Module Overview for Week of August 10: User Manual

Overview

If you have ever purchased a coffeemaker, microwave, vacuum cleaner, or other appliance, you will have noticed that it came with a user manual, user guide, or owner’s manual. That manual provided you with a part-by-part overview or description of the object and instructions or directions on how to use it.

Technical descriptions identify visually the key components or parts of an object, but also define those parts and explain how the object might work. They normally include one or more images of the item, with the individual parts labeled. 

Instructions explain step-by-step how to use an object.

This major writing project focuses on combining technical description and instructions into a single document—a user manual.

At the end of this module, you will have prepared a user manual that is well-developed in terms of content, effectively organized, and designed in a user-friendly manner.

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Objectives for this Module

After completing this module, you will be able to

• Analyze the rhetorical situation and determine the appropriate audience or users of written communication, considering the needs of global audiences and people with disabilities. [CLO 1]
• Conduct research appropriate to workplace problem solving, such as literature review, evaluation of online resources, interview, and site inspection. [CLO 2]
• Interpret research findings with understanding of ethical and human implications. [CLO 3]
• Use conventions of various workplace genres, such as proposals, instructions, correspondence, reports, and slide decks, with understanding of how the genre conventions can be used as heuristics and as principles of arrangement. [CLO 4]
• Collaborate with classmates in planning, researching, writing, revising, and presenting information. [CLO 5]
• Apply principles of effective visual design for print and electronic presentation, including hierarchical, chronological, and spatial arrangements. [CLO 6]
• Identify and apply the principles of effective style in the composing of usable, reader-centered written communications. [CLO 7]

Note that you can find the full text of the Course Learning Objectives on the Syllabus.

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Activities for the Week of August 10

Reading Activities

Read the following (30 points):

• Markel & Selber, Chapter 20: “Writing Definitions, Descriptions, and Instructions”
• Professional Design for User Manuals

Writing Activities

Complete the following activities (60 points): 

• User Manual: Complete an Audience Profile Sheet
• User Manual: Rough Draft
  
  • Aim to submit at least half of the content required by the assignment.
• Apply the advice in the following documents to your draft as you revise:
  • Professional Design for User Manuals
  • Use of Images Self-Review
• User Manual: Final Draft 
  
  • Use the links in the assignment to revise and edit your draft before submission.
  • Check your project against the criteria listed in the assignment.

Piazza Discussion Activities

Complete the following (30 points):

• Read the instructions and related information linked below. Note that the instructions are the same each week. What changes is the project you are focusing on.
  • Feedback Discussions Overview
  • Feedback Discussions Instructions
  • Feedback Discussions FAQ
• Post a passage from your User Manual and your related question in Piazza. 
• Provide feedback to the passages and questions posted by others in Piazza.
• (Optional) If you have questions about anything in the course, post those in Piazza for a response as well.

Other Activities

Complete activities that go beyond the basic expectations of the course (10 points). Include complete details on this work in your Work Log. See the Other Activities information Links to an external site. in the Course Manual for more information.

Tracking & Reflecting Activities

Complete the following (30 points):

• Click Class Notebook in the Canvas sidebar to go to the Weekly Work Log in OneNote.
• Click the Weekly Work Logs tab at the top of your notebook.
• Choose the  “Week of August 10” page from the right sidebar, depending upon which week it is.
• Track and reflect on the work you have done for the week.
  • Add specific details for all the work you have done this week. 
  • Add summary comments and reflections once the week is over and all your work is recorded.
• Complete your SPOT Survey by 11:59 PM on Thursday, August 13, 2020.

Self-Assessment 

• Claim the points for the work you have done during the two weeks in the 08/13 Self-Assessment.
  • Your points will be recorded automatically when you submit your quiz.

 

Photo credit: Lego promotional 40049 - mini Sopwith Camel by InSapphoWeTrust on Flickr Links to an external site., used under a CC-BY-SA 2.0 license.