Required Texts:
Kennedy, George E., and Tracy T. Montgomery. Solving Problems through Technical and Professional Writing. Upper Saddle            River: Prentice Hall, 2002. (TPW)
Kennedy, George E., and Nancy P. McKee. Correcting Common Errors in Writing. 3rd ed. Dubuque: Kendall/Hunt, 2002. (CCE)

Note: You will also need a floppy disk, a minimum of three manila folders, a large envelope, and a transparent plastic folder for the final portfolio assignment. top

Course Description: This course will introduce you to technical writing skills to help you participate in the discourses used by professionals in your field. We will focus on reading, research, and writing assignments that will give you practice in recognizing, defining, and solving problems on the job. We will produce a variety of professional documents, including memoranda, letters, proposals, and web pages paying close attention to English usage and conventions. We will spend time on class discussions and activities that make use of your varied professional specialties, focusing on the significance—in this classroom and beyond—of strong written and verbal skills. top

Course Objectives:
If you do not understand these policies, you must ask me for clarification now; your success in this class is dependent upon your comprehension of them. By staying in this class, you are showing your acceptance of and compliance with these guidelines. At the end of this course you should be able to:

• Solve problems through technical and professional writing.

• Write short technical and professional reports and projects for a variety of situations.

• Analyze a variety of technical and professional writings and evaluate their purpose and effectiveness.

• Edit, rewrite, and simplify different types of technical and professional writing.

• Use technical and professional writing to communicate clearly. top

Course Policies:

• All assigned readings should be completed before class in preparation for class discussion and reaction papers on the reading material.

• All assignments must be typed and follow common business format.

• No late assignments will be accepted; please plan accordingly.

• Plagiarism is grounds for failing this class. For further information, please consult the section on Plagiarism at the end of this syllabus.

• Timely attendance in class is a requirement for all students in English 402. Two late arrivals will count as one absence!

• Students with more than four absences will earn an F for the course.

• All students need to have an e-mail account. You will need to send me an email during the first week of class and provide me with your name, student ID, email and emergency phone number. top

Course Assignments/ Portfolios: To start you off on your quest, you will be asked to find a company of your interest and locate a need within that company which you might be able to fill. top

Portfolio 1: Your first portfolio will contain a short profile of this company as well as a brief explanation of the problem you have identified and your approach towards solving it. How could you as an employee of this company help them overcome their shortcomings? What are you qualifications and special skills? top

Portfolio 2: The second portfolio will consist of your professional résumé and a letter of application to this company. The résumé, as all the work done in this class, must follow standard business format (spacing and alignment—page layout, in other words—are as much part of you grade as mechanics are). The letter of application should highlight your skills (especially the ones that didn’t find their way into the résumé because of technical constraints), explain your interest in the company, and suggest the completion of your formal proposal (by you for them) as your personal contribution to the company. top

Portfolio 3: The third portfolio will contain your own revisions and analyses of two very technical documents. It will be your job to find a manual (operating instructions) or statistical chart (see Group Exercise 3, for example), which relates back to your company and/or formal proposal project and which you find difficult to comprehend; then rewrite or redesign it to make it more accessible to a lay audience. The second part of the portfolio consists of a rhetorical analysis of a web page of your choosing. Who’s the audience? Or, in other words, who is the web page aimed at? Which part of the general population is the page geared toward? How can you tell? What message is the page sending? Does it exclude certain parts of the population? What can you tell about audience and message by examining the links, pop-ups, and advertisements on this page? What kind of rhetoric is the page promoting? Is it persuasive, informative? These are just a few of the questions I’d like you to consider; the assignment sheet will provide you with a more thorough idea of what this portfolio should look like in the end. top

Portfolio 4: Your fourth portfolio will contain an annotated bibliography and a formal proposal. The annotated bibliography is a selected compilation of the research you’ve conducted in relation to your company and formal proposal and must contain a minimum of six sources. You need to provide both a summary and an analysis of each source. MLA, APA, and Chicago style formats are all acceptable for the citation part of this bibliography. The formal proposal is essentially a revamping of your previous assignment in an organized and logically developed manner. In addition to an extensive amount of information from Portfolios 1-3, the proposal will also include a detailed review of literature (derived mainly, but not exclusively, from your annotated bibliography) as well as a sensitive budget plan and a suggested time line, in which your project can realistically be completed. top

Portfolio 5: The fifth portfolio is a Web Portfolio; it consists of all your other portfolios. You will be required to publish all your previous assignments online in a design and layout of your choosing, using Dreamweaver (or FrontPage if you so prefer) as your web designing software. top

All of these assignments are connected and all of them require intensive research, so start to work on them early on in the semester. It is impossible to complete any of these assignments over night or even over the weekend. Please, plan ahead and pay close attention to deadlines. The semester is too short to lose focus. Detailed instructions for and samples of most of the individual assignments will be available on the Bridge. top

Group Presentations: The ability to work and write collaboratively is an important technical and professional communications skill. To familiarize you with this skill and to allow you to become more comfortable with it, we will complete four short group projects this semester. top

Group Project 1: For your first project you will be asked to test the usefulness of a search engine for your professional arena. The example provided is the search engine Lexis/Nexis. You are encouraged to play around with Lexis/Nexis in class, testing its usefulness and expediency. For your group project, however, I suggest that you pick a search engine you’re already familiar with and that you have navigated to conduct successful research in your professional field of expertise. Before you start working with the engine of your choice, run it by me please, so I can make sure that there’s only one group working with any one engine. top

Group Project 2: The second project will analyze a company homepage. What is its purpose? Who is the intended audience? What problems do you see? The example given is the Camas Prairie Winery, a winery located downtown Moscow, Idaho. Again, play around with it, note weaknesses and strengths, share your results with your group mates and the rest of the class, and then set sail towards more familiar waters. Find a company homepage related to your field of professional expertise and comment on its design, maneuverability, suitability, intended audience, purpose, etc. Is there anything you’d change to make this page more effective? As before, run your choice by me before embarking on your collaborative mission. top

Group Project 3: The third project will require us to probe a bit deeper into the whys, whats, and hows of the Challenger disaster. Supplementary reading in preparation for this project will be required. The articles I’d like you to obtain independently are already listed on the Bridge. Be sure to request them early on, as I know for a fact that they are not available at Holland/New Library; they will have to be ordered through Orca and perhaps even ILLiad, and, hence, it might take a couple of weeks for the documents to get here. In addition to your own research, I will also distribute a few articles about the incident for your review. All materials must be read and understood prior to our meeting in the AML scheduled for the Challenger project (check the Tentative Daily Schedule—available on the Bridge—for exact dates for all projects), where you will be asked to apply your research of the Challenger disaster to facilitate your comprehension, navigation and exploration of ATTW’s case study “The Rhetoric of the Challenger Disaster.”   Here, I’d like you to focus especially on the problems with the O-rings. For your group project, you will be required to redesign the statistical chart provided on the Bridge. This is an actual chart that circulated amongst NASA technicians and supervisors. Somehow, however, the gap between professionals of different fields was not bridged at NASA, and a breakdown of all technical communication took place. Examine the chart and find a way to make the data more accessible to a lay audience. It will be your job to come up with a proficient, efficient, and straightforward way to organize and present this crucial information, a way which, perhaps, would have prevented the data from being overlooked and the disaster from ever occurring.

Group Project 4: The fourth project will require you to write a formal memorandum in an attempt to solve a business problem. As always, we will look at and discuss examples in class, before you begin working as a group on your particular version of the memorandum. The problem you will be presented with is one of negotiation, hierarchy, and collaboration. An electrode broke; even though you didn’t cause the damage, your department is requested to compensate for the loss financially. It is your job to write a memorandum, which explains the incident in as much/as little detail as appropriate and which suggests ways to solve the problem in a tone, manner, and depth suitable to your own position as well as your superiors’ in both departments. The case study will be available on the Bridge at least a week prior to our class meeting in the AML scheduled for “The Case of the Broken Electrode.” What’s the best, most professional, most sensitive, and most effective way to approach the issue and to secure continued good collaboration between the two departments? top

All of these projects will be introduced and worked on in groups of three or four in the computer lab. The completed group projects will be presented at the beginning of the next class period, so you should expect to spend a substantial amount of time outside of class preparing for these presentations. Each group will have 10 minutes to share the results of their work with the rest of their colleagues; each presentation should be accompanied by some type of visual aid, be it an overhead, a handout, or a slide show, and conducted in both professional manner and attire. top

Conferences: You are required to sign up for conferences with me throughout the semester to discuss your progress on the formal writing assignments. Attendance is mandatory; if you do not sign up for a conference, or if you do not show up, you will earn two absences. When you attend your conference, remember to bring along the project you are working on as well as a completed Self-Evaluation worksheet (which will be available on the Bridge). top

Readings: In addition to the three portfolio assignments, you will need to do daily readings from Kennedy's and Montgomery's Solving Problems through Technical and Professional Writing, henceforth referred to as TPW. It is important that you complete the reading prior to class time, as class will often begin with a short write-up in response to this reading. Occasionally, additional reading (in preparation for the Challenger project, for example) will be necessary. I will announce these readings in class and post reminders and detailed instructions on the Bridge. top

The Bridge: The Bridge (http://www.bridge.wsu.edu) is an online learning environment. There will be an introduction to the Bridge on our first day in the AML; you don’t want to miss this day! Be sure you ask questions about anything and everything that is not clear to you about the Bridge during this introductory presentation. We will be using the Bridge on an almost daily basis throughout the course of the semester; it is essential that you comprehend how to navigate and utilize it. top

• All of your assignments and exercises, as well as general class announcements will be available there.

• Be sure to familiarize yourself with the environment, and check it often for new postings.

I will not announce everything during class time or pass out handouts for every assignment. The Bridge is the place where you will find the extra information you might need to successfully complete your projects and to keep track of your responsibilities.

Grading

10% Introductory Portfolio

Brief Company Profile             (1-2 Pages)        50 Points        =            50 Points
Proposal Abstract                   (1-2 Pages)        50 Points        =            50 Points

10% Professional Portfolio

Résumé                                   (1-2 Pages)        50 Points        =            50 Points
Letter of Application                (1-2 Pages)        50 Points        =            50 Points

20% Rhetorical Analysis Portfolio

Analysis of a Web Page/Design (2-4 Pages)      100 Points       =          100 Points
Rewrite of a Technical Manual  (2-4 Pages)      100 Points       =          100 Points

30% Formal Proposal Portfolio

Annotated Bibliography            (3-5 Pages)      100 Points        =          100 Points
Formal Proposal                       (6-10 Pages)    200 Points        =          200 Points

10% Web Portfolio (Dreamweaver)                          

Provide URL only on due date                           100 Points        =          100 Points

10% Group Presentations                              (4 x 25 each)    25 Points          =          100 Points

10% In- and Out-of-class Assignments                                  100 Points        =          100 Points

                                     
TOTAL ………………………………………………………….. 1000 Points

In letter grades, this means:

A:         1000-950 Points                      C+:        799-775 Points
A-:         949-900 Points                      C:           774-735 Points
B+:         899-875 Points                      C-:         734-700 Points
B:           874-835 Points                      D+:        699-675 Points
B-:         834-800 Points                      D:           674-635 Points

Helpful Tips: 
Help is available to you in at least four ways:  First, ask me! Come to my office hours or e-mail me if you have concerns or questions. Second, sign up for English 302. Third, use the Writing Center on the Third Floor of the CUE. Fourth, be sure to bring any questions, drafts you are working on, and problems that you have encountered to class on Thursdays. Thursdays are our lab days, on which you are encouraged to work—collaboratively and under my guidance—on your projects in class. top

Attendance is important. This course contains a lot of in-class activities; in order to get points for these activities, you need to attend class. You cannot make up these assignments. You will have to come and talk to me if you miss more than three class periods. Absences will affect your final grade for the class!

No late assignments will be accepted. Contact me if you anticipate problems meeting the deadline. One letter grade will be deducted from each project for every day the assignment is late. Problems with your printer, computer, or floppy disk should not be used as an excuse for a late paper; consult me and/or the AML staff prior to class and due dates. And remember: All assignments need to be typed or word-processed. You are here to practice technical and professional writing; handwritten papers are not considered professional and will not be accepted. top

Plagiarism is grounds for failing an assignment and the course; you are expected to provide evidence of significant invention and revision if requested to do so. I expect you to know and adhere to the rules on academic honesty as outlined in the WSU Student Handbook, WAC 540-25-015 Scholastic Dishonesty:

• All incidents of plagiarism or collusion will result in the student receiving a failing grade for the course, and all incidents of plagiarism and collusion will be reported to the Office of Student Affairs for further university action.  Whether intentional or unintentional, plagiarism is illegal and is not acceptable in this or any other class at Washington State University.

Students with special learning needs should consult with the instructor about these needs at the beginning of the semester. Also, let me know if you need specific accommodations because of a disability. Please, contact the Disability Resource Center (335-1566) for verification. top

Note: The instructor reserves the right to change and modify schedule and syllabus. top