210E W20 Taylor

210E

University of Waterloo

Department of English Language and Literature

ENGL 210E

Genres of Technical Communication

Winter 2020

T/TH 10 – 11:20 am, ML 349

Instructor Information

Instructor: Christin Wright-Taylor

Office: PAS 2224

Office Hours: T/TH 1 – 2 pm

Email: c33taylor@uwaterloo.ca

Course Description

This course will teach written and oral communication across a broad range of technical-writing applications. Students will practise forms of technical variation targeted at internal and external audiences, including peers, supervisors, clients, and public audiences. Students will practise critical thinking in order to generate informative and persuasive documents that also demonstrate creativity and innovation. Students will accomplish these objectives through a process of design and revision that focuses on the student’s agency. Students will deliver these messages in a variety of written and oral forms.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of the course students should be able to do the following:

1. Explain the roles that audiences play in technical communication,
2. Demonstrate command of appropriate writing skills and style,
3. Demonstrate good literature-research skills (gathering data or relevant information, analyzing the results of research efforts, and assessing the credibility and applicability of information),
4. Compose extremely clear and usable process analyses to various stakeholders,
5. Construct a persuasive technical argument,
6. Write an effective and persuasive project proposal that addresses context, audience, and genre, and
7. Organize and deliver a persuasive oral presentation to colleagues.

Required Texts

Graves, Heather and Roger Graves. A Strategic Guide to Technical Communication. 2^nd Ed. Broadview Press, 2011.

Course Assignments and Requirements

How and Where to Submit Assignments

• Electronic format: Microsoft Word .docx format or PDF, online through LEARN.

• All physical assignments must be put personally in my hands to be counted for grading.

Assignment Breakdown

Assignment #1: Job Application

In response to a prompt, you will compose a cover letter and resume to apply to work at a company that is seeking innovative, talented employees. This assignment will demonstrate course learning and must be extremely persuasive in order to succeed.

Assignment #2: Email and Memos

You will create an e-mail message that pitches an initial idea for a product or service project to your employer. Your letter must justify the use of company time and resources to assign you to this project. You will demonstrate learning of the course materials and persuade your employer of the value of this realistic project.

Assignment #3: Technical Manual (at least 2 pages)

You will analyze a three-dimensional device, determine how it works, and produce a high-quality technical manual that will allow new users to use the device. You will then test this document for usability with a sample of users.

Assignment #4: Progress/Status Report (2-3 pages)

As you are researching and developing your final proposal, you will complete a technical progress report to update your team/project lead on your progress, any setbacks, and any changes to budgets or timelines. At least 1 page, no more than 3 pages.

Assignment #5: Oral Proposal Presentation to Colleagues (5 mins + Questions)

You will take your proposal and build a presentation that explains the project to your colleagues and supervisors. You must persuade them that the project is feasible and valuable, and that the firm should fund your project. You will use superior visual aids to assist your presentation, and you will take questions from colleagues about whether your proposal is a feasible proposal for the company. 5 minutes, maximum, + time for questions.

Assignment #6: Peer Review (2+ pages, given as a form)

You will review a strong first draft of a colleague’s proposal and provide constructive feedback on whether the proposal meets the instructions for the task and is likely to generate support from supervisors and—ultimately—clients.

Assignment #7: Project Proposal – Written Report (4-6 pages)

You will draft a technical report for internal stakeholders in the company. Your report will summarize known information about a problem, support this description with research from credible sources, and articulate why and how the problem must be addressed. Your idea can change and grow over the process, but your objective is to develop a proposal that believably fills a demonstrable need in a current market or situation.

Assignment #8: Contributions (rubrics, throughout course)

Technical writers often work in teams to review each other’s work and suggest improvements. You will do the same. To do so, you must contribute to our common lessons in this training, and you must participate professionally and vigorously in all class activities. I will use rubrics to grade you for your participation in some in-class activities. I will also evaluate your responses in our lessons. You can earn contribution grades in the following ways:

1. Class Discussion: You show completed readings with in-class discussion.

2. Professional Courtesy: You promote participation by others by giving others time to speak, and showing respect for others’ opinions or difficulties.

3. Reviewing Others’ Work: You constructively and carefully apply course content to help colleagues improve their work to a professional level.

Course Schedule

The following schedule is tentative and may change to suit class needs. Additional readings may be posted to LEARN, and you will be responsible for these.

Important Dates

Terms:

1. “Drop, no penalty”: no record of the course appears on your transcript.

2. “WD”: this means the word “Withdrawn” will appear on your transcript. This will let readers know that you attempted the course but decided to leave the course.

3. “WF”: this means “withdrew/failure.” This will let readers know that your withdrawal constitutes a failure in the course. This course will be calculated as a grade of 32% and will be included in your overall grade average.

Course Policies

Equipment you need:

• Your note-taking methods: paper/pencils, laptop, etc.

• Your textbook We will use activities in the book.

Professional Behaviour:

• Attendance: Every lesson specifically supports your program and career. Attendance here is like attendance at a job.

• Punctuality: Everyone gets delayed but be on time here as you would for a job. If you are late, come in quietly and minimize your disruption.
• Emergencies: Communicate with me as soon as possible.

• Electronic devices: No headphones in class unless directed by me for class activity, and devices will be used only for class work. At all other times, please stow your phones, tablets, and computers. Texting, browsing, and calling in class are not permitted. If you are expecting an important call, please let me know ahead of time.

• Email: all email must come from your official uwaterloo.ca address. You must have a specific subject line that begins with “ENGL 210E.” Use a professional salutation to greet me, write a specific message, and sign your names as you would a complete letter.

Late work, missed work, grade concerns, “incomplete” courses

• Extension requests: You must request an extension 48 hours or more before a due date, and provide a reasonable justification, subject to verification by me. Last-minute extension requests will be denied unless there is medical documentation to support the need. No extensions will be granted after the end of classes.

• Late submissions: 5% penalty per day unless the late submission is justified by medical documentation.

• Late/absent for presentations: 5% per day while the presentations are still being delivered. Once each presentation’s phase is complete, you will not be able to submit the presentation for grading.
• Missed peer reviews, contributions: If your absence is supported by medical documentation, your grade will be re-weighted to your other contributions. Otherwise, you will receive a grade of 0 for the contribution.

• Medical documentation: You must submit a “university of Waterloo Verification of Illness” form, available at:

https://uwaterloo.ca/campus-wellness/sites/ca.campus-wellness/files/uploads/files/VIF-online.pdf.

• No “incomplete courses”: I will not grand an “incomplete course.” All course work is due by the final day of lectures (Apr 2).
• Grade challenges: If you have concerns about your grade, feel free to make an appoint to visit me and we will have a conversation about your concerns.

Academic Integrity and Plagiarism – Official Policy

Academic Integrity: In order to maintain a culture of academic integrity, members of the University of Waterloo are expected to promote honesty, trust, fairness, respect and responsibility. See the UWaterloo Academic Integrity webpage and the Arts Academic Integrity webpage for more information.

Discipline: A student is expected to know what constitutes academic integrity, to avoid committing academic offences, and to take responsibility for his/her actions. A student who is unsure whether an action constitutes an offence, or who needs help in learning how to avoid offences (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. When misconduct has been found to have occurred, disciplinary penalties will be imposed under Policy 71 – Student Discipline. For information on categories of offenses and types of penalties, students should refer to Policy 71 - Student Discipline. For typical penalties check Guidelines for the Assessment of Penalties.

Grievance: A student who believes that a decision affecting some aspect of his/her university life has been unfair or unreasonable may have grounds for initiating a grievance. Read Policy 70 - Student Petitions and Grievances, Section 4. When in doubt, please be certain to contact the department’s administrative assistant who will provide further assistance.

Appeals: A decision made or penalty imposed under Policy 70 – Student Petitions and Grievances (other than a petition) or Policy 71

– Student Discipline may be appealed if there is a ground. A student who believes he/she has a ground for an appeal should refer to Policy 72 – Student Appeals.