Technical Writing Projects

The course work consists of several major projects. As noted in the syllabus, you must complete all major assignments to receive a passing grade for the course.

For virtually all of your writing assignments, you will write two drafts: first and final. Please note the different due dates. For first drafts, you don’t have to turn it in on the due date for the first draft. Just bring a fairly polished draft (electronic version) to class on the day indicated in the schedule. An editing partner will read and comment on your draft.

Save your final draft as “filename(LastNameFirstName).doc” and email it to me as a Word attachment. For more information on each project, click on the link for the complete instructions.

Each project must be saved in exactly the file name as specified in my project instructions, and each project must be turned in electronically, typically as email attachments, unless I specify otherwise.

Class Attendance (50 Points)
Regular attendance is required. In a classroom, learning occurs not only between students and the professor, but also among students themselves too. If you’re not there, then you’re not contributing.

Introductory Memo (50 Points)
This will be your first memo in this class as a way to introduce yourself to me: who you’re, what you major is, what career goals you have, what writing courses you’ve taken, what you hope to gain from this class, what your writing strengths and weaknesses are, etc.

Visual Design (200 points)
For this assignment, you’ll find a one-to-two-page document that’s poorly designed in both content and format. You’ll carefully revise and redesign this document to make it an effective one. You’ll also write a memo to the author of the document, who happens to be your boss, to explain why the original document was not well designed and why your revision is effective.

Instructional Design (500 Points)
You’ll write some effective instructions for a certain product, such as a software feature, for an appropriate audience.

Oral Presentation (200 points)
What you will do is to present your instructional writing project. You’ll assume the position of the writing consultants who have been contracted to design the instructions for your client. Now that you’ve completed your design, you need to present it to your client, essentially making the argument that you have done a good job and deserve all the big money they are paying you.