English 311: Technical Writing
Ferris State University
Fall 2006
Instructor: Hugh Culik

Catalog Description:
ENGL 311 Advanced Composition
Credit Hours: 3
Pre-requisites: ENGL 250 or ENGL 211

Catalog Description: An advanced course designed to train the student as a technical communicator. The student is taught to present technical concepts, facts, data analysis and evaluation to both a scientific or technical audience. Included are skills in editing, organization, and development of technical articles for publication, abstracting, proposals, memorandum reports, project/progress reports, technical descriptions, professional and technical letters, and the protocols of formal research reporting.

Greetings,
In one of my other lives, I do a variety of technical writing projects. These range from accreditation reports for psychiatric clinics to funding proposals for regional arts organizations. I’ve been doing this kind of work for about twenty years, so I’m acutely aware that clients have highly specific needs that have to be expressed in highly specific formats. Thus, it seems that technical writing should be fairly straightforward: know what your audience needs and know the format it wants. Alas, life isn’t so simple.

The real trick to technical writing is being politely skeptical about what people think is the key task. Often, they need a bit of help asking more complicated questions, and that’s the interesting part that brings your judgment and intelligence into play. In short, technical writing combines critical thinking with a solid nuts-and-bolts performance. Thus, our course will approach the complex world of technical writing through three emphases: critical thinking, audience, and genre.

Hugh Culik



In this course, critical thinking will include:
  • Accurately reading and understanding the claims of a document.
  • Describing how it make its case.
  • Recognizing the alternative solutions and explanations that are ignored, avoided, or excluded.
  • Recognizing that knowledge arises from the practices of what we'll be calling a "discourse community."
  • Recognizing that both the power and the limitation of knowledge lies in the complexity of the way knowledge emerges.
For a much more detailed sense of what I mean by the term, "critical thinking," visit Teaching Philosophy.



General Requirements
The organization of online classes tends to be heavily structured, and it's important that you set aside some time to go through this web site in detail.

All the assignments are here, and all make use of the magnificent FLITE Library. All of your "texts" will be online articles, web pages, databases, etc. This makes it crucial for you to immediately sign up for access. Here's how to do it:
  • Submitting Papers: papers should be submitted as follows; no exceptions.
    • Send papers to hugh@culik.com as attachments.
      1. File name should be formatted as follows: "lastname-firstname-assgt#-311-section"; for example, Nora Smith's third paper for English 311eia would be       smith-nora-assgt3-311eia
      2. Subject line should be formatted as follows: "lastname-firstname-assgt#-311eia"; for example,
        Nora Smith's third paper for English 311eia would be       smith-nora-assgt3-311eia

  • Online courtesy: your papers can require careful discussion of complex issues. Rudeness, attempts to silence others, and denigrating language not only damage the class and other students, but also they undercut the ethical and intellectual basis of genuine education. Lively disagreement, difficult differences, and philosophical disagreement are enriching experiences if we listen attentively to others.

  • Portfolio: you must keep copies of any work submitted to me or to other students.

  • Plagiarism: plagiarism is relatively easy to detect, and it can end your school career. Don’t do it. For a clear definition of plagiarism, see PLAGIARISM for a thorough explanation of the routes – innocent and not-so-innocent – that can lead to failure and even to expulsion.

  • Attendance: You must attend class. Your grade may be reduced for absence; for example, if you have missed 12% of our class meetings, your final percentage may be reduced by 12%.

  • Late papers: the structure of this course makes any late paper unacceptable. If a catastrophe befalls you or your family, let me know so that we can solve the deadline problem. Without notification, I can only assume you've chosen to skip the assignment.

  • Completing all assignments: you must complete all assignments in order to pass the class.

  • My home phone is 517.333.7177. When you need help, please please please please call. I talk to many students during the term, and it’s always easier to steer a paper back on track early in the process rather than when it’s nearly complete. If you call, and I say, “hey, I need you to call me back later,” it means “hey, I need you to call me back later.” It does not mean, “Oh, you vile, evil, presumptuous creature; how dare you phone me.”

    BUT I don't return calls because it becomes a pointless game of phone tag with 75 students. If there's no answer, you'll have to call back. AND please, no calls after 9:00 p.m.

  • Note that this is a tentative syllabus that may be changed. Students must regularly check the site for updates. Remember to refresh the browser every time so that you view the most recent changes to the information posted.

  • Please review
    SYLLABUS ATTACHMENT
    COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES
    FERRIS STATE UNIVERSITY

    for institutional information regarding services, schedules, etc.






English 311


Assignments
  1. Editing for Clarity

  2. Technical Information: multiple aims

  3. Contexts for Financial Information

  4. Ethics, Ethos, and Unmasking

  5. Genre Analysis

  6. Comparative Genre Analysis

Research Tools
  1. FLITE Databases

  2. Google.com

  3. Dogpile.com

  4. scholar.google.com

  5. Required Readings and Valuable Resources

Writing Resources
  1. Tools, links, etc.

Expectations
  1. Grading Criteria

Online Help
  1. Instructor Email hugh@culik.com

  2. Peer Assistance [list serve]