Slippery Rock University	
Dr. Nancy Barta-Smith Technical and Scientific Communication  English 24205 01 (8:30--Rm 306), 02 (1:00--Rm 219)	312-Q Spotts Fall 1996

Office Hours: TR 9:45-11:15
		  W 3-5

Textbooks: Markel, Mike. Technical Communication:  Situations and Strategies,
		 4th ed., 1996 Brusaw, Charles, Gerald Alred, Walter Olin The Concise Handbook 	
		for Technical Writing, 1996

Course Description: Work in researching, organizing, and writing technical and 		
			scientific documents.

Aims Of	1) To increase student awareness of the varied and
Course:	complex rhetorical demands of writing performed
		in professional settings.
		2) To give students experience writing collaboratively and with the 
		computer hardware and software commonly used in professional settings. 	
		3) To introduce students to the common functions and conventions of 
		technical and scientific writing.
		4) To familiarize students with the functions, forms, and conventions of 
		writing within a professional or academic discipline of their choice.
		5) To help students develop a portfolio of representative work useful in 	
		seeking employment and ultimately in functioning in the workplace.

Attendance: Attendance is especially important for two reasons:

1) Professional writing frequently requires collaboration and that reality will be reflected 
in this course's assignments. You will be working in groups throughout the term, both for 
formal assignments and in-class activities. Your contribution to a group's products will 
have a direct effect on your own grade and that of others.  Class time will be devoted to 
practice in the kind of writing required for the assignments.
	
2) Technical and professional writers can expect to work with computers.  Class sessions 
will help you share problems and solutions in the production as well as conception of 
technical documents. In class you will be assured of using common programs employed 
by all members of the class.

Please note: Unexcused absences during the term will negatively affect your grade, 
resulting in a grade reduction or failure.  Please notify me ahead of time if you know you 
will be absent.

Late papers will receive a lowered grade if received the week due.  Thereafter, they will 
not be accepted.

Assignments:

1) Two individual technical writing assignments will be distributed during the course.  
Students will prepare and submit these papers for grading. Please submit hard and 
electronic copies of each assignment.  Doing so will allow me to grade the assignment 
while also providing clean copy for class discussion of exemplary student papers.  It is 
the student’s responsibility to pace work throughout the semester in order to get early 
feedback on performance and assure completing assignments on time. Assignments will 
be graded when due, but all students should feel free to bring drafts to me in my office or 
the computer lab for suggestions. In addition, there will be times when draft versions will 
be brought to class for workshopping.

2) Two collaborative  assignments will give students the opportunity to apply technical 
writing techniques to communication problems assigned by the instructor.  Collaborative 
groups will form technical writing groups, link individual web pages to the group sites, 
and link assignments. Students will have the opportunity to assess the equitable 
participation of all members of their group at the end of the course and will keep a log of 
their time spent on collaborative projects. Also feel free to bring any problems to me 
throughout the semester.  There are inherent difficulties with group work. These 
difficulties will not go away in the workplace. Make every effort to learn to cooperate and 
be flexible to make the group function efficiently 

3) The midterm will be an in-class exam testing your reading of the text and attentiveness 
to class discussion. The final exam will be your group’s presentation of one of its 
collaborative projects to the class using PowerPoint.  

4) Students will produce two field related papers in a professional, technical or academic 
area they choose.  Each paper should be approximately three-four pages (750-1000 
words) in length.  The first of these papers will introduce a process or concept within a 
discipline to a reader not familiar with the field, thus testing your reading of your 
audience and ability to simplify ideas.  The second will discuss the rhetoric of an example 
of writing within the student's chosen profession--its format, organization, and style.  The 
student may review and categorize several kinds of writing performed, analyze one piece 
of representative writing in the field, or interview a practitioner in the field regarding 
writing tasks performed on the job.

Note:    All assignments will include a rhetorical analysis of the finished work and how it 
achieves its effects, as well as a self assessment of both process and product.

5) Students will prepare a portfolio of their work throughout the semester in PageMaker 
to document their achievement and write a reflective self assessment of  the pieces of 
work they choose to represent their progress in technical and scientific writing

Conferences:

It is hoped that students will consult with the instructor regularly during the term.  Formal 
conferences will also be scheduled early in the course to discuss the student’s fields of 
interest. 

Paper format:

All assignments should be typed or produced on a word processor with a near letter-
quality printer. Every effort will be made to simulate a professional context, both in the 
assignments and standards. No business or organization would allow a document out of 
the office with any correctness problems or with an unprofessional appearance. This is 
the minimum requirement for an acceptable document and you should adopt this 
criteria for your work.  Excellent and above average work should demonstrate creativity 
and complexity in the assignment. To this end, you will be given general parameters for 
the assignments and develop them as you choose--to demonstrate your initiative in going 
beyond average work.  You may always come to me for ideas, however. But I will expect 
that you will have given thought to the assignment before consulting me

Revision:  All good writers rewrite, revise, and edit. The key is to prepare assignments 
early, allowing time for this process. Editing practice will be part of class work. You 
should also use your collaborative group and/or classmates as readers. I am available in 
the lab and my office, as well.  At times, we may workshop assignments in class but we 
will not always do so.  You may also seek advice in the writing center.  Nonetheless, no 
work should be submitted without already having been revised and edited.

Of course, successive assignments always offer the opportunity to “revise.” Be sure to 
use what you’ve learned, even from your errors, in future assignments.  Develop the habit 
of continually seeking feedback from a variety of sources.  The latter practice is a valid 
and useful equivalent of “user testing” or “test marketing” your work.  Also develop the 
habit of reading your work aloud to train your ear and to hear where sentence length and 
complexity will impair understanding. 


I try to reward both excellence and diligence. It is my hope to nurture in you the desire to 
succeed and the belief you can do so.  Sitting in judgment on student work is a difficult 
task, especially when aspirations outreach results. I will make every effort to be fair and 
to recognize your efforts. Please feel free to discuss your grade on an assignment or for 
the course with me at any time. I want you to do well.

Grading:

Final grades will be calculated as follows:

Field-related papers    100
Individual assignments    100
Collaborative assignments    100
Mid-term    50  
Final exam  50
Participation   50  
Final Portfolio 50 Semester Calendar 

YOU BETTER VISIT OUR TECHNICAL WRITING GROUPS !!! How to Use PowerPoint 

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