TECO/EWRT 62: Survey of Technical Communications
Spring 2005
Professor: Reber
Classroom: L31 and AT103
Office: L41 Hours: T/W 5-6, by appt.
Phone: (408) 864-5565
Email: rebermarrietta@fhda.edu
Web Site: http://faculty.deanza.fhda.edu/reberm/
Course Texts
 The Elements of Technical Writing by Thomas E. Pearsall. 2nd Edition.
 TECO/EWRT 62 Reader compiled by M. Reber.
 A good grammar guide such as Little, Brown Compact Handbook.
Course Introduction
This course deepens your technical writing skills by focusing on document formats, production of various
technical documents, incorporation of graphics within text, and effective implementation of stylistic elements to
make your writing clear, concrete, concise, cohesive, useable, grammatically accurate, and technically precise.
Course Objectives
In the course of taking this class, you:
 Identify needs of your target audience, being sensitive to diverse cultural backgrounds and avoiding
regional terminology and unfamiliar jargon.
 Identify, analyze, and select the appropriate technical writing format based on purpose and audience.
 Choose efficient means to organize information and distinguish between irrelevant and important detail.
 Analyze various documents and select effective layout and graphic devices to achieve a balance
between graphics and text.
 Produce short documents that conform to industry standard and demonstrate sound strategic thinking.
Course Evaluation
The projected point breakdown for the course is shown in the table below:
Assignment
Points
Participation and Final
40
Instructions
10
Analytical Report
40
Proposal
40
Progress Report
40
Empirical Research Report Presentation
30
Empirical Research Report
50
Final Course Portfolio
50
Total
300
Score
You will be evaluated on a 100% scale (90-100% = A, 80-89% = B, 70-79% = C, 60-69% = D, below 60 = F.)
I reserve the right to curve the final grading scale or make adjustments to the percentage breakdown.
Course Assignments
Participation. You will maintain an ongoing participation document where you store classroom assignments and
peer review comments. (One major assignment will be a group PowerPoint you complete the first weeks of class
on one type of report.) You will print off the entire document along with a course evaluation to turn in at the final.
Instructions. You will write a brief set of instructions at the very beginning of the quarter as an assessment tool
to demonstrate your writing and formatting skill. Choose a simple task you already know how to do. The
instructions should provide overview information to define the task, its purpose, key terms, and required
materials/tools. This overview information should be followed by a set of numbered steps. (2-3 page maximum)
Analytical Report. You will write an analytical report, sometimes known as a feasibility report,
recommendation report, or decision report, in which you analyze data to reach conclusions. You may also make
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recommendations based on the conclusions reached. This report (and the ones that follow) will be graded on
clarity, organization, format, strategic thinking, grammar and usage, and Pearsall’s principles. (4-5 pages)
Proposal. You will write a solicited or unsolicited proposal in which you explore an offer or service you
(and/or your organization) could make to another organization. For this report, you may use as your subject a
provided case study, an appropriate service at an organization for which you have worked, or some service you
can provide on your own. Your proposal will be graded based on the criteria previously stated. (4-5 pages)
Please note that any time you use a case study, you are allowed to embellish it or invent reasonable details for
the scenario in order to create context to produce a comprehensive report. Be prepared to use your imagination.
Just be careful not to significantly alter concrete details or the intention of the original case study.
Progress Report. You will create a progress report in which you outline a project in detail, the steps required to
complete the project, and its current status. For this report, you may use a provided case study as the subject, or
you may use an appropriate project you’ve been involved with for a company or organization. The grading
criteria are similar to above. (4-5 pages)
Empirical Research Report. You will write a group empirical research report in which you survey existing
findings and research on your topic and draw conclusions as a group. The report should follow the format
outlined in Pearsall’s text and will be graded according to the principle therein as well as those stated above.
(10-15 pages) You will also do a group PowerPoint presentation of your findings to the class prior to turning in
the final report that will be graded in its own right.
Final Course Portfolio. You will turn in two revised course reports of your choice to be graded for the final.
These reports serve as samples for your professional portfolio to demonstrate your best work. You receive one
grade overall for the two revised reports. Be sure to turn in the original, graded versions with the final revisions.
Course Policies
Assignment Format. All assignments must be typed with your name, course, and date in the footer. Remember
that everything you produce makes a statement about your abilities. Format well and proofread carefully.
Required Materials. Access to the internet, a diskette you bring to class with your assignments, and a binder.
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 in class and could result in you being
dropped from the class. Cell phones, pagers, CD players, 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. Papers/assignments are due at the beginning of class. If you come late and turn
in your assignment before the period ends, your grade for that assignment will be dropped one letter grade.
Assignments/papers will not be accepted after the period has ended on the date due. I reserve the right to make
exceptions to this policy at my discretion. Please talk to me if you have extenuating circumstances. I am much
more likely to work with you if you have notified me in advance rather than after the fact.
Attendance and Tardiness. Assignments are due at the beginning of class. Excessive unexcused absences (2 or
more) could result in you being dropped from the class at any time. 2 unexcused tardies = 1 unexcused absence. I
reserve the right to make exceptions to this policy. Talk to me in advance if you have an emergency if possible.
Extra Credit. I allow some extra credit for no more than 3% of the total points. Two possibilities include:


Report or Book Critique. Find an existing report (one you have used or seen at a job or can find on the
internet) or an approved book on writing reports or business communications and critique it according to
the principles we have learned in class. Evaluate its effectiveness, format, organization, persuasiveness,
etc. Turn in the report with a detailed summary/critique. (2+ pages)
Marketing Idea. Identify a strategic way to market our TECO classes at De Anza to increase enrollment
and implement it. Turn in a memo detailing your idea and its implementation. (1-2 pages)
Last Day to Drop with a “W.” The last day to drop with a “W” is Friday, May 27th.
Assistance. For academic counseling, contact Renee McGinley at x. 5865 in S33B at mcginleyrenee@deanza.edu.
For personal counseling, contact Veronica Avila at x. 5652 in ADM8C at avilaveronica@fhda.edu.
Grammar Help. See the Tutorial Center in L-47 or visit: http://webster.commnet.edu/grammar/index.htm.
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TECO/EWRT 62 Schedule
Date
Topic
Reading Due
4/6
Course Introduction
Technical Communications
Chapters 1 and 2
Assignments Due
Purpose and Audience
4/13
Purpose and Audience (cont.)
Formats of Correspondence
Chapters 3, 8, & 9 (p. 105-118 only)
Instructions doc
Chapter 4
Analytical Report draft
Analytical Reports
4/20
Analytical Reports (cont.)
Write Clearly and Precisely
4/27
Group PPT on report type
Page Design/
Chapters 5 & 9 (p. 118-121 only)
Analytical Report Final
Proposals
“Proposals” entry in the reader
5/4
Elements and Formats of Reports/
Proposals (cont.)
Chapters 6
Proposal draft
5/11
Progress Reports
Chapter 9 (p. 122-123 only)
Proposal final
5/18
Progress Reports (cont.)
Empirical Research Reports
and Groups Established
Chapter 7
Progress Report draft
5/25
Empirical Research Reports
(cont.)
Chapter 9 (p. 123-126 only)
Progress Report final
6/1
Empirical Research Reports
(cont.)
6/8
Empirical Research Reports
(cont.)
Empirical Research
Report Presentation
6/15
Empirical Research Reports
(cont.)
Empirical Research
Report final
6/22
FINAL EXAMINATION
Portfolio due
Participation Document
Course Evaluation
**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, and to change topics at my discretion at any time.
Student Computer Labs. Please be aware that two labs are available for your use. AT102 has specific PC computers
set aside for Technical Communications students that are fully loaded with industry standard software. If a nonTechnical Communications student is using these computers, you can ask the lab assistant to reassign them to another
computer. This lab is open from 9:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. (subject to classes being held). You may also use the TECO lab
computers in L41. Check with me for lab hours for this quarter.
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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.
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