402 Technical & Professional Writing

April 20

2010-04-20T19:49:00.000-07:00

You turned in your final memo and looked happy about it.

Group presentations continued - strongly.

We reviewed your edits from an exercise early in the semester.

We reviewed some resumes.

Notes for next week

Any further blog posts are optional.

All group projects and summaries are due next Tuesday.

Assignments for next week - none! You finished the book.

April 13

2010-04-13T20:00:00.000-07:00

Group presentations began! Kudos to both EZZ Burn and Team Grasshopper for jobs well done. The bar is set, everyone who has yet to go.

Assignments for April 20th

Read Chapters 2 (obtaining a job) and 9 (resumes)

Final blog post is an open topic.

Memo on group project in review - evaluate everyone's performance and overall project quality.

April 6

2010-04-06T20:44:00.000-07:00

Guest speaker Tom Sumner spoke on book publishing.Here is the link to the group exercise you did.

We listened to a portion of This American Life, show #348 2/8/2008, from Tough Room. Act Four - Tough News Room 45:26. Details -

Malcolm Gladwell is a best-selling author and famous journalist at the New
Yorker magazine. But not always. Witness his story—which was recorded live, on
stage at the Moth theater in New York—about his first job in journalism, and how
terrifying it was.

Notes on Summary writing
You will turn in summaries to me just as you do memos - in a stack on my table - the night you turn in your group project. The type of summary you are preparing for your group project is most comparable to a descriptive abstract.

See Qualities Of A Good Abstract from Purdue University OWL for guidelines.

Tips - An effective abstract

uses one or more well-developed paragraphs, which are unified, coherent, concise, and able to stand alone
is short - 300 words maximum for this assignment
follows the memo format conventions
adds no new information but simply summarizes the report
is intelligible to a wide audience.

Assignments

Memo #9 on preparing your part of the presentation
Blog post on Tom Sumner's lecture/book publishing
Read Ch. 14 (revising drafts), 15 (testing drafts)
Optional: Bring in resume for public (in front of the class) review

March 30

2010-03-30T20:10:00.000-07:00

Watched the Frontline documentary The Persuaders.

Turned in freelance magazine writing pitch letter.

Some guidelines for your group presentation

10 - 15 minutes in length
Your audience is this class. However, if you wish to take a creative approach and address us as your target audience, e.g. potential clients, please work that into your presentation. It makes a great opener.
One person can do all the talking, but it's more interesting to split it up and allow each person to talk about his/her pieces and role in the project.
Present each deliverable in your project and talk about the process of creating it.
Share each deliverable by using technology available (document camera, Internet) and pass around your finished project.
Discuss the decisions you had to make along the way.
Discuss how you catered your project to your audience.
Share any helpful resources you found in researching your genre.
Be prepared to take questions (and be prepared to ask them of other presenters!)

Assignments

-Read Chapter 17 on oral presentations to prepare for your presentation. Also read Chapter 10 on ending a communication.

-Memo on preparing your group presentation

-Blog post on The Persuaders. For launching points, visit The Persuaders Forum.

-Our guest speaker next week is in the book publishing business. Preferably by Friday, post questions here to managing editor Tom Sumner. Visit his company website to see books his company has published. Some launching points for questions include

Book editing, including comp. sci., English usage, fiction, general nonfiction
Book development
Design & layout
Writing
Editing on the Internet

March 23

2010-03-23T18:23:00.001-07:00

Group exercise on ethical dilemmas in the newsroom

Freelance writing - the crash course

Assignments for next week

Pitch letter (no memo)
Blog post on your recent response to technical or professional writing since this course began

Next week is movie night. Dress comfy, bring snacks if you wish.

Spring Break

2010-03-10T09:27:00.000-08:00

I hope you enjoyed Tia York's visit. Did you learn anything or have any of your views confirmed about television news? Post comments below.

Assignments for March 23

Bring in a copy of a magazine or similar publication that you can imagine yourself being published in (even if it's not in this lifetime).
Memo updating me on the status of your group project will be due.
Read Chapter 18 on web design

Meanwhile, here's a good quick read: Seven things you should never say to your boss.

Enjoy Spring Break!

Media release

2010-03-09T19:43:00.000-08:00

Post to this document

WHAT
WHEN
WHERE
WHO
WHY
HOW

Pull out the nugget - what you would sum up for your best friend
Stick to reading aloud - 30 seconds max
Be active, engage the viewer and hold their interest through the end

Detectives have received information that Paul Winklebleck, the suspect in the recent kidnapping incident, has a tattoo on the back of his neck and upper portion of his back that says "Combative for God". The word combative may be visible above a shirt line. Crime Stoppers is also offering up to a $1000 for any information that leads to the arrest of Winklebleck. Anyone with information should call 503-823-HELP.

UPDATE: The suspect in this case, Paul Winklebleck may be driving a dark green GMC Sonoma pickup with an Oregon license plate of 289EPF. Anyone who sees this vehicle is asked to call Portland Police.

Portland Police Detectives have identified the suspect in this kidnapping case as 42-year-old Paul Evans Winklebleck. Winklebleck currently has an outstanding warrant for Sex Abuse in the Third Degree, an outstanding Probation Violation issued by the Oregon State Parole Board, and is a registered sex offender.

Winklebleck also uses the last name of Sullivan and Rose. A photograph of Winklebleck is being sent to all media. Anyone who sees Winklebleck is asked to call 911 immediately. Anyone with information concerning this investigation is asked to call Detective Michele Michaels at 503-823-0635.

***ORIGINAL MESSAGE***
On March 4, 2010, at approximately 11:45 p.m., two women left a concert at the Roseland Theatre in Downtown Portland and were approaching their vehicle that was parked in a parking lot in the area of SW 2nd and Ash when they were approached by a man. The man told them that he worked for the Portland Police Bureau and was there to assist them because they might be intoxicated. The man stated that he was a "spotter" for the police and that he needed to escort the two women out of the area so that they did not get stopped and arrested for driving drunk. Both women declined and got into their car. The man stayed in the area and approached the women again and told them that if they drove away the police were waiting for them and they would be stopped.

The women decided they would leave the car in the lot and then the suspect told them someone would tow the car if they left it there. The women decided to allow the man to drive their car because he said he worked for the police and it was his job to get them home. The man began driving around the Downtown area and then left the city on I-5 going southbound. The man displayed a knife and continued driving southbound until he took the Detroit Lake exit and stopped the car on a gravel road off the freeway. While driving, he also forced one of the women to take several pills.

The women attempted to escape once the vehicle was stopped and the suspect threatened both with a knife and physically assaulted one of the women. One woman was able to escape and ran towards a residence that was in the area. People who were inside the residence called 911 and the Marion County Sheriff's Office responded. While this was happening, the second woman broke free from the suspect and hid in the area. The Sheriff's Office was able to locate both women but the suspect had fled the area in the vehicle. The vehicle was located late this afternoon by Marion County approximately 10 miles from where the women were found. Both women were returned to Portland and are working with Portland Police Detectives. The suspect has not been identified or located.

The suspect is described as a white male, in his late 30's. He is approximately 5'11" tall, and has a stocky build. He has reddish brown hair that is short and thick and also a thick goatee and mustache. He was last seen wearing a camouflage or hunting type of shirt or jacket and a matching hat. A photograph of the suspect is being sent to all media. This photograph was taken during the first few minutes of contact with the women.

This suspect is not affiliated with the Portland Police Bureau and the bureau does not employ anyone that assists with intoxicated subjects or who act as escorts to potentially intoxicated subjects.

Class canceled; assignments for next week

2010-03-02T10:21:00.000-08:00

Class is canceled tonight because I am not feeling well.

Please hold on to your progress reports and any rewrites you may have until next week. Do not email me any documents.

Assignments for March 9

Memo on how the timeline you laid out for your group project is meeting your needs. Note any changes you have had to make to it, whether any of your team members have not observed the timeline, and if any drafts have been submitted, talk about them specifically and their quality. Additionally, you may add any other relevant information you wish on the progress of the project.
Read Chapters 12 (reader-centered graphics) & 13 (designing pages and documents)
Next week we will have a guest speaker from KOIN Local 6 TV news. To prepare, watch at least one newscast (CBS early mornings or 5 p.m., 5:30 p.m., 6 p.m., 11 p.m.) and visit KOINlocal6.com.

Post questions for our guest, assistant news director Tia York, as a comment below.

See you next week.

Reminder: March 12 is the last day to withdraw from this course.

Feb. 23, 2010

2010-02-24T08:52:00.000-08:00

Our guest speaker was Laurie Harquail of Rejuvenations. If you have any feedback for her, post it as a comment here.

Your only assignment for next week is the Group Progress Report. Report how you are progressing on the project and also how well you are functioning as a group. In this individual assignment, you will report on all four phases of your project, just as you did in the proposal. Be sure to address the specifics of each task, each team member, each phase of the timeline. See page 531 for format guidelines.

Rejuvenation products for in-class exercise

2010-02-23T18:40:00.000-08:00

Post your ad here.

Feb. 16, 2010

2010-02-16T20:40:00.000-08:00

Blogs of the week

Francisco - employed technical writing document design and identified both strengths and weaknesses, in surprisingly even amounts.

Kippy, Michael and Meadow - Well-written quality feedback. I like that Michael and Meadow critiqued each other, and both had good points.

I included all of these blog posts this week because they took two different approaches but both are good.

Assignments for next week

Read Ch. 8 (Developing an effective style), Ch 19 (managing clients and service-learning projects)

Memo #5 on progress of your individual portion of the group project.

Blog - must be done by 5 p.m. Friday the 19th

Tonight's in-class exercise: find an online media kit. Post the link to it on your blog.
Instead of a blog post, post questions for next weeks' guest speaker Laurie Harquail on the topic of copywriting. Post your questions for her on the class blog under her bio once I post it.
Also comment on two classmates' previous posts of your choice.

Copywriting Speaker Laurie Harquail

2010-02-16T20:38:00.000-08:00

Laurie will be our guest speaker on copywriting. We'll be talking in a Q&A format. Post questions for her here (Scroll to bottom of post, click on "post a comment.")

About Laurie

Laurie is the Marketing Project Manager and Creative Resources Manager of Rejuvenation in southeast Portland. It's a popular store that recreates vintage hardware and lighting for old houses. A second store opened in Seattle in 2004.

Laurie is a marketing guru and copywriters' boss. The Rejuvenation catalog is the major publication she overseas in her present job.

She has been involved with interviewing, "testing" and hiring outside copywriters, both at Rejuvenations and at other jobs.

She has also been involved with ad copy, web copy, PR copy and catalog copy. She says she has had to jump in and write all on occasions.

Copy from Rejuvenation's site:

At Rejuvenation, we are passionate about period lighting and hardware. We bring back beautiful and enduring designs of the last 115 years with exacting attention to quality, authenticity, and value.

Feb. 9

2010-02-09T20:32:00.000-08:00

Compare your technical writing revision version from last week with this version. This is one good example of a rewrite for this piece.

We worked on technical writing techniques - specification documents, writing instructions, dealing with engineers and performed an exercise revising a set of instructions. You created a complete list of links to classmates' blogs in a widget on your blog.

Rhetoric analysis on Toyota commercial

Group work officially began.

Assignments for Feb. 16

Memo updating group project progress
Read Chapter 6 (conducting reader-centered research) and Chapter 7 (drafting paragraphs, sections and chapters).

Blogs

Post a review of a classmate's technical writing revision exercise that you performed in class tonight, Feb. 9th.
Comment on two other blogs.
(We did this in class.) Add a list of links to the remainder of classmates' blogs. Be sure to include the class blog.
Be sure comment moderation is enabled (Michelle, Jenny, Trevor).

Blog of the Week
Michelle's post on The Colbert Report.

Also notable is Jenny's post featuring a piece of rhetoric that she wrote in order to extract money from people. Jenny could use some feedback on her letter.

Add another list of links to classmates' blogs - with all of them except those of your team.

Feb. 2, 2010

2010-02-02T20:56:00.000-08:00

We reviewed memos turned in last week and went over the hand out Wordy/Better.
Group exercise rewriting company documentation samples
Group conferences on project topics
Discussed proposal writing, sample hand out
Finalized dates for group project presentations

Assignments for Feb. 9th
Read chapters four (planning for usability) and five (planning your persuasive strategies)
Blog post analying rhetoric
Project proposal (no memo)

Jan. 24

2010-01-26T18:00:00.000-08:00

We reviewed memos turned in last week, discussed tone in business writing (keep a copy of this hand-out; it's a good one), and filled out the Worksheet for Defining Objectives from page 92, Figure 3.5 on the subject of writing the proposal.

Groups are formalized. You should know who is in your group and have a rough idea of your project concept. Post a list of links to your teammates' blogs on your blog homepage using the widgets provided by Blogger.

We analyzed rhetoric of some commercials.

Assignments
Memo on your team selection and work so far.
Read Ch. 16 (creating communications with a team) and Ch. 23 (writing instructions)
Blog post - analyze the tone in a piece of writing someone sent to you.

Next week we'll have group conferences on your project concepts.

Jan. 19th

2010-01-19T20:37:00.000-08:00

We discussed blog posts from the week, performed an editing exercise, reviewed reading from the book, discussed the group project assignment, and interviewed potential team members.

Assignments for Jan. 26
Read Chapter 3 - defining your communication's objectives
Memo due with your ideas for your group project
Blog post on rhetoric (ethos, pathos, logos)

Welcome to 402

2010-01-12T17:38:00.000-08:00

Bookmark this blog. This is where you'll find announcements and documents in between our classes.

In class Jan. 12, we discussed the syllabus, introduced ourselves and talked about what we want from this course.

Reading assignment
Chapters 1 (communication, your career, and this book) 20 (letters, memos & emails), Ch. 22 (reader-centered proposals)

Assignments for next week
Memo on lack of group project ideas. See page 534 for format.
Set up blog, post on writing.

Thank you and good night

2008-12-09T08:21:00.000-08:00

English 402 has concluded for fall '08. Congratulations all who successfully completed the course.

I will be available through email through Thursday, Dec. 11th.

Dec. 1

2008-12-05T11:59:00.001-08:00

Finished group project presentations.

Final assignment - One freestyle blog post worth 10 points.

Next week are individual research project presentations.

Nov. 17

2008-11-17T20:09:00.000-08:00

Discussed public speaking, oral presentations, chapter 17
Group presentations from two PR groups and journalism group
Critiqued WSU English Department webpage and emailed me notes. I forwarded these to the webmaster. NEW - Read webmaster responses below!

Assignments for Dec. 1

Blog posts on what you have learned so far in this course OR (NEW) on the webmaster's response to your critique, and peer response.
Reminder - the deadline for group projects to be turned in is Dec. 1, the Monday we return. Don't forget to include your assessment of your team members' performance throughout the project. You may turn this in to me individually for discretion, but turn it in Dec. 1st.

That's it - enjoy Thanksgiving break!

Student permission form for library use

2008-11-17T20:04:00.000-08:00

If you will grant permission for me to use your individual and group projects as resources in the library for future Engilsh 402 students to view as examples, print out this form, sign it, and turn it in attached to your piece when you hand it in. Thank you!

WSU webpage critique

2008-11-17T19:39:00.000-08:00

Using what you learned in Ch. 18, critique the web design of this recently redesigned WSU V English Dept. webpage.
http://www.vancouver.wsu.edu/programs/english/english.htm

Update: I forwarded your feedback to webmaster Heather Lehman and the English Department heads. Here are the responses from the webmaster.

All of this feedback is very nice to have. Design with very limited resources is always harder to do than having a free/open template to choose from. Navigation on the right or navigation on the left is a evenly split preference, and I can change that if people would like.

Having little/limited input on the images made for a neutral selection of items - anyone with other images or suggestions, please forward and they can be utilized. I deliberately moved away from stacks of books, quills, and Shakespeare because that is what everyone English department has too! The dictionary image was not that much more inspired either, but it is neutral and on topic.

I can certainly change the font size and some of the arrangement- like the search box and the department contact. And the department chair font size can certainly be toned down! I deliberately place the search box down because it is a site wide search engine and I wanted to keep attention on the "related" and "more" links - which are all still under development.

As to white space - the variation on the white space is to be expected when a site is cross tested on 4 different browsers with various sizes. The design is fluid and intended to capture the majority of audiences on IE6/IE7 and an 800x600 screen. I can decrease some white space, but not much.

I would love to have the text be unique, but that will have to wait until the muse strikes someone in the department! My primary concern has always been good and updated content - so I would love if people put more of their design wants forward!

Would you like to have some of these critiques addressed and changes made? I can do that and have it up very shortly as the majority of changes are cosmetic and not content. (This question is directed to the department heads)

Remember that down the line the entire university may do a rebranding, and IT will be implementing a different site system that may or may not come with templates that override any design that is in place now. I have adhered to the minimal requirements for departments as I understand them. The current design is easy enough to use as a "skin" on most any system that IT chooses, if they let us use it!

Nov. 10

2008-11-11T14:17:00.000-08:00

Underwhelming gag of the week: the Mason glass/metal pen ting to order. Needed better ting. Thanks for trying!

Resume discussion
Group work

Assignments

The last memo
Read chapters 17 (oral presentations) and 18 (web design)
Blog - post on chapters, post response

Speaking of resumes, here's a media release that came to KOIN last week. It's from "the president of Pathfinder Writing and Career Services." News or advertisement - what do you think?

Economic Woes Create Boon to Résumé Writing Industry
Nervous employees tuning up their résumés in anticipation of difficult times ahead

Portland, OR – With Wall Street taking a pounding, Main Street is beginning to suffer with related job losses and downsizing as executives tighten their company belts. Employees are getting concerned, and many are looking to either jump ship to more stable employment, or have a pink slip in hand and are now just entering the job search marketplace for the first time in years. With so much competition for just a single open position, many people are turning to professional résumé-writers to put the greatest amount of polish on their experience as possible to stand out as an ideal candidate. Doing so can make the difference between a résumé getting a second look that leads to an interview.

In an unscientific poll of members of the National Résumé Writers Association, the majority of respondents indicated that they have definitely seen an increase in just the past few months in clients who are all worried about their jobs and the economy. "I’m seeing an especially large number of people downsized from the financial industry including Realtors, lenders, and private bankers. It has been interesting…many of the lenders say they saw it coming, but didn’t realize it would be so fast…yet most are still employed, but looking," said Camille Roberts, owner of CC Computer Services & Training in Idaho Falls, ID.

Irene Marshall of Tools for Transition located in Fremont, CA observed that "The thing that I am seeing with people at all levels is an increase in urgency. I’ve noticed a definite change since Labor Day weekend."

The change has also impacted former workers who had thought that they had retired. With losses topping the trillions on Wall Street, Portland, OR résumé-writer Bonnie Kurka of Executive Career Suite recently heard from a previous client who needed to start earning money again. "A retired GM exec contacted me because he has to go back to work," Kurka said. "Seems his ‘lifetime benefits’ promised to him when he retired are gone as of the first of January."

Another résumé-writer located in Portland, Dawn Rasmussen of Pathfinder Writing and Career Services, has heard from a number of clients who had updated their résumés earlier this summer, fearful of tough economic times ahead and unsure of their company’s financial stability. “And come to find out, in the span of two weeks at the end of September/early October, I got emails and calls from many clients indicating that they had just been laid off. Having their résumé already updated proved to be one piece of comfort in an otherwise very distressing time.”

As Rasmussen’s experience illustrates, many customers are updating their résumés as precautionary measures, having picked up on troubling warning signs from their employer about poor corporate financial performance. Résumé-writing has become a fast-growing professional service in the current economy, and will likely continue to grow as people recognize the value of hiring a professional résumé writer to become as competitive as possible in an increasingly crowded job marketplace.

Most professional résumé writers belong to either the National Résumé Writers Association or Professional Association of Résumé Writers to keep abreast of current trends and techniques in the career writing service industry.

Nov. 3

2008-11-05T17:15:00.000-08:00

Watched The Persuaders, a 90-minute Frontline documentary examining how changes in marketing practices are influencing U.S. culture and politics.

Group work

Assignments
Blog on chapter readings and peer response
Memo updating individual research project
Read chapters 2, 9, 10

Next week is on resumes. Please consider bringing yours in for possible critique. And because I want to address your particular resume concerns, please post your questions about resumes and the cover letters that go with them at the bottom of this post.

Tom Sumner on three common English errors

2008-10-30T10:28:00.000-07:00

To read Tom's original post on his company's blog with live links, click here.

I was asked recently to name three common errors in English that everyone
should learn to avoid. This is an invitation to expound (in a quite
bloated way, preferably) and pass judgment and arbitrarily assign extreme
importance to things that ultimately could never be ranked in any way. In
other words, it was an invitation I could never decline, and it actually
wasn't that hard to think of the three: "its" and "it's."

Well, OK, on its face, that's only one error, and a pretty simple one at
that. "It's" with an apostrophe can only mean "it is" or "it has." The
apostrophe takes the place of the missing letters in this case, just like
the apostrophe in "don't" or "can't," so if you are using "it's" with an
apostrophe and cannot logically replace it with either "it is" or "it
has," then the correct spelling is "its" with no apostrophe. Example:

* It's been too long since I spent the day at the seaside.
* The maple shed its leaves assiduously throughout the fall afternoon.

I don't know how many times I've been handed a manuscript to edit where
the author--literate, intelligent, successful--somehow had this
distinction exactly backwards, or at the very least was not up to using
the correct spelling more than about three out of five times, say.

But of course there's an excellent reason why "it's" and "its" get misused
by capable writers. It's simply that the apostrophe has one other major
function in English besides standing in for missing letters. The
apostrophe also is used to mark the possessive case, as in "John's books"
or "the leaders' conference." The problem, naturally, is that "its" is a
possessive pronoun, so the instinct is to want to insert an apostrophe to
mark possession. Pronouns are different from nouns, though. We just don't
do apostrophes in our possessive pronouns (his, her, your, their) the way
we do with our nouns.

So, then, enter common error in English #2: Correctly inserting the
apostrophe in a possessive noun. Here's one that I often have to stop and
think about, though the basic rule is straightforward: For a singular
noun, add apostrophe-s to the end to make it possessive. For a plural noun
ending in "s," add only an apostrophe to make it possessive, and for
plural nouns not ending in "s" (such as children), add apostrophe-s to the
end to make it possessive. Examples:

* the boss's desk (singular noun; add apostrophe-s to form the
possessive)
* the child's bookshelf (singular noun; add apostrophe-s to form the
possessive)
* a managers' meeting (plural noun ending in "s"; add apostrophe to
form the possessive)
* the men's room (plural noun not ending in "s"; add apostrophe-s to
form the possessive)

So far, so good--but there is one little hitch when it comes to proper
nouns. For a proper noun ending in "s," there is an acceptable style that
allows for adding just an apostrophe to the name to make it possessive,
whether singular or plural. Example:

* Paul Brians' excellent book on English usage
(singular proper noun made possessive by adding an apostrophe)
* Jacqueline du Pré's recordings of Brahms' cello sonatas
(two singular proper nouns--one made possessive by adding
apostrophe-s; the other made possessive by adding an apostrophe)
* the Masons' expansive collection of exotic pets
(plural proper noun made possessive by adding an apostrophe)

Of course, the sign hanging in the yard of your neighbor's house probably
should have no apostrophe at all; it should just read "The Smiths," I
think. That is, I think the sign is short for [This is the house where]
The Smiths [live]. But there may be an argument for adding an apostrophe
to the end of "Smiths" if you think the sign stands for something like
[This is] The Smiths' [house]. I don't think, however, that the case can
be made for a sign reading this way: "The Smith's," though surely you will
see such signs wherever you may roam.

Fine--that's two errors tied to "its" vs. "it's," but where could the
third error to avoid be? It gets a bit trickier, since this is not
clear-cut error-correction turf anymore, but consider these two (classic)
sentences:

a) The committee reached its decision.
b) The committee reached their decision.

Note, first, that "its," not "it's," is the correct spelling in Example
a). That's worth noting because there's my flimsy connection to the
its/it's question I'm addressing. But the issue now becomes
transmogrified--it's no longer a matter of wrestling with apostrophes and
possessive forms; now it's a question of singular vs. plural. And here, I
think, is the source of much confusion among native English speakers. It
all seems pretty simple when you use sentences like this:

* The dog wagged its tail.
* The cats ate their dinner.

Baby stuff, of course. "Its" refers to the dog; "their" to the cats. If
you mess this up you probably are not a native speaker of English. On the
other hand, go back to sentences a) and b) above, and ask yourself what
parts of the sentence are missing. Is it a) or b)?:

a) The committee[, acting as a unified whole,] reached its decision.
b) The [members of] the committee reached their decision.

And on this point you need to settle into some comfortable in-between
space that decides both can be correct. Now, enlightened, you can go
forward knowing you know which one you mean when using the singular (its)
or the plural (their).

Oct. 27 - journalism, book publishing

2008-10-28T10:18:00.001-07:00

Finished journalism unit
(From Peter O'Connor come two new reports on publications making cuts - Conde Nast reducing Portfolio and Men's Vogue magazines, and Time Inc. cutting up to 600 jobs. Time empire includes Fortune, People, Sports Illustrated and Time.)

Group work
Guest speaker Tom Sumner on book publishing

For those of you interested in the radio show excerpt we listened to in class, here are the details.

This American Life, show #348 2/8/2008 Act Four: Tough Room, at 45:26.

Malcolm Gladwell is a best-selling author and famous journalist at the New
Yorker magazine. But not always. Witness his story—which was recorded live, on
stage at the Moth theater in New York—about his first job in journalism, and how
terrifying it was.

Assignments

Memo updating progress on individual research project
Back to the textbook - read chapters 14 (revising drafts), 15 (testing drafts)
Blogs - post on chapter reading and post peer response

Note - next week we're watching a film. Try not to miss class; it's a good one.

Oct. 17

2008-10-21T10:50:00.000-07:00

Began ethics exploration from dilemmas faced in real newsrooms. We'll conclude this next week.

Note: Thank you all who gave feedback on freelance writing unit. Future classes will benefit from your input. Nice job on pitch letters all around.

Speaker Jesse Day (admittedly not his best performance, but hopefully you learned something about TV broadcasting)

Assignments

Memo updating progress on individual research project
Read "Web 2.0" by Andrew Keen | printable version here - bring copy to class
Read Sarah Boxer's piece on blogs in the New York Review of Books
Post questions to Tom Sumner on his bio post by Friday at 5:00 p.m.
Blog posts - (NOTE) Either post on journalism OR book publishing, plus peer response

Tom Sumner, publisher

2008-10-21T10:49:00.000-07:00

Tom is ready for your questions about publishing, editing, and/or the blogosphere. Post questions at the end of this post.

Tom Sumner is the managing and acquitions editor of Frankin, Beedle & Associates, an independent book publishing company near Portland.

The company publishes computer science textbooks for higher education. If you've taken programming courses, chances are you've encountered their books. They also publish trade books under the imprint William, James & Co. - books on English (including Common Errors in English Usage), art and gardening.

He is the creator of the Informed Citizen Series, a series of books that presents current events and journalism from the point of view of political bloggers. His book Untidy: The Blogs on Rumsfeld is the first book of the series.

He has been a book editor for 13 years. Prior to that he taught English for six years in the U.S., Turkey, and Japan. Tom has distinguished himself as a unique authority on the political Blogosphere, and has talked on the subject on various radio programs.

Oct. 13

2008-10-14T08:07:00.000-07:00

Reviewed good examples of memos

Group conferences

Guest speaker Laurie Harquail on copywriting

Assignments for Oct. 20

Watch one broadcast of KOIN TV 6 News and visit Koin.com. If you don’t live in the broadcast area, watch any local news show. Pay attention to writing, because you’ll be doing it next week.

Post questions for KOIN news producer Jesse Day at the bottom of his bio post below by Friday.

Group progress reports - individual written reports worth 100 points.

Blog posts - on TV news (program or genre in general) and peer response.

Note: No memo and no chapter readings. You've got enough to do.

Jesse Day, TV news producer

2008-10-14T08:05:00.001-07:00

Jesse has spent nearly five years as a broadcast journalist in a variety of roles. He has experience in production (editor, cameras), assignment editing and producing. His show won "Best Newscast" in the 2006 Idaho press club awards. He's worked in Portland at KOIN for a year and is currently the weekend newscast producer.

Jesse has also spent time in law enforcement, mental health, and the U.S. Army.

Post questions for Jesse as comments here.

Oct. 6 - Freelance writing

2008-10-07T07:41:00.001-07:00

Crash course on freelance writing
Rhetoric analysis on Hitler youth rally speech
Group project work

Assignments
No chapter reading (break from book while we have guest speakers)
Blog - post on freelance writing, post peer response to any post
Pitch (query) letter for freelance writing
Memo on research paper progress
Post questions to Laurie Harquail under her bio post

Note - Next week we'll have group project conferences. Be prepared to give an overview of your work strategy, task assignment, and schedule for your group project.

Speaker: Laurie Harquail

2008-10-07T07:40:00.000-07:00

Copy from Rejuvenation's site:

At Rejuvenation, we are passionate about period lighting and hardware. We bring back beautiful and enduring designs of the last 115 years with exacting attention to quality, authenticity, and value.

Sept. 29 - PR writing

2008-09-30T08:07:00.000-07:00

Technical writing revision exercise due.

Introduction to PR writing. Sample media kits, media releases.

Two articles: Five ways to do damage control like Mattel from BNET Intercom and Cheney's PR: How not to do damage control from USA Today

Group work.

Assignments

Blog posts as usual - one on chapters, second a response to a peer's post
Memo on research paper progress (Start deciding on your sources)
Read Ch. 8 (developing an effective style), Ch 19 (managing clients and service-learning projects)
Bring in a publication you can imagine yourself being published in - magazine, journal, newspaper, etc.

Sept. 22 - tech writing

2008-09-23T08:06:00.000-07:00

Technical writing crash course
Rhetoric analysis of Boiler Room
Groups assigned, scheduled, work began

(Reminder: Practice good project management. Do task identification, task assignment and scheduling timeline BEFORE you start the creative brain dump. It'll greatly increase the likelihood of your group being efficient, productive and happy.)

Assignments

Read chapters 6 and 7
Post on chapter reading, post peer response either on reading or rhetoric
Memo on research paper progress
Technical writing instructions revision

Note - Hold onto the hand out on tone.

Sept. 15 class

2008-09-16T12:08:00.000-07:00

Went over proposals. See samples for general guidelines starting on page 634. Required concepts are scope of work, who will be performing it (Tip - Are you qualified for this?), what resources you expect to require, estimated date of completion.

Began revision exercise.

Individual consultations on research project topics. Lots of great topics! Note that class time is scheduled until 9 p.m., so if you did not have your consultation with me and you left before then without clearing it with me, you lost participation points.

Assignments

Blog post topics – chapters and rhetoric definition, examples
Research paper proposal (no memo)
Ch. 4 (Planning for usability), Read Ch. 5 (Planning your persuasive Strategies)
Ch. 16 (creating communications with a team), 23 (writing instructions
Print, read, and bring to class this hand out on tone.

Research paper ideas

2008-09-11T18:56:00.000-07:00

Here are some actual research projects to get your ideas rolling. Email me if you want to talk about an idea before Monday.

Realistic vs. formal written communication at (specific environment)
Electronic correspondence and business etiquette
Cross-cultural communication in the workplace
Rhetoric and writing style analysis of (a specific political speech)
How China and Europe view advertising
How book marketing targets its audience
Compare and review user manuals for two audio compressors
An analysis of the relationship of technical writing and the game-testing industry
The rhetoric of the PC vs. Mac current advertising campaign
Brief history of the Associated Press writing style
How to write technical documents in the accounting field
Technical writing with Butch Harmon
Biographical treatments of Malcom X
Critique of visual rhetoric/design and technical writing in a knitting manual

Class summary Sept. 8

2008-09-09T10:11:00.000-07:00

Discussion topics included an introduction to rhetoric and differences between professional and academic writing.

In-class editing exercise

Began group work exploration to find potential group members and categories.

Assignments

Read Chapter 3
Memo on research project idea (or two)
Be prepared for consultations next week
Blog post on chapter reading
Blog post response to another student's post
Add blogroll of classmate blog links to your blog

Your blogs

2008-09-04T10:26:00.000-07:00

To the right is the list of links to your blog (known as a blogroll). Please check to see if your link is working. If it's not, email me your link and your full name again.

Welcome

2008-08-05T10:53:00.001-07:00

This course is designed to prepare you for the working world, no matter where you fit in. To the right, you'll find the name of our required textbook, the syllabus, key dates in the course and a guide to the symbols I'll use in grading your papers.

Bookmark this blog. After each class, I'll post a summary of what we did, and assignments for the next week.

Since we don't have a lot of time together in class, we'll be using the Blogosphere to keep discussions going and otherwise communicate between classes. Feel free to post on this blog anytime. You can also reach me at my WSU email address.

Assignments for Sept. 8

Memo on lack of research project ideas (see page 534 for format)
Read chapters 1, 20, 22
Set up a blog in Blogger, post on chapter readings and post a freestyle post on writing.
Email me the URL to your blog (See syllabus for my email address.).

2008-04-22T12:57:00.000-07:00

Thanks for all your energy this semester. I hope you got something useful out of the class. You can reach me at my WSU email address if you need to. I will not be on campus again until fall semester.

April 14

2008-04-14T17:56:00.000-07:00

Group presentations

Resume discussion.

Next week is our last week together. Research papers are due. Plan on an evening of learning about a smorgasbord of topics related to professional writing.

NOTE: IF YOU WANT YOUR RESEARCH PAPER RETURNED, BRING A STAMPED SASE TO CLASS MONDAY. Be sure you have enough postage to cover it, or else I'll just mail back one page.

April 7

2008-04-08T09:30:00.000-07:00

Group presentations

Freelance writing lecture

Assignments

Final blog entries - Freestyle; response optional

Reading - Chapters 2, 9, 10

Optional for extra credit - Write a freelance writing pitch letter for an original article/story/poem to a real publication. Ten points possible.

March 31 - marketing rhetoric

2008-04-01T08:23:00.000-07:00

Watched The Persuaders, a 90-minute Frontline documentary examining how changes in marketing practices are influencing U.S. culture and politics.

Group work

Assignments

No more memos! Well done.

Be prepared with a specific article/story/letter idea to pitch to a publication. Bring a sample copy of the publication you choose to pitch.

Post about The Persuaders by Saturday, post a peer response by Monday.

March 24

2008-03-25T15:09:00.000-07:00

Finished up journalism unit.
Began advertising (copywriting) unit.
Guest speaker was Laurie Harquail of Rejuvenation.

Assignments
No memo due Monday (kudos to all you Aces who made this deserved).
Posts - Cite an example of rhetoric in advertising (link if possible), respond.

The weeks are winding down. Be sure to email me if you come up with questions on your group project or paper.

Next week, we'll watch a Frontline documentary on advertising.

Speaker: Laurie Harquail

2008-03-18T09:29:00.001-07:00

Copy from Rejuvenation's site:

At Rejuvenation, we are passionate about period lighting and hardware. We bring back beautiful and enduring designs of the last 115 years with exacting attention to quality, authenticity, and value.

March 17

2008-03-18T09:24:00.000-07:00

Guest speaker was Jesse Day.
Scheduled group presentations.

Assignments
Blog posts - find instance of bias in news media, respond to another's bias post.
Memo updating progress on paper. (Questions? Now is the time to ask.)
Post questions for next week's speaker, Laurie Harquail - by Friday.

Speaker: Jesse R. Day

2008-03-04T13:52:00.000-08:00

March 3 - book publishing, media ethics

2008-03-02T14:30:00.000-08:00

Played 20 Ethical Questions via the publication the Newsroom Brain. (If you liked reading about the real-life scenerios and how they played out in the media, check it out for more.)

Speaker Tom Sumner showed up and talked about book publishing.

Note that March 7 is last day to withdraw.

Assignments

Post questions for TV news producer Jesse Day on his bio post by Friday, March 7.
Watch one newscast of KOIN Channel 6 news (Jesse produces the weekend 6 p.m. and 11 p.m., and the 5 p.m. weekday). Visit Koin.com
Read Chs. 12 (reader-centered graphics) & 13 (designing pages and documents)
Blog post on chapter by March 8, response by March 17 (no blog posts due spring break week)
Memo on research paper progress

Have a good spring break! See you on St. Patrick's Day.

Guest speaker Tom Sumner

2008-02-25T17:46:00.000-08:00

Tom is ready for your questions about publishing, editing, and/or the blogosphere. Post questions at the end of this post.

Tom Sumner is the managing and acquitions editor of Frankin, Beedle & Associates, an independent book publishing company near Portland.

For Feb. 25

2008-02-19T08:27:00.000-08:00

The first thing we'll do Monday is listen to Jeff Alan. Thanks for all the terrific questions.

Some of you are trying to email me your memos. I am not accepting electronic copies. Bring them with you Monday and turn them in at the beginning of class as usual.

See you next week.

Guest speaker - Jeff Alan

2008-02-12T08:49:00.001-08:00

Post questions for Jeff on this post by Friday.

Jeff Alan began his reporting career in radio while still in High School in 1968. During his first year as a reporter he was an eyewitness to the assassination of Robert Kennedy and covered politics as a youth political reporter. His weekly beat reporting included then governor Ronald Reagan, Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater and many others.

By the mid 1980s Jeff had received numerous awards and was hired to his first television news management position in northern Arizona. He began moving up in market size. First to West Virginia, then Western Pennsylvania, Memphis, Saint Louis, Houston, Pittsburgh and Portland.

Winner of over 50 prestigious journalism awards including the 2000 Emmy award for Outstanding Television News, The National Ed King Memorial Award for Outstanding Journalism from the Society of Professional Journalists, The Best Newscast in America Award and National Outstanding Community Service Award from the National Academy of Television Journalists.

As a television News Director Jeff has directed news coverage of thousands of news stories including the Crash of the Space Shuttle Columbia, The crash of U.S. Airways flight #427, The Grand Canyon tourism air tragedy, The Jonesboro school shootings and the Pope's visit to Saint Louis, The death of Governor Mel Carnahan and the internet twins.

Jeff also anchored the news in Arizona, West Virginia and Pennsylvania. He hosted his own weekly television talk program in Memphis and Saint Louis. He also produced award winning television specials, documentaries and weekly series.

Jeff has also taught a top rated broadcast journalism course for four years at the University of Pittsburgh and lectured at colleges and universities nationwide.
Jeff Alan is the author of “ANCHORING AMERICA” & "RESPONSIBLE JOURNALISM" (Bonus Books – Los Angeles).

Feb. 11 Public Relations and Marketing

2008-02-11T20:42:00.001-08:00

Went over media releases, media kits, crisis control, project management and how to approach group work.

Two articles - Five ways to do damage control like Mattel from BNET Intercom and Cheney's PR: How not to do damage control from USA Today

Rhetoric analysis – Boiler Room recruitment speech (DVD)

Assignments

Chapters 8 and 19
Blog posts - chapter points and peer response
Memo updating research paper progress
Post questions for guest speaker Jeff Alan (bio is pending - watch blog)
Also, optionally, please create a list of links to classmates' blogs, for everyone's ease in surfing.

Watch blog in case I add something before we meet again.

Feb. 4

2008-02-04T20:40:00.000-08:00

Worked on writing skills, reviewed revisions from exercise last week (papers taped to wall)
Discussed tone, organization of ideas.
[DVD player mishap; no rhetoric analysis]
Technical writing - examples, in-class group exercise, homework (revision exercise)

Assignments

Technical writing homework
Read chapters 6 and 7
Blog posts - by Sat. - chapter reading; by Mon. - peer response
Memo - 2-3 sources for bibliography

Jan. 28

2008-01-29T12:08:00.000-08:00

Used sample memos to work on writing mechanics and style.

Individual conferences on research paper topics. If you met with me, your topic is approved, so you may begin work on your paper as soon as you are ready.

See group project descriptions below; they will always be available through links I've added at the right. Next week, we'll talk about the projects and project management, and you will form the groups you'll be working with for the rest of the semester.

Assignments for Feb. 4

Research paper proposals are due instead of a memo. The format is the same as the memo format. Include, at minimum, sections on the scope of work, who will be performing it, what resources you expect to require, and estimated date of completion.

Read Ch. 4 (Planning for usability), Read Ch. 5 (Planning your persuasive Strategies)

Blog posts - By Saturday - chapter readings; by Monday - respond to someone else's blog post. Post this on your blog - title should reference whose blog post you are responding to and the date it was posted.

PR - marketing - advertising

2008-01-28T12:30:00.000-08:00

Media Kit

Cover letter
About this company
Mission statement
Event or product release
Event or product description
Background info page
Letter from president
Brochure
Card

You will create the company, which includes slogan, logo, colors, etc.

This project involves visual design.

Journalism Dossier

2008-01-28T12:15:00.000-08:00

Match a type of piece with the media genre, for six pieces total. While these pieces will be mostly text, visual components (photos, illustrations) are encouraged.

Newspaper
Magazine
Op-ed
Web news
TV
Radio
Blog

movie, music, or other art review
political column
interview (Q&A format)
meeting coverage
crime or disaster spot news (I will provide press releases.)
feature
profile

All but one piece are to be based on actual events and people, because accuracy is crucial. You may do one fantasy piece.

Online software task package

2008-01-28T12:04:00.000-08:00

This package will be based on real software and a real task. It will differ from the existing technical writing copy in that it must address a specific audience. Remember, plagiarism is not allowed.

Welcome
About this product
Wizard
Help
Contact

ideas for research papers

2008-01-27T16:30:00.000-08:00

Here are some topic ideas to get you thinking. Feel free to adopt and/or adapt any of these, or come up with something else you might find interesting. If you're still stuck, thumb through the book for ideas, too.

- Differences in business correspondence norms between (certain) countries
- The new norms of online resume writing
- Specialized professional language inside the ____ industry
- Public relations vs. marketing - the differences, the commonalities
- From press release to media release - how this beast is changing
- Career outlook for technical writers
- Career bio of a remarkable professional writer
- Professional blogging - What is it? Does it exist?
- Rhetoric of technical writing or advertising in a product such as iTunes
- A critique of an instruction manual, with guidelines for improvement

Jan. 21

2008-01-15T09:32:00.001-08:00

Assignments for Jan. 28

There is no memo due Jan. 28.

Print, read, and bring to class this hand out on tone.

Read chapter 16 (creating communications with a team), 23 (writing instructions).

Blog posts - Sat. on chapters, Mon. on rhetoric - What it is, what the three forms mean, and an example of at least one. (Please, give me your own thoughts here, not Wikipedia material. I want to see where we're at with these concepts.)

Reminder - We will have individual conferences on paper topics on Monday. Be prepared with ideas to discuss.

Jan. 14

2008-01-15T09:25:00.000-08:00

Introduced rhetoric (persuasion) and three means of - ethos, pathos, logos.

Worked on editing.

Chapter discussion, memo format review.

Began process of choosing genre and group members for group projects.

Assignments for Jan. 14 (No Class - MLK Day)

Email memo on ideas for research paper by 5 p.m.
Read Ch. 3 (defining your communication’s objectives), review Chapter 22 on proposals (especially from page 633 on).
Blog posts - Saturday post on chapter readings; Monday post freestyle thoughts about research paper ideas.

Note - Be sure to check this blog again next week.

If you have any questions, email me or post them in a comment here.

Jan. 7

2008-01-07T19:46:00.000-08:00

Welcome to 402! I hope you'll get a lot out of this class.

For Monday, Jan. 14,

Get the textbook
Read chapters 1, 20, 22
Turn in memo on lack of research paper ideas (hard copy due at beginning of class)
Set up a blog on Blogger
Email me - kricker@vancouver.wsu.edu - the URL of your blog
Post chapter discussion points by Saturday at 5:00 p.m.
Post freestyle on anything relevant by Monday at 3:00 p.m.

If you have any questions, email me or post them in a comment here.

See you next week at 6:00.

Syllabus

2008-01-07T10:57:00.000-08:00

Course
English 402, section 4: Technical and Professional Writing, Spring 2008
Mondays 6-9 p.m., VMMC room 23

Instructor
Kat Ricker
Office hours by appointment
E-mail: kricker@vancouver.wsu.edu

Prerequisites
English 101 or its equivalent and junior standing.

Course description
In this class, you should gain a basic understanding of a variety of technical and professional writing products and practices. What you learn here is designed to be useful to you in real life, to help you succeed in your career.

This is a course on theory and practice of technical and professional writing. Students analyze the rhetorical strategies of writing products (in print, broadcast and hypertext) in various technical and professional genres, consider their context, learn conventions of standard formats, and create documents acceptable at the professional level.

Course objectives

• Identify and analyze rhetorical situations and apply rhetorical strategies to technical and professional writing
• Compose and revise a variety of technical and professional documents
• Demonstrate a knowledge of research techniques and inclusion of research results in technical and professional documents
• Demonstrate the ability to communicate through professional presentations
• Work both individually and collaboratively to complete technical and professional writing projects
• Approach their chosen profession with a grasp on the standard professional communication involved in seeking a job, making proposals, and reporting progress on projects

Required book

Technical Communication: A Reader-Centered Approach by Paul V. Anderson, 6th ed., 2006 1413017703 publisher is Heinle

Other requirements: Internet access, a Google/Blogger account

Assignments
Blog – At least two posts are due weekly (You may post more if you wish). 1 - Suggest two to three points from the week’s textbook reading for class discussion (post by Saturday at 5:00 p.m.). 2 – assigned topic or peer response - post by Monday at 3:00 p.m.). You either receive five points each for turning them in on time or zero points if late or otherwise not fulfilling assignment.

Research paper – This project includes the paper itself (3 – 5 pages), proposal, summary, and a weekly memo updating me on progress. Memos are due every Monday at 5:00 p.m.

Presentations – An oral presentation will be scheduled for each research paper project and each group project.

Group projects – These will include the project itself, a progress report, and a presentation.

Reading – Assignments will be given from the required textbook and other sources.

Because I want you to learn how to do things in this class, grading is designed to help you, not simply penalize you. With the exception of the blogs and the final group project and research paper, any grade you receive falling short of the total points possible can be improved; you may revise an assignment and resubmit it. You can then earn an additional one-half of the points deducted from the original grade. In order to qualify, revised assignments must be re-submitted by the Monday following the Monday they were handed back.

Class discussions are an important part of this class; therefore, your active participation is expected, including interaction with guests.

Grading
A total of 1,500 points are possible in this class.

22 blog posts worth 5 each = 110
9 Memos worth 10 each = 90

Research paper project 500 points total possible
- Proposal 100
- Research paper (MLA format) 200
- Summary (MLA format article abstract) 100
- Presentation 100

Group project 500 points total possible
- Progress report 100
- Project 300
- Presentation 100

Class participation 200
Attendance 100

(Extra credit is possible)

A 1260 – 1400 (90% – 100% and up)
B 1120 – 1259 (80% - 89%)
C 980 – 1119 (70% - 79%)
D 840 – 979 (60% - 69%)
F 839 – 0 (0 – 59%)

Attendance
Attendance is mandatory. Any absences must either be requested before the fact or explained and approved after the fact before the following class. More than two absences will begin to damage your grade.

Plagiarism
Plagiarism will not be tolerated. This includes copying any portion of text from another writer, including copying text from the Internet. Any student caught plagiarizing will be given an “F” for the course and will be referred to the Office of Student Conduct. If you have any questions about whether something qualifies as plagiarism, ask me.

Academic Integrity
Academic integrity is the cornerstone of the university and will be strongly enforced in this course. Any student caught cheating on any assignment will be given an “F” for the course and will be referred to the Office of Student Conduct.

Disability Accommodation
Accommodations may be available if you need them in order to fully participate in this class because of a disability. Accommodations may take some time to implement so it is critical that you contact Disability Services as soon as possible. All accommodations must be approved through Disability Services, located in the Student Resource Center on the Lower Level of VSSC. (360) 546-9138

Key Dates

• Jan 21 - No Class (MLK Day)
• Jan 28 – Individual consultations on paper topics
• Feb 4 – Research paper proposals due
• Feb 11 – Group conferences
• Feb. 18 – No Class (Presidents’ Day)
• Feb. 25 – Guest speaker on copywriting; group progress report due
• March 3 - Guest speaker on book publishing

• March 10 - No Class (Spring break)

• March 17 – Guest speaker on TV journalism
• April 7 - Group presentations I
• April 14 - Group presentations II; projects due
• April 21 – Last class – individual presentation, research paper and summary due

Finals week

2007-12-10T13:04:00.001-08:00

We will meet just long enough for everyone to perform their research paper presentations. We meet at our usual time and place.

Nov. 26 - Resumes

2007-11-26T16:26:00.000-08:00

GROUP 1 PRESENTATION
GROUP 2 PRESENTATION

We have this class, next class, and we meet on finals week, although we'll be out early (as soon as the individual presentations are finished).

Summary for research paper - 50 - 100 words, 2 - 3 paragraphs, include conclusions. See executive summary in book or look at academic article abstracts.

Discussed resume formats - hand outs, overheads.

Assignments

Final blog post is due Saturday. It is completely freeform. Monday peer response is optional (will not count toward your grade).

Read Chs. 14 (revising drafts), 15 (testing drafts) This finishes the book!

Start preparing research paper presentation.

Important! Assignments Over Break

2007-11-10T16:25:00.000-08:00

Reminder - Be sure to turn in your memo on research paper progress and magazine pitch letter via email by 6 p.m. Monday, Nov. 12.

When you come back, we'll tackle resume design. Instead of bringing in an example of good or bad design, bring in your resume if you have one. (If you do not yet have a resume, you don't have to bring anything in.)

Reading Assignment for Nov. 26

Read chapters 17 (oral presentations), 2 (obtaining a job), 9 (resumes), and 10 (ending a communication).

Blog post assignments for Nov. 24 & 26

Post your thoughts and questions on resume writing and/or resume design by Saturday, Nov. 24. Post peer response by Nov. 26.

Note there are no more research paper progress memos due. :-)

Email me or post here with any questions. Have a great break. See you Nov. 26.

Nov. 5 – Freelance Writing

2007-11-06T07:00:00.000-08:00

Memo due on research paper progress.

Discuss ideas for freelance writing pieces, publications.

Go over formats for pitch letters.

Introduction to Writers Market

Sample letters from Query Letters That Worked

Sample markets from Writersweekly.com

Hand out - Writers Market article.

Work in groups to brainstorm "hooks" for letters.

Assignments

Write pitch letter. Extra points for clips and/or sample graphics. Turn in (.doc) via email by 6:00 p.m. Monday, Nov. 12.

Memo on research paper progress, due via email by 6:00 p.m. Monday, Nov. 12.

Read Chs. 12 (reader-centered graphics), 13 (designing pages and documents), 18 (web design). Bring in an example of good or bad design on Nov. 26.

Blog post Saturday on chapter readings. Blog post Monday - peer response.

Field trip: KOIN TV, Saturday, Nov. 17 1:00
222 SW Columbia St.
97201
Email me for details.

Have a great break!

Oct. 29 – Marketing Rhetoric

2007-10-29T04:23:00.000-07:00

Blitz lecture on newspaper journalism

Watched The Persuaders, a 90-minute Frontline documentary examining how changes in marketing practices are influencing U.S. culture and politics.

Group work

Assignments

Memo on research paper

Be prepared with a specific article/story/letter idea to pitch to a publication. Bring a sample copy of the publication you choose to pitch.

Post about The Persuaders on Saturday, post a peer response on Monday.

Oct. 22 – TV Journalism

2007-10-23T04:23:00.000-07:00

Guest speaker is Jesse Day, producer at KOIN News 6 (CBS).

Wrote a TV news segment based on a press release or wire copy; speaker provided feedback.

Group conferences on project progress.

Assignments

Saturday blog post on rhetoric: describe the meaning of ethos, pathos and logos, as you understand them at this point, or cite examples. Monday post - peer response.

Research paper progress memo.

Note - next week, we will watch The Persuaders, a Frontline special.

Oct. 15 – Blogs, Book Publishing

2007-10-16T16:21:00.000-07:00

Reviewed good examples of memos and the format for a progress report.

Group work - preparing for conferences and reports next week.

Guest Tom Sumner spoke on publishing, blogs and what it's like to be a book editor.

Assignments for Oct. 22

Watch one broadcast of KOIN TV 6 News and visit Koin.com. If you don’t live in the broadcast area, watch any local news show. Pay attention to writing, because you’ll be doing it next week.

Post questions for KOIN news producer Jesse Day at the bottom of this post by Wednesday.

Group progress reports - individual written reports worth 100 points.

Post Saturday blog post on TV news (program or genre in general); Monday peer response.

Note: No memo and no chapter readings.

Note: Oct. 19 is last day to withdraw.

Follow-up info from Tom Sumner

2007-10-16T08:01:00.000-07:00

Here's what I was talking about concerning the press from the Reagan era forward. It's from Walter Pincus, a great reporter at the Washington Post, talking to Bill Moyers. The full transcript is online at PBS.

ANNOUNCER (3/6/1981): Ladies and Gentlemen, the President of the United States.

WALTER PINCUS: We used to do at the Post something called truth squading. President would make a speech. We used to do it with Ronald Reagan the first five or six months because he would make so many factual errors, particularly in his press conference.

PRESIDENT REAGAN (3/6/1981): From 10 thousand to 60 thousand dollars a year...

WALTER PINCUS: And after two or three weeks of it, the public at large, would say, "Why don't you leave the man alone? He's trying to be honest. He makes mistakes. So what?" and we stopped doing it.

BILL MOYERS: You stopped being the truth squad.

WALTER PINCUS: We stopped truth-squading every sort of press conference, or truth squading. And we left it then to the Democrats. In other words, it's up to the Democrats to catch people, not us.

BILL MOYERS: So if the democrats challenged a statement from the President, you could quote both sides.

WALTER PINCUS: We then quote both sides. Yeah.

BILL MOYERS: Now, that's called objectivity by many standards isn't it?

WALTER PINCUS: Well, that's objectivity if you think there are only two sides. And if you're not interested in the facts. And the facts are separate from, you know, what one side says about the other.

This was discussed in a Scott Horton interview from yesterday with Glenn Greenwald here.

At the 12:16 mark, Scott brings it up and they discuss it for a couple of minutes. Neither Glenn nor Scott recall the details perfectly, but they convey the gist of it perfectly.

Also, the web site I was referring to was Spinsanity, which closed down a couple of years ago. But the authors of that site do continue their work on other blogs linked on that page.

Oct. 8 Assignments

2007-10-08T14:02:00.000-07:00

Class was canceled for Oct. 8. Here are your assignments for Oct. 15.

Note: NO research paper progress memo or chapter readings this week.

Blog posts as usual - one post on the assigned readings below by 5:00 Saturday, one peer response by 3:00 Monday.

Read "Web 2.0" by Andrew Keen | printable version here - bring copy to class

Read "I Love My Navel So Much" by Digby at his blog Hullabaloo | printable version here - bring copy to class

Post questions for Tom Sumner on his biography post.

Note: I am rescheduling group progress reports for Oct. 22. We will go over the format next week.

If you have any questions, don't hesitate to contact me.

Speaker Tom Sumner: blogs, publishing

2007-10-02T13:26:00.000-07:00

Tom is ready for your questions about publishing, editing, and/or the blogosphere. Post questions at the end of this post.

Tom Sumner is the managing and acquitions editor of Frankin, Beedle & Associates, an independent book publishing company near Portland.

Those strange marks I make on your papers

2007-10-02T10:27:00.000-07:00

When I evaluate your assignments, I use proofreading marks from the Chicago Manual of Style. These are the standard proofreading symbols of professional writing, from journalism to copywriting.

A chart of the symbols and what they mean is here.

Oct. 1 – Copywriting

2007-10-02T04:13:00.000-07:00

Memo due on research paper progress.

Group exercise: write product copy for catalog.

Speaker lecture, Q&A

Speaker's feedback on group copywriting pieces

Assignments

Look over magazines, newspapers, 'zines; bring in one publication to pitch.

Two blog posts: freestyle by 5:00 Saturday, peer response by 3:00 Monday (since there is no chapter reading this week)

Memo on research paper progress.

Plain English Campaign

2007-10-01T16:22:00.000-07:00

Since the concept of bureaucratese intrigued so many of you this week, acquaint yourselves with the famous anti-gobblebygook group called the Plain English Campaign. Visit their site, and be sure to view some of the awards winners from the past, and also view the survey results to see how many people think the way you do about speaking plainly.

Welcome to Plain English Campaign
Since 1979, we have been campaigning against gobbledygook, jargon and misleading public information. We have helped many government departments and other official organisations with their documents, reports and publications. We believe that everyone should have access to clear and concise information.

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Annual Awards

Golden Bull (for the worst examples of written tripe)
Foot in Mouth (for baffling quotes by public figures)
Inside Write (internal government documents)
Media Awards (radio, television and newspapers)
Plain English (open category)
Plain English Web Award (websites)

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sample text from their site

Quote of the day
Gobbledygook may indicate a failure to think clearly, a contempt for one's clients, or more probably a mixture of both. A system that can't or won't communicate is not a safe basis for a democracy.
(Michael Shanks)

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Gobbledygook of the week
'The BSR will assist you to answers these questions. It will provide you with systematically gathered data to inform school planning to create a safe, supportive learning environment. Priorities for improvement will be identified and baseline data to measure the effectiveness of interventions will be evident.'

Sept. 24 – Public Relations

2007-09-25T04:13:00.000-07:00

Memo due with two – three sources for bibliography.

Technical writing revision exercise due.

Introduction to PR writing. Sample media kits, media releases.

Two articles: Five ways to do damage control like Mattel from BNET Intercom and Cheney's PR: How not to do damage control from USA Today

Overhead on tone focusing on the customer

Rhetoric analysis: Cool Hand Luke "What we have here is failure to communicate."

Assignments

Blog posts as usual - one on chapters, due 5:00p.m. Sat.; second a response to a peer's post, due 3:00p.m. Monday.

Post questions for next week's speaker on this blog

Memo on research paper progress

Read Ch. 8 (developing an effective style), Ch 19 (managing clients and service-learning projects)

Recommendation: create list of links to classmate blogs on your blog (customize template, add new page element, link list)

Did you leave your book?

2007-09-18T08:00:00.000-07:00

A copy of Technical Communication was left behind last night. I left it with Senior Secretary Zaida O'Connor in the multimedia classroom building next door to the library.

Sept. 17 – Tech writing

2007-09-18T04:12:00.000-07:00

Proposal due on research paper.

Continue unit on technical writing. In-class revision exercises.

Rhetoric analysis: Hitler speech at a youth rally

Group work: group conferences.

Assignments

Blog posts as usual (chapter points, response to another's blog)

Revise this piece.

Read Ch. 6 (Conducting reader-centered research)
Read Ch. 7 (Drafting paragraphs, sections and chapters)

Memo with two or three sources for bibliography.

Sept. 10 – Instructional Technical Writing

2007-09-11T14:50:00.000-07:00

Handed back first two memos.

In-class exercises on writing for brevity, clarity, tone, and active voice.

One-on-one consultations about paper topics.

Rhetoric analysis – Boiler Room recruitment speech (DVD), Brittany Maids

Started unit on writing instructions, open discussion, chapter 23.

Group work: Groups worked on project management – task identification, assignment, schedule. Note: if you were absent, your group members will assign you as they see fit.

Hand out on student blogging

Assignments for 9/17

Research paper proposals (instead of memo). See pg. 634 for format, checklists starting on pg. 639.

Read Ch. 4 (Planning for usability) and Ch. 5 (Planning your persuasive Strategies).

Blog posts – one on chapter discussion points (due Sat. at 5 p.m.), plus one significant response to a classmate’s post (due Mon. at 3 p.m.). Note: You are welcome to post additional posts on your own blog, as well as comments on others, including this one.

For Sept. 10

2007-09-03T14:46:00.000-07:00

Happy Labor Day, everyone.

For next week, blog posts are due as usual.
Read Ch. 3 (defining your communication’s objectives).
Print, read, and bring to class this hand out on tone.

There is no memo due next Monday.

See you then.

a word on your blog posts

2007-08-28T13:45:00.000-07:00

It's good to see your blogs appearing.

Remember, your freestyle posts can be on anything related to technical and professional writing. Here are some ideas to get you started.

- Ramble on about what you think of professional writing careers.
- Talk about a time you were frustrated by a set of instructions because the technical writing was poor; unfortunately, we've probably all been in that situation.
- Pick a piece of professional writing from the Internet, link to it, and analyze it for rhetoric.
- How natural or unnatural is it to write memos in a professional voice?

For a few excellent examples of posts, check out the blogs of Melissa, Sarah and Shawn.

Add to that list Peter and Ron.

Update: So many of you are rolling with it now, I've had to stop adding examples. What a sharp group!

post your blog link here

2007-08-24T16:41:00.000-07:00

Post your name, the name of your blog, and the URL of your blog as a comment here. It will be added to the link list in the side column.

Aug. 27 – Memos & Proposals

2007-08-21T14:45:00.000-07:00

Assignments: Two blog posts. Memo #2 on research paper ideas, email to me as attachment (Word format preferable).

Settings to note on blogs: enable comment moderation; only registered users can comment; show two posts per page; customize lay out for extras.

Rhetoric analysis: Kickoffs from 30-yard line could create more returns, injuries (AP), Pills and Politics (Mahablog)

Go over chapters, discussion points from blogs. In-class exercise revising memo from Chapter 1.

Assignment: Read Ch. 16 (creating communications with a team), and 23 (writing instructions)

Split into groups. Decide on genre, brainstorm for a loose idea of your project. Hand outs: descriptions of projects. As you read chapter 16, start thinking about what your group's work strategy might look like (task identification, organization, work schedule). When we meet on Sept. 10th, your group will work out a basic production strategy, which we'll discuss further in conferences.

Remember to check class blog for assignments on Sept. 3.

Aug. 20: Rhetoric, Memos

2007-08-21T14:43:00.000-07:00

Discuss syllabus, introductions

Discussion on rhetoric (Ethos, Pathos, Logos)

Rhetoric analysis exercises: Stanley Fish on coffee shops (NY Times), Ron Rosenbaum's rebuttal (Slate), LoJack For Laptops advertisement

Reading assignment: Chapters 1 (communication, your career, and this book) 20 (letters, memos & emails), Ch. 22 (reader-centered proposals)

Hand out on memo format.

Assignment: memo #1 on lack of research paper ideas

Assignment: set up blog, post discussion points about assigned chapter, and freestyle post on writing.

Syllabus

2007-08-21T14:38:00.000-07:00

Course
English 402: Technical and Professional Writing, Spring 2007
Mondays 6-9 p.m., VCLS 160

Instructor
Kat Ricker, Adjunct Professor
Office hours by appointment
E-mail: the_mighty_kat2000@yahoo.com

Prerequisites
English 101 or its equivalent and junior standing.

Course description
In this class, you should gain a basic understanding of a variety of technical and professional writing products and practices. What you learn here is designed to be useful to you in real life, to help you succeed in your career.

This is a course on theory and practice of technical and professional writing. Students analyze the rhetorical strategies of writing products (in print, broadcast and hypertext) in various technical and professional genres, consider their context, content, and, and create documents acceptable at the professional level.

Course objectives

Identify and analyze rhetorical situations and apply rhetorical strategies to technical and professional writing
Compose and revise a variety of technical and professional documents
Demonstrate a knowledge of research techniques and inclusion of research results in technical and professional documents
Demonstrate the ability to communicate through professional presentations
Work both individually and collaboratively to complete technical and professional writing projects
Approach their chosen profession with a grasp on the standard professional communication involved in seeking a job, making proposals, and reporting progress on projects

Required books
Technical Communication: A Reader-Centered Approach by Paul V. Anderson, 6th ed., 2006 1413017703 publisher is Heinle

Common Errors in English Usage, Paul Brians

Other requirements: Internet access, a Google/Blogger account

Assignments
Blog – At least two posts are due weekly. 1 - Weekly topics assigned for exploration (post by Monday at 3:00 p.m.). 2 - Suggest two to three points from the week’s textbook reading for class discussion (post by Saturday at 5:00 p.m.).

Research paper – This project includes the paper itself (3 – 5 pages), proposal, summary, and a weekly memo updating me on progress. Memos are due every Monday at 5:00 p.m.

Presentations – Oral presentations will be scheduled for each research paper and each group project.

Group projects – These will include the project itself, a progress report, and a presentation.

Reading – Assignments will be given from the required textbook and other sources.

Because I want you to learn how to do things in this class, grading is designed to help you, not simply penalize you. With the exception of the final research paper, any grade you receive falling short of the total points possible can be improved; you may revise an assignment and resubmit it. You can then earn an additional one-half of the points deducted from the original grade. In order to qualify, revised assignments must be re-submitted by the Monday following the Monday they were handed back.

Class discussions are an important part of this class; therefore, your active participation is expected, including interaction with guests.

Grading
A total of 1,600 points are possible in this class.

26 blog posts worth 5 each
14 memos worth 10 each
13 exercises 10 each

Research paper 500 points total possible
Proposal 100
Research paper 200
Summary 100
Presentation 100

Group project 500 points total possible
Progress report 100
Project 300
Presentation 100

Class participation 100
Attendance 100

Attendance
Attendance is mandatory. Any absences must either be requested before the fact or explained and approved after the fact before the following class. More than two absences will begin to damage your grade.

Plagiarism
Plagiarism will not be tolerated. This includes copying any portion of text from another writer, including copying text from the Internet. Any student caught plagiarizing will be given an “F” for the course and will be referred to the Office of Student Conduct. If you have any questions about whether something qualifies as plagiarism, ask me.

Academic Integrity
Academic integrity is the cornerstone of the university and will be strongly enforced in this course. Any student caught cheating on any assignment will be given an “F” for the course and will be referred to the Office of Student Conduct.

Disability Accommodation
Accommodations may be available if you need them in order to fully participate in this class because of a disability. Accommodations may take some time to implement so it is critical that you contact Disability Services as soon as possible. All accommodations must be approved through Disability Services, located in the Student Resource Center on the Lower Level of VSSC. (360) 546-9138