WRTG 391 UMGC Advantages and Disadvantages of Teleworking Discussions

DISCUSSION 1 — PREPARING FOR THE SIX-SOURCE ESSAY AND THE SYNTHESIS OF SOURCES ESSAY (LITERATURE REVIEW)

Watch the two video tutorials from UMGC Library, “How to Write a Literature Review” and “How to Write a Synthesis Essay,” and complete the following task. (You can find those links in Week 4/Content/Learning Resources.)

Imagine that you are working for a department within a large company.  The manager of your department is considering allowing workers in your department to telework, in other words, to work from home. 

However, your manager is not sure what to expect from this possible change.

She is not sure what the advantages, pitfalls, unexpected issues, etc. are of allowing teleworking. For example, she is not sure whether workers become less productive because they will be working from home and not supervised.  She also considers the possibility that workers will become more productive because they won’t have to worry about traffic and parking.  They won’t have to take large amounts of time off to get children to a doctor’s appointment, to see a doctor themselves, to take care of errands, etc.  It is possible that working from home will improve productivity. 

Other questions abound in her mind.  For example, how many days a week should the workers be allowed to telework?  Should they be limited to one day?  Two days?  Or should they be unlimited to telework as many days as they would like per week?

In addition, she is not sure if everyone should be allowed to telework or if perhaps only people in certain positions should be allowed to telework.  For example, she knows that the janitor cannot telework.  His job could not be done at a distance.  But some individuals could telework, as their jobs involve meetings and other functions that could be accomplished at a distance.

Overall, your manager is somewhat at a loss on this issue. 

Your manager has asked you to review the literature on teleworking.  She has asked that you submit a literature review to her next month on the topic of teleworking.

From what you have gleaned in this class about what a literature review is, what is your manager asking you to do?

Does she want a proposal that supports a new teleworking arrangement?

Does she want a persuasive paper that takes a stand against teleworking?

Or does she want something entirely different from those two options?

WEEK 4, DISCUSSION 2— EXAMINING A SAMPLE STUDENT SIX-SOURCE ESSAY

As you prepare to write the Six-Source Essay (WA #3), you might return to your Annotated Bibliography (WA #1) for material and inspiration. Looking over the sample annotated bibliography and sample six-source essay can be instructive. As noted, these essays aren’t perfect. The writer is still working to synthesize the sources. However, the Six-Source Essay adds some new material and other improvements.