TWRT 64: Technical Writing Seminar (Hybrid)
Fall 2013
Professor: Reber
Classroom: L49
Office: L41 Hours: T 5:30-6:20 p.m. (by appointment only)
Phone: (408) 864-5565
Email: rebermarrietta@fhda.edu
Web Site: http://faculty.deanza.fhda.edu/reberm/
Course Texts
 TWRT/BUS/EWRT 64 Reader compiled by M. Reber.
Course Introduction
TWRT 64 focuses on applying skills learned throughout the program to plan and execute a complete, real-world
technical writing project in a team environment. Projects may be drawn from the needs of other departments on
campus, special projects requested by nonprofit groups, or tasks related to the students' chosen fields.
Deliverables may include equipment manuals, user guides, web sites, newsletters, online documentation, and
other forms of technical writing. Students also apply their organizational and analytical skills to read and critique
technical articles and write a non-fiction article for publication. TWRT 64 students add writing samples from their
class projects to the professional technical writing portfolios they compiled throughout the program.
Course Objectives
In the course of taking this class, you:
 Learn and practice team communication skills and collaborative work strategies.
 Participate on a publication team in the design and production of a camera ready document or product
(approximately 50+ pages), including selecting and evaluating graphics, type, and paper.
 Read and evaluate professional publications to synthesize and apply content, construct abstracts, and
critique according to guidelines.
 Develop appropriate questions to interview specialists in the student's chosen field and to interpret the
interview by summarizing it in a written document.
 Differentiate between the needs of varied audiences and write to meet the needs of a specified audience
such as engineers, executives, technical specialists, and general readers or customer.
 Organize and assemble relevant self produced materials in a portfolio.
 Develop skills to effectively work, communicate, and team build remotely in an increasingly virtual world.
Course Evaluation
The point break down for grading in the course is shown in the table below:
Assignment
Points
Query Letter and Article
70
Profile
30
Group /Project Plan
50
Pubs Plan
70
Project Draft #1 w/ Status Report
100
Project Draft #2 w/ Status Report
100
Final Project
200
Peer Evaluation and Final Exam
30
Total
650
Score
You are evaluated on a 100% scale (93-100 = A, 90-92 = A-, 87-89% = B+, 83-86 = B, 80-82 = B-, etc.)
Course Assignments
Query Letter and Article. You write an article for a specific publication and an accompanying query letter. The
publication should have an emphasis on training, how-to instruction, or technology. (3+ pages and letter.)
Profile. You write a profile in memo format explaining your professional background generally, with specific
emphasis on skills and software ability related to the projects this quarter. You may also identify preferences for
project and team mates, but your preferences may not be met. Include an updated resume. (2 pages + resume)
M. Reber
3/24/2016
1
Group Project Plan. Once your topic has been assigned, you and your group complete a project plan that
outlines clearly group policies, resource management, project description, communication media and policies, and
client management strategies. Use the template provided and be as detailed as possible.
Pubs Plan. As a group you write a pubs plan including deliverable specifications, definitions and use of key
terms, a style guide that your group will use as you create documents, and a timeline. The style guide should
include both writing and formatting conventions. The timeline must include all group and client meetings,
milestone assignments, and intermediary tasks necessary to execute the deliverables. Though your major
deadlines are given to you, you must carefully plan every task you can imagine so you work efficiently. Integrate
enough time to deal with internal edits, missed deadlines, and unforeseen circumstances. You can use any writing
or scheduling software as long as every group member can access the timeline, and it can be printed and shared in
a useable format with the client. You should update the timeline every time a date shifts or a task is completed.
Your major deadlines will NOT shift no matter what happens with your internal deadlines. The more detailed
your pubs plan, the fewer issues you will encounter later in the quarter producing the deliverables.
Project Drafts w/Status Report. As a group you create two formal drafts of all project deliverables for review
by me and your client. With each draft include a status report with an updated timeline explaining what work has
been done, what work is still to be done, questions about deliverables, and any internal or client issues. One week
prior to the first draft you submit a deliverables pitch to ensure your initial vision matches your client’s. This pitch
includes outlines or rough representations of each deliverable to ensure you and your client are on track for the
first draft. Include client comments on the deliverables pitch with draft 1.
Final Project. You produce a professional product or group of products of 50+ pages of original content for an
on-campus client. (Page requirements may be adjusted depending on design or project-specific considerations).
You are graded as a team based on the overall quality of the product and on your client’s satisfaction. Be aware
that individuals in a team may receive grade adjustments based on client and peer feedback, as well as instructor
observation. Your client will submit an evaluation of your work individually and as a team.
Peer Evaluation. As part of your final project, you submit a peer evaluation discussing how you functioned as a
group, any internal issues or conflicts, and exactly what each person’s contributions were to the project. Be as
detailed and comprehensive as possible. These evaluations will be kept confidential. I reserve the right to make
adjustments to specific individual’s grades based on the peer evaluation and other observation.
Course Policies and Procedures
Assignment Format. Assignments must be typed. Include your name, assignment title and date, and page # in the
footer (unless otherwise specified). Follow template and instructions exactly. Format and proofread well.
Hybrid & Workload. This course is 5 credit hours and is extremely intensive to prepare you for industry
quickly. As a hybrid, 4 hours of weekly class time are spent in the classroom (lecture from 6:30-10:20 p.m.) with
1 hour completed online (lab). All hours are mandatory. For every credit hour assigned to a course (both face-toface and online hours), be prepared to spend at least two additional hours working on your own each week.
Required Materials. Bring a storage device to class with you every week with all course assignments on it.
Plagiarism and Cheating. Plagiarism is using someone else’s words or ideas in direct quote, paraphrase, or
summary form and submitting them as your own. Plagiarism will result in automatic failure for the quarter.
Cheating of any kind is not tolerated and could result in you being failed or dropped from the course at any time.
Class Disruption Policy. Disruptive behavior will not be tolerated and could result in you being dropped from
the class. Cell phones, pagers, IPods, etc. must be turned off during class. Should your cell phone ring during
class, you will be responsible for bringing treats for the entire class the following day.
Late Papers and Assignments. Assignments are due at the beginning of class. If you come late, your grade is
dropped 10%. Assignments are not accepted after class ends on the date due. When class is not meeting formally,
assignments must be delivered to me and/or your classmates by the time specified or receive a 50% deduction.
Attendance and Tardiness. Assignments are due when class begins. Excessive unexcused absences (2+) could
result in you being dropped. 2 unexcused tardies = 1 unexcused absence. I reserve the right to make exceptions.
Last Day to Drop with a “W.” The last day to drop with a “W” is Friday, Nov. 15th. No automatic Ws.
Assistance. For academic counseling, contact Renee McGinley at x. 5865 or at mcginleyrenee@deanza.edu.
For personal counseling, contact Adrienne Pierre Charles at x. 8784 or at pierreadrienne@fhda.edu.
Computer Labs. Fully loaded computers are available in L-41, AT102, and AT311. Check locations for hours.
M. Reber
3/24/2016
2
TWRT 64 Course Schedule
Week
Date
Topic
Reading Due
Assignments Due
1
9/24
Course Introduction
Profiles
Query Letters/Articles
“Prewriting Analysis Worksheet”
“Client/Project Guidelines”
Profile (email by Monday 4/12
at 6 p.m.)
2
10/1
Query Letters/Articles
Team Assignments
Team Management and Relations
Group Project Plan
Client Relations
Ch 2: Jumpstart Activities 1-4
Query Letter Draft w/ copy of
recent magazine
3
10/8
Pubs Plan
Client Relations
4
10/15
Drafting
Client Relations
Deliverables Pitch
“Ch 2: The Wonderful World of
Magazines”
“Ch 4: What Do I Do with This
Article?”
“Strategy One: Becoming an Agenda
Setter”
“Collaborative Writing”
Working in Groups
Group Work and Collaborative Writing
“Ch 9: Writing the Article”
“Strategy Three: Engaging New
Clients”
“Good Writing = Rewriting”
“The Writer and the Law”
“Economics: The 3 Rs of Writing”
5
10/22
Deliverables Pitch
Draft 1 & Expectations
“Strategy Five: Adding Multiple Layers
of Value”
“Progress Reports”
Deliverables Pitch to me/client
6
10/29
NO CLASS AT DE ANZA
“Answers to Commonly Asked
Questions…Client Relationships”
Draft 1 email to me by 10 p.m.
7
11/5
Project Reviews
8
11/12
NO CLASS AT DE ANZA
9
11/19
Project Reviews & Final Steps
Peer Evaluation
Final Evaluation
Client Evaluation
10
11/26
NO CLASS AT DE ANZA
Final Project email to me by
10 p.m.
(Hard copy if necessary by
Friday at 5p.m. to my office)
11
12/3
Project Postmortem
Peer Evaluation
Final Evaluation
(Client Evaluation)
12
12/10
Group Project Plan
Query Letter and Article Draft
w/copy of recent magazine
Pubs Plan
Query Letter and Article Final
w/ copy of recent magazine
Draft 2 email to me by10 p.m.
FINAL EXAMINATION
* Individuals who do not make themselves sufficiently available to classmates will be required to meet in person during
regularly scheduled class time on nights the class does not officially meet. Please notify me if a classmate is not responsive.
**This schedule is a working outline and is subject to changes and modifications at any point during the quarter. I reserve the right to
add or delete reading or assignments, change point allocations for assignments, and to change topics at my discretion at any time.
M. Reber
3/24/2016
3
Words to the Wise
Over the years and by making many costly mistakes, I have learned the following tips that will save you time and prevent
unnecessary grief when working with computers, computer files, styles, and templates:

Use the “Save As” function as soon as you open a document to resume working on it rather than using the “Save”
function to overwrite your existing version. By saving the version as a new document at the beginning of each
work session every day you revise it, you ensure that you can return to the former version if the file becomes
corrupted or starts responding in strange ways with no more than a day’s work lost.

Use the date as part of the file name each time you “Save As” a new document so you can distinguish between
versions and identify the most updated one. (Example: “Resume 2_14_03”) Using the date in the title also allows
you to maintain drafts of a document so you can demonstrate the development over time and so you can revert in
part or in whole to a former version if you need to.

Always save the latest version of a document in a minimum of two places (i.e. on the hard drive, on disk, on an
email account, etc.) to ensure that if a document is lost or corrupted in one location, you can still access it at a
different location.

It is a good idea to backup your documents on an email account by emailing them to yourself so you have a copy
you can access from any machine with internet access. Yahoo is an ideal place to go for this purpose. You can
even create a new account you use only to store documents.


Bring all of your assignments with you on a disk to class every day.

Edit your documents on hard copy rather than on the computer screen. Editing a hard copy helps you see errors
you might not notice on screen as well as evaluate the format and use of white space.

If a document becomes corrupt, try selecting all of the text and pasting it into a new, blank document and saving
it. Sometimes this operation corrects the problem.

Do not modify existing styles to a standard Word template. Rather create your own styles based either on the
Normal style or on another style that you have created (which ultimately should have been based on Normal).

Never save your document as a template in Word. Rather create the styles you want in a regular document with a
.doc extension (not .dot) and open that document and save it as a new file when you want to use the “template”
you’ve created.

Do not plan to work on your document up to the last minute. Printing problems are common and often
unforeseeable. Remember that if you were working in industry an excuse of “I couldn’t get the document to print”
is not an appropriate excuse for missing a deadline. (Do not rely on printing in the computer lab. If you do print
there, you must have completed printing before the class starts.)

Remember that even though we only meet one night a week, an entire week’s worth of work must be completed
by the next class. Do not leave your assignments to the last minute. Assignments are much larger than you are
used to for classes that meet more than once a week. You must pace yourself to complete the work adequately.
This is good practice for project management and meeting deadlines in the industry.

Refer to online help or other aids for the software applications you use to create course materials. Though this
course is not a computer class specifically, the field of technical communications requires computer proficiency
and mastery of many software applications. This class will help you improve your computer skills, but much of
the learning is up to you. Unfortunately the only way to truly learn an application is through trial and error, blood,
sweat, and tears. I will help you as much as possible.
Print off a hard copy of your document after making substantial changes to it. Printing regularly ensures that at
the very least you will have a hard copy of a recent version to resort to in the worst-case scenario.
M. Reber
3/24/2016
4