1. To prepare you to communicate effectively, ethically, responsibly, and professionally in a business environment.

2. To provide you with skills, strategies, and conceptual knowledge to help you address a variety of communication tasks.

3. To help you understand the symbiotic relationships among form and content, and audience and purpose.

4. To give you practice in collaborating with other professionals in managing and completing group projects, and to improve your own individual communication and management skills.

A Performance Summary will be provided when each assignment is returned. If you have any questions about the evaluation of your work, see the instructor at your earliest convenience. If you have any questions about the evaluation policies and appeal procedures, please consult your advisor. All assignments must be completed to pass the course.

Evaluations will reflect how well you have met an assignment's requirements (content and organization), your use of business style and tone, and your correct use of English. Papers that contain serious grammatical errors (sentence fragments, run-on sentences, comma splices, etc.) cannot receive a grade higher than "C". Other evaluation criteria include:
 

	Meets Assignment Criteria	Maintains Professional Style & Tone	Evidence of Revision & Editing	Type(s) of Errors
A	outstanding	yes	thoughtful consideration	few & minor
B	satisfactory	yes	evident	some usage
C	satisfactory	not maintained	some evidence of	usage errors; some serious
D	not met	not maintained or lacking	little evidence of	serious usage errors or many minor errors
F	does not meet minimum criteria	lacks any evidence of style or tone	no revision or editing	many serious and minor errors

If your grade declines a letter grade i.e. A to B, B to C during the term, the instructor will inform you of this change on your Performance Summary. At that point, the instructor may request a conference to discuss your performance. If your grade continues to decline, the instructor may ask for, or require, additional conferences. At either your, or the instructor's discretion, such conferences may include additional faculty or your academic advisor.

  Course Procedure

During the term each group will initiate a discussion and we will, individually, participate in that discussion, sometimes actual, other times virtual. I will offer a starting point for discussions early in the term; but, during the term, I expect each group to assume a leadership role in promoting at least one discussion. See the description of Project 5 (by clicking here) for more information.

As you might imagine, these discussions will offer ways for you to think about impending projects. You will, however, soon discover that the focus for the course is on textual elements, and the production of those elements, at a fairly high level. That is, we will NOT spend much time on grammar and other aspects of "nailing" together words. Instead, we will concern ourselves with the "architecture" of communication: how do we create communication products for specific audiences and purposes? how do we envision how readers extract "information" and "meaning" from the welter of form and content? how do readers come to understand the rationale we have used to construct our communication event?

I rely on your interest in the topics, and your dedication to presenting a credible performance for each project, to insure that the content of these discussions, and its importance, finds its way into your work.

Finally, you should feel free to contact me during either virtual or actual office hours.

  Text and Bibliography

Required:
Robinson, Patricia A., and Ryn Etter. Writing and Designing Manuals. 3rd Edition. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, 2000.  (ISBN 1-56670-378-6)

Optional:
Woolever, Kristin. Writing for the Technical Professions. NY: Longman, 1999. (ISBN 0-321-01122-8)

Other Technical or Business Writing Handbooks, such as
Jones, Dan. The Technical Communicator's Handbook. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 2000.

St. Martin's Press also publishes Handbooks for both Technical and Business Writing, authored by Alred, Brusaw and Oliu.

Recommended to improve anyone's writing:
Cook, Claire Kehrwald. Line by Line: The MLA's Guide to Improving Your Writing Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1985.

Other  useful sources are listed below in the Bibliography

  Policies

All projects are due by Tuesday 9 am of the week indicated in the Class Calendar. If a project cannot be completed on time, contact the instructor, in writing (email is valid), before the due date to arrange an extension.

Late projects, without extension, will be accepted up to 24 hours late with a penalty assessed.  All late projects, with or without an extension, must be presented to the instructor and must be accompanied by a written statement indicating the reasons for the late submission and, if applicable, the student's acknowledgment of the penalty process. If this procedure is not followed, the project will not be accepted.

All projects must be submitted to complete the course. Please note the due date at end of semester for all projects.
 
 

Drafts

You may submit a draft of your work for instructor comments. However, the draft must be accompanied by a memo (or attached to an email) asking for responses to specific questions. Drafts for comments must be emailed to me at least one full week before the project is due. Follow submission procedures discussed below. Please include this draft with your final project.

Formatting, Naming, and Transmitting Projects

Projects may be turned into the instructor as hard copy or be sent via email.

Quick Reference

• Format projects with one inch margins, serif type, 10-12 point; Project 2 allows some exception to this rule.
• Save As a Rich Text Format (RTF) file.
• Name file with the last five numbers of your social security number plus the number of the project followed by the rtf extension--883071.rtf (my naming of the project 1 file). Be sure to check the description of individual projects for any exceptions to this naming practice.
• Send the file as an email attachment to your instructor's campus address.

Projects submitted electronically should be saved as Rich Text Format (RTF) Documents. Several techniques will insure more successful and less frustrating file transfer:

1. Format your files exactly as you would for printing. That is, if you expect specific leading characteristics (Only space and a half is acceptable, unless otherwise allowed by agreement), include those in your file. Format your documents (unless you have a good design reason for doing otherwise) with one (1") inch margins all around. Use a legible, ten, eleven, or twelve-point serifed typeface, such as Times New Roman.

2. Although it is discouraged, if you incorporate visuals (drawings, illustrations, photographs, or scans) into your document, you can reduce their memory demands, and transfer times, by changing them into GIF or JPEG (usually provides better detail for photos) formats. A variety of photo manipulation applications (CorelDraw, Adobe Photoshop, etc.) provide this ability. However, please note that including visuals often makes electronic transfers less predictable. In this instance, less IS more!

3. Use the Save As function in your word processor and save your file as an RTF (Rich Text Format) file; (See Resources, above, for a Tutorial on saving documents.)

4.  Use the following file-naming convention. Name the file with the last five (5) digits of your social security number followed by the project number. Append the file type (.rtf) to that name. For example, if I were submitting project one, the file name would be: 883071.rtf. Inappropriately named or formatted files, will NOT be accepted. [Project 2 has 3 parts. Label 2a, 2b, and 2c as indicated on calendar: ex. 883072a.rtf]

5. Submit your paper electronically by attaching it to an email message. Include the course number in the subject line of the email. (See Resources above for a Tutorial on using campus email.)  Do not submit multiple files. If a project has multiple parts, place all parts in one file and insert page breaks. In the email message that includes your file attachment, describe the structure of your file. For project 1, for example, you might say: "The rationale and context of project 1 are covered in the first two pages of the file, the remaining pages are the policy memo."

6. Project 2 (documentation) may be best transmitted as a printed document. Please anticipate that scenario, please.

When I receive a file, I verify its integrity and inform you of its condition by return email. If the file is unreadable, it is your responsibility to assess your file and resubmit it as soon as possible. While I do NOT assess late penalties for transmission difficulties, I do place these papers later in the evaluation process.

Participation
Participation will be evaluated based on your efforts in the Class Discussions (Project 5) and Project 2 (collaborative project). You are expected to take an active role in all course activities.

Failure to be an active class member, can, at the instructor's discretion, lower your grade; or, if the student fails to improve her/his performance, reduction of a letter grade for the course.

Academic Honesty

In this course, plagiarism and other forms of academic dishonesty, as well as unacceptable behavior, will be treated based on the East Carolina University Code of Conduct. I recognize that many students have only a vague idea of plagiarism and the like; if you are ever in doubt, best ask.

Bibliography

The following bibliography contains texts that you may find useful in completing your projects. You are NOT required to either purchase or read ANY of these texts.

Barker, Thomas.  Writing Software Documentation: A Task-Oriented Approach. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1998.

Barnum, Carol, and Saul Carliner. Techniques for Technical Communicators. NY: Macmillan, 1993.  (especially Chapter 11 on Usability)

Brockman, R. John. Writing Better Computer User Documentation: From Paper to Hypertext. NY: Wiley, 1990.

Calishain, Tara. Netscape Guide to Internet Research. Research Triangle Park, NC: Ventana Press, 1997. (ISBN 1-566040604-1)

Castro, Elizabeth. HTML for the World Wide Web. Berkeley CA: Peachpit Press, 1998.

DeJong, Menno and Peter Jan Schellens. "Reader-Focused Text Evaluation," Journal of Business and Technical Communication, 11 (1997): 402-432.

Driskill, Linda. "Understanding the Writing Context in Organizations," Writing in the Business Professions. Myra Kogen, ed. Urbana, IL: NCTE, 1989, pp. 125-45.

Driskill, Linda, et al. Business & Managerial Communication: New Perspectives. NY: HBJ, 1992. (ISBN 0-15-505589-5)

Hackos, JoAnn T.  Managing Your Documentation Projects. NY: Wiley, 1994.

Hackos, JoAnn T. and Dawn M. Stevens.  Standards for Online Communication. NY: Wiley, 1997.

Hamper, Robert and L. Sue Baugh. Handbook for Writing Proposals. NTC Pub., 1996.

Hart, Geoff. "The Five W's: An Old Tool for the New Task of Audience Analysis," Technical Communication, 1996: 139-145.

Holmes, Nigel. Designing Pictorial Symbols. NY: Watson-Guptill Publications, 1985. (ISBN 0-8230-1327-8)

Holmes, Nigel. Designer's Guide to Creating Charts & Diagrams. NY: Watson-Guptill Publications, 1984. (ISBN 0-8230-1315-4)

Horton, William.  Designing and Writing Online Documentation: Hypermedia for Self-Supporting Products. NY: Wiley, 1994.

Hurlburt, Allen. The Grid. NY: VanNostrand Reinhold, 1978. (A Classic!)

Kosslyn, Stephen M. Elements of Graph Design. NY: W.H. Freeman & Co., 1994. (A book that applies decades of excellent psychology research to practical design.)

Lehman, Carol M. and Debbie D. Dufrene. Business Communication. Cincinnati, OH: South-Western College Publishing, 1999. (ISBN 0-538-87520-8)

Lesikar, Raymond V., et al. Basic Business Communication. Boston, MA: Irwin McGraw-Hill, 1999. (ISBN 0-07-292990-1)

Locker, Kitty O. Business and Administrative Communication. Boston, MA: Irwin McGraw-Hill, 1999. (ISBN 0-256-22057-3)

Mathes, J.C. and Dwight Stevenson. "Designing Technical Reports: Writing for Audiences in Organizations," http://www.abacon.com/books/ab-0023770953.html, September 29, 1998.

McKim, Geoffrey W. Internet Research Companion. Indianapolis, IN: Que Education & Training, 1996. (ISBN 1-57576-050-9)

Muller-Brockmann, Josef. Grid Systems in Graphic Design. NY: Hastings House, 1985. (From the folks who really figured out how to use grids!)

Perelman, Leslie C., et al. The Mayfield Handbook of Technical & Scientific Writing. Mountain View, CA: Mayfield Publishing Co., 1998. (ISBN 1-55934-647-7)

Phillips, Vicky and Cindy Yager. Writer's Guide to Internet Resources. NY: Macmillan, 1998. (ISBN 0-02-861882-3)

Rubens, Philip. "Interactive Media and Technical Communication: Incorporating Emerging Technologies into the Information Domain," Technical Communication Frontiers: Essays in Theory. Charles H. Sides, ed. St. Paul, MN: ATTW, 1994, pp. 117-146.
Rubens, Philip. Science and Technical Writings: A Manual of Style . NY: Holt, 1994.

Satran, Kristof & Amy. Interactivity by Design. Mountain View, CA: Adobe Press, 1995.

Schriver, Karen A. Dynamics in Document Design. NY: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1997. (ISBN 0471-30636-3)

Sides, Charles H.  How to Write and Present Technical Information. Phoenix: Oryx, 1999.

Spilka, Rachel. "Collaboration Across Multiple Organizational Cultures," Technical Communication Quarterly 2.2 (1993): 124-45.

Thill, John V. and Courtland L. Bovee. Excellence in Business Communication. NY: McGraw Hill, 1996. (ISBN 0-07-006907-7)

Tschichold, Jan. The Form of the Book. Point Roberts, WA: Hartley & Marks, 1991. (ISBN 0-88179-116-4)

Tufte, Edward R. Envisioning Information. Cheshire, CN: Graphics Press, 1990.

Tufte, Edward R. The Visual Display of Quantitative Information. Cheshire, CN: Graphics Press, 1983.

Tufte, Edward R. Visual Explanations. Cheshire, CN: Graphics Press, 1997.

Wilkinson, Antoinette Miele. The Scientist's Handbook for Writing Papers and Dissertations. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1991. (ISBN 0-13-969411-0)

Williams, Robin, and John Tollett. The Non-Designer's Web Book. 2nd Ed. Berkeley CA: Peachpit Press, 2000.

East Carolina University seeks to fully comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).  Students requesting accommodations based on a covered disability must go to the Department for Disability Support Services, Brewster A-114, to verify the disability before any accommodations can occur. The telephone number 252-328-6799.

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Last Modified: 8.16.01