COURSE INFORMATION
Course Title: Technical Writing
Course Prefix, Number, and Section Number: ENGL 2311.313
Semester/Year of course: Spring 2024
Semester start and end dates: 1/16/2024 - 5/9/2024
Modality: Online
Class meeting location, days, and times: Online
Semester credit hours: 3
Course Description: Intensive study of and practice in professional settings. Focus on the types of documents necessary to make decisions and take action on the job, such as proposals, reports, instructions, policies and procedures, email messages, letters, and descriptions of products and services. Practice individual and collaborative processes involved in the creation of ethical and efficient documents.
Required course materials: Beilfuss, Michael, Staci Bettes, and Katrina Peterson. Technical and Professional Writing Genres: A Study in Theory and Practice, 2020. Open Educational Resource published under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license. You can read and download the textbook for free at https://open.library.okstate.edu/technicalandprofessionalwriting/.
INSTRUCTOR INFORMATION
Name of instructor: Dr. Rochelle Gregory
Office location: Gainesville 500 Building
Telephone number: 940 498 6297
Email address: rgregory@nctc.edu
Office hours for students:
- Online: Tuesday - Friday, 9:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.
- Face-to-face: Email to schedule an appointment.
SYLLABUS CHANGE DISCLAIMER
The faculty member reserves the right to make changes to this published syllabus if it is in the best interest of the educational development of this class. Any such changes will be announced as soon as possible in person and/or writing.
SUMMARY OF COURSE ASSIGNMENTS
List of graded assignments. See the Course Summary below.
Final grade scale. See the right column (Group and Weight).
Late work policy. A major writing task is due on the day listed on Canvas. However, if you need an extension, please visit with me privately to make those arrangements. I reserve the right not to evaluate any work submitted more than five days late.
COURSE POLICIES
Academic Integrity Policy. Scholastic dishonesty shall include, but not be limited to, cheating on a test, plagiarism, and collusion. See Student Handbook “Student Rights & Responsibilities: Student Conduct [FLB- (LOCAL)]” #18.
Disciplinary Actions [Student Handbook, #5] “When cheating, collusion, or plagiarism has occurred beyond any reasonable doubt, the instructor may give the student or students involved an “F” on a particular assignment or in the course. [See Scholastic Dishonesty FLB (Local)] The instructor shall make a written report of the incident and the planned action to his Department Chair. The Department Chair shall report the incident and action to the appropriate instructional dean, who shall review the case, notify the student, and, if necessary, take further action. This may involve either probation or suspension of the student or students in question. If such disciplinary action is deemed necessary, the Dean of Student Services shall be notified, and the action shall be taken through that office.”
AI Writing and Acceptable Use: Submitting work generated by ChatGPT or any other AI language tool on assignments is considered academic dishonesty, even if cited as a source. NCTC's English Department uses AI detectors to enforce this policy. The writing assignments in NCTC English courses require generating new knowledge, rather than just recombining existing information. AI does not generate original research, and the information may contain factual errors.
AI may be used in brainstorming, or developing a research question. Generally speaking, students are not authorized to use artificial intelligence and related products like large language model applications to produce work for this class EXCEPT on assignments that the instructor has identified and for which the student will have received significant guidance on the appropriate use of such technologies. Students should not, however, construe this limited use as permission to use these technologies in any other facet of their coursework. Grammarly (or other grammar tools) can be used to assist in the correction of grammar and/or sentence structure errors, but it is not acceptable to use Grammarly to revise/rewrite student writing. Students who submit AI-generated content as original work will be subject to the same disciplinary actions listed above in the college's academic integrity policy.
Attendance Policy. Attendance, in both online and face-to-face courses, is required. Because this course progresses very quickly, I reserve the right to block from this course students who fail to complete assignments for more than one week. Students who are blocked MUST contact the registrar's office and withdraw from the course, or they will receive a semester grade of F.
Withdrawal Policy. A student may withdraw from a course on or after the official date of record. Students are responsible for initiating and completing a Withdrawal Request Form.
The last day to withdraw from the course with a “W” is April 1, 2024.
Student Learning Outcomes. Upon completion, students will be able to:
- Recognize, analyze, and accommodate diverse audiences.
- Produce documents appropriate to audience, purpose, and genre.
- Analyze the ethical responsibilities involved in technical communication.
- Locate, evaluate, and incorporate pertinent information.
- Develop verbal, visual, and multimedia materials as necessary, in individual and/or collaborative projects, as appropriate.
- Edit for appropriate style, including attention to word choice, sentence structure, punctuation, and spelling.
- Design and test documents for easy reading and navigation.
Core Objectives. Courses in this category focus on developing ideas and expressing them clearly, considering the effect of the message, fostering understanding, and building the skills needed to communicate persuasively. Courses involve the command of oral, aural, written, and visual literacy skills that enable people to exchange messages appropriate to the subject, occasion, and audience.
- Critical Thinking Skills (CT)- to include creative thinking, innovation, inquiry, analysis, evaluation, and synthesis of information
- Communication Skills (COM)- to include effective development, interpretation, and expression of ideas through written, oral, and visual communication
- Teamwork (TW)- to include the ability to consider different points of view and to work effectively with others to support a shared purpose or goal
- Personal Responsibility (PR)- to include the ability to connect choices, actions, and consequences to ethical decision-making [Rev. 5-2014 THECB]
COLLEGE POLICIES
Student Handbook. Students are expected to follow all rules and regulations found in the Student Handbook.
ADA Statement. NCTC will adhere to all applicable federal, state, and local laws, regulations, and guidelines with respect to providing reasonable accommodations to afford equal educational opportunity. It is the student’s responsibility to contact the Office for Students with Disabilities to arrange appropriate accommodations. See the OSD Syllabus Addendum.
Student Services. NCTC provides a multitude of services and resources to support students. See the Student Services Syllabus Addendum for a listing of those departments and links to their sites.
QUESTIONS, CONCERNS, or COMPLAINTS
The student should contact the instructor to deal with any questions, concerns, or complaints specific to the class. If the student and faculty are not able to resolve the issue, the student may contact the chair or coordinator of the division. If the student remains unsatisfied, the student may proceed to contact the instructional dean.
Name of Chair/Coordinator: Kristen Weinzapfel
Office Location: Gainesville 502
Telephone number: 940 668 3343
Email address: kweinzapfel@nctc.edu
Name of Instructional Dean: Dean Crystal Wright
Office Location: Denton Exchange, Room 204
Telephone number: (940) 380-2504
Email address: cwright@nctc.edu