Module Overview for Week of February 4: Introduction to Technical Writing, Part 2
Overview
You will submit your first Major Writing project, Analysis of Writing in Your Field. This week you will have time to finish your table and then complete several checks of your draft to ensure that you meet all of the requirements for the activity.
This project asks you to survey the kinds of writing people in your intended career field do and arrange the information in a table (like a benchmarking or comparison table). You’ll provide a short description of the different kinds of writing, identify the typical audiences and purposes, and classify the kinds of writing.
Your audience for this project is yourself. Your goal is to learn about the characteristics of the kinds of writing you will typically do in the workplace. This chart will be a go-to resource once you are in the workplace. You should be able to come back to this analysis to remind yourself of the kinds of features to include in whatever you are writing.
Objectives for this Module
After completing this introductory 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]
- 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.
Readings for the Week of February 4
Please complete all readings before beginning the quizzes for this module. This material introduces concepts you will need to successfully apply the objectives stated above.
- Markel & Selber, Ch. 3: “Writing Technical Documents”
- Markel & Selber, Ch. 5: “Analyzing Your Audience and Purpose”
- Determining the Important Characteristics of Your Audience (extra summary of list from the chapter)
- Daily Discussion Posts (DDPs)
- #WeekendWatch: Using Strong Verbs (02/02)
- #TuesdayTutorial: Using Plain Language (available 02/05)
- #WednesdayWrite: What Counts as Academic Dishonesty? (available 02/06)
- #ThursdayThought: F-Shaped Reading Pattern (available 02/07)
- #FridayFact: Centered Text Is Harder to Read (available 02/08)
Activities for the Week of February 4
Time Required: 6–7 hours, including reading time
Available Points: 950
Due Dates:
- All work is due by 11:59 PM on Friday, February 8.
- The grace period for these activities ends at 11:59 PM on Monday, February 11.
Daily Discussion Posts Activities
(85 minutes—5 posts @ ~15 minutes each plus self-assessment @ ~10 minutes)
- Contribute to any or all of the following Daily Discussion Posts (DDPs) in Canvas:
- #WeekendWatch: Using Strong Verbs (02/02)
- #TuesdayTutorial: Using Plain Language (available 02/05)
- #WednesdayWrite: What Counts as Academic Dishonesty? (available 02/06)
- #ThursdayThought: F-Shaped Reading Pattern (available 02/07)
- #FridayFact: Centered Text Is Harder to Read (available 02/08)
- Complete the DDP Self-Assessment for the Week of 02/04 Quiz to report the work you did and record your score (100 points). Be sure to read the self-assessment at the beginning of the week so that you understand the expectations.
Writing Activities
(~4 hours, including time to write)
- Complete the any or all of the following Major Writing Project activities (600 points total).
- These activities contribute to the first Major Writing Project in the course, Analysis of Writing in Your Field.
- Analysis Project: Check for Parallelism & Strong Verbs (25 points)
- Analysis Project: Check for Professional Design (25 points)
- Analysis Project: Check for Content Completion & Documentation (25 points)
- Analysis Project: Editing and Proofreading (25 points)
- Final, Finished Draft of the Analysis of Writing in Your Field Major Writing Project (500 points)
- These activities contribute to the first Major Writing Project in the course, Analysis of Writing in Your Field.
- Complete the Writing Activities Self-Assessment for the Week of 02/04 quiz to report the work you did (other than the final, finished draft) and record your score. I will grade your Final, Finished Draft submission, according to the expectations listed in the assignment. Remember that you must complete a Final, Finished Draft for all the Major Projects in order to pass this course.
Extra Activities
(1 hour—2 quizzes @ ~20 minutes each, excluding reading time, plus 20 minutes for the Analyzing activity)
- Complete the Readings Quizzes.
- These quizzes cover the readings shown above and are designed to assess your familiarity with concepts you will need to know to produce deliverables for this module. These quizzes are the following:
- 03 Markel, Writing Technical Documents (100 points)
- 05 Markel, Analyzing Your Audience and Purpose (100 points)
- These quizzes cover the readings shown above and are designed to assess your familiarity with concepts you will need to know to produce deliverables for this module. These quizzes are the following:
- Participate in the extra activity, if desired:
- Analyzing a Technical Document Activity (50 points)
- Ask any questions about the course in the General Q and A Discussion (0 points) in Canvas.
- Check the General Q and A Discussion for answers before posting.
- Asking a question is not required. Use the Inbox tool in Canvas for questions about grades or personal information that should not be shared with the class.
Photo credit: International Women's Day 2016 by National Assembly for Wales on Flickr Links to an external site., used under a CC-BY 2.0 license.