Technical and Academic Writing Syllabus

Course Goals

Technical and Academic Writing introduces you to the two most important types of writing you’ll encounter in the rest of your life:

• Academic Writing–writing you’ll need during your academic studies in college
• Technical Writing–writing you’ll do at your workplace

Academic Writing
In academic writing, we’ll focus on writing research papers, the kind of writing you’ll do in different disciplines. This part of the course will expose you to the writing of such aspects of research papers as

• summaries
• reviews
• annotated bibliographies
• documentation
• the research paper  
• …

Technical Writing
Technical writing focus more on the kind of writing that takes place at the workplace. In this part of the course, we’ll cover

• memos
• letters
• job search resumes and cover letters
• instructional writing
• brochure design
• …

We’ll also cover important design principles commonly used in technical writing so that your design is well informed by rhetorical principles.

Rhetorical Principles
Essential to both academic and technical writing are the rhetorical principles that underlie all kinds of writing. Thus, in approaching any writing task, we’ll first consider such factors as its audiences, purposes, message, contextual restrictions, ethos, pathos, logos…. Only when you have a good understanding of the rhetorical context will you be able to produce effectively writing.

Objectives
This course aims to prepare you to become a more effective writer, in both academic and workplace settings. Specifically, it hopes to help you

• To learn the fundamentals of academic writing
• To acquire research skills essential to academic writing
• To learn the conventions of academic writing
• To practice different modes of argumentation
• To foster a view of writing as situated action (people acting through writing within organizations)
• To foster educational practices that demand a consideration of ethics
• To create contexts for writing that are real and sophisticated 
• To recognize the fact that computers significantly alter where and how people work and that the use of computers is integral to how people write in the workplace and the types of documents they produce
• To advocate reader/user needs
• To create contexts for effective collaboration
• To practice visual and verbal argumentation
• …

Attendance & Participation
Blunt Version
Class participation is mandatory. For any absence, you must inform me in writing before your absence or as soon after it as possible. This writing can be in either hard copy (a formal memo) or email. You must convince me why your absence should be excused. You’re responsible for finding out about and completing any assignment you may have missed due to your absence.

Reasoned Version
The environment of this class is intended to emulate that of a professional workplace. Just as tardiness is not acceptable at workplace settings, it is not tolerated in this class either. In a writing class, much of the work is done in class, whether it’s group work or class discussions. If you’re not there, you’re not contributing. In most cases, if you have a legitimate reason for your absence, you’ll be excused. To be fair, anytime you miss a class, you get an exciting writing opportunity to showcase your superior persuasive writing skills to explain and justify your absence.

Tardiness
Just as punctuality is valued and expected at a workplace, so is it in our class. DON’T come to class late! If you have a valid reason being late for class, contact me well in advance. Every third tardiness counts as an absence.

Late Assignments
No late assignments are accepted! Justification? At a workplace, try how many times you can miss a deadline without being talked to by your supervisor or getting fired. My 30+ years of teaching experience tells me most late work is of subpar or poor quality because they are often completed in haste due to a late start. Start early and give yourself enough time so that the work you turn in can represent your true capabilities. The only exception to this policy is if you have a debilitating injury or illness or very extenuating circumstances that render you incapable of doing school work. I reserve the right to make the final assessment whether your excuse for late turn-in is valid.

Plagiarism
No plagiarism or any other forms of academic dishonesty will be tolerated in this class. Any plagiarism will result in a grade of F at least for the assignment (and most likely an F for the entire course at the instructor’s discretion). In addition, all university policies related to academic honesty apply.

Grading
Since your final course grade will be based predominantly on writing assignments and the grading of writing cannot be reduced to simple quantitative measures, I will grade your writing on a holistic basis. Each assignment will have specific grading criteria, which I will explain in class. Generally, however, the three general criteria below will be applied to all the major assignments:

Purpose: How effectively does the document accomplish its intended task?

• Does it meet its goals and the demands of its context (both academic and organizational)? Does it solve a problem or address a significant organizational need? help people?
• Does it provide a sound argument in support if its claims?
• Does it meet readers’ needs and expectations? Improve relations between people?
• Does it provide relevant, useful, and accurate information?

Product:How well constructed is the document?

• Is the presentation of material orderly and coherent?
• Is design and formatting effective?
• Are the sentences grammatically correct?
• Does it use visuals effectively?
• Does it have a professional tone and style?

Production: How effectively was the document produced?

• Was the project well planned?
• Were research and invention well conducted?
• How did drafting, editing, proofreading go?
• Was collaboration successful?

The following is a general description of expectations for assignments for each grade:

A
Your project is of impeccable (or almost impeccable) quality in both content and format design, with no major weaknesses in any area. It provides adequate information that users need and effectively fulfills the intended purposes. Presentation is of professional quality. There’re few to no mechanical errors.

B
Your project is of high quality in most of the major areas. It fulfills the user’s needs and your intended purposes quite effectively. Presentation is quite professional. There’re only a few mechanical errors.

C
Your project is of reasonable quality in most areas. It fulfills the user’s needs and your intended purposes to a large extent, although major deficiencies are observable. Presentation is of semi-professional quality. There’re some mechanical errors, but not to the extent of seriously affecting readers’ comprehension.

D
Your project is of acceptable quality in most areas. It fulfills the user’s needs and your intended purposes to some extent, but major deficiencies exist in several areas. Presentation quality is acceptable but low. There’re quite some mechanical errors.