course.goals
materials
assignments
grading
attendance
electronica
ethics
disability

instructor kevin eric depew
office fdh 657
phone 895.3516
e.mail depewk@unlv.nevada.edu
web.page http://www.unlv.edu/faculty2/kedepew
office hours tu & th 11:00-1:00

quick.links

textbook
calendar
class.list-02
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resources

course.goals

English 404 has been designed to prepare students to be effective technical writers and communicators in various contexts (e.g., architecture, engineering, nursing, professional writing). In particular, the course examines how the technological evolution of the 21st-century workplace has altered the means by which business writers communicate. In general English 404 introduces students to the rhetorical principles and writing practices necessary for producing effective technical documents, such as letters, memos, and reports. Additionally, the technical writing course will help you learn effective strategies for communicating with other people through various computer-mediated writing technologies (e.g., word processed documents, emails, slide presentations), particularly in networked workplaces.

In this course you will learn to...

• understand the rhetorical nature of writing
• see how the distinctions between informative and persuasive communication break down
• manage files and other information
• identify writing roles
• identify potential complications in writing contexts, including ethical concerns
• consider different audiences, including primary audiences and secondary audiences
• understand and create logical structures in text
• design visually effective documents
• user-test documents
• use research, such as usability testing, to support your documents
• work in teams and write collaboratively

Prerequisites

To best fulfill these goals, the prerequisites for English 404 include...

• completion of first-year composition requirement.
• junior or senior status strongly recommended, but not required.
• previous computer experience is recommended, but not required.

course.materials

Professional Writing Online by James E. Porter, Patricia Sullivan, and Johndan Johnson-Eilola (online textbook)

• Purchase individualized registration code and print companion at bookstores ($41.25)

major.assignments

Title IX Case, as a mock situation, positions the student writers as an intern for the campus's athletic department. After receiving complaints from sponsors both for and against Title IX regulation, the athletic director wants to issue a statement. As the intern, your job is to do conduct the research for the AD, providing a summary of the original Title IX regulations, as well as recent developments. You will produce a series of documents that will be submitted in a portfolio. (Grade: 350 points for portfolio)

Software Documentation gives you the opportunity to learn how to write effective instructions for a specific audience, in this case, your class peers. As a ways of providing resources for your classmates for the final project, you will be asked to write quick references for doing a specific software functions–a list of functions will be provided. This project can be done as an individual or in pairs (Grade: 350 points for portfolio)

Client Project provides you and your group with the experience of working within a real rhetorical situation with a real client who will be chosen for you. Your group will be serving as "information consultants" or "research analysts" by using the rhetorical strategies that you have learned throughout the semester to address the client's professional writing needs or problems. (Grade: 650 points for separate deliverables)

Three Means of Failing the Course related to Major Assignments

• Not completing a major assignment
• Major assignments will be given no credit if the assignment is not turned in prior to the instructor returning the respective assignment to the class. This becomes the equivalent of not completing a major assignment
• An act of plagiarism (or other forms of academic dishonesty)

Other Assignments

There are a lot of smaller assignments that will help you prepare and prewrite for the larger assignments. These assignments include peer-editing exercises, group activities and exercises, short memos, required email postings, group work evaluations, and other short in- and out-of-class assignments.

Use these writing opportunities to your advantage instead of treating them as "busy work." A lot of the work that you do for these smaller assignments can be used directly in the final assignment; therefore, you will want to take these assignments seriously. This also gives you an opportunity to get serious feedback from the instructor on your work-in-progress. So, just fulfilling these assignments will often result in twice as much work for you.

grading

The first two projects, Title IX Case and the Software Documentation will be graded using portfolio style grading. However, due to the collaborative and individual responsibilities in the Client Project, each deliverable will be graded individually.

Portfolio Grading

For most major assignments you will be submitting individual portfolios. These portfolios will consist of different deliverables that you compose during that section of the course: writing opportunities (i.e., in-class writes), activities, and rough drafts. The instructor, upon receiving these deliverables, will only make comments on each text and return it to the students. For the portfolio, you will submit all of these deliverables as hard copies in a manila folder. With these evaluated assignments you will include a revised final project and/or a summary statement that addresses peers' and the instructors' comments. The overall point value of each portfolio is provided for each assignment description.

The instructor will use the principles of Purpose, Product, and Production/Process (as described below) to make comments and determine the point value on the respective deliverable. Remember that each deliverable pertains to a new context; therefore how you address these principles in one assignment may not be applicable in another.

PURPOSE (Content) : How effectively does the document accomplish its intended task for its intended purpose and audience?

• meet its goals and the demands of its context (both academic and organizational)? solve a problem or address a significant organizational need? help people? improve people's lives?
• provide a sound or viable argument in support of its arguments? use evidence to support its arguments?
• meet readers' needs? improve relations between people? provide relevant, useful, and accurate information?

PRODUCT (Content/Convention) : How well constructed is the document?

• orderly and coherent presentation of material?
• effective design and formatting? correctness?
• effective use of visuals?
• professional tone and style?

PRODUCTION/PROCESS (Convention) : How effectively was the document produced?

• quality of planning, collaboration, research & invention, drafting, editing, proofreading?

Participation Grade

Your participation grade will be 10% of your overall grade (150 points). All students will start with approximately 86% of the possible participation points (130 points); this point total will be adjusted positively and negatively based upon homework, class work and attendance using the plus, check, minus system described below.

The writing opportunities, activities, and rough drafts– done as class work or homework–will be marked and commented upon; these marks (plus, check, minus) will entail a large percentage of your participation grade. You will be expected to intelligently engage in this work, rather than just fulfill the assignment; evidence of this intellectual engagement will be rewarded.

Also, you will not receive credit for late or missing miscellaneous assignments or exercises that are no longer relevant. Some assignments are specific to a certain assignment, activity or time; therefore doing the work late does not benefit you. In such a case, the work will not be accepted late. Late work will only be accepted if you consult with the instructor prior to the class period in which the work is due.

Each small assignment and group work will be graded with a , +, –, or 0.

= You did the work satisfactorily, and on time. It will need some revisions or rethinking before the final assignment

+ = You demonstrated that you were engaged with the ideas and you turned it in on time. It will need very little revision before the final assignment

– = Your work demonstrates a misunderstanding of the assignment, minimal effort, shows that you did not do the assigned reading, or was not turned in on time. Significant revision will be needed before the final assignment

0= No submission

This style of grading allows the instructor to evaluate the process of your work–how each student's work develops throughout the project–instead of only grading each deliverable as a separate entity. The portfolio grades are final and there will be no revisions; therefore consider the questions that the instructors poses to you in your previous drafts. Also, take into consideration the significant point total assigned to each portfolio assignment.

Grade Scale

Each deliverable and your final grade will be graded on the following point scale* :

	A =93-100 %	A -= 90-92.9 %	B+ = 87-89.9 %
	B = 83-86.9 %	B- = 80-82.9 %	C+ = 77-79.9 %
	C = 73-76.9 %	C- = 70-72.9 %	D+ = 67-69.9 %
	D = 63-66.9 %	D -= 60-62.9 %
	F = 0-59.9 %

To score higher than 73% in the class, scores on your individual work has to exceed a 73% evaluation. Students who score below 73% on their individual work will receive a grade solely based on their individual submissions.

* = The instructor reserves the right to adjust this scale based on the students' performance throughout the semester. Any adjustments will 1) apply to the entire class and 2) never deny a student the grade that she/he earns based upon this posted scale.

attendance

University's policy requires that students attend every class. If you miss a class, for whatever reason, you are responsible for making up any missed work.

You are required to not only to attend every class, but you are required to come to class prepared. If you come to class without preparation, you will be asked to leave the class with an absence. Therefore, it is recommended that you pay attention to the calendar.

In a writing class, you do much of the work in the classroom. Additionally, group work makes up approximately 50% of the coursework, thus it is difficult to make up missed work. Therefore the attendance policies are:

• you are allowed four absences, excused or unexcused. More than four absences will result in failing the course
• being late to class will be marked as a tardy–equivalent to a check minus
• being excessively late (twenty minutes or more) will be counted as an absence
• on the first day that you return from an absence you are responsible for submitting any homework or class work that you missed due to absence. To learn what work you have missed consult the instructor or the calendar.

As a general rule, a student missing a class assignment because of observance of a religious holiday shall have the opportunity to make up missed work. Students must notify the instructor of anticipated absences by the last day of late registration, January 26, to be assured of this opportunity.

Students who represent UNLV at any official extracurricular activity shall have the opportunity to make up missed assignments, but the student must provide official written and/or email notification to the instructor no less than one week prior to the missed class(es).

Although group meetings outside of class will not be regulated like class attendance, show up for these meetings that you and your peers set up. Not only is this respectful, your grade will be affected based upon your peers' evaluation of your performance. Use the technologies, such as email and IM, to coordinate and facilitate group work.

electronica

Electronica refers to technologically-related issues.

Access to Technology

Professional writing in the 21st-century will be computer-based writing, and it is important that students learn to write using workplace writing technologies. For that reason, all sections of English 404 are taught in instructional computer classrooms. Likewise most of the work that you produce for this class will be submitted as a text that you composed on a computer. If you have problems accessing a computer on a regular basis, speak to the instructor during the first week of the course.

You will also need to establish a UNLV SCR account to do some of the in-class work. To establish this account

• go to Campus Computing Services page on SCR accounts; read about these accounts
• click on "Creating a SCR Account" link
• follow the given directions

Word.processing
You should use a recent version of MS Word to compose or to save the documents that you will send as an attachment. This will guarantee that your audience, the instructor, can view and read your submissions. You are responsible for making sure that the instructor can access your work.

When you save Word documents that will be submitted as assignments, you will want to name the assignment to clearly distinguish the person who sent the file and what work you are sending. To do this, please use the following guidelines for naming files.

[First Three Letters of Last Name][section #][Assignment Acronym].[File Type]

                                  ex. DEP02SUM.doc

• Remember this is the attached file name (the name that you save the document as), not just the subject line.
  
• The Assignment Acronym will be available on the calendar as the assignment is posted–look for bracketed acronyms.
  
• The extensions (e.g., ".doc" or ".ppt") is often needed to transfer files successfully, especially across platforms.
  
• Files that do not comply with these guidelines will be returned unevaluated.

You are expected to produce high-quality professional documents. A part of that quality is the appearance of your work. Neatness, visual appeal, and mechanical and grammatical correctness do matter–though they do not by themselves guarantee that a document is well written. If turning in a hard copy text, laser printing (typically, 600 dpi) is now the standard for business writing documents, and it is the requirement for English 404. Your documents should have appropriate margins, spacing, pagination, and formatting. Also electronic documents submitted to your instructor as an email attachment must also adhere to professional standards of neatness, visual clarity, readability, and correctness.

Protecting Your Work
Backup your files frequently; use disks or your UNLV SCR user account. Also keep your files on your home machine. And perhaps, too, keep your files on a floppy or zip disk. The excuse "that was my only copy" is not a valid one. Some tips for protecting your work–and yourself are:

• Save all English 404 work until the course is over
• Maintain copies of drafts and work-in-progress for group work
• Keep copies of your email messages related to the course as a record of your work. For all messages that you send to the instructor, you should either have the message sent to your "Sent" Folder in your email account or cc: yourself the message so that you have a copy for verification

E.mail Accounts
Having an e-mail account is required; a lot of information for this class will be exchanged through e-mail–including submissions of assignments and class updates. You will want to establish a consistent email account that you will use throughout the entire semester. To get an UNLV pioneer account...

• Go to: http://schd.nevada.edu and click on "UNLV.edu E-mail"
• Click on "SWAMI" to activate account and "Webmail" to begin using new account. You can also access your pioneer account from the "Directories" tab of the UNLV homepage (click on "Access Pioneer Webmail")

You may have your email forwarded to other alternative accounts (e.g., cox.net, hotmail, yahoo), but note that these accounts have been known to cause file transfer problems. You are responsible for making sure that files and messages are successfully received by the instructor and your peers. Also these alternative email accounts do not support the professional persona you are developing in this course.

E.mailing
When emailing the instructor or the the class list make sure that you include a subject line that includes the nature of the email. A subject line, such as "homework" is vague. Instead be specific and state whether it is a "homework submission," "homework clarification," or "homework problem."

Also use the priority setting rhetorically; in other words, make your email message stand out when you really need to draw the recipient's attention to your message. Do not use the priority setting on your standard assignment submissions.

Class List
A list has been set up to make announcements, exchange information, and discuss issues raised in the class. Also, post questions about homework and assignments to the list because in most cases, all students will have the same question.

Printing
Do not print while the instructor is lecturing or other students are presenting. You should also try to print hard copy submissions before you come to class. When you print, make sure you do a print preview to conserve paper. For web pages, reduce the print size to 75% or 80% (under File–>Page Setup). This saves paper and also enables you to fit web pages more easily on paper.

Keeping Up

• Check your e-mail daily to keep up with announcements.
• Check the calendar every Sunday evening (after 8pm) for new updates for the next two weeks.
• If you are going to miss class, inform the instructor ahead of the missed class to find out what will occur on that day.

Electronic Ethics and Respect
Electronic media allows us some freedoms that print media does not allow. Consequently, it is also subject to abuse. Please be respectful of your peers throughout the semester by not displaying, viewing, or posting web pages, files, or emails that may make others uncomfortable. Violations of this respect can be considered harassment according to university policy and will be handled as such.

ethics,plagiarism&sample.documents

You must do your own original work in English 404–and appropriately identify that portion of your work which is collaborative with others, or which is borrowed from others, or which is your own work from other contexts. Whenever you borrow graphics, quote passages, or use ideas from others, you are legally and/or ethically obliged to acknowledge that use, following appropriate conventions for documenting sources. In English 404, the most serious form of academic dishonesty is to recycle another individual's major project under your own name.

You may revise work that you have done or are doing in other courses, or at work, as long as it meets the following conditions:

• it is your own work,
• you plan an extensive revision for English 404, and
• you have informed, and have the approval of, your instructor

You can visit UNLV's copyright web page to familiarize yourself with the University's policy. Violations of copyright laws could subject you to federal and state civil penalties and criminal liability as well as disciplinary action under University policy.

Among your electronic and print course materials will be numerous samples of the kinds of documents you will be writing in English 404, including samples from other professional writing students. These are not boilerplates that you should use to fill in your own information. Instead these models will be discussed in terms of their effective and ineffective writing techniques. Use these techniques or principles that we discuss to inform how you draft your documents. Do not forget other documents are written for other contexts; therefore, they are never directly transferable.

documented.disability

Learning Enhancement Services (LES) houses Disability Services, Tutoring Services, and Learning Strategies. If you have a documented disability that may require assistance, you will need to contact LES for coordination in your academic accommodations. LES is located in the Reynolds Student Services Complex, Room 317. The DRC phone number is 895-0866 or TDD 702-895-0652.

last.updated 01.17.04