Phil Druker/ Department of English/ UI

 

Technical Writing, English 317
Phil Druker

Fall 2007

Section 06 11-12:15 TLC 30
Section 04 2 - 3:15 TLC 241

Office Hours

General Information about the course:


Syllabus

        Word for the day (Google)
Course guidelines
--find specific information about course requirements, grades, assignments, and goals.
   
How Grades are converted to numbers.
The project--find information about the project each student completes during the semester.
Analyzing the writing situation--find information on what to consider before you
 start to write. (This is a summary of the course introduction.)

Course criteria--
find criteria for good technical writing and writing for the course.
What is the difference between an essay and a technical report?
Technical writing basic principles
General goals for technical writing 

 

Library assignment

Writing Instructions:

        Some general instructions for writing instructions
      

Writing Letters and Resumes:

 Cover letter, Résumé, Thank-you letter assignment     
Cover letters/letters of application--find information about writing cover letters for your résumé
Résumés--find information on how to set up a résumé.
>>>
Experienced-Based Résumé (Chronological Résumé )
>>>
Skills Base Résumé  (Functional Résumé)
Thank-you Letter Sample
Letter format--find general information about writing business letters.

**Introductory letter assignment** <for first week

Writing Proposals:

Pre-Proposal (assignment)
Sample RFP for UI student projects
Proposals--find a general outline for writing proposals.
Proposal argumentation/logic
Background section--find some ideas for composing a background section for the  proposal or final report.
Definitions--find basic information about defining terms
Problem solving--find information defining a problem and creating objectives for proposals.
Problem section
Objective section
Methods section
Proposal conclusions
Proposal budget section --find information about setting up a basic budget
Proposal Time Schedule-find information about using a bar graph for the time schedule
Proposal Summary
Proposal titles
Proposal Scope
Proposal Credentials
 Proposal Criteria
Reasons proposals fail
Proposal introductory memo
See the course pamphlet to see samples
 

Progress Reports:

Progress report 1 outline for progress report on secondary research completed.
Progress report  1 sample--f
ind a sample illustrating how to summarize secondary research you have completed.
Progress report 2 outline
--find information on how to set up progress reports.

Section of Final Report:

Section of final report assignment
Introductory memo for the section (assignment)

Writing Final Reports:

Reports--find general outlines for writing technical reports.
Organize carefully
Analysis--find information on how to analyze in a report.
Definitions--find basic information about defining terms
Description exercise--for the "section of the final report" assignment
Graphic aids--find information on using graphics.
Report Goals--find general information on goals for writing reports.
Final Report Assignment -- find information about putting the final report together.  Specific parts of the final report with samples are listed below.

    Front Matter:

Letter of Transmittal
Abstract
Executive Summary
Front Matter Comparison
Table of Contents

   Conclusions and Recommendations -- find information about writing conclusions and recommendations (plus samples)


Oral Reports

What to turn in with the final report

Citing Sources:

Citing Sources in text--find information on how to cite sources in text using the APA format
Reference section
--find information on how to format the reference section using APA format.
Cite quotations correctly: use quotation marks

Sentence Style:

Punctuation Style/Readability Correct Grammar
Capital Letters Be verbs Comparisons
Colons :  Passive Sentences  Parallelism
Commas , Nominalizations Subject-verb agreement
Semicolons ;  Wordiness Pronoun agreement
Apostrophe Avoiding "Be"  
  combine sentences  
   Proofreading Hints  

            Style check assignment for proposal

            Style check II for section of the final report
               

Formatting details:

equations using "respectively" to give data
tables and figures
headings
numbers

 

(This page was last revised August, 2007)