Harris/English 393 SYLLABUS FALL 2009

• Instructor: Linda R. Harris
• Office: 447A Fine Arts
• Office phone: x52022.  Department: x52384.
• Office hours: TUTH 1:15-2:15 p.m. and via e-mail.
• E-mail: lharris@umbc.edu
• Home page URL: http://umbc7.umbc.edu/~lharris/index.html Harris Home Page

Course Description

Technical writing is often defined as writing that reports factual information objectively for the reader's practical use. In order to  develop your writing skills, we will discuss the writing process, rhetorical techniques, organization, style, and mechanics.

Course Objectives

• Analyze the communication situation fully and accurately: needs, audiences, and users.
• Gather, interpret, and document information logically, efficiently, and ethically.
• Develop professional work and teamwork habits.
• Design usable, clear, persuasive, accessible documents:
• Select the appropriate format for presenting information.
• Organize information using reader-based principles.
• Use graphics effectively.
• Develop an effective, clear writing style.
• Employ computer technology effectively in the solution of communication problems.
• Communicate in an ethically responsible manner.

Course Requirements

1. Attendance: Since a good deal of the work for this course is done in class, attendance is important.  Missing four or more classes may have a negative impact on your final grade.  Attendance includes participation in any online chats in the virtual classroom.
2. Writing Assignments:
• technical definition
• collaborative formal report
• instructions PowerPoint presentation
• group progress report (memo)
• collaborative report group member/leader/coordinator evaluation memo
• class notes (done in HTML and posted to the web site no later than one week after the note taking date)
• Blackboard online discussions
• personal and professional web site

You may revise assignments. These revisions are due one week from the day the assignment was returned. Revising means making substantive improvements to the report, not merely correcting the mechanics. Revising a paper does not mean that the paper automatically receives a higher grade. If the revision does not significantly improve the paper, the grade will not change.   You can get help with your revision by visiting the Writing Center in the basement of the library.

You may also write to appeal a grade if you feel that your work received too low a grade.  Use the rubric for that assignment in your explanation of why the paper deserved a higher grade.

3. Writing assignment format:

a. title page (formal report) b. final draft (all) Prepare your work on a computer and submit it as a hard copy. Reports should be error free (i.e. no errors in grammar, spelling, punctuation).

4. Plagiarism: Do not plagiarize (take credit for someone else's ideas). All paraphrases, summaries, or verbatim quotes must be documented in in-text parenthetical citations and a works cited (bibliography) page. Use MLA documentation style. Students who plagiarize will fail the course. Ignorance is not an acceptable excuse.  Visit the Academic Integrity web site for information.
5. Late papers: I do not accept late papers. However, I do make special arrangements only with students who let me know  at least ONE class before the due date that they will need an extension.  Request the extension by e-mail.  Place  the phrase "extension request" in the subject field.  I will not reply to the email.   Extension requests made on the paper's due date will also be granted, but there will be a five point deduction  to the final grade.
6. Grading: Assignments will receive points from 0-100. Reports, written and oral, the web site, and class notes will have a maximum of 100 points.  Exercises will have a maximum of 50 points.  Assignments not submitted will receive zeroes.
7. Hybrid Course:  This course is described as a hybrid because it has a combination of face-to-face (f2f) and online activities.  We will be using Blackboard for online communication.
8. Lost reports: Keep a copy of each final draft. That way, you won't have to conjure up a new report should either of us lose the original. If I lose your report, you must replace it by the next class period. I recommend storing your work on disk or CD or flash drive, etc. so that replacing the report is simply a matter of sending another copy. I also recommend making a back-up copy of your course disk to prevent catastrophes. Establish the habit of saving to your WWW folder as well as to your regular and back-up disks and to your hard drive on your own computer. And since I have recommended backing up your work, I will not be sympathetic to any tales of woe (My hard drive crashed). BACK UP YOUR DISKS!
9. Vanishing students: Students who stop attending class must drop the course by the end of the drop period, or they will fail the course. Students who stop coming to class and/or who have failed to turn in three assignments should drop because they will have missed too much work to make up.

Date	F2F Activities	Online Activities	Readings
Sept.1 tu	Course introduction.  Web site creation 1.	Frequently misused words and Notorious Confusables.	Home Page Template
3 th	Definition.   Web Creation 1 continued.		Definition Guidelines
8 tu		Definition exercise. This exercise asks you to define a slang term, character type, or a term created by your family or friends.  Send the result to the Discussion Board.	Collaborative Report Guidelines
10 th	Definition:  exercise report.  Collaborative formal report.  Group dynamics.  Creation of collaborative groups.  Group meetings.	Fragments. Commas. Hold a preliminary group meeting online, using the Blackboard Group Pages links.	Review the work done on your web site so far to be ready for the next additions to your home page.  Refer to the Powerpoint to see what you need to add to your site. Send your draft to the discussion board by midnight Sunday, and check Blackboard's announcements for the names of your group members.  Anyone who does not submit a rough draft for peer evaluation cannot submit a final draft for grading.
15 tu	Revising: content.  Page Design.	Punctuating Compound Sentences.
17 th		Evaluation groups: technical definition. Documentation.
22 tu		Semicolons.	If you feel that your paper should have received a higher grade, then you must write an appeal using the rubric for the assignment to justify your request for an upgrade.
24 th	Due: Definition.
29 tu	Instructions lecture.	Concise Sentences.    Group meetings	Process Guidelines
Oct. 1 th		Group process exercise.
6 tu	Process exercise presentations.
8 th		Group meetings. Punctuating Compound Sentences.
13 tu	Documentation.  Formal report.
15 th		Apostrophes. Group meetings.
20 tu	Progress report. Graphics. Formal report.		Firefox Process Manual
22 th		Group meetings.
27 tu	Progress report.	Group meetings.
29 th		Group meetings.
Nov. 3 tu	Progress report.	Subject-Verb Agreement	MLA Documentation Style Progress Report Guidelines  Student Progress Report
5 th		Group meetings.
10 tu	Progress report student examples. Formal report. Job letters and résumés.		Send your draft to the discussion board by midnight Wednesday.  Each group will evaluate the report of another group.  The list will be in Announcements/email.
12 th		Evaluation groups:  Progress report.
17 tu	Job application and follow-up letters, résumés. Class will be online this week because I am attending a conference in North Carolina.	Revising: style. Group meetings.
19 th	Due: Progress report (via email).	Quotation Marks.	Topic Guidelines Sample Cover and Follow-up Letters Sample Functional Résumé
24 tu	Job letters and résumés. Instructions presentation.	Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement	"Cover Letters: A Key to Gaining a Competitive Edge in the Job Market"
26-29	THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY		Send your draft to the discussion board by midnight Monday.
Dec. 1 tu		Evaluation groups: résumé, application and follow-up letters.
3 th	Instructions Presentations.
8 tu	Instructions Presentations.
10 th	Last day of class.  Instructions presentations.  Job letters, collaborative manual and all other work due.

Course Materials

1. Two 3.5" diskettes or data CD's or flash drives (use one as back-up)
2. either a print or an electronic grammar handbook

Harris Home Page

Course Materials Page