Applied Interdisciplinary Studies 3070 Applied Workplace Writing - WordPress… · 2014-01-03 · Andrus AIS 3070 Spring Semester 2013 Syllabus 1 Applied Interdisciplinary Studies

Andrus AIS 3070 Spring Semester 2013 Syllabus 1

Applied Interdisciplinary Studies 3070

Applied Workplace Writing

Dr. Sonja L. AndrusMuntz 155C

[email protected] (preferred contact)

513.237.7689 (Google Voice)513.936.7144 (office)

How to Contact Me:Email is my preferred method of contact. I will answer emails each day, Monday through Friday,

and generally once on the weekends. You can call my Google Voice number and leave a message. I’ll get a transcript and call you back or email you a response. However, if you choose

to call my office, please note that I might not be back into the office again for a few days.

NOTE: In a voicemail, please always leave your name, course and section number, a short message of your need, and the phone number to return your call (or other preferred method of return contact). Please indicate any days/times that you cannot or should not be contacted by

phone, as well.

mailto:[email protected]








Table of Contents

1. Catalog Course Description2. Practical Course Description3. Method of Instruction4. Course Learning Outcomes5. Course Materials6. Computer Requirements7. Computer Skills/Knowledge8. Course Requirements9. Policies

10. Grades11. Participation12. Timeliness/Late Work13. Netiquette14. How This Course Works15. Course Overview16. Assignments17. Major vs minor assignments18. Individualize Learning Plan (PLP)19. ePortfolio20. Roles and Expectations21. Faculty Role22. Student Role23. College Policies, Procedures, and Services24. Simulation Assignment Options25. Service Learning Assignment Option26. Tentative Course Calendar


Course Syllabus and Overview Catalog Course Description: This course covers practical strategies necessary to produce effective writing in professional environments. Students will explore the assumptions that govern writing in their fields and practice the writing skills and styles applicable to communicating effectively in the workplace. Practical Course Description: We’ll be working on the kinds of writing you might face daily in the workplace as a manager. We will work on document design and formatting, as well as rhetorical strategies for meeting the demands of a variety of audiences and purposes. Additionally, you will complete a field research project that allows you to explore the “rules” of writing in your field. Method of Instruction: Online. Course Learning Outcomes: The following structure provides the official course learning outcome, followed by a statement of what that will “look like” for the individual learner and/or how to accomplish that outcome.By the end of this course, students should be able to:

● Recognize effective and ineffective workplace writing.○ Analyze what works (and what doesn’t) in writing constructed for the workplace.

● Improve the rhetorical and sentence-level attributes of your own workplace writing.○ Write documents for work that are stylistically appropriate, clearly worded, and

persuasive.● Write and revise drafts and integrate feedback using composing, revising, and editing

strategies.○ Develop strategies for revising, editing, and proofreading your writing for work.

● Understand how format and layout affect meaning in workplace documents.○ Analyze format and document design for their impact on the reader in texts

created for the workplace.● Adapt to the conventions and expectations of various forms of workplace writing such

as analytical reports, proposals, memorandums, web pages, business letters, and promotional documents.

○ Create documents that conform to the standard expectations of a genre, including analytical reports, proposals, memorandums, web pages, business letters, and promotional documents.

● Produce workplace writing that is appropriate to specific writing situations and various workplace discourse communities.

○ Create documents that meet the expectations and demands of the specific audience and purpose for which you are writing, understanding that workplace writing involves a variety of audiences and purposes.

Course Materials:Textbooks for this course are posted here. You’ll find images of the UCBA bookstore listing for each book or option, and you’ll find that the images are links to the page to buy the materials for this course. When you log into the UCBA Bookstore’s online ordering system, you’ll see three required selections, but the first is a special order bundle (see it down later in the list here) which is available only through the bookstore on UCBA campus. To order online, you’ll see the two


separate books, available for purchase (the larger, more expensive book also has a rental option to save you more money). Required:

● Writing That Works: Communicating Effectively on the Job, by Walter E. Oliu, Charles T. Brusaw, and Gerald J. Alred, 11th edition. ISBN: 978-1-4576-1113-1.

NOTE: The bookstore may not have used copies for purchase in-store. Online purchases will be filled by Follett corporate, so the book may sell + ship from another bookstore location.

● Document-Based Cases for Technical Communication by Roger Munger, 2nd edition. ISBN: 978-1-4576-1502-3.

You may choose to purchase the books as a bundle (recommended for those wishing to purchase both books, as the DBC book is free in the bundle) for the $90-range buyer:

Recommended:

● The Gregg Reference Manual by William A. Sabin, 11th edition (tribute edition). McGraw-Hill. ISBN: 978-0-07-339710-8


○ This book is the gold standard in desk references. It covers absolutely all the rules of Standard American English. I highly recommend it. However, if you have a different desk reference guide for writers that you are comfortable with (or have scouted others online and find that you prefer some of them to this one), feel free to stick with what you have.

○ See at Amazon.com

Other Recommended Materials:

● USB “flash” drive for saving back-up copies of all work (I strongly recommend this) Computer RequirementsSoftware:

● Microsoft Office 2007 (or newer)○ Word, PowerPoint, Excel, etc.

■ You can purchase a copy of 2010 (Windows)/2011 (Mac) Office Suite Professional in the UCBA bookstore for $10 with your student ID.

● Adobe Acrobat Reader

http://www.amazon.com/Gregg-Reference-Manual-Grammar-Formatting/dp/0073397105/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1330988142&sr=1-1







http://get.adobe.com/reader/






● Updated Internet Browser (Recommended: Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, or Apple Safari)

● Some websites may require Java, Flash, and/or Cookies enabled Recommended Hardware:

● at least 512 MB RAM (at least 1 GB if running Vista)● at least 1 GHz processor

Computer Skills/Knowledge

● Blackboard navigation (if you are not comfortable with Blackboard, please make an appointment to come see me or attend one of the orientation sessions I will host in the first week)

● Email (and please check your university email regularly -- at least once a week, but preferably more often)

● Attaching, uploading, and downloading files● Playing media files● Playing embedded online video and audio content

Course Requirements:

1. Construct an eportfolio of texts crafted while enrolled in the course, including:a. analytical reportsb. project proposalsc. memosd. web pagese. business lettersf. promotional materials

2. An interview project to determine the kind of writing done in your career pathways and to construct your individualized learning plan

3. Participate in structured online (asynchronous) peer reviews of other students’ documents

4. Participate in online blogs, discussions, and journal activities, as assigned Course Policies

● Grades○ Total of 1000 points:

■ In each area described below, it would be possible to earn more than the maximum points for the area. This allows you to miss or mess up once or twice throughout the term without killing your grade in the course. You cannot, however, earn more than the points allotted in one area and apply those overage points to an area in which you have too few points to earn the grade you wanted.

■ A = 950 - 1000■ A- = 900 - 949■ B+ = 875 - 899■ B = 850 - 874■ B- = 800 - 849■ C+ = 775 - 799■ C = 750 - 774■ C- = 700 - 749■ D+ = 675 - 699

https://www.google.com/chrome?&brand=CHMA&utm_campaign=en&utm_source=en-ha-na-us-bk&utm_medium=ha



http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/new/



http://www.apple.com/safari/





■ D = 650 - 674■ D- = 600 - 649■ F = anything below 600

○ Final portfolio: up to 500 points

■ Each student will create an individualized learning plan for this course during the first two weeks which will be included in the final term project of an eportfolio. The learning plan must develop at least 30 pages of text (see the note on major vs minor writing activities later in this syllabus).

■ Other major writing assignments that will be revised and appear in the final portfolio

○ Learning Process/Minor writing assignments work: up to 250 points■ blogs, writing process work such as submitting work weekly for comments

from the instructor, other evidentiary writing process work.○ Participation in course activities other than those listed above: up to 250 points

■ discussion boards for activities and weekly topics

● Participation○ Discussions

■ Graded as participation.■ We will have at least one discussion forum active in each week.

● You are expected to post and reply to classmates’ posts, as well as to respond to those replies that are posted to your original post. (See below for a discussion of what is expected in these posts and replies.)

■ Unless otherwise stated, discussion forum posts are due by Wednesday night at 11:59 pm. Replies are due by Sunday night at 11:59 pm.

○ Peer Reviews■ Graded as participation.■ The peer review process is essential to our development as writers, even

for professional writers, and thus is an integral part of our course. You will be expected to produce writing each week (beginning in week 2) for the peer review, based upon your individualized learning plan.

● Peer reviews have specific guidelines, depending upon the genre you are working on, which you will post, along with your document, for peer review each week.

● You will receive peer review feedback, make revisions, and submit the document to me for grading. Once you are happy with a document, you may choose to add it to your eportfolio.

■ Peer review initial posts are due by Friday night at 11:59 pm, with replies due by the following Wednesday night at 11:59 pm.

○ Journals■ Graded as learning process■ You have journals associated with a number of projects and activities, all

assigned in Blackboard with varying due dates.○ Blogs

■ Graded as learning process/minor writing assignments■ We blog each week in an individual blog. Blog posts are due by Sunday

night at 11:59 pm. Replies to other students’ blogs are optional, but encouraged.


■ Blogs are your opportunity to express yourself about the writing process, the learning process, and the research process.

● Some weeks, the blogs will have posted questions for direction. Other weeks, the blogs will be “open blogging” to allow you to post about whatever you would like.

● Timeliness/Late Work○ Deadlines are inflexible in the course. However, because I understand that life

happens from time to time, hard as it is to believe, outside of my class, I do allow each student to have one late submission of a single project. That is one late submission of one kind of assignment/activity in the class. You must notify me before the deadline that the project will be late, and must receive confirmation from me in writing that I understand, have provided you with an alternative deadline, and am anticipating receiving the work by that deadline.

● Netiquette

○ It is essential that you work with your peers and with the instructor in a professional and courteous manner. While we are communicating primarily asynchronously via email, discussion board posts, and other electronic media, you should be aware that tone is still very important. You should choose your words carefully, noting that some words do carry a heavier punch than others. You should construct your sentences carefully, being aware that sentence length and word order do affect tone (and in fact do matter in many other important ways, as well). You should be particularly careful to construct your posts, replies, messages, and emails with a strong awareness that you are building business relationships, both with classmates and with instructors. Never respond in all capital letters, screaming in text-on-the-screen. Never respond with excess use of exclamation points (even when “happiness indicators,” the exclamation point should be used infrequently). Just be nice, and if you have a concern, voice it in a polite, professional way. Violations of this course policy can result in asking students to speak to the University administration for official resolution.

How This Course Works Here you’ll see a bit about how the course is designed and how it functions. This course is a challenging one. It will ask you to think about your writing habits and practices, and to compare those with the habits and practices expected and exercised in your field. It will also challenge you to think about writing as a series of tasks aimed at achieving a purpose for a target audience, which may be very different from what you have experienced before. Each week, you will have tasks and projects to work on. Some of these will be externally driven (tasks I have assigned) and some will be internally driven (tasks you have elected to work on). But you must produce a new text or a new version of a text each week, particularly after week 3. And you must participate in the activities that I assign, including peer reviews, each week. You will be busy. But you will also improve your writing and learn about professional writing activities, structures, models, and conventions. Course Overview


Here’s a run-down of some of the elements you’ve already seen in the syllabus:

● assignments

○ major vs minor■ You must complete at least 7 different major writing projects for the

course, of at least 35 pages total. These will be a mix of the projects already assigned and those you develop for yourself (see below). You will complete minor writing assignments each week in discussion board, blog, and journal activities.

■ All major and minor assignments are expected of you in the course. Your major assignments will be a collection of writing projects that match the expectations of writing at your job or at a position you hope to attain after completing this degree (a supervisor’s position, an executive position, etc.). These will be a mix of items assigned through the course calendar (pre-determined for all to complete) and those you devise for yourself based upon your interview project.

○ Note that you may choose to participate in simulated writing opportunities, complete work from your current job, and/or participate in service learning to draft up this collection of work.

● Major writing projects will be peer reviewed, with the exception of any due in weeks 1 & 2.

● Minor writing projects appear in blogs, discussion posts, journals and other group-sharing areas and are typically more casual in nature.

○ Please note that casual does not mean that you can use shorthand, texting code, or slang.

■ Additionally, all work should be proofread carefully for the course.

○ The Individualized Learning Plan (PLP): your work vs service learning vs simulated

■ Your learning plan should develop a series of tasks, as described in sections above, that represent the writing of the workplace.

● Your Work at Work● Simulated assignments and tasks from the Writing that Works

textbook● Service Learning writing projects from a service site

■ Many of you have jobs that do require writing. You may choose to work on those writing projects for this course as your learning plan (or part of it), or you may choose to avoid working on the projects from your job and instead focus on writing the simulation task projects or service learning work. You have the freedom to choose.

■ If you do not have a job that currently requires writing projects from you, you will necessarily need to complete the simulation projects and/or service learning work, as you will not have work-driven tasks to include in your learning plan.

● eportfolio○ This course requires an electronic portfolio (ePortfolio) to be constructed via

WordPress. If you are unfamiliar with WordPress, you will find helpful videos


posted inside Blackboard for setting up your blog/ePortfolio site, and you might also consider attending one of the end-of-term ePortfolio workshops (dates announced at a future time) to get assistance and feedback on the site structure, and to make sure that everything is working properly.

■ The ePortfolio should serve as a starting point for your professional portfolio. You will be able to manage the construction and revision of the documents presented there throughout your studies here, and even beyond.

● Professional portfolios are representations of the kind of work (and perhaps representations of your theory of leadership and management, as well) you can perform, a handy reference guide for a potential employer. You can read more about professional portfolios here.

■ The ePortfolio will also serve as the final point of evaluation for our course. Throughout the course, we will have opportunities for you to receive feedback via peer and instructor feedback on work, but the end of the term grades (we won’t have a final exam) will come from the ePortfolio. You’ll see in the “grades” section above that this accounts for 50% of the total points in the course.

● You will be able to use this site for further development of your professional portfolio, and also for the AIS program assessment and learning model you are asked to construct.

○ While some of your work may be housed in the LiveBinder website archive, you can link to this more robust, more polished web presence (WordPress) in LiveBinder for our program assessment needs, and provide the link to this WordPress site to employers and prospective employers, to showcase your work.

○ Your work in the course will be submitted for peer feedback and/or discussion, revised as you see fit, and submitted to me for response (you can take discussion projects, as well as the assigned work, to revise and include in your ePortfolio). Once you feel the work is ready for public display, you should add it (though you needn’t add all of our projects--see the grading statement again for more details) to your ePortfolio site.

■ You will draft a reflection essay or cover document for the ePortfolio, which should showcase your abilities as a writer and direct the ePortfolio viewer through what they will see in your collection of work. You’ll see some additional help for this step of the process later in the term.

Roles and Expectations Faculty Role

● email response times○ I teach almost entirely online this semester (I have a hybrid course which meets

once a week for an hour). However, this does not mean that I am a robot, sitting in front of my computer waiting to answer your questions in Blackboard FAQ or via email. I respond to emails each MWF from about 10 am until noon. I will periodically answer emails at other times, but I promise to answer them at these times.

http://internships.about.com/od/resumescoverletters/g/What-Is-A-Professional-Portfolio.htm


● Office hours: TR 11-12:20 am or as posted in Bb announcements (Tuesday I will be in my office, Thursday I will be available via Skype if I am not in my office and no other messages have been posted about a change in my office hours)

○ As I am teaching mostly online this semester, I plan to have some online office hours. I will, however, be available for face-to-face meetings with students in my office, upon request and at a reasonable time for both of us.

○ My online office hours will be held through Skype. I’ll be logged in, waiting to chat as you need to.

○ I will also use Skype for synchronous digital meetings outside of my office hours.● conference availability

○ I believe that face-to-face and synchronous digital meetings are essential to your learning and development, as well as to your comfort in the online classroom. I will require conferences from time to time, if I see that you are struggling or if I have an issue that I would like to visit with you about. And I encourage you to request a conference with me at any time in the term that you would like to chat with me. We can talk about a specific assignment, the course, a specific text we’ve been looking at, etc. I’m here to help.

○ I am available to chat with you on the phone, via the Internet, or in person. You may contact me via email to request a conference appointment. Please give me at least 24 hours notice (and provide a range of time or a couple of appointment times) for phone or Internet conference appointments. Please give me 48 hours notice (and again a range of time or multiple specific times) for face-to-face conference appointments.

● grading turn-around time○ I grade on Mondays in this course. This means that you should have your written

work submitted to me by Sunday night or early Monday morning for grading that week. If you submit work on Monday after noon, I might not grade it until the following Monday, though I do try to get back into grading throughout the remainder of the week.

○ I participate in discussion forums on Thursday of each week. This allows you the opportunity to get your initial posts made on time and to work with one another a bit (and for me to monitor the discussions while you all work them out some) prior to jumping into the conversation. (I have found that once the instructor comments, sometimes the discussion board activity slows or halts because it is difficult to follow-up from the instructor’s comments or to be willing to disagree with the instructor.)

■ I will then follow up with clarifications and closing remarks once the forum is ending or just after it has ended.

■ NOTE: I will participate more in the early weeks of the course, to model the interactions I expect of you, and less in later weeks (tapering off throughout the term). This is allow you to gain some ground on what is expected at first, and then to develop your voice and confidence, and finally to handle the conversations on your own, without my intervention (or with very little of it), as we would expect in class meetings in the


traditional classroom. Student RoleThe student is responsible for his/her own learning. While the instructor in any class can provide a framework (some better, some worse) and the materials for learning, the student must interact with the course and its material ideas in order to learn. That learning is best understood as an active process rather than a passive one. While some courses seem “easier” than others, this is frequently more about the individual learner’s strengths and weaknesses in the course field of study than about the course design or content. Writing courses, however, are typically viewed as more difficult for most students because of the degree of active engagement involved and the level of intellectual processes required to achieve the tasks associated with the course. The course is not a lecture-test-repeat course, but instead more of a studio in which skills and concepts and theories are discussed then applied to practice work. What this means is that you won’t be getting podcast lectures and PowerPoint presentations in this course, followed by an open-book exam; rather, you will be asked to read and question the texts of the course, apply their concepts to your own writing experiences and engagements, and present your own rhetorical dilemmas to the class and instructor for feedback and clarification. In this way, then, the student must take the time to prepare for class regularly. He/she must also make successive attempts at the work a bigger part of his/her study plan for success in the course. You should not expect to draft a document and submit it and simply be done with it. Instead, you should expect to be asked to re-imagine the text or to at least edit it in some ways after initial submission, prior to turning it in for the final course portfolio. The following list describes the successful student’s role in the course.

● Critical Reading of Assigned Texts○ Reading is more than just scanning the page. The textbook is going to engage

you in a bit of mental exercise, thinking about communication (primarily writing) in the workplace and elevating it to the managerial levels. You will need to contemplate how this general discussion in the textbook applies to your specific field of work or place of work. You will need to engage the ideas, the examples, and the concepts.

○ When we work in discussion boards and blog posts, you will need to use the terms and jargon of the course, as presented to you in the reading. This means that you need to spend time unpacking and analyzing the textbook reading to make good use of all it has available to you. You will need to take notes, using those notes to guide your writing in the course, as well as your vision of how a strong manager (and really any strong employee) communicates in writing at work.

● Active Engagement


○ Discussion posts and replies: Discussion posts should be treated as informal essays. In other words, you are expected to draft in complete sentences and paragraphs, using carefully edited Standard American English. You should have a thesis/main idea, logical discussion, and sufficient evidence to support your claims. Initial posts should have multiple paragraphs, unless otherwise instructed. Replies to classmates’ posts should be treated as summary and response essays. You should carefully restate the point you are responding to in the initial post, then craft a thoughtful response (either agreeing or disagreeing, or agreeing with part and disagreeing with part). Your response should include references to support materials, when applicable. Both posts and replies must include appropriate (MLA, APA, or another formatting style -- get approval from me first, please) formatting citations, when applicable.

■ C Level Participation● One substantial initial post, and two replies to a classmate’s post

that indicates your agreement/disagreement with substantive support (examples, evidence, support, logical analysis) for your position

■ B Level Participation● One substantial initial post, and two replies to a classmate’s post

that indicates your agreement/disagreement with substantive support for your position, and replies to most who have replied to your initial post with extended discussion (examples, evidence, support, logical analysis)

■ A Level Participation● One substantial initial post, and three or more replies to a

classmate’s post that indicates your agreement/disagreement with substantive support for your position, and replies to all who have replied to your initial post with extended discussion (examples, evidence, support, logical analysis)

○ Timeliness (see discussion by same title above)● Asking Questions

○ In an online class, it’s imperative that you ask questions when you have them, but continue to seek the answers while you wait for a reply.

○ You should subscribe to the FAQ discussion forum and read the emails when you receive them -- many times the other students are posting questions that you also need answers to.

○ Don’t wait for someone else to post your question; post when you realize you don’t have the answer.

○ Don’t post your question without first checking to see if the answer exists in information (including the FAQ) already available to you.

○ Answer other people’s FAQ posts when you have the answer. Perhaps you asked via email or other private communication, or maybe you found the answer in the book or syllabus documents.


College Policies, Procedures, Services● Student Code of Conduct: Everyone in this class is expected to treat others with

respect. Though lively debate is encouraged, yelling, interrupting, and generally being disrespectful will not be tolerated. Non-compliance may lead to disciplinary action as outlined in the Student Code of Conduct. We will also discuss the academic dishonesty (plagiarism) portion of the Student Code of Conduct in detail.

● Withdrawal: If you stop participating in class but do not officially drop the course from your schedule, you will be assigned the grade of UW (Unofficial Withdrawal). This UW factors into your GPA as 0.0 quality points (the equivalent of an F). If you wish to withdraw from the course, you must do so officially through OneStop. After the 21st class day, you will need my signature on a drop form to accomplish this.

● Plagiarism: Plagiarism is the action of using without due acknowledgement the thoughts, writing, scholarship or ideas of another. Three different acts are considered plagiarism: 1) failing to cite quotations and other borrowed ideas, 2) failing to enclose borrowed language in quotation marks and 3) failing to put summaries and paraphrases in your own words. The University of Cincinnati considers plagiarism a serious form of academic dishonesty. Academic dishonesty will result in your automatic withdrawal from this class with a grade of F, as specified in the Student Code of Conduct.

● The Writing, Reading, & Study Skills Lab: The lab, located on the third floor of Muntz Hall, provides a number of free services to students. The tutors work on a regular basis or whenever assistance is needed. They will help you with all our writing assignments at all stages of the process or work with you to perfect your editing skills. Please do not take all your papers for the portfolio to the lab at the last minute and expect tutors to help you do a quarter’s worth of work in an afternoon.

● Special needs: If you have any special needs related to your participation in this course, you must bring documentation of necessary accommodations to your professor at the beginning of the term. The University is committed to providing students with documented disabilities equal access to all university programs and facilities. If you have a disability requiring accommodations please contact the Disability Services office. Location: Muntz Hall 112E. Telephone: (513) 792-8625

● Severe Weather Policy: In the event of the college being closed due to severe weather conditions, there will be an announcement on Blackboard, and if you have signed up for the emergency text service, you will get a text on your phone. Students should sign up via OneStop (http://onestop.uc.edu/.html) and under “my information,” select “change my address,” then “cell phone and text messaging.” Fill out the request form. Please note that the Blackboard deadlines for our course remain in effect if the power is on but the college is closed.

. Individualized Learning Plan (PLP). (NOTE: This content is repeated from an earlier section as a point of review

prior to moving into the final two sections of the syllabus.)■ The Individualized Learning Plan: your work vs service learning vs

simulated


● Your learning plan should develop a series of tasks, as described in sections above, that represent the writing of the workplace.○ Your Work at Work○ Simulated assignments and tasks from the Writing that Works

textbook○ Service Learning writing projects from a service site

● Many of you have jobs that do require writing. You may choose to work on those writing projects for this course as your learning plan (or part of it), or you may choose to avoid working on the projects from your job and instead focus on writing the simulation task projects or service learning work. You have the freedom to choose.

● If you do not have a job that currently requires writing projects from you, you will necessarily need to complete the simulation projects and/or service learning work, as you will not have work-driven tasks to include in your learning plan.

The Simulation Assignment Options. As promised, you have the following list of courseroom-based assignments

(assignments that simulate real-world work but that completely housed in our course) to choose from. You can use these with the documents you produce for work and/or a service organization, or you may build your personal learning plan completely from these tasks themselves.

. ● WTW, Chapter 8, Research Project 1, page 312● WTW, Chapter 9, Exercise 1 (choose any or all), page 344-45● WTW, Chapter 9, Exercise 7, page 346● WTW, Chapter 9, Exercise 11, page 347● WTW, Chapter 9, Research Project 2, page 348● WTW, Chapter 10, Exercises 1 - 8 (choose any or all), page 372-75● WTW, Chapter 10, Research Project 3, page 376● WTW, Chapter 10, Research Project 4, page 377● WTW, Chapter 11, any or all Research Project activities, page 412-

14● WTW, Chapter 12, any or all Exercises, page 440-41● WTW, Chapter 12, any or all Research Project activities, page 442-

43● WTW, Chapter 13, any or all Exercises, page 490-91● WTW, Chapter 13, Research Project 4, page 493● WTW, Chapter 14, any or all Research Project activities, page 531-

32● WTW, Chapter 15, Exercise 7, page 562● WTW, Chapter 15, Research Project 3, page 564● WTW, Chapter 16, Research Project 2, page 618


Service Learning Option

. Another option for creating a work plan in this course is to elect to work for a non-profit organization as a technical or office/business writer.

.

. There are many non-profit organizations here in the greater Cincinnati area, and you are welcome to contact any of them to request the opportunity to serve in this way.

. . Things to consider:

1. The organizations will have varying needs and deadlines.2. You may need to work for more than one organization to have a varied

experience writing and creating documents or web content.3. You need to articulate the purpose of your service and the scope of the work

you can and will do for them, including timelines and course expectations.4. The type of work you do for the organization should reflect the type of written

work you are comfortable doing and that will likely be asked of you in your future career positions.

5. Some types of writing to volunteer, if asked:1. grants2. reports3. proposals4. promotional materials5. website pages6. optimized-for-the-web materials and content (handouts, pamphlets,

flyers, etc. redesigned for web publication)7. revisions of existing materials for new audiences or purposes

. . How to get started:

1. Email Dr. A with a request to participate in Service Learning.1. Include your name, section, and career focus2. Include which service organizations you are considering

2. Contact the service organization you are interested in working with to find out if they need help. 1. Be prepared to contact several before you find one that will "fit" with your

course needs.2. Talk at length about what they will need from a volunteer student writer

and what you can reasonably produce for them.3. Explain that you will draft a formal proposal with your instructor for the

service contract you will be entering with them.3. Once approval to begin process is received, draft a proposal that you will

submit via email to Dr. A.1. Be detailed and include when, how, and where you will work with the

organization.2. Wait to receive the revised proposal from Dr. A, which will include

elements of service learning required by the University of Cincinnati system.


3. Send the revised proposal to the service learning contact person for approval.

4. Once approved, begin work immediately. (NOTE: You will need to update your project work plan in Blackboard at this time, as well, to formalize the process in the course records.)


Tentative Course CalendarNOTE: We have a reading schedule, but please don’t put off reading a chapter that would help you complete a task, write your paper or deal with something at work or in another course just because we’re not reading it yet. Please use the textbook both as an on-demand resource (to

use whenever you need a reference for something) and as a just-in-time tool for our discussions and activities.

This course is front-loaded, meaning that there is more work to complete in the beginning and

less at the end. This is purposefully structured to allow you to develop a strong set of skills, build a large corpus of work from which to choose later, and refine your knowledge and skills as the

term progresses, leaving you with time to develop your ePortfolio in the end.

All times listed are Eastern.

1. Week 1 January 7 - January 13 (NOTE: This is a heavy week to get us started effectively)

a. Begin the course with the Start Here icon (also the page you enter Blackboard through during this week in our course). You will see explicit instructions for each item as you move along there.

i. Read the syllabus and take the quizzes.ii. Submit an email to Dr. Andrus that you agree to the course terms

established in the syllabus.iii. Complete the Readiness Assessment for Online Learning, located in

the week 1 folder (will be active after the syllabus quizzes are completed and passed at 100%).

iv. Post your Introduction in the “Week 1: Introductions” discussion forum. NOTE: Be sure to read the discussion forum prompts prior to posting your work to ensure you are following the guidelines and including all that is required.

1. post due: 11:59 pm Tuesday night.2. replies due: 11:59 pm Sunday night.

b. Textbook reading assignment: read chapters 1 & 2 (at least skim them) in Writing that Works (WTW).

c. Direct Assignment 1: Due 11:59 pm Sunday night : Draft a short letter of introduction to introduce yourself to me. Include the following information:

i. Your nameii. Your goals for this degreeiii. Your current employment (include details about what you do and what

kind of writing you do)iv. Your history with workplace writing (courses you’ve taken, types of writing

you’ve done in other positions, etc.)d. Post in “Week 1: Preparing to Interview” discussion forum

i. Who will you be interviewing to complete the interview and PLP work? ii. Why will you interview this person?


iii. How will/did you get an interview set up?iv. When do you plan to conduct the interview? Through what means?

1. post due: 11:59 pm Friday night.2. replies due: 11:59 pm Sunday night

a. replies should encourage the interviewer, suggest questions and/or approach to interview, etc.

2. Week 2: January 14 - January 20a. Complete the “Week 2: Case 1” discussion forum.

i. Read Case 1 in Document-Based Cases for Technical Communication (DBC).

1. Find relevant and useful materials in the WTW textbook.2. Note that you are choosing to complete any of the tasks, but you

do not need to complete all of the tasks unless you choose to do so.

a. post due: 11:59 pm Friday nightb. replies due: 11:59 pm Sunday night


c. Complete “Week 2: Writing and Revising as Processes that Work” discussion forum

i. In what ways do you do the work of process (based upon the textbook reading) when you write documents at work? Is writing a document at work different from writing the papers in most of your classes in the AIS program?

1. post due: 11:59 pm Wednesday night2. replies due: 11:59 pm Sunday night

d. Conduct the interview.e. Direct Assignment 2: Develop the PLP.

i. This is due in week 4.3. Week 3: January 21 - January 27 MLK on Monday -- College is closed

a. Complete the “Week 3: Case 2” discussion forum. i. Read Case 2 in Document-Based Cases for Technical Communication

(DBC).ii. Find relevant and useful materials in the WTW textbook.iii. Note that you are choosing to complete any of the tasks, but you do not

need to complete all of the tasks unless you choose to do so.1. post due: 11:59 pm Friday night2. replies due: 11:59 pm Sunday night


c. Conduct the interview.i. transcript due in journal by 11:59 pm Sunday night.


d. Direct Assignment 3: Work in groups of three or four (we will have multiple groups working on each option below) to create a set of detailed instructions for one of the following (due in week 5):

i. Use the visual instructions from the IKEA furniture assembly packet (in the unit 3 learning module). Write instructions for an international audience (but constructed in English) to accompany the images.

ii. Select a difficult-to-navigate street with defined parking choices for a specific building (probably several choices in downtown Cincinnati). Write instructions for arriving at and parking for the building.

iii. Draft a set of instructions for students and faculty regarding weather safety at UCBA.

iv. Draft a set of instructions for new students at UCBA to get their student IDs, parking permits, and class materials prior to the first day of class. Be sure to include information about where to park on campus.

v. Draft a set of instructions for cooking a major holiday dinner in another country. You will first need to choose the country and fare. Assume that your reader is familiar with the holiday and its traditions but needs instructions on serving, plating, presentation, and cooking/preparing the food.

4. Week 4: January 28 - February 3a. Complete the “Week 4: Case 3” discussion forum.

vi. Read Case 3 in Document-Based Cases for Technical Communication (DBC).

vii. Find relevant and useful materials in the WTW textbook.viii. Note that you are choosing to complete any of the tasks, but you do not


b. Textbook reading assignment: read chapter 16 (at least skim them) in Writing that Works (WTW).

e. Direct Assignment 2: Develop the PLP.i. due 11:59 pm Sunday night.

f. Direct Assignment 4: Complete activities 5-9 on pages 617-ff in WTW.i. Complete both types of resumes to include.ii. Create your documents for real job ads, which you must include with your

packet.iii. due in week 7

5. Week 5: February 4 - February 10a. Complete the “Week 5: Case 4” discussion forum.

i. Read Case 4 in Document-Based Cases for Technical Communication (DBC).

ii. Find relevant and useful materials in the WTW textbook.iii. Note that you are choosing to complete any of the tasks, but you do not

need to complete all of the tasks unless you choose to do so.


1. post due: 11:59 pm Friday night2. replies due: 11:59 pm Sunday night


c. Direct Assignment 5: Complete exercise 1 for chapter 7 on page 266i. due in week 6

d. Direct Assignment 3: Due by 11:59 pm Sunday night6. Week 6: February 11 - February 17

a. Complete the “Week 6: Case 5” discussion forum. iv. Read Case 5 in Document-Based Cases for Technical Communication

(DBC).v. Find relevant and useful materials in the WTW textbook.vi. Note that you are choosing to complete any of the tasks, but you do not



c. Complete “Week 6: Reviewing Job Search Documents” discussion forumi. Post your Direct Assignment 4 materials for comment from classmates.

(Replies should be encouraging and focus on document improvements.)1. post due: 1:59 pm Wednesday night2. replies due: 11:59 pm Sunday night

d. Direct Assignment 5 due 11:59 pm Sunday night.7. Week 7: February 18 - February 24

a. Complete the “Week 7: Case 6” discussion forum. vii. Read Case 6 in Document-Based Cases for Technical Communication

(DBC).viii. Find relevant and useful materials in the WTW textbook.ix. Note that you are choosing to complete any of the tasks, but you do not



c. Direct Assignment 4 due 11:59 pm Sunday night8. Week 8: February 25 - March 3

a. Complete the “Week 8: Case 7” discussion forum. x. Read Case 7 in Document-Based Cases for Technical Communication

(DBC).xi. Find relevant and useful materials in the WTW textbook.xii. Note that you are choosing to complete any of the tasks, but you do not

need to complete all of the tasks unless you choose to do so.1. post due: 11:59 pm Friday night


2. replies due: 11:59 pm Sunday nightb. Textbook reading assignment: read chapter 13 (at least skim them) in Writing

that Works (WTW).a. Post work for peer review from your PLP.b. Conduct the peer review of the work your peers have posted.

9. Week 9: March 4 - March 10a. Textbook reading assignment: read chapter 15 (at least skim them) in Writing

that Works (WTW).b. Complete “Week 9: Writing on the Web” discussion forum.

i. Submit a revision plan for your ePortfolio website in WordPress.1. Include what you will change from the template and why, based

upon (and making direct reference to) chapter 15 in WTW.a. post due: 11:59 pm Friday nightb. replies due: 11:59 pm Sunday night

c. Post work for peer review from your PLP.d. Conduct the peer review of the work your peers have posted.

10. Week 10: March 11 - March 17e. Textbook reading assignment: read chapter 14 (at least skim them) in Writing

that Works (WTW).f. Complete “Week 10: Finding Middle Ground” discussion forum.

i. In what ways is conflict negotiation a part of conducting meetings? 1. The book addresses some of the conflict that can arise, but it

does not talk about how to manage a meeting with conflict or how to handle a meeting over a contentious topic or how to handle a colleague or employee who creates a tense environment during the meeting. Conduct some short research online (be sure to cite your sources in your post), and then draft a short guide to conducting meetings in this type of situation (you can pick one or focus on multiple points of conflict).

a. post due: 11:59 pm Friday nightb. replies due: 11:59 pm Sunday night

g. Post work for peer review from your PLP.h. Conduct the peer review of the work your peers have posted.

11. Week 11: March 18 - March 24 Spring Breaka. Take a break.

12. Week 12: March 25 - March 31a. Complete “Week 12: Making ePortfolio Plans” discussion board.

i. What are you planning to post, so far, into your eportfolio and why? How will you craft a professional portfolio? What online or other sources are you using to guide your work for this?

1. post due: 11:59 pm Friday night2. replies due: 11:59 pm Sunday night

b. Post work for peer review from your PLP.c. Conduct the peer review of the work your peers have posted.


13. Week 13: April 1 - April 7a. Complete “Week 13: Revision plans” discussion board.

i. What are revising and how? What help do you need so far?1. post due: 11:59 pm Friday night2. replies due: 11:59 pm Sunday night

b. Post work for peer review from your PLP.c. Conduct the peer review of the work your peers have posted.

14. Week 14: April 8 - April 14a. No discussion board this week.b. Work on/build your ePortfolio.c. Post work for peer review from your PLP.d. Conduct the peer review of the work your peers have posted.

15. Week 15: April 15 - April 19 (NOTE: This week ends on Friday, not Sunday, in the official University calendar.)

a. Complete “Week 15: ePortfolio Review” in discussion board.i. Post the link to your ePortfolio and ask specific questions you’d like

classmates to comment upon.1. post due: 11:59 pm Friday night2. replies due: 11:59 pm Sunday night

b. Complete your final portfolio with reflection.i. Final portfolio should be in WordPress for this course.

1. NOTE: You can upload your papers into your LiveBinder account, as well, but your assignment here is to create the WordPress site.

2. NOTE: You can link your WordPress site into your LiveBinder account.

ii. Your final portfolio should serve as an early draft of your professional portfolio.

16. Finals Week: April 20 - April 25 (NOTE: This week begins on Saturday and ends on Thursday in the official University calendar.)

a. Final ePortfolio Due by 11:59 pm Wednesday night via assignment link in Blackboard.