WR 227-002 (Spring 2022)

Anna Diehl (adiehl@pdx.edu)

Class meetings: Mon/Wed 2:00-3:50 pm (Science & Education Center 163)
Office hours: Tue/Thu 10:00-11:00 am (Fariborz Maseeh Hall 304)

Introductory Technical Writing

Welcome to Writing 227: Introductory Technical Writing. This class introduces technical and professional
communication with a focus on the types of writing that students will use in their chosen fields. Here
you’ll learn not only conventional genres of technical writing –letters, memos, reports, descriptions, and
instructions– but audience analysis and communication skills that will set you apart professionally.

Our primary goal in this course is to learn strategies for successfully navigating technical writing
situations. A strategy is the critical thinking component of planning to write in a technical context: it is
the framework that informs your choices about how to address a technical writing situation. Strategies
benefit students’ thinking because they are transferable across any technical writing context. In other
words, you can take them with you no matter what company, industry, or profession you may enter –
and you will work in many over the course of your career. Strategies can be adapted to any technical
writing situation.

Writing 227: Introductory Technical Writing is open to students of all majors and experience levels.
Students come from all fields within the acronym “STEAM”: science, technology, engineering, arts, and
mathematics. Students’ ages range from 18 to 60+ and experience levels from first-year students to
post-baccalaureates, resulting in a range of diverse perspectives. In addition to learning strategies for
thinking about technical writing, this course’s students learn practices of technical writing that many
professions and industries conventionally use. Although a 10-week course cannot cover all technical
writing practices you may encounter professionally, this course’s projects provide a strong foundation to
build upon in the future. Practices are specific to a technical writing situation.

This course’s main objective is for you to learn essential rhetorical strategies and practices:

● Audience awareness and writing user profiles

● Conventional genres of technical writing (proposal emails, explanatory wiki pages, how-to
documents)
● Team writing and managing a task schedule
● Creating and integrating visuals into technical documents
● Document design
● Writing and editing for clarity, cohesion & plain style
● Usability testing
Learning Outcomes
Students who participate actively in this class will accomplish the following:

Rhetorical Awareness

➢ Exhibit rhetorical awareness and competence

➢ Apply key rhetorical concepts through analyzing, designing, and composing a variety of
deliverable documents for a professional/technical context

Critical Thinking, Reading, and Writing

➢ Read and evaluate complex texts and synthesize information for specific situations and
audiences; design and compose deliverables that meet the needs of specific users/clients

➢ Engage in project-based research applying appropriate methods of inquiry for clearly defined
technical/professional contexts (including, but not limited to, user experience research and
client/organization research)

Processes

➢ Plan, design, and compose deliverable documents using a variety of media and
communication strategies

➢ Collaborate effectively with various stakeholders (e.g., peer group members, instructor, users,
clients, subject matter experts) to develop and apply flexible and effective strategies for
project management, including: planning, research, composing, design, and revision

➢ Demonstrate appropriate, intentional, and flexible strategies for managing multi-stage,

collaborative projects

Knowledge of Conventions

➢ Incorporate information accurately and ethically from a variety of sources, including visual and
other non-linguistic texts

➢ Develop and adapt document design and composition strategies to meet the demands of
different organizations and contexts

➢ Navigate norms of format, style, citation, and other context-specific conventions

Metacognition and Transfer

➢ Design and articulate an approach to achieving a document’s purpose and user/audience

needs

➢ Reflect on individual and professional ethical responsibilities within an organizational context

Materials
● Textbook: Open Technical Communication by Tamara Powell, Tiffani Reardon & Jonathan Arnett
(required — available free online)
● A laptop or tablet for in-class writing workshops (highly recommended)
● An email address that you check regularly (required)
● Course calendar: Available in the syllabus

Course Requirements

Assignments
Assignment Points
Assignment #1: What I Need to Know About TW Interview Memo Report 20
Assignment #2: Explaining Technical Topics Team Wiki Site Project 25
Assignment #3: A How-To I Wish I’d Had Instruction Set 20
Assignment #4: Reflection email 10
Midterm Exam 10
Workshop Participation 15
TOTAL 100

Assignment #1: What I Need to Know About TW Interview Memo Report

This assignment asks you to write a short memo report to your instructor about what you need to know
about technical writing in the real world. This report will be based on an informal interview that you will
conduct with someone you know who works in your field of study or any line of work that interests you.
Includes proposal email, interview questions, and short memo report.

Assignment #2: Explaining Technical Topics Team Wiki Site Project

For this assignment, teams of 3 members will author a 5-article wiki site about a technical topic of your
choice. The definitions and descriptions of the topic should be geared toward a less-technical audience.
It is recommended that you join a team with a shared technical interest (such as a topic in engineering,
science, or other majors or interests). Choose a topic that you imagine would be of interest and use to an
identifiable audience with less technical knowledge than your team (high school students, patients,
other PSU students, consumers of a particular product, etc.). You will build your wiki pages using Google
Sites (sites.pdx.edu). Includes proposal email, team task schedule, 5-page wiki site, and usability testing
report.

Assignment #3: A How-To I Wish I’d Had Instruction Set

For this assignment you will author a how-to document that you wish you had had to complete a task
essential to your life. Have you ever been frustrated by a task or a process because of the lack of easily
available and easy-to-use how-to documentation? For example, when applying to college or applying for
financial aid or other PSU student processes? What about using a new technology? The purpose of this
assignment is to make you aware of what goes into authoring effective, user-centric how-to
documentation. This assignment will teach you general principles that can be applied to writing how-to
documentation across many contexts (end-user documentation for software development, support
documentation for any bureaucratic process or personal use). Includes proposal email, how-to
document, in-class usability testing, and a reflection.

Assignment #4: Reflection email

The purpose of this assignment is to give you an opportunity to think metacognitively about your
learning about technical communication this quarter. Knowledge that you are able to process
metacognitively becomes the knowledge that you are able to recall and apply in the future. The quality
of your answer will depend on your ability to connect learning from the course to your own past,
present, or future narrative or experiences with technical communication.

Midterm Exam
The purpose of the midterm exam is to review and clarify the key conceptual elements from the
textbook and from class activities that guide and shape the projects this quarter. The exam will be a
take-home, open book, short essay exam. Completed exams will be submitted via Canvas.

Workshops
The structure of this course is a combined lecture, discussion, and workshop format. The workshop
component of this course is especially important because workshops enable you to learn by applying
course content immediately and directly to your own work. Coming prepared to workshops means
bringing with you any assignment drafts that are in progress. I strongly recommend that you bring a
laptop, computer, or tablet to class every class session so that you can access course materials on Canvas
in class and work on electronic versions of class assignments. If you are not able to bring a laptop with
you, then it is up to you to bring to class paper versions of work-in-progress and to have a notebook and
writing implement ready for use. Workshops cannot be made up. You may miss three workshops as part
of the attendance policy. 15% of your grade is attending 15 of the 18 workshops.

Grading Scale and Policies

Final grades are assigned according to the following scale:

Grade Percentage
Range

A 95-100

A- 91-94

B+ 88-90
 B 85-87

B- 81-84

C+ 77-80

C 73-76

C- 69-72

D+ 65-68

D 61-64

F 0

Academic Expectations

Revision Policy
Assignments (except for the reflection letter) receiving a grade of B- or lower may be revised for a
maximum grade increase to a B. Revised papers are due two weeks after I return them to you, or by the
last day of class, whichever is the shorter period. Part of the required revision process is a discussion
with me to discuss your revision strategy.

Late Work Policy

Late work will be docked 10% of all possible points unless other arrangements have been made with me
in advance. It is your responsibility to ensure that assignments have been posted in the correct place and
on time.

Attendance policy
Attendance in class is required and necessary to successfully complete the course. This is especially true
since your teammates will be counting on you to pull your weight during the team work portion of the
course. As a policy for my classes, I allow for excused class absences for any reason during the quarter.
Unexcused absences beyond two will count against your workshop participation grade at the cost of 1
point per absence. Please communicate any planned absences to me in advance so that we can arrange
for how you will stay current with the class.
Communication policy
I expect to be able to communicate with you via your .pdx.edu email address. It is essential that you
check this email regularly for course communications.

Late Policy
Don’t arrive late to class so often that I begin to notice and question your investment in the course. My
policy on lateness is that if it is chronic (more than 3 times), then I have the discretion to invoke the
participation policy and count every 3 tardies as one absence. If you anticipate regular late arrival, please
let me know.

Community Expectations

Access and Inclusion for Students with Disabilities

PSU values diversity and inclusion; we are committed to fostering mutual respect and full participation
for all students. My goal is to create a learning environment that is equitable, usable, inclusive, and
welcoming. If any aspects of instruction or course design result in barriers to your inclusion or learning,
please notify me. The Disability Resource Center (DRC) provides reasonable accommodations for
students who encounter barriers in the learning environment.

If you have, or think you may have, a disability that may affect your work in this class and feel you need
accommodations, contact the Disability Resource Center to schedule an appointment and initiate a
conversation about reasonable accommodations. The DRC is located in 116 Smith Memorial Student
Union, 503-725-4150, drc@pdx.edu, https://www.pdx.edu/drc.

● If you already have accommodations, please contact me to make sure that I have received a
faculty notification letter and discuss your accommodations.
● Students who need accommodations for tests and quizzes are expected to schedule their tests to
overlap with the time the class is taking the test.
● Please be aware that the accessible tables or chairs in the room should remain available for
students who find that standard classroom seating is not usable.
● For information about emergency preparedness, please go to the Fire and Life Safety webpage
(https://www.pdx.edu/environmental-health-safety/fire-and-life-safety) for information

Academic Misconduct
Academic integrity is critical to maintaining fair, knowledge-based learning at Portland State University.
Academic misconduct in any form is a serious violation: it undermines the bonds of trust and honesty
between members of our academic community, degrades the value of a degree and puts at risk those
who may eventually depend upon our students' knowledge and integrity. In my courses, I adhere to the
University policy and procedures for addressing and reporting academic misconduct.
For information on what counts as academic misconduct and the advising and disciplinary process that
responds to academic misconduct, go to: https://www.pdx.edu/dos/academic-misconduct

Global Diversity and Inclusion

As a student at PSU you have rights regarding access, inclusion, diversity and equity. You are protected
from discrimination on the basis of age, disability, national origin, race, color, marital status, veteran
status, religion, sex, sexual orientation, genetic information. If you feel like you have been discriminated
against, you have rights regarding reporting and other types of responses. The office of Global Diversity
and Inclusion resource page is helpful for finding more information:
https://www.pdx.edu/diversity/equity-compliance

For instances related to sexual assault or harassment based on sex and gender, go to:
https://www.pdx.edu/sexual-assault/get-help

Students should also know that as an instructor, one of my responsibilities is to help create a safe
learning environment for my students and for the campus as a whole. Please be aware that as a faculty
member, I have the responsibility to report any instances of sexual harassment, sexual violence and/or
other forms of prohibited discrimination. If you would rather share information about sexual
harassment, sexual violence or discrimination to a confidential employee who does not have this
reporting responsibility, you can find a list of those individuals or contact a confidential advocate at
503-725-5672. For more information about Title IX please complete the required student module
Creating a Safe Campus in your D2L.
 Course Schedule (refer to Canvas for details)

What Do You Need to Know About Technical Writing?

Week 1 Welcome and Course Overview

Mon. 3/28 Read: Open Technical Communication (OTC) Chapter 1 – Introduction to

Technical Writing

● Introductions, Syllabus
● Academic & workplace writing inventory: What is the difference?
● What is TC? Who does it? What are ways of thinking about it?
● Introduce Assignment #1: What Do You Need to Know About
Technical Writing?

Wed. 3/30 Rhetorical Situation and Genre Analysis

Read: Technical Writing 14.3 – Methods for Studying Genres & Purdue
OWL: Rhetorical Situation

● Lecture & Exercises: Audience, Purpose & Message of Technical

Documents
● Preparing to write a professional email

Workshop #1: Draft proposal email

Sun. 4/3 DUE: Professional Email (due to my email inbox by 11:59pm)

Week 2 Interview Questions

Mon. 4/4 Read: OTC 2.13 – Memos and Emails & Purdue OWL: Interview and
Survey Questions

● Lecture & Discussion: How to report information efficiently and to

motivate readers
● Develop interview questions for Assignment #1

Workshop #2: Drafting interview questions

Wed. 4/6 Report Writing

Ready for class: Interview response data

Read: Purdue OWL: Analyzing Primary Data & Writing Short Letter and
Memo Reports & Handbook on Report Formats
 ● What did you learn from your interview? (consolidate findings)
● Lecture & Exercises: Writing for clarity, cohesion & parallelism

Workshop #3: Drafting a short memo report

Week 3 Editing Memo Reports

Mon. 4/11 Ready for class: Draft of Short Memo Report

Read: OTC 5.5 – Power-Revision Techniques & Purdue OWL: Concision

& Purdue OWL: Parallel Structure

● Lecture & Exercises: Writing for clarity, cohesion & parallelism

Workshop #4: Editing draft short memo report for readers

Wed. 4/13 Peer-Reviewing Memo Reports

Ready for class: Draft of Short Memo Report

Read: OTC 5.10 – Strategies for Peer-Reviewing and Team Writing

● Lecture & Exercises: Writing for clarity, cohesion & parallelism

Workshop #5: Peer-reviewing memo report drafts

Writing Collaboratively to Explain Technical Topics to Less-Technical Audiences

Week 4 Team Writing

Mon. 4/18 DUE: What I Need to Know About TW memo report (before class)

Read: OTC 5.2 – Audience Analysis

● Introduce Assignment #2: Explaining Technical Topics Team Wiki

● Form teams and develop article topics and user profile

Workshop #6: Teams draft proposal email (include topic & user profile)

Wed. 4/20 Project Management

DUE: Proposal Email (due to my email inbox by 11:59pm)

Read: OTC 7 – Collaborative Writing

 ● Intro to managing collaborative work: task schedules

Workshop #7: Draft team task schedules using Google Sheets

Week 5 Descriptive Writing

Mon. 4/25 Read: OTC 2.14 – Technical Definitions and Descriptions

● Lecture & Exercises: Defining, Describing, Explaining

● Review team task schedules

Workshop #8: Draft definitions for wiki articles

Wed. 4/27 Editing Websites

Read: Technical Writing – Websites

● Intro to Google Sites

● Update team task schedules

Workshop #9: Set up team wiki site using Google Sites

Week 6 Visual Communication

Mon. 5/2 Read: OTC 4.8 – Graphics & How to Lie with Data Visualization

● Lecture & Exercises: Communicating Through Visuals

Workshop #10: Plan the right visuals for wiki articles

Wed. 5/4 Document Design

Read: OTC 4.3 – Page Design & What is Universal Design

● Lecture & Exercises: Document Design

● Review task schedules

Workshop #11: Plan layout of wiki articles

Sun. 5/8 DUE: Post Completed Midterm Exam to Canvas

Week 7 Plain Language

Mon. 5/9 Ready for class: Drafts of all 5 wiki articles

 Read: OTC Chapter 3 – Ethics in Technical Communication & Plain
Language Guidelines

● Lecture & Exercises: Plain language

Workshop #12: Editing wiki articles for plain language

Wed. 5/11 Usability Testing

Read: OTC 6 – Usability Testing & Usability.gov website (especially

Usability Testing)

Ready for class: Drafts of all 5 wiki articles

● Heuristic usability testing of all 5 wiki articles (checklist)

● Review task schedules

Workshop #13: Plan revisions to prepare final versions of wiki pages

Writing Instructions To Support Users

Week 8 Instructional Writing

Mon. 5/16 DUE: Explaining Technical Topics Team Wiki Site

Read: OTC 2.6 – Instructions

● Lecture & Discussion: Writing How-to documents

● Introduce Assignment #3: A How-To I Wish I’d Had Instruction Set

Workshop #14: Draft proposal email (include topic & user profile)

Wed. 5/18 Writing User-Friendly Instructions

Read: OTC 5.4 – Articulating Technical Information & Technical Writing –

The Value of Visual Instructions

● Lecture & Discussion: The elements of user-friendly instructions

Workshop #15: Draft instructions

Week 9 Usability Testing Instructions

Mon. 5/23 Ready for class: Complete draft of instructions and any materials for
testing

Read: OTC 5.3 – Task Analysis & Professional and Technical Writing –
 Instructions

● Discuss findings from usability testing - plan revisions

● Heuristic usability testing of instructions (checklist)

Workshop #16: Test instructions against heuristic checklist

Wed. 5/25 Reflection on Instructions

Read: Writing Commons – Reflection Essay & Self-Regulation &

Metacognition

● Lecture & Discussion: metacognition and transfer

Workshop #17: Draft Project #3 reflection

Reflecting on Learning to Retain Learning

Week 10 No class for Memorial Day

Mon. 5/30

Wed. 6/1 Reflection and Review

DUE: Assignment #3: A How-To I Wish I’d Had Instruction Set

● Introduce Assignment #4: Reflection email

● Review & Reflect on strategies & practices learned

Workshop #18: Plan reflection email

Finals Week No Class for Finals Week

Wed. 6/8
DUE: Assignment #4: Reflection Letter (to my email inbox by 11:59pm
Wednesday)