• Markel, Mike. Technical Communication: Situations and Strategies, 5th ed., 1998
• Brusaw, Charles, Gerald Alred, Walter Olin The Concise Handbook for Technical Writing, 1996
• A high density formatted disk for writing assignments, a copy of which you should hand in the final portfolio

Advanced Technical and Scientific Writing is a course in which you will continue to practice researching, organizing, writing and designing technical and scientific reports and documents. Technical Communication encompasses a broad field of activities in industry, business, government, medicine, and agriculture. Originally associated with engineering, technical communication now touches many academic disciplines and nearly all professional fields and includes the use of electronic media in production and presentation of written and oral projects.

Although individual ability to communicate effectively is highly prized when it exits in experts on technical and scientific subjects, as elsewhere, in practice, most writing in and outside of the university is collaboratively written. Expert technical communicators work with content experts such as engineers, scientists, technicians, governmental agency personnel, and business and industry managers to ensure the accuracy of specialized information and clear communication attuned to purpose and audience. Even where content experts do the writing, they control and schedule publications, assist, edit, do graphics, and manage production of company or agency documents. Often such writers prepare for their roles by concentrating in a content area themselves as a minor, for instance, or taking more advanced courses in a range of technical and scientific subject areas. Open even the most innovative book and you will see an acknowledgements page in which formal and informal co-creators and readers of early versions are thanked for their help. Although our culture highly prizes the individual and originality, little truly springs forth like Athena from the head of Zeus. My hope is that we are all muses for each other.

My goals for you are

1) That you will continue to increase your awareness of the varied and complex rhetorical demands of writing performed in professional settings, where audiences are multiple and vary in familiarity with terminology and in uses of information.

2) That you will further your experience writing collaboratively and working co-operatively and with the computer hardware and software commonly used in professional settings, through practical exercises and projects that simulate a real workplace.

3) That you will make the common functions and conventions of technical and scientific writing both intuitive principles you use in composition and strategies about which you can converse as technical and scientific writing professionals.

4) That you will acquire the functions, forms, and conventions of writing within the specific professional fields or academic disciplines which you aspire to practice.

5) That you will develop a writer’s notebook of draft work and writing exercises demonstrating process in a series of "in-basket" assignments as memebers of an editing group and a portfolio of representative projects useful in seeking employment and simulating the functioning workplace you will someday inhabit.

6) That you will practice the ability to control the flow of information in documents, write and edit under time constraints and word limits, and choose appropriate visuals for supporting the structure and purpose of documents.

Your writer’s notebook will contain worklogs, progress reports, and several short writing assignments that simulate a real workplace. I will appreciate your efforts to find an effective, appealing, and logical arrangment of your draft work, completed projects, work logs, progress reports and reflections, etc. This project will be handed in with a progress report on your learning in the course at midterm. Each finished piece of writing should have with it an explanation of how the rhetoric (persuasive power) of the document works in areas such as material, organization, expression, design, correctness, audience, and purpose.

• Analysis and editing of professional correspondence

• In class writing under time constraints

• Editing for word limits

• Issue working paper

• Interview Questions and Response Analysis

• Brochure revision plan and rationale

• Editing for audience and purpose

• Industry or Agency Testimony

• Collaborative Feedback

Professionals in many fields, such as art, photography, creative and professional writing, and investing are familiar with the term portfolio. Your portfolio is the collection of materials that you will assemble for assessment of your final achievements in Advanced Technical and Scientific Writing. It will show only your finished work.. In professional life it would support your job search activities. Arrange your portfolio with an eye to your audience and purpose. I encourage you to have high expectations of yourself for the content and appearance of your work. Nothing will give me more pleasure than seeing you succeed in meeting and exceeding your aspirations. The portfolio, along with a progress report self assessment will be handed in at the end of the semester. Each finished piece of writing should have with it an explanation of how the rhetoric (persuasive power) of the document works in areas such as material, organization, expression, design, correctness, audience, and purpose.

A table of contents at the beginning of your portfolio and a series of dividers should signal your arrangement. You can develop the portfolio gradually if you make a practice of orderly arrangement, meet deadlines on projects, and bring your portfolio to conferences, just as you would bring it to job interviews. We will work together to ensure that each of you has the information necessary to present a professional portfolio. Your portfolio with contain electronic and hard copy of a selection of representative work from the writer’s notebook, your collaborative project with students in Allied Health (see below) and your revision plan for a brochure and hardcopy of your presentation regarding it.

Attendance and Participation: Attendance and participation are especially important for two reasons:

1) Professional writing frequently requires collaboration and that reality will be reflected in our assignments. I will make every effort to keep our class actively student centered as well, since recent research shows that you will learn more, and use what you learn more effectively, if you engage your learning in applying it. You will rarely be asked to remember information as information once you leave the university.

For a classroom to be student centered, you have to be present and active. I will work to facilitate and orchestrate, but you will "play the music." Remember that your participation in all daily work and all activities is necessary for passing the course. Periodically we will talk about how actively we are engaged in our discussions and what can be done to ensure the full participation of each of us.

2) Technical and professional writers can expect to work with technology while preparing their work. 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 and you will be able to share your special areas of expertise with others. Thus, unexcused absences during the term will negatively affect your grade. Late work will receive a lowered grade if not received when expected since you will be working interdependently in base and project-oriented groups.

Plagiarism: Avoid even the appearance of using another's work without giving credit.

In academic work it is a sign of professionalism to be aware of what has already been written regarding your subject. Thus you should read others' work and build on their ideas in formulating your own. Although you do not want your work to be composed mostly of citation, it should be nurtured by the work of others. Just be sure that you give credit to those who have contributed to your thinking generally, those whom you paraphrase, and those whom you cite word for word. Handing in verbatim the work of another author, professional or student, without due credit is always obviously both intentional and unethical in this context and when discovered will result in your losing credit for your work. It is impossible to plagiarize by accident unles you have a photographic memory J

Technical and Scientific Writers work in organizational settings of several types and consult if in business for themselves. During the semester you will participate in three types of project groups focused on editing and writing under short deadlines, project development and management, and analysis and oral presentation. Your time will be divided among these groups with the goal of producing revised documents for the portfolio. There will be a "poster session" day during final exam period in which you display and talk informally about the results of your efforts. You will learn to prioritize and budget time and to manage several deadlines simultaneously, a situation you will encounter lifelong in your professional work, as you do in student life. It is important not to underestimate the necessity of learning how to be self motivated and to keep supervisors apprised of your progress on projects. Both the success of the project and your own promotion depend on the quality of your work and your ability to communicate it to supervisory personnel.

We will spend time developing a list of possible projects and then select among them. All of you will be responsible for individual phases and pieces of the project as well as the final results. You will be able to make the projects interrelated if you wish. For instance, you may develop a presentation regarding the same subject as the proposal or brochure for a different venue, purpose and audience.

I invite you to conference with me during and outside of class throughout the semester and to have members of the class and tutors at the writing center read your work. In addition, there will be assigned conference times for your groups to meet with me to discuss your projects and interaction.

You will be asked to assess your progress formally at midterm and finals. Assessment is also ongoing throughout the semester. 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, though, of course, it is not ths same as conducting a systematic user test. Also develop the habit of reading your work aloud to train your ear and to hear where sentence length and complexity or inflated levels of diction 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 if aspirations outreach results. I will make every effort to be fair and to recognize your efforts. Please feel free to discuss your grade with me at any time. I want you to do well. Formal assessment will take several forms.

Your participation grade includes several components and comprises a substantial part of your grade. Obviously you are not participating when you are absent from class or conferences for which others are present. There will be times that you will be able to work electronically or outside of class, however. You will be asked to keep a detailed time log charting your progress and the substantive work you have accomplished will provide evidence of your effort. At midterm and the end of the course, you will also write a progress report on your work in the course to date. At midterm place this report in your writer’s notebook, at finals, in your portfolio

Group work will be structured in ways that make each person in the group accountable for different phases and components. Drafts and a copy of your contribution s will appear with the completed project in your writer’s notebook and portfolio. In addition to your self assessment (see below), group members will also assess your performance, as will I. Many job descriptions now include the ability to work with others and I consider this something you need to learn to prepare yourselves for the success you deserve. We will discuss group dynamics and how to ensure full participation and allow time for working on group process in class and conferences.

Every effort will be made to create interdependent groups in the three project areas described above. You will hand in draft work and/or reports on your accomplishments. You will be awarded points here for your writer’s notebook, the collaborative project with Allied Health, and the revision plan and presentation. A rhetorical analysis in which you describe, in professional terms, your audience, purpose, and rhetorical choices of material, organization, expression, and graphic design, etc. using specific examples should be part of each assignment. It is in this analysis that you will demonstrate your reading of our text, understanding of concepts, and professionalism in speaking about your work with other professionals.

At the end of the semester, you will be asked to hand in a portfolio containing finished projects, and a final progress report in which you review your work during our time together. Sometimes students come in to my office and ask "how am I doing?" One of my goals for you is that you will feel able to answer that question! If the writer’s notebook records your process, this document represents the products of your labors. Here part of your task if to select documents to present wisely and to be able to explain why they belong in your professional portfolio. In other words, what kind of job are you looking for, who is interviewing you? Why and how do these documents present you well. Such reflections are important if intuitive knowledge is to be made consciousness so that you can deliberately employ it in pursuing your professional life.