Class Overview

View Course Competencies (i.e., What you should learn in this class)

Quick Jump to a Specific Week:

Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 5 Week 6 Week 7 Week 8 Week 9 Week 10

When is our Final?

Assignment Guidelines and Examples

Week 1

Vocational Situation Report Guidelines and Example

Week 2

Ethics and Language Memo
and
Example

Week 3

Cover Letter and Resume Guidelines and Examples (Cover Letter and Functional Resume)

Week 4

Evaluation of Instructions

Week 5

Recommendation Memo Guidelines

Example

Week6

Sales Letter Guidelines

Example

Week 7

Research Proposal Guidelines and Example

 "Researchability" Survey

Week 8-9

Research Report Guidelines and Example

Core Elements of the Research Report

Example 1 Example 2

Week 10

Peer Review Guidelines

Progress Report Memo Guidelines

Required Textbook: Strategies for Business and Technical Writing, Pearson Longman, 5th  Ed., Harty.

Course Prerequisites: Writing 121 or permission of instructor

Course Description and Objectives: Technical communicators are those "people who create, locate, analyze, and distribute information--within their organizations and around the world" (From Lannon's Technical Communication, p. 2). Thus, it follows that technical writing is the study of how to effectively compose written documents of various types for contexts specific to the work environment. More specifically, our technical writing class will concentrate on cultivating your ability to communicate in writing information that is free from ambiguity, is user friendly, and efficient. In turn, you will develop such competencies in a way that reflects an adaptation to the characteristics of a specific workplace audience. To distinguish our class from other writing classes you may have taken in the past, you will write from within a specific vocational context of your choice (this can be a vocation you may be currently working in, have worked within sometime in the past, or are looking to enter in the future). Once you have chosen which vocation you will write from, all of the writing you do over the course of the term will be geared towards communicating with people who are also in that vocation, making your audience for all writing assignments very specific. However, even writing from within a specific vocation demands the ability to identify and understand the various groups within it and to be able to adapt your writing to their needs.
    There are various types of technical writing documents (e.g., letters, memos, proposals, research reports, etc.). We will study several of these and you will write examples meant to cultivate your ability to communicate in each mode as well as identify situations that require each type of technical document. However, each of these assignments will be geared toward a Research Report that will be due at the end of the term. As the end of the term nears, you will begin integrating these assignments into this larger paper and fine-tuning your work based on the feedback received on each of the shorter assignments.

Course Grading: Your grade in this class will be determined by your performance in the following areas (1000 pts total):

Assignments (short explanations)

      Vocational Situation Report: For this assignment, you'll be asked to construct a report that describes the vocational context from which you'll be writing all your technical assignments this term. This assignment represents the foundation for everything you'll be doing this term and will describe, among other things, your job, your primary and secondary responsibilities, the chain of command you work under, and what type of people work in your vocation. Length: 2-4 pages. Due Date: Day1/Week 2.

     Ethics and Language Memo: During Week 2, we'll read essays from our text that discuss the misuse of language. For this assignment, you'll be asked to construct a memo that defines and describes the concept of double-talk and expands on the idea that how one chooses to use language can have ethical implications in the workplace.  Length: 2-4 pages. Due Date: Day 2/Week 3

     Cover Letter/Resume: This assignment requires that you prepare a cover letter and resumé that is specific to the vocational context you will be working within over the course of the term. Once you profile the vocation you will be working in, you will tailor your resume and letter to this specific employment situation and project an image of yourself that emphasizes personal qualities and qualifications that are appropriate to the position for which you are applying. Length: Letter 1-2 pages, Functional Resume 1 page. Due Date for both: Day 1/Week 4.

     Evaluation of Instructions: In general, technical instructions detail the steps required for completing a particular procedure (e.g., installing an operating system on a computer or operating an electron microscope). As a result, instructions are written specifically for the user and must provide a clearly presented series of steps and standards meant to ensure a task is performed safely and efficiently. To this end, you'll be tasked to assess the weak points of a flawed set of instructions and provide recommendations concerning how they can be improved. In turn, you'll rewrite those instructions based on your recommendations for approval. Length: 2-4 pages. Due Date: Day 1/Week 5.

     Recommendation Memo: This assignment assumes you're a go-getter, so upon being hired you immediately spot a problem within the workplace that needs to be fixed or an aspect of the workplace that you feel can be improved. As a result, you decide to write up a memo that recommends a particular action be taken in relation to this issue. This type of memo is called a recommendation memo and, in many cases, gets the ball rolling toward more in-depth technical writing concerning the issue in question. Length: 1-2 pages. Due Date: Day1/Week 6.

    Sales Letter: For this assignment, you'll be tasked, once again, to create a scenario to construct your proposal. Step outside of the vocational context you've created and imagine that you are a company or individual bidding to provide the services or equipment needed within your vocational context. Whereas your recommendation report and analytical reports have been internal (written for distribution mainly within your organization), this proposal is external (i.e., aimed at your organization from an outside source). The assignment assumes that you will be competing with other companies or individuals who can provide the same service, and thus in order to be persuasive you must demonstrate a comprehensive knowledge of the company you hope to persuade to accept your proposal. Length: 1-2 pages. Due Date: Day 1/Week 7.    

     Research Proposal: Research Proposals request approval and funding for research projects. You'll be focusing your report on requesting support to research solutions that may lead to solving the problem you identified in your Recommendation Memo earlier this term. In turn, you'll be urged to think of the Research Proposal as the kickstart mechanism for your Research Report. That is, the Research Proposal will constitute the initial research objectives and scope that will produce the content of said Research Report. Length: 2-4 pages. Due Date: Day 1/Week 8.

    Research Report: Your boss' superiors found merit in your research proposal, but before they give the final okay, they've asked that you write an in-depth analytical report concerning the nature of the problem/need as well as the feasibility of various solutions. Your final research project will involve a clear explanation concerning the source of the problem you are solving or the need your plan will satisfy. The fact that a problem exists or something is missing from a vocational system means that something is wrong with the system itself, right. So, you will be responsible for assessing the current condition of the workplace elements your plan will improve and you will also provide an analysis that will make clear for your co-workers what is lacking and why. In many cases, an analytical report acts on the heels of a recommendation memo, and it is with this in mind that you will write your own analytical report. You will explore the problem in more depth than the memo allows, employing one or more of the following types of analysis: causal, comparative, or feasibility. Length: 8-10 pages with 6-8 in-text citations. Due Date: By the end of the Final Exam period (see end of Weekly Class Plan below).

    Submitting Your Work/Tracking your grades: You will submit some of your early drafts and all of your to-be-graded work to an external web-service called Turn It In (www. turnitin.com).

   What the heck is Turn It In?:  Turn It In is an external web-service through which you will submit all your formal written assignments, conduct and view peer reviews, and check your grades. The set up process if very basic and Turn It In offers excellent instructions in Adobe Acrobat form. For more information and links to this site, click on the Turn It In button in our Blackboard class (or any of the Turn It In references in this paragraph).

   Late Work Policy: All assignments must be submitted to Turn It In by their respective due dates/times. On the second day of class, we will set up your Turn It In accounts. In turn, you'll also submit your first assignment to Turn It In during this same class period. This is the only time this term where you'll have a chance to bring your due assignment to class and submit it during our class period. For all future assignments, the deadline will always be 15 minutes before class begins. For example, if our class begins at 5:45 and an assignment is due, Turn It In will not longer accept submissions after 5:30. Under no circumstances should students come to class with the intent of logging into Turn It In to submit their due assignments during the designated instructional period.

Plagiarism Policy: Plagiarism is using someone else’s work as your own. Most of us know that it is plagiarism to copy, word for word, someone’s work and then turn it in as our own. However, it is also plagiarism to use someone else’s ideas without proper documentation. If you are ever unsure about what constitutes plagiarism, please ask me before you turn something in that may be questionable. For the first plagiarism offense, you will be asked to rewrite the paper. For the second offense (on the same or following assignments), you will be given a grade of F for that assignment. If a third offense occurs, you will receive an F in this course. Plagiarism is a serious matter and should be treated as such.