English+312+outcomes

ENGLISH 312 TECHNICAL WRITING
Students who complete ENGLISH 312 will demonstrate at the advanced level 1.) facility with writing processes, 2.) critical awareness when reading and writing professional-level texts, with “professional” indicating a level of competency that meets the discourse expectations of the workplace, whether that location is a school district, non-profit organization, industry, or corporation, and 3.) stylistic fluency and technical accuracy at the professional level. These goals may be achieved through the sub-goals listed below.

1. Facility with writing processes:
 * apply a repertoire of invention, arrangement, composing, and revising/editing strategies to a variety of technical communication contexts;
 * implement strategies for effective collaborative writing;
 * develop and implement strategies for effective peer criticism by assuming the role in the audience the technical communicator is addressing.

2. Critical awareness when reading and writing professional-level technical discourses:


 * identify rhetorical situations technical communicators face in addressing technicians, managers, experts, and non-specialists;
 * identify appropriate technical documents to meet the needs of various audiences;
 * demonstrate language and values that define the discourse community of the student's technical discipline;
 * compose modes of discourse typical of technical writing, such as, electronic and/or hard-copy letters, memoranda, formal reports, short informal reports, manuals, instructions, informational reports, summaries, abstracts, proposals, literature reviews, material for discipline-specific websites;
 * develop support for claims from researching trade and scholarly publications.

3. Stylistic fluency and technical accuracy at the professional level:
 * apply design principles when preparing tables, charts, graphs, technical illustrations, and photograph layouts for supportive inclusion with texts;
 * implement effective strategies for preparing and delivering oral presentations;
 * develop and implement effective strategies for revising and editing texts.

__Earlier Version:__ 1. Show facility with writing processes:
 * understand that writing is a process, that writing is necessarily part of a larger context or practice, and that writing can be used to effect change;
 * demonstrate flexibility in applying a repertoire of invention, arrangement, composing, and revising/editing strategies to a variety of technical communication contexts;
 * evaluate writing, identify requisite revisions, and implement necessary changes for effective discourses;
 * demonstrate an awareness of the fact that technical writing is deeply embedded in narrative writing;
 * implement strategies for effective collaborative writing, including web-based collaborations;
 * develop and implement strategies for effective peer criticism: acting as an effective reader and mentor; incorporating useful suggestions into students’ final drafts;
 * use journaling to support the study and production of texts.

2. Critical awareness when reading and writing professional-level technical discourses:


 * demonstrate awareness of the rhetorical situation: when preparing technical documents, identify audiences’ needs and write with a clear sense of purpose and intended consequences, realizing that writing can produce unintended consequences as well;
 * identify effective composing strategies to create modes of discourse typical of technical writing: electronic and/or hard-copy letters, memoranda, formal reports, short informal reports, manuals, instructions, informational reports, summaries, abstracts, proposals, literature reviews; correspondence writing for websites, wikis and blogs; students’ own websites, wikis and blogs;
 * identify, research, and respond to an issue important to students’ professional fields, linking students’ solutions to the problem they are trying to solve;
 * identify strategies for researching and reporting industry and scholarly information from trade and scholarly publications to support claims;
 * identify the discourse features that distinguish students’ own discipline and institutional community from that of others, such as, for example, the diverse discourses of environmental science, astrophysics, mathematics, or engineering;
 * demonstrate in speaking and in writing an understanding of the professional literature of their field of study; their perspectives on the practices and communication of people working in their field; and the life and issues of the larger world of work and technology;
 * locate their technical writing within and through a clearly articulated value system, incorporating ethical standards and practice in their writing; communicate in an ethically responsible manner;
 * identify the on-going impact of technology upon technical writing, in particular the possibilities for global communication, by reading and evaluating online writing venues (e.g., wikis, blogs, websites, etc.) that provide students global audiences with diverse needs.

3. Stylistic fluency and technical accuracy at the professional level:


 * demonstrate an awareness of design principles in regard to preparing tables, charts, graphs, technical illustrations, and photograph layouts for supportive inclusion with print texts;
 * implement effective strategies for oral presentation planning, drafting, and delivery;
 * implement effective strategies for revision and editing to produce texts suitable for circulation and/or publication in the workplace.