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ENGL 534 Spring 2006

Theories and Methods of Teaching

Technical and Professional Writing

 

Dr. Patricia Freitag Ericsson 

Email: ericsson@wsu.edu

Phone: 335-4820

Avery Hall 223

Office hours: 1:30-2:15 T-Th and by appointment

 

Catalog description

Historical and theoretical bases for production of scientific discourse; training in its practical applications.

 

Course Goals

¤       Introducing issues in technical and professional communication research and scholarship,

¤       Familiarizing students with models of inquiry in the field,

¤       Emphasizing the connections between theory and pedagogy in technical and professional communication,

¤       Designing course material for technical and professional writing classes.

Required Texts

á       Peeples, Tim  (2003). Professional writing and rhetoric: readings from the field. New York: Longman.

á       Latour, Bruno. (1996). Aramis or the love of technology. Cambridge: Harvard UP.

á       Kostelnick, Charles and Michael Hassett. (2003). Shaping Information: The rhetoric of visual conventions. Carbondale, IL: SIU Press.

á       Gee, James Paul. (2003). What video games have to teach us about learning and literacy. New York: Palgrave MacMillian.

Projects

1. Jump-start Journal and Questions

Journal

A journal entry must be written for each reading assignment. The first 10 minutes of each class session will begin (be jump-started) with journal entries being read by classmates.  Your journal entry will always be read by at least one class member. 

The format of your journal may be in any form you find helpfulÑsummary, key-word and definitions, quotations, reading notes, or a double-entry journal. A minimum of 1.5 pages, double-spaced must be written for each reading assignment (approximately 375 words).  If a particular reading engages you, you may choose to write more, but the minimum must be written for each assignment.

It is also possible to combine graphic formatÑa diagram, chart, free-writing cluster, etc.Ñas part of your journal entry.  If you are technically inclined, you may use a blog, webpages, or other electronic formats for the journal.  If you use this format, you must bring a laptop to class so that other may see what youÕve created. 

Questions

In addition to the journalentry, you must provide two questions about the reading material that can be used in class discussion.  Along with the journal entries, these questions will be used to jump-start class discussions.

2. Four short papers (approximately 3-5 pages)

One paper will be written on each required book. Topics for these papers will be selected from issues identified in Peeples, Latour, Kostelnick and Hassett, and Gee and be due within one week of completing that text.  These papers may include other sources, but the primary focus of each paper will be a synthesis of the ideas/issues found in the text.  Possible ideas for these papers will be generated through class discussions.

 3. Journal review/analysis

This project will be completed in collaboration with one other person. The publications listed below will be considered, and the results of this project will be presented in class.  More details on this project will be presented in Week 3 of class.

¤        Technical Communication

á       IEEE Transactions on Prof. Comm.

á       JBTC

á       JTWC

á       TCQ (formerly Technical Writing Teacher)

á       BCQ (formerly The Bulletin)

á       Management Communication Quarterly

4. Final project

The final project for this course is a multi-part, individual project that requires the review of a variety of course syllabi, a textbook review, the development of a syllabus, two sample assignments, and an accompanying research-based argument for the validity of the theoretical/pedagogical approach used in the syllabus and assignments.  This project may be paper- or web-based. 

The final results of this project will be presented to the class and copies of the syllabi developed and the arguments supporting them will be available to all class members. 

Schedule

Evaluation

Jump-start journal                    Pass/Fail                       10%

Three short papers                   A-F                              40% (10% each)

Journal review                          A-F                              15%

Final Project                            A-F                              35%

WSU Accommodation Policy
Reasonable accommodations are available for students who have a documented disability.  Please notify the instructor during the first week of class of any accommodations needed for the course.  Late notification may cause the requested accommodations to be unavailable.  All accommodations must be approved through the Disability Resource Center (DRC) in Administration Annex 206, 335-1566.

Academic Honesty
All students are expected to act in accordance with the WSU policies on Academic Honesty found in the Student Handbook. These policies include falsification of information, fabrication of information, plagiarism, multiple submission, and various others. Information about these policies can be found in the Handbook and it is expected that students are.