Technical Communication for Engineers & Scientists – Spring 2010

M/W 4:00 – 5:15 p.m.

Course Syllabus and Information

Instructor: Michelle M. Schoenecker

E-mail: / Course Web Site:https://d2l.uwm.edu
Office/Hours:EMS 371-B; M-F by appointment / Office Phone: 414-229-4421

Introduction

This is a project-focused course designed specifically for students in the College of Engineering & Applied Science. This course covers many of the basic forms of professional communication that engineers are likely to encounter in their careers. Engineers today are increasingly asked to communicate with diverse audiences, ranging from their peers to management, staff, clients, customers, professional colleagues, government and regulatory agencies, funding agencies and the public at large. Therefore, the course involves writing practice, collaborative exercises, and class presentations to improve overall communication skills for a technical workplace. All assignments, classroom work, and selected textbooks will feature an engineering context.

Prerequisites

Satisfactory completion of at least one college-level composition course (English 101, 102) or equivalent or written consent of instructor.

Course Objectives and Outcomes

This course will provide engineering and science students with knowledge of and practice in oral and written technical communication, including key principles of technical communication and the development of standard documents. The course focuses on the fundamental writing steps of planning, development, and revision. By the end of the course you will have acquired the theoretical and practical background and the confidence to fulfill the communication responsibilities of your chosen profession.

  • Analyze specific audience/readers’ needs
  • Understand the role of ethics in technical communication
  • Develop effective business correspondence (memos, letters, e-mails)
  • Incorporate document designstrategies in technical documents
  • Compose various forms of technical communication (abstracts, proposals, various technical reports, assembly instructions)
  • Present visual information (calculations, graphs, charts, photos, graphics) accurately and effectively
  • Develop and deliver effective oral presentationsfor technical and non-technical audiences
  • Develop effective communications for your job search/career (resumes, cover letters, post-interview communication, performance appraisals)

You will also learn how to:

  • Edit and revise your documents to achieve clarity and correctness
  • Recognize and eliminate mechanical barriers to accurate communication
  • Present a positive and professional personal and institutional image in written communication
  • Write individually and collaboratively

Graduate students enrolling in the course will have additional instruction and assignments focusing on academic writing such as articles for publication, poster presentations, theses, dissertations and grant proposals.

Required Materials

  • An Engineer’s Guide to Technical Communication*, by Sheryl A. Sorby and William M. Bulleit. Pearson Prentice Hall, 2006. ISBN: 0-13-048242-0.

*Available at the UWM bookstore and at Amazon.com.

Optional Material

The Handbook of Technical Writing, 9th Edition*, by Gerald J. Alred, Charles T. Brusaw, and Walter E. Oliu. St. Martin's Press, November 2008. ISBN: 978-0-312-57510-6.

*Available at Amazon.com, Barnesandnoble.com, and eBay.

Computer Requirements

  • Easy, regular access to a reliable computer and printer
  • Microsoft Word (Note: If you use the Microsoft Vista platform and use Word 2007, please convert the file to Word 97-2003 before uploading to D2L and/or e-mailing it. Please see me if you need help with this.)
  • Reliable access to the Internet. UWM has several campus computer labs for your convenience. See https://www4.uwm.edu/uits/services/campus/ccls/ for more information.
  • A flashdrive or other means of copying files if you need to work at a computer away from home
  • A UWM e-mail account (my e-mails will be sent only to your UWM account)

Office Hours

I work full time as a technical writer and research grant administrator in the College of Engineering & Applied Science. My office hours are 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., room 371-B. If you plan to drop by, please send me an e-mail or phone my office to make sure I’m available – I’m often working under tight deadlines and I want to make sure that I can give you my full attention.

Attendance

A workplace typically provides a very limited number of excused absences; unexcused absences place you at risk of a warning or termination. Your attendance in this course is crucial because of the complexity of the topic, the structured accumulation of skills and concepts, and the new material presented in each class from sources other than the textbooks. Much of the course content is based on lectures and handouts, so a missed class means missed information and writing exercises that will not be repeated. Please direct any questions about assignments to me during class or contact me during office hours or through e-mail and/or telephone messages.

Professional Etiquette

Similarly, a workplace typically does not tolerate unwelcome interruptions and distractions – they are considered rude and repeated occurrences damage your credibility and can place you at risk of warning or termination. Therefore, please demonstrate good professionalism in this class and do not use your cell phone in any way (texting, checking messages, taking phone calls). Laptops may be used only for notetaking; please do not respond to e-mails, IMs, or surf the Web.

Plagiarism and Professional Ethics

All work done in the course must be your original writing unless group projects specifically are assigned with multiple contributors. Demonstrated plagiarism can result in failure on the specific paper and possibly in the course as well, following established UWM principles. Complete information and the policies for addressing students cheating on exams or plagiarism can be found on the UWM Web site at: http://www4.uwm.edu/osl/dean/conduct.cfm

Requirements for Submitting Papers

Please develop your course assignments using the following format requirements. All out-of-class assignments must be submitted electronically through the D2L course site.

  • Typed format, using 12-point Times New Roman font
  • One-inch margins on all sides (top, bottom, right, left)
  • Numbered pages
  • Single-spaced text; double-spacing between paragraphs
  • Free of grammatical, spelling, and other mechanical problems
  • Your name, the name of the assignment, and the due date placed in the upper-right corner of the first page

Due Dates

For each assignment, please upload in to the specific Dropbox on D2L by midnight on the required due date and turn in one hard copy in class.

Deadlines and Extensions

Maintaining solid professional skills is part of becoming a valuable player in your profession. In the workplace, missing deadlines not only reflects poorly on your reliability and project management skills, it seriously affects your manager’s and co-worker’s ability to do their jobs and will place you at considerable risk of losing yours. To prevent this from happening, you would advise your manager of the delay and let her/him know when you will have it completed.

Thus, I’m willing to grant extensions for most assignmentsonly if you contact me (in person, by phone, or e-mail) beforethe date the assignment is due. At that time, you will set a new deadline for that assignment and must meet that second deadline to receive full credit. Ihave the discretion to approve or reject that new deadline.

Please note that all other arrangements are unacceptable and will result in my lowering that assignment grade by a third of a grade for each business day that it is late (for example, an assignment that is due on Thursday night, which would normally receive a grade of “B,” would receive a B- if it is submitted on Friday, a C+ if it is submitted on Saturday, a C if it is submitted on Sunday, and so on.

Revisions

If I advise you to revise an assignment, it is due by the final day of class. Submit onecopy of your original assignment with your revised version. If you wish to voluntarily revise an assignment to earn a better grade, please notify me of which assignment you are revising. You can revise up to three assignments, which are due by the final day of class. No extensions will be given for any revised assignment.

Grading

Your grades will emphasize the written elements of your work, professionalism in interactions with peers, and satisfactory completion of assignments. Professionalism includes leadership, attitude, communication, improvement and intellectual honesty, all of which can have lead to promotion and other successes; improperly managed, these elements can have negative effects on a career.

Grading Criteria

All papers will be graded on a scale of 1-5, with five being the top grade. Depending on the assignment, papers will be graded on a weighted basis (i.e., some papers will count double, triple, etc.). At the end of the semester a cumulative numerical average will be calculated and a final letter grade will be assigned, based on converting a numerical scale to letter grades. All graded papers need to be retained for revising and resubmitting in the final portfolio.

Because the work in this class is intended to simulate the workplace, the following criteria will apply to grades (I will serve the function of your manager):

  • 5 points = Manager or clients would be impressed and remember the work when a promotion or contract is discussed. An “A” is reserved for work that clearly fulfills the requirements or criteria for a given assignment.
  • 4 points = Manager or clients would be satisfied with the job but not especially impressed. A “B” indicates some lack or deficiency in one key area. For example, a “B” would be given to an assignment that overlooks a specified criterion, has a less than professional visual quality, or was not edited or proofread thoroughly.
  • 3 points = Manager or clients would be disappointed and ask you to revise or rewrite sections before allowing outsiders to see the work. A “C” indicates more substantial shortcomings in the areas discussed above.
  • 2 points = Manager or clients would be troubled by the poor quality of the work. A “D” indicates that there are profound weaknesses in all areas of the documents
  • 1point = Manager or clients would start looking for someone to replace you.

How effectively you meet these criteria will depend on an assignment’s form or overall appearance, visual appeal, and adherence to the models provided and content, which includes grammar/punctuation, tone/style, and sentence/paragraph organization. Each criterion is explained in greater detail in the Criteria for Effective Technical Writing document provided at the end of this syllabus and on D2L. Although I will be especially attentive to an assignment’s form, the content of the assignment will always play a larger part in determining the final grade. Please see me if you have any questions or concerns about the grading criteria and/or policies.

Students will receive individual grades on each written assignment, individual oral presentation and group project. All original papers and revisions of selected papers must be retained to be resubmitted as a final portfolio in lieu of a final exam (this will be explained more fully in class). Students will receive a final course grade based on written work, oral presentations and the comprehensive course portfolio, demonstrating proficiency and improvement in the assigned writing projects and in revising and editing skills.

Final grades will be determined as follows:

  • Individual writing assignments = 50%
  • Class participation and attendance = 10%
  • Oral presentations (individual and group) = 10%
  • Final portfolio with revisions = 30%

The Final Portfolio

At the end of the semester each student is required to turn in a final portfolio that includes all of the previous writing assignments with the instructor’s original grade and comments. To demonstrate growth in writing proficiency, each student will select up to a minimum of three and up to five assignments to revise, based on the original comments and on strategies and concepts learned in the course. These revisions should be clearly marked as such and should have the original paper attached. Each of these revisions also requires an analysis of what was revised, why, and how the paper has been improved by the revision.

Class Schedule

We’ll do our best to follow this schedule. If changes become necessary, I’ll notify students in advance and will provide sufficient time for students to complete all assignments.

Week / Date / Topic
1 / Jan. 25 / Orientation to the Course
Jan. 27 / The Writing Process and Audience Analysis
2 / Feb. 1 / Technical and Non-Technical Descriptions:
Feb.3 / Technical Description: Mechanisms, Processes
3 / Feb. 8 / Grammar and Style
Feb. 10 / Ethical Issues in Technical Communication
4 / Feb. 15 / Executive Summaries and Abstracts
Feb. 17 / Document Design (fonts, white space, headings, table of contents, figures, appendices)
5 / Feb. 22 / Document Design.
Feb. 24 / Reporting Information: Technical, Experimental, and Progress Reports
6 / March 1 / Reporting Information and Oral Communication
March 3 / Proposals
7 / March 8 / Policies and Procedures
March 10 / Instructions: Design Specs, Assembly, Equations, Calculations
8 / March 15 / Oral Presentations
March 17 / Oral Presentations
9 / March 22-26 / **SPRING BREAK**
10 / March 29 / Visual Representation of Data: Graphs, Charts, Tables
March 31 / Visual Representation of Data: Flowcharts, Gantt charts, organizational charts
11 / April 5 / Developing Posters
April 7 / Developing Posters
12 / April 12 / Presenting Calculations in Technical Documents
April 14 / Preparation for Final Project
13 / April 19 / Correspondence: Memos, e-mails, good news/bad news
April 21 / Correspondence: Job letters and resumes
14 / April 26 / Editing and Revising Technical Communication
April 28 / Preparation of Final Portfolio and Group Presentation
15 / May 3 / Final Presentations
May 5
16 / May 10 / Final Exam Week
May 12

University Policies

Incompletes: The conditions for awarding an incomplete to graduate and undergraduate students can be found at: http://www.uwm.edu/Dept/SecU/acad%2Badmin_policies/S31.pdf

Students with Disabilities: Verification of disability, class standards, and policies on the use of alternate materials and test accommodations:http://www.uwm.edu/Dept/DSAD/SAC/SACltr.pdf

Religious Observances: Policies regarding accommodations for absences due to religious observances are found at: http://www.uwm.edu/Dept/SecU/acad%2Badmin_policies/S1.5htm

Active Military Duty: Policies regarding accommodations for absences due to call-up of reserves to active military duty arefound at: https://www4.uwm.edu/current_students/military_call_up.cfm

Discriminatory Conduct: Definitions of discrimination; information regarding harassment, abuse of power; and reporting requirements of discriminatory conduct are found at: http://www.uwm.edu/Dept/SecU/acad%2Badmin_policies/S47.pdf

Academic Misconduct: Policies for addressing students cheating on exams or plagiarism can be found at:http://www4.uwm.edu/osl/dean/conduct.cfm

Complaint Procedures: Students may direct complaints to the head of the academic unit of department in which the complaint occurs. If the complaint allegedly violates a specific university policy, it may be directed to the head of the department or academic unit in which the complaint occurred or to the appropriate university office responsible for enforcing the policy.

Grade Appeal Procedures: A student may appeal a grade on the grounds that it is based on a capricious or arbitrary decision of the course instructor. Such an appeal shall follow the established procedures adopted by the department, college, or school in which the course resides. These procedures are available in writing from the respective department chairperson or the Academic Dean of the College/School. A more detailed description of the grade Appeal Policy may be found in UWM Selected Academic and Administrative Policies, Policy #S-28 and UWM Faculty Document #1243.

My Professional and Personal Background

I’d like to take this opportunity to tell you a bit about my technical writing career and a bit about my personal background. While this is my first time teaching technical writing, I bring to this course extensive and invaluable technical writing experience:

I joined UWM in 2006 as an Associate Technical Grant Writer in the College of Engineering & Applied Science where I specialize in helping the engineering faculty develop proposals to federal and state agencies to fund their research projects. I help develop the structure of their proposals, ensure their case for support is clear and compelling, both of which require considerable technical writing editing. I also edit manuscripts for submission to engineering journals, write technical articles for the college’s Milwaukee Engineer magazine, write content for the CEAS Web site, as well as write various process documents. I was promoted to Senior Technical Writer in November 2009.

Prior to joining UWM, I worked as a proposal manager for Fiserv, a financial data processing company located in Brookfield, Wisconsin, since 1999. I helped senior executives develop multi-million dollar sales proposals to some of the largest banks in the world (e.g., American Express, AIG). These proposals described the functionality of various data processing software programs and hardware specifications. Before joining Fiserv, I wrote grant proposals for various colleges and non-profit health agencies in Milwaukee.

I received my bachelor’s degree from AlvernoCollege and I recently completed my master’s degree in Professional & Technical Writing here at UWM, and I have been accepted into the Ph.D. program. I belong to several professional technical writing and editing associations and I have published several articles about technical writing.

In 2008 I served as a research associate on the textbook Handbook of Technical Writing – 9th Edition by Gerald J. Alred, Charles T. Brusaw, and Walter E. Oliu (St. Martin's Press, November 2008. ISBN: 978-0-312-57510-6, ISBN10: 0-312-57510-6). More recently, I was invited to review a chapter for the upcoming technical communication anthology, Digital Literacy for Technical Communication: 21st Century Theory and Practice, authored by Drs. Rachel Spilka and David Clark, both of whom are faculty members inthe UWM English department.

I’ve described all of these jobs not to bore you (I hope that didn’t happen), but to give you an idea of the diversity of technical writing along with a sense of my credentials for teaching this course. Throughout the semester, I’ll try my best to share with you skills or insights gained from experiences I’ve had in the workplace, in addition to approaches and perspectives I’ve developed as a scholar in the field.

On a personal note, I am married and my husband Rob is a Milwaukee firefighter. We live very close to MountMaryCollege (which is near Mayfair Mall) with our two cats, Paddington and Smokey Joe. We both enjoy traveling, collecting antiques, cross-country skiing, working out, and good restaurants.

That’s it for now! I’m looking forward to working with you this semester.

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