Technical Writing

ENGL 42100-003, Spring 2010

MWF 12:30-1:20, HEAV 227
Instructor: Karen Kaiser Lee
email: [email protected]
Office: HEAV 308D
Office hours: M, W 11am- noon and by appointment

Official Course Description

English 421 helps students become better technical communicators,

whose work is characterized by the presentation of technical material in
written and visual formats that are user centered and aware of audience
and context. The course and its principles are grounded in rhetorical "Computer Space" 1971,
theory and informed by current research in technical communication. from the Computer History
Museum. Creative Commons
Communication across multiple audiences and for multiple purposes licensed photo by Scott Beale
continues to be a desired skill set in technical and professional fields. Beyond field-specific knowledge
and experience, successful and ethical communication drives the professional world. This class, in
content and form, models these successful communication practices. Working individually and in
groups, students learn effective strategies for communicating about and with technology, particularly in
networked workplaces and through usability testing. To achieve success in this course, students must
display the ability to succeed in their future workplaces by developing a variety of informative and
visually effective print and electronic documents.

Course Goals
These are general course goals outlined by the Professional Writing Program:

Writing in Context
• Analyze the invention, manufacture, and distribution of technologies in context and use writing
to communicate these attributes in a variety of media and genres.
• Write to the different levels of technical expertise of a range of audiences and stakeholders to
foster technical understanding.
• Understand the ethical implications of working within the nexus of technology and culture.

Project Management

• Understand, develop and deploy various strategies for planning, researching, drafting, revising,
and editing documents both individually and collaboratively.
• Select and use appropriate technologies that effectively and ethically address professional
situations and audiences.
• Build professional ethos through documentation and accountability.

Document Design
Make rhetorical design decisions about technical documents including:
• understanding and adapting to genre conventions and expectations of a range of audiences
including both technical and non-technical audiences
• understanding and implementing design principles of format and layout
• interpreting and arguing with design
• drafting, researching, testing, revising visual design and information architecture
• ensuring the technical accuracy of visual content

Teamwork
Learn and apply strategies for successful teamwork, such as:
• working online with colleagues to determine roles and responsibilities
• managing team conflicts constructively
• responding constructively to peers' work
• soliciting and using peer feedback effectively
• achieving team goals

Research
Understand and use the research methods and strategies necessary to the production of professional
documents, including:
• working ethically with research participants, subject matter experts, and technical experts
• locating, evaluating, and using print and online information selectively for particular audiences
and purposes
• triangulating sources of evidence
• selecting appropriate primary research methods such as interviews, observations, focus groups,
and surveys to collect data
• applying concepts of usability research, such as user-centered design

Technology
Use and evaluate the writing technologies frequently used in the workplace, such as emailing, instant
messaging, image editing, video editing, presentation design and delivery, HTML editing, Web
browsing, content management, and desktop publishing technologies.

Textbook: Technical Communication Today, third edition. Richard Johnson-Sheehan. New York:
Pearson Education, 2010.

Other readings may be provided and will be available online or provided in class.

Course Projects and Activities

Technical Description
In any technical career, you will find that the ability to accurately describe things, places, or processes
is essential. In this project, you will select a thing, place, or process to describe and will begin
developing a set of rhetorical practices for composing your project deliverables. Namely, you will
engage in composing activities such as planning and researching; organizing and drafting; designing;
and revising and editing. As part of this project, you also will gain experience using Adobe InDesign as
a workplace technology.
Step 1 Memorandum: Following your reading in Chapter 17 in Technical Communication Today as
well as our analysis of models/examples of memorandums, you will compose a memorandum that
describes the thing, place, or process you will describe in this project. When drafting the memorandum,
you will imagine your reader as being your immediate supervisor in a professional workplace, and you
will describe your plans for creating the technical description. Specifically, you will describe the
context in which the technical description will be used as well as the manner in which you anticipate
that you will organize/arrange the technical description.
Step 2 InDesign Practice Document: To help you begin to learn how to use Adobe InDesign, you will
compose a one-page document that incorporates both images and text. The content of the document
will focus on advertising for an upcoming Purdue University home sporting event (football, volleyball,
soccer, etc.)
Step 3 Technical Description: Following your reading in Chapter 19 in Technical Communication
Today as well as our analysis of models/examples of technical descriptions, you will compose a
technical description for a thing, place, or process. Your selection of content and the length of your
description will be based upon your assessment of the rhetorical situation in which you imagine the
technical description would be used.
Step 4 Rhetorical Assessment: After completing your deliverables, you will assess your composing
practices. Specifically, you will describe your reasoning for the rhetorical decisions you made when
composing your project deliverables. In addition, students will comment on their use of technology in
completing the deliverables. The focus of this deliverable is to help you practice the act of documenting
your work and/or work processes in a professional workplace.

Instructions
In this project, you will compose a set of instructions or procedures/protocols that document how to
complete some task. Also, you will create a media-rich / multimedia version of your documentation
appropriate to the task. Finally, you will conduct usability testing on your composed documents.
(Individual, 35% of course grade.)

Analytical Report
Groups of three to five students each will select an open source product. They will then conduct both
primary and secondary research and will produce an analytical report on the product’s effectiveness,
strengths, and weaknesses, and suitability for use in the workplace. (Collaborative with individual
component, 25% of course grade)

Class Activities
Throughout the semester, you will participate in and complete a variety of class activities such as:
• Weblogs and forum responses: Much of your writing for this class will be posted publicly on the
Internet to your individual weblog, discussion forum on the course web site, or our community weblog
home page. Weblog posting assignments will include drafts, project logs, and research notes, among
other types of content. The calendar specifies what you should post to your weblog and by when, so use
that to stay current with these assignments.
• Reading Responses: Throughout the semester, we will have many readings for which you will be
responsible for writing a response. The reading responses will synthesize the readings and your
reactions to them, much like class discussion. The calendar specifies when reading responses are
required and due, so so use that to stay current with these assignments.
• Comments/Replies: You will be required to respond to your colleagues’ reading responses. All
comments and replies to other class members' blog posts should follow effective rhetorical strategies
for networking with others on the Web. (Readings from the course text provide guidelines to follow.)
The calendar specifies when comments/replies are required and due, so let that be your guide. When
writing comments/replies, you should try to keep threads alive and relevant and offer follow-up
comments to promote additional discussion. Think of these comments and replies as a lively class
discussion in which everyone participates.
• Other in-class activities such as discussion, reading quizzes, peer review, collaboration, and
more.
(Individual, 20% of course grade)
Grading
To pass the course, you must (1) complete and submit each of the three projects on time (3) engage in
in-class, online, and other class activities on a regular basis, and (4) meet the attendance requirements
as described below.

1. Technical Description: 20%

2. Instructions: 35%
3. Final Project: 25%
4. Class Activities (Weblogs, Reading Responses, Comments/Replies, Project Logs, Peer Review, and
the like): 20%
Total: 100%
The three major projects in the course will be comprised of several components, each of which will be
worth a percentage of your final grade. See project descriptions for details.
Your class activities (weblogs, reading responses, comments/replies, projects logs, and peer review)
will be graded according to the following criteria:
• How well you implement the guidelines and best practices for posting comments and creating reading
responses, as presented on our course site and discussed in the textbook and during class.
• The degree to which your peer reviews and responses offer insightful feedback and suggestions on
your classmates' drafts.
• The degree to which your reading responses and comment/replies posts demonstrate learning of the
course content.
• The degree to which your reading responses and comment/replies posts engage with and contribute to
the learning of others in the course.
• Timeliness of participation (posts and responses should be made by the deadlines listed in the course
calendar.)
All projects and activities will be graded on the standard plus-minus letter-grade scale:
A=100-94
A-=93-90
B+==89-87
B=86-84
B-=83-80
C+=79-77
C=76-74
C-=73-70
D+=69-67
D=66-64
D-=63-60
F=59 or below

Participation
Participation includes active and constructive involvement in face-to-face as well as virtual class
discussions online collaboration, and being prepared for class by doing the assigned reading and
writing assignments. Participation also includes active and constructive involvement in peer groups,
peer review sessions, turning in projects to group members for feedback, giving effective feedback on
projects, and learning to work diplomatically with others to achieve common goals.

Attendance
Writing is a social act. This is especially so in technical writing, which is most often composed in, with,
and by teams of people. Additionally, most of us learn better when we work together. Therefore, if this
class is to be successful, everyone's participation is necessary, so attendance is required. You are
allowed four absences, no questions asked. You are encouraged to save these absences for when you
are truly ill.

For each class absence over three, your final grade may be lowered by one half letter grade (a B would
become a B-, for example). More than six absences will likely result in a failing grade for the course.
You are responsible for obtaining all information about missed class meetings from a classmate and for
submitting work on time. Excessive lateness is also a problem, because coming into the classroom after
discussion and work have begun is distracting, and it puts the late student at a disadvantage. Three
tardies equals one absence. If you enter the class more than 20 minutes late, you will be counted absent
for that day.

Excused absences may be granted for religious holidays or university-sponsored events, provided you
make a written request to me no less than two weeks in advance and that you complete any required
work before the due date.
If you have an extended illness, or if there is a family emergency, I will take that into consideration
provided you have documentation from a physician and/or the Dean of Students' Office.

Late Work
I do not accept late work. I expect all work to be completed and submitted (or posted) by day and time
on which it is due. Since the class conducts peer review of drafts, you should be keeping up with work
on major projects; if a serious and unavoidable problem arises, however, you should contact me either
via email or in person prior to the deadline to determine whether or not an extension for the work may
or may not be granted.

Technology Requirements and Responsibilities

Because much of the exchange of information and materials in this class will be online, familiarity with
certain technologies is crucial for participation and success in the course. If you need any assistance
now or at any point during the semester, please do not hesitate to ask.

During the semester, you will need regular access to the Internet and email. Because the course home
page is the main locus of the class community, you are responsible for reading and keeping current
with all content posted there, including what has been submitted by both the instructor and your fellow
students. You will be responsible for configuring your system to access course materials, to read course
email and participate in online discussions, and to submit your work. Very early in the semester, you
will need to make sure that you can meet the following responsibilities:

 Have access to your Purdue Career Account.

 Set up your @purdue.edu email address and check your email regularly, especially before class
meetings.
 Become proficient with sending, receiving, and opening email attachments, resolving file
compatibility issues, and following email decorum.
 Post to online discussions and blogs, and use on-line tools such as Google Docs.
 Check the course calendar and webpage before the beginning of each class; access project and
assignment descriptions posted on the course webpage.
 Become more proficient with unfamiliar computer technologies and applications that are
essential to professional writing.
 Maintain back-up copies of all assignments via your home directory, flash drives, and/or email
attachments to yourself.

If at any time you have problems accessing the Internet from home, you will need to find a public lab
or other point of connection. Problems with computers will not be an excuse for falling behind or
failing to complete required assignments. If your Internet service goes down, it is your responsibility to
find a solution such as an on-campus lab. If your computer breaks, use another one. In other words,
find a way to complete the assignments on time. Because computer problems are a fact of life, always
work to complete your assignments early. Students are especially encouraged to develop a data back-
up plan and use it consistently, as computer malfunctions will not excuse late work.

General Course Policies

Come to class prepared to engage with the assigned readings, course concepts, class peers, and
instructor. The best way to accomplish this is to have assignments completed before class begins.

Please respect your peers and your instructor by actively listening and paying attention. This means that
unless we are using the computers during a class activity, students should be facing the instructor, other
students, or whoever is speaking.

Please do not talk or type while others (students or instructor) are speaking to the class.

Excessive web browsing, IMing, Facebooking, and similar activities during class will cause you to fall
behind and miss important information, and will negatively impact your class participation grade.

Academic Integrity

Purdue students and their instructors are expected to adhere to guidelines set forth by the Dean of
Students in "Academic Integrity: A Guide for Students," which students are encouraged to read.
The preamble of this guide states the following: "Purdue University values intellectual integrity and the
highest standards of academic conduct. To be prepared to meet societal needs as leaders and role
models, students must be educated in an ethical learning environment that promotes a high standard of
honor in scholastic work. Academic dishonesty undermines institutional integrity and threatens the
academic fabric of Purdue University. Dishonesty is not an acceptable avenue to success. It diminishes
the quality of a Purdue education, which is valued because of Purdue's high academic standards."
Academic dishonesty is defined as follows: "Purdue prohibits "dishonesty in connection with any
University activity. Cheating, plagiarism, or knowingly furnishing false information to the University
are examples of dishonesty." [University Regulations, Part V, Section III, B, 2, a] Furthermore, the
University Senate has stipulated that "the commitment of acts of cheating, lying, and deceit in any of
their diverse forms (such as the use of substitutes for taking examinations, the use of illegal cribs,
plagiarism, and copying during examinations) is dishonest and must not be tolerated. Moreover,
knowingly to aid and abet, directly or indirectly, other parties in committing dishonest acts is in itself
dishonest." [University Senate Document 72-18, December 15, 1972]"
If you have any questions about this policy, please ask.

Accommodations for Students with Special Needs

Students with disabilities must be registered with Adaptive Programs in the Office of the Dean of
Students before classroom accommodations can be provided. Students who need accommodations are
asked to arrange a meeting with the instructor during the first week of classes or as soon as possible if
accommodations are needed immediately.

In the case of a campus emergency

In the event of a major campus emergency, course requirements, deadlines and grading percentages are
subject to changes that may be necessitated by a revised semester calendar or other circumstances.
Information about changes in this course can be obtained through email: [email protected], and
from the course website.

Any changes to this document will be announced in class, via email, and posted to the course web site.