Syllabus & Calendar
Course Title: Technical Writing and Editing II
Instructor Contact Information:
Instructor: Kathy McTaggart
Contact instructor using Moodle class email.
Technical Support:
Online Development Team, Vancouver Island University, Nanaimo
Email: online@viu.ca
Administrative Support:
Julie Clarke, Vancouver Island University, Powell River
Email: clarkej@viu.ca
Telephone (toll-free) 877-888-8890 or 604-485-8032
Course Description
This course is meant to expand your knowledge about technical writing and editing, and to help you improve your writing skills. Technical Writing and editing I is a prerequisite for the course.
The eight-week online course expands on the skills that were introduced in TWE1. This course will focus on the editing process, with particular emphasis on usability testing and other processes that make your documents more user-friendly. It also will provide structured practice in writing-skill and grammar topic areas that tend to prove problematic in technical writing.
Course Goals
- To help you explore the roles of technical writers and editors in more detail, with an emphasis on editorial tasks
- To continue developing your ability to plan, design, write and edit user-centred technical documentation
- To further enhance your writing skills, through practical exercises and comprehensive student projects.
Recommended Text
Alred, G., Brusaw, C., and Oliu, W. (2003) Handbook of Technical Writing (7th ed.) This reference handbook is available from Chapters online, and costs about $45, delivered by mail.
Rude, Carolyn D. (2002) Technical Editing (3rd ed.) This is an extremely comprehensive and detailed textbook on all phases of editing--highly recommended. Unfortunately it also costs close to $100. Buy it when you get your first editing job! (However, if you didn't buy Alred, Brusay and Oliu's Handbook of Technical Writing, you'll find that most of the topics covered in that book are also discussed at length in Rude's--so you don't necessarily need both.)
I also recommend a good dictionary with Canadian spelling.
About Kathy McTaggart
I have a M.Sc. in Technical Communication from the University of Washington, and am a member of the Society for Technical Communication.
I enjoy teaching technical writing to both academic and professional students. I taught classroom-based writing, document design, and other related topics for over 10 years, at BCIT in Burnaby, BC, at the University of Washington in Seattle, and most recently at Mercer University in Macon, Georgia. I currently teach only online.
The particular technical writing areas that interest me most are science writing and report writing, though I also enjoy the challenges involved in effective manual production, both on paper and online.
When I’m not teaching, I’m often working on local governance committees, or helping with professional writing for my community. If I can’t stand to be inside any more (at the computer or at the conference table), I garden, hike, or sail.
How the Course Works
I will use Homepage Announcements to communicate with everyone in the class each week. Some uses of these announcements will include:
- current or expected availability of lectures, assignments, feedback and points
- changes in assignment due dates
- clarification of my general comments about the course and assignments
Each week, I will provide Notes covering the week’s topic. Each lecture will refer you to relevant websites and other accessible resources. The notes also will contain instructions on that week's assignment. I post the notes both in PowerPoint and web page format. The advantage of PowerPoint is that you can print all the pages of notes at once and use less paper; however, I've learned that not everyone has PowerPoint on their computer!
There will also be Weekly Readings. These readings will provide a professional viewpoint on many of this course's topics. I strongly recommend that you browse the STC website for other articles that may be relevant, as well. You'll find it at www.stc.org.
The Discussion Board houses the class discussions. These are an integral part of your learning. Each week, I will post questions on the Discussion Board, related to that week's content. A special discussion topic is set aside for assignment clarification. If you have a question about how to do a given assignment, use this topic area to ask about it.
Participation in class discussion is essential to your success in this class so check this area frequently and join in!
Class assignments will always be due Wednesday of the week following your introduction to the assignment. This means that you will have nine days from first release of instructions to complete the assignments.
You’ll submit class assignments through Mail. Send each assignment as an attachment to a short mail message. You can submit them as Word, or similar word-processing program, documents. You may choose to use other programs such as Adobe Acrobat or PageMaker to submit the more advanced assignments, but it isn't necessary.
You also can contact me privately on Mail. I normally log onto the course regularly--most often daily or twice daily at the beginning of each week, and less often as the week goes on--usually first thing in the morning or in the evening. I am in the Pacific time zone--so, for those of you in Eastern North America, my "early" is your mid-morning.
Course Grading
97 - 100 points = A+
93 - 96 points = A
90 - 92 points = A-
87 - 89 points = B+
83 - 86 points = B
80 - 82 points = B-
77 - 79 points = C+
73 - 76 points = C
70 - 72 points = C-
65 - 69 points = D
Less than 65 points = Fail
Grade Components:
Participation in class discussions: 20 points
You should participate in class discussion by posting your comments each week. I expect you to contribute at least two thoughtful, quality postings per week (these may include responses to classmates' comments, but you should be initiating discussion as well). Just logging on and reading other people's postings is not effective participation; neither is mere agreement with others' postings.
Quality of postings is as important as their frequency or length. Criteria for quality include
- relevance to the topic
- use of personal experience or specialized knowledge related to the topic
- giving opinions that are backed with facts
- introducing questions that help the class understand the topic.
Quality participation also means conveying your experience, research, opinions, questions or commentary in a professional manner. Disagreements among discussion participants are expected and often valuable, but they should be expressed sensitively and not in a confrontational tone.
Assignments and exercises: 80 points
Grading details will be listed in the finalized Course Schedule.
I will add assignment instructions to the end of each week's notes. Completed assignments should be submitted by the due date, following the instructions I give for delivery and format. Criteria for grading each assignment will be included with instructions.
Late assignments will have 10% of their value subtracted for each day late, unless prior arrangements have been made with me for late submission due to extenuating circumstances.
Feedback Schedule: I will provide feedback and grades for assignments within one week of the due date for that work, except for the final exam assignment, which is due just before Christmas (Dec. 22). I will provide feedback for that assignment during the week of Dec. 27-31st. Late submissions may take longer for feedback and grades. General feedback to all students for each assignment will be posted in the appropriate discussion board topic. Your assignment's specific feedback, with grade earned will be emailed to you through Moodle Quickmail.
Student Conduct
Vancouver Island University students are expected to behave in a responsible manner respectful of the learning environment inside the classroom, whether attending in person on online. This policy applies to all Vancouver Island University campus and off-campus locations where Vancouver Island University sponsored activity is occurring. For further information, link to Vancouver Island University 's Student Conduct Code pages.
Course Schedule for Technical Writing and Editing 2
Topic |
Practice Exercises, etc. |
Preliminary List of Readings from IC |
|---|---|---|
Week 1 Introduction to the course |
|
Bush, Nov 02 Smart, Nov 02 |
Week 2 The editor’s role in project design and management |
Applying the Editor’s Tools: Proofreaders’ Marks, etc |
Collins, Feb 01 Kadilak, Lyons, July/Aug 04 |
Week 3 Design and management of the term project |
|
Eaton, Dec 00 Massa, Feb 02 |
Week 4 Comprehensive editing: |
|
Bush, Feb 03 |
Week 5 Comprehensive editing: Style |
Structuring Effective Sentences
|
Hart, May 04 |
Week 6 Copy editing |
Reviewing Abbreviations
|
Hart, July/Aug 01 Hart, Jan 03
|
Week 7 An introduction to usability testing |
|
Hart, April 04 Tullis/Fleischman, |
Week 8 Usability testing for the term project
|
|
Perlin, April 02 |
IC readings are posted with permission from STC's InterCom magazine
Questions, comments, or concerns? Please contact Instructor via Moodle Quickmail.
Copyright 2004 © Kathy McTaggart