Instructor: Classroom: Class Hours: Office: Office Phone:    Office Hours: Email: Course Site: Webex Room:

Baotong Gu Classroom South 303 11:00-12:15 Tuesdays  25 Park Place, Suite 2433 404-413-5845 (English) Webex or in person by appointment bgu@gsu.edu https://sites.gsu.edu/bgu https://gsumeetings.webex.com/meet/bgu

READINGS
Available on the Schedule page.

COURSE GOALS
The main goals of this course are two fold: (1) to get familiar with the major theories in technical writing and (2) to apply the principles in real technical writing tasks.

As a class, our main goals in this course will be to collaborate in the following areas:

• examining the nature of technical writing to explore the field’s evolving status and identities
• getting acquainted with the major theoretical issues, conflicts, and trends in technical writing
• investigate the ways in which we can effectively apply the theoretical principles to technical writing in workplace contexts

Collaboratively, you will work on your development as a technical writer. By sharing your perspectives on the articles we’ll be reading and by working in small groups in the research, planning, designing, and revising of a professional “document” aimed at resolving a real-world communication problem, you will gain knowledge of technical writing practice, as well as competence in making technical writing decisions informed by recent theoretical and empirical discoveries and trends.

Individually, you will develop your own credentials as a technical writer or technical writing instructor by increasing your knowledge about the field, your ability to participate in current conversations in various areas within technical writing, and your ability to produce effective communications products informed by your knowledge of the principles of technical writing.

GSU POLICY PROHIBITING STUDENTS FROM POSTING INSTRUCTOR-GENERATED MATERIALS ON EXTERNAL SITES 
The selling, sharing, publishing, presenting, or distributing of instructor-prepared course lecture notes, videos, audio recordings, or any other instructor-produced materials from any course for any commercial purpose is strictly prohibited unless explicit written permission is granted in advance by the course instructor. This includes posting any materials on websites such as Chegg, Course Hero, OneClass, Stuvia, StuDocu and other similar sites. Unauthorized sale or commercial distribution of such material is a violation of the instructor’s intellectual property and the privacy rights of students attending the class, and is prohibited. (This policy was approved by the GSU Faculty Senate on August 21, 2020.)

DIVERSITY, INCLUSIVITY, AND RESPECT STATEMENT
It is my intent that students from all diverse backgrounds and perspectives be well served by this course, that students’ learning needs be addressed both in and out of class, and that the diversity that students bring to this class be viewed as a resource, strength and benefit. It is my intent to present materials and activities that are respectful of all diversity including gender, sexuality, disability, age, socioeconomic status, ethnicity, race, and culture. Your comments (in the discussion posts and in person) related to the class and content will be encouraged and appreciated. Please let me know ways to improve the effectiveness of the course for you personally or for other students or student groups.

COURSE ASSIGNMENTS
Course assignments consist of two major aspects: 1) theoretical/rhetorical aspects, in which I typically require you to analyze, critique, justify, or simply explain something, such as a website or a design concept; 2) practical aspects, which are often coding assignments.

Reading Presentation (200 Points)
Each of you will select one set of readings, write a summary of the readings, prepare some questions, and lead the discussion of the readings in class. 

Conference Proposal (100 Points)
For this assignment, you will find a real CFP (call for proposals) for a conference and write a proposal for a possible individual presentation. The length of the proposal will depend on the requirements of the CFP.

Tutorial Design (150 Points) 
For this project, you’ll design a tutorial for a particular software or a functional aspect of a software that will be useful for technical writing purposes. For example, your tutorial could be on how to define and set styles in Microsoft Word or how to manipulate photos in PhotoShop. Your intended users will be your classmates. You’ll produce a step-by-step tutorial to teach your classmates to use the software (or one of its particular functions). The ultimate aim is for your classmates to “master” this functionality or software.

Document Redesign (150 Points) 
This project requires you to analyze an existing document that’s ineffectively designed and redesign it to improve its effectiveness.

Final Project (400 Points) 
The final project can be either individual or collaborative, in groups of 2-4 people, depending on what option you choose. You have three different options: your own project, professional design for a client, or website usability testing.

Option 1—Your Own Project
You may be in the process of writing a thesis or dissertation, a thesis proposal, a dissertation prospectus, a research proposal, a narrative/justification for a non-thesis project. Any of these can be your professional design project for this class. If you choose this option, this project will be individual.

Option 2—Professional Design for a Client
You may also research and design a professional project for a real client. Your project can be, for example, a pamphlet for the Career Services office, a grant application for a non-profit organization, a web site for a company, some online documentation for a software program, a recommendations report for solving the communications problems for a company, etc. If you choose this option, your project can be either individual or collaborative.

Option 3—Research Paper
For this option, you will write a research paper similar to those that are published in technical communication journals. This option is recommended for those of you in the Rhetoric and Composition Program, although anybody else is welcome to choose this option.

Important*
A passing grade for all the assignments is a prerequisite to, but not a guarantee for, passing the course. Observe the following rules closely:

• You must complete all the major assignments. If you miss any of the projects, you will automatically fail the class.
• Your reports and assignments should be presentable. If you hand in poorly proofread documents, they will be returned to you for correction before they are graded.
• If you miss a class, it is your responsibility to find out the assignments you missed. An excused absence will not get you off the hook for a tardy assignment.
• A Special Note: Submit your work on time. Late assignments are generally NOT accepted unless for extenuating circumstances. Work is considered late after class begins on the due date, unless noted otherwise. In cases where late work is accepted, there is a 10% grade reduction for each day your assignment is late.
• All projects must be submitted electronically via email unless you’re instructed otherwise.

Plagiarism
No plagiarism or any other forms of academic dishonesty will be tolerated in this class. Any plagiarism, as defined by GSU’s Policy on Academic Honesty (available online at http://www2.gsu.edu/~wwwdos/codeofconduct_conpol.html), 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?

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

Product: How well constructed is the document?

• orderly and coherent presentation of material?
• effective design and formatting? Correctness?
• effective use of visuals?
• professional tone and style?

Production: How effectively was the document produced?
♣ quality of planning, collaboration, research & invention, drafting, editing, proofreading?
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.

F
Your project is unacceptable in quality. It does not fulfill the user’s needs or your intended purposes. Major deficiencies are observed in most areas. Presentation quality is poor, and there’re too many mechanical errors.

Assignment Submission
Here’re some general guidelines concerning assignment submission. Please follow them carefully.

• All assignments are to be turned in electronically, unless instructed otherwise. Generally, this means you email your assignment to me as an attachment. The electronic submission benefits both you and me in several ways: you have some evidence of submission, plus the submission time; it’s easier for me to comment electronically on your project; and I tend to write a lot more electronically than with a pen.
• All assignment files must be named in specific ways, generally the assignment name followed by your last name in parentheses, e.g., “Intro(Gu).doc.” This is mainly for my convenience when saving your file.

When emailing me, make sure your subject line starts with our course number 8175 followed by the assignment name, e.g., “8175 Intro Memo Assignment.”

Grade Conversion

A+: A: A-: B+: B: B-: C+: C: C-: D+: D: D-: F:

1000-980 979-930 929-900 899-870 869-830 829-800 799-770 769-730 729-700 699-670 669-630 629-600 599 & below