DCA Worksheet

Paper instructions:
Project 1 attachement has the instructions for the essay.

DCA Worksheet is basically a summary of the website I would like you to write about . (www.afponline.org ) please follow the instructions from project 1 attachement and use DCA worksheet as an outline for some of the information.

1.    Association for Financial Professionals. www.afponline.org
2.    I found this website by going to google.com and looking up the term finance professionals. The Association for Financial Professionals was near the top of the search list. I would imagine that other individuals have a wide variety of way to find this website. First, the website has a very high relevancy on google when searching for professional financial organizations, making it easy to accidentally stumble upon. Additionally, the website holds lots of information about publications and conferences, which would provide readers and attendees, respectively, for these publications and conferences to find this website. The Association for Financial Professionals is also responsible for some finance credentialing. Therefore, a lot of young people new to the finance field would likely be interested in information available on this website.
3.    The website appears to be addressed to professionals involved in all aspects of finance worldwide, with a specific focus on being a finance resource for professionals working in the United States. The website has links to recent news articles on its front page, and this leads me to believe that many readers will utilize it to stay up-to-date on the latest and most pertinent finance news in the United States and the world. Conferences are also a big focus of this website, implying that continuing education for finance professionals is an important goal for this website. The mission statement for the Association of Financial Professionals claims that the website focuses on representing the most important interests for global financial professionals. It also focuses on its professional obligations for certifying and credentialing financial professionals and the conferences that are sponsored by the Association of Financial Professionals.
4.    The language for this website is very formal. It is clearly meant to focus on financial professionals and it uses formal language to convince the reader that it is a website representing a professional organization. The overall formality of the language of this website stays fairly consistent as one moves away from the main page. The website keeps the wording concise and informative, as it values the readers desire to find information quickly. A lot of the wording is fairly specific to people in the field of finance. This is to be expected, as the superb organization of this website helps the reader to find the information that they’re looking for with minimal effort.
5.    The home page is very visually attractive and appears to be well-organized. Something that stands out quickly is the overall level of organization of the website. The website has dropdown menus for many important categories of information. It uses soft color schemes that are appropriate for a professional website. The home page also includes a section for recent news articles. This helps to encourage the reader to recheck the website frequently. This home page also leads into other smaller websites, leading the reader to information that is condensed into categories that the reader is likely to want to inquire about. The website also uses a modest amount of pictures to break up the monotony of the words on the page, as well as different font sizes and colors to accomplish this.

6.    There are many available navigation options from the home page. The major tabs include membership, events, certification, training, careers, research and guides, publications, advocacy, topics, store, and quick links. It places the most important tabs first and the least likely to be clicked on tabs last. As the mouse rolls over each tab, additional information is provided to the user. These dropdown menus also include other sub-tabs and subtopics, some leading to other interior topics that make information more convenient for readers to find.
7.    There are subtle differences in the language used for some of the tabs from the homepage. In particular, the recertification tabs tend to use more finance-specific jargon than the home page or some of the other tabs. The language, overall, is still kept fairly simple, as this serves to make sure that the information is readily comprehendible by the reader. The overall template stays fairly constant throughout the website, focusing on multiple tabs and tabs within tabs in order to keep the information as organized as possible. The color scheme does vary as the reader is redirected to alternative websites that are contained within the overall website.
8.    There are multiple genres of language included in this website. The sections about certification tend to be very straightforward and concise. They are clearly intended to provide information to readers who are searching the website for specific information. The articles linked from the first page tend to have very formal sounding titles, implying that they are for financial professionals looking for very detailed information about certain subsections dealing with finance.
9.    The graphics for this website have many purposes. The most important purpose is to provide a break in the monotony that might result from the website having only words. There are also some graphics that have small thumbnails of much larger documents. This preview makes it more convenient for the reader to find the information that they need, as it lowers the likelihood of clicking on a link that the reader does not want to read about. Overall, the graphics have a mix of useful functionality and eye-appealing transitioning.
10.    The advertisements on the website tend to be on the right side and virtually all of them focus on financial information, such as certification and signing up for conferences. This information tells me that the advertisements are clicked on mostly by financial professionals looking to further their professional career. The website also gives prime position to finance companies that are advertising on the website, such as State Street Global Advisors.
11.    The discourse community is likely composed of financial academics and financial professionals looking to further their professional careers. The links to articles provide multiple opportunities for financial professionals to learn more about their field. The membership and conference links also provide multiple opportunities for financial professionals to improve their career through networking events. This community is clearly interdependent on each other for sharing and conversing about the most important pieces of information in the finance field.
12.    There do appear to be both primary and secondary discourse communities. The primary discourse community consists of people searching the website for pertinent information. These readers are likely to browse through the news articles or look for information about specific things (such as recertification, membership, or signing up for conferences).The secondary discourse community consists of people who are conversing with each other from links used by the primary discourse community. For example, conference attendees are likely to use the website for only limited purposes, such as registering for the conference. The certification community is another example of a secondary discourse community within this website.
13.    Entrance into the primary discourse community requires membership with the organization, which is limited to financial professionals. While I am not currently a part of this discourse, I will be in the future, so learning more about it now will be a smart professional investment in my financial future and my future in finance.