English 3369 is an advanced technical communication course focusing on the visual and physical aspects of documents. In this class, we’ll concentrate on how these aspects relate to the textual and rhetorical aspects of documents, which you should already be familiar with from ENGL 3365.
The course will give you the analytical and practical skills you need to create visually effective documents in paper and digital media. It will ground those skills by giving you a clearer awareness of the theoretical principles behind effective visual rhetoric.
Prerequisite: ENGL 3365
Upon completion of this course, you should be able to do the following:
In order to evaluate how well you've learned these things, you'll receive feedback and grades on your work, you'll be expected to contribute to class discussion, you'll receive feedback from the recipient of your project and from the professor, and your final portfolio will receive feedback and a grade.
Kimball, Miles. (1998). Document Design. Manuscript available online: http://www.faculty.english.ttu.edu/kimball/DocDesignCurrentChapters.htm
Storage media for your work. Losing your work is not an excuse, unfortunately, so save in many places.
Office hours are times for you to get individual help. You do not need an appointment to see me during my scheduled hours. If your classes conflict with my hours, please make an appointment for another time. You are also welcome to ask questions about assignments through email.
| A | superior; the work is of near professional quality. The paper meets or exceeds all the objectives of the assignment. The content is mature, thorough, and well-suited for the audience; the style is clear, accurate, and forceful; the information is well-organized and formatted so that it is accessible and attractive; the mechanics and grammar are correct. Your manager would be impressed with your work and remember it when promotion possibilities arise. It would be ready to send to clients immediately, and it would reflect well on the company. |
| B | competent; the paper meets the objectives of the assignment, but it needs improvement in style, or it contains easily correctable errors in grammar, format, or content, or its content is superficial. Your manager would be satisfied with your work, but not impressed. It would probably need minor revisions to satisfy clients. |
| C | average; the paper needs significant improvement in concept, details, development, organization, grammar, or format. It may be formally correct but superficial in content. Your manager would be disappointed with your work, although it fulfilled the basic requirements. It would need significant revisions before being released to clients. |
| D | marginally acceptable; the paper meets some of the objectives but ignores others; the content is inadequately developed; or it contains numerous or major errors. Your manager would be troubled by the poor quality of your work; it would have to be redone to satisfy clients. |
| F | unacceptable; the paper does not have enough information, does something other than the assignment required, or it contains major errors or excessive errors. Your manager would start looking for your replacement. |
You can figure an A as 95, A- as 90, B+ as 88 etc. The minimum average for a passing (D) grade is 65.
You must turn in all assigned work to pass the course. If you do not turn in an assignment, you will fail the course (because you did not complete it), even though your average may be passing. You must turn in papers when they are due. Late papers will lose a full letter grade for each class day that they are late. (A paper due Tuesday graded as a B but turned in Wednesday or Thursday will be recorded as a C.) If a paper is so late that it would receive a zero, you must still turn it in for no credit to pass the course. I have assembled a separate web page with this semester's assignments.
You benefit by attending regularly and developing professional work habits. The official attendance policy, as stated in the Undergraduate Catalog, goes as follows: "The effect of absences on grades is determined by the instructor. When absences jeopardize a student's standing in a class, it is the responsibility of the instructor to report that fact to the student's dean. Excessive absences constitute cause for dropping a student from class; in such a case the grade of WF may be given." Since this is a workshop course, your attendance is expected at all class meetings. However, because life is complicated, you may miss two meetings for any reason with no penalty. Regardless of the reason for absence, you must complete all missed work. For the third, fourth, and fifth absences, your course grade will be lowered one full grade level per absence. Students who miss seven or more meetings are not eligible to receive a passing grade. Students who do not attend the final presentations will receive a failing grade for the final project.
Excused absences are granted only for the following reasons: personal illness, the illness of a dependent, the death or funeral of an immediate family member, or required attendance at an official university activity. Work or activities for other classes are not excused. To be classified as excused, the absence must be documented authoritatively (for example, an illness must be documented by a doctor’s note). If you will be absent due to trips officially approved by the university, you must notify me in writing (not by email) no later than one week prior to the absence so we can work out schedule rearrangements. You will not be penalized for official absences.
I will send you email through your TTU email account. If you use an email account other than your assigned TTU account, you must set up mail forwarding to your alternate account by September 7 by logging in to the eRaider zone at http://eraider.ttu.edu and changing the options under Techmail.
Any student who, because of a disability, may require some special arrangements in order to meet course requirements must contact me by the end of the second week of classes to make necessary accommodations.
Plagiarism means "using, stating, offering or reporting as one's own, an idea, expression, or production of another person without proper credit to its source." (Class Schedule, Code of Student Affairs.) Plagiarism means using another student's work or published work without credit. Plagiarism rules include material on the World Wide Web as well as print materials. Plagiarism will result in failure on the assignment and may result in failure in the course. If you are uncertain about what to document or when it is appropriate to request the assistance of a tutor, please ask me.