English 270,  Professional Report Writing, Winter 2008                               Item 1247, Section C

 

Instructor: Sonia Michaels

E-mail: sonia.michaels@gmail.com                                                                                                                         

Phone: 206-972-3732

Office hours: 10:30-11:30 am in R230L, Monday through Friday, and by appointment  

Class meets: Monday through Friday from 11:30 am to 12:20 pm, in room R101

Required texts:   Technical Communication, 8th edition, by Mike Markel

Deadlines: A complete schedule of due dates will be handed out later this week

 

Want to “climb the corporate ladder” on Wall Street or at Microsoft? Want to be an architect, an interior designer or a film producer? Want to own a restaurant or run an art gallery? You will need to write on the job. Whether you are creating iPod instructions for consumers, designing a web site for a small or large business, or completing a project for your boss, you are engaging in technical communication. You will need to conduct research, analyze data, work effectively alone and with colleagues, and represent your company on paper, reflecting its culture (   yes, companies have cultures!) and adhering to its ethical standards. You’ll need to write for an audience, often a multicultural one—one that you may or may not belong to. You’ll need to consider legal and ethical issues in your writing.

 

Professional Report Writing (also referred to as technical writing or technical communication) is intended for students who are within 30 credits of graduating. As a higher 200-level course, it is more difficult and more demanding than English 201. Students should have completed at least three quarters of work at BCC (or equivalent) and have strong college-level reading and writing skills.

 

The aim of this class is to show you how to communicate technical information clearly, completely and persuasively. Technical writing involves a no-nonsense approach to writing (a skill itself), uses specific formats to convey information (including memoranda, instructions, proposals, and reports), and often uses graphics to help convey information visually.

 

By the end of the course you should be able to: understand the various purposes and processes of communication in business; communicate technical information in a complete, accurate, and honest way; write various types of documents, such as a memo, proposal and progress report; balance written and visual elements in technical documents; work as a member of a team, and use clear, focused, and grammatically correct language when both writing and speaking.

 

Graded Assignments:

  • A resume and job application letter
  • The various components of a research project
    • a proposal
    • a progress report
    • the final report
    • an accompanying oral presentation.
  • One group project

 

It’s important that you choose a topic that is relevant and interesting to you. The topic may relate directly or indirectly to your current job or future career or education plans. You will need to research, acquire data, compare and contrast, analyze and make recommendations. You can see examples of papers from other terms by going to the library’s web page, clicking on Electronic Reserve, and then clicking on English 270.  

 

Grading: 

You will be graded on attendance, class participation, small group participation, your written assignments, and the oral presentation and PowerPoint presentation of your project. There is also one team project which is graded, and occasional in-class projects that will count towards your attendance/participation mark.

 

Grades on assignments are calculated using a 100-point scale:

 

   A+

  A

  A-

  B+

  B

  B-

  C+

 C

  C-

  D+

   D

  D-

  F

100-

   99

98-

  93

92-

  90

89-

  87

86-

  83

82-

  80

79-

  77

76-

  73

72-

  70

69-

  67

66-

  63

62-

  60

0-

  59

 

Peer review:

The peer review process is mandatory. Students who do not bring their drafts to the scheduled peer review sessions will not receive grades on the assignment in question.

 

I expect your papers to be perfect grammatically, and to be free of spelling and punctuation errors. If this is a weakness for you, you will need to go to BCC’s Writing Lab or find tutoring. You will be graded down for errors. You can have a terrific topic, and do a great job with the project, but if there are weaknesses in your writing, your grade will suffer.

 

Attendance and Classroom Behavior:

  • You cannot pass this class if you miss more than ten sessions, the equivalent of two weeks. BCC policy is that ten absences are grounds for an “F” grade.
  • If there is an emergency, please contact me by e-mail, voice mail or SMS.
  • Please turn off your cell phones and iPods—no ear buds or headsets on during class, and definitely no text messaging during class time! I do allow coffee and (quiet) snacks. If you bring food or drinks, please remember to take your garbage with you when you leave the room. 
  • If you have a laptop, feel free to use it in class to supplement our discussions—but please do NOT surf aimlessly, update your MySpace or use instant messaging programs during class time!

 

Plagiarism:

Plagiarism is using someone else’s words and ideas as if they were your own. Please don’t ruin your college career by plagiarizing. According to BCC policy, you may be given an “F” for an assignment or for the entire course if part or all of your paper is plagiarized. The plagiarism must also be reported to the Dean of Student Services. Students who plagiarize may not be allowed to continue to study at BCC.

 

Good things to know:

The Open Lab (N250) – has over 200 PCs and Macintosh computers available to all registered students. It is usually open seven days a week.

 

The Writing Lab (D204) is part of the Academic Success Center, and is open seven days a week. You may need to make an appointment: (425) 564-2200. There is also academic tutoring, and a math lab and reading lab.

 

 

 

English 270, Schedule of assignments/deadlines*

 

 

Resume & Cover Letter 

Peer review/editing session: Monday, January 14th

Final draft due: Tuesday, January 22nd

 

Proposal

Peer review/editing session: Monday, January 28th

Final draft due: Monday, February 4th

 

Group Project

To be worked on during class time in the week of February 4 – 8, then completed for submission by Monday, February 11th. Will require some communication/coordination outside of class time.

 

Progress Report

Peer review/editing session: Tuesday, February 19th

Final draft due: Monday, February 25th

 

Final Report

Peer review/editing session: Monday, March 3rd

Final draft due: Friday, March 14th

 

Oral Presentation

To be scheduled during the final week of classes.  I’ll send a sign-up sheet around well in advance. Each presentation will be allotted 20 minutes.