During the first phase of this course you will
learn the basic principles of technical writing—including readability and
usability—grounded in the rhetorical principles of ethos, logos, and pathos. You
will learn techniques for reading as a technical writer, and you will compose a
memo evaluating your performance as a reader. You will also compose a set of
instructions or procedures. During the second phase, you will collaborate with
one or two other students to complete a technical writing project for some
organization of your choice—a business, a government agency, a community
organization, a non-profit, a school, etc. This work will include some onsite
analysis of the organization to get a better understanding of the rhetorical
context.
During the second phase, you
will compose a formal proposal, a progress report, a group self-evaluation, and
the writing project itself. Your team
will present a PowerPoint of your team project at the end of the term. All of
our class meetings will take place in a computer lab, and sessions will make use
of much online material. Weekly grammar and usage quizzes will strengthen your
prowess.