Bus 209 Producing Deliverables - Technical Writing 3 Credits
Instructor: James Braden Office: 206-524-8464 bradenconsulting@comcast.net
Course Description
This course will teach students how to create written deliverables. The course will include writing a Request for Proposal, tools for evaluating RFP responses, writing the Evaluation Report, creating different types of documentation and day-to-day written communication between teams, management and other project sponsors.
Course Objectives
Upon completion of this course,
students should be able to:
- Determine when and how to use
different technical resources.
- Produce technical communication.
- Present project deliverables to management and sponsors.
- Demonstrate written and oral communication skills by developing and preparing
reports, forms, and evaluation tools.
- Demonstrate critical thinking through development of alternative strategies to
successfully solve project problems
- Demonstrate the ability to work and communicate effectively by participating
in team projects.
North Seattle CC learning outcomes that relate to class assignments.
Outcome #1 Think
critically in reading and writing
Outcome #4 Access, evaluate, and apply information from a variety of
sources and a variety of contexts.
Outcome #6 Work and communicate effectively in groups.
Academic Integrity
Education, and distance learning in particular, assumes a
high level of trust between the instructor and students. I expect honesty from
all my students. Cheating and plagiarism will not be tolerated and could mean a
failing grade. All students are expected to do their own work, except where
group activities specifically require collaborative efforts.
If any situation interferes with your efforts to carry out
the requirements of this course, please let the instructor know as soon as you
are aware of these circumstances. You are expected to communicate with other
class members and the instructor in a professional and respectful manner. I
trust that all work submitted will be the product of your own efforts and if you
are referencing outside sources, you will cite all appropriate sources in your
work.
All written assignments will be graded for use of college
level English so be certain to run spelling, grammar and style checks on all
papers. For those students needing assistance with writing please contact The
Loft, upstairs in the campus library.
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Textbook
Reporting
Technical Information
11th Ed Kenneth W. Houp, Thomas E.
Pearsall, Elizabeth Tebeaux
ISBN-13: 9780195178791
Attention! A completed bio with your photo is necessary before financial aid is notified.
Week 1 April 5-9
Chapter 1 An overview of Technical Writing
Chapter 2 Composing
* If you are comfortable with Instant Messaging you may want to include that information in your biography.
* Review the biographies/photos of the other students on the class roster and contact the persons you would like to work with to say hello. It's expected that you will use the first weeks of the quarter establishing good working relationships with at least one or two other students during this time of no assignments. There will be little time for this bonding later on when the assignments are due.
* You may use Angel Chat, or any other Instant Messaging system for your group work, send regular email, or simply pick up the telephone to speak with your fellow students. To video CAM in groups, you may want to explore this software http://oovoo.com
* PRINT A HARD COPY of this syllabus for later reference, just
in case the servers are down when you have a question about assignments. It's
also helpful to save the class website to your favorites list by copying
this link http://facweb.northseattle.edu/bradenco/bus209jb
and pasting it into your browser so you can go directly to the website outside
of Angel.
It's helpful to save a copy of the class website and the
publisher website at http://www.oup.com/us/companion.websites/0195178793/?view=usa
to your favorites so you won't have to type in the URL's every time you log on.
Week 2 April 12-16
Chapter 3 Writing for your readers
Chapter 4 Achieving a Readable Style
Paper Answer question #1 on page 51. (scroll to
paper section below for directions)
Examples of good papers
- Email to instructor by Noon on April 19
Week 3 April 19-23
Chapter 5 Writing Ethically
Chapter 6 Writing for International Readers
Team Compose a memo to the instructor that summarizes your discussion about the questions listed at the end of the ethical dilemma in exercise #6 on pages 100-101. (Scroll down to the teams section for directions on how to organize your teams)
Contact one other (or more) students for team effort.
Email to instructor by Noon on April 26
Week 4 April 26 - 30
Chapter 7 Gathering, Evaluating, and Documenting Information
Chapter 8 Designing and Formatting Documents
PAPER Complete exercise #1 on page 153. Read the text section on interviews, pages 139-140, for further information related to this assignment. You will be composing questions for your technical specialist.
Email to instructor by Noon on May 3
Examples of good papers
Week 5 May 3-7
Chapter 9 Creating and Managing Text
Chapter 10 Developing the Main Elements of Reports
TEAM Exercise #7 on p. 201 Website Evaluation. Each student may choose to evaluate the website of a professional association related to their field of study and share their thoughts about it with team mates. Or, if all members of a team have an interest in the same field, they may share their thoughts about the same website. Discuss the questions listed within question #7. I need to receive the same paper containing those shared thoughts and scores from each team member. This shows you all worked together. You can always attach your own papers if you want to let me know what you wrote by yourself.
Answer all questions and contact one other (or more) students for team effort.
Email to instructor by Noon on May 10
Week 6 May 10-14
Chapter 11 Creating Tables and Figures
Chapter 12 Planning Correspondence and E-mail
TEAM Read the text section entitled, Considering Culture in the Planning Process, on pages 113-114 from Chapter 6. Select any one characteristic from the non-western side and it's opposite from the western side of Table 6-2 on pages 115-116. Discuss how this characteristic relates to any one of the questions listed on page 114. ( For example only: if you chose the question: Have you met the reader in person? You would discuss how this question relates to the characteristic of a Non-Westerner who prefers face to face communication vs. the Westerner who usually prefers written communication as documentation. How would this difference affect planning your document for clear communication to a non-westerner? How would you have to change your writing style and what you wrote about to make sense to that non-western reader?)
- Contact one other (or more) students for team effort.
Email to instructor by Noon on May17
Week 7 May 17-21
Chapter 13 Creating Reports for Any Occasion
Chapter 14 Developing Analytical Reports...
Week 8 May 24-28
Chapter 15 Developing Empirical Research Reports
Chapter 16 Writing Proposals and Progress Reports
PAPER Answer the questions from exercise #1 on page 471, as they relate to the attached RFP document from the Dept of Health and Human Services. Give a detailed explanation of your thinking
Email to instructor by Noon on May 31
Week 9 May 31- June 4
Chapter 17 Formulating Instructions, Procedures, and Policies
Chapter 18 Writing Collaboratively
TEAM Exercise #1 on page 509 on assessing the validity of material about an illness or medication.
Contact one other (or more) students for team effort.
Email to instructor by Noon on June 7
Week 10 June 7-11
Chapter 19 Preparing Oral Reports: The Basics
Chapter 20 Understanding the Strategies/Communications of the Job Search
Week 11 June 14-18
PAPER Self Assessment Paper
(see details below) Due by 10pm June 17
Examples of good papers
FINAL EXAM: A Closed Book, 50 question, True/False-Multiple Choice Exam. Log on to Angel any time from Friday evening to the evening of the last day for finals.
TESTS (20 Self Tests, 5 points per Test
for a total of 100 points)
Due by Noon on first Monday, following the week they were
posted (like your other assignments). The scores come to me as a percentage
of 100%. I will add all 20 percentages, divide by 20 and multiply that average
percentage times 100 points to determine the final points. Any low scores you
happen to get on some tests will be averaged out by the higher ones.
Click on student resources on the left side of http://www.oup.com/us/companion.websites/0195178793/?view=usa . Then click on Chapter Learning Aids. Open each chapter, then locate the chapter Self Test. Complete the form located at the top of each self test. You only need to enter your email address and mine bradenconsulting@comcast.net When you have completed the quiz, click on the evaluate quiz button and it will be sent to me.
You may submit only one test per chapter to me! If you exit the test before sending it to me, then go back to take it later, the test will be different. However, you may spend as much time on each test as you like and can use your textbook to help you answer the questions correctly.
PAPERS ( 3 papers, 15 points each) For each assignment write a paper equivalent in length to a regular 1-3 page, double spaced, typed paper that you would hand in during a campus class. Be sure to provide specific examples of your thinking so that I can understand what you are trying to communicate. You are always welcome to write more than 3 pages.
TEAMS (80 points total---20 points per case) 1 or 2 Single spaced pages per exercise.
Scores are not routinely sent out, only upon request by student. Spelling and Grammar will not be checked on this activity, since you are grading yourself.
Select 1 or more classmates to work with as a team (3 is ideal), via
discussion chat / email / phone contact. If for any reason a student chooses to
turn in answers without team interaction, then the automatic score is 10 out of
the possible 20 points per activity. A person may be a member of only one team
per exercise, with no overlapping teams. All members must claim each other as a
part of the same team. You do not have to stay with the same team all quarter.
Students should individually answer all questions accompanying each of the
four textbook exercises listed on the syllabus, then SHARE their answers with other
team members to see if there are points of agreement or disagreement. If
you choose to work together at the same time, you might find using an electronic
whiteboard useful in compiling your responses on one paper. http://writeboard.com
Any COMMONLY AGREED UPON answers are compiled into a SINGLE PAPER. All members
of the same team submit an IDENTICAL copy of this paper to me by email. This will
verify all have actually worked together. (However, if any student has opinions
which differ from those of their fellow team members they may include them as an
addition on their own paper to me.) All papers will be emailed to me by the due
dates stated in the syllabus.
These papers should show EVIDENCE of group sharing and an exchange of
information. Each student is expected to make an honest contribution to the
effort of arriving at mutually agreeable answers to each of the questions. Do
not be overly concerned if you can't agree with each other. Students will be
expected to read the material and put in sufficient "thought time" to
make meaningful Critical Thinking contributions to their team discussions.
The idea behind this exercise is that you have a continuing exchange of
information, about business topics, with your team mates throughout the quarter
which would be similar to exchanges in an on campus class. Please do not wait
until the last minute to make contacts.
Each student paper should contain a self rating of their own efforts AND a
rating of fellow team members. Each student assigns themselves and the others a
score from 0 to 20 points. Students should list those points after their own
name and the names of fellow group members at the top of their page of commonly
agreed upon answers. Points roughly correspond to 20= A 16= B 12= C 8= D 0= No
preparation.
The average of a students self rating and those of his fellow group members will
be a students grade for the activity. (For example: John Smith submits a Rating
of 19 for himself. His 2 fellow group members rate him a 15 and 11. The total is
45 points, which is divided by three so his average is 15. This is John's score
for the activity.)
SELF ASSESSMENT PAPER (75 points) Equivalent
to 2-5 single spaced paper pages. Be sure to use
College Level grammar, sentence structure, and spelling. (Running it through a
spelling and grammar checker wouldn't hurt !) Your papers will be evaluated for
these qualities. Go to pages 542-545 in Chapter 20. You may use the questionnaire
to help you organize your thoughts, but focus your paper on answering the
questions listed below. Be detailed and provide examples of your
thinking or experiences so that I can easily visualize when and where you
learned these things
or performed these tasks.
This paper is about evaluating yourself in relation to
a job interview. For
example, when answering question #6, "Have I accepted responsibility?
Discuss times when you have and how that worked out for you. Were you
successful? Did you enjoy it? Did you get asked to do it again? Or did you find
it too stressful? Unpleasant? Ideally this is related to past work
experiences, but if you have accepted responsibility in non work situations,
like sports, social, church or military groups and those situations relate to
these questions then write about them.
If you have not sought out responsibility or it has not been
offered to you in past jobs or life situations, but still claim to want to be a
manager (or project manager), then I'd say that might not be a good fit.
1. What are my strengths?
2. What are my weaknesses?
3. How well have I performed in past jobs?
4. Have I shown an initiative?
5. Have I improved procedures?
6. Have I accepted responsibility?
7. Have I demonstrated leadership?
8. Have I been promoted or been given a merit raise?
|9. How can I present myself most attractively?
10. What skills do I possess that relate directly to what the employer seems to
need?
11. How and where have I obtained those skills?
Final
exam
100
288-300 4.0
4 Teams
80
273-287 3.5-3.9
Self Assessment Paper
75
243-272 2.5-3.4
General Audience Paper
15
213-242 1.5-2.4
Questions for specialist Paper
15
189-212 0.7-1.4
RPF critique Paper
15
300
Please note
*Tips for writing good papers. Give yourself plenty of time! Write your paper, then let it sit overnight. You will be amazed at the errors you catch the next day. Read it aloud to yourself, your ears will catch mistakes that your eyes do not. Or read it aloud to a friend, or better yet, an enemy! If they say, HUH?, what do you mean by that, they have done you a favor. Your paper should be self explanatory to anyone reading it or listening to you read it. By doing any one of these things, or all of them, you will produce your best work.
*All written assignments need to use college level English so be certain to run spelling, grammar and style checks on all papers. For those needing assistance with their grammar, please contact The Loft, upstairs in the campus library
* All assignments are due on dates specified in the syllabus. Late assignments may be penalized, unless student has contacted instructor for an extension.
* Any grading system is subject to human error, so please contact me if there are questions.
* Final grades are assigned according to published grading standards for the course
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