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Fall Schedule 2010
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Course Goals Class Behavior Grading Policy Major Assignments Plagiarism Other Course Policy Prerequisites ● Students who want to take this course must have completed English 1310 and 1320. ● Students who want to take this course must prepare two floppy disks or a flash drive. ● Students who want to take this course must have an email account of the university. ● Students who want to take this course may prepare $5 or so for color prints of a brochure. ● Students who take this course are supposed to bring their textbook to class on each class day. ● Students who want to take this class must be psychologically prepared for intensive writing. ● Students who take this course must have the textbook The Essentials of Technical Communication by Tebeaux & Dragga and need to refer to the companion Web site: http://www.oup.com/us/companion.websites/ and www.zhupinfan.com Practice on Style: http://www.designsensory.com/pws/index.html
English 3303 is a writing class, main goals of which are as follows:
● To prepare students with important rhetorical theory regarding audience, purpose and other persuasive means such as logos, ethos, pathos, evidence, etc. so that they can write effective and persuasive workplace documents. ● To equip students with essential graphic design knowledge so that they can display various types of scientific and technical information in a correct and logic manner. ● To teach students some software skills so that they can design Web sites and create technical brochures. ● To teach students different organizational methods so that they are able to use the most effective and appropriate one in light of the characteristics of the information type.
Classroom Behavior and Professionalism:
Students of this class must show respect for me and their fellow students. You must come to the class with the assigned chapter read and are prepared for class discussions and my questions. You should avoid reading newspapers in class, talking while others have the floor, interrupting others, acting belligerently or in a belittling manner, openly challenging my authority as the professor, or, otherwise displaying disruptive behavior. Students who repeatedly disturb the progress of the class in any manner may be asked to leave the class. Verbal harassment of me or your fellow students orally or through email/Web board postings will not be tolerated under any circumstances.
Since we use a computer classroom frequently, you must not check/send email, surf the Web, or any other computer activity not related to English 3303's coursework. Unless you are working on a computer assignment to be completed during the course of the class period, any extraneous computer activity will NOT be tolerated and you may be asked to leave the class and/or receive an F for that day's assignment and participation.
Class attendance forms part of the final grade for this course. If you have more than 3 absences (Doctor's notes included), you will not get an 'A.' If you have 6 absences, you will get a 'C' for the course. You are responsible for signing the attendance sheet every class day. If you forget to sign, you need to make up for the missed signature in the following class I will not accept the claim that you have missed signing some of the attendance sheets at the end of the semester. You are allowed two absences without submitting any notice to me, but if you have a full attendance record, and four of your assignments score more than 90 points, with an average grade of 90 for your quizzes, you will be exempt from the final test.
You need to turn in your assignment on time. One-day delay will result in 5 points being taken off from your total grade for that assignment. In case you have some informidable difficulties, you can ask for an extension, but you must tell me the exact date you will submit the assignment. Only use pz10@txstate.edu to contact me even if I use a different email account to contact you. I have a class folder for each of you, so you are supposed to make sure your assignment is saved in that folder when the due day comes. All your assignments are supposed to submit online except the instructions brochure, for that assignment I need to see your actual document design. A doctor's note can exempt you from being given a late penalty on your assignment due that day.
NOTE: All beepers, cellular phones, watches with alarms, or any other device which may prove disruptive to the classroom learning environment MUST be turned off prior to your entrance in the classroom.
An 'A' paper (90-100 points) is an assignment that has: a good audience awareness, clear communication purpose, good organization, well focused and significant topic, sufficient supporting details, persuasive discussion and evidence, professional appearance (nice document design), correct grammar, diction, and punctuation; has met the word count requirement and submitted on time. The assignment also follows the conventional format.
A 'B' paper (80-89) is a completed assignment that basically meets all the criteria for an 'A' paper to a great extent but is defective in some aspects such as digressive discussion in one paragraph; some errors in grammar, diction, and spelling; 10-15% under the word count, not strictly following the conventional format, some underdeveloped discussion and inadequate supporting details, and some document design problems.
A 'C' paper (70-79)is a completed assignment that has more problems than a 'B' paper. It does not have a very clear audience awareness and communication purpose. Two or three paragraphs are digressive. More than 10 errors are found, and the paper is more than 20 percent short of the word count. The paper also has some organizational problems and has an unprofessional appearance. Lack of supporting details is obvious.
A 'D' paper (60-69) has more serious problems. It has a poor audience awareness and unclear communication purpose though 3/5 of the assignment is basically on the right track. It is severely under word count and is disorganized in some places. Sloppy editing is quite obvious. The document design looks very unprofessional.
An 'F' paper is a paper that may not be even completed. It is not on the right track and responds to the writing instructions very poorly. It does not have an audience awareness, and is digressive in most cases. Numerous errors are found throughout the paper, and the document looks very ugly.
The above is the general guideline for grading. For a specific assignment, I have specific grading criteria. Please refer to these criteria before you turn in your assignment so that you know what I expect from you.
Throughout the semester, we have the following major assignments in addition to some in-class exercises. See also their grade distribution.
Plagiarism is an act of academic dishonesty and will not be tolerated. The offense is defined in the following paragraph.
other reference works, or from the themes, reports, or other writings of a fellowstudent, is guilty of plagiarism.It is very easy to use the work of others in your reports and documents without citing the source. All web pages, web images, interviews, articles, newspaper clippings, ads, product brochures, job announcements, manuals, emails, and just about any document you can think of needs to be cited as a source. I will try to remind you about this during the semester so that you can avoid making this costly mistake. If you do make the mistake you will receive an F on the document, and if the offense is egregious (very bad) then you can fail the course. Remember that using the information of others is a good thing because it shows your involvement in the knowledge-making activities of your field. So make the most of your research and build your informative ethos by citing all the work of others.
Let me know about special arrangements. Any student who, because of a disability, may require some special arrangements in order to meet course requirements should contact me as soon as possible to make necessary accommodations.
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