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Assignment: Generational Differences

Assignment: Generational Differences
: Assignment: Generational Differences

Assignment: Generational Differences
Assignment: Generational Differences

Assignment: Generational Differences

Analyzing Your Audience before You Speak 85

For centuries, adults have lamented that younger generations don’t seem to share the values of the older generation. The ancient Greek philosopher Socrates is re- ported to have complained, over two thousand years ago, “The children now love lux- ury; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. . . . They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize over their teachers.”3 Two researchers who have studied gen- erational differences have found that different generations do have distinctive values and hold differing assumptions about work, duty, and certain values. Table 4.1 sum- marizes the values and generational characteristics of four generations—matures, baby boomers, generation X, and millennials.4

What do these generational differences have to do with public speaking? Aristotle noted that a good speaker knows how to adapt to audiences of different age levels. Your credibility as a speaker—how positively you are perceived by your audience—is depend- ent on your sensitivity to the values and assumptions of your listeners. Of course, the broad generalizations that we’ve summarized here don’t apply across the board, but it’s wise to consider how generational differences may affect how your message is interpreted.Assignment: Generational Differences

Gender Josh began his speech by thanking his predominantly female audience for taking time from their busy schedules to attend his presentation on managing per- sonal finances. Not a bad way to begin a talk. He continued, however, by noting that their job of raising children, keeping their homes clean, and feeding their families was among the most important jobs there were. Josh thought he was paying his au- dience a compliment. He did not consider that most women today work outside the

TABLE 4.1 Summary of Generational Characteristics

Generation Typical Values Name Birth Years and Characteristics

Matures 1925–1942 • Duty

• Sacrifice

• A sense of what is right

• Work hard

• Work fast

Baby Boomers 1943–1960 • Personal fulfillment and optimism

• Crusading causes

• Buy now/pay later

• Everybody’s rights

• Work efficiently

Generation X 1961–1981 • Live with uncertainty

• Balance is important

• Live for today

• Save

• Every job is a contract

Millennials 1982–2002 • Close to parents

• Feel “special”

• Goal-oriented

• Team-oriented

• Focus on achievement

You must proofread your paper. But do not strictly rely on your computer’s spell-checker and grammar-checker; failure to do so indicates a lack of effort on your part and you can expect your grade to suffer accordingly. Papers with numerous misspelled words and grammatical mistakes will be penalized. Read over your paper – in silence and then aloud – before handing it in and make corrections as necessary. Often it is advantageous to have a friend proofread your paper for obvious errors. Handwritten corrections are preferable to uncorrected mistakes.

Use a standard 10 to 12 point (10 to 12 characters per inch) typeface. Smaller or compressed type and papers with small margins or single-spacing are hard to read. It is better to let your essay run over the recommended number of pages than to try to compress it into fewer pages.Assignment: Generational Differences

Likewise, large type, large margins, large indentations, triple-spacing, increased leading (space between lines), increased kerning (space between letters), and any other such attempts at “padding” to increase the length of a paper are unacceptable, wasteful of trees, and will not fool your professor.

The paper must be neatly formatted, double-spaced with a one-inch margin on the top, bottom, and sides of each page. When submitting hard copy, be sure to use white paper and print out using dark ink. If it is hard to read your essay, it will also be hard to follow your argument.ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE CLASSDiscussion Questions (DQ)

Initial responses to the DQ should address all components of the questions asked, include a minimum of one scholarly source, and be at least 250 words.
Successful responses are substantive (i.e., add something new to the discussion, engage others in the discussion, well-developed idea) and include at least one scholarly source.
One or two sentence responses, simple statements of agreement or “good post,” and responses that are off-topic will not count as substantive. Substantive responses should be at least 150 words.Assignment: Generational Differences
I encourage you to incorporate the readings from the week (as applicable) into your responses.
Weekly Participation

Your initial responses to the mandatory DQ do not count toward participation and are graded separately.
In addition to the DQ responses, you must post at least one reply to peers (or me) on three separate days, for a total of three replies.
Participation posts do not require a scholarly source/citation (unless you cite someone else’s work).
Part of your weekly participation includes viewing the weekly announcement and attesting to watching it in the comments. These announcements are made to ensure you understand everything that is due during the week.
APA Format and Writing Quality

Familiarize yourself with APA format and practice using it correctly. It is used for most writing assignments for your degree. Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for APA paper templates, citation examples, tips, etc. Points will be deducted for poor use of APA format or absence of APA format (if required).
Cite all sources of information! When in doubt, cite the source. Paraphrasing also requires a citation.Assignment: Generational Differences
I highly recommend using the APA Publication Manual, 6th edition.
Use of Direct Quotes

I discourage overutilization of direct quotes in DQs and assignments at the Masters’ level and deduct points accordingly.
As Masters’ level students, it is important that you be able to critically analyze and interpret information from journal articles and other resources. Simply restating someone else’s words does not demonstrate an understanding of the content or critical analysis of the content.
It is best to paraphrase content and cite your source.
LopesWrite Policy

For assignments that need to be submitted to LopesWrite, please be sure you have received your report and Similarity Index (SI) percentage BEFORE you do a “final submit” to me.
Once you have received your report, please review it. This report will show you grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors that can easily be fixed. Take the extra few minutes to review instead of getting counted off for these mistakes.
Review your similarities. Did you forget to cite something? Did you not paraphrase well enough? Is your paper made up of someone else’s thoughts more than your own?
Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for tips on improving your paper and SI score.
Late Policy

The university’s policy on late assignments is 10% penalty PER DAY LATE. This also applies to late DQ replies.
Please communicate with me if you anticipate having to submit an assignment late. I am happy to be flexible, with advance notice. We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances.
If you do not communicate with me before submitting an assignment late, the GCU late policy will be in effect.
I do not accept assignments that are two or more weeks late unless we have worked out an extension.
As per policy, no assignments are accepted after the last day of class. Any assignment submitted after midnight on the last day of class will not be accepted for grading.
Communication

Communication is so very important. There are multiple ways to communicate with me: Questions to Instructor Forum: This is a great place to ask course content or assignment questions. If you have a question, there is a good chance one of your peers does as well. This is a public forum for the class.
Individual Forum: This is a private forum to ask me questions or send me messages. This will be checked at least once every 24 hours.