Overview
English 421y will help you learn effective strategies for communicating
with other people about and with technology. As part of your development
as a professional, you will learn to better communicate through contextual
research and analysis, develop and improve upon your abiltiy to collaborate
with your colleagues in project teams, analyze writing situations and respond
to them through writing, and effectively use technological and other resources
for communication, research and writing.
The English 421 curriculum is informed by current research in rhetoric
and professional writing and is guided by the needs and practices of business,
industry, and society at large, as well as by the expectations of Purdue
students and programs. The course teaches the rhetorical principles that
help students shape their technical writing ethically, for multiple audiences,
in a variety of professional situations.
In addition, English 421y offers an added benefit in that
I intend the course to be structured such that the issues and concerns
facing you, as non-traditional students already functioning in a variety
of workplaces, will inform and help to shape the exercises, assignments,
and major projects we do this semester. In essence, we will shape class
activities largely around areas in your professional life that you feel
need to be addressed, while providing you with a solid foundation in producing
effective, ethical, and rhetorically sound professional communications.
It is my hope that what you learn in this way will be of immediate use
to you, as well as of use in future classes and professional settings.
Required Texts
The Technical Writer's Companion, 3rd ed. by Thomas Pearsall
The Elements of Style, 4th ed. by William Strunk Jr. and
E. B. White (those of you who have taken my 102y class may still
have this one.)
Course Goals
Writing in Context
Analyze professional cultures, social contexts,
and audiences to determine how they shape the various purposes and forms
of writing, such as persuasion, organizational communication, and public
discourse.
Writing Process
Develop and understand various strategies for planning,
researching, drafting, revising, and editing documents that respond effectively
and ethically to professional situations and audiences.
Collaboration
Learn and apply strategies for successful collaboration,
such as working and communicating with colleagues, setting and achieving
project goals, and responding constructively to peers' work.
Research
Understand and use various research methods to produce
professional documents, including analyzing professional contexts, assessing
and using information resources, and determining how various media and
technologies affect and are affected by users and readers.
Technology
Develop strategies for using and adapting various
communication technologies to manage projects and produce informative and
usable professional documents.
Document Design
Learn to argue with visual data, understanding and
implementing various principles of format, layout, and design of professional
documents that meet multiple user and reader needs.
Course Projects and Activities
For the ISP case you will be asked to
think about, identify, and discuss the various uses of email, particularly
in a workplace or professional setting. For step one of the project you
will complete an exercise on the functions of email. We will use
your responses as a springboard for class discussion and you will be asked
to support your assertions in that discussion. Step two requires
that you analyze the problem, identify the audience and context, and plan
your response. In step three you will "fix the problem" by revising
the email. Step four asks you to individually assess your experience
with the ISP case project and the collaboration experience. (Collaborative:
20% of course grade.)
(Individual: 20% of course grade.)
3. The
Research Report Project (IRC)
(Collaborative: 50% of course grade.)
Grading
| ISP "Welcome" Email Project (ISP) |
20%
|
| The Professional Research Article (PRA) |
20%
|
| The Research Report Project (IRC) |
50%
|
| Daily Assignments, Exercises, Attendance, Participation,
etc. |
10%
|
|
Total
|
100%
|
Each of the 3 major projects in the course will be comprised
of several components, each of which will be worth a percentage of your
final grade. Also, some components of collaborative projects will be completed
individually and therefore each of you will receive an individual grade
for each project (group or individual).
Note: The above percentages are projections and may change as
the semester goes on, based upon how the projects evolve. I will
let you know of any significant change well in advance.
For the two collaborative projects, students will complete the required
Group Member Evaluation Form.
All major assignments will be graded on the standard
letter-grade scale: A=100-90 B=89-80 C=79-70 D=69-60 F=59 or below.
Grading Criteria
Specific
criteria for each project and its component parts will vary depending on
project context. The three general criteria below, however, will remain
consistent for all writing assignments.
PURPOSE:
How
effective is the document? Does it
-
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 or help people?
-
provide
a sound argument in support of its claims?
-
meet
readers' needs?
-
improve
relations between people?
-
provide
relevant, useful, and accurate information?
PRODUCT:
How
well constructed is the document? Does it:
-
demonstrate
orderly and coherent presentation of material?
-
display
effective design and formatting?
-
use
visuals effectively?
-
present
professional tone and style?
-
demonstrate
careful proofreading and editing?
PRODUCTION:
How
effectively was the document produced? Does it:
-
exhibit
a considered writing process?
-
reveal quality of planning, collaboration,
research & invention, drafting, editing, proofreading?
Collaborative Work
Collaborative work is a required component
of the course, and at least half of your semester grade will be based upon
collaborative projects. You and your project team members are responsible
for updating one another and me about assignment development and progress.
In addition, you also are responsible for negotiating together all aspects
of your work, including planning, drafting, revising, file managing, and
scheduling of assignments. When I assign a collaborative project, I will
provide you with explicit guidelines for successful collaboration. However,
while two of your major projects will be collaborative, I have designed
these projects so that I will be able to track individual writing quality,
contribution, and so on. I will also ask individual group members to complete
Group Member Evaluation Forms at the end of each collaborative project.
Therefore, group members on collaborative projects will earn inividual
grades based upon the quality of their work and contribution.
Some principles of collaboration I encourage students to follow are contained
in the brochure, Group Work and Collaborative Writing <
http://www-honors.ucdavis.edu/vohs/index.html >.
Attendance
Attendance is required at all class meetings. Since
you will be working in project teams much of the semester, you also will
be required to attend any scheduled out-of-class meetings with your team
to complete course assignments. (Such meetings will be discussed
and decided upon by you and your group members.) If you do have to be absent,
it is your responsibility to contact me as soon as you know about the abscence
and to be accountable to your group if then involved in a collaborative
project. Communication between all parties(you, me, your group members),
particularly about meetings you have to miss and so on, is essential.
Late Work
The majority of missed class assignments cannot be "made
up." If a serious and unavoidable problem arises, however, you should contact
me prior to the deadline to determine whether or not an extension for the
work can or can not be granted. I do occasionally grant a brief extension,
without penalty, if circumstances warrant it. If you need one, ASK. |
