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COURSE SYLLABUS ENGL 2311 TECHNICAL WRITING Spring 2009 Taught online |
PRINT THIS OUT AND REFER TO IT OFTEN. EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE CLASS
IS IN HERE! You will have to take a “test” over this syllabus—that
is the only way I know for sure you’ve read it
thoroughly! |
Instructor: Jimidene Murphey
Office: Room 110, Phone: 806-874-4830 However, best bet to catch me is to E-mail me
at: jimidene.murphey@clarendoncollege.edu.
I check email and WebCT at least once a day.
Office Hours: MW
1:00-4:00 p.m. and TTh 9:00-9:30, 11:00-12:00,
and 2:30-3:00
My office hours are posted on our
Clarendon College Web site under Instructional
Programs. I will also have several hours each week available for on-line
“office hours,” using WebCT. Office hours include responses to email and
assigned discussion postings throughout the semester.
Textbook: Lannon, John M. Technical Communication, 9e.
Course Description: A course involving correctness and
effectiveness in technical writing for students of agriculture, engineering,
business, science, and other technical fields. Principles of exposition are
applied to actual problems in these and other subjects.
Statement of Purpose:
This course
partially satisfies the requirements for the Associate degree at
General Course Objectives:
Students will
understand and be able to demonstrate in writing the knowledge, skill, and
appreciation regarding techniques necessary for effective communication in
technical fields. See Course Objectives below for specific objectives.
8 Click onto each
link to go to specific sections of the syllabus:
TEACHING PHILOSOPHY: It is my firm belief that students who take
the responsibility for learning will learn the most. Therefore, in this class I
will be acting more as a "facilitator of learning" than a
"traditional teacher." What you learn in this course will come
primarily from these sources: textbook exercises, lab assignments, bulletin
board postings from instructor and students, chat room discussions with fellow
classmates and me, and email messages from other students and me. If you ever
need extra help, remember that I am only a phone call or an email message away.
SPECIFIC COURSE
OBJECTIVES: Upon
completion of this class, the student will
Knowledge and understanding
·
Distinguish between technical writing,
academic writing, and essay writing.
·
Discuss the requirements of good style
in technical writing.
·
Write introductions, conclusions, and
transitions in documents.
·
Determine what kinds of reports fit
different situations.
·
Find and to use published information.
Skills and abilities
·
Compose effective business letters.
·
Design and implement graphic aids.
·
Acquire skill in practical
communication.
·
Master the fundamental types and
techniques of exposition pertinent to engineering, business, scientific, and
agricultural reports.
·
Produce common reports.
Attitudes and appreciations
·
Recognize the importance of a
carefully prepared manuscript.
·
Demonstrate consideration of the
reader.
·
Appreciate a scientific approach to
everyday problem solving.
·
Realize and accept the importance of
meeting responsibilities.
Exemplary Objectives
·
Produce a longer research report or
real-world project
·
Decide how to most effectively format
a document, giving consideration to the audience, context, time constraints,
and available resources.
·
Collaborate
with students on-line and in class.
·
Provide
additional materials for class assignments and study when needed.
·
Grade
and discuss student writing assignments on-line and in class.
·
Direct
and assist students in library and Internet research.
·
Work
with students individually whenever possible.
·
Conduct
bulletin board messaging, chat room conferencing, PowerPoint presentations, and
emailing of assignments and projects.
COURSE
POLICIES
·
Regular attendance (for online
classes, that means checking email at least every two or three days)
·
Complete all written weekly
assignments and communication assignments (bulletin board postings)
·
Complete unit tests and final exam
ABOUT ASSIGNMENTS: Assignments will be uploaded into the
Drop Box area of the
It is, of course, possible that someone will have some technological
difficulties (computer crashes or our server goes down). If this should happen,
I will let you know what to do. You will certainly not have points deducted
when something happens beyond your control. BUT YOU HAVE TO CONTACT ME IF YOU
HAVE TROUBLE SUBMITTING YOUR WORK.
DROPPING THE COURSE: If you decide that you cannot continue
with the course, you should go through the proper process for dropping a course
so that you don't receive an "F" on your transcript. I won’t drop you from the class – you
must do that yourself. For heaven’s
sakes, don’t just quit coming! If you
see you are having serious trouble or something comes up you couldn’t foresee,
please come talk to me and we’ll see if we can work something out before you
drop. See the College Catalog and refer to
sections under Academic Information entitled "Schedule Changes" and
"Dropped Course Grades" for specific information.
WITHDRAWAL FROM COLLEGE:
When
a student finds it necessary to withdraw from school before the end of the
semester, he or she should obtain a withdrawal form from the Office of Student
Services. Students may also withdraw from the college by sending a written
request for such action to the Registrar’s Office. The request must include the
student’s signature, the student’s current address, social security number and
course information details. Students who withdraw after the census date for the
semester and on or before the end of the 12th week of a long
semester, or on or before the last day to drop a class of a term as designated
in the college calendar will be assigned a grade of “W.”
HOW I GRADE:
I
grade document assignments and exercises as “superior, good, acceptable, or
unacceptable.”
Superior documents (you’ll get a grade of 100)
§ meet professional requirements as if
you were in a real workplace setting
§ have only one or two spelling,
grammatical, or mechanical errors
§ are organized in a logical and readable
style
§ are designed appropriate and correctly
(memos look like memos are supposed to look, etc.)
§ are the ONLY ONES THAT EMPLOYERS WILL
ACCEPT!!
Good
documents (you’ll get a grade of 85)
§ satisfy most of the superior
requirements but contain some mechanical and spelling errors that can be easily
corrected
§ contain no more than three or four
spelling, grammatical, or mechanical errors
§ are not organized as logically and
thoughtfully as superior documents
Acceptable documents (you’ll get a grade of 70)
§ satisfy some of the superior
requirements but contain some mechanical and spelling errors that can be easily
corrected
§ are not organized logically and are
confusing to the reader
§ need quite a bit of revision to be
acceptable
Unacceptable but completed documents (you’ll get a grade of 50)
§ need extensive revision to meet all the
requirements or has so many mechanical, rhetorical, or design errors that would
distract the reader
GRADES AND GRADING: Grades will
be calculated as follows
|
Average
of unit evaluations, including final |
45% |
|
Assignments (documents and exercises) |
25% |
|
Research
project or real-world document |
10% |
|
Periodic
progress reports |
20% |
|
A = 90-100 |
B = 80-89 |
C = 70-79 |
D = 60-69 |
F = below 59 |
ACADEMIC INTEGRITY (HONESTY)
“
Failure to comply with lawful direction
of a classroom instructor is a disruption for all students enrolled in the
class. Academic dishonesty (cheating)
violations include, but are not limited to: (1) obtaining an examination,
classroom activity, or laboratory exercise by stealing or collusion; (2)
discovering the content of an examination, classroom activity, laboratory
exercise, or homework assignment before it is given; (3) observing the work of
another during an examination or providing answers to another during the course
of an examination; (4) using an unauthorized source of information during an
examination, classroom activity, laboratory exercise, or homework assignment;
(5) entering an office or building to obtain unfair advantage; (6) taking an
examination for another person; (7) completing a classroom activity, laboratory
exercise, homework assignment, or research paper for another person; (8)
altering grade records; (9) using any unauthorized form of electronic
communication device during an examination, classroom activity, or laboratory
exercise; (10) plagiarizing. Plagiarism
is the using, stating, offering, or reporting as one’s own, an idea,
expression, or production of another person without proper credit. This
includes, but is not limited to, turning in a paper purchased or acquired from
any source written by someone other than the student claiming credit, or stolen
from another student.
While academic honesty is the
responsibility of the individual student, the classroom teacher is responsible
for maintaining ethical behavior within the classroom. The classroom teacher will be responsible for
deciding what actions will be taken if the need arises for the dispensing of
discipline due to inappropriate actions by a student.
Each incident, whether occurring in
workforce or academic courses, will be reported to the Dean of Students. The report shall include the course,
instructor’s name, student’s name, and a brief explanation of the
infraction. The Dean of Students will
keep records of these reports. If a
student has more than one infraction, the Dean will meet with the instructors
involved within 14 days, and they will decide upon a course of action.”
My
Policy in Addition to the Official Policy:
In order to help students learn in an academic environment,
I adhere to a strict policy regarding academic honesty. Anyone who is dishonest
in any way (including the following examples) will receive a zero on that CATEGORY
(not just the assignment or test) with no opportunity to make up the zero and
will receive a grade of F if it happens twice.
Cheats on an assignment by letting someone
else complete part/all of your work by
·
using
someone else’s files
·
letting
someone else use your files**
·
using
the Internet illegally (we’ll do an exercise on plagiarism)
·
using
any kind of electronic device for unauthorized testing purposes
** It
is your responsibility to protect your electronically saved files. If someone
else turns in an assignment as if it were that student’s work but it is work
that you completed, I will have to assume that you allowed it to happen.
Therefore, make sure your saved files are kept in a place where others cannot
copy them. I take plagiarism VERY seriously, as do most instructors, and will
not tolerate it.
NEVER LET ANYBODY USE YOUR COLLEGE LOGIN OR
PASSWORD!!! GUARD IT WITH YOUR LIFE!
PLAGIARISM: Read the following explanations carefully and
be sure that you understand them.
1. Word-for-word
plagiarism: The student quotes his or
her source without using quotation marks.
Even if the student cites the source, he or she is still plagiarizing
because proper quotation procedures were not used.
2.
Paraphrased plagiarism: The student uses
a source and with the exception of changing a few words or phrases essentially
quotes the original. Even if the source
is properly cited, the writing is still plagiarized because the student has
used the author’s style, vocabulary, and content and claimed it as his or her
own.
3.
Improper citations: If a student uses
someone’s information other than his or her own, the source of the material
must be properly cited. Failure to do so
is plagiarism.
4.
Improper use of ideas: Ideas are as
equally protected as words. If the
student uses someone’s ideas, but expresses them in his or her words, the
student plagiarizes if he or she does not cite the source of the idea.
5.
Internet use: Copying and pasting from
the Internet is plagiarism. Purchasing
papers from a paper mill is plagiarism.
6.
Student sharing: While students are
certainly free to work together and study together, an assignment that calls
for individual work must reflect the student’s personal effort. If a student borrows or copies another
student’s work, that is plagiarism. If a
student has another student write a paper, that is
plagiarism. If two students collaborate
on an individual assignment and turn in the same work, that is plagiarism.
Plagiarism
is a serious academic offense. It
involves legal issues about improper use of materials that do not belong to the
student. Plagiarism is unethical. A student must do his or her own work;
otherwise, the learning process is compromised.
Plagiarism is unfair to fellow students who take the time and make the
effort to do their own work.
Essentially, plagiarism is cheating and will not be tolerated.
PROGRESS REPORTS: The purpose of the progress reports is
to get you into the habit of writing. In business and industry, you often have
to keep a log of your day's tasks, prepare progress reports on projects, give
periodic updates, and so on. This will get you into the habit. Progress reports will be due on specified
weeks, submitted through the Dropbox. Tell me how you
have progressed during the class, your thoughts/wishes/gripes/frustrations with
the class, and how you feel the assignments will help you in your chosen
careers. Write at least three or four paragraphs. Since this IS still an
English class, I will be looking at spelling, grammar, mechanics! Play-like you’re preparing these for a
real-live company. If
you submit them professionally with very few errors (less than three), you will
receive a grade of 100. If they
have more than three errors, you will get a 70.
Don’t submit your progress reports, and you will get a zero. The Dropbox will indicate the week you should send in.
PARTICIPATION
ACTIVITIES: We will have in-class and bulletin
board discussions throughout the semester. The purpose of these discussions is
to bring you into the "community" of the classroom and make you begin
to feel like you are a professional in your field. In the real world of
business and industry, you have discussions, meetings, and conferences about
various topics all the time. You will need to post at least 20 messages in our
bulletin board – each messages counts 5 points on your participation grade. It
seems like assigning a grade to these is the only way some students will
participate.
RESEARCH
PAPER OR REAL-WORLD DOCUMENT: Depending on how many people we have in class, you will
prepare either a research paper or a real-world document in order to get you
more involved in researching methods that you will use in workforce. As I have
said before, I want this class to prepare you for the workforce. In business
and industry, you often have to conduct primary or secondary research for
budgets, proposals, new products or services, and so on.
If you prepare a research paper, the paper will be from five
to six pages long, prepared in Microsoft Word and submitted to me via the Dropbox titled "Submit Research Paper." We will
discuss possible topics you may consider later.
Use MLA Style, and PLEASE BE SURE TO WATCH GRAMMAR, PUNCTUATION, ETC. I will count off for things of that nature, of course. Or, there are a ton of sites giving you examples of writing research papers in MLA style.
I will compile all these and post them for the whole class
to see and respond to (that will be about our last topic of discussion in the
bulletin board).
For five points of extra credit, you can prepare and submit PowerPoint
presentation in conjunction with the research paper. If you need help with the
slides or have never done PowerPoint, I am more than glad to help you, or the
lab assistant on the main campus can aid you. Or, if you rather, email some of
your fellow classmates and see if they have worked with the program and can
give you some assistance.
I will
have more information for you later in the semester if you prepare a real-world
document.
ABOUT TESTS: You will have on-line objective and
short-answer tests in class.
ACCOMMODATIONS POLICY:
Hardware Required:
·
Pentium 133 computer or better with
minimum 32 mb RAM (To check: My Computer, Control
Panel, System, General tab)
·
Screen resolution best at 800x600 (To
check or re-set: My Computer, Control Panel, Display, Settings tab)
Software Required:
·
Windows 95 or higher
·
Microsoft Office 97 or higher, especially
MS Word (if you don’t have MS Word, you can use Windows Word Pad, which can be
found by clicking on your computer Start, Accessories, Word Pad
·
Email address
·
Internet Access using a common browser
·
WORD PERFECT OR MS WORKS WILL NOT WORK THROUGH
WEBCT!!!! If you do not have MS Word, you can prepare the documents in WordPad
and save the file as a “rich text file” (.rtf) or text
(.txt) file. WordPad is in your computer
Accessories. Go to Start, Programs,
Accessories, WordPad
·
You CANNOT prepare documents in WordPerfect unless
you save them as an .rtf file.
·
Real Player plug in software (To be used
to listen to PowerPoint presentations. (If not installed, go to Real Player web site to install
a free version.)
Basic Computer Skills Needed:
Keyboard and mouse usage, starting/closing programs,
manipulating windows, using menus, toolbars, dialog boxes, and scroll bars. basic word processing and spreadsheet skills. Continuing education classes are also offered on
campus to help you develop these skills.
Special Skills Required for Taking an On-Line Course:
|
Weeks 1-2: |
Chapters
1-3 |
|
Week 3: |
Chapters
4-5 |
|
Week 4: |
Chapters
6 Test #1, Ch. 1-6 |
|
Week 5: |
Chapters
7-9 |
|
Week 6: |
Chapter
10 Test #2, Ch. 7-10 |
|
Week 7: |
Chapters
12-13 |
|
Week 8: |
Chapters
14 |
|
Week 9: |
Chapters
15-16 |
|
Week 10: |
Chapters
17 Test #3, Ch. 12-17 |
|
Week 11: |
Chapters
18 and 20 |
|
Week 12: |
Chapter
19 Research paper due |
|
Week 13: |
Chapters
22-23 Test #4, Ch. 18-23 |
|
Week 14: |
Chapters
24-26 |
|
Week 15: |
FINAL, Ch. 24-26 |
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I have received and
have read the syllabus for ENGL 2311 taught during the ______________, 20___
semester by Jimidene Murphey and agree to abide by the policies written in
it. I understand the policies of class
attendance, dropping the course, academic honesty, and general class behavior
and understand the consequences of failing to comply with these policies.
Student’s Name Date