All through the semester, you have to write 5 web board responses, three short papers, and a long paper. You also need to complete an image project and some in-class projects or exercises. Finally, create a document as your final project. You need prepare an oral presentation for your final project.

You need to read the assigned readings carefully, closely, and critically. Then, write 300 -500 words as your web board response in which you explain how you can use the learned theory to create effective images or graphics in technical communication. The response should be relevant, to the point, and free of errors with some examples to support your argument. You may also want to get ready for class discussions on the questions you responded to. One of your reading responses should come from out-of-class readings.

Writing Instructions for short papers:

Short Paper 1: Use Gestalt principles such as figure-ground, similarity, continuation, proximity, closure, or symmetry or Prägnanz to critique any technical document or website from the perspectives of the visual vocabulary it uses. The critiques should use at least 3 Gestalt principles and should be thorough in analysis in terms of its discussion and comments (more evaluative than descriptive). You need to consider the purpose and the audience of the document. The critique should be about two pages long (single space).

Short Paper 2: Write an analytical paper of two pages (single space) on any image you are interested in by using semiotic theory learned from chapters 7-9. Theory on signs, signification, denotational and conotational meanings are recommended; or any other semiotic theory you are interested in.

Short Paper 3:

Use the data provided on pages 258-259 to create a graph to display them. You need to consider your audience and purpose as well as the four cognate strategies suggested by Kostelnick. You should choose the right graph to display the data in light of the theories you learned from Chapter 6, and the graph or chart should look professional in terms of ethos, arrangement, conciseness, and clarity.

Create a chart that is related to the situation at your workplace or based on a statistical table of any business, industry or institution. For example, if I want to show that giving students more practice may improve their learning results, I may use students’ grades, frequency of practice, students comments, rating of evaluation, comparisons etc, as the sources for my data display and create a line graph as an argument that other teachers should also give more practice to their students. You also need to follow the following instructions:

	The chart can be a line graph or a scatter plot.
	It must have at least more than 5 items for the data display.
	You must use textual elements, spatial elements, and graphic element in the chart.
	The chart must have a purpose and considers its audience.
	You need to make the chart as concise as possible.
	Please refer to Ed’s example at the beginning of Chapter 7, or Napoleon’s March.

Image Project: Use any kind of graphic software such as Photoshop or illustrator etc. to revise or modify a picture to achieve the rhetorical purpose you want. You may pay attention to aspects such us lighting, angle, size, grain, cut and paste, setting up, etc. when revising or editing the picture. You need to make your changes as inconspicuous as possible. The purpose of this exercise is to let you understand how pictures can be manipulated.

Other Written Exercises

For some chapters you have learned, you will be given some exercises to finish. These exercises include the revision or editing of graphics, or typographical exercises. You need to follow the specific theories and principles taught in the chapter or instructions given by me at that time to complete these exercises successfully. We may have 3 -5 such exercises.

Final Project

The final project assesses your learning result from this course in a comprehensive manner. To complete this project, you are supposed to create a document that uses the theories and skills you leaned by taking this course. The document can be a brochure, a web site that has multiple pages, or the document you create in your workplace. The document must have images, tables, graphics, and other design components at different levels. The layout and the design components must satisfy the purpose of the document and the audience' needs. You need to explain or justify your design principles or rationales for creating the document (why you employ such a layout for the document or the design components you used at the different levels of the document). The document must look professional, reflect your ethos, and be free of errors.