Advertisement Analysis

The print advertisement that I have chosen to analyze is for a local Italian restaurant in Eureka, MO. As a local restaurant, Joe Boccardi’s has to separate itself from the big chains through advertisement. In this particular example, they use a strong claim, pathos, and St. Louis history to attract the intended audience to their product. The audience doesn’t necessarily have boundaries in this case. While they are primarily directing their efforts towards those who have the ability to spend money, they are also attempting to grab the attention of those who can influence the ones with money; perhaps the kids (very young ranging all the way to teenagers) of parents. They do so by making the strong claim that they have “St. Louis’ Favorite Pizza”, which gives the audience the desire and necessary feeling to go to the restaurant and test that claim: see if it is true or not. They also provide the viewers with a very juicy picture of their pizza, backing up the claim that they have made. Another aspect that is strongly evident in the advertisement is pathos. The artist toys with the pride that St. Louisans have by including the symbol of the city: the arch. They successfully link the pizza that they serve with the city of St. Louis. In the audience’s eyes, the two are now paired together, giving the restaurant an overall good standing position in their thoughts. One thing that I think is missing from this advertisement is contact information. They leave the audience wanting more by not giving them a way to find the hours or addresses of the various locations around the city.

Qualities of a Good Speech

Confidence
Eye Contact
Posture
Clarity
Vocabulary
Have a good volume
Don't speak in a monotone voice

Conferences Feedback

I thought that the conferences were a big benefit to writing my paper, especially my conference with you. I liked how you had gone through my paper and pointed out the areas where I could improve before the conference started. For the in-class peer reviews, it would be useful if we had the questions before we started writing our papers. This will allow us to focus on those questions while writing our rough draft, hopefully giving us something to guide the structure and content of our paper off of.

I think it would also be beneficial if we could have more time in class to discuss our papers with our peer editors. This will allow them to clearly state what we should improve on while it's fresh in our mind. It will also give us the opportunity to ask them any questions that we had about our papers already, and hopefully get some advice and direction on them.

Business Analytics Paper Rough Draft

Writing as a Business Analyst

              Writing is an aspect of everyday life that will impact you no matter where you are. Whether it’s in school, your profession, or in your home life, writing will follow you everywhere and it is very important to understand what it is and how you do it. Specifically to analytics, there are many types of writing including academic and non-academic. Ranging from little notes and memos to full books and papers, every style of writing is used in the world of analytics.

Non-Academic Writing

              Non-academic writing accounts for what is used in every day communication. To learn more about what a typical writing day ensues in the business analytics world, I interviewed Professor Dan Conway. Throughout his career as a data analyst (another name for business analyst), Conway has worked as a professional business analyst and as a professor here at Iowa, at Notre Dame, and at Loras in Dubuque, IA. When asked about writing in a normal day, Conway spoke of efficiency. He said “In a normal day, you will have roughly 5 minutes to impress the presenter. Try to be efficient” (Conway). Most of the writing you will do in a typical day occurs when somebody asks you about a topic and you need to inform them about it in a short period of time. The emphasis is efficiency: you have to present as much information in as short of a time period as possible. In an assignment example given to me by the professor, one phrase was used commonly throughout the page: 90/10. I asked him what it meant and he said, “The goal of your writing in this field should be to include 90% of the information in only 10% of the space” (Conway). I heard that and looked over the assignment again and started to notice all of the charts, pictures, and colors included throughout the pages. They do an excellent job of drawing the reader’s attention to what is most important, which helps him or her to be efficient.

              Another form of non-academic writing that is commonly used is the use of basic articles. These are most commonly used to express the ideas of a company or those working on a project with the public and others who may be interested. While they are not as in-depth and complex as the academic writings that will be discussed later, they do include more information than the short presentations that I talked about earlier. Within these articles, the goal of efficiency still exists. To accomplish that goal, the author will commonly use tactics and formats such as bulleted lists to avoid the fluff and extra elaboration of regular writing. In addition, they will also use headings to help the readers guide through the article and find the pieces of information that they were looking for, which is especially helpful if they don’t have time or are not interested in the entire article.

Academic Writing

              In the world of business analytics, academic writing is much less common than the non-academic forms, but it is still just as important. The purpose of the analyst is to find the data and understand what it means, so they need someone else to help them put it all into writing. For this, they will collaborate with professionals in the writing field and work together to complete the book or research paper. As Professor Conway said it, “The analyst mostly works to write and include the information in the writing. They most often work with another person who specializes in writing and let them handle the logistics of the text” (Conway). In the examples that I have, it is evident that the same concepts of the non-academic writings are included but they serve a difference purpose. For example, there are graphs and diagrams included in the research papers, but they are used to provide extra information and explanation as opposed to summarizing it and bringing it together all in one place. Both are using the data to get their points across to the audience, but with slightly different uses. 

How Has Writing Changed

              Another point of emphasis by Professor Conway was how business analytics have changed over time. The main contributor to the changes has been technology. With the many advances in technology; including but not limited to the creation of tools such as skype, tablets, network sharing, the entire business analytics world (not limited to just writing) has become more efficient. It all starts with the qualifications that are required to earn a degree in business analytics: what used to take 12 years now can be completed in 4 years, allowing students to get into the field much quicker. Outside of the school aspect, the technology has allowed companies to communicate across a vast world. With the additions of skype and FaceTime, companies can meet face to face to discuss issues and projects instead of having to rely on the written word. It makes everything much easier to communicate and allows for things to be completed with much greater efficiency. In addition to communication, companies can now search endlessly for the data that is needed for them to write. With the vast amounts of data, their writing becomes much more in depth and relevant than it has been in the past.

              In writing, technology has allowed for an increase in dimensionality. With the upgrades to computers and software systems, companies and analysts can insert graphs, tables, and charts into their writings to enhance the information they are writing about, as shown in both academic and non-academic writing. More so in the common use of non-academic writing, people are now able to use colors and formats to draw attention to the important details of the writing, when in the past they could not.

Conclusion

              With all of this being said, writing has had a vast impact on the business analytics world. With the combination of academic and non-academic writing, the business analysts are able to communicate with everyone in the world in a very efficient manner. In all aspects of life, writing is an important aspect. However, with the advances in technology, it is only becoming easier to enhance your ideas and emphasize your points in both academic and non-academic writing.

Works Cited

Conway, D. (2014, October 20). Teradata Powers Next-Generation Analytic Performance.   

Retrieved September 14, 2015.

Fahimnia, B., Tang, C. S., Davarzani, H., & Sarkis, J. (2015). Quantitative models for managing

supply chain risks: A review. European Journal Of Operational Research, 247(1), 1-15.

doi:10.1016/j.ejor.2015.04.034

Kohavi, R. (2002). Emerging trends in business analytics. Retrieved September 14, 2015.

Schneider, G. P., Jun, D., Janvrin, D. J., Ajayi, K., & Raschke, R. L. (2015). Infer, Predict, and     

Assure: Accounting Opportunities in Data Analytics. Accounting Horizons, 29(3), 719-

742. doi:10.2308/acch-51140

Simonet, A., Fedak, G., & Ripeanu, M. (2015). Active Data: A programming model to manage

data life cycle across heterogeneous systems and infrastructures. Future Generation

Computer Systems, 5325-42. doi:10.1016/j.future.2015.05.015

Summary of sources

Of my 3 sources available to me, I have 2 academic sources from an online database and one non-academic source given to me by the person I interviewed (Professor Dan Conway). The non-academic source is an example of an assignment that he has given in the past when he was a professor at the University of Notre dame. It provides me an excellent example of how to incorporate the idea of efficiency in the writing of business analytics. Also, it shows me how I can use colors, themes, diagrams, and images to draw the reader’s attention to what is most important in your presentation. My other two sources, both academic sources, allow me to visit the complete other side of the business analytics spectrum. These are both examples of when a business analyst works alongside a professional in the writing field and discusses their data, discoveries, and other topics in much more depth than with a simple presentation. They must use more in-depth language and a lot more descriptions so the readers (usually other experts in business analytics) can read their piece of work and be able to immediately use the information that is being given to them by the author. 

Summary of Interview

In my interview with Professor Dan Conway, we discussed the purpose and uses of writing in the field of business analytics. In general, the emphasis of the conversation was on how writing was used to express large amounts of data and information in a very small amount of words. However, when the analysts need to use academic writings, (which doesn't happen all the time, but is still a very important part of the field), they consult professionals in the writing field to help them format their words into papers. The key to writing in business analytics is to write with efficiency. By using efficient writing, you can insert diagrams, images, colors, themes, etc. to draw attention to the more important aspects of the subject you are writing on. Also, it allows you to skip the fluff of normal writing and cut straight to the point. Often times in the business analytics world, your writing will be read in as quickly as 1 or 2 minutes, and you have to be able to present the important parts of your topic so they are focused on. If you fail to write efficiently, some of your key points may be missed or skipped over while the person is reading your writing. Professor Conway also talked about the increases in technology and how they have changed the world of business analytics. In general, the technology changes have allowed for things to be done more quickly. For example, the time it takes to earn a degree in the business analytics field has been cut from 12 years down to 3 years. Also, it has allowed companies to be able to interact with customers or other business partners all over the world by using new tools such as Skype, google drive, etc.

How I used quotes in my past essays

In the essay I wrote about Pete Rose's lifetime ban from baseball, I used many quotes to amplify the message of the essay. With my first quote, "First, understand: Rose broke baseball's most sacred rule - no betting on the game - and he should have been harshly punished. He has been. No man who is still living has been iced for as long as Rose", I introduced it using a lead-in referencing the author of the article I quoted (Miller says). This allowed me to identify the original source and recognize his impact on the arrival. The quote itself portrayed a general summary of the topic of the essay, and improved the clarity of the overall message. My second quote, "I've been led to believe America is a forgiving country, and if you do the right things - keep your nose clean, be a good citizen, pay your taxes, do all the things you're supposed to - eventually you'll get a second chance", I referenced the speaker of the original quote after it was stated in my paper (according to Rose). I then elaborated on the true meaning and relevance of the quote and used it to strengthen the argument that I was making throughout the entire essay.

APA citing

Rowling, J. K. (1999). Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. New York, NY: Scholastic Inc.

Koch, W. (2015, September 4). Will Self-Driving Golf Carts Steer Way for Autonomous Cars? National Geographic.

Analysis of Sources

In the field of business (data) analytics, many genres are used to tell the story. Among all of the genres, the main theme is to express the information as efficiently as possible. Whether it be a pamphlet, a website, or an article (as expressed in my 3 sources), all tell the story of a large amount of information using as little words as possible. The purpose of those in the analytics field is to find trends in the data, not to express it using a lot of words; which is why they often collaborate with a writing professional to write large pieces of texts such as papers and books. I plan to use these sources to show how data analysts express large amounts of data and information into small amounts of words; how they write with great efficiency.

Questions for Major Writing #1

1.  In what ways does writing have an impact on the field of analytics?
2. Do you change your style of writing depending on the audience?
3. In which genre do you mostly write, and why?
4. Do you have any published writings that are academic about your field of study?
5. Would you say that being a good writer is an important value to your employer?
6. How much time do you devote to writing?
7. How important is the written word in business in general, but also in analytics?
8. What is the main topic that you discuss in your writings? Or does it vary depending on the project/audience?
9. How has technology changed how you use writing in analytics?
10. What are some important qualities that go into writing business papers?
11. How often do you read other people's writings within your field?
12. How does your writing change when you are writing for an academic purpose versus a non-academic purpose?
13. How often do you collaborate with your peers in your writing?
14. What kind of research do you do that pertains to analytics?