Dr Dean Taciuch — Fall 2005 — George Mason University

English 302:N02 (Information Technology)

English 302 is an Advanced Composition course; this section will focus on the writing and research needs of students in Information Technology (IT). Although we will make use of technical formats (such as lab and field reports, professional journal articles, and peer reviews), the focus will be on conducting secondary research, organizing the results of the research, and presenting your interpretations of your findings to appropriate audiences, including interested non-experts.

English 302 focuses on the research process, and for this section our focus will be information technology. The writing and research for this section will be slightly more technical than a traditional Natural Sciences section of English 302, but we will still work on gathering, analyzing, and presenting information to a specific audience.

Analysis requires interpretation of data; theses, hypotheses, and theories are all based on facts, but theories are not facts themselves. Facts are raw data, and they must be analyzed and interpreted before they are presented to an audience. In the course of constructing a thesis, you must discriminate relevant from irrelevant data; you must analyze, select, and conscientiously try to avoid bias. Bias, however, is practically unavoidable. The very act of gathering information and presenting it requires you to make decisions as to the importance of certain details. As we shall see in the summary-writing exercise, even a "simple" task such as summarizing a difficult passage introduces bias.

In most professional writing, such biases are alleviated by the process known as peer-review. Other professionals, colleagues, editors, and the like, will review and consult on most professional writing projects. We will also make use of the peer-review process, with group and individual peer reviewing sessions.

Textbook:

Houp, et al. Reporting Technical Information. 11th edition. Oxford UP.

Resources

Student Reseources (from Oxford University Press; will open in new window)
PowerPoint® chapter notes (from Oxford University Press; will open in new window)
Cory Doctorow speech to Microsoft Research Group

Assignments:

Customer Letter (5%)
Instructional Essay (10%)
Mini Research Project (15%)
Research Proposal (5%)
Annotated Bibliography (10%)
Progress Report (10%)
Research Project (20%)
Peer Review (5%)

Textbook Exercises (20% total)

Grades

Grades on the essays will be based primarily on the quality of the writing. I value clear, focused writing with plenty of examples. The audience for the essays will be the class itself, and I expect the papers to be written with this audience in mind.

Grades on the min-research project, the annotated bibliography, and the final research project will be based primarily on the writing and secondarily on the citations and documentation (generally an 80/20 split, unless otherwise noted).

I will give all assignments letter grades. I calculate final grades by converting the letter grades to a 100 point scale using the following values:

A+ 100
A 95	C+ 78
A- 90	C 75
B+ 88	C- 70
B 85	D 65
B- 80	F below 60

The University translates letter grades into 4-point GPA values:

A+ 4.00	B- 2.67	C- 1.67
A 4.00	B 3.00	D 1.00
A- 3.67	C+ 2.33	F 0.00
B+ 3.33	C 2.00

Please note that A+ and A have equivalent point values.

A note on final grading: You must earn the grade of "C" or better in this course to receive credit for it and to fulfill this portion of the English composition requirement in General Education. A grade of "C-" or below will not be sufficient to receive credit for this course.

Course Policies

Late Assignments: Late papers will lose one-half letter grade per day unless you make prior arrangements with me.

Revision Policy: The essays may be revised for a higher grade, but they must be substantially revised. You cannot lose a grade by revising, but a higher grade is not guaranteed. I have found that "B" papers (or higher) are often more difficult to revise, since serious revision requires thoroughly changing the essay's structure, and "B" papers usually have a fairly good structure. "C" papers (or lower) often respond more dramatically to revision, since the major changes they require are often more straightforward. I recommend revising "C" papers or lower only. If you plan to revise a "B" paper, please see me beforehand so we can discuss a revision strategy.

All revisions must be turned in by December 1.

Plagiarism: The GMU Honor code is available online. I will report suspected cases of plagiarism to the Honor