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Techniques for Documenting with Proof or Supporting Evidence, and Related Strategies for Problem Solving By David Alderoty © 2016
Chapter 24) Technique-23, Using Your Own Credentials As Supporting Evidence, and Related Concepts
This e-book presents 28 techniques for supporting the validity of the statements you write. Left click on the above for a list of the techniques
This chapter contains a little over 2,150 words
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Table of Contents, and an Outline of this Chapter The following is a hyperlink table of contents, as well as an outline of this chapter. If you left click on a blue underlined heading, the corresponding topic or subtopic will appear on your computer screen. Alternatively, you can scroll down to access the material listed in the table of contents, because this chapter is on one long webpage.
Topic 1.) Technique-23, Using Your Own Credentials as Supporting Evidence Subtopic, Informal Credentials, and Credentials In-between Formal and Informal Subtopic, Using Your Credentials to Support The Validity of the Documents you Write Subtopic, A summary, and Additional Information About Implied Claims Subtopic, the Quality of Documents that Describe Our Formal and Informal Credentials Writing High-Quality Informal Documents, That Represent Your Informal Credentials Subtopic The Quality of Formal Documentation that Represents Formal Credentials, can very Greatly Subtopic, Utility of Informal Credentials, can be Reinforced with Appropriate Formal Credentials Additional and Supporting Information For This Chapter, From the Web
This E-Book Provides Additional and Supporting Information from other Authors, with Web Links
This e-book contains links to web-based articles and videos from other authors, for additional, alternative, and supporting information. The links are the blue underlined words, presented throughout this e-book. However, some of these links are to access different sections of this e-book, or material on my own websites. Quotes and paraphrases in this e-book have hyperlinks to access the original source. The quotes are presented in brown text, which is the same color of these words. (The precise text color is RGB Decimal 165, 42, 42, or Hex #a52a2a) Some of the web links in this e-book will probably fail eventually, because websites may be removed from the web, or placed on a new URL. If a link fails, use the blue underlined words as a search phrase, with www.Google.com If the link is for a video, use www.google.com/videohp The search will usually bring up the original website, or one or more good alternatives. |
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Topic 1.) Technique-23, Using Your Own Credentials as Supporting Evidence Technique-25, consists of using your own credentials as supporting evidence, such as school transcripts, diplomas, degrees, and licenses issued by the government. The above are examples of formal credentials. Informal credentials may also be quite useful as supporting evidence, for your knowledge, skills, and qualifications, especially if you have them adequately documented. Examples of informal credentials are knowledge and skills that were obtained on-the-job, from a hobby, or from self-study.
Subtopic, Informal Credentials, and Credentials In-between Formal and Informal ||| If your informal credentials involve skills that can be easily evaluated by potential employers, or college admissions committees, they can be as useful as formal credentials. Informal credentials can also be very useful if they are documented on your own websites, such as in the form of photographs, video, text, mathematics, or online software. There are some credentials that more or less fall in between formal and informal credentials. A good example is work that was published in a scholarly journal. Job experience from professional level employment is another example.
Subtopic, Using Your Credentials to Support The Validity of the Documents you Write ||| If your credentials relate to a document you are writing, they can be used to support the validity of the text. For an example, let us assume you have a bachelor’s degree in computer science, and you are writing a basic book on how to use the computer. Your bachelor’s degree would be good supporting evidence for the validity of the book you are writing. (In other words, a bachelor’s degree would most likely convince the readers that you are qualified to write a basic book on how to use the computer.) This would simply involve indicating on the cover of the book that you have a bachelor’s degree in computer science. If you have informal credentials in computer science, such as from a hobby or from job experience, that can also be used to support the validity of your book. However, informal credentials may require a detailed description on one or more of the introductory pages of your book. The credentials you use for supporting evidence generally should be related to the document you are writing. For example, if you were writing a cookbook, a degree in computer science probably would not convince the readers of your qualifications as a cook. However, if you worked at a restaurant as a chef for 10 years, that would be useful for supporting the validity of your cookbook. There are exceptions to the above. Sometimes it is useful to indicate formal credentials that do not relate to the topic that you are writing about. This is especially the case if you have a degree above a bachelor’s degree. This is done to convince the readers that an educated individual wrote the book, or other document.
||| Your credentials are especially useful for supporting the validity of documents that describe your knowledge, skills, abilities, and qualifications. The documents you write to obtain employment, and for college admissions, are examples, of documents that must be supported by your formal and/or informal credentials. When you are writing about your knowledge, skills, abilities, and qualifications, you can make direct claims, or implied claims, using your formal and/or informal credentials. Often direct claims are inappropriate. For example, stating that you are highly intelligent, would probably be considered inappropriate in most cases. The claim of high intelligence can be stated indirectly, by mentioning an appropriate academic achievement, such as a high grade point average. Another example of making an indirect claim, would involve conveying the idea that you are highly creative person, by displaying entities you created. This can be done with her own personal website, which has photographs and/or videos of the entities you created.
Subtopic, A summary, and Additional Information About Implied Claims ||| The general idea of making indirect claims is to display the evidence that supports a claim, without stating the claim. Keep in mind that the evidence here is primarily formal and informal credentials. This can include describing the evidence in such a way that provides good support for the unstated claim. If the potential employer, college admissions committee, or readers *disagree with the implied claim, there is no conflict or embarrassment. With this strategy, the writer provides the evidence in the form of a written document, supported by formal and/or informal credentials. However, the interpretation of the evidence is carried out by the readers of the document. *It is important that the relevant individuals examine the evidence of your implied claim. It is also important that they understand your evidence. This can sometimes be a challenge if you are dealing with potential employers or college admissions committees, who are very busy. Try to obtain feedback to determine if they examined and understood the evidence you submitted. If they did not, try to persuade them to examine the evidence you submitted, and discuss it with you. Sometimes resubmitting the evidence in a different form will produce better results.
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||| In this topic, I am discussing documents that represent formal and informal credentials. The quality of these documents can range from high to low. High-quality documents are relatively easy to read, understand, and their validity can easily be confirmed, based on the way I am using the terminology. Low-quality documents, involve one or more of the following: they are difficult to read, difficult to understand, or their validity is difficult to evaluate. An example of a high quality document is a school transcript that is written with relatively large type, without abbreviations. The transcript clearly describes the courses listed on it, and it has the address of the school in the upper front portion of the document. The address allows the reader to easily-check the validity of the transcript, by contacting the school. An example of a low-quality document is a school transcript that is written with small type that is difficult to read, and it contains abbreviations that are very difficult to decipher. The content of the courses cannot be determined from the course titles, and it contains no description of the course work. The address of the school is not on the transcript, or it is written in the back of the document, with very fine print.
Subtopic, the Quality of Documents that Describe Our Formal and Informal Credentials ||| We all have control over the quality of our informal documentation, which usually involves skills that were acquired on-the-job, from self-study, or from a hobby. We write our own informal documents, or someone we know writes it for such as is the case with letters of recommendation. This is because we write these documents ourselves, or we know someone that wrote it for us. Examples are resumes, cover letters, descriptions we wrote about our knowledge, skills, experience. If the quality is less than optimal, we can rewrite informal documents, or obtain another letter of recommendation. This is obviously not the case with formal documentation, which is written by an agency, such as a government licensing Bureau, or a school. However, in the following paragraphs there are strategies that can be used to improve our informal documents, and techniques to compensate for low-quality formal documentation.
Writing High-Quality Informal Documents, That Represent Your Informal Credentials ||| You should write informal documentation so that potential employers, and/or readers can easily read it, and understand it. This can partly be achieved by putting yourself in the place of the reader, and writing and correcting your document accordingly. This involves using relatively large text, avoiding unnecessarily long sentences, and avoiding the use of terminology and phrasing that might confuse the readers. When a document requires more than 200 words, it might be best to place the most important statements first, followed by progressively less important statements. The most important statements might be a summary of the key points of the document. This arrangement increases the chances that the most important points will be read, even if the entire document is not read. If a document is longer than three pages, you should organize it using descriptive headings. This is useful if the reader skim reads your document. If your document has more than 5 headings, it may be beneficial to provide a table of contents. The claims you make in your informal documentation should be backed up by supporting evidence. The supporting evidence can involve formal credentials, letters of recommendation that indicate prior work experience, or photographs of entities that you created. You can place your supporting evidence on your own website, and place the URL in your informal documents for supporting evidence.
Subtopic The Quality of Formal Documentation that Represents Formal Credentials, can very Greatly ||| The value of formal credentials is partly determined by how it was documented by the agency that issued it. Problems associated with poorly written formal documentation can be mitigated with appropriate informal documentation. This is explained with the following examples.
(An example of Low-quality documentation) A school transcript that is difficult to evaluate, because of abbreviations that are used, which make it impossible for the readers to understand the courses that the student took. This can include excessively fine print that is difficult to read. This situation can be aggravated if the school no longer exists. Difficulties in the above hypothetical example can be reduced by providing descriptions of the courses on the transcript, and interpretations of the abbreviations. Provide the correct address, and specific office, of the school, the reader can easily check the validity of the transcript. If the school no longer exists, provide the address of the agency that is handling the records.
(An example of Low-quality documentation) A license issued by a government agency that is confusing to the readers, or potential employer. This can sometimes happen because the readers or potential employer does not have an adequate background to understand the significance of the license. In general, the quality of documentation is a relative concept. If the reader does not understand the document, it is poor quality from the reader’s perspective. (A solution to the above problem) The quality of the documentation can be improved by writing informal document that explains the significance of the license, and the qualifications it represents. This can include a discussion of the course of study that was required to obtain the license. If necessary, provide the address of the government agency that issued the license, so that readers can easily check its validity.
The general idea here is the quality of formal documentation can usually be improved by writing an informal document that explains its content in a way that is easy to understand. When this is done, the background of the reader should be considered. If you are not aware of the background of the readers, your informal document should be written as simply as feasible, without eliminating any relevant details.
||| It is sometimes feasible to enhance the significance of formal credentials, with your own documents that contain your own explanations and other information. The following two examples will clarify this idea.
Example 1) Let us assume you are a licensed electrician. A description of the studies that were required to obtain the license might enhance the significance of your achievements in the eyes of the readers. This can be enhanced further, by explaining your successful work experience as a licensed electrician.
Example 2) If you have a bachelor’s degree in computer science, the significance of the degree can be improved, by providing access to software you created.
Subtopic, Utility of Informal Credentials, can be Reinforced with Appropriate Formal Credentials ||| The quality of informal documentation can be improved by relevant formal documentation. For example, let us assume you developed skills in creating online software because of a hobby, and self-study. In such a case, your informal documentation would be software that is accessible from the web. The status of this documentation can be improved, if you have a formal college degree that relates directly or indirectly to software development.
Additional and Supporting Information For This Chapter, From the Web ||| Google search pages: Informal credentials
4 Steps to Writing a Professional Bio That Gets You Noticed
Google search pages: "Formal credentials"
How to Get a Job Without Formal Credentials: A Case Study, By DEREK MAGILL
Formal Credentials: This site rejects credentialism
How to list your credentials and title when you publish
Proper Treatment of Degrees, Licenses and Credentials
Can a Badge Certify Your Academic Credentials? by Dr. Bruce Johnson
Digital Credentials Introduction
8 Steps to Getting What You Want… Without Formal Credentials
In/formal credentials: Governing open badges Explaining your informal credentials
Video: YouTube search pages: How to write about your qualifications
Video: Qualifications employers look for in a resume
If you want to go to chapter 25 of this e-book, left click on the following link:
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