English 613:001
Technical and Scientific Writing
Course Schedule
Week 1 (Jan 24)
Class Introductions.
Assignment for next class: Introduction to the class
Week 2 (Jan 31)
Rutter, "History, Rhetoric, and Humanism" (CW 20-34),
Miller, "A Humanistic Rationale for Technical Writing" (CW 47-54),
Dobrin "What's Technical About Technical Writing?" (CW 107-123). Technical
Editing chapters 1-2.
Assignment: TE ch.2 exercise 4.
Week 3 (Feb 7)
Driskill, "Understanding the Writing Context" (CW 55-69),
Johnson, "Audience Involved" (CW 91-103). Technical
Editing chapter 2.
Week 4 (Feb 14)
Allen, "What Experienced Collaborators Say" (CW 351-364). Technical
Editing chapters 3 and chapter 25.
Assignment: Major Project stage 1 (Summary of existing documentation)
Week 5 (Feb 21)
Paradis, "Text and Action" (CW 365-380), Howard, "Who
Owns Electronic Texts?" (CW 397-408).
Week 6 (Feb 28)
Katz, "the Ethics of Expediency" (CW 195-210),
Barton and Barton, "Ideology and the Map" (CW 232-252).
Due: Final Project Report 1 (Summary of existing documentation)
Assign
Technical
Editing chapter 14, exercise 1
Week 7 (March 7)
Johnson-Eilola, "Relocating the Value of Work" (CW 175-192). Technical
Editing chapter 21.
Assign Final Project Stage 2 (Interviews with users)
Week 8 (March 14)
Spring Break
Week 9 (March 21)
Rude, "The Report for Decision Making" (CW 70-90). Technical
Editing chapter 24
Week 10 (March 28)
Technical
Editing chapters 15-17. Exercises 15-1, 15-2, 15-3; 16-1, 16-3, 16-8;
17-1 in-class
Due: Final Project Report 2 (Summaries of interviews with users)
Assign Final Project Report 3 (draft of manual)
Week 11 (April 4)
Technical Editing chapters 5-6
Week 12 (April 11)
Technical Editing chapters 18-19 (and review
chapter 2)
Due: Final Project Report 3 (draft of manual)
Assign: Final Project stage 4 (usability testing)
Week 13 (April 18)
Technical Editing chapter 20
Week 14 (April 25)
Technical Editing chapter 23 (and/or any sections
of chapters 7-14, Basic Copyediting, deemed necessary)
Due: Final Project Report 4 (results of usability testing)
Week 15 (May 2)
Due: Final Project Report 5 (final guidelines)