english 414: writing for the computer industry

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dr. amy c. kimme hea
kimmehea@u.arizona.edu
office: ml 476
mailbox: ml445
office phone: 621.1780
home phone: 663.3500
office hours: t/r 12:30-2:00 & by appointment.

english 414-001
engl414@listserv.arizona.edu
location: ml412
course hours: t/r 2:00-3:15

course description
As an advanced professional writing course, English 414: Writing for the Computer Industry offers you the opportunity to develop your writing through rhetorical strategies and communications technologies. You will plan, create, and user-test a range of projects including, but not limited to, technical instructions for software applications for members of our course and writing instructors in the English department. Project management, documentation plans, style guides, and usability testing are just some of the topics that will be studied in our course. Through course readings, discussions, and oral reports, we will analyze and reflect upon the role of communication practices in the computer industry.

In this course you will learn to

assess the role of technical documentation in a range of user settings,
define and analyze the audiences and purposes for technical documentation,
apply field research findings in the drafting of rhetorically situated technical instructions,
hone your individual and collaborative project management skills,
use technologies to plan, develop, and support your individual and collaborative work,
write in a range of genres from needs assessments and documentation plans to quick reference guides and tutorials, and
develop print-based and electronic projects that attend to specific user needs.

top | course description | required materials | course policies | course projects | grading | text links

required materials
Our required course textbook is

Woolever, Kristen R., & Loeb, Helen M. (1994). Writing for the computer industry. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. (ISBN 0139712275).

This text is available through the UA Bookstore. For further information about our course textbook, you can visit http://www.uofabookstores.com/uaz/ or call (520) 621-2811or 621-2812.

Other required course readings will be available through University of Arizona electronic reserves. To visit the reserves, go to http://eres.library.arizona.edu/
courseindex.asp. From the listing of courses, select English and find 414 or from the listing of instructors, select "Kimme Hea, Amy". You will be prompted to provide a course reserve password, which I will be distributing in class.

Because one assumption of our course is that most technical writers rely on electronic communication, we too will use email, our class listserv, the WWW, and other electronic media. In fact, the bulk of your course materials such as syllabus, schedule, and project guides will be available to you through this course website or ereserves. To participate equitably in our course, you should check both your email inbox and our course website for updates.

Your document storage also should be managed electronically. While all the computers in ML412 have CD-RW drives, you can better manage your files through your U.System account. At present all students, regardless of departmental computing systems, are required to have a UA email address for official university correspondence, but you also may take advantage of the U.System account for web server space. Once you have access to the web server, you will be able to transfer files to and from your account via an FTP client called SSH Secure Shell.

To read more about U.System accounts, visit http://www.u.arizona.edu/udocs/
home.html. To either check which accounts you currently hold or add a U.System account, visit https://account.arizona.edu/ and click on the "Create CCIT computer accounts" link. For further help, please contact the CCIT Support Desk at (520) 621-HELP (4357), M-F 8am-5pm. I also will be reviewing your technology access at the beginning of our course, and you will be completing a technology checklist assignment to ensure you are able to work productively.

top | course description | required materials | course policies | course projects | grading | text links

course policies
technology responsibilities
In our class, you should expect to use computer technologies both in and out of class. Most of our communication as well as your planning and document production will employ computer technologies. Thus, in order to participate fully in the course, your primary technology responsibilities include:

sending and receiving emails and email attachments with your UA email account,
reading all course update messages sent to our class listserv,
checking the course schedule for any updates before coming to class,
maintaining back-up copies of all assignments via CD-ROMs, email attachments to yourself, and/or your U.System account, and
becoming more proficient with unfamiliar computer technologies and applications.

Because our course focuses on creating technical documentation for computer applications, you will be learning those technologies. At present, you need not have a familiarity with the following technologies, but you must be willing to learn more about their purposes and uses:

Microsoft Publisher and/or Adobe Pagemaker (for desktop publishing),
Macromedia Fireworks and/or Adobe Photoshop (for basic image editing),
HTML and/or Macromedia Dreamweaver (for web development),
Adobe Acrobat (for reading and creating PDF files), and
UA U.System account and SSH Secure Shell (for file storage).

To ensure your comfort and situate our work together, I will be reviewing the technology responsibilities with all of you and working to resolve any potential issues.

collaborative work
Collaborative work is a major element of our course. In fact, most projects in our course will require you to act as either co-developer and/or co-author. You and your team members are responsible for updating one another and me about assignment progress.

attendance
Attendance is required at all scheduled meetings: class meetings, student-professor conferences, client meetings, and peer meetings. Keep in mind that since you will work collaboratively with peer and clients, you also will be required to attend any scheduled out-of-class meetings with your team and client to complete course assignments.

important: Two absences may result in your final grade being lowered by as much as a letter grade. More than two absences can result in a failing grade for the course.
Please note that no distinction is made in this course between excused or unexcused absences. If you have a situation where you will be missing class and would like to appeal for an excused absence, you may visit the Dean of Students Office at 203 Old Main or contact the office through http://w3.arizona.edu/~dos/contact.html or (520) 621-7057.

Being regularly late for class and team meetings also can be counted as an absence.

late & incomplete work
If you must miss a scheduled class meeting, you are not excused from the work due at or accomplished during that class session. You should make arrangements to turn in your work in advance of your absence or before 6 pm on that same day.

If a serious and unavoidable problem arises, however, you should contact me prior to the deadline to determine whether or not an extension for the work will or will not be granted. An extension of a deadline is a privilege not a right, and therefore, is based upon my judgment of what is reasonable and fair.

A grade of an "I" for incomplete will only be assigned in extreme cases and where a majority of the work for the course has already been completed.

academic integrity
Projects in this course focus on your own experiences and your collaborations with peers and clients. Taking credit for the work of others or cheating in any form will not be tolerated.

Because a variety of research methods will be used in our course and your crediting of those sources is vital, we will discuss the preferred citation method used to produce most technical documents, which is APA (American Psychological Association). If you have any questions about citing sources, collaborating with your peers, or working with clients, please feel free to contact me at kimmehea@u.arizona.edu or (520) 621-1780.

disabilities accommodations
Students with disabilities who require reasonable accommodations are encouraged to contact me via email or during my office hours. We will make arrangements for your equitable participation in the course.

top | course description | required materials | course policies | course projects | grading | text links

course projects
You will complete a series of interrelated projects for this course as well as a number of homework assignments, workshops, and other activities.

unit 1: quick reference project 20% (individual)

unit 2: field research & documentation plan for the instructor tutorial project 25% (collaborative)

unit 3: usability & deliverable for the instructor tutorial project 40% (collaborative)

unit 4: course documentation portfolio 15% (individual)

grading
You must complete all the larger projects and all of their components to pass the course.

For each project you must submit multiple components (including preliminary assignments, research notes, drafts, etc.). For the specifics of each unit, follow the links provided in the above course projects section.

All assignments will be graded on the standard letter-grade scale:

A=100-90

B=89-80

C=79-70

D=69-60

F=59 or below

Students auditing or taking the course based on S/NS status also must complete all major projects and all of their components to pass the course with a satisfactory ranking.

note: As the instructor for the course, I reserve the right to make any necessary changes to the course projects, schedule, and policies. You will be advised of any such changes through a listserv update and a class announcement.