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0ENGLISH 3003: WRITING FOR THE PROFESSIONS

ENGINGEERING AND NATURAL SCIENCES
SECTION 5
SUMMER 2016
MTWTF 10:20 am-12:00 pm –CHAPMAN HALL 254 (CH-254)

Carlos D. Acosta-Ponce, BA, MA, MAEE, Doctoral Student in English Language and
Literature
Office: Zink Hall 318 (ZH-318)
Office hours: Wednesdays 12pm-2pm
Email: carlos-acostaponce@utulsa.edu
Phone: 787-219-4513 (text M-F between 9am-9pm)
__________________________________________________________________________

First, a lawyerly note: This syllabus is a kind of contract. By staying in the course, you agree
to follow the policies. If you don’t want to abide by the policies, drop the course.

Course Description

Most of what you need to know concerning this course is covered in the Student Guide to
ENGL 1033: Writing for the Professions— Engineering and Natural Sciences. Be sure to
review the Student Guide closely, as it covers extremely important issues and serves as the
base syllabus for the course.

This supplemental syllabus seeks to elaborate on certain aspects that are only handled
vaguely in the course description (assignments, course objectives, specific due dates, etc.).
Consequently, this document is important. Read it. Know it. Refer to it.

Having said this, I want you to think about why you are taking this course. Perhaps you are
genuinely interested in the nuances of professional writing that you need to master in
order to be better prepared for the business world. Or, more likely, you’re here because
you’re required to take this course. The fact of the matter is that professional writing is a
learned skill. That is, the only way you are going to get better is through practice. And by
“practice” I mean constant writing and revising, followed by even more writing and
revising. You may find yourself surprised at the impact a carefully and professionally
crafted document can have in the workplace. But in order to get to that point, you are
going to need much practice. Be prepared to write often.
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Some days will be devoted to group work, some to peer review, and some to study in the
library. The best way to make sure this all goes smoothly is to keep pace with everything
we do and stay on top of all your work.

Course Objectives

The primary objective of English 3003 is to provide student with practice in the kinds of
writing expected in the professional world. During and after the course students will be
expected to:

1. Understand and make strong rhetorical choices;

2. Write clear and effective memoranda, letters, emails, proposals, presentations, etc.;
3. Compose persuasive analytical reports, lab reports, manuals, and technical
definitions;
4. Practice professional language in multiple contexts;
5. Think critically about what they read;
6. Make good decisions in the balance between persuasion and ethics
7. Organize and design effective documents;
8. Develop visual literacy and argumentation;
9. Learn strategies for professional feedback and critique;
10. Improve public speaking skills;
11. Employ field-appropriate citation style;
12. Become better citizens in the workplace and the world;
13. Develop a life-long desire to learn and improve writing.

Pre-requisite
Junior standing and English 1033.

Required Textbooks

Markel, M. (2015). Technical Communication. (11th ed.). New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s.

Jenkins, G. (2015) Student Guide to 3003-Engineering and Natural Sciences, 2nd Edition

Hacker, D. (2015) Rules for Writers. (8th ed.). New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s.

Assignments
Your major assignments are as follows:

Assignment Point Value

Informational Report 50
Summary Report 50
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Rhetorical analysis report 50

Oral Presentation 1 50
Proposal for Oral Presentation 2 100
Oral Presentation 2 75
Technical Definition Report 50
Instructions/Process Analysis 75
Proposal for Research 100
Full Draft of Researched Report 100
Final Project Oral Presentation 150
(Includes: Proposal/Plan, Progress Report, Oral Pres, and Peer/Self Evals.)
Class Participation 150
(Includes: In-class assignments)
Total Points Possible 1000

I will grade your work based on its merit and professionalism in a business setting. That is,
I will act as your boss, assessing your work and grading it according to how I would
respond if you submitted it in the work place. When you are writing, ask yourself such
questions as: Does this document achieve all the objectives of the assignment? Is it polished
enough to be submitted? Should it be revised? To elaborate, here are some guidelines for
my grading system:

A. Excellent work. This is a well-written, polished document that could be released in the
workplace immediately. The document fulfills all of the assigned tasks and purposes of the
assignment, and it is formatted perfectly. It considers its audience, and employs
appropriate tone and stance towards each audience.

B. Good work. This document is written well, but could not be immediately released to the
workplace. A little more work is needed to make it presentable. This document contains
minor editing errors, awkwardly worded or ambiguous statements, or perhaps a
questionable tone. This document needs a more thorough revision process.

C. Average work. This document is a good draft, but it cannot be considered as a completed
document. It may have too many editing errors to appear to be written by a professional,
and/or the tone conveys the wrong message. The content may be incomplete or so
ambiguous as to cause serious problems for the document's recipient. This document may
not address the purpose of the assignment and needs to be heavily revised.

D. Below average work. This work is not up to basic standards of competence for writing in
English. Here, revision is neglected to the point that it seriously compromises the reader’s
ability to use the document. This is a rough draft that has not been properly revisited to
address content, design, or editing.
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F. Failing work. This writing usually demonstrates virtually no effort to engage seriously
the subject matter within a given assignment. It is incoherent and filled with technical
errors. If any assignment is plagiarized, grossly incomplete, formatted improperly, or
late, it will automatically earn, at the least, an F and possibly a zero.

The final Group Report Project and Oral Presentation will be comprised of various written
reports and an oral component that will be completed collaboratively. This means that you
will be working together and will need to be responsible for what you contribute to the
group. At the conclusion of the project and presentation, I will ask you to submit
evaluations of your peers and a self-evaluation which I will use to grade you.

In addition, the MSAP is required, but it does not contribute to your grade for this class. See
p. 41 in Jenkins for details. Date and time TBA.

Deadlines

Because you will have to meet many deadlines, sometimes in a short period of time, during
your career, I am keeping a strict “no late work” policy this semester. However, if you have
a major, documented emergency, let me know, and I will decide these on a case-by-case
basis. Please keep this policy in mind as you work on your writing.

Points to Remember

All the written assignments listed above must be turned in before the end of the semester to
pass the course.

Remember that all late work will receive a zero. However, it is still better to turn
in work late and get a zero than to automatically fail the course because you did
not turn in all the coursework.

All work completed outside of class must be typed.

All materials
Keep all drafts (for
and example,
final papersthewith
finalmy
draft of a paper,
comments onthe peer
them review draft,
throughout and of
the end anything
the
semester. If you lose this material, then you must accept the consequences—such as not it. I
else I ask you to submit) must be firmly stapled or clipped together, or I will not accept
will not
being ablecomment
to appealon forora grade
higherany papers unless you include all the required materials
grade.
specified in class, so you will receive a zero on an assignment that does not include all the
required materials.
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All assignments should follow the formats listed in your Student Guide. For help, you
may refer to examples in your textbook unless otherwise noted on your assignment sheet.
With the exception of some of the writing done in class, you may assume that assignments
should be typed in Times New Roman size 12 font. Margins should be 1 inch on all sides of
the page (unless otherwise specified by a particular template).

Since this is a professional writing course, I want to emphasize the importance of

proofreading. Typographical errors look very unprofessional to anyone reviewing your
documents. Spell check is indeed a modern marvel, but it can’t and won’t catch everything.
I reserve the right to refuse to look at an assignment if it appears sloppy or in the improper
format.

I do not want to see any rough drafts of your work. Give me only polished work. I will
not proofread for grammatical errors. I will, however, welcome any revision you wish
to submit. I will hold an open revision policy until the final deadline on the course
schedule. Writing is a recursive, revisionary process, and the only way you will get better
is through practice. There are few perfect documents, but they can become better with
revision.

Plagiarism is defined in the University of Tulsa Student Handbook

(http://www.utulsa.edu/studentaffairs/) as:

Plagiarism is presenting as one's own efforts the work of

someone else without proper acknowledgment of that source.
Exact copying is to be enclosed in quotation marks with an
appropriate indication of its origin. [Unacknowledged]
paraphrasing, wherein the basic sentence structure,
phraseology, and unique language remain the same, is also
plagiarism. The failure to acknowledge unique, unusual, or new
ideas and facts not the product of one's own investigation or
creativity is plagiarism. When in doubt in a particular course
on these matters, it is the student's responsibility to seek
guidance from the instructor.

Plagiarism is grounds for failure of this (or any other) course and dismissal from the
University. Rules against plagiarism are meant to ensure that students are applying
themselves freshly to every assignment, that they are completing their own assignments,
and that they are respecting the intellectual property of others. In an environment where
writers work closely with one another, it is important to understand the boundaries
between collaboration and plagiarism. You are expected to present your own work,
properly documented. Keep all of your preparatory work (drafts, notes, and prewriting)
for each assignment. I may freely question you about work that does not seem to be your
own.
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Attendance and Participation

I don’t think I need to point out to you that you are all adults. That being said, you have the
freedom to be anywhere you want during the hours our class meets. If you choose not be
in class, I will not begrudge you. Unfortunately, freedom comes with certain
responsibilities. In other words, choices have their consequences, and part of being an
adult and college student involves owning up to those consequences.

Since this course is writing intensive, poor attendance will result in missing crucial
information and practice. Missing even one class can cause you to miss important
information and possibly put you behind. The University of Tulsa Writing Program’s policy
states that excessive unexcused absences will result in a lowering of your grade by the
following scale:

For a MTWTF Summer class

10 percent is 3 absences – loss of one letter grade

15 percent is 4 absences – loss of two letter grades
20 percent is 6 absences – grounds for an F

If you are going to be absent for any reason, let me know by sending me an email, calling
my office phone, or telling me personally. Most absences such as work conflicts, class
conflicts, unofficial campus activities (sorority/fraternity or social clubs), and minor
inconveniences are not considered excused absences. However, official and documented
absences will be excused. You are still required to provide the proper documentation, such
as permission from the athletics department, the Center for Student Academic Support
(CSAS), another university office, or a doctor, within one week of the absence. If you do
not provide the documentation within this time period, the absence will not be excused.
Section 41 of the Student Handbook explains how to obtain official permission from CSAS
(http://www.utulsa.edu/studentaffairs/).

If you choose to attend class, I expect you to be here when you are here. By this, I mean
that you should always come to class having read the material and being prepared to
discuss it. I also mean that you should not be on your cell phone, asleep, on a laptop, etc.
Your choosing to attend tells me that you are here to learn, discuss, contribute, and share. I
reserve the right to dismiss any student from class for being disrespectful, disruptive, or for
otherwise not participating professionally.
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In addition, please do not leave class early for any reason other than a genuine emergency;
if you do, you will be marked absent. This policy applies whether you leave 10 minutes
early or 1 minute early.

No matter what the cause of the absences, you are responsible for finding out what
material was covered, getting notes, being prepared for class on the day you return, and
turning in subsequent assignments on time.

Tardies

Coming in late disrupts the class, means you miss information, and is unprofessional.
Because this class is a kind of practice for a real-world work environment, but also because
I know being late happens to everyone, every two tardies will count as an absence. This
policy means that you get one “freebie” tardy. In addition, being more than 10 minutes late
at any time will result in an absence.

If you come in late, you must inform me that you were present at the end of class, as I take
roll at the beginning of class and will not interrupt class for latecomers. If you do not tell me
you were present on the day of your tardy, you are counted as absent, and that absence will
stand. Again, do NOT interrupt class; talk to me AFTER class.

Conferences and Office Hours

You will have a one-on-one conference with me at least twice this semester. Conferencing is
required by the Writing Program and, since I cancel classes to hold conferences, two
absences will be charged against you if you miss one. This policy should underscore
how important these conferences are—research shows that writing improves
tremendously with one-on-one feedback from instructors.

I also encourage you to meet with me in my office whenever you need to discuss your work
or your progress in this course. There’s an open door policy during office hours. You don’t
need an appointment; just stop by. If you can’t make it during office hours, let me know
and I will be happy to make an appointment with you for another time.

Please notify me in advance if you cannot make it to your individual conference or any
scheduled appointment. Call or email me, or ask Aura Thomas, the English Department
Assistant, at 631-2557 to let me know if you can’t make it.

If you miss or are tardy to a scheduled appointment, it will count as a class absence
or tardy.
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Resources

The TU Writing Center, located on the third floor of the McFarlin library, is a great place to
have a one-on-one consultation about your writing assignment. Consultation is free, so I
strongly encourage you to take advantage of this valuable resource. Call or email the
Writing Center to set up an appointment. The Writing Center is free for all TU students. For
more information on the Writing Center, see the Student Guide to the Writing Program at
the University of Tulsa. The Writing Center will be open M-Th from 2:00 pm to 4:30 pm over
the summer.

The Center for Student Academic Support (CSAS) is here to provide services such as
tutoring, academic counseling, and developing study skills. If you have any special
educational or physical needs, please discuss them with me as soon as possible so you can
access accommodations. Students with disabilities should contact CSAS to identify their
needs in order to facilitate their rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Specifically, the Center offers support concerning issues such as test taking anxiety, time
management skills, overcoming procrastination, learning styles assessment, and academic
rebounding. You may, again, get official documentation for an excused absence from them
by bringing such evidence as hospital documents, obituaries, etc. Excused absences for
doctor’s visits for routine procedures or minor illnesses will be determined by me. The
Center provides confidential consultations to any student with academic concerns as well
as to students with disabilities and is located in Lorton Hall, Room 210.

The McFarlin library will be an invaluable tool when you begin to look for secondary
resources. A lot of students tend to be intimidated by the library, but, in order for you to
conduct research, you must become familiar with the stacks (believe it or not sometimes
the internet doesn’t have all the sources you need). It’s tall and intimidating, sure, but there
are some invaluable sources in book form. If you have any questions or concerns about
how to find and use what you need from the library, please ask me or check with a
reference librarian.

Use the feedback from your classmates during peer review. At times, we will peer-
review drafts of certain documents. Remember that your classmates’ comments are
designed to help, and I strongly advise you to take them to heart.

General Rules

There will be no use of electronic devices in the classroom (such as cell phones,
laptops, etc.) unless specified by me on certain work days. I like technology as much as
the next person, but unless you’re giving a presentation, there’s no real need for electronic
media in the classroom as it can distract you from important discussions. If you have a
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disability which necessitates the use of such a device, see CSAS for the proper
accommodation and documentation.

Respect is one of the most important aspects to academic learning; therefore, respecting
your fellow students (and me, as your boss) will be expected of you. Concordantly,
disrespect will not be tolerated. Sometimes class discussion can lead us into some
controversial topics, and you may find that your classmates may have opinions that differ
from your own. This type of discussion, if done in a respectful manner, can be conducive to
the formation of new ideas and the advancement of academic learning. The classroom,
therefore, is a place of sharing and safety. No one in the classroom should ever feel
threatened to express his or her thoughts and opinions in the classroom. If at any point
you are being disrespectful, you will be dismissed. On the other hand, if you feel as if you
have been treated poorly, by all means let me know. The bottom line is you should never
feel embarrassed or shy about expressing your opinion; I even require as much, since a
portion of your grade weighs on your contribution to the class discussions. Speak up, and
speak out; the classroom is place a safety and freedom.

Elastic Clause

Topics and dates are subject to change at the instructor’s discretion. Keep your eyes
and ears open for emails and announcements detailing date and assignment changes.

Finally, KEEP ALL YOUR WORK UNTIL AFTER YOUR FINAL GRADE IS TURNED IN!!!
SAVE ELECTRONIC WORK IN MULTIPLE PLACES!!!
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COURSE SCHEDULE

Date Papers and Reading due Class Activities

Week 1 Get Books! -Introductions to the course, each other and

technical communication
M 5/23
-Grading criteria

-Summary Report Assigned

-Plagiarism and ethics; sign forms

-Rhetorical Analysis: Purpose

T 5/24 Markel Ch. 1, 2 and 3 -Writing Informal Reports

Gopen, “The Science of Scientific Writing -Discussion of reading

(Guide)
-In class drafting exercises

W 5/25 Summary Report Due -Analysis of samples

-Rhetorical Analysis: Audience

-Writing letters, memos, and emails

-Informational report assigned

T 5/26 Websites: TU’s Physical Plant, Harvard -Writing Informational Reports

University Operations Services,
Association of Physical Plan -Discussion of Readings
Administrators (APPA)
-Drafting Informational Report
And Markel Ch. 5

F 5/27 Informational Report Due -Analysis of Samples

Read Biemiller, Broussard, Gyure, and -Discussion readings

Yizhe
Rhetorical analysis assigned

Week 2 MEMORIAL DAY-NO CLASS I STRONGLY SUGGEST YOU TRY TO USE

THIS DAY OFF TO GET AHEAD IN YOUR
M 5/30 READINGS!

T 5/31 Markel Ch. 14 & 17 -Discussion of Readings

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-Rhetorical Analysis Discussion

W 6/1 Rhetorical Analysis Report Due -Building a University

Read Biemiller, Broussard, Gyure, and
Yizhe -Rhetorical analysis assigned

T 6/2 Read Markel Ch. 21 -Reading Academic Sources

-Focus on Sustainability

F 6/3 Read Markel Ch. 21, Bogle and Seanab, -Discussion of readings
and Ralph and Stubbs
-Assignment of Oral presentation 1

-Assignment of Teams

-Group workshop activity

-Drafting of presentation

Week 3 Oral Presentation 1 due -Group workshop activity

M 6/6 -Drafting of presentation

-Assignment of Proposal for Oral Presentation 2

T 6/7 Read Markel Ch. 16: Writing Proposals -Discussion of readings

W 6/8 Read Markel Ch. 16: Writing Proposals -Assignment of Oral Presentation 2
Proposal of Oral Presentation 2 Due

T 6/9 Oral Presentation 2 Due -Presentations

F 6/10 Oral Presentation 2 Due -Presentations

-Technical Definition Report assigned

Week 4 Read Markel Ch. 6: Researching your -Discussion of Readings

M 6/13 Subject

T 6/14 Technical Definition Report due -Discussion of Readings

Read Markel Ch. 7 and Ch. 20 -Instruction Process analysis assigned

Read de Vere and Kapoor, Kemppainen -Proposal for Research assigned

and Hamlin, and Loyalka

W 6/15 Instruction-Process Analysis Due -Discussion of Readings

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Read Markel Ch 8 and Ch. 19

Read Tu and Kreith

T 6/16 Proposal for Research Due

Read Markel Ch. 9 and Kreith.

F 6/17 Draft Report Due

Week 5 MSAP
M 6/20
Proposal for Final Oral Presentation

T 6/21 Revised Report Due

W 6/22 In class work on Final Project

T 6/23 Final Presentations

F 6/24 Final Presentations

Peer and Self Evaluations Due