English 302N

Advanced Composition: Science and Technical Writing


Section  N01 (T 1:30-4:30 PM) at Loudoun I, Room 209 (Computer Lab)                                 math bridge cambridge uk

Fall 2005

Professor Chris Thaiss

Website: http://mason.gmu.edu/~cthaiss/302nf05.html

Phone: 703-993-1273

E-mail: cthaiss@gmu.edu

Office: Robinson A423 (Fairfax Campus); Loudoun I, Room TBA 

Hours: M 9-10 AM (Fairfax); T 12:30-1:30 PM (Loudoun); W 10-11 AM (Fairfax); and by appt.
 
                                                                                                                                                                                    

GOALS


English 302N, Advanced Composition: Science and Technical, is meant to provide guided, evaluated practice in several forms of written communication commonly performed by science and technical professionals as they go about their varied lives as researchers, employees/managers, and citizens. Business and government managers always rank writing  at or near the top of abilities needed for successful performance. See, for example, the recent report of the National Commission on Writing. Forms of science and technical writing that we will practice in this course include, among others,

*proposals and white papers (often to non-specialists)

*research and technical reports for fellow specialists

*instructions and other explanations for non-specialists

*memos and letters

As customary in science and the technical workplace, the writing in this course will be highly collaborative. Its effectiveness depends on both individual energy and cooperation. In these sections, the collaborative writing will be carried out by such means as

*electronic mail and real-time discussion/response (via GMU Townhall)

*planning, preparation, and presentation of a small-group field research project and of a "white paper" based on that research

*small-group "feedback" on drafted writings

*dialogue with the instructor.

I trust that each person in the course will emerge from it with a better-developed sense of the principles and typical methods of science and technical writing, plus improved ability to carry out typical tasks in these varied careers.


TECHNICAL SUPPORT


Check out the English Department's TEC Program (Technology in the English Concentrations) for tutorials on a wide range of web skills, from basic webpage design and searching databases to such advanced skills as image manipulation, sound recording, and video capture.

ITU Support at GMU (Innovation Hall 233) offers a range of services and guides for students who want to improve their computer skills.


EVALUATION STANDARDS


Evaluation will be ongoing in this course, primarily in the form of responses by the instructor and fellow students to ideas and documents in various stages of completion. Four projects (the comparative document/news analysis, the set of instructions, the field research report, and the white paper) will be drafted, workshopped, and revised. Grades will be A through F, although only those students earning a final C or better will fulfill the GMU Advanced Composition requirement.

Grading standards are as follows (grades to be determined at the discretion of the instructor):

A = outstanding work: among the specific virtues, full, active, cooperative, and imaginative participation in all activities, exercises, and projects of the course; prose that consistently demonstrates the principles of effective science/technical writing, as outlined in the core text;

B = very good work: full, active, and cooperative participation in all activities, exercises and projects; prose that almost always demonstrates the principles of effective science/technical writing;

C = satisfactory work: full, cooperative participation in all activities, exercises, and projects; prose that, with revision, almost always demonstrates the principles of effective science/technical writing;

D = almost satisfactory work: almost full, usually cooperative participation in all activities, exercises, and projects: prose that, with revision, usually demonstrates the principles of effective science/technical writing;

F = unsatisfactory work: inconsistent participation in activities, exercises, and projects; or prose that, with revision, still fails to demonstrate consistent application of the principles of effective science/technical writing.

I will give plusses and minuses according to GMU policy.

NOTE: A written project will receive an F if a student does not participate in every phase of the development of the project and meet all deadlines for preliminary materials.



MISSED DEADLINES


Projects are due in class, at the beginning of class on the dates marked (pending the instructor's changes in schedule). Don't miss deadlines: grades for final drafts of projects not turned in when due are dropped one letter for each day or part of a day that the project is late.

BOOKS AND MATERIALS


Michael Alley (1996), The Craft of Scientific Writing, 3rd Edition; New York: Springer-Verlag. (CSW)

Dava Sobel, ed. (2004) The Best American Science Writing 2004. New York: Perennial. (BASW)

Incidental expenses for xeroxed copying of project materials.

The University Library System contains extensive holdings of science/technologies-related books and periodicals, plus online access to many databases in all disciplines.

Although we will be working daily in the computer lab, it will be useful to you, though not essential, to have home access to Townhall, for any necessary communication with other members of your research group after class hours.

I also strongly recommend the additional advice on your writing that you can receive through the University Writing Center, which has centers in Fairfax, Arlington, and Prince William, as well as an online tutoring capability.

Further advice on your writing in a range of disciplines, e.g. biology, it&e, nursing, and psychology, is available in the online writing guides sponsored by the GMU writing-across-the-curriculum (WAC) program. Also helpful are Virginia Tech's Writing Guidelines for Engineering and Science Students


ASSIGNMENTS: COURSE PROJECTS and PROPORTIONS OF CREDIT:

1. In-Class Exercises, Workshops, Discussions

2. Comparative Document/News Analysis

3. Set of Instructions

4. Team Field Research Project

5. White Paper Based on Team Field Research

1. In-Class Exercises, Workshops, Discussions (30%)--Because science and technical writing, including the writing in this course, is collaborative, your full, active, cooperative participation in the daily work of the course is key to your success. 30% of course credit (roughly 2% of final grade for each day's participation). I will rate your daily participation either satisfactory (full, active participation during the entire class period, as described above under Evaluation Standards) or less than satisfactory. Any absence will mean that you cannot earn this daily 2% toward the final grade; lateness to class will mean that you can't earn more than half credit for that day. Remember: credit can only be given for work performed.

                                      
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2. Comparative Document/News Analysis (10%)--We will work on comparative analysis of three documents on the same issue, phenomenon, or event from science/technical-related publications. My aim in this assignment is to increase your attentiveness to both the overt and the subtle differences among documents concerning the "same" event, issue, or phenomenon, as produced in different writing situations. Whether as producer or consumer, you need to be aware of these differences in building your own informed perspectives on the issues, as well as in creating documents for different types of readers.

Your audience for the analysis will be the other members of the class and me; that is, we are interested readers, but we probably don't know too much about the issue or event you choose to analyze, so your summary and analysis will give us new knowledge.

One of the three documents you choose must be an article from a national general interest online news source (such as www.washingtonpost.com) or from a print news publication, such as the Washington Post. A recent example might be the reports in the news on the lawsuits regarding the arthritis medication Vioxx or descriptions of the Mars orbiter. I must approve your source.

The second of these documents must be a short research report/technical document intended for a specialized audience, i.e. fellow researchers in the same field. We will practice in class using databases that index print and electronic materials on science-relevant topics. I must approve your source.

The third of these documents must be an article on the topic in a science periodical such as Science, Scientific American, or Discover. The audience for such publications tends to be well-educated, but not necessarily specialized in a scientific field. Again, I must approve your source.

 We will develop in class questions to ask about the three documents by which to do a well-informed comparison. Among the areas of comparison will be purposes, intended audiences, kinds of evidence, organization, writing style and tone, and graphic presentation.

Format: Your completed analysis will consist of three main sections:

A. Summary of the Issue/Event/Phenomenon--In 500 well-chosen words, you will summarize the content of the issue/event for class members, using the three documents as your sources. Since the documents will more than likely agree on many of the details, summarizing should not be difficult. However, where the documents differ, you'll need accurately to state these differences.

B. Assessment of the Important Differences among the Documents--In 800 well-chosen words, you will characterize each of the three pieces in turn in regard to each analytical category. For each category, you need to highlight differences among the three pieces.

C. Judgment of Strengths and Weaknesses--What is the greatest strength of each document? What might be improved? In 300 well-chosen words (roughly 100 for each document), describe the standout strength and weakness of each piece.

Procedure: Drafts and revised drafts should be submitted using the above format and should be roughly 1600 words. Revised drafts must be accompanied by first drafts (with annotations by peer reviewers), filled-in critique sheets from peer reviewers, a one-page "change" memo that describes and justifies the changes in the revised draft, and an Appendix that includes photocopies of the compared documents.

Documentation Style: Your comparison report should cite your sources in an appropriate documentation style. I recommend American Psychological Assocation (APA) style or Council of Sciences Editors (CSE) style, though other styles used in scientific disciplines will be fine. This style should be used both for "in-text" citations and for your list of sources at the end of the report.


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3. Set of Instructions (10%)--You may choose any type of instruction or area of endeavor for this assignment that you wish (e.g., a cooking recipe, instructions for assembling a piece of furniture, a procedure for your job, driving directions to an out-of the-way place, etc.). Your goal here is to write a coherent set of instructions so that another person can follow them successfully. The report of this assignment will consist of two parts:

(1) the instructions themselves (no more than 500 words per draft plus any appropriate illustration), both in a first draft and in a revised version after field testing (see below); feel free to format these instructions in whatever way will best help your audience to follow them successfully.

(2) a concise explanation (no more tban 500 words) of how you designed the instruction set to meet the needs of a specific user, whom you will identify in this explanation. Cover your choices of level of detail, language, and graphic presentation in explaining how you adapted design to audience. Be sure to cover also how you field tested the set and how it led you to revise the set.

Field test and revision: After you have created a first draft of these instructions, you will field test the instructions by having another person attempt to follow them. Based on the field test, you will revise the instructions. As described above, the first part of your report will include both the first draft and revision of the instructions. Also as described above, the second part of your report will include a brief description of the field test and of how and why you revised the set.


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4. Team Field Research Project (30%)--Throughout the course, we will be developing aspects of a three-person project that will be based on your investigation of the documents and writing practices of a local business, government, or academic organization that produces technical and/or scientific documents. You and your teammates will choose the organization, with my approval. In class, we will discuss methods, materials, and presentation of the projects. Chapters of CSW will be assigned and adapted. Aspects of the project include the project research proposal, a letter of introduction to the organization, a series of progress memos sent electronically, the full report of the research, and a 10-15 minute oral presentation by each group to the class (in the final week of the course).

Format: The research report itself will consist of two main parts:  (1) an analysis of five or more typical, significant documents written by members of the organization (1-2 double-spaced pages per document analyzed), analyzed for those features learned and applied in the Comparative Document/News Analysis assignment, and (2) a detailed interview (minimum of 5 double-spaced pages) with a key member or members of the organization (e.g., project manager, principal investigator, lead faculty) knowledgeable about the range and types of writing done by the organization as part of its work. A concise yet vivid description of the physical environment of the research site (with an illustration as appropriate) will accompany the transcript.

Procedure: Due dates are noted in the schedule below. Remember that credit for the entire project is contingent on full, active, and cooperative participation in all phases. My criteria for evaluating the written projects are based on the principles of effective science and technical writing detailed in the pertinent chapters of CSW and in our class discussions.

Because there will be comparatively little time to prepare and practice the oral presentations, evaluation will be less formal; nevertheless, I will be devoting class time to explaining principles of effective oral presentation (helped by the chapter in CSW), and these should be followed precisely. I have been generally pleased by the presentations that students have worked up in my advanced composition courses, even under severe time constraints. You CAN do it! The deadlines of this course are excellent practice for the time pressure you'll regularly be under in the workplace.

These projects will receive a group grade; thus, the grade earned by the team will be the grade earned by each individual on the team. Nevertheless, one element of the final report will be the team's self-assessment of each person's contribution, and I will take the liberty of adjusting individual credit, if necessary.Team members who contribute little (this happens rarely, but it does happen) will receive significantly less credit.

Audience: The other members of the class and I will be your readers. We are interested in your findings, but you and your teammates will be the experts on the environment you study. So our knowledge depends on your detailed, vivid, accurate portrait of the writing culture of the organization.


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5. "White Paper" Based on Team Field Research (20%)

In the course of your team field research on the writing culture of a science/technical organization, each team member will identify a communication issue or problem at the business/agency/academic research site that will form the basis of a "white paper" (i.e., a formal recommendation or proposal). The white paper is an important form that is used in both academic and workplace environments. The term is more common in business and government, but is also appropriate to any short proposal.

Each member of the team will write a separate white paper on a separate issue. I must approve topics. Examples of such topics include improvement of communications media, strengthening of specific documents, changes in the physical environemnt to improve communication or service, expansion of services or user population, etc., etc.

Source material may include your own relevant experience and observation and that of others whom you can accurately and specifically cite; sources may also include print or online articles or product specifications that you must accurately cite and document. Databases may come in handy in this project.

Audience: Your white paper should be addressed to a relevant manager with the organization (though whether you indeed deliver the white paper is up to you!), rather than to me as an interested outsider. Your white paper will need to

(1) succinctly describe the issue or problem, including any relevant background the reader needs;

(2) make recommendations toward solving the problem;

(3) support your recommendations with all relevant data and sources;

(4) cite sources using APA, CSE, or another appropriate style.

Format: Follow the advice in CSW and from our discussions toward arranging the information in the way most likely to get a positive response from your chosen audience.

A table or graph (e.g., of data, options, or pros and cons) must be included somewhere in the document, as appropriate to your subject. As relevant to your topic, a photo or illustration should also be included. Consult the "Illustrations" chapter of CSW for additional help in thinking about this part of the assignment.


Your final draft should be between 1200 and 1500 words. Include your first draft, critique sheets, and a change memo in the final packet.






PLAGIARISM


Please review the English Department's policy on plagiarism:

Plagiarism means using the exact words, opinions, or factual information from another source without giving that source credit. Writers give credit through the use of accepted documentation styles, such as parenthetical citation, footnotes, or end notes; a simple listing of books, articles, and websites is not sufficient. Plagiarism is the equivalent of intellectual robbery and cannot be tolerated in an academic setting.

Student writers are often confused as to what should be cited. Some think that only direct quotations need to be credited. While direct quotations do need citations, so do paraphrases and summaries of opinions or factual information formerly unknown to the writers or which the writers did not discover themselves. Exceptions to this include factual information which can be obtained from a variety of sources, the writers' own insights or findings from their own field research, (what has been called common knowledge). What constitutes common knowledge can sometimes be precarious; what is common knowledge for one audience may be so for another. In such situations, it is helpful to keep the reader in mind and to think of citations as being "reader friendly." In other words, writers provide a citation for any piece of information that they think their readers might want to investigate further. Not only is this attitude considerate of readers, it will almost certainly ensure that writers will not be guilty of plagiarism.

Since this course is heavily collaborative, I will expect individuals to help one another with constructive feedback. Nevertheless, I expect that any help (e.g., with editing) received outside of normal class workshops and discussions will be approved by me and will be credited in documents. Certainly, I expect that all uses of sources (oral, online, printed) will be documented. If I suspect plagiarism, I will report it to the University Honor Committee (it is your responsibility to be familiar with the GMU Honor Code and to abide by it).




SCHEDULE OF CLASSES


I hope that I will not need to make changes in this schedule. However, any changes will be announced in class, via e-mail, or on Townhall. It is each person's responsibility to be aware of changes.

T Aug. 30:: Introductions and Exercises: activate e-mail accounts (see Technical Support); Townhall--Getting Started and the "Technical Pet Peeve" exercise**read CSW, Foreword, Ch. 17, Ch. 1, and Ch. 2. Gather sample of tech writing to bring to class on Sept. 6.

T Sept. 6:: The Process and Principles of Science and Technical Writing; perform tech analysis exercise on samples; **begin group formation and proposal-writing for team field research; post preliminary proposal to Townhall team discussion by end of class. **Read CSW, Ch. 4-6, plus Appendix A; read BASW essays by Kahn and Morton. As you read, note how Kahn and Morton apply in their writing features of science prose that Alley emphasizes. Also, after reading Alley's Appendix A, think about features of punctuation, usage, and grammar that have given you problems in your writing, and be prepared to ask about them in class on Sept. 20.

**Contact company/agency/academic site and arrange study (if your group has not already done so); post to your team discussion during the week updated info about your contacts with company/agency/academic site.

T Sept. 13::  Small-group workshop: compose letter of introduction/commitment to company/agency/academic site; post to Townhall team discussion. Groups compose detailed interview questionnaire to conduct fieldwork and POST them to Townhall team discussions**read CSW, Ch. 7, 8. 12.

T Sept. 13:: Last day to ADD classes

W Sept. 14 - W Sept. 21:: On the Fairfax Campus will be the Fall for the Book Festival (www.fallforthebook.org)--if you attend at least one reading or panel during the festival and then send me via your Townhall team site a brief but thoughtful (200-word) summary/critique of the event you attended, you will earn up to one point of extra credit toward your final grade. Many types of writing are represented during the festival; you can choose any event that appeals to you.

T Sept. 20:: Composing Effective Science and Technical Prose (exercises based on all assigned reading, including CSW Appendix on grammar and punctuation); post updated progress report for team field research;**collect data--post Field Research Progress Memo to your team discussion before M Sept. 26. **Read BASW  essays by Davidson and Tyson; study how Davidson's news article differs from Tyson's magazine essay in terms of audience, purpose, style, level of detail, and other features you find significant.

T Sept. 27:: The Comparative Document/News Analysis--explanation of criteria (exercise), discussion of reading assignment (plus exercise), and search for sources. Kevin Simons of the GMU LIbraries will visit to help in devising your search strategies. Also, brief discussion of the Fall for the Book events you attended. **Choose the three documents for your Comparative Document/News Analysis.

**No later than noon on Thursday, Sept. 29, post to designated Townhall discussion your CD/NA document titles, authors, where and when published, word length of each, and your brief rationale for choosing these pieces (200 words max). By that same day, I will approve your choices or ask for changes.

F Sept. 30:: Last day to DROP classes without Dean's permission. 

T Oct. 4::  Small-group workshop on drafts of comparative document/news analyses. Brief discussion of research progress--post results of your interviews to your team discussion site. **Revise and edit comparative analyses.**Read CSW, Ch. 10, 11, 13.**Read BASW, Langewiesche essay on Columbia disaster. 

T Oct. 11:: Columbus/Indigenous Peoples Holiday

T Oct. 18:: Revised drafts of Comparative Document/News Analyses (plus addenda) due in class; discussion of research progress; introductory discussion of the "White Paper" based on reading assignment: topics, criteria, and formatting (exercises and reading quiz); workshop on choosing White-Paper topics. **Read BASW: Patterson, Royte, and Milius essays.

T Oct. 25:: More about White Papers. Exercises based on reading. Post white-paper proposals to team discussion site. **Draft White Papers. **Read CSW, Ch. 14, as prep for discussion of Set of Instructions assignment. 

T Nov. 1:: Small-group workshop on drafts of White Papers. Begin discussion of Set of Instructions project (exercise). **Revise and edit White Papers. **Gather to bring to class on Nov. 1 all potential documents for analysis portion of Team Field Research project. **Draft Set of Instructions assignment, including field test and revised set.

T Nov. 8:: Revised white papers (full packet) due in class; workshop on drafts of Set of Instructions assignment. Discussion of progress of field research, including interviews and documents (have brought documents to class for review); discussion of Drafting, Organizing, and Formatting Research Reports. **Draft Team Research Part I (Physical Environment and Interview Transcripts). **Revise and edit Set of Instructions assignment.

T Nov. 15:: Revised Set of Instructions assignment (full packet) due in class. Cross-group workshop on drafts of Team Research Part I. **Read CSW, Ch. 15-16, to prepare for discussion of presentations.

T Nov. 22:: Review of principles of document analysis for Part II (Document Analyses) of Team Field Research report; Principles and Techniques of Oral Presentations, including visuals. **Revise and edit interview reports. **Draft Part II (document analyses) of Team Field Research reports.

T Nov. 29:: Cross-group workshop on drafts of Team Field Research Part II (document analyses). **Prepare and practice oral presentations. **Revise and edit full Team Field Research report.

T Dec. 6::  Oral presentations of Team Field Research projects. Revised drafts of entire Team Field Research reports, plus addenda, due in class.

There will be no final exam in this course.

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