of the journal issue? How did you decide this? Cite specific details from the journal issue in your answers. 

The overall message of this journal is that people should be educated and share the different theories that people are basing their understandings on in the business world. This journal is aimed to educate based on how specific each of these articles are, breaking each section down to make sure the audience understands what they are trying to say.

5.    What purpose is the journal issue trying to achieve? Cite specific details from the journal issue in your answers. 

The purpose that the journal is trying to achieve is to educate the public on the current events and happenings in economics. They want to educate those trying to become experts in their fields such as entrepreneurship with an article stating which entrepreneurs succeed and in what markets with which products.  

Report on My Interviews

Conducting these interviews was very informative to me because of the insider information that I gathered. It would have been challenging to get the information that I did anywhere else than out of the mouth of the people experiencing this work themselves.

1.    What are the most significant or interesting genres that you learned about from your interviewees? Please identify at least THREE specific genres from your discipline/field of study that your interview subjects discussed writing within. 

The most interesting genre that I learned about from my interviewees are the personalized instant messaging systems that their companies have. They are built to create more privacy and direct communication within the company. Another significant genre is email. Email is essential in the business world because it is formal yet quick and can connect anyone at any point in time. The final significant genre is PowerPoint. This is significant because it is the way that official presentations are given to both clients and within the company and allows for easy editing and improvements.

2.    How do these genres differ from one another? Think about things like genre convention, content, purpose, audience, message, and context as you describe these differences.

Each of these genres have different conventions that they follow. The IM system is more casual since it is trying to get information to people as quickly as possible. The email is more formal, but does not have many restrictions on what you decide to write. The PowerPoint is the most confined by the conventions because it is needed to present information professionally and needs to be easily understood. The email and PowerPoint are more formal and to professionally convey information while the IM system is meant for quick messages to colleagues.

3.    Based on the information you gathered in your interviews, what is challenging and/or difficult about writing within these genres (from a professional's point of view)?

What is challenging about writing in the instant messaging system is that you cannot save the message. If you accidentally close out of the window, the message is gone and must be sent again by the sender. The email needs to be clear enough that it can be understood quickly to increase efficiency, therefore the sender must be sure that the receiver can answer the question without confusion. The PowerPoints are many slides long, like over 100. This makes it challenging because they need to put all this information in there, but often times a client will look at the first two slides and make up their mind without reading the other 98. You must prioritize how the information is relayed.  

4.    Based on the information you gathered in your interviews, what is exciting and/or rewarding about writing within these genres (from a professional's point of view)?

What is rewarding about writing in each of these genres is when the final goal is accomplished. All of this work and conveying information to different parties finally pays off and the reward of payment as well as satisfaction is the real excitement in these professions.

5.    Where in mass media - popular, academic, and/or social - can examples of this genre be found? If genre examples cannot be found within mass media easily, where can genre examples be found/located?

There are very few places, if any, where these genres can be found. The one place that may have some broad examples are academic journals and even then it is hard to find. The reason is because business cannot be shared with the public. The whole point of business is that it is a competition and releasing information disregards the advantage of doing any work because competitors have access to the information you just worked for. Contracts prevent any information to be released and therefore these genres are impossible to find.

 

Abraham, Zennie. "Johnny Manziel Cleveland Browns QB NFL Draft Interview"
05/09/14 via Flickr Attribution-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic License

My Interviewees on Social Media

This post helped me realize what is appropriate to post on social media and what is not. I had an idea beforehand, but this only solidified it.

1.    What are the names of each interviewee and which social media networks were you able to find each of them on?

-        Steven Brisley: YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn

-        Brianna Terrell: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram

2.    How would you describe each interviewee's social media presence? What kinds of things are they talking about or sharing on social media? Write a brief description of what you learned about them through the listed social media feeds.

What I learned about each of these people is that they are very professional in what they post. They keep a decent presence, such as posting often on certain platforms such as Twitter. Brianna keeps her profiles private, in order to create a more private presence.

3.    Now return to the piece that this author published in the academic journal (from Blog Posts 6.2). How does their persona on social media differ from their persona in the pages of the academic journal? Be specific and cite details from both the journal and the social media posts you discovered.

Because of their professions, the interviewees have not published anything or published in any academic journals due to their young age. What I can say is that what they produce in their profession is purely professional and to the highest expectation from themselves. They keep the same standard on their social media presence.

the.Firebottle. "Journals" 04/04/06 via Flickr
Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic License

My Interview Subjects

This post helped me truly understand the background of my interviewees. It is good to know this information just as a basis for the project. The reason that my questions are not personalized to these people is because I interviewed them before I knew of this requirement.

1.    The names of the two people you're scheduled to interview for Project 2

-        Steven Brisley

-        Brianna Terrell

2.    The names of the organization(s) your interviewees work for, as well as their job titles

-        Steven: Bain & Company; Associate Consultant.

-        Brianna: Deloitte; Business Analyst.

3.    Any higher education degree that your interviewees hold and the names of the institutions that issued them

- Steven: Indiana University Bloomington; B.S., Economic Consulting, International Business, Technology Management, Spanish.

- Brianna: Indiana University Bloomington; B.S., Finance, International Business, Spanish, Portuguese.

4.    How many years your interviewees have worked in the field professionally

-        Steven: 1 year and 6 months at his current job and 5 years of experience as an intern Bain and other businesses.

-        Brianna: 1 year and 7 months at her current job and 1 year and 1 month as an intern for Deloitte and other businesses.

5.    If you can, provide photos or images of the two interviewees (identify them with captions), as well as hyperlinks to their professional website(s) or home page(s)

LinkedIn. "Steven Brisley" via LinkedIn

LinkedIn. "Brianna Terrell" via LinkedIn

6.    The date, time & location of your scheduled interview.

-        Steven: 2/19, 12:00pm, by phone

-        Brianna: 2/19, 3:45pm, by phone

7.    A list of 8 to 12 interview questions (for each interviewee) that are written to specifically reflect the interviewee's background, position and publication history

-        What do you for a living? In other words, how would you describe your job?

-        How would you present information to your clients?

-        How would you present information to your colleagues and superiors?

-        Are there other audiences that you would communicate with in your profession?

-        Are there any other, less common ways that you present information in your line of work?

-        What kind of genres are included in your job such as social media and email? When would you use these?

-        What is the peer review process like in your line of work?

-        Where would be the best place to find examples of communication in your profession?

-        Would you be open to answering any follow up questions I may have in the next couple weeks?

Brutally Honest Self-Assessment

This project truly taught me about this controversy. It inspired me to investigate further into more news stories and to stay more up to date in the current controversies of the world.

1.    How are you feeling about the project you just submitted for assessment? Give me your raw, unvarnished opinion of your own project overall. 

I believe that I put in the time required to succeed. The hours of work that I put into the blog posts, research, and production day in and day out were long but worth it. I think it took so long because it was my first time producing a quick reference guide.

2.    What are the major weaknesses of the project you submitted? Explain carefully how and why you consider these elements to be weak or under-developed.

I think that I could have flowed more in my work. It does work a little bit since there are different sections of a quick reference guide, the final production does not suffer too much.

3.    What are the major strengths of the project you submitted? Explain carefully how and why you consider these elements to be strong or well-developed.

I think that I developed the idea and analyzed it very well. I think that I reached every impact of the controversy and made sure that every major voice was heard in my final draft.

4.    What do you think of how you practiced time management for Project 1? Did you put enough time and effort into the project? Did you procrastinate and wait till the last minute to work on things? Share any major time management triumphs or fails.... 

I made sure to split everything up evenly. Even though I am turning in the product on the due date, I was able to take my time making final edits because I had split the blog posts up throughout the week before the weekend. I had been doing this the past weeks as well and it truly helped.

Keith, Jeremy. "Seattle sunset." 12/29/15
via Flickr Attribution 2.0 Generic License

Local Revision: Variety

This post made realize that I need to check my sentence variety throughout my paper. I feel that I did a good job of this in my draft, but there are always ways to improve a piece of writing.

1.    How much variation is there in your sentence structures in the current draft? Can you spot any repetitive or redundant sentence patterns in your writing? Provide a cogent analysis of what the Rules for Writers reading tells you about your sentences.

My QRG has flow to it. What I mean by that is it has varying sentence sizes, starts, and structures. The reader will not be reading the same thing again and again, they will be able to get refreshing sentence breaks throughout.

2.    What about paragraph structures, including transitions between different paragraphs (or, for video/audio projects, different sections of the project)? 

I believe that I do a good job of providing transitions in between my paragraphs as well as the sections in my QRG. I allow the reader to smoothly transition from start to finish and it makes it a more enjoyable read overall.

3. What about vocabulary? Is there variety and flavor in your use of vocabulary? What are the main strengths and weaknesses of the draft's approach to vocabulary?

I think that I use a decent amount of varying vocabulary in my draft but there are a few weak spots that could be strengthened even more. If I can clearly identify these areas and provide better vocabulary, then it will be a more hard-hitting QRG.

Carroli, Mike. "Chief Seattle Fire Boat" 09/01/07 via Flickr.
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic License

Local Revision: Pronoun Usage

This post made me realize why I write the way I do involving pronouns that it is effective to use pronouns in particular ways.

1.    Based on your analysis, how effective is your pronoun usage in Project 1? What does actively examining your pronoun usage tell you about your writing style?

I believe that my pronoun usage is very well done. I am very clear with who I am talking about at the specific point in my QRG and this allows the reader to understand more clearly what is happening in the story.

2.    Are there any instances in your project where you speak to or refer directly to the audience? If so, how effective are these moments at creating a bond or connection between audience and author? If not, why not? Explain why you're choosing to leave your audience out of your writing. There's nothing wrong with that, per se, but you should be able to give a sophisticated explanation of your choices.

The only point where I speak to the audience directly is when I am describing Seattle. I think that this is very effective because it makes the reader feel more connected to the description that I am giving. The reason that I do not address them in the rest of my writing is because I feel I am telling them a story that does not involve them. I am informing them not talking about them.

 

Fagen, Adam. "Sunset Over Puget Sound" 10/04/08 via Flickr.
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic License

My Pronouns

This post was great with helping me realize how much I use certain pronouns and how to keep my work clear to the reader and not confusing.

Pronouns

It (the space needle), it (the space needle), we (Seattle), you (the reader), it (the space needle), they (a person), you (the reader), you (the reader), they (seagulls), they (kids), he (Ed Murray), it (the bill), it (the bill), it (IFA), it (IFA), they (people in general), they (people in general), they (IFA), they (workers), it (the bill), they (politicians), they (workers), they (workers), they (workers), them (workers), they (workers), they (workers), them (workers), her (worker #1), she (worker #1), she (worker #1), his (worker #2), he (worker #2), his (worker #2), he (worker #2), they (workers), they (workers), them (workers), they (consumer), it (the bill), they (consumer), they (consumer), they (businesses), it (increase in wage), they (businesses), it (increase in wage), they (worker), they (worker), they (consumers), they (consumers), they (consumers), it (increasing wages), he (consumer), they (cities), they (services), it (controversy), it (the bill), it (the bill), it (the bill).

Ramirez, Daniel. "Container Cranes: Seattle Harbor" 08/22/08
via Flickr. Attribution 2.0 Generic License.

Local Revision: Passive and Active Voice

This was an important blog post because it helped me realize what my voice was portraying in my draft. I realized a great deal about my writing in general as well.

Active (Specific): revolving, sweeps, spittle, rinsing, wafted, swooped, cawed, played, intrigued, gathered, prepared, crashing, agonizing, passed, marked, struggling, worried, pushing, struggle, harmed, debate, tear

Active (General): have, seen, eat, comes, enjoys, go, enjoy, look, see, walked, put, got, going, remain, sign, , provides, rise, allowing, increase, changing, hope, began, struggle, threatened, weaken, hurt, put, work, fight, felt, deserved, changes, seems, , seems, surrounding, keeping, paid, trying, give, raise, including, leading, grow, connected, affect, tell, does, increasing, hoped, represents, takes, approaches, involved, stands, know, realize, encounter, come, wanted, how, run, sees, broken, gives, own, own, provides, explain, protect, enhance, promote, keeping, ongoing, see, fighting, involved, keeping, unionizing, suing, want, make, wants, recognize, feels, aided, classified, affect, ends, increase, affected, created, struggling, live, wanted, make, drafted, work, working, working, paying, see, working, presented, overlooked, hand, passed, aid, realized, goes, able, employ, loses, afford, does, want, live, feel, fighting, want, make, talking, , react, include, causing, reducing, employ, making, pay, offer, shopping, stop, start, shopping, go, driven, dedicated, keeping, need, fire, depends, think, believes, get, deserve, get, prove, thrown, earning, feel, have, grow, become, follow, see, give, feel, deserve, claim, providing, , increase, stating, do, have, increased, experienced, related, provided, employ, , interacted, affect, continue, visit, survive, mark, put, stops, changing, determine, , back, measure, causes, gives, support, hope, require

Passive: be, there, being, is, is, is, would, be, are, are, are, are, are, is, is, are, is, be, Is, are, is, are, is, was, was, there, were, were, is, is, do, there, is, were, would, be, would, is, does, be, are, are, are, being, is, are, are, was, are, is, do, do, feel, are, are, are, is, be, is, will, is are, are, are, are, was, was

1.    Looking at the breakdown of your verb choices here, what do you notice about your current draft? Are the actions in your piece mostly general, vague or non-specific? Are the actions mostly vivid and specific? Are there instances of passive voice? Summarize what you learned by analyzing your verb usage in this way.

What I notice is that I largely have active general verb tense. Most of the verbs I would say are general or specific leaning towards being vivid though. There are a few instances of passive voice but not many. I think that I can change some of my verbs to being more vivid.

2.    Based on this analysis, how could your use of verbs be improved overall in the project? Be specific and precise in explaining this.

If I were able to make my actions more vivid, it could create a better and more gripping reading experience for my author. It will be more interesting because it will help them visualize and “live in” the essay more.

mpclemens. "Reworking, rewriting, removing" 4/13/12
via Flickr Attribution 2.0 Generic License

Local Revision: Tense Usage

This post made me realize that I use the past and present tense a great deal in my writing but not the future tense. To portray the future I should begin using the future tense more often.

Past: wafted, swooped, cawed, played, walked, put, got, was, was, intrigued, gathered, prepared, passed, marked, was, threatened, hurt, cut, deserved, felt, were, were, paid, connected, hoped, involved, were, would, would, wanted, would, involved, aided, classified, created, wanted, drafted, was, presented, overlooked, passed, realized, worried, harmed, dedicated, thrown, have, increased, experienced, related, provided, interacted, was, was, have

Wafted: 1                 
swooped: 1               
cawed: 1                   
played: 1

walked:1                   
put: 1                       
got: 1                        
was: 6

intrigued: 1               
gathered: 1               
prepared: 1               
passed: 1

marked: 1                 
threatened: 1             
hurt: 1                      
cut: 1

deserved: 1               
felt: 1                        
were: 3                     
paid: 1

connected: 1             
hoped : 1                  
involved: 2              
would: 3

aided: 1                     
classified: 1              
created: 1                 
wanted: 2

drafted: 1                  
presented: 1              
overlooked: 1           
passed: 2

realized: 1                 
worried: 1                 
harmed: 1                
dedicated: 1

thrown: 1                  
have: 2                      
increased: 1             
experienced: 1

related: 1                  
provided: 1                
interacted: 1

Present: Is, are, is, are, seen, revolving, eat, comes, is, sweeps, enjoys, is, go, enjoy, crashing, is, look, are, see, spittle, rinsing, going, remain, sign, agonizing, provides, rise, allowing, increase, changing, hope, began, struggle, weaken, put, work, fight, changes, seems, be, seems, surrounding, there, keeping, there, being, trying, give, raise, including, leading, is, struggling, grow, affect, tell, does, is, increasing, is, represents, is, takes, approaches, stands, know, do, realize, there, is, encounter, be, come, how, run, sees, is, broken, gives, own, own, provides, explain, is, protect, enhance, promote, keeping, see, fighting, keeping, unionizing, pushing, suing, does, want, make, be, wants, recognize, are, are, feels, are, being, be, affect, ends, increase, is, are, are, struggling, live, make, work, working, working, paying, see, working, are, require, is, do, do, feel, are, are, hand, are, aid, are, goes, able, employ, loses, afford, is, be, does, want, live, feel, are, fighting, want, make, are, talking, react, include, causing, reducing, employ, is, making, are, pay, offer, shopping, stop, struggle, start, shopping, go, driven, keeping, need, fire, will, depends, in, think, believes, get, deserve, get, prove, earning, feel, have, are, grow, follow, see, give, feel, deserve, claim, is, providing, is, increase, is, stating, do, is, are, employ, are, are, are, affect, continue, visit, be, survive, mark, put, stops, changing, are, determine, debate, back, tear, measure, causes, gives, support, hope

Is: 23              
are: 22                       
revolving: 1               
eat: 1             
comes: 1                       

Sweeps: 1     
enjoy: 1                     
go: 4                           
crashing: 1    
look: 1

See: 6             
spittle: 1                    
rinsing: 1                   
remain: 1      
sign: 1

Agonizing: 1 
provide: 2                 
rise: 2                         
allowing: 1    
increase: 3

Changes: 1    
seem: 2                      
surrounding: 1         
there: 3         
keeping: 4

Be: 8               
trying: 1                     
give: 4                                    
include: 2            
leading: 1

Struggle: 4    
grow: 2                      
affect: 3                     
tell: 1              
do: 7

Realize: 1      
represent: 1             
take: 1                       
approach: 1  
stand: 1

Encounter: 1 
run: 1                         
broken: 1                  
own: 2           
explain: 1

Protect: 1      
enhance: 1                
promote: 1               
fight: 3           
unionizing: 1

Pushing: 1     
suing: 1                      
want: 4                      
ends: 1           
work: 5

Require: 1     
feel: 6                         
hand: 1                      
aid: 1              
employ: 3

Lose: 1           
afford: 1                    
react: 1                      
cause: 2         
reduce: 1

Make: 4         
shopping: 2              
stop: 2                       
need: 1          
believe: 1

Follow: 1       
claim: 1                      
providing: 1              
stating: 1       
mark: 1

Debate: 1      
tear: 1                                    
measure: 1               
hope: 2

Future: become

Become: 1

1.    Which tense is the most prevalent in your draft?

The present tense is the most prevalent in my draft.

2.    What effect or tone/quality does the current usage of tense have on the reader/viewer/listener?

This current usage of tense creates a more present and urgent tone compared to a passive and future or past tense.

3.    If you're using more than one tense in the draft (which is not a bad thing at all), do the shifts between different tenses in the piece make sense? How do they flow? Are there any jarring or discordant shifts in tense?

The shifts between verb tenses make sense because part of the controversy happened in the past but there are events still happening. These events are clearly stated as in the past or in the present.

4.    If you have not employed any present tense verbs in your piece - why not? Are there any moments of crescendo or dramatic action in the story you're telling that could benefit from being described or told in the present tense? Remember, present tense has an immediacy to it. It puts the audience right into the story as it is unfolding. It's a powerful technique. Could your piece benefit from that technique? How and why?

I use a great deal of present tense.

Rotman, Steve. "Musk, Verb, What" 8/30/08 via Flickr
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