Writing for Engineering
The City College of New York
Syllabus and Guidelines
Spring 2023
ENGL 21007 – Section D2 (20581)
NAC 1/301Y – M, W 12:30 – 1:45
3 Credit Course
Sara Jacobson
Office Hours: Wednesdays, 11:30- 12:30
Office Location: NAC 6/335
Office Phone: TBD
Email: sjacobson1@ccny.cuny.edu
Course Website: https://engine210.commons.gc.cuny.edu/
COURSE DESCRIPTION
The purpose of this course is to develop your skills in technical writing that will contribute to your success in your academic and professional careers. We will analyze and discuss the various technological formats that are common in the engineering discipline. The exercises and assignments are designed to improve your analytical skills and assist you in becoming strong communicators within your field. Collaboration is an important part of this process and together through exchange and interaction, we will learn to communicate our knowledge, plans, and ideas in a professional manner.
COURSE LEARNING OUTCOMES
· Acknowledge your and others’ range of linguistic differences as resources and draw on those resources to develop rhetorical sensibility
· Enhance strategies for reading, drafting, revising, editing, and self-assessment
· Negotiate your own writing goals and audience expectations regarding conventions of genre, medium, and rhetorical situation
· Develop and engage in the collaborative and social aspects of writing processes
· Engage in genre analysis and multimodal composing to explore effective writing across disciplinary contexts and beyond
· Formulate and articulate a stance through and in your writing
· Practice using various library resources, online databases, and the Internet to locate sources appropriate to your writing projects
· Strengthen your source use practices (including evaluating, integrating, quoting, paraphrasing, summarizing, synthesizing, analyzing, and citing sources)
REQUIRED MATERIAL
Technical Communication by Mike Markel, 13th edition, Bedford/Saint Martin’s (book or electronic copy required)
City College Blackboard: All assignments will be due via Blackboard and must be submitted prior to class on the date the assignment is due. You are expected to respond to the discussion board posts throughout the semester in 300-400 words. Please Note: You must use your CCNY email address on Blackboard (login to the CCNY Portal, click Blackboard, then Update Email in the Tools menu). If you add a non-CCNY domain email address in this window, you may not receive important course announcements.
Assignment Grade Weights:
Discussion Board Posts 10 %
Peer Review 5%
Formal Letter of Introduction 5%
Lab Report (Chapter 19) 15%
Technical Description (Chapter 20) 20%
Final Project:
Engineering Proposal Essay(Chapter 16) 15%
Presentation (Chapter 21) 10%
Digital Portfolio 10%
Self-Assessment Essay 10%
Plagiarism: Plagiarism is the uncredited use of another’s material. This will not be tolerated and could lead to course failure and/or other penalties. For more information regarding CCNY’s policies, visit:
Citation Style: Please be aware that this course will make use of APA style. Therefore, all works must be submitted with the aforementioned formatting.
Policies and Resources
Attendance
Students are expected to attend every class session of this course and to be on time. If you miss five classes, your final grade will be dropped by one-half of one letter (a 90 to an 85, for example). If you miss six classes, your final grade will be dropped one full letter. If you miss seven classes, you will not be able to pass the course. Consistent late arrivals and early departures will have a negative impact on your grade. I will notify you by email if course absences (for full or partial classes) are having an impact on your grade. If you have special circumstances, please see me. I’m happy to work with you to help you complete this course.
Student Support Services Program, NAC 6/148
SSSP invites new students, especially incoming freshmen, and transfers at the start of fall, to join us up to our 500-student cap. SSSP students should be either first-generation college students OR have a family income below a certain threshold. SEEK students are not eligible to join as SSSP’s services in many ways mirror SEEK’s. To apply, complete the application at https://www.ccny.cuny.edu/sssp/sssp_application. Accepted students have full access to SSSP’s services, which include academic advising, personal counseling, and tutoring in the Academic Resource Center in Marshak 1104. Tutoring supports all disciplines and offers SSSP students the only online, 24/7 writing review service currently offered at City. Students requesting in-person writing tutoring are assigned to the same tutor for a series of meetings which can be weekly or customized to the students’ schedule of due dates.
Gateway Advising Center, NAC 1/220
http://www.ccny.cuny.edu/gateway/
Students without a declared major can receive academic advising, especially if they have questions about their course of study, core requirements, etc.
AccessAbility Center, NAC 1/218
http://www.ccny.cuny.edu/accessability/
The AccessAbility Center/Student Disability Services (AAC/SDS) ensures full participation and meaningful access to all of City College’s services, programs, and activities.
The Writing Center, NAC, Third Floor (entrance off the Amsterdam Avenue Plaza)
The City College Writing Center offers one-on-one assistance for students working on writing assignments and projects from any discipline.
SEEK Peer Academic Learning Center, NAC 4/224
Offers counseling and peer tutoring for students in need of academic and financial support who have registered for the SEEK Program.
The Counseling Center
The Counseling Center at CCNY offers individual and group counseling and crisis intervention to students. Students will meet with a counselor for an intake appointment during which time the counselor will discuss the student’s concerns and help to identify an appropriate plan for treatment.
Public Safety
The Department of Public Safety is located in NAC 4/201. The general information number is 212 650 6911. The emergency number is 212 650 7777.
Additional Policies
Guidelines for:
- Maintaining a clean classroom environment is integral, and as such there should be no eating and drinking during class.
- Use of cell phones, tablets, and computers during class meetings is prohibited unless otherwise specified during class time.
- Masks are highly encouraged.
- All assignments will be submitted via Blackboard (please make sure your active CCNY email is connected).
- Blackboard discussion posts must meet a minimum of 300 words.
- All assignment submissions must be in either a Word Doc or PDF.
Discussion Board:
Throughout the semester, each student is required to respond to all Blackboard discussion posts. Each submission must be a minimum of 300 words and must critically respond to the topic or question posed.
Letter of Introduction:
Write a professional letter to me about your life, your experiences, your achievements, and your talents. What is your major in college and how does your major connect to your professional goal(s)?
Write about your challenges as well as your successes. How do you imagine your future place in the world of engineering? What are some of the engineering challenges you would like to be involved with?
Format: Put the sender’s and receiver’s addresses on the top. Put the date. This is a formal letter, addressed to me (use the school address), and signed at the end by you. Type in 12-point New Times Roman font, normal margins, and double-spaced.
Minimum 2 pages.
Lab Report Analysis:
This assignment requires both analysis and annotation. Based on your major and your academic interest, locate two lab reports using the CCNY Library Database. Annotate and analyze the reports and discuss each of the eight elements described in chapter 19. Compare and contrast the elements and include examples to support any statements or claims. In what ways does the structure of the document follow the format described in this chapter? If the reports differ from this format, and from each other, why do you think the authors chose to present information in the manner they did?
Your analysis will have an introduction and a conclusion. The assignment itself is NOT a lab report. Therefore, it does not require a method section, etc. Be sure to craft this assignment in APA format.
Be sure to include the original annotated lab reports with the submission.
Minimum 5 pages.
Page count DOES NOT include cover sheet and bibliography.
Self-Reflection 1-2 pages (due with the second draft).
Technical Description:
For this assignment, choose a technological item, one that you are particularly interested in, and explain its purpose. Think carefully about your choice. Descriptions of objects, mechanisms, and processes appear in virtually every kind of technical communication. In addition, instructions are also frequently used.
- Choose a simple technological item. Topics will be discussed in class.
- Divide the item into components: parts and subparts. Then describe each part and subpart in detail.
- Take pictures, and label them. If you use images from the Internet, proper citation is needed. Give every picture a figure number and a caption (APA format).
- Your Technical Description will have the following elements:
- Title page/cover sheet
- Outline of the Contents
- Introduction. You’ll discuss the history of the innovation as well as the innovator, the need for innovation, and all relevant history and background information.
- Body: The actual Technical Description of the innovation including the parts and descriptions. You will have to determine a logical structure: top, middle, bottom, or exterior and interior parts, etc. Arrange the content in an outline format. Use Illustrations/ images and cite them.
- You may want to add another section on how the item functions or can be used.
- Conclusion
- References page.
Research will be involved. References (AND PROPER CITATION) will be mandatory.
Minimum 5 pages. More pages may be necessary.
Self-Reflection 1-2 pages (due with the second draft).
Engineering Proposal + Presentation:
This assignment consists of a collaboratively written proposal and an oral presentation. Students will be divided into groups and will identify a void or a need for a specific engineering innovation; the design and production for which you will conceive and propose.
The Assignment:
- Your proposal will have two components: the written proposal, and the oral presentation.
- Your written proposal will have an introduction. The introduction will introduce “the need for this innovation or the void that this innovation fulfills or the need for an engineering-based improvement on an already existent innovation, AND all the existent circumstances of ‘the technical environment’ that are affected by or affect the innovation.”
- You will need another section addressing: engineering innovations that have been proposed but would not work, or innovations that are in effect but do not work. Basically, you will have to put yourself in the position to shoot down other proposals or similar, but deficient, innovations in the field. Then you will need to write the technical description of your innovation. This will include graphics and spec sheets.
- You will need to write the process of the innovation of itself, and the process of building the innovation. You will be required to address COST, TIME, MATERIALS, DESCRIPTION OF MATERIALS, … and all other necessary and important factors. (These components can be rough estimates and theoretical if need be. You can draw this information from the production and data of similar and previously invented innovations.)
- Your proposal will have a presentation component. Each group will create a YouTube presentation, which must be five minutes or longer. Be sure to include charts, graphs, and images of said innovation. Every member of your group (for which you will have a name) will participate in the presentation. You will be required to report what each member of the group did for the project.
- Your classmates will challenge and ask questions if they like.
You will notice there are several components to the project. You will have to determine among yourselves who will be responsible for which project components. Identify individual strengths and work with those. Who is your team leader? Who’s the best speaker? Who’s the best writer?…
You will produce your own work at home but turn your work and production into your group in class-workshop sessions to have your material commented on, proofread, edited, changed, etc. by your group.
Project objectives:
- Innovation
- Process
- Group work
- Oral presentation
- Overall thoroughness and logic of proposal structure
Proposal Minimum 5 pages.
Self-Reflection 1-2 pages (due with the second draft). Each person will write his or her own reflection.
The Self-Assessment Essay :
The Self-Assessment Essay is a kind of research paper. Your development as a writer is the subject and the writing itself is your evidence. As you write your Self-Assessment Essay, you’ll be referring to the works you’ve included in your Portfolio. This essay answers two questions: To what extent have I achieved the course learning objectives? In what ways have my perceptions on what writing is and does evolved this semester? This essay will thus provide you with an opportunity to demonstrate how you’ve developed as a writer this semester and will serve as an introduction to your Portfolio.
Here are the Course Learning Objectives: Over the course of the semester, you will:
- Acknowledge your and others’ range of linguistic differences as resources, and draw on those resources to develop rhetorical sensibility
- Enhance strategies for reading, drafting, revising, editing, and self-assessment
- Negotiate your own writing goals and audience expectations regarding conventions of genre, medium, and rhetorical situation
- Develop and engage in the collaborative and social aspects of writing processes
- engage in genre analysis and multimodal composing to explore effective writing across disciplinary contexts and beyond
- Formulate and articulate a stance through and in your writing
- Practice using various library resources, online databases, and the Internet to locate sources appropriate to your writing projects
- Strengthen your source use practices (including evaluating, integrating, quoting, paraphrasing, summarizing, synthesizing, analyzing, and citing sources)
The Self-Assessment Essay and Portfolio will not be evaluated on whether or not you have achieved the goals, but on how well you demonstrate your understanding of the goals that you have achieved and your thoughts about the goals that you have not achieved. It will be up to you how to incorporate your response to how your perceptions have evolved regarding the question, “What is writing?” You might want to devote a section of your Self-Assessment Essay to this subject alone, or you might want to weave this discussion into other parts.
The Digital Portfolio :
The Portfolio should include, at a minimum, the Self-Assessment Essay; the Lab Report, Technical Description, and Engineering Proposal; and any additional documents (or portions of documents) you composed over the semester that help you demonstrate the extent to which you’ve met the course learning objectives and developed your understanding of writing and argument.
For instance, in addition to providing polished versions of your essays, you might want to include drafts of essays, examples from homework, peer reviews, etc. Or, you may want to include copies of your annotations of course texts or copies of the notes you took while reading to demonstrate that you have developed strategies for critical reading. To demonstrate that your drafting process has changed, you might want to include a draft from an early and a late assignment that illustrates changes in your drafting process. In order to better orient readers of your Portfolio, you’ll also need to compose introductions to (or abstracts for) each of the documents you showcase, including your major essays. Use this same approach for all of the Course Learning Objectives. (Be mindful that the documents you choose to include in your Portfolio should be referenced in your Self-Assessment Essay, which is further explained below. You will describe the documents, and their significance, in your essay. Thus, you’ll need to be very choosy in selecting which documents best represent your learning and development as a writer and be ready to refer to and analyze them in the Self-Assessment Essay.)
The portfolio will be housed on CUNY’s Academic Commons. Be aware of the privacy settings, and make your choices according to your own comfort level. While the arrangement of the portfolio is up to you, it should be easy to navigate. As with any Web site, you want to be able to find what you’re looking for without any interference. This might mean scanning handwritten notes, taking screenshots of annotated Web sites, and turning your essays into PDFs or Web texts.
CLASS SCHEDULE
January 25: Course Introduction
Introduction to the course and syllabus
January 30: Introduction to Technical Communication
Chapter 1: What is Technical Communication?
Homework: Respond to Blackboard prompt by 2/8.
February 1: Introduction to Formal Letter Writing
Chapter 14: Crafting a formal letter
The Letter of Introduction is due on 2/13.
February 6: Writing for your Audience
Chapter 5: Rhetorical situation review
Homework: Letter of Introduction is due on 2/13.
February 8: Introduction to Lab Reports
Chapter 19: Discussion of lab report sections and functions
Homework: Respond to Blackboard prompt by 2/22.
February 13: NO CLASS
February 15: CCNY Library Database Workshop
Homework: Begin working on the lab report. The first draft is due on 3/6.
February 20: NO CLASS
February 21: Class Follows a Monday Schedule
Revising and Editing
Chapter 3: Introduction to the stages of writing
Homework: Respond to Blackboard prompt by 3/1.
February 22: Revising and Editing Continued
February 27: Emphasizing Important Information
Chapter 9: Formatting and organizing an essay
March 1: Introduction to Peer Review
March 6: Peer Review
Homework: The final draft of the lab report is due on 3/20.
March 8: Technical Description
Chapter 20: Introduction of technical description assignment
The first draft of the technical description assignment is due on 3/29.
March 13: Technical Description Proposals
Project topic discussion
March 15: Design
Chapter 11: Understanding design principles within writing
March 20: Uncovering Information in Communication
Chapter 8: Persuasion and logical fallacies
March 22: Analysis of In-Class Readings
Understanding rhetoric through analysis
March 27: Writing Collaboratively
Chapter 4: Making use of technical tools for collaborative purposes
Homework: Respond to Blackboard prompt by 4/10.
March 29: Peer Review
Technical Description (final draft and reflection) due on 4/12.
April 3: Writing Proposals
Discussion of engineering proposal and presentation
Homework: Read Chapter 16
Projects and Proposals are due on 5/1.
April 5 -13: Spring Recess (NO CLASS)
April 17: Presentation Workshop
Chapter 21:Creating quality presentations
April 19: Group Engineering Project Workshop
Meet with respective group members and continue working on the proposal and presentation.
April 24: Group Engineering Project Workshop
Meet with respective group members and continue working on the proposal and presentation.
April 26: Group Engineering Project Workshop
Meet with respective group members and continue working on the proposal and presentation.
May 1: Presentation Day One
May 3: Presentation Day Two
May 8: Self Assessment Essay Workshop
Homework: Respond to Blackboard prompt by 5/17.
May 10: Digital Portfolio Workshop
Discussion of style and engineering as it pertains to site-building
May 15: Last Day of Class
Homework: Digital Portfolio and Self-Assessment essay are both due on 5/22.
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