INSTRUCTIONS:
Download and read the article attached to the first message in this discussion topic (titled “READING SELECTION”). Write a 300-500 WORD response to the reading selection, and post your response to the discussion board. Your response should explore one or more of the suggested discussion questions included in this assignment or respond to another student’s post on the topic
Support your position with specific examples and quotes from the text. If you choose to respond to another student add something new about the subject. If you agree with another student, provide additional reasons to support your position. If you disagree with another student, be respectful in your response, and be clear about why you disagree. (There is no obligation to reply to another student to receive credit for this assignment.) You may complete this assignment either as one long posting or as several shorter postings.
SUGGESTED DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
1) Do government or industry have an ethical obligation to use “plain language” in certain documents? Use specific examples from the attached reading and/or from personal experiences to support your response.
2) Does requiring plain language represent a dumbing down of communication? Could it be unethically limiting to restrict communications to certain vocabulary? Does plain language adequately account for graphical communication features?
3) Should the U.S. government place restrictions on the style and language allowed in government publications? Why or why not?
A FEW IMPORTANT NOTES:
* Unlike the Project assignments, there are not detailed grading comments on Discussion assignments. Please refer to the Discussion Post Grading Rubric handout for more information about expectations for Discussion assignments. Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have questions or concerns.
* In the discussion board, be respectful of other members of the class. You are free to disagree with anything posted on the discussion board—in fact, I encourage debate. If you do disagree with something that’s been posted, however, be polite and respectful in your response. Also, if you feel that another student has posted something inappropriate on the discussion board, please contact me rather than addressing your complaint over the discussion board.
* In your answers feel free to bring in examples, not only from the assigned reading, but also from books, movies, your own life, current events, or any other sources that seem pertinent to the discussion. I won’t be looking for a particular answer to each question asked; instead, I will be grading these assignments on the originality, clarity, and complexity of your ideas. Simply restating information from the reading selection is not adding value to the class’s understanding of this topic.