DubinskySyllabus & Justification 1

Technical Writing: English 3764 Syllabus, Fall 2000

Instructor:Student

Office: 124 Williams Hall

Office phone: 231-7915

Email:

Office hours:MW 1:00-2:00, other hours by appointment

Texts and Requirements

  • Technical Writing: A Reader-Centered Approach, Paul V. Anderson (Harcourt Brace)
  • A Writer’s Reference, 4th ed., Hacker (Bedford, 1999)
  • A good college-level dictionary
  • One 3.5” high density computer disk (to save your work on!)

A Virginia Tech email address—if you don’t have one, please get it today

Course Purpose

In virtually every workplace situation in which you find yourself throughout your careers, you will find that writing is one of your responsibilities. Companies cannot exist without clear and efficient communication, and it is the goal of this course to allow you to meet and surpass your responsibilities in all writing and communication situations.

Our class will be based on the idea that technical writing should always be done with the

reader’s needs in mind. The ultimate test of how effective your writing will be in a workplace situation is whether the user of that document can quickly and easily take away the understanding necessary to take the appropriate action.

This course is structured in such a way that each assignment builds on the previous assignment, and I’ve also linked assignments together whenever possible in order to recreate a workplace atmosphere in which many different writing situations often come to bear in fulfilling one larger project. With that in mind, don’t dismiss what you’ve learned in one unit as done and over with, but strive to continually renew and deepen your understanding of technical writing as a whole by drawing connections between assignments and strategies.

And finally, let’s go into the semester realizing that technical writing is not simply using words. While word choice, sentence structure, and other prose considerations are vitally important, the design and layout of a document, and the use of necessary diagrams or graphics are equally important in making any document as useful as possible to a reader.

In the pages that follow, I lay out the assignments you will be asked to complete this semester, as well as their relative weight in calculating your overall grade. We will discuss each assignment in great detail as we work through the semester. Following the grade breakdown of the assignments, you will find the criteria that I use to evaluate the documents you create. Next, you will find statements explaining the grammar and punctuation policy in this class, as well as the importance that peer editing will play during the semester. Finally, you will find a calendar outlining the various documents we will be focusing on and the due dates for the corresponding documents that you will be producing.

AssignmentsGrade Breakdown

Resume/Cover Letter15%

Technical Instructions/Description10%

Memo5%

Proposal (for website)10%

Progress Report (on website)10%

Final Report (on website)10%

Informational Website25%

Participation15%

Grading Criteria for Documents

GRADE

/

CRITERIA

A / Any company would be delighted to send this message or document. It not only meets the problem goals, but it does so in a particularly ingenious or graceful way. It is substantially better than the ordinary, acceptable message.
B / Any company would be willing to send this message or document. It meets the problem goals and communicates adequately in every way.
C / Any company would be unwilling to send this message or document. Although it is acceptable in many respects, it must be disqualified for one major weakness or several minor ones. It could probably be turned into an acceptable message with some careful revision/editing.
D / Any company would be unwilling to send this message or document and would be inclined to question the competency of the writer. Although it shows some evidence of an attempt to apply principles discussed in this course, the attempt was not successful. Rather than attempting to revise, the writer should throw this away and start again.
F / Any company would seriously consider replacing this writer. This message or document shows no evidence that the writer tried to apply the principles discussed in this course, and the message or document would probably do more harm than good if it were sent: it could be a serious embarrassment to the company. The writer should study the basic principles carefully and start over.
Grammar and Punctuation Policy

Using correct grammar and punctuation in technical documents is essential. Within an organization, these errors can cause confusion and mistaken decisions. In documents aimed at clients outside of an organization, these errors call into question the integrity and competency of your organization. Bottom line: these errors diminish the efficiency and quality of your work, which ultimately cost your company money and hurt its reputation.

Therefore, you will be “allowed” one error on each assignment. Each additional error will diminish your grade by 1/3 of a letter grade. For example, 2 errors = A, 3 errors = A-, 4 errors = B+, etc.

Peer Editing (a.k.a. User Testing)

Writing in the workplace is rarely, if ever, a solo effort. Thus, as we produce each assignment, we will devote at least one class period to revising, editing, and “user-testing” each other’s documents. We will not only be looking to catch errors in these sessions, but also for ways to improve the documents: this includes additions and/or deletions to the text itself, the design/layout of the document, and graphics/diagrams used in the document.

Participation in these sessions is required and will be a major factor in determining your participation grade for the semester.

Class Listserv

We will be using a class listserv in this class since it provides a quick and easy way for me to get in touch with all of you at once. You are also welcome to use the listserv as a resource for class related discussions or questions. If you have specific questions for me, you should send them to my email address, and not the class listserv, as a common courtesy to your classmates. Please subscribe to the listserv by the end of the first week of class; I will provide you with the specific subscription information in class.

Class Calendar

During the first two weeks of the semester, we’ll discussing some of the major considerations one needs to be aware of to create superior technical documents. This broad overview will give us a sufficient orientation and grounding in technical writing so that we can proceed to deepen our understanding of technical writing by creating specific types of technical documents in the weeks to come. Far from leaving the issues of the first two weeks behind, we will be continually revisiting and revising our understanding of the way these issues are involved in every writing situation.

The remainder of the calendar is divided according to the major assignment that we will be working on during that part of the semester. Note that the reading assignment for each week is provided. Due dates are denoted in boldface type. As you can see, this calendar breaks up the class week by week, but does not identify specific dates for each assignment; we will specify dates as we proceed (with plenty of warning time for you) so that we have more flexibility in tailoring our class meetings to best meet our needs.

  • “What Goes into Technical Writing?”

Week 1:“How technical writing is similar to and different from your other classes”

Forms, Standardization, Usability, Accessibility

Classical Rhetoric

Week 2: Design/Layout

Ethics

Chapter 1, Anderson: “Writing, Your Career, and This Book”

Cover Letter/Resume

Week 3:Chapter 2, Anderson: “Overview of the Reader-Centered Writing Process”

Week 4:Chapter 3, Anderson: “Defining Your Objectives”

Peer editing

Week 5:Chapter 4, Anderson: “Planning to Meet Your Readers’ Informational Needs”

Cover Letter/Resume due

Technical Instructions/Description and Internal Memo

Week 6: Chapter 5, Anderson: “Planning Your Persuasive Strategies”

Week 7:Chapter 6, Anderson: “Gathering Information and Evidence”

Peer editing

Week 8: Chapter 7, Anderson: “Drafting Paragraphs, Sections, and Chapters”

Technical Instructions/Description due

Memo due

Informational Website

Week 9:Chapter 8, Anderson: Beginning a Communication”

Peer editing

Week 10:Chapter 9, Anderson: “Ending a Communication”

Proposal due

Week 11:Chapter 10, Anderson: “Creating an Effective Style”

Web composer instruction

Week 12:Chapter 11, Anderson: “Using Visual Aids”

Peer editing

Week 13:Chapter 12, Anderson: “Designing Pages”

Progress Report due

Week 14:Chapter 13, Anderson: “Evaluating Drafts”

Peer editing

Week 15:Course Evaluations

Website due

Final Report Due

DubinskySyllabus & Justification 1

MEMO

To: Dr. James Dubinsky

From: Student

Subject: Syllabus Justification

Date: 12/12/99

This memo explains the choices I have made in creating a syllabus for a third or fourth year technical writing class at a four year university. I will explain the components of the class in the order that they are found on the syllabus: texts and requirements, course purpose, assignments, grading criteria, grammar and punctuation policy, peer editing, and class calendar.

Texts and Requirements

I have chosen to use Paul Anderson’s Technical Writing: A Reader-Centered Approach as the main textbook for the class due to its underlying philosophy that the readers’ needs must be a primary consideration in creating effective technical writing. Hacker’s A Writer’s Reference will serve as a grammar, punctuation, and prose style reference that will complement Anderson’s focus on technical writing considerations and providing of document templates.

Course Purpose

The theoretical stance guiding my class mirrors David Dobrin’s idea that technical writing teaches “students how to make their work useful to the people they work with” (157). This pedagogical stance reinforces the need to make one’s writing reader-based and highlights the importance of making documents highly accessible to those who will be using them.

I also use this section of my syllabus to remind students of the large role that writing will inevitably play in their careers, as a motivation to engage with the material presented throughout the semester. I explain that the assignments are interconnected and build on one another to get them to begin thinking about technical writing in a larger sense in the hope that they will begin to see all writing situations as rhetorical situations; that is, I want to focus on technical writing as a way to create meaning and solve problems, not as a set of disconnected forms that one fills in according to the template required; in this sense, I am drawing on Slack, Miller, and Doak’s “Technical Communicator as Author.”

Finally, I mention the importance of page design and layout, as well as the use diagrams and graphics, in technical writing. I want my class to begin with the awareness that technical writing is as much a matter of presentation as it is clear and efficient prose.

Assignments

I have chosen my assignments with the intention of giving students experience in creating a variety of documents that they will use either in the workplace or to obtain employment. I have also striven to connect assignments whenever possible. For instance, the memo that students produce will be an analysis of the technical instructions/descriptions they produce, and the proposal, progress report, and final report will all focus on the informational website assignment that caps the course. I will now discuss each assignment in the order it appears on the syllabus.

Resume/Cover Letter – This assignment comes first because it is something that every student should be interested in producing, as they will be applying for jobs in the next few years. Also, once students begin thinking in terms of employment possibilities, they are more likely to become engaged with future assignments that focus on the writing situations that they will encounter in the workplace. Furthermore, the resume/cover letter provides an excellent assignment in which to continue emphasizing the importance of rhetoric and text design/layout by showing the inadequacy of simply filling out a typical resume form or template. It is worth 15% of the final grade as it involves the creation of two documents, albeit complementary ones.

Technical Instructions/Description – This assignment is placed second because it is a valuable way to get students to consider the difficulty and importance of communicating information clearly and efficiently. It forces students to consider how the text they produce will be used by a specific audience and highlights considerations that increase accessibility and usability such as chunking information, clear visual presentation of material, and the use of diagrams. Its weight of 10% of the final grade is commiserate with other assignments.

Memo – The memo is to be turned in with the technical instructions/descriptions as an analysis of that assignment. This ensures that students will have to be aware of the choices that they are making as they create technical documents. It also highlights the fact that different audiences exist around the same concepts or technologies. The technical instructions/description would often be used by someone outside the organization in which the instructions were written and who may have little or no previous knowledge of the process in question; on the other hand, the memo is an internal document aimed at an audience within the organization which has a different relationship to the process described in the instructions. They may have a good bit of previous knowledge about the process, but need to be kept informed as to how the process is being described to potential users. As this is a smaller assignment attached to the technical instructions assignment, it is worth 5% of the final grade.

Proposal – This assignment gives students experience with another situation they are likely to encounter in the workplace. Furthermore, it is tied to another assignment in the class because it proposes the specific nature and subject matter of the informational website that students must create by the end of the semester. Allowing students to choose the topic of their website makes it more likely that they will be interested and involved in the project, but requiring this proposal allows me to weed out or suggest revisions to poorly thought out, unacceptable, or overly ambitious projects. It is worth 10% of the final grade.

Progress Report – This report on the progress of the informational website introduces students to another typical workplace writing situation while establishing another link between course assignments. This assignment is also worth 10% of the final grade.

Final Report - This formal report is on the informational website and is to be turned in at the same time. It exposes students to yet another writing situation and again forces students to become aware of and justify the choices that they have made as they design their website. The final report comprises 10% of the final grade.

Informational Website – This assignment serves as the capstone of the course because it brings together so many considerations of technical writing at once. In this medium, the importance of prose, text design/layout, and the use of diagrams or graphics all become extremely visible at once. This assignment also serves the students well by teaching them software skills that they can take with them into the workplace. Furthermore, it gives the proposal, progress report, and final report a common direction, increasing the likelihood that students will make associations and connections between writing situations and strategies.

Grading Criteria

Again, I am working from Dobrin’s idea that technical writing classes should focus on making one’s work useful to those that they work with. Thus, my grading criteria assess the usefulness of the document in question in a workplace setting. Because technical writing is primarily done in the workplace, my grading criteria are based on workplace considerations. Furthermore, because workplace usefulness is largely gauged by how helpful the document is to the reader, these criteria implicitly reinforce the importance of reader-centered writing. I have taken these criteria from Sue Hagedorn’s Virginia Tech webpage.

Grammar and Punctuation Policy

I have borrowed from X’s syllabus again here, as this section is essentially a further specification of grading criteria. This policy reinforces the importance that will be placed on grammar and punctuation correctness in the workplace. I felt that this policy needed to be explicitly stated because students’ need to be aware that errors such as these which often carry less importance in a school setting will be of vital importance in workplace settings.

Peer Editing

As I indicate on the syllabus, at least one class period per assignment will be devoted to peer editing in order to reflect the collaborative nature of much technical writing that is done in the workplace. My emphasis on collaboration here stems partially from Gerald Savage’s focus on the social nature of technical writing in his “Redefining the Responsibilities of Teachers and the Social Position of the Technical Communicator.”

I also stress that these sessions are not merely editing sessions in the sense of correcting grammar and punctuation; instead, as I indicate in the header, these sessions should also be thought of as user testing in which students utilize each others’ perspectives to see and re-see the way in which documents they produce work as a whole.

If these peer editing sessions go well, I would consider increasing the number of days that we would devote to peer editing. Such a decision would depend on the dynamics of the class and the time needed to effectively cover the main issues of the class.

Class Calendar

I will use the first two weeks of class to provide a basis for thinking about technical writing by generating discussions about topics that I see as vital to its effective practice: forms, standardization, usability, and accessibility; rhetoric; design and layout; and ethics. These are things that I want students thinking about throughout the semester, so I want to introduce them early on in the course. This will also help them get a better overall sense of what considerations come to bear in almost every technical writing situation, allowing students to start creating a conceptual framework of what technical writing entails. Two weeks is certainly not enough time to cover these topics in depth, so this two week blitzkrieg will serve as an introduction to the topics that we will be returning to time after time throughout the semester. I also want to generate discussion about how technical writing seems similar to and different from other classes and strategies that students are familiar with in the interest of drawing connections which may make the material more accessible to students.