Teaching technical writing to engineering majors Proposed textbooks : - - PDF document

Teaching technical writing to engineering majors Proposed textbooks: Writing in the sciences: Exploring conventions of scientific discourse, 3rd Edition – Penrose and Katz (2010)  Uses a multi-disciplinary approach  Examines rhetoric from a scientific focus in technical writing  Compares the scientific conventions of writing with other disciplines Technical Communication, 10th Edition – Markel (2012)  The tone and writing in the text is accessible to students  Addresses technology trends emerging in various professional settings  Provides interesting scenarios Some of the proposed goals for teaching technical writing to a class of engineering students would include teaching them:  Rhetorical and technical strategies, such as:

• Audience – are they knowledgeable of the content, concepts and terminology,
• nline
• Language – focusing on being concise clear, establishing tone, defining

terminology

• Format and design – structuring the paragraphs, charts and graphs, choosing a

font

• Presentation – keeping the readers and to listeners in mind when writing,

structuring and arranging the content in a presentation format  Strategies when using technology to write and present, such as:

• Usability – user-friendly, easy to access and share
• Functionality – navigation
• Compatibility – integrating other programs, transferring information from one

digital space to another Proposed Assignment sequence:  Assignment 1 (individual assignment): Creating an electronic portfolio (e-portfolio), using wiki – I have the students create an electronic portfolio at the beginning of the semester because we will be using it to store and display their assignments

• To store and display writing assignments
• To collaborate on certain assignments
• Unit addressing – web-based technologies to build and use an e-portfolio

 Assignment 2 (individual assignment): Creating a web-based resume

• To write a resume for an online audience
• To explore how social networking sites affect how we create and maintain a web

presence

• Units addressing – audience, resume writing

 Assignment 3 (individual or group of 2-3 assignment): Problem solving scenarios – (two parts to this assignment: writing and presentation of the writing)

• To solve a sequence of three progressive scenarios within a professional setting
• To create the supportive documents that communicate the solutions to the

scenarios, i.e. memos, policies, email correspondence, hiring and firing procedures, letters of intent

• Units – problem-soling, decision-making, collaborative writing, language

 Assignment 4 (individual or group of 2-3 assignment): Writing a proposal to option 1: Conduct research, option 2: Conduct an experiment, option 3: build or design something – (two parts to this assignment: writing and presentation of the writing)

• To write a professional proposal
• To explore and understand various writing formats and conventions for proposal

writing

• Units addressing – argumentative and persuasive writing, proposal

formats, design, writing conventions such as APA, IEEE  Assignment 5 (individual or group of 2-3 assignment): Option 1: Writing a report, option 2: Writing a white paper, option 3: Writing an instruction manual – (two parts to this assignment: writing and presentation of the writing)

• To write a report, white paper or instruction manual over students’ chosen topics
• To explore purposes, uses, formats and conventions for report writing
• To explore purposes, uses, formats and conventions for writing a white paper
• To explore purposes, uses, formats and conventions for writing an instruction

manual

• Units addressing – (refresh students over) argumentative and persuasive

writing, report writing, white paper, conducting research, instruction manual, using graphs and charts

• Important note: white papers are different from proposals and pre-

proposals in that they could have a variety of audiences, no specific research plan, might focus on a research question, might be used to start a conversation, usually does not present detailed methodology, usually presents the content from an intellectual or disciplinary perspective Proposed course structure:  Instruction – instructor-led over concepts, writing conventions and formats, assignments  Collaboration – peer-to-peer, in-class workshop days over assignments  Presentation – instructor introducing concepts, terminology and assignments; students presenting their final assignments to their peers Teaching demonstration 1: Activity: Teaching students how incorporate graphs and charts in their writing, i.e. in a written report  Assign a technical report for students to read 2-3 days prior to discussing it in class, the report will have graphs and charts displaying data in various ways  Start the class meeting by displaying 2-3 different pages with charts and graphs  Put students in groups in 2-3, let them discuss these questions and come up with their responses in a short presentation. Guiding questions for students to answer:

• Which samples seemed to portray the data in an understandable manner?

• What rhetorical and technical aspects did you notice about the charts and graphs

in all of the samples, i.e. placement within the report, use of color, grayscale, design, numbers, variables?

• Explain which of the samples work the best and why.

 Students share their presentations with the class either at the end of the class or at the beginning of the next class  Wrap-up the discussion with final thoughts on how to incorporate graphs and charts in a report Teaching demonstration 2: Activity: Teaching students how to locate and analyze an argument  Put students in groups of 2-3  Choose 2-3 different articles that making arguments, the articles could be themed  Divide the articles between the groups and give them until next class to read them and fill

• ut a matrix, the matrix resembles a table with categories such as: 1) What is the purpose
• f the writing?, 2) What is the argument?, 3) What major claims is the author making?, 4)

What research is the author using to back his or her argument?, 5) What more does this author add to the argument? – students fill in the table with their responses  Have students create a short presentation over their matrixes and present them to the class  Discussion over presentations and wrap-up Back up notes: Getting and keeping students invested and interested in the lab report - such as in choosing their topic, expanding on it, making connections, keeping their ideas focused, help them sift through the information, organize the information that is relevant to their report One possible approach to teach a class such as this would be to divide the report project into parts, such as:  Abstract  Introduction  Methods  Results  Discussion A semester long project, broken up into smaller chunks, perhaps chapters from the text could be divided between groups of 2-3 and they can create a presentation breaking down the content for the class Mini-portfolios - where students keep their documents and explore their writing process Things to consider: students access to technology, what kinds of technology will students be expected to use, structure of the course - instructor-led presentation, workshops and checkpoint

days and student-led presentations Choosing their topic, key focus, maybe have a list of acceptable and overused topics students can choose from, displaying of their semester-long research in a poster and conference presentation event