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Wright State University

EGR 3350 Summer Semester 2016 Syllabus

EGR 3350 Summer Semester 2016 Syllabus


Technical Communications for Engineers and Computer Scientists
Course Instructor
Mr. Bill Bicknell, Adjunct Faculty, Department of English, Department of CS/EGR
Email: william.bicknell@wright.edu
Office Phone: 937-775-3437
Office Info
444 Millett Hall, 2 pm 4 pm Mondays (or by appointment)
Classroom
150 Russ
Overview
Welcome to EGR 3350, a specialized technical communication skills course that will let you
apply principles and techniques of writing and presenting technical material to subject matter
from your major field of study. You will be writing and briefing approved engineering and
computer science topics of your choice. EGR3350 is built around several papers and verbal
briefings designed to help you develop fundamental component skills of technical writing and
communication, and a research proposal that will give you an opportunity to pull these
component skills together and apply them within your field.
Course Texts
REQUIRED: Finkelstein, Leo, Jr., Pocket Book of Technical Writing for Engineers and
Scientists, 3rd Ed. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2008. NOTE: No other editions are acceptable.
RECOMMENDED: Finkelstein, Leo, Jr., Pocket Book of English Grammar for Engineers and
Scientists, 1st. Ed. Chicago: Waveland Press, 2006.
Class Attendance
Attendance is required. Students who miss 1 or fewer class meetings will receive 2% extra credit
at the end of the term. Students who miss 2 or more classes are eligible to fail the course.
Tardiness will count as an absence after the 2nd occurrence.
Pilot Participation
This section of EGR 3350 is a blended in-person/online course; as such, participation in all
course activities on Pilot is required to receive participation credit. Pilot requirements will
include discussion activities, readings, group work, peer reviews, videos, and mandatory writing.
In-person attendance or Pilot participation alone will not be enough to pass this class; both are
expected and required.

Wright State University


EGR 3350 Summer Semester 2016 Syllabus

Grades
Grades are assigned according to the Wright State Scholastic Policies: Academic achievement is
indicated by the following letter grades and points used in calculating GPAs:
A Excellent4 points per credit hour
B Good3 points per credit hour
C Satisfactory2 points per credit hour
D Poor1 point per credit hour
F Failed0 points per credit hour
X Student did not complete course or officially withdraw0 points per credit hour
Your grade in this course will be derived as follows:
Course Policies Quiz (Mandatory; Ungraded, but no coursework will be accepted for a
grade if the Course Policies Quiz isnt completed on time with a score of 100%)
In-Class Activities [5%] (Includes completion of Pilot activities)
Quizzes [5%] (All quizzes will be posted to Pilot)
Understanding Academic Integrity [2%]
Mechanism Description* **(end-user/consumer audience) [5%]
Process Description* ** (technician audience) [5%]
Briefing 1: Process Description (7th-grade audience) [5%]
Feasibility/Recommendation Report* ** (business audience) [12%]
Briefing 2: Elevator Speech (about final proposal; peer audience) [5%]
Memo (very structured and will describe the planned proposal; will incorporate feedback
from elevator speech; supervisor/faculty audience) [6%]
Proposal (decision-maker audience; uncertain technical expertise) [20%]
Briefing 3: Virtual Presentation (PowerPoint with voiceover uploaded to Pilot; virtual
international conference audience) [15%]
Portfolio [15%]
Attendance Bonus [2% Extra Credit]
*Must complete Pilot topic prompts to receive full credit (automatic 30% grade reduction on that
assignment for failing to complete the prompt on time).
** Must submit Peer Review to Pilot. Students who submit significantly erroneous Peer Reviews
will receive a grade deduction of up to 30% on their own assignment.

Wright State University


EGR 3350 Summer Semester 2016 Syllabus

Course Materials and Help with Writing Fundamentals


Course handouts, the syllabus, and the schedule are available on Pilot. For help in the
fundamentals of writing, you are also encouraged to visit the University Writing Center in 122
Student Success Center.
Academic Deficiency and Dishonesty
EGR 3350 is a writing course, and you must do your own writing. If you extensively use
materials that are not yours, even if you properly document their use, you may still fail the
assignment for academic deficiency. If you commit academic dishonesty by plagiarizing
materials that are not yours, you will automatically fail the course, be referred to the Office of
Community Standards and Student Conduct, and you could receive the full penalty provided for
by university and college academic dishonesty policies. If you turn in work that youve
submitted in another class or from a previous EGR 3350 class, the paper will receive a failing
grade, and you will be referred to the Office of Community Standards and Student Conduct. Be
prepared to submit drafts and/or working notes and outlines of your assignments. I have a Zero
Tolerance Policy for violations of academic integrity. See Chapter 2 for a discussion of ethics in
technical writing and pay particular attention to the section on plagiarism. If in doubt, always ask
your instructor.

Wright State University


EGR 3350 Summer Semester 2016 Syllabus

Course Policies
1. Most papers are due in the Pilot Drop Box by 11:59 PM on turn-in dates. Hard copies or
emailed papers will not be accepted. Late papers will not be acceptedno exceptions.
Papers received without all of the required parts, as described in this syllabus, course
lectures, and course handouts, are subject to a failing grade.
2. All papers must comply with the Writing Assignment Requirements specified in the syllabus.
Formatting and page-length errors will receive mandatory grade reductions. Multiple
penalties may be assessed for papers with multiple types of formatting errors.
3. All papers must be uploaded to Pilot as a MS Word documenteither in RTF, DOC, or
DOCX format. No other file type will be accepted for a grade, including Open Office, PDF,
or Pages. Briefings 1 and 3 must be uploaded to Pilot as a MS PowerPoint file (PPT or
PPTX); no other file type will be accepted for a grade. There are multiple computer labs on
campus with the required MS Office software, and Office365 is available to all students.
4. Students must have complete drafts for scheduled Peer Reviews. Students with unexcused
absences or who have missing or incomplete drafts will lose 30% of the final grade for that
assignment.
5. Papers that do not conform to the requirements of the assignment will receive a zero.
6. All grades are final. No re-writes will be accepted. If you fail the Memo assignment, you
will need to resubmit a passing Memo in order to write the research proposal, but the original
grade will not be changed. Grade changes will only be considered if there is a grading error.
7. As this is a 3000-level writing course, I do not give special consideration for any
circumstances when assigning grades, including lack of English language proficiency.
Grammar, word usage, and style are just as important here as they would be in any other
writing course. If you feel that you qualify for special accommodations, please meet with the
Office of Disability Services for the appropriate support services.
8. Attendance is required, and the attendance policy will be enforced. If you are not present
(you must be in the room, not just your book bag or other possessions) when your name is
called during attendance at the beginning of the class, you will be counted as absent. You
cannot attend another section of EGR 3350 to make up for an absence.
9. You cannot take EGR 3350 concurrently with another class that is at the same time or
overlaps any portion of time that EGR 3350 meets. You must drop one of the classes.
Furthermore, the need to study for exams for other classes is not an excuse to miss a class
meeting for EGR 3350 or to turn in late work.
10. You must complete and earn 100% on the Course Policies Quiz in Pilot by 11:59 PM on
Friday, May 13, 2016. I will not accept an assignment for a grade if the quiz is not
successfully completed on time, which will result in automatic failure of the course.
11. If you ask for special consideration, to be counted present when you were late, for an
extension on an assignment, or for a grade change, and my answer is NO, please do not
continue to ask me to change my mind. Our successful relationship depends on mutual
respect, and it is very disrespectful to repeatedly ask me for special consideration when I've
already determined the circumstances do not warrant special treatment. I strive to be fair to
all students by clearly explaining my course policies and then uniformly applying them.
12. All students must complete the writing sample in class or in the presence of the instructor.

Wright State University


EGR 3350 Summer Semester 2016 Syllabus

Writing Assignment Requirements


Formatting and compliance to document guidelines is a critical aspect of technical writing.
Failure to comply with any formatting, page length, or other requirement results in automatic
rejection of documents in the business or real world. Therefore, all compliance violations will
be penalized from the very first graded assignment. NOTE: Specific format rules for writing
assignments will be provided in an individual tasking sheet for each assignment; however, the
following general requirements apply to all papers.

All papers must have a cover page that includes your name, your major, paper
title/assignment name, EGR 3350 and section number, and the date. The cover page does
not need to conform to the formatting guidelines imposed on other pages of the
assignment. You can include images on your cover page, but those images do not count
as content or the required image for the document. You should begin your assignment on
the next pagedo not begin your assignment on the cover page.

All papers must include page numbers.

All text must be double-spaced (50% grade reduction for single-spaced papers).

You must use 12-point Times New Roman font (30% grade reduction for use of other
fonts or typeface size).

You must use 1" margins all around (30% grade reduction for use of any other margin
size).

All papers must be uploaded as a Microsoft Word file to Pilot. No other file types will be
accepted; papers turned into Pilot in an unacceptable file type will receive a failing grade.

WSU CORE Element 1


EGR 3350 has been designated as both a WSU CORE Element 1 and a Writing Intensive (WI)
Course in the Major for engineering and computer science students. If taken as a core course,
EGR 3350 cannot be used for WI credit; however, if taken as an elective in addition to the core
composition courses, it may be used for WI credit.
EGR 3350 is part of Element 1 of the Wright State Core. After taking this course, students should
be able to

Adapt rhetorical processes and strategies for audience, purpose, and type of task
Organize and produce texts that meet the demands of specific genres, purposes,
audiences, and stances
Employ appropriate mechanics, usage, grammar, and spelling conventions
Find, analyze, evaluate, summarize, and synthesize appropriate source material from both
print and electronic environments
Present focused, logical arguments that support a thesis
Use reliable and varied evidence to support claims, incorporate ideas from sources
appropriately, and acknowledge and document the work of others appropriately
Use electronic environments to draft, revise, edit, and share or publish texts

WEEK
1

MONDAY
Introduction

ON PILOT
Plagiarism/Ethics

Wright State University


EGR 3350 Summer Semester 2016 Syllabus

(5/9-5/13)

2
(5/16-5/20)

3
(5/23-5/27)

4
(5/30-6/3)

WEEK

5
(6/6-6/10)

6
(6/13-6/17)

7
(6/20-6/25)

LECTURE: Class Overview,


Intro to Technical Writing, Syllabus Review
ACTIVITY: In-class writing sample
DISCUSS: Audience, Technical Writing Definition
READ FOR PILOT: Chapters 1 & 2, Pilot Syllabus, Introduction

DISCUSS: Ethics, Plagiarism, Academic Inte


PILOT ACTIVITIES: British Navy
READ FOR MON: Chapter 3
QUIZ FOR MON: Technical Definitions
DUE FRI: Course Policies Quiz, Academic I

Technical Definition
DISCUSS: Technical Definitions, Best Practices
ACTIVITIES: Technical Definition
DISCUSS: Writing Processes, Mechanism Description (Introduce)
READ FOR PILOT: Chapter 4
QUIZ FOR WED: Mechanism Descriptions
DUE WED: Topic Proposal for Mechanism Description

Mechanism Description
DISCUSS: Mechanism Descriptions, Assignm
Format
ACTIVITIES: Chapter 4 Exercises (pp. 56-5
READ FOR MON: Chapter 5 and 15
QUIZ FOR MON: Process Descriptions

Process Description
DISCUSS: Process Description, Assignment Expectations &
Format
ACTIVITIES: Chapter 5 Exercises (pp. 76-79)

No Class
NO CLASS: Memorial Day

DUE MON: Rough draft of Mechanism Des


Mechanism Description
ACTIVITY: Mechanism Description Peer Re
DISCUSS: Revision processes
DUE MON: Mechanism Description Final D
DUE FRI: Topic Proposal for Process Descr
DUE NEXT WED: Rough draft of Process D

Process Description
ACTIVITY: Process Description Peer Review
LECTURE: Technical Briefings and Audienc
READ FOR MON: Chapter 17, Pilot Technic
DUE MON: Process Description Final Draft

MONDAY
Technical Briefing 1
ACTIVITIES: Audience/Speaker Contract, Audience Worksheet,
Modifying Content to Target Audience
DISCUSS: Slide Design, Briefing Rubric
READ FOR WED: Chapter 8
QUIZ FOR WED: Feasibility/Recommendation Reports

ON PILOT
Feasibility and Recommendation Reports
DISCUSS: Feas/Rec Report Expectations & F
COMPLETE: Chapter 8 Activities, Sample Re
READ FOR MON: Sample Rec Report on Pil
DUE FRI: Topic Proposal for Feas/Rec Repo
PowerPoints

Technical Briefing 1/Feasibility and Recommendation


Reports
PRESENT: Technical Briefing 1
DUE WED: Rough Draft of Feas/Rec Reports
READ: Pilot Technical Briefing 2

Technical Briefing 1/Feasibility and Recomm

Proposal/Technical Briefing 2
PRESENT: Technical Briefing 1 (as needed), Technical Briefing
2 (first half)
DISCUSS: RFP
LECTURE: Proposal Assignment (Technical Briefing 2, Letter of
Intent, Proposal, Technical Briefing 3)
READ FOR WED: Chapter 7
QUIZ FOR WED: RFP

Technical Briefing 2
ACTIVITY: Economy of Language
DISCUSS: RFP, Letter of Intent, Proposal

ACTIVITY: Feasibility and Recommendation


INTRODUCE: RFP, Technical Briefing 2
DUE MON: Feas/Rec Report Final Draft
DUE MON: Elevator Pitches

Wright State University


EGR 3350 Summer Semester 2016 Syllabus

Wright State University


EGR 3350 Summer Semester 2016 Syllabus

WEEK
8
(6/27-7/1)

9
(7/4-7/8)

10
(7/11-7/15)

11
(7/18-7/22)

MONDAY
Research/Technical Briefing 2
LECTURE: Guest Presentation on Engineering Research and
WSU Library
PRESENT: Technical Briefing 2
READ FOR WED: Chapter 18, Letter of Intent on Pilot
No Class
NO CLASS: Independence Day

ON PILOT
Letter of Intent
DISCUSS: Letter of Intent/Memo, Business W
Bibliography
READ FOR NEXT WED: Chapter 19
DUE NEXT WED: Letter of Intent with Anno
Proposal
DISCUSS: Budgets, Resumes
INTRODUCE: Technical Briefing 3
READ FOR MON: Chapter 12

Revision
DISCUSS: Revision Strategies, Grammar and Phrasing Concerns
DISCUSS: Technical Briefing 3
DUE WED: Resumes for Peer Review

Proposals
DISCUSS: Resume Peer Review
DISCUSS: Abstracts
DUE MON: Proposal Final Drafts

Technical Briefing 3
DISCUSS: Sample Technical Briefings
COMPLETE: Presentation Case Study Worksheet (hardcopy)
INTRODUCE: Portfolio

Technical Briefing 3
DISCUSS: Strategies for creating effective on
Automating PowerPoint
DUE MON: Technical Briefing 3

Wright State University


EGR 3350 Summer Semester 2016 Syllabus

WEEK

12
(7/25-7/28)

MONDAY
Portfolio
DUE: Technical Briefing 3 to Pilot Drop Box by 11:59
PM
DISCUSSION: Revision Strategies
Course evaluations
READ FOR WED: Reflective Writing

ON PILOT
Portfolio
DISCUSSION: Reflections All reports
Course evaluations
DUE THURSDAY, JULY 27: All portfolios

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