You will complete five major projects (80% of your overall course grade), along with related drafts and other artifacts.
The remaining portion of your grade (20%) is based on your forum posts and quizzes on the course readings.
My Teaching Philosophy
I cannot teach you everything you will ever need to know about writing. Every workplace requires different skills, and new writing formats are created all the time. Without a magic wand, it’s impossible to know what each of you will need in the future.
Instead, we will focus on how to survive in the workplace without a teacher telling you how to write. We will go over some kinds of writing specifically, but my goal is to teach you how to research writing in your field and then to develop a procedure for determining how to write anything you need.
Five Facts about the Five Major Projects
- You must complete all major assignments and requirements in order to pass this course.
- Share your draft each week (on Mondays) in the forum for peer review feedback.
- Revise each project extensively before submitting it for a grade. There are no rewrites or revisions after work is graded.
- Submit all your projects online by posting a share link to your Google Drive on Scholar. Nothing else is accepted.
- Find details on how to submit each project posted on the course website on the due date (on Tuesdays).
Short Descriptions of the Major Project Assignments
Project 1: Professional Biography Statement. Due Tuesday, July 14. Worth 15%.
Imagine that you have taken a new position with a company or organization, and write a short biographical statement for the company newsletter or the team section of the company website. The underlying goal is for you to introduce yourself to me and the rest of the class. You may be able to use some of this assignment later in the term when you work on your Job Application Materials.
Project 2: Analysis of Writing in Your Field. Due Tuesday, July 21. Worth 15%.
You will survey the kinds of writing people in your intended career do and arrange the information in a table. You’ll provide a short description of the different kinds of writing, identify the typical audiences and purposes, and classify the kinds of writing, matching the items to the chapters in our textbook and resources online. This chart will be a go-to resource once you are in the workplace.
Project 3: Proposal and Job Application Materials. Due Tuesday, July 28. Worth 15%.
You will explore the kinds of documents you need in order to apply for a job, an internship, or a scholarship. You’ll propose what you want to write (anything goes—a traditional resume, a personal website, a LinkedIn profile, a GitHub repository, etc.). Based on your findings, you will create the job application materials that you need, whatever they may be.
Project 4: Genre Analysis Report. Due Tuesday, August 11. Worth 30%.
You will learn everything there is to know about a kind of writing you will do in your career. You will find online resources, interview people in the field, and analyze examples. You’ll publish your findings in an analytical report that explains how the genre works. You will write a short proposal and a progress report, in addition to the final report.
Project 5 (Final): Course Completion Report. Due Saturday, August 15. Worth 5%.
You will review your work in the forums and write a completion report that outlines what you have done during the term, guided by the Forum Posts and Participation requirements for the class. In addition to grading your report, I’ll use the information in your report to help determine your forum grade for the course. In the workplace, you would think of this report as a performance review.