engl 534: theories and methods of teaching technical and professional writing

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 communication classes.

required texts
Peeples, Tim. (2003). Professional writing and rhetoric: readings from the field. New York: Longman.
Latour, Bruno. (1996). Aramis or the love of technology. Cambridge: Harvard UP.
Kostelnick, Charles, and Michael Hassett. (2003). Shaping Information: The rhetoric of visual conventions. Carbondale, IL: SIU Press.
Warren, Thomas L. (2006). Cross-Cultural communication:perspectives in theory and practice. Amityville, NY: Baywood.
Gee, James Paul. (2003). What video games have to teach us about learning and literacy. New York: Palgrave MacMillian.
Ball, Cheryl, and Kristin Arola. (2005). ix visual exercises for tech comm (CD-ROM). Bedford/St. Martin's.

schedule

projects
Details for each of these projects are provided with the course schedule. All projects will be either presented in class or available for review in the course file.

1. Double-entry Journal
For each reading assignment, a journal must be kept. This will be in double-entry form, which entails recording your responses as you read. In the left-hand column, you copy or summarize text which is intriguing, puzzling, or moving, or which connects to a previous entry or situation. (It is good practice to include page numbers, dates, and any other relevant information with the entry.) In the right-hand column, you react to the quotation or summary. The reaction might be a comment, a question, a connection made, an analysis, or other reaction to the idea in the left-hand column. You do not need to comment on each idea that interests you, as that might make keeping this journal a terrifically time-consuming project. You should, however, make entries for those ideas or sections of the reading that seem particularly relevant or that you have questions about. This journal will be useful as you write the papers required for the course and should also serve you well as you continue in your graduate studies. The journal will be collected for evaluation twice during the semester. If you're comfortable with an alternative format--an online journal in the form or a website or blog or some other format--that would be great. But handwritten on paper (ink stains on tree carcasses) is just fine.

2. Four short papers (approximately 2-4 pages)
One paper will be written on each required book. Topics for these paper will be selected from issues identified in Peeples, Latour, Warren, 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 and the papers themselves will be available to all class members.

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 2 of class.
Technical Communication
IEEE Transactions on Prof. Comm.
JBTC
JTWC
TCQ (formerly Technical Writing Teacher)
BCQ (formerly The Bulletin)
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, 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.

evaluation
Double-entry journal Pass/Fail 10%
Three short papers A-F 30% (10% each)
Journal review A-F 15%
Final Project A-F 35%
Class participation A-F 10%

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 online at the WSU Academic Dishonesty site. These policies will be discussed in class and students will be asked to acknowledge that discussion and a basic understanding of the policies.

 


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ericsson@wsu.edu

 

 

 

 

 

 

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