192 F19 Mehlenbacher

192

Department of English Language & Literature

University of Waterloo

ENGL 192: Communication in the Engineering Profession

Fall 2019

ENGL 192 (004): TTh 1:00-2:20 pm (Engineering 5: Room 5106)

ENGL 192 (007): TTh 4:00-5:20 pm (Engineering 5: Room 4106)

Instructor Information

Instructor: Dr. Brad Mehlenbacher

Office: HH 145

Office Phone: 1-519-888-4567 ext. 30287

Office Hours: TTh 2:30-3:30 pm (held in E5); or by appointment

Email: brad.mehlenbacher@uwaterloo.ca

Course Description

In this course, students will enhance their oral and written technical communication competencies in contexts relevant to the engineering profession as well as their future careers. By participating in classes and completing course readings and assignments, students will practice genres of communication relevant to groups that might include clients, peer groups, technical staff, public audiences, and regulatory and policy-focused stakeholders. By focusing on genre, design, and audience, students will come to better understand concepts including meaning-making, perception, and responsibility. By completing written and oral assignments, students will develop confidence and skill as writers and presenters. Furthermore, throughout the semester students will develop research skills and prepare for their professional careers in engineering by critically considering the relationships among agency (a speaker or writer’s ability to make choices), constraint, and audience.

Course Goals and Learning Outcomes

This course helps fulfill requirements in Complementary Studies and helps students meet expectations for English Language Competency and communication skills required of professional engineers. To demonstrate these competencies, by the end of this course students should be able to:

1. Describe and apply conventions, genres, and norms and values of communication in an engineering discipline.
2. Compose persuasive technical arguments, appealing to internal and external audiences, including employers, peers, nontechnical clients, and others.
3. Analyze and understand technical arguments and summarize documents in clear and concise ways.
4. Appraise and reflect on their own compositions and that of their peers to strategically revise and edit documents and presentations such as abstracts, posters, proposals, or lab reports.

Required Text

• Graves, Heather & Roger Graves. A Strategic Guide to Technical Communication. 2nd edition (Canadian). Broadview, 2011. ISBN: 9781554810239/ 155481023X. $52.95.

Course Requirements and Assessment

There is no exam for this course. You will complete two major assignments: a large technical report and a non-technical presentation. The large report assignment has several components noted below in italics.

You will also be evaluated for your contribution to the class and for occasional in-class and take-home worksheets.

Final Report noted in bold above–50% total toward final grade; assignment and grade breakdown below. Note: if you do not submit all the drafts you will receive an automatic failing grade of 49% on the overall assignment total for the Final Report.

Guidelines for Contributions

Contribution grades are not given for simply showing up. As you will be evaluated in your professional domains, your professionalism in the classroom will be evaluated. Professionalism entails being on time, being prepared, and producing good quality work. You are also expected to be professional in your com-munications, whether in writing or interpersonally, and conduct yourself as you would in any professional environment.

100 points–Exceptional: Frequent, substantive, formative, and original contributions to class discussions; consistently engaged and participatory demeanor; attends all peer review sessions and classes

90-99 points–Excellent: Only minor exceptions to the criteria described above

80-89 points–Good: Regular contributor to discussions; consistent engagement; attends all peer review sessions

70-79 points–Satisfactory: Occasional contributions and inconsistent engagement

60-69 points–Marginal: Minimal contributions and/or significant lack of engagement

50. 60 points–Failure: Repeated disruptive, inappropriate, or unethical behaviour; behaviour disrespectful to others; consistent lack of commitment and/or effort

Email introduction and learning goals

You will individually complete this assignment at the beginning of the semester, and email the final message to me (brad.mehlenbacher@uwaterloo.ca). In addition to introducing yourself and your major (and specific research or learning interests), you will answer the following questions: what are you going to learn in this course (objectives), how are you planning to learn it (resources/strategies), how you are going to know that you learned it (evidence), and how are you going to prove you learned it (verification)? The “it” can be a task or topic (e.g., how to use colons and semi-colons, how to write effective instructions, etc.).

Report Assignment

Once you have chosen a topic, you will be responsible for drafting a report for a project manager with key decision-making authority. Topics in the past have covered AI-based solutions, cybersecurity issues, social media applications, and a range of science, technology, and society issues.

You will use the IEEE documentation and citation style. The UWaterloo Library has a nice information page on citing sources (https://uwaterloo.ca/library/find-and-use-resources/citing-sources), in addition to access to RefWorks, a free citation management tool.

If you do not submit all the drafts you will receive an automatic failing grade of 49% on the final assignment. If any drafts are late there is a penalty of -1% per a day.

Over multiple class sessions we will draft sections of your reports and you will review your peers’ work. You may wish to work with a peer or small group of peers to provide counter proposals to one problem, but your assignment must be individually completed, and you should conduct your own research, craft your own arguments, and write your own draft.

Abstract or Executive Summary: You will write an abstract or executive summary in your own words.

Your abstract should summarize the particular problem you want to address.

Problem Statement: Your report will summarize known information about a problem, support this description with research from credible sources, and articulate why the problem must be addressed. Solutions and Recommendations: You will make specific recommendations on how to address this problem and argue for the feasibility of your solution based on the case data. In addition to information provided in your case, find one scholarly reference and include it in your solution.

Figures, Tables, and Scales: You will prepare any visual elements to be included in your final draft. We will discuss in class how to use figures (bar graphs and histograms, scatter plots, line graphs, pie graphs, sketches, etc.), tables, and scales and plot data to clarify or supplement your written text. For this assignment, your visual elements should be prepared with numbering, labels, and descriptions including important information such as measurement units, axes and initial zero, scales, etc. You will also need to determine the approximate placement for these elements in your document.

Non-technical Presentation

For this presentation you will want to communicate to a non-technical audience in seven minutes or less. You can imagine a case where you may have to present information about your project to a vendor you need to work with or client. You may wish to present on a topic from your technical report/presentation, but you will need to accommodate your arguments and delivery of that information to a non-expert audience. Or you maybe choose an entirely different subject (which I will approve and should be related to your field).

Revision Option

You will be provided with an opportunity to revise one of your papers (your crowdfunding proposal or final report) for additional credit. Your revision will result in a new grade if your work has demonstrable improvement in quality, and I expect you to highlight revised sections of your assignment. You should submit: the revised paper with new sections or significantly revised sections highlighted, a summary of the changes you have made, and your original paper. You must email me any revisions one week before the last day of class. I will then average the new grade with the old grade, and that will be your final grade for the assignment.

Course Outline

Late Work

Late assignments are not permitted unless you are granted an extension or face an emergency situation. If you know you will need an extension, speak with me at least 48 hours prior to the due date.

Academic Honesty

All work in this course should be original. Any material that you paraphrase or quote must be cited according to an accepted style format (e.g., APA, Chicago, MLA). Over citing will not be penalized and, in fact, I’m always happy to see you’re doing research. If you’re not sure if you should cite something, cite it. We can discuss it later but, when in doubt, give credit for words and ideas.

Academic Integrity

In order to maintain a culture of academic integrity, members of the University of

Waterloo community are expected to promote honesty, trust, fairness, respect and responsibility. See the UWaterloo Academic Integritity Webpage (https://uwaterloo.ca/academic-integrity/) and the Arts Academic Integrity Office Webpage (http://arts.uwaterloo.ca/current-undergraduates/academic-responsibility) for more information.

Discipline

A student is expected to know what constitutes academic integrity to avoid committing academic offenses and to take responsibility for his/her actions. A student who is unsure whether an action constitutes an offense, or who needs help in learning how to avoid offenses (e.g., plagiarism, cheating) or about “rules” for group work/collaboration should seek guidance from the course professor, academic advisor, or the undergraduate associate dean. For information on categories of offenses and types of penalties, students should refer to Policy 71, Student Discipline