English 270 E Instructor: Kurt A. Kemp
Fall Quarter 2002 Office: Room R 230
Classroom R 201 Office Hours: Wed.
Phone:
564-3064, ext. 7 (voice mail) 564-2341 (A & H Office)
Email: kkemp@bcc.ctc.edu
Fax: 564-2690
Mailbox:
Arts & Humanities, R 230
Textbook: Reporting Technical Information (10th
Edition), by Houp, Pearsall, Tebeaux , and Dragga
English 270 is an “exit” course, intended for
students who are within thirty (30) credits of graduating; according to the BCC
Course Catalog, degree programs that require the course for graduation define
it as a second year option. It is an
introductory course in technical writing but, as a 200-level course, it is more
demanding than English 102 in the amount of work and the time required to
complete it.
Students enrolling in English 270, therefore,
should have completed at least three quarters of work at BCC (or equivalent)
and have strong college-level reading and writing skills:
·
Those
who choose to take English 270 during their first year of study rather than
their second, should be advised that they risk failing the course or receiving
grades far below those of second-year students.
·
Students
who only marginally passed College English (English 101 or equivalent) or who
have an assessed reading skill below college level (English 106 at BCC) should
take English 270 only when they have the necessary reading skill to understand
the textbook and other course materials.
Course Focus
The aim of this course is to show you how to
report technical information clearly, completely, and persuasively.
Technical writing shares many of the same
concerns of other kinds of writing, such as Purpose, attention to Audience, and
Readability. It is characterized by:
1. a practical, no-nonsense approach
to the writing process
2. the forms through which it is conveyed (e.g., memoranda,
instructions, proposals, informal and formal reports)
3. its arrangement and division for
selective reading
4. its use of typographical page design elements
5. its use of graphics to convey information visually
This class will cover the four components of good
technical writing: problem-solving/analysis,
report design, informational content, and technical communication skills [written,
visual, and spoken].
We will base our work in class on the three
basic rules of good report writing:
>>>
Know your reader.
>>>
Know your objective.
>>>
Be simple, direct, and concise.
Anticipated
Course Outcomes
At completion of the course, each student should
be able to:
1. Understand the purpose
and process of communication in business and industry.
2. Recognize and be able to
analyze effective and ineffective technical communication.
3. Understand and execute
the written, visual, and verbal processes of technical communication.
4. Communicate technical
information in a complete, accurate, and honest form.
5. Prepare various types
technical documents [memo, instructions, proposal, progress report, data
report, feasibility report] that are appropriate and effective for various
audiences.
6. Balance verbal and
visual elements of communication in technical documents.
7. Use clear, focused,
specific, and grammatically correct language in technical documents.
8. Use effective strategies
for collaborative work in group exercises and preparation of documents.
9. Communicate technical
information clearly and effectively in all class discussions, small group work,
and course assignments.
Requirements
Your course work consists of: six (6) written reports in several technical formats; assigned textbook reading; individual and small group
exercises from your reading; class
discussion; a research project
requiring data collection and analysis; group
work on exercises, some rough drafts; and for Report 2, a set of
instructions.
Written
Reports:
You will be writing the following 6 technical reports:
1. Memo 4.
Project Progress Report
2.
Instructions [Procedures Manual] 5.
Project Data Report
3.
Project Proposal 6. Final
Project Report
You should have all assigned reading completed
by class time. I have planned
interactive and small group work for the course, so be prepared to participate
by understanding the information covered in the assigned reading.
Through discussion, we will discover the reasons
for various technical writing strategies and their practical applications.
Learning the principles explained in the assigned reading will be essential to
your work in this class.
Research
Projects:
Reports
3-6 are
generated by a feasibility study
that each of you will design, research, develop, and report on during the
course.
You will be given complete instructions and
topic choices for your project early in the quarter. You will be asked to choose a specific topic, purpose, and reader for
your project during the third week of class.
Grading:
Success in this course depends on your regular attendance and participation in the work of the class.
All assignments must be completed in
order to pass the course. Attendance
and small group participation are fundamental in acquiring the skills you will
need to draft your technical reports correctly.
Your course grade is calculated in the following
way:
Report
1: Memo
5%
Report 2: Instructions 10%
Report 3: Project Proposal 20%
Report
4: Progress Report 10%
Report 5: Project Data Report 15%
Report
6: Final Project Report 40%
______
100%
All reports are to be typed and presented in the
format assigned for each document. Single spacing between lines, and double
spacing between paragraphs is the norm in technical writing.
Please note: it usually takes me about a week to grade a set of reports. Please do not inquire about them during class
time.
If you are concerned about your course grade, or
if you have questions about a particular assignment, speak with me after class
or make an appointment to meet with me during my office hours.
Attendance:
Attendance is required in this class. I grade only those assignments from
students who attend class regularly.
English 270 is fairly demanding in the time it requires of you for
reading, research, and writing; the bulk
of your work will be done from midterm to the end of the quarter. Some students report that it is difficult to
complete the course when taking other time-intensive classes, so plan your
schedule accordingly.
Regular
attendance in English 270 is important: 1) the schedule may change to accommodate
problems or questions raised in class; 2) I make announcements in class about
adjustments to the schedule or to assignments; 3) the work we do during class
cannot be made up.
Students
who routinely
arrive late for class or who leave early are considered absent from
class. Students who come to class unprepared for class discussions or who disrupt the class in any way are considered absent from
class.
A
student who misses 20% of the class
meetings (6 or more absences), or
who routinely arrives late or leaves early, is considered an inactive member of
the class.
Please
note:
you receive no credit for this course if
you…….
1.
miss 6 or more classes, or
2.
fail to submit all
assigned reports by the due dates
3.
misses
the first week of class
Þ Þ In both situations, you may avoid receiving
an “F” for the course by withdrawing on or before, Nov. 8th (in person). Check with
Registration about Remote Access Withdrawal.
Unexcused
absences affect
your participation grade in the following way:
1
absences = A
2 absences =
B
3 absences =
C
4
absences = D
5
absences = F
Please read the section on “Attendance” in the Arts & Humanities Division Student
Procedures and Expectations for the stated requirements that I use in my
course design. You may access it on the BCC Arts & Humanities website.
If you are absent for medical reasons or
emergencies, please let me know via voice mail or e-mail. If you know you will have to miss class(es) in
the future, let me know so that I can make a note of it for the date(s) in
question.
Due Dates:
All assignments are due on the dates listed in
the course schedule with the following exceptions:
·
You
may turn 2 of your last four reports
in late by arranging it with me on or before the due dates (ie., reports 3-6 only).
Late reports must be turned in no
more than one day after the original due
date. Any report turned in more than one day late will be dropped one grade level each
additional day it is late. Papers
turned in late because of illness must be cleared with me before submission.
Submit late papers to
one of the secretaries in the Arts & Humanities Office, R 230. She will note the day
and time you brought it in. Reports must
be received by
Revisions:
You may revise
the third report, the Project Proposal,
for a better grade. The revised
grade will be the original grade averaged with
the revision grade. Proposal
revisions should be submitted one week after
your report has been returned to you.
Revisions must show substantial
work and improvement to earn a
higher grade. Please remember to resubmit your original graded draft
with your revision.
Saving Your Work
Be sure to duplicate
your 270 work from your hard drive to a
zip drive/zip disk/CD or other disk copies as backup. Keep your rough
drafts until after your paper is returned to you after grading. All graded reports should be saved until the
end of the quarter as proof of work completed. This will save you from having
to rewrite a paper that is destroyed or lost.
As verification of your work, research notes and
sources for your Final Project Report should also be saved in duplicate as your
work progresses. In other words, there is no bona fide excuse for not having
proof of the work you have completed for class, especially at the end of
the quarter.
Plagiarism
The ethical considerations of cheating in
technical writing are much greater than in other kinds of writing. Since you will
use technical writing in the workplace, it is mandatory that you communicate
all technical information accurately,
completely, and honestly. Most
professional organizations, including the Society for Technical Communication,
have clearly defined codes of ethical behavior (see p. ???, Reporting Technical Information).
The BCC Student Code is also very clear about
the seriousness of cheating and the actions that faculty members are required
to take in cases of plagiarizing:
The BCC Student Code prohibits cheating, stealing,
plagiarizing,
knowingly furnishing false
information to the college, or submitting
to a faculty member any work product
that the student fraudulently
represents as his or her own work
for the purpose of fulfilling or
partially
fulfilling any assignment or task required as part of a program
of instruction. All forms of cheating, stealing, and
plagiarizing will be
reported to the Dean of Students.
Please read the entire section on “Academic
Honesty” in the Arts & Humanities Division
Student Procedures and Expectations for
further explanation.
Inappropriate
Classroom Behavior
It is important that students in my English 270
class consider the learning environment to be comfortable and inclusive. Students who continually ignore the rights
of others in class by talking, doing
work for other classes, or disrupting the class in any way, will be marked absent
from class. Lack of respect for cultural, physical, or philosophical
differences of students in class will not be tolerated.
The BCC Student Code prohibits any inappropriate
or disruptive conduct in the classroom.
Disruptive conduct is defined as “disorderly,
abusive or bothersome behavior that interferes with the rights of others or
which obstructs or disrupts teaching, research, or administrative
functions.” Violations of this code are
also reported to the Dean of Students.
Please read the entire section on “Classroom
Environment” in the Arts &
Humanities Student Procedures and Expectations for additional explanation.
Course
Materials:
Most course material for English 270 can be
found on the Arts & Humanities division website:
1. http://bcc.ctc.edu/artshum/studentinfo.asp
2. Click on #2 Course
Materials
3. Fall 2002
4. English Department
5. Scroll down until you
find English 270 and click Kurt Kemp
Student samples of Reports 3-6 are online in the
BCC Library, Electronic Reserve:
1. Direct Access: http://bcc.ctc.edu/lmc/reserve/dietrich/dietrich.htm
2. Through the library
website:
·
Click
on Electronic Reserve on
·
Click
on English 270
·
Click
on specific report to access the four types [Project Proposal, Project Progress
Report, Project Data Report, Final Project Report]