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ENGL 3330: Introduction to Technical Writing
Course Overview
Technical Writing is a course that will equip you to communicate effectively with a variety of audiences. Your audience may be a future employer, viewers of a webpage, potential employees, or a number of other audiences. Technical Writing is vital to effective communication, so you will find this course to be practical, hands-on, and include both digital and traditional writing. This course focuses on workplace communication and writing in the disciplines. Every field/profession has its own genres and conventions for how writing is accomplished, and this course is designed to help you gain proficiency with technical writing in general, but also to give you an opportunity to explore and research how technical communication functions in your chosen field of study or future profession.
Student Outcomes
Analyze a rhetorical situation and craft the appropriate documentation to meet its constraints.
Identify the elements of effective technical writing style and apply these elements to a variety of professional documents.
Design documents that are usable and visually engaging.
Create, edit, and revise prose to produce professional, polished documents.
Produce documents as a member of a team.
To present yourself and your ideas professionally across media
To critically analyze public forms of technical communication
To understand how/why technical communication is not objective
To understand and apply ethical technical communication practices
To transfer knowledge from this course to other situations/fields
Texts/Materials
Technical Communication (12th edition) – Mike Markel and Stuart A. Selber
Jump Drive
Additional pdfs will be supplied via Blackboard
Technologies: Computer with internet connectivity (on campus), Blackboard, Google Docs, Spark Page, Canva, Piktochart
Assignments and Assessments
Project One: Professional Correspondence (15%)
Write a memo/letter/email for a specific audience and purpose. Switch roles and respond to that memo/letter/email. Download the assignment sheet.
Photo by Thought Catalog on Unsplash
Project Two: Lightning Talk (15%)
Give a 5-minute lightning talk that demonstrate your content knowledge, ability to communicate orally, and skillful use of PowerPoint. Download the assignment sheet.
Photo by Campaign Creators on Unsplash
Project 3: Infographic Technical Instructions (15%)
Create a long, one-page infographic in which you will write instructions for an activity, process, procedure, or policy in your field/profession. Download the assignment sheet.
Project Four: Writing an Online Proposal (15%)
Create a webpage using Spark Page in which you will propose the topic for Project Five. Download the assignment sheet.
Photo by Marvin Meyer on Unsplash
Project Five: Group Project - Formal Recommendation Report (20%)
In groups of 3, collaboratively write a formal recommendation report about a social justice-related issue in your field/profession. Download the assignment sheet.
Photo by Nayani Teixeira on Unsplash.
Weekly Reading Quizzes (10%)
Because reading helps you better understand the material presented in class, we will have a short quiz at the beginning of most classes after a reading assignment.
Photo by Sharon McCutcheon on Unsplash
Grading Standards
Excellent Work | 90-100 | A
Very Good/Good Work | 80-89 | B
Fair/Adequate Work | 70-79 | C
Flawed Work | 60-69 | D
Does Not Meet the Assignment’s Requirements | 0-59 | F
Policies
Correspondence
I fully understand and empathize with any need for additional clarification on any course materials and assignments. I will do my best to respond in the same day to any e-mail that I receive before 5:00 pm. If you e-mail me later than 5:00 pm, then expect to hear a response by the following day.
Please use proper salutations in all e-mail correspondence, as you should when you address any e-mail to someone in a professional academic or business context. Example:
Hi/Hello Dr. O’Brien/Professor O’Brien,
I have a question on X. (Be sure to use proper punctuation and full sentences).
Sincerely, /Thanks,
Your Name
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Attendance
If you miss class more than six times, you will not pass this course. Any time you are absent, you are responsible for contacting me to find out what you missed. If you arrive after I take roll or leave class early, you’ll be marked tardy. Tardiness counts as half an absence. As for the six absences you are allowed, you do not need to provide me with an excuse or explanation. Just be sure you get in touch to find out what you missed. If you think you’ll have any problem sticking to this attendance policy, let me know in advance. Again, no guarantees, but I am more likely to be flexible if I know you’re planning ahead.
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Technology
We are fortunate to be in a room equipped with computers. We will use those computers often, and in many cases, it will be fine if you use a personal laptop or tablet instead. As for smartphones and other cell phones, there may be some times when it will make sense for us to use them. In general, though, they aren’t a good fit for the sort of work we do in this class. For instance, their screens are too small to engage with readings in the detail-oriented way we will during this course. For that reason, don’t plan on using them in class unless we decide otherwise during a particular activity. If you have a particular reason for wanting to make use of your phone in class, let me know.
Photo by 🇨🇭 Claudio Schwarz | @purzlbaum on Unsplash
Technology policy adapted from Dr. Eric Detweiler
In-Class Participation
In-class exercises and discussions frame understanding of the course material. While the textbooks are a valuable resource, learning will come through practice, trial, and error of the material discussed in the textbook and supplemented with practical tasks in class. Thus, students should keep up with the reading, attend class, and participate in class to learn this course’s content.
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Due Dates
All assignments are due at the specified date/time. Carefully read the assignment sheets and syllabus for each assignment to see that date/time for EACH assignment. For each day that it is turned in late, you will lose 10%. Please be sure to begin working on projects early so that in case of technological issues, work issues, or any other unforeseen issues arise, that you will still be able to turn in your projects on time.
Photo by Eric Rothermel on Unsplash