WR227 Intro to Technical Writing

Clackamas Community College – Winter 2020

Instructor Course Description

Jessica Dvorak The course prepares students to produce clear, informative, and persuasive
documents. The purpose and target audience influence choices about how
information is presented including writing style, document layout, vocabulary
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sentence and paragraph structure, and visuals. The course is grounded in rhetorical
555.555.5555 theory and focuses on producing usable, user-centered content that is clear, concise,
and ethical. Students will engage in current best practices and work individually and
in groups to learn strategies for effective communication in the digital and
Email
networked, global workplace. Meets part of the AAOT/ASOT writing requirement.
instructor@clackamas.edu
Course Objectives
Office Location
This course introduces students to elements of effective workplace communication.
Online Through a sequence of writing tasks, students will learn ways to intensify their
language, clarify their style, employ presentational format, and successfully report
technical information.
Office Hours
It is a goal of this course is that you learn the essential rhetorical strategies and
T-Th 12:00-2:00
practices to enable you to successfully recognize and respond to the technical writing
situations in your future.

Student Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this course, students should be able to:

1. produce a range of professional documents including letters, proposals, and reports

(WR1);
2. demonstrate specificity, clarity, organization, and editing strategies focused on
audience needs (WR1);
3. apply a variety of format and design techniques appropriate to document forms
(WR1) (WR2);
4. collaborate on a simulated professional project (WR1);
5. locate, evaluate, and integrate academic research and documentation in APA or
MLA style (WR2) (IL1) (IL2) (IL3) (IL4) (IL5);
6. apply a variety of visual and other multimodal aids to represent data ethically and
without bias (WR1);
7. present findings, conclusions, and recommendations clearly and efficiently (WR1)
(WR2) (WR3).
 Required Prerequisite

Pass WR 121 with at least a “C” or better. Placement in RD 115 recommended.

Required Text

DeSilva, Michele and Annemarie Hamlin, Jodi Naas, Chris Rubio, Megan Savage
(2017). Technical Writing. OpenOregon Pressbooks. Openoregon.org
https://openoregon.pressbooks.pub/technicalwriting/. The text is free. Use this link to
access.

Course Materials

 Computer/Internet Access
This is an online class, but it will not teach you to use your computer or how to
access internet. If you do not own and computer, and/or do not have access to
internet regularly this may not be the best way to take this class. This class is
also offered in person every term.
 Microsoft Word or Google Docs –
You must be able to format documents, insert graphics, and submit your work in
either .docx or .pdf format. For peer edits, you should submit your document to
the forum in .docx format so that your peers can edit it and give it back to you.
For final papers, your document must be submitted in .pdf format, I will not
open any other document types.

Resources

 Writing Center
The writing Center on Campus has tutor willing to help you edit and revise your
work, as well as point you in the right direction for research and content.
 Dye Learning Center
 Smarthinking Online Tutoring
Smarthinking is a free online tutoring tool offered with through Clackamas
Community College to assist online students and students who need help outside
of Writing Center hours. Smarthinking can be found here.
 Office Hours
 Academic Advising and Education Planning

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 Academic Integrity/Plagiarism

Anyone who knowingly presents someone else’s writing as his or her own will fail
the class and may be reported to the English Department chairperson and/or college
dean for disciplinary action.

Due Dates

Throughout the term your due dates will always be on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and
Sundays. This rhythm is intended to make it easier for you to keep track of your due
dates. Work is always due by 11:59PM the day that it is due.

Things to Remember

1. This is not an at-your-own-pace course.

2. You must keep up with the due dates.

3. Contact me if you feel you’ve fallen behind. It might not be as bad as you think!

Course Schedule

Week Subject Due Dates

Week 1 Forum Introduction/Lecture Slides Forums Thursday
Week 2 Forums/Quiz Quiz Tuesday/Forums Thursday
Week 3 Forums (peer edits)/Lecture Peer Edits Tuesday & Thursday/Assignment
Slides/Assignment Sunday
Week 4 Forums/Quiz/Academic Style Proposal Quiz Tuesday/Forums Thursday/Proposal Sunday
Week 5 Forums (peer edits)/Lecture Peer Edits Tuesday & Thursday/Assignment
Slides/Assignment Sunday
Week 6 Forums/Quiz/Academic Topic Proposal Quiz Tuesday/Forums Thursday/Proposal Sunday
Week 7 Forums (peer edits)/Lecture Peer Edits Tuesday & Thursday/ Assignment
Slides/Assignment Sunday
Week 8 Forums/Quiz/Academic References Quiz Tuesday/Forums Thursday/References
Sunday
Week 9 Forums (peer edits)/Lecture Peer Edits Tuesday & Thursday/ Assignment

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 Week Subject Due Dates
Slides/Assignment Sunday
Week 10 Forums/Quiz Quiz Tuesday/Forums Thursday
Week 11 Reflection Assignment Forums Assignment Post Tuesday/Follow up Thursday

Introduction Post – 30 Points

Tell us about yourself! Include a photo! Quirks, interests, time in school, career, and academic goals! Anything
and everything. I would especially like to know about your favorite arts, games, and books!

Lecture Slides/Quizzes – 50 Points

On weeks 1, 3, 5, 7, & 9 there will be short lectures posted. This is the “classroom” portion of the online class.
The lectures are intended to help you think through the writing processes and to encourage cognitive thinking
about technical writing.

On weeks 2, 4, 6, 8, & 10 there will be a short 10 question open book quiz on the classroom lecture material.
While the quiz is open book, the quiz will only be open for 15 minutes once you start. If you haven’t read the
material, you won’t have enough time to look up the answers to every question.

The quizzes are worth 10 points each.

Assignments – 170 Points

There are 4 writing assignments throughout the term. The assignments themselves are sort of a ‘choose your own
adventure’ style. Think about the sort of work or educational environments you will be needed to use technical
writing for and choose documents that would fit into those arenas.

The workloads are designed to be less on the weeks before assignments are due to allow you time to work on the
assignment. The week that the assignments are due are designed to help you improve your document before
turning it on. On Tuesday of assignment weeks rough drafts are to be posted in the forums for peer edits. Peer
edits are to be completed by Thursdays. Final documents are to be turned in by Sunday. I encourage you to take
advantage of your peers. Sometimes a view from the outside can help you improve your document in ways you
didn’t expect.

 Assignment 1 - Procedural Document – Rough Draft Post 5 points - Final Document 25 points
For this assignment you must write a document that walks the reader through a complex series of steps to
accomplish a goal. The document must be written by an expert with an intended audience of a novice. An
example of procedural document written by an expert for a novice would be baking instructions, software
installation, or instructions on how to program stations into a car stereo.

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  Assignment 2 – Work Communication – Rough Draft Post 5 points - Final Document 25 points
For this assignment you must write a document that would be found in a work or professional
environment. This would include memos, emails, or workplace announcements.

 Assignment 3 – Rhetorical Professionalism – Rough Draft Post 5 points - Final Document 25 points
For this assignment you must write a document in which you maintain a professional tone, and yet you
are trying to convince someone to see your point of view or agree with you. To encourage you to feel that
you have a reason to write something convincing, this letter must be written to a person or organization
you intend to send the letter to. Use this to your advantage. You could write a professor hoping to
convince them that you deserved a grade different than you received, or a local politician you want to pay
attention to a concern of yours, or even a television production studio that you want to bring back a
favorite show! Have fun with this one. The more you care about the content, the more sincerity your
writing will contain.

 Assignment 4 - Academic Paper – Rough Draft Post 5 points - Final Document 75 points
This paper should be written in one of the three most used citation/paper styles, APA, Chicago, or MLA.
While you can choose whichever style you like, I encourage you to choose the citation style that you
would be most likely to use in your academic future.

This assignment will be the most work, therefore you will have deadlines throughout the term to help you
be in a better position to have the assignment turned in on time.

Forum Peer Edits – 100 Points

As I explained in the Assignments section, a rough draft of your assignment is to be posted to the forum no later
than Tuesday on the weeks that assignments are due. Between Tuesday and Thursday each student will pick
another student’s work and offer advice and well-intentioned edits. This part of the class is important for several
reasons. It offers you an opportunity to get input from peers, it offers you the opportunity to see what your peers
are writing, and it gives you an opportunity to improve your work.

You cannot edit a post that another student has already edited. You cannot edit another student’s document unless
you have posted your own document to be edited. Each edit is worth 20 points.

WARNING - if you don’t post your own rough draft, you actually miss out on 30 points total. The 5 points
for posting your draft to be edited and the 25 points for editing another student’s work. Do not make this mistake,
this would be a huge loss in points.

Reflection Assignment – 50 Points

Want to add more tables to your document that look like the Course Schedule and Exam Schedule? No problem.
On the Insert tab, click Table and create a table in any size you want. It will automatically get inserted in the same
style as the ones in the rest of this syllabus.

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 Assignment Points Per Total
Points
Introduction Post 30
Lecture Quizzes 50
Assignments 170
Assignment 1 - Procedural Document 5 + 25
Assignment 2 – Work Communication 5 + 25
Assignment 3 – Rhetorical Professionalism 5 + 25
Assignment 4 - Academic Paper 5 + 75
Peer Edits 100
Reflection Assignment 50
Total Points
Available
400

Extra Credit Forum Posts 25

Extra Credit

To encourage involvement in forums and collaboration, extra credit will be available for forum involvement. It is
up to you to decide whether to earn these points. It is possible to earn an A in the class without these points. But I
encourage you to take part in these forums to ensure you the best possible grade you can get.

For quiz weeks you can earn 5 points towards your total grade by posting a thought/question/idea about the
reading content and/or quiz for the week (2.5 pts) and responding to another student’s thought/question/idea
posting (2.5 pts).

Paper Revisions

The goal for this class is to increase your technical writing skills. To further that goal for assignments 1 through 4
should you turn in an assignment and receive a grade of less than 90% you will have the opportunity to increase
your grade by up to 5% by revising the document and turning it back in. Final assignments are due on Sundays,
your graded papers will be returned to you by Wednesdays. You will have from Wednesday to the following
Sunday to turn in a revision. These papers will be at my lowest grading priority, and I will make no promises as to
the speed with which they are graded, except that they will absolutely be included in your final grade. I make
every attempt to turn these around in a timely manner.

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