Week 1: January 7-11

First Meeting:

Introduction to the Course

• Review syllabus and course calendar
• Discuss course technologies
• Introduce Student Information Sheet (attached at bottom of this page). The completed sheet is due as a PDF email attachment by the beginning of class on January 11th.

For Next Meeting:

• Make certain that you have your login and password for accessing PUCC machines and an email address that accomodates attachments. For questions about your account, visit the ITAP Customer Service Center in STEW 068. You can also visit their webpage at http://www.itap.purdue.edu/tlt/help/ for information about campus technologies.
• Purchase Professional Writing Online at the book's website or at Follett's or University Bookstore. It is generally cheapest to buy it online.
• In PW Online, read the following:
  • Rhetoric of Professional Writing:
    • Understanding Purpose
    • The Complex Nature of Writing
    • Evaluating Writing
    • Technology and Writing/Work in the 21st Century
    • Collaboration and Team Writing
    • Types of Documents (Genres)
    • Terminology: What Is Professional Writing?
    • The Importance of Technical Communication to Engineers
  • After you complete these readings, write a 300-word typed response to the question: "What is professional writing?" This will be due at the beginning of class next time.
• Also read the following in PW Online, read the following in the "Documents: Memos and Email" section:
  • The Rhetoric of the Memo and E-Mail
  • Memo Template
  • Samples

Second Meeting:

• Discussion of professional writing
• Interview assignment given (due January 18th):
  • Find a professional who is doing what you want to be doing as a career. By telephone, email, or in person, interview this person. Ask at least these six questions:
    • What percentage of your time do you spend writing? This includes planning, organizing, drafting, and editing.
    • What kinds of writing do you do? Letters? Emails? Reports? Proposals? Descriptions? Memos? Other?
    • Who reads the writing? Who evaluates it?
    • How important are writing skills in this profession?
    • What kinds of collaboration do you use in your writing? (ie writing with a group or team)
    • How often do you write collaboratively with others as opposed to writing on your own?

For Next Meeting:

Read the following in the "Principles: Understanding Readers" chapter

• Overview
• What Readers Read
• How Readers Read
• Classifying Readers
• Understanding an Audience

After you complete the reading, write a 300-word response to the following: "How does understanding your audience change the way you approach writing a document? What changes will you make to accomodate different audiences?" This response is due at the beginning of the next class meeting.

• Begin work on the Interview Assignment (due January 18)
  

Third Meeting:

• Audience Evaluation
• Assign groups for grammar and style presentations
  • Group 1: Make negatives positive, clear out clutter words, delete needless qualifiers, commonly confused words
  • Group 2:Semi-colon, colon, comma
  • Group 3: Non-sexist language, cultural context
  • Group 4:Apostrophes, quotation marks, ellipses
  • Group 5:Italics, parentheses, capitalization, brackets, dashes

For Next Meeting:

• From PW Online, read the following sections:
  • Projects: Employment Project Context
  • The Rhetoric of Employment Documents
  • Documents: Letters
    • The Rhetoric of the Letter
    • Letter Template

      
      

    • Types of Employment Documents
      • Resumes
      • Application Letter
      • Web Resume

• To prepare for discussion of resumes, complete the OWL tutorials: Resume Workshop
• Resources:
  • The Riley Guide

Week 2: January 14-18

First Meeting:

• Introduction of the Employment Project
• Complete the Job Skills Checklist (circle all that apply to you) in class
• Discuss employment project research and search engines
• Review submission guidelines (via blog) for Interview Assignment

For Next Meeting:

• Find two job ads in your area of interest. Internships and full-time jobs are both acceptable; however, the job must be something for which you are currently qualified. In other words, do not apply for a job that you will only be eligible for after five years of employment or a graduate degree.
• Complete the Job Ad Analysis form for both ads (attached at the bottom of the page).

Second Meeting:

• Resume and letter strategies
• Discuss samples:
  • Employment Document Samples and Templates
  • Univeristy of Wisconsin-Madison cover letter breakdown
  • Additional reading: Purdue Center for Career Opportunities

For Next Meeting:

• Interview assignment blog posting due previous to next class
• From PW Online, read Thinking about Document Design

Third Meeting:

• Letter strategies/discuss samples

For Next Meeting:

• Drafts of resume and cover letter due for peer review next class period

Week 3: January 21-25

First Meeting:

Official University holiday:  No class!

Second Meeting:

• Workshop time in class: bring drafts of resumes and letters

For Next Meeting:

• Continue work on resumes and letters

Third Meeting:

• Final in-class workshop for resumes and letters

For Next Meeting:  

Final draft of resume and letters due on Monday!

• Prepare final printed drafts of resume, letter, and memo; turn in paper-clipped to grading sheets

Week 4: January 28 - February 1

First Meeting:

• "Employer Reality Check" with finished resumes
• Presentation group time in class"
• Group 1:  Elizabeth, Neil, Brad:  delete needless qualifiers, commonly confused words, italics, parentheses, brackets
• Group 2:  Kathy, Brad, Cory, Nick:  semi-colon, colon, comma
• Group 3:  Rory, Amanda, Aaron, Justin, Jonathan:  Non-sexist language, cultural context, dashes
• Group 4:  Scott, Kris, Curt:  apostrophes, quotation marks, ellipses, capitalization

For Next Meeting:

• Finalize group presentations, if applicable

Second Meeting:

In class workshop time:  presentation groups

Third Meeting: 

For Next Meeting:

• In PW Online, read Documents:  Proposals
  • Overview
  • The Rhetoric of Proposals
  • Types and Contexts of Proposals
  • Content and Organization
  • Proposal: Biomedical Engineering Design Project

Week 5: February 4-8

First Meeting:

• Introduction of Proposal and Research Paper assignments
• Sign up for proposal conferences

For Next Meeting:

• Begin preliminary research for research proposal and drafting

Second Meeting:

In class workshop:  Proposals/research

Third Meeting:

• Groups 3 & 4 presentations

  • Introduction of documentation memo assignment (due at your proposal conference) 

    • Consult with a professor, a professional, or read through technical journals in your field to figure out the commonly used documentation style of that field. When you have done so, use this documentation style to write me a memo which includes the following four elements:
      • Name of documentation style (e.g. MLA)
      • Bibliographic citation for a book
      • Bibliographic citation for a journal
      • Sentence with in-text citation

Week 6: February 11-15

PROPOSAL CONFERENCING

To your conference, you must bring a) a polished draft of your proposal and b) your documentation memo.

All conferences will be held in our regular classroom.  Missing your conference constitutes an absence.  You are only required to attend class on the date of your conference; the other class periods should be spent working on either your proposal or your research paper. 

First Meeting:

7:40: Nick Foos

7:50:  Kris Ezra

8:00: Kathy Renfrow

8:10: Brad Abramson

Second Meeting:

7:30: Curt Jansen

7:40: Justin Troyer

7:50: Rory Cerbus

8:00: Aaron Cook

8:10: Neil Daniels

Third Meeting: 

7:30: Scott Platt

7:40: Amanda Pings

7:50: Brad Scanlon

8:00: Elizabeth Johnson

8:10: Cory Nyugen

For Next Meeting:

• Final draft of proposal due (paperclipped to grading sheet) in class
• In PW Online, read the following sections on Managing Projects:
  • Overview
  • Collaboration and Team Writing
  • Selecting a Team Work Structure
  • Drafting and Revising Large-Scale Projects
  • Troubleshooting Team Problems

Week 7: February 18-22

First Meeting:

• Proposals due in class
• Introduction to and discussion of collaborative unit:
  • Mini-collaboration activity
  • Collaboration case studies
  • Requirements for collaborative projects:
    • Personal log
    • Group log/minutes
    • All drafts
    • Collaborative Project Evaluation Form

For Next Meeting:

• From PW Online, read Principles:  Designing and Writing Instructions

Second Meeting:

• Process Paper introduction/groups assigned
• Workshop time in class with group

For Next Meeting:

• As a group, select a process and begin researching and drafting
• From PW Online, read the following sections:
  • Document Design:
    • Style, Audience, and the Arrangement of Information
    • Thinking about Document Design
    • Ordering Information for Understanding
    • Constructing Visuals
    • Designing with Color
  • Usability Testing
    • Overview
    • Methods for Testing Documents
    • Setting up a User Test
    • Charting User Interactions with a Document

Third Meeting:

• Workshop time in class with group
  • Write a 100-word memo to me informing me of the process which you have selected and addressing any questions or concerns you may have. This memo is due in typed form by the end of class.

Week 8: February 24-28

First Meeting:

• Discuss document design and usability testing
• Workshop: Process paper groups, brief meetings in class with me

For Next Meeting:

• Continue work with process paper groups

Second Meeting:

• Work day: Process paper groups

Third Meeting:

• Final work day and discussion of any questions for process paper

For Next Meeting:

• Complete process paper and prepare final draft for submission in class
• Assemble any needed materials to complete the process and bring them to class with the finished paper on Monday

Week 9: March 3-7

First Meeting:

• Submission of process paper and preliminary usability test data
• Workshop: Evaluate process paper and complete usability report in class

For Next Meeting:

• On an individual basis, email me the Collaborative Project Assessment form regarding your work with your process group. This assessment is due by 8 pm today.

For Next Meeting:

Complete the following readings from PW Online:

• Finding Sources that Already Exist: Library and Web Resources
• Gathering and Analyzing New Information: Field Research
• Style: Citing Research Sources
• Using Citation Formats

Second Meeting:

• Evaluating cited material
• Incorporating cited material
• Using sources ethically, accurately, and appropriately

For Next Meeting:

• Read attached files on document supplements--these were handed out in printed form during class

Third Meeting:

• Use of graphics and figures
• Levels of headings
• Formatting and design
• Adding document supplements
• Sign up for research paper conferences

For Next Meeting:

• Continue work on research paper (you must bring a polished draft to your conference)
• Enjoy your spring break!

Week 10: March 10-14

Spring break: No classes

Week 11: March 17-21

This week:

Conferencing on research paper

You MUST bring a polished draft of your paper to the conference! 

First Meeting:

7:30: Brad Abramson

8:00: Curt Jansen

Second Meeting:

7:30: Neil Daniel

7:45: Rory Cerbus

8:00: Aaron Cook

Third Meeting:

7:30: Nick Foos

7:45: Elizabeth Johnson

8:00: Kris Ezra

Week 12: March 24-28

Conferencing on research paper

You MUST bring a polished draft of your paper to the conference! 

First Meeting:

7:30: Brad Scanlon

7:45: Justin Troyer

8:00: Amanda Pings

Second Meeting:

7:30: Scott Platt

7:45: Kathy Renfrow

8:00: Cory Nyugen

Third Meeting:

Workshop day in class

For Next Meeting:

• Bring two copies of your polished research paper for peer review in class

Week 13: March 31 - April 4

First Meeting:

• Instruction on appropriate methods of peer review
• Review of usage of captions, citations, and cited material
• Peer review of research papers during class--remember to bring 2 full copies!!

For Next Meeting:

• If you have not finished peer reviewing your two papers, finish them (with comments and grading sheet) for class next time
• Final copies of research paper, including front and end matter AND all cited articles are due in class on Monday

Second Meeting:

• Peer reviewed drafts with comments and grading sheets due in class
• Final discussion of required front and end matter, pagination, submission guidelines, and cited materials due for research paper

For Next Meeting:

• Using the peer review, continue to finalize and edit your research paper.  Final draft of paper and all cited materials due in class on Monday. 

Third Meeting:

• Work day for research paper

For Next Meeting:

• All final materials for the research paper due on Monday, including front and end matter and ALL CITED MATERIALS.

Week 14: April 7-11

First Meeting:

• Research papers due in class
• Discussion of research critique assignment
• Exchange papers for research critique

For Next Meeting:

• From PW Online, read the sections on oral presentations as follows:
  • Overview
  • Informal Oral Presentations
  • Tips for Giving Oral Presentations
  • Types of Oral Presentations

Second Meeting:

• Discussion of the oral presentation assignment
• Sign up for oral presentation times

For Next Meeting:

• Research paper critiques due in class

Third Meeting:

• Research paper critiques due in class
• Work day:  Oral reports

Week 15: April 14-18

This week:

Oral reports

First Meeting:

Work day--no in-class meeting

Second Meeting:

Kris Ezra

Justin Troyer

Rory Cerbus

Third Meeting:

Elizabeth Johnson

Brad Abramson

Aaron Cook

Curt Jansen

Week 16: April 21-25

First Meeting:

Neil Daniel

Brad Scanlon

Cory Nguyen

Scott Platt

Second Meeting:

Kathy Renfrow

Nick Foos

Amanda Pings

Third Meeting:

• Final assessment (in class)