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English 502
Advanced Technical Writing Summer 2009 |
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Tech
writing does not express emotions or deep thoughts. The
writing is not author-centered, but reader-centered. It is focused on
solving the problems of readers at work. Most documents are team written
& edited by others. You demonstrate how smart you are by illustrating
that you know precisely who your target audience is, doing rhetorical
analysis to anticipate what
they want or need, & then providing the material in easy to navigate &
clearly written documents. It is never enough to
simply present the objective facts in a defensive author-centered view ("I did
my job"). Getting results often
involves employing a rhetorical strategy, such as threatening readers with unwanted
consequences, if they fail to do what you ask.
Component Text Theory Gerald J. Alred, Walter E. Oliu, Charles T. Brusaw. The Professional Writer: A Guide for Advanced Technical Writing. isbn 0-312-00248-3. St. Martin's Press; Amazon (used price: $1). This book is out of print, but used copies can be found. There are no assignments that require material from this book, so it is an optional text. Workbook Dan Jones. Technical Writing Style. 0-205-19722-1. Allyn Bacon. Amazon (used price: $43).
The NAU bookstore has copies of the Jones text, which they can ship to you. I'm not sure how many copies of the Alred text they may have, but they had some when I looked.
Grades: A: 90%
B: 80%
C: 65%
Assignments: Each unit has several components. The table illustrates a sample lesson providing directions for completing unit 02:
Submission Deadlines:
English 502 | Unit 02
What to do in lesson 02:
- Read Alred, The Professional Writer: ch. 2, pp. 19-31 (optional).
- Read the associated Webpage, "02: Reading Alred" (optional).
- Read the Webpage: "02: Working inside a discourse community."
Read the Webpage: "02: Getting data by interview."
- Read Jones: ch. 2, pp. 19-41.
- Read the Webpage: "02: Exercises in Jones."
Do the assigned exercises & email me your work before the deadline for this unit.- Contribute to the class discussion page.
There are 60 points available in unit 02.

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Email: john.rothfork@nau.edu11.20.08