Course Guide

This course guide contains all of the materials for this class. To see all of the contents of this guide on one page, click on the "printer-friendly version" link below.

Course Description

Instructor and Course Information

English 421, "Technical Writing"
Instructor: Tracy Clark
Sections: 09-01, 10-01
Office Hrs: T-Th 12-1 p.m.
Office: Heavilon 404
Ph: 765.496.1650
Fax: 765.494.3780
E-Mail: clark9@purdue.edu

Overview

English 421 helps students become better technical communicators, whose work is characterized by the presentation of technical material in written and visual formats that are user centered and aware of audience and context. The course and its principles are grounded in rhetorical theory and informed by current research in technical communication.

Communication across multiple audiences and for multiple purposes continues to be a desired skill set in technical and professional fields. Beyond field-specific knowledge and experience, successful and ethical communication drives the professional world. This class, in content and form, models these successful communication practices. Working individually and in groups, students learn effective strategies for communicating about and with technology, particularly in networked workplaces and through usability testing. To achieve success in this course, students must display the ability to succeed in their future workplaces by developing a variety of informative and visually effective print and electronic documents.

Required Text

Johnson-Sheehan, Richard. Technical Communication Today, 2/e. New York: Longman, 2007.

Course Goals

Writing in Context

Project Management

Document Design
Make rhetorical design decisions about technical documents including

Teamwork
Learn and apply strategies for successful teamwork, such as

Research
Understand and use the research methods and strategies necessary to the production of professional documents, including

Technology
Use and evaluate the writing technologies frequently used in the workplace, such as emailing, instant messaging, image editing, video editing, presentation design and delivery, HTML editing, Web browsing, content management, and desktop publishing technologies.

Course Projects and Activities

1. Quick Guide Project

For this first major project, you will produce a document containing written and visual instructions for completing a specific task, using a specific software program -- otherwise known as software documentation. Software programs to be covered will be selected through a random drawing; each program assigned is included in the ITaP suite, so you'll have an opportunity to work with the program outside of class time. Besides the actual documentation, you will also produce document specifications; these will describe in detail your proposed documentation and its representative characteristics: target audience, user level, steps and visuals, and the type of document used to convey this information (flyer, brochure, booklet, website, etc.). Another important component of the Quick Guide Project is usability testing, during which at least one classmate will read through your documentation and then actually complete the process under conditions similar to those that your target audience will encounter. Before the usability testing session, you'll need to interview your tester(s) to determine their familiarity with the process you've documented, and then produce a testing "script," in order to facilitate the testing process and anticipate possible "issues" or "irregularities" that testers might encounter). Following the usability testing session, you'll need to produce a brief report in which you discuss observations you've made during testing, as well as discuss testing results. (Individual; 25% of course grade.)

2. White Paper Project

The White Paper Project addresses a common report genre in the professional world. White papers are used in technical, industrial, business, educational, and governmental contexts to sum up the gist of what’s known about a subject. For this project, you will be placed into groups of 4-5 students, based on your responses to a preferences questionnaire that you'll complete on the first day of work on this project. During this project you will learn about

Each group member will keep a project log throughout the duration of the White Paper Project -- including revisions -- and submit a collaborative project evaluation form after submitting the final revision of his or her group's white papers.

(Collaborative: 30% of course grade.)

3. Technical Marketing Materials Project

For Project 3, you will work in groups of 3 or 4 to produce a technical marketing document for technology-based products. This project consists of two stages: planning and production. As was the case for the White Paper Project, credibility is essential. This project will feature the added dimension of creativity, or techne, in presentation of technically-oriented information. We'll work with document templates within either Adobe InDesign CS2 or Microsoft Publisher -- that way, you'll gain experience with professional-looking documents without spending a lot of time and energy learning an entire program!

Each student will keep a weekly project log throughout the duration of this project -- including revisions. You will be asked to email the instructor a collaborative evaluation form after your group has submitted the final version of Project 3.

(Collaborative; 25% of course grade.)

Weblogs

Much of your writing for this class will be posted publicly on the Internet to your individual weblog or our community weblog home page. Weblog posting assignments will include drafts, project logs, and research notes, among others. See posting to your weblog for more information. The calendar specifies what you should post to your weblog and by when, so let that be your guide.

Reading/Class Discussion Responses

Although we will have many readings and discussion topics each week, you are responsible for writing one, 200-word blog post per week. The reading responses will function to synthesize the readings and your reactions to them, much like class discussion. Please refer to guidelines on how to post a reading response.

Comments and Replies

You are required to post three (3) comments and replies (e.g., follow-up responses) each week to the blog posts (reading and other responses posted by classmates) appearing on our course's front page. Your comments and replies should be spaced out over at least two days. Each should be, at minimum, 75 words each.

All comments and replies to another's blog post should follow effective rhetorical strategies for networking with others on the Web. (Readings from the course text provide guidelines to follow.)

Our activity online substitutes for in-person discussion in interesting (and sometimes deeper) ways. Of course, you are always welcome, and encouraged, to post beyond thsese minimum requirements. The course calendar includes reminders about meeting this ongoing obligation for participating in class discussion.

The format and focus of your weblog comments and replies is described fully in these Guidelines for Posting Comments and Replies. Please bear in mind that since many students are reluctant to speak in class, your online interaction is the glue that holds the course together, makes collobaration possible, and helps you achieve the course goals. For these reasons, your engagement in these online discussions will require serious and consistent attention throughout the course. It won't be possible to make up missed postings later, since the discussion will have already moved on.

Blogs and comments/replies will account for 20 percent of your final course grade.

Grading

Quick Guide Project

25

White Paper Project

30

Technical Marketing Materials Project

25

Daily Assignments, Online Discussion, Attendance

20

Total

100%

The three major projects in the course will be comprised of several components, each of which will be worth a percentage of your final grade. For the two collaborative projects, students will complete the required Collaborative Evaluation Form after all revisions have been submitted.

All major assignments will be graded on the standard letter-grade scale: A=100-90 B=89-80 C=79-70 D=69-60 F=59 or below.

Students must participate in (and submit) all three major projects, and complete a majority of the required blog/comment posting assignments in order to pass this class.

IMPORTANT: Don't assume that a final percentage of 60 or higher will guarantee a passing grade -- it won't, unless you've participated in (and submitted) all three major projects, and completed a majority of assigned blog posts and comments.


Technology Requirements

In order to participate fully in the course, you should already be able to use the technology platform and applications listed below.

Technology Responsibilities

Familiarity with certain technologies is crucial for participation and success in the course. If you need any assistance now or at any point during the semester, please do not hesitate to ask.

During the semester, you'll need regular access to the Internet and email. Because the course home page is the main locus of the class community, you are responsible for reading and keeping current with all content posted there, including what has been submitted by both the instructor and your fellow students. You'll be responsible for configuring your system to access course materials, to read course email and participate in online discussions, and to submit your work. Very early in the semester, you will be asked to demonstrate that you can meet these responsibilities:

If at any time you have problems accessing the Internet from home, you'll need to find a public lab or connection point. Problems with computers will not be an excuse for falling behind or failing to complete required assignments. If your Internet service goes down, use another computer. If your computer breaks, use another computer. In other words, find a way to complete the assignments on time. Because computer problems are a fact of life, always work to complete your assignments early and make frequent backups to multiple media.

Course Technologies

Collaborative Work

Teamwork is a required component of the course. You and your project team members are responsible for updating one another and me about assignment development and progress. In addition, you also are responsible for negotiating together all aspects of your work, including planning, drafting, revising, file managing, and scheduling of assignments. When a collaborative project is assigned, you will receive explicit guidelines for successful collaboration. Individual group members will complete Collaborative Evaluation Forms. For more information about good principles of collaboration, see the brochure, Group Work and Collaborative Writing <http://dhc.ucdavis.edu/vohs/>.

Attendance

Attendance is required at all scheduled electronic and face-to-face (F2F) meetings. Since you will be working in project teams much of the semester, you also will be required to attend any scheduled out-of-class meetings with your team to complete course assignments. More than three absences will result in your final grade being lowered by as much as a letter grade. More than six absences may result in a failing grade for the course. Excused absences may be granted for religious holidays or university-sponsored events, provided you make a written request to me no less than two weeks in advance and that you complete any required work before the due date.  Excused absences may also be granted for job interviews, jury duty, participation in intercollegiate athletic events, participation in academic/professional conferences, and emergencies such as serious/extended illness or injury.  Aside from these issues, there is no distinction made between excused and unexcused absences. Being excessively or regularly late for class or team meetings, both electronic and F2F, can also be counted as an absence.

Academic Integrity

Purdue students and their instructors are expected to adhere to guidelines set forth by the Dean of Students in "Academic Integrity: A Guide for Students," which students are encouraged to read here:

http://www.purdue.edu/ODOS/services/gradeappeals.htm

The preamble of this guide states the following: "Purdue University values intellectual integrity and the highest standards of academic conduct. To be prepared to meet societal needs as leaders and role models, students must be educated in an ethical learning environment that promotes a high standard of honor in scholastic work. Academic dishonesty undermines institutional integrity and threatens the academic fabric of Purdue University. Dishonesty is not an acceptable avenue to success. It diminishes the quality of a Purdue education, which is valued because of Purdue's high academic standards."

Academic dishonesty is defined as follows: "Purdue prohibits "dishonesty in connection with any University activity. Cheating, plagiarism, or knowingly furnishing false information to the University are examples of dishonesty." [University Regulations, Part V, Section III, B, 2, a] Furthermore, the University Senate has stipulated that "the commitment of acts of cheating, lying, and deceit in any of their diverse forms (such as the use of substitutes for taking examinations, the use of illegal cribs, plagiarism, and copying during examinations) is dishonest and must not be tolerated. Moreover, knowingly to aid and abet, directly or indirectly, other parties in committing dishonest acts is in itself dishonest." [University Senate Document 72-18, December 15, 1972]"

I will assign a grade of F (zero) to written work that violates this policy, and reserve the right to fail policy violators for the course. I also reserve the right to initiate proceedings with the Dean of Students, for particularly egregious cases of academic dishonesty. If you have any questions about this policy, please ask.

In Case of a Campus Emergency

In the event of a major campus emergency, course requirements, deadlines and grading percentages are subject to changes that may be necessitated by a revised semester calendar or other circumstances. You can acquire updated information from the course website, by emailing me, or by contacting me through the English department at 765-494-3740.

Late Work

The majority of missed class assignments cannot be made up. If a serious and unavoidable problem arises, however, you should contact me in writing prior to the deadline to determine whether or not an extension for the work will or will not be granted.

Calendar

Follow the links at the bottom of this page for a schedule of assignments for each week this semester. Within each week, you will find daily listings of assignments. Each bullet point for the day is a different task for you to complete. Reading assignments are to be completed before class on the day listed.  Blogs, project deliverables, and other written assignments are to be submitted by midnight on the day listed, unless otherwise specified.

This course calendar may be updated throughout the semester. I'll notify you about any major changes, but you are still responsible for keeping up with the current schedule.

IMPORTANT: You must visit all of the links provided within the course calendar. There are many links to follow and read. Make sure you visit all of them. Some links provide easy access to other parts of the class site which will help you in your assignments. Some links are to required readings. Others provide you with detailed instructions on completing the assignments. Eventually, you may come to know the instructions which supplement assignments that are repeated throughout the course, but it's still a good idea to continue to revisit the instructions to make sure that you are satisfying all of the requirements.

Week 1

Tuesday, January 8

Topic: Introduction to the course

Student responsibilities:

  • Read Welcome to English 421, Technical Writing.
  • Complete Getting Started 1: Registering on the Site, Getting Started 2: Logging in for the First Time, and Getting Started 3: Editing Your Account for the First Time
  • Review carefully the Course Description, paying particular attention to all requirements. It is important that you become very familiar with the course policies so you can understand what is expected of you in this class. It might be best if you read through the course description twice; ignorance of the course policies will not be an excuse for failure to properly complete an assignment.
  • Review the course calendar.
  • Read Learning to Navigate the Site. Then explore the class website. Make sure that you login; some class website features are not available to guests. It'll be easier as we move forward if you take the time now to explore. Get familiar with where things are located, which links take you further into the class website and which take you outside to other resources.
  • Read through the rest of this page so that you know when assignments are due the rest of the week.
  • Purchase a copy of Technical Communication Today ASAP, since the first assigned reading should be completed before Thursday's class.

Thursday, January 10

Topic: Rhetoric, practices, and technologies of technical writing

Reading (complete before class)

  • Familiarize yourself with the content and structure of Technical Communication Today. Scan the frontmatter (including the the table of contents), the text's main body, and the backmatter (Appendices A, B, and C) so that you know what the book contains.
  • Chapters 1-2, Technical Communication Today

Check out Week 2. No later than today, you should read through the course calendar for the following week. Make sure that you understand all of the assignments. If you have any questions, contact the instructor.

NOTE: You should have purchased the course textbook -- Technical Communication Today, 2/e, by Richard Johnson-Sheehan -- in time for today's class. This book is available at local bookstores, and may also be purchased online (e.g., through Amazon.com).

Student responsibilities:

  • Scan How to Post to Your Individual Weblog and then How to Post Comments and Replies
  • The instructor will create a post on the course home page inviting students to introduce themselves. Post a comment to that post in which you

    describe where you are from
    give your course of study and year
    talk about your career goals
    tell what you would like to get out of this course
    share at least one thing personal about yourself (a hobby, your favorite sport, a favorite activity, etc.)

  • Reminder: As you work on assignments for this course, always read ahead a few days to give yourself time to ask questions about future assignments.

Week 2

Tuesday, January 15

In-class topic:
Reading:
Student responsibilities:

Thursday, January 17

In-class topic: Product research and software documentation
Reading:

Reading Response, AKA Blogging Assignment

  • Post a reading response. Suggested Prompts -- choose one: 1) How might writing for the workplace differ from writing in college? Describe some of the important ways that writing functions in the workplace or other professional contexts. How do Gareth's tips help you understand these differences? Why do you think writing is such an important component of effective business practice? 2) In light of our work for the past two class sessions on the Quick Guide Project, discuss your observations regarding at least two potential benefits of creating software documentation, as well as two possible challenges that you'll face in completing this project. Be sure to frame your responses in relation to the importance of reader-centered communication within technical writing as a whole, and task-centered communication within software documentation in particular. 3) Discuss your choice of two reasons (excuses?) mentioned within "Not Doing It By the Book" that we neglect to read -- or downright ignore -- manuals, instructions, quick guides, etc. that are packaged with the products with which we're supposed to use these items. What makes these two reasons compelling, or at least worthy of further reflection? To what degree do these reasons apply to you, and/or people you know (if applicable)? How do you plan to incorporate the insights presented within the article -- as well as your personal experiences -- within the documentation you'll create for the Quick Guide Project? Post your response to one of these prompts to your individual blog by Friday night at midnight.
  • NOTE: While you'll normally post to your blogs once a week, this week has two blogging assignments in order to give you some practice in writing within this genre.

Check out Week 3 . No later than today, you should read through the course calendar for the following week. Make sure that you understand all of the assignments. If you have any questions, contact the instructor.

Week 3

Tuesday, January 22

In-class topic: Audience analysis and software documentation
Reading:
Student responsibilities:

  • Read some of your classmates' blog posts from last week's assignments. Post comments to at least two classmates' blog posts, in which you respond to their observations. Remember, click on each post's title so that the entire post and the "add new comment" link appear. Be sure to post your comments onto each classmate's post -- not as a separate post appearing on your blog! Comments should be posted to each classmate's blog by tonight at midnight.
  • To learn more about how commenting on classmates' blogs/comments invites productive, sustained discussion of course-related materials, read the Principles for Comments and Replies page.
  • To learn how to post comments and replies, read the How to Post Comments and Replies page.

Thursday, January 24

Topic: Writing and designing software documentation
Reading:
  • Chapters 3, 9, and 10, Technical Communication Today

Check out Week 4 . No later than today, you should read through the course calendar for the following week. Make sure that you understand all of the assignments. If you have any questions, contact the instructor.

Week 4

Week 4

Tuesday, January 29

In-class topic: introduction to usability and usability testing

Reading:
Chapter 12, Technical Communication Today

Reading response/activity blogging assignment:
Now that you've been working on your quick guide drafts for several days, I would like you to assess your progress with this project, as well as your participation in project-related activities. Choose ONE of the following prompts to respond to:
  • How has this project's need for clear, concise writing helped you learn more about writing for an audience consisting of many and varied users? What has been the most challenging aspect of writing and designing your document to meet minimum usability standards?
  • How has documentation review and usability testing helped you learn more about writing and designing software documentation? How has it helped you learn more about your perspective on, and use of, technology?
  • How has completing documentation review and usability testing for someone else's quick guide influenced revisions you plan to make to your own quick guide? If applicable, to what degree has your testing partner's documentation motivated you to learn more about that program and/or apply that program to documents/projects you will complete for academic courses and/or in the workplace?
Post your response to your individual blog by Thursday at midnight.
Also, post completed doc specs as a PDF attachment to a separate "deliverables" blog entry by tonight at midnight. NOTE: You'll post each subsequent project deliverable to this same blog entry, so give it a title that your assigned tester and I can easily notice.

Thursday, January 31

Today's topic: Documentation review (activity)

  • Writers: Administer questionnaire to, or conduct interview with, your testers (first 5-10 minutes)
  • Testers: Review writers' documentation (next 30 minutes)
  • Writers and testers: provide feedback and discuss plans for revision (last 10-15 minutes)
  • Writers and testers: consult the checklist of required/recommended elements for software documentation

Check out Week 5 . No later than today, you should read through the course calendar for the following week. Make sure that you understand all of the assignments. If you have any questions, email the instructor.

Week 5

Tuesday, February 5

Today's topic: Usability testing (activity)

Student responsibilities (during class):
  • Bring two copies of a full draft of your documentation -- one for your tester to use during testing, and one for you to use when taking observation notes
  • Writers: be sure to observe the tester's actions while keeping track of time, and take notes throughout the testing process.
  • Conduct post-testing interviews after usability testing is completed.

Assignments (complete/submit by midnight tonight, unless otherwise specified):

  • Post your usability testing script as a PDF attachment to your "deliverables" blog after usability testing but before tonight at midnight.
  • Consult the sample usability testing report before writing your post-testing report.
  • Post your post-testing report as a PDF attachment to your "deliverables" blog by Friday at midnight.
  • Post comments to classmates' blogs from last week's assignments

Thursday, February 7

Today's topic: Completion/revision of Quick Guide Project deliverables (activity)

 

 

Week 6

Tuesday, February 12

Today's topic: Introduction to the White Paper Project

Reading

White paper resources

Open source resources
Then:
Complete a short questionnaire regarding your familarity with open source technologies and project topic interests. First, describe your knowledge of open source technologies. Then rate yourself on a scale of 1 (lowest) to 5 (highest) on each of the following:
  • Writing
  • Document design
  • Product research
  • Audience analysis
  • Project management

Finally, rate your interests in the following project categories (5=most interested, 1=least interested)

  • Technology
  • Industry
  • Business
  • Government
  • Science
  • Education
  • Nonprofit organizations

Based on your responses, I will place each of you into a 3-4 member team for Project 2. Post your responses to an individual blog post by midnight tonight. You will be placed into groups by noon Wednesday.

Reading Response

Post a reading response by Friday at midnight. Suggested Prompts: 1) Discuss your initial thoughts regarding white papers and/or open source technologies. What do you hope to learn from this project? At this point, what do you see as this project's most challenging aspect? How do you plan to approach this aspect -- for the project's sake and for the sake of your own learning/discovery? 2) How does the concept of open source challenge or support traditional ideals of progress, democracy, capitalism, copyright, or intellectual property? See Thursday's readings for more details.

DUE: Quick Guide Project (attach all project deliverables to the same blog post!)

Thursday, February 14

Project Groups. I will have placed each of you into a group for Project 2 by the beginning of classtoday. Look for group placements to be posted to the course website; then, by clicking on the members link, locate the e-mail addresses for each group member and send a brief introduction of yourself. You should consider sharing alternate email, IM, phone number, and any other contact information you feel is relevant for collaborating and communicating in Project 2. From this point on, the group is responsible for keeping in contact with each other and communicating as necessary to complete the project.

Begin working in your white paper groups -- and develop a project topic/focus by this coming Tuesday. Here's what you'll need to do by then:

  • Develop an original white paper topic related to open source software -- or at least narrow down your choices to no more than three possible topics.
  • Research some on the topic(s) and prepare a 250-300 word description of the topic(s) as a team story post.
  • Post your topic discussion as a story to the class website home page. Include with the topic discussion the usernames of all group members -- and, if you have one, a working title for your project.

Reading

Here are some additional open-source-related readings:

Scan each of the following sources of information regarding open source (hereafter referred to as OS) and open source software (OSS):

Here are a few links to some high-profile "collaborations" between open-source projects and manufacturers of proprietary programs/technologies:

Week 7

Tuesday, February 19

Topic: White papers, as a genre

  • history
  • applications
  • research/argument base
  • target audiences

Discussion of sample white papers:

Blogging assignments:
Please consider how effectively -- or ineffectively -- these sample white papers incorporate each of the white paper concepts listed above for today's class, and below for Thursday's class:

Post your response to your individual blog by Friday at midnight.
In addition, each group will create a detailed group blog post about the white paper category/topic you have chosen. Discuss the following, as best as you are able:
  • Why you have chosen this category/topic of white paper?
  • What would you guess these kinds of white papers tend to discuss?
  • Who is your intended target audience?
  • What are this audience's "characteristics"? What kinds of reasons might this target audience have for accessing your white paper?
  • What do you anticipate your target audience doing with the information you provide within your white paper?
  • What is the specific position/argument that you plan to present within your white paper?
  • How do you plan to advance this position, given the characterstics of your identified target audience?

Post your group's response as a story (click on the Create Content link, and then click on Story) by Friday at midnight.

Thursday, February 21

No class: instructor at Princeton reading GRE essays

Reading: lecture notes on the following white paper concepts

  • Organization
  • Document design
  • Use of visuals
  • Publication
  • Usability issues
  • Authorship issues

 

Week 8

Tuesday, February 26
Research and the White Paper, part 1: Identifying and articulating an argument/position (with emphasis on information and target audience characteristics)
Reading
DUE: Project proposal (attach to the 300-word story that your group has already posted to the course website)
Thursday, February 28
 
No class:  instructor out of town due to family emergency 

Week 9

Tuesday, March 4

Research and the White Paper, part 2: identification/selection/analysis of sources, research methodologies, audiences, and points of access

Reading

  • Review Chapter 7, Technical Communication Today

Browse the following examples:

Current events
Source types

Annotated bibliographies are due tonight by midnight. Post your annotated bibliography to the story post containing your proposal.

Thursday, March 6

Research and the white paper, part 3: MLA, APA, and CGOS (online) styles

Reading:

Crafting engaging prose, while making your point

Reading:

Draft 1 of the white paper is due Friday by midnight. Post your white paper draft to the same story post containing your proposal and annotated bibliography.

Week 10

Tuesday, March 18

Topic: Implementing visuals into the white paper

Reading

  • Chapter 11, Technical Communication Today (bring text to class today and Thursday)
  • JunkCharts (presents reader-submitted examples of chartjunk)

 

Blogging assignment

  • Discuss at least two kinds of visuals that you plan to incorporate into Draft 2 of your white paper. What kinds of information will be presented? How will these visuals communicate information in ways that text might not be able to handle as effectively? How will these visuals enhance your target audience's understanding of the issues you address within your white paper? Post your response to your individual blog by midnight Friday.

 

Thursday, March 20

Document design and the white paper

Reading

Week 11

Tuesday, March 25
In-class topic: Introduction to the Technical Marketing Project
Scan the following items:

Blogging assignment:

In an individual blog post, discuss your initial reactions regarding the Technical Marketing Project. Post your response to your blog by midnight Friday.

Thursday, March 27
In-class activity: meet in newly-formed Technical Marketing Project groups
Reading:
  • Chapter 6, Technical Communication Today
Remember to complete an individual project log for the Technical Marketing Project this week in your blog. Also, continue to keep weekly project logs for the White Paper Project. These are each due every Friday at midnight.

Week 12

Tuesday, April 1

Research and technical marketing documents -- products/manufacturers/target audiences
Reading:
  • Chapters 3,5,7, Technical Communication Today

Scan the following online documents

Emphasis on products and manufacturers

Emphasis on target audiences
Blogging assignment:
Respond to the following prompt: Now that we've looked at emphases on products, manufacturers, and target audiences, consider the following scenario: You are developing technical marketing communication for a large RV that gets 8-10 miles per gallon on the highway -- and gas prices have increased, again. They're now at $3.20 a gallon. With news reports and studies showing that consumers are ditching large SUVs for smaller, more fuel-efficient cross-over vehicles, what kind of emphasis will you use to market this RV? Post your response to your blog by midnight next Tuesday.

Each individual group member will also:

  • Find some additional resources on your topic. Consider some of the following
    • Visting the main site for the product you are writing about to see if there are additional resources that will assist your group with the project.
    • Use Google and search for reviews about the product (try including reviews as a keyword in your search).
    • Use Google to find some criticism of the product (try using "criticism" as a keyword in your search). See if you can address this criticism.
  • Take notes from your research.
  • Post these notes to your blog by midnight Friday. Share the URL for your post with your group members by email.

Thursday, April 3

Rhetoric of technical marketing documents: prose styles
  • In-class activity: small-group discussion of sample documents
Reading:
  • Chapters 9, 18, and 19, Technical Communication Today
Remember to complete an individual project log this week in your blog. These are due every Friday at midnight.
Blogging assignment:
  • Respond to the following prompt: Below is a list of 10 words. Use one word to describe the most immediate association that you make with each listed word; then list one product or product manufacturer that comes to mind with each associated word. After completing that part of the exercise, discuss in 50 words or so how your responses reflect the goals of technical marketing communication that we've discussed so far.
    • Innovative
    • Stylish
    • Unique
    • Traditional
    • Durable
    • Effective
    • Enduring
    • Advanced
    • Endorsed
    • Convenient
    • Standard
    • Re-designed
    • Elegant
    • Simple
    • Intricate
    • Clever
    • Intelligent
    • Revolutionary
Post your response to your individual blog by midnight on Tuesday.

 

Week 13

Tuesday, April 8

Rhetoric of technical marketing documents: images
Reading:
  • Chapter 11, Technical Communication Today
  • In-class activity: small-group discussion of sample documents
Thursday, April 10

In-class topic: Document design and technical marketing documents
Reading:
  • Chapter 10, Technical Communication Today
Scan:

Each individual will:

  • Consider your choice of one of the sample documents from this week's class sessions, and respond to the following prompt within a blog post: Now that you've had some time to consider both rhetorical and document design issues, what are your overall perceptions regarding selection and presentation of information within the document you've chosen? Are there specific attributes -- rhetorical or design-based -- that strike you as being particularly positive or negative? How has attention paid to rhetorical/design-oriented details enhanced the document -- or how has the lack of such attention detracted from the document? Be sure to mention specific examples from your chosen document! Post your response to your individual blog by midnight next Tuesday.

Each group will:

  • Complete a group-authored story post, in which you discuss your plans regarding document design for your technical marketing document. In doing so, address the kinds of specific tasks, involving specific software programs, that you plan to complete when creating your technical marketing document. Post your response as a story to the course website by midnight next Monday.

Week 14

Tuesday, April 15

Introduction: Microsoft Publisher templates

Thursday, April 17

In-class work: technical marketing documents

Week 15

Tuesday, April 22

Production issues: technical marketing documents

Thursday, April 24

Course wrap-up

Please complete a group project evaluation (attached to the bottom of this page) for each of the two group projects -- White Paper Project and Technical Marketing Project.  E-mail your completed evaluation to clark9@purdue.edu no earlier than 24 hours before your groups submit their final revisions.   

NOTE:  Due dates for the final drafts of the white paper and technical marketing document are based on what's listed within the e-mailed comments that your groups received for the most recently submitted drafts for those projects. 

 

 

Guidelines, Handouts, and Support

This section of the course syllabus contains additional guidelines for completing assignments and support materials for using this site.

Getting Started 1: Registering on the Site

To get started with ENGL 421, you'll need to complete a few steps, which include

  • Registering for the course website (here).
  • Logging in for the first time.
  • Editing your account for the first time.

Registering for the course website

  1. Go to the course website.
  2. Click on "create new account" under "User Login" in the navigation menu on the left.

  3. Create a username that will identify you in the system and that you will use for logging in. Because this site is public on the Internet, your username should not include your last name. You are welcome to use any username (e.g., your IM screenname) that would not be offensive to others or otherwise inappropriate for a course website. Capitalize your username as you intend to use it; usernames are case sensitive.

  4. Enter your email address. You may use your Purdue email address. If you have an alternate one, use the one that you check most regularly.
  5. Provide your real name and home page URL (web address, if you have one). Note that your real name will not be visible publicly but only to students registered at the site.
  6. Click on "Create new account." Registration information will be sent to the email address you listed, so check your email soon after you register. You will need the password that it sends you.

Getting Started 2: Logging in for the First Time

To get started with ENGL 421, you'll also need to complete this second step:

Logging in for the first time

  1. You should have received an email from the system that includes your new password. With that email handy, return to the course website.
  2. Enter your username and password in the "User login" box. Your initial password can be retyped or cut-and-pasted into the password box. If you cut-and-paste it, make sure you don't include any extra spaces before or after the password characters. The password and user name are case sensitive.

  3. Click on Log in. When you've successfully logged in, you will see a block of links in the left sidebar with your username above it as a title. This is a navigation menu that provides you with links to many services and content on the site. If you are unable to log in successfully, try re-entering your password. Remember that usernames and passwords are case-sensitve, so make sure you don't have Caps Lock turned on by accident and that (if pasting in your password) that you don't include extra spaces. You may also request a new password if you ever forget yours.

Getting Started 3: Editing Your Account for the First Time

To get started with ENGL 421, you'll also need to complete this third step, which will take a bit more time than the previous two.

Editing your account for the first time

Once you've logged in successfully, you need to edit your account and provide some additional information about yourself.

  1. Click on my account link in the navigation menu on the left.

     

  2. On the next screen, click on the edit tab.

  3. On the account settings screen, scroll to the Account information area.
  4. Change your password by entering a new one into the password boxes. Choose a password that you can remember but that is secure. Remember that passwords are case sensitive.
  5. Scroll to the Picture area.
  6. Upload a picture of yourself or avatar (an image that represents you well) that you would use in a public context. You may have to find one and edit in an image editor, so you just try to have this step completed by the end of Week 2. If you need help editing an image, send a copy to your instructor for help. See Creating Avatars and Images for Your Profile for more information.
  7. Next, scroll to the Theme configuration.


  8. The default selection is will be checked. You can select any theme you like and all pages will show up with that theme. The default theme has been specially designed and will probably offer the most consistent display of all site content. The instructor uses that theme as the default and so designs pages with it in mind.
  9. Scroll to Contact settings.
  10. Check the Personal contact form box.
  11. When you have made your changes, click on the Submit button at the bottom of the page.

The following steps ask you to complete information for your profile. This will enable the instructor and fellow students to learn a little more about you and help the instructor tailor this class to your background and goals, as well as arrange collaborative projects.

  1. Click on the edit tab again, then on the Personal Information link at the top of the next page.
  2. Enter the required information in the boxes. If you don't have a home page, leave that box blank.
  3. Click on Submit to save.

That's it! You have completed all the steps of the Getting Started process. If you ever need to change any of the information, you can always edit these pages again.

If you have any trouble along the way, please be sure to let your instructor know.

Creating Avatars and Images for Your Profile

Some of you may be in search of an avatar or image to use in the profile that you created for yourself when you registered. If so, here are some suggestions:

An avatar is just an image that "stands-in" for your picture and can be an object, artwork, a photo, or something else that might convey some aspect of your identity, personality, or interests. So, for example, someone interested in biking might use an image of a bike as an avatar rather than a personal picture. The image works best if it's in jpg, gif, or png format, and the dimensions should be (about) 85x85 so that it displays correctly (and doesn't get squished when displayed, for example).

To find an existing avatar to use for free, you could look at a site like these. If you have a Yahoo! ID (free to get, if not), you can get some nice ones:

http://avatars.yahoo.com/

or try

http://www.avatarity.com/

You could also take an existing image of yourself and then create a picture by cropping out the part you don't want. If you haven't used an image editing program before, that can be a bit tricky. But if you have, just use the crop tool to draw a box around the part of the image you want to use, crop it, and then resize it so that it's about 85x85 pixels.

If you have a larger photo and would like help to make it into an avatar, send it to your instructor as an email attachment. Your instructor can help you from there.

Creating Hyperlinks

For this class, you'll have to learn at least one HTML tag, the one for making hyperlinks.

It's easy to learn. Check it out:

  1. Make sure that your rich-text editor is enabled. Click on enable rich-text below the Body box.
  2. Highlight the text you want to turn into a link.
  3. In the buttons below the Body box, click on the chain link button.
  4. This box should appear.
  5. In the Link URL box, cut and paste your full URL there. Then click on insert.

Your link will now show up in your test.

Here is how you make links in traditional HTML coding. Still easy, but it doesn't show up with our rich-text settings and input format.

<a href=""></a>

is the tag itself without any information in it. Within the quotes, you'll put the url, or web address, for the site which you want to link to. In between the ><, you'll put the text you want displayed on the screen.

For example, the url for slashdot is http://slashdot.org/. And if you want to make the word Slashdot a link in a sentence to the website in a blog post, type in,

<a href="http://slashdot.org/">Slashdot</a> is a well known community blog site.

To get

Slashdot is a well known community blog site.

HTML is picky and it's easy to make a careless mistake. Don't include any extra spaces in the HTML tag. Make sure that you include "http://" as a part of your web address. In fact, one of the easiest ways to make sure that you get the URL correct is to copy and paste it from the address bar of a browser window currently displaying the page.

See? Not too difficult. But there's one more thing . . . .

Avoid merely posting the URL as a link:

http://slashdot.org

Notice how this doesn't convey much information. Better to have put the page title (often found either on the page or in the window bar at the top) or link to part of your text (think of the examples in this site). At the same time, really long URL's won't word wrap at the end of a line. They may cause problems with the way that text is displayed on web pages.

For review, check out Chapter 30 in The Thomson Handbook, "The Basics of HTML Coding" (p. 664).

Creating PDF Files

Portable Document Format (PDF) is a file format created by Adobe Acrobat and useful for sharing printer ready versions of documents. Unlike when files are shared between different productivity applications (i.e., word processing, spreadsheet) or different versions of the same productivity software, the same layout and typographic styles are maintained regardless of the computer environment. What the author sees when creating a PDF is exactly what the receiver of the file sees and can print out on their computer. Consequently, PDFs are particularly useful for sending resumes, cover letters, and other business documents where layout and presentation is critica. Writers want all of the effort they put into formatting professional-looking documents to be maintained.

PDFs are typically viewed using Adobe Reader (which is free to download). However, Adobe Reader will not produce PDFs. As you will soon be submitting drafts of cover letters, resumes, and other documents in PDF format, make sure that you can successfully generate a PDF using one of the following means:

  • Adobe Acrobat Professional, Standard, or Elements are three versions of Adobe's productivity program for producing PDF files. These programs are not free and do not generally come installed when purchasing a computer. However, some public computer labs (i.e., most of Purdue University's main campus labs) may have Acrobat Professional installed. When Acrobat Professional is available, from your word processor or browser (or any screen that can be printed), select File -> Print. On a PC, you will be able to select, under Printer Name, "Adobe PDF" instead of sending your file to a printer. (See the figure below.) On a Mac, you will see a button "Save as PDF" on the print dialog box. In both cases, you will be asked where you want the created PDF to be stored.

  • Adobe offers a free PDF trial service online. However, you may need to produce PDF's more than allowed by the free trial.
  • CutePDF is a free application which you can download and install on your home computer.
  • Google Docs: You can use these free applications (word processor, spreadsheet, and more) for collaboration and, conveniently, to export a document file to PDF format. (Upload your Word document, for example, then export it as PDF later.)
  • OpenOffice is a free, full-featured, open source office productivity suite comparable to Microsoft Office that has PDF generation built in. From within OpenOffice, choose File->Export as pdf

Eliciting Good Response

Imagine the following scenario:

You have a great idea for a project for your department at work. Because it will require significant resources and funding, the senior manager in your department has asked you to prepare a ten-page proposal.

After working on the proposal for a while, the senior manager sends you an email requesting to see your draft in progress. The proposal is far from complete, but you fire off a reply saying "Here is my working draft," and attach it. The next day, you receive another email from the senior manager full of feedback which you are obligated to take. However, the feedback asks you to revise your proposal in new directions, quite contrary to what you had planned, effectively taking over the direction of the proposal. You now have to discard many good ideas you had for development. Those sections where you knew you needed the most help--they were not addressed at all.

This happens all the time in getting response to our writing. We get proofreading corrections when we need ideas; we get heavy revision suggestions when the draft needs to be proofread to meet a deadline.

To elicit useful and focused responses from readers (during peer review, for example), we must solicit good response. In the above scenario, if the writer had explained to the senior manager where she needed help in the draft and what her plans were for further development, it's quite possible that the feedback would have been more focused and helpful. So when asking for feedback on a document, explain to the responder

  • your concerns about the current state of the draft (i.e., where, specifically, you need help)
  • where you are in the process of drafting (i.e., ready to polish to meet a deadline, planning to do more revision)
  • your target audience
  • any plans you might have for further development of the text

Once you've defined your needs, your reviewer is more likely to shape their feedback effectively for you. As a reviewer, it's much easier to address the writer's concerns than to try to guess what might or might not be useful to the writer.

Five Steps of Storyboarding

  1. Find or create a storyboard template that you can use to draft your outline, like the one attached to this post..
  2. Each frame of your storyboard should represent a unique page, a step in a sequence, or some other individual component of your work (such as a PowerPoint or Keynote slide, a keyframe in Flash, or a Web page).
  3. In each frame, identify your content. Use shorthand to describe the content (including images and audio) that you want to include and approximately where it should be placed, as in the example below.
  4. Add notes to each frame in your storyboard on design, source files, material, and anything else that will help you remember what each frame should contain and how it should be presented.
  5. When you have completed a rough draft of your storyboard, read back through it to see whether it has an order that makes sense and includes the multimedia you want to use. Move frames around as necessary.

How to Post Comments and Replies

Posting comments, as you will soon see, is easier than creating and sending an email.

  1. You must be logged in to the site in order to post comments.
  2. While you can click on the add new comment link on any post from the course home page, instead, first click on the title to access the full post and all comments. Always make sure you view the full post first. There may already be a comment conversation thread begun about what you are interested in discussing. Rather than starting a new thread, join in the existing one.
  3. Choose add new comment to reply directly to the main blog post and start a new thread or reply to respond to an individual comment.

    If you don't see an add new comment link, you are most likely not logged in.

  4. Enter a title for your post in the Subject field. Your title should describe the content of your post. If you do not enter a title, the system will automatically use the first few words of your comment post.
  5. Enter the text of your comment in the Comment field. You may use plain text or some HTML. Some people may have the "enable rich text" link visible. If you use that feature, Drupal will give you a set of buttons much like a word processor's to help you input your message. Be careful to review your input, however, since this feature will do some strange things with your text on occasion.
  6. Click on "input format" to learn about your formatting options. Drupal will use a filter to convert line breaks and URLs when you select "Filtered HTML." If you want to format your posts nicely, include images, or insert more sophisticated HTML, then choose "Full HTML." Generally speaking, leave the Input format on Filtered HTML unless you have used HTML tags other than those allowed.
  7. Select Preview comment at the bottom of the page.
  8. Always review what you have written in preview mode. You will not be able to edit your comment once you have posted it.
  9. If you are ready to submit your comment, select Post comment at the bottom of the page. Don't forget this step! The most common way people lose posts is by forgetting to submit after previewing their comments or blog entries. If you have made changes to a post, preview it again.
  10. Verify that your comment has been posted. It should be visible on the page. If something went wrong, try using your back button to get to the input screen. Review and resubmit if it's still there.

Note: You can use the Comment viewing options to change the way that comments are displayed on the page. Experiment with this feature and see which configuration works best for you.

How to Post to Your Individual Weblog

Posting to your individual weblog is a little more complex than posting a comment, but after a couple of times, you'll find it as easy as email.

  1. You must be logged in to post to your weblog.
  2. From any page on the site, choose the create content link in the main navigation block on the left hand side. That will bring you to the create content page. [You can also click on the blogs link and then the "my blog" sublink.

  3. The first time you visit the create content page, read the descriptions under personal blog entry and story.
  4. To post to your individual weblog, choose blog entry. This will bring you to the Submit blog entry page.

  5. Review the Project Checklist in The Thomson Handbook on "Networking in Online Forums" (p. 627) to refresh your memory on posting successful weblog messages. (All of Chapter 28 would be a good review at this stage.)
  6. Enter a good Title for your post.
  7. Choose a Category tag for your post. You can use a standard one (like "Reading Response" or create one suggested in the prompt or that suits your content. You may use multiple tags.
  8. Enter the text of your post in the Body field. You may use plain text or some combination of HTML in creating this post.
  9. Leave the Input format on Filtered HTML unless you have used HTML tags other than those allowed.
  10. Under URL path settings, you can give your post a short and unique URL alias. For example, you might want to use "team3projectlog" to identify your team's project log. If you use that URL, the full path would be something like http://digitalparlor.org/up07/420Y/team3projectlog.
  11. Optional: If you need to attach a file,
    • Click on the File attachments link.
    • Use the Browse button to locate the file on your hard drive.
    • One you have located the file, click the Attach button.
    • A bar will show the progress of the upload . You should then see your attachment listed.
  12. Choose Preview.
  13. Review your post. If you make any changes, preview it again.
  14. When ready, select Submit to post.

Notes:

  • The system will not offer you a Submit button if you do not give your post a title.
  • Choose story on the create content page to post to the course home page. The rest of the procedure is the same as for creating a personal blog entry.

Learning to Navigate the Site

For the first day of class, you'll want to explore some of the features of the site. This document gives an overview of a few features you might want to take a look at that will help you to navigate the site.

Navigation

In the header visible at the top of every page, you'll find one row of links:

  • The first four take you to important sections of the course guide.
  • The others take you to useful resource sites at Purdue.

Once you've logged in to the site, directly beneath the header on the left, you'll find the main navigation block, accessible from every page:

The navigation block is your gateway to many areas of the site useful for creating and viewing content and managing your work. For example,

  • blogs
    Lists all the blogs on the site and includes a direct link to your blog in its submenu.
  • create content
    From here you can post to your individual weblog or the front page (see How to Post to Your Individual Weblog).
  • image galleries
    These are useful for uploading screenshots and other images that groups need to review and discuss.
  • members
    Need to find out someone's email address? Use the members list. You can also click on any username to access the personal account page. Only registered users have access to the private portion of account pages.
  • my subscriptions
    Our site allows you to "subscribe" to blog posts and other content so that you can keep tabs on follow-up responses. You can set your default subscription settings in my account > edit.
  • recent posts
    This display allows you to access all of the recent content posted by everyone. Note how it provides red astericks to denote pages you have yet to read and notices of new unread comments.
  • search
    Search the content of blog posts, stories, book pages, and galleries; also search for users by name or username
  • my account
    Links to your profile information, site settings, and more. Adjust your account profile here.
  • categories
    This function allows us to categorize all of our posts. By the end of the semester, there will be literally thousands of posts, and these allow some degree of organization. Later in the semester, we will use this same function to organize group spaces for Project 2 and 3.
  • log out
    Use this to log out of the website, which is recommended after each session.

Book Navigation

All of our course materials on the site are integrated into the course guide:

The course guide is a hypertext with many levels of pages.

  • You can use the book navigation links that show previous and next pages below the main text or use the breadcrumb navigation at the top.
  • Use the printer-friendly version link beneath any page to get a text-only version of that page and all of its subpages collated into one. For example, if you go to the top page of the guide and click on printer-friendly version, you will see the entire course guide, including the calendar, on one screen (a very long one).

Principles for Comments and Replies

Posting comments and replies to the reading responses and drafts of others will be a primary means of class interaction and discussion. Instructors may promote blog posts to the front page of the course website. There, everyone will respond to and discuss the readings, drafts, or other work posted to our course website. The course description explains the purpose of this coursework:

All comments and replies to another's blog post should follow effective rhetorical strategies for networking with others on the Web. (Readings from the course text provide guidelines to follow.)

  • Keep threads alive and relevant.
  • Follow-up comments with further discussion.
  • Think of your comments and replies as part of a lively class discussion in which everyone participates.

When commenting and replying to blog posts on the course's front page, you are required to

  • Read through the posts on the course home page referred to by the assignment.
  • Before using the comment and reply features for the first time, you might want to consider reviewing How to Post Comments and Replies .
  • Strive to be thoughtful and analytical in your comments.
  • Try to find something new to say instead of saying what has already been said in the original post and in other comments already posted.
  • Feel free to share personal experiences which shape your views on the topic discussed.

You should also

  • Provide links to additional resources on the web which would better inform the discussion. You should always link to any other texts on the Web you mention, even those on the course website.
  • Contend with and/or support the original blog post. If you are criticizing what the blogger has said, remember to do so respectfully, which encourages further dialogue. "This sucks" would not be an appropriate response. Neither would "That's great!" if you don't explain what you mean.
  • Direct attention to related and relevant issues. You may find that none of the posts on the class website about a particular set of readings confront what you feel is an important issue on the assigned texts. As long as it is related to the general topic of the readings or the topic of this class, feel free to post a comment which turns the conversation in a new direction (use the subject line to clearly specify this new direction).
  • Occasionally post to blog posts not on our front page. If you like, you may choose to post three of your comments or replies to any other recently submitted blog posting on the class site from the instructors and/or other students, whether or not those posts focus on the topic up for discussion.
  • Use emoticons and acronyms to convey additional information (such as tone and intonation).

For those of you wishing to do more than the minimum requirements of the course, you might visit the class website additional times per week and post new comments and/or replies to any of the blog posts.

Principles for Posting to Your Weblog

You'll do a lot of the writing for this class in your individual weblog space on the course website. You can access your weblog via your my account page.

One way to think of a weblog or blog is as a journal. However, unlike a journal that you might keep at home (as well as most if not all of the writing you have done in school before), your blog space is public. Your fellow class members will be invited to read your blog. Classmates will respond to your posts with comments and replies. Group members will review notes you take when doing research. And, of course, since it's on the Internet, other Web readers may encounter your writing and take a look at what you have to say.

There are many uses for weblogs, but we'll only use them for a few things here. During this class, you'll be asked to use your course weblog to

  • share drafts of your work-in-progress for peer review
  • keep a project log
  • post research notes

In addition to the individual weblog space that everyone has, the home page of our course website is a community blog space where anyone can post. While most of your blog writing will be posted to your individual weblog, we'll use the home page as a place to promote discussion among all class members. For example,

  • When there is a reading response assignment, your instructors may promote someone's post to the front page for community discussion.
  • Groups may be asked to lead discussion by posting their reading responses or blog posts to the course home page instead of to their individual weblogs.
  • Groups may be asked to share proposals and progress reports with the entire class.

Good Blogging Practices

  • Titles for blog posts should reflect the context of what you have written, not merely restate the name of the title of the assignment or reading. Interesting and informative titles draw more interesting responses from others.
  • Blogs should demonstrate the principles of writing for the Web as they are covered in this course.
  • Bloggers link. Use hyperlinks when referring to another post on the public Internet and follow good attribution practices. Hyperlinks mean converting text to a link, not merely cutting and pasting in an URL. To do so, you'll have to know a little HTML for creating hyperlinks.
  • People visiting the course website from the Internet won't know what you mean if you just mention "the reading assignment for today." Since PW Online is password protected, others on the Internet cannot access it. Treat it like a printed text. At minimum, you should mention the name of the text and the title of the chapter or section you are referencing.
  • Good bloggers always keep in mind that they are writing for a public audience.

To Learn More

Principles of Reading Responses

Each week, you will be responsible for creating a reading response. Each reading response should be specifically focused on the reading and the prompt provided on the calendar, clearly indicate that you have read and thought seriously about the reading, and be sufficiently developed. Reading responses should be 300 words or longer. Post your reading response as a blog entry and tag it "Reading Response" or use the tag provided in the prompt itself.

Sometimes, you and each of your group members will be assigned to post your reading response to the course home page by submitting a story. The posts on the course home page will then be the focus of full class discussion. Selected reading responses will also be promoted to the front page for more lively community discussion.

In composing your reading response you should:

  • Be sure to focus your response on the subject of the prompt.
  • Link your response to recent class discussions online, your current project work, something you might have read elsewhere, and/or previous professional, academic, or personal experience writing and communicating in other contexts.
  • Discuss how the reading contributes to your understanding of the current project, expands your understanding of recent discussions, or suggests ideas for your work in the class.
  • Be sure to properly cite the original reading and any other sources you might mention. Good citation practice is critical in all writing and especially so on the Web.
  • You can apply the rhetorical considerations discussed in Principles for Posting to Your Weblog to your reading responses.
  • When it is your group's turn to post reading responses to the course home page, consider that the goal of these blog posts is to share new information and stimulate discussion. If your group is reponsible for posting about an assignment, check to see if anyone has already posted a response on the reading. If so, read through it. Shape your blog post to take the conversation in different directions.

Project Log Guidelines

Purpose

Because you will have a weekly record at the end of the project, your project log will help you to complete the Peer Collaboration Evaluation Form due at the end of each project. Project logs also provide evidence of each group member's contribution to the project. And detailed project logs lend more credibility to your evaluation of others in your Peer Collaboration Evaluation Form.

After college, you may find keeping a project log useful in your professional career:

  • In the busy life of a professional, it can often be difficult to remember all aspects of a project when compiling monthly or quarterly progress reports.
  • Consultants can use project logs to provide supporting evidence of work done on a project in preparing invoices or in case a client questions billable hours.
  • Once a project is completed, a project log can be useful as a record for planning similar, future projects that will be completed by others.

Requirements

At least once a week, post a short report to your weblog covering all of the following:

  • Use informative titles (e.g., Project Log for Week 5: Project 2 Takes Shape)
  • Tag your post with "Project Log"
  • Report on the status of the project: Is it in early drafting? Is it production ready? Is your group conducting research? Etc.
  • Record your contributions to the project that week.
  • Record the contributions of others in your group.
  • Record the time and date of group meetings and communication and describe briefly what was accomplished. Did the group have a large email discussion? Did you IM with another group member? Etc.
  • Report on any scheduled plans for completing specific tasks in the project. What group members have taken on which specific tasks? What are the prospective deadlines?
  • Plan out ideas for completing the project, including ways to collaborate and communicate more effectively with your group.
  • Reflect on any lessons you have learned about collaboration and electronic communication.

Remember. Your project logs are public and can be read by other group members. Be diplomatic. Do not write about what other group members failed to do or negatively evaluate their participation. Simply record what others have agreed to do and the tasks which they have completed. You will have ample opportunity to assess the work of others at the end of the project.

You can of course post more than once a week.

Questions about Assignments (Ask Them!)

At some point in the semester, almost everyone is likely to have some questions and concerns about how to complete an assignment. In a normal face-to-face class, these questions might be answered in regular class discussion.

Because this is an online class, each week, one of the instructors will blog about the following week's assignments, inviting open discussion. If you have any questions or concerns, check out the most recent blog posting about assignments on the course home page. If your questions and concerns are not answered in the comments, post them to the comment board.

Know that all class members are encouraged to respond to questions--not just the teachers--so that we can discuss the assignments. If you can help clarify or answer any concerns of your classmates, please do so. Plus, participating in these discussions is one way to demonstrate more effort than just the minimum requirements of the class.

While some of you might think, "I'd rather just email the teacher directly," sharing your concerns on the class website can benefit everyone. Each blog post and comments on the next week's assignments will be a resource that everyone can use. The question you ask might help someone later, someone who hasn't thought about the assignment in the way that you have. Yet, they still might arrive at the same question later on. They need only read through the blog and comments to find the question that you already posted, as well as an answer.

If you feel you need a more immediate response, still post your question or concerns, then email your instructor, who will be sure to respond to your email by replying to your comment ASAP.

If you have something personal to discuss, something not to be shared with the rest of the class, you are, of course, welcome to email your instructor privately.

Projects and Activities

Descriptions of major course projects are listed here.

Quick Guide Project

For the Quick Guide Project, you will be responsible for writing and user-testing documentation for completion of a specific task within a specific software program. Programs for which we'll produce documentation are included within the ITaP suite, and represent a wide variety of reasons for using, product features, associated projects, and users/user environments. Your documentation will provide textual and visual instructions suitable for users of programs in the ITaP suite -- Purdue students, faculty, and/or staff. Keep in mind that our target audience represents a wide variety of users and user types, who may or may not be familiar with the program and/or task that your documentation presents.

project rationale and goals

At some point in your academic or professional career, you will be asked to write up a set of technical instructions -- and you might have to write instructions for a product or process with which you have not worked previously, or with which you have only a little familiarity. To compose such instructions effectively, you must consider issues of research, document design, audience, and usability. Whether you are documenting software for unknown novice users working in an office, or machinery for co-workers in an industrial environment, you need to consider users' situations, skills, and needs; logically section steps in the process; and provide rhetorically effective textual and visual elements.

Thus, your general goals for the documentation project are to:

  • Write for specific audiences and purposes.
  • Perform background and supplementary research related to a technical-writing task
  • Learn principles of effective document design.
  • Gain experience using technologies to produce documents.
  • Negotiate successful collaboration with your project team.
  • Manage a short- to medium-term writing project.

project activities

The Quick Guide Project involves a series of sequenced, "progressive" procedures that must be completed in a timely and productive manner to accurately reflect professional practices and standards, and to ensure that your "finished product" is of the highest quality possible.

Research, planning, and drafting your documentation. Through a blind drawing, you will be assigned a specific software program that you will spend the next several days researching, using, documenting, and testing. Immediately after you are assigned a program, you will research the program and its users and identify a process suitable for documentation -- taking detailed notes concerning key program and user aspects, then listing each step to be documented and each step's result. Be sure to also identify and describe screenshots (screen captures) that will illustrate each step/result and reflect users and applicable documents/projects.

You will then write a memo containing document specifications, through which you describe the program/process, identify your target audience, and present written steps/results and screenshots in detail. I will supply a sample that doubles as a template and an example of what kinds of information your document specifications memo should present. Your completed document specifications will help you move to this project's next step: producing a full draft of your documentation and planning for usability testing.

IMPORTANT: Your instructions, and the task(s) they present, should allow even novice users to successfully access/use your documentation. Keep in mind that depending on which program you've been assigned, it's possible that your assigned tester has never used (or even heard of) it, much less completed the task that you've documented.

If you're really interested in working with a process that requires previous knowledge of a program/task, you'll need to identify a classmate who has sufficient exposure to your program/task to complete usability testing without assistance. Of course, you'll need to have sufficient exposure to this classmate's program/task to successfully test his or her program/task. You'll also both need to let me know you'd like to work with each other before I make usability testing assignments!

Usability: audience analysis and documentation review. At the same time you're working with your first full draft, you'll begin working with a classmate who will serve as your tester for usability testing. But before actual usability testing takes place, you and your tester will need to take a few steps to learn more about your tester's familiarity with the program/task, and to assess your draft's readiness for live testing. First, you'll design a questionnaire that -- ideally -- includes items that correspond to your documentation's features and goals, while eliciting informative and useful responses from your tester regarding his or her familiarity with, interest in, possible reasons for accessing, and potential/actual applications of the process for which you've created documentation. You may administer the questionnaire as a survey that your tester fills out on his or her own, or as a live oral interview.

Meanwhile, your tester will read through your documentation and offer feedback related to its overall purpose/integrity, identification/recognition of general and specific target audiences, appeals toward general and/or specific writing situations, and implementation of prose-based items, images, document design elements, and appeals toward specific writing situations and target audiences -- a process known as documentation review.
NOTE: I would like for you to complete these activities during the class session for which they've been scheduled, so that I can observe how each team approaches pre-test information-gathering and answer any questions that you might have.
Usability: real-time user testing. Following the informational interview and documentation review, you'll write a "script" for your usability testing session, so that you and your tester know what to expect, and so that you can plan for -- and accommodate -- any possible issues/irregularities/interferences related to the testing process or environment. You might also need to revise your documentation draft before testing, if the results of the informational interview and/or documentation review indicate that pre-testing adjustments are necessary.
For the usability testing session, which will take place during class, bring two complete drafts of your documentation -- one for your tester, and one for you to mark up while observing your tester's actions and progress.

During the usability testing session, you'll monitor the overall testing process, take notes regarding your tester's actions, and keep track of the time it takes your tester to complete specific steps and the entire process. Immediately after usability testing, you will meet with your tester to discuss your observations and his or her suggestions. You'll then write a short report detailing this meeting and discussing the modifications you will make to your documentation before production and submission of a polished copy for formal review.

Documentation revision, production, and submission. Based on feedback from usability testing, you might need to further revise your documentation before refining it into a polished copy. You'll then apply appropriate production-related techniques so that your documentation is rendered in the format in which users would actually access it -- i.e. "correctly" (user-friendly, intuitive) folded brochures with appropriately-sequenced panels, two-sided flyers printed on both sides of a single sheet of paper, PDF files linked from a web page and posted online, etc.

IMPORTANT: Documentation submitted for formal review (grading) must be in color, and must be printed on laser paper for hard-copy documents. Wrinkled, torn, or smudged copies are unacceptable!

project deliverables

In addition to drafting, testing, and revising your documentation, you will be required to complete and submit a series of related documents at various stages of this project. You will post each deliverable, as it's completed, as a distinctly-named PDF file attachment to the same individual blog post. In other words,