Course Information
Comm 1051
Professional and Technical Writing: An
Introduction
Course Coordinator: Dr Ioana Petrescu
CONTENTS
Staff contact details
1
Attendance and submission requirements
2
Course statement
2
Course structure
4
Assessment requirements
5
STAFF CONTACT DETAILS
Course Coordinator
Dr Ioana Petrescu
Office: B2-13 Tel: 8302 4522
Email: Ioana.Petrescu@unisa.edu.au
Lecturer/Tutor
Jodie George
Office: TE-08
Email: Jodie.George@unisa.edu.au
Assignment submission: Box outside B2-13
1
ATTENDANCE AND SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS
Due to the interactive mode of teaching and learning in this course, you are
required to attend at least 80% of the total number of classes (lectures and
tutorials). Unless you have an adequate reason (e.g. medical or sympathetic
grounds), missing more than three lectures or three tutorials may result in
your not being deemed to have completed the course.
Similarly, you are required to submit all the assignment tasks in order to be
deemed to have completed the course. Please request extensions before the
due dates for assignments. Late submission without an extension may be
penalised.
COURSE STATEMENT
PROFESSIONAL AND TECHNICAL WRITING: AN INTRODUCTION
Course code: COMM 1051 Units: 4.5
Study Periods 2 & 5, Magill
Prerequisites
There are no prerequisites for this course.
Aim
To develop students’ skills in writing a wide range of professional and
technical texts, and to extend skills in drafting, planning, evaluating and
revising, editing and visual rhetoric.
Objectives
On completion of this course students should be able to:
 recognise the social, rhetorical and stylistic influences in the construction
of texts
 analyse the constructing features of a wide range of professional and
technical texts
 write a wide range of professional and technical texts
 evaluate and revise writing
 design a wide range of professional and technical texts
 demonstrate a knowledge of visual rhetoric and text production
 understand the principles of desktop publishing
 understand issues related to ethics, copyright, liability and responsibility
in professional and technical writing.
2
By understanding this course, students will progress in the development of the
following qualities:
Graduate
quality
1.Body of
knowledge
2.Lifelong
learning
3.Effective
problem
solvers
4.Work
alone
and in
teams
5.Ethical
action
6.Communicate
effectively
7.International
perspective
Indicative
point
weighting
1.5
0.25
1.0
0.5
0.5
0.5
0.25
Syllabus
Exploration and analysis of texts in academic, governmental, professional,
industrial, corporate and public contexts. Practice in defining, planning,
drafting, evaluating and revising a range of professional and technical
communications.
Texts
Anderson, PV 2007, Technical communication: a reader-centered approach, 6th
edn, Wadsworth, Boston.
Recommended
Style manual for authors, editors and printers, 2002 6th edn, John Wiley & Sons
Australia, Ltd, Singapore.
Winckel, A & Hart, B 2002, Report writing style guide for engineering students,
UniSA, Adelaide.
A link to the Winckel & Hart text is available from the course home page.
References
Flann, E & Hill, B 2004, The Australian editing handbook, 2nd edn, John Wiley &
Sons Australia, Milton, Qld.
Marsen, S 2007, Professional writing: the complete guide for business, industry and
IT, 2nd edn, Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke.
Mohan, T, McGregor, H, Saunders, S & Archee, R 2008, Communicating as
professionals, 2nd ed, Thomson Learning Australia, South Melbourne.
Searles, GJ 2009 , Workplace communications: the basics , 4th edn,
Pearson/Longman, New York.
Smith-Worthington, D & Jefferson, S 2005, Technical writing for success, 2nd edn,
Thomson/South-Western, Australia.
3
Online Resources
Course homepage –
http://www.unisanet.unisa.edu.au/Courses/course.asp?Course=007624
Anderson website –
http://www.heinle.com/cgiwadsworth/course_products_wp.pl?fid=M20b&product_isbn_issn=141301
7703&discipline_number=300
Harvard Reference Learning Guide –
http://www.unisanet.unisa.edu.au/learningconnection/student/learningAdvi
sors/documents/harvard-referencing.pdf
Transadelaide website http://www.transadelaide.com.au/pdf/exprsfeb07.pdf
Course structure
Weekly Lecture
Weekly Seminar
Discussion Board
1 hour
1 hour
Frequent contributions expected
In the lecture the key aspects of the week’s topics will be described and
explained. During the seminars you will work on practical exercises relating
to the lecture material. You will also be expected to contribute relevant
material to the discussion board on a regular basis. Textbook readings will be
allocated so that you will already have some familiarity with the material
before hearing the lecture. It is important to your success in this course that
you engage fully with all four elements: lecture, seminar, discussion board,
and weekly readings.
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ASSESSMENT REQUIREMENTS
Assignment
Report Draft
Employment Application
Package
Final Report
Word Length
Approx 500
words
Approx 1500
words
Approx 2000
words
Due
Week
6
Week
10
Week
14
Participation
Grade
15%
30%
45%
10%
*Note: assignments may be submitted in hard copy or via
AssignIT (available on course home page)
The major report writing assignment will be completed in two stages. The
draft of the report is due in Week 6 (see below for more details). The fully
formatted, final report is to be submitted in Week 14. If you submit a hard
copy and would like it returned please include a self-addressed stamped
envelope.
Report draft (approx 500 words)
15% due Week 6
*Note: You will need to refer to the instructions for the Final Report
assignment on pages 6 and 7 in this study guide.
Your report draft must consist of:
 a title page
 an abstract
 a table of contents – showing headings down to the third level
 an introduction
 a bibliography containing at least four reference items set out in the
required style (Check Harvard Reference Learning Guide from the
course home page)
 responses to the Defining Objectives worksheet questions (see
Anderson, 2007, p. 92). Answers should be very brief, e.g. bullet
points, short comments.
5
Employment application package (approx 1500 words)
30% due Week 10
There are three components to this task:



application letter
résumé
selection criteria.
Find a suitable professional job advert from either a print or electronic source.
Write the letter of application and a résumé. If the job advert requests you to
email/phone for their ‘selection criteria’ (sometimes called by other names
like ‘job specs’ or ‘person specs’) do so and address at least three of these
criteria in your application. If your job advert does not ask you to submit a
third component, identify at least three criteria from the job ad itself and
address these. Most organisations seek ‘excellent communication skills’,
‘teamwork’, ‘ability to work to tight deadlines’ etc. Examples of all three
aspects of this task will be available from the Week 8 lecture notes on the
course home page. Note: for this assignment, it is permissible to imagine that
you have already completed your degree.
Final report (approx 2000 words)
45% due Week 14
Your task is to critically analyse a professional document (either provided in
class or one of your choosing) and present your findings in a report format. To
do this you must first imagine that the editor of your chosen document has
commissioned a report to assess the document’s readability, usability and
persuasiveness. Then you must:



analyse and evaluate the document using the criteria discussed in class, in
your textbooks and in other reputable sources
redraft part of the document to reflect your recommended changes and
include this as an appendix (one A4 sheet of text and one missing
element)
submit your final report in a professional manner.
The report should be formatted using the guidelines found in Report writing
style guide for engineering students (Winckel & Hart 2002). Further
resources to help you complete this assignment are also available via the
course homepage (see the Report Assignment folder).
6
Participation 10%
Assessment will be based on your lecture and tutorial attendance, class
contributions and discussion board postings throughout the semester. The
PTW discussion board is a facility for you to use frequently to post relevant
notes, ideas, responses to the course work, sample pieces of workplace
communication etc. Further information will be given in Week 1. To assist
all participants on the discussion board, please indicate in the subject line if
your posting is intended for ‘All’ or just your own tutorial class.
7
Course contents
Week
Lecture Topic
Deadlines for
Assignments
1
Course Introduction
Guide to Online Resources
2
Key Concepts of PTW
Defining Objectives
3
Planning for Usability and
Persuasiveness
4
Report Writing
Critiquing a Document
5
Research Methods
Referencing
6
Memo, Email, Letter
7
Evaluating and Revising
8
Letter of Application
Résumé/Selection Criteria
9
Drafting Prose
10
Plain English
11
Graphics
12
Issues of Copyright
13
Revision/ Q&A
14
No class
Submit Report Draft
Assignment
Submit Employment
Application Package
Submit Final Report
Note: you will find the homepage for this course at:
http://www.unisanet.unisa.edu.au/Courses/course.asp?Course=007624
8
Weekly schedule
Week 1
Lecture topic: Course introduction. Guide to online resources.
Seminar topic: Course requirements and assignment details. Quiz and
discussion of responses.
For next week: Read Anderson, chapters 1 and 3. Access website and
resources. Post a relevant message on the discussion board.
Week 2
Lecture topic: Key concepts in PTW. Defining objectives.
Seminar topic: Principles guiding workplace documents. Persuasive
communication. Ethical guidelines.
For next week: Read Anderson chapters 4 and 5.
Week 3
Lecture topic: Planning for usability and persuasiveness.
Seminar topic: Assessing usability and persuasiveness in professional
documents.
For next week: Read Anderson chapter 21 and reference guide IV pp.557585.
Week 4
Lecture topics: Report writing and critiquing a document
9
Seminar topic: Overview of the report draft assignment. Critical analysis of
the professional documents available for the assignment.
For next week: Read Anderson chapter 6 and reference guide 1 pp.165-196.
Download and read the Harvard referencing learning guide available from
course home page.
Week 5
Lecture topics: Research methods and referencing
Seminar topic: Preparing an informative communication using appropriate
research methods.
For next week: Read Anderson chapter 20.
Note: your report draft assignment is due in class next week (Week 6).
Week 6
Lecture topics: Memo, email and letter writing
Seminar topic: Replying to letters within a workplace/business context.
For next week: Read Anderson chapters 14 and 15.
Note: your report draft assignment is due in class today.
Week 7
Lecture topics: Evaluating and revising
Seminar topic: Proofreading a document. Evaluating a document and
providing appropriate feedback.
For next week: Read Anderson chapter 2.
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Week 8
Lecture topic: Letter of application, résumé and selection criteria
Seminar topic: Critiquing examples of résumés and job application letters.
For next week: Read Anderson chapters 7, 9 and 10.
Week 9
Lecture topic: Drafting Prose. Beginning and ending a communication.
Seminar topic: Making a communication more effective. Developing topic
statements.
For next week: Read Anderson, Chapter 8.
Note: Your Employment Package assignment is due in class next week.
Week 10
Lecture topics: Plain English
Seminar topic: Defining terminology for the layperson. Technical writing
exercises.
For next week: Read Anderson chapter 12 and reference guide pp. 351-371.
Note: Your Employment Package assignment is due in class today.
11
Week 11
Lecture topic: Drafting reader-centred graphics.
Seminar topic: Writing reader-centred instructions.
For next week: Read Anderson, guideline 7, pp.157-161.
Week 12
Lecture topic: Issues of copyright
Seminar topic: Report writing revision and analysis.
For next week: Please bring into class any relevant examples of
poor/amusing/interesting texts to share with the class.
Week 13
Lecture topic: Review class. Question and answer session.
Seminar topic: Discussion of poor/amusing/interesting texts.
Note: Your Final Report assignment is due next week. Please provide a
stamped self-addressed envelope (SASE).
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