Research Projects
Pedagogical Research Project
Simplifying the Complex: Teaching Technical Communication Using Literature as Context
English 206: Professional and Technical Writing
General Course Design
(To read the Overview of Problem & Rationale for this course design, click here: overviewofproblem.pdf)
Course Description
Communication is fundamental to human existence; it allows us to share ideas, generate knowledge, develop relationships, construct meaning from our experiences, and understand the world around us. This course introduces students to the principle characteristics and skills central to professional and technical communication, those inherent to effective writing, documentation, communication, and problem solving, which will always have significant value within our complex and constantly changing world. Technical communication is about more than just "good writing," its about learning to effectively communicate, problem-solve, and reach a specific audience. The overarching aim of this course is to help students become effective communicators across disciplines, in multiple genres, for real audiences by acquiring writing skills that are practical and relevant to their present and future endeavors, whether in academia or business.
Learning Objectives
By the end of this course, students will learn to:
Required Texts
Course Overview
Moving beyond the outdated definition of technical writing as objectively "simplifying the complex", this course embraces a contemporary view of technical communication as the process of applying one's rhetorical, sociotechnical, and problem-solving expertise as a means of providing context-specific information a particular audience needs within a given situation, while using the most effective means available to support understanding and disseminate knowledge. This course will help students develop a more comprehensive understanding of the two fundamental factors upon which effective technical documentation is built: audience and context. To achieve this goal, students will be given opportunities to address a particular audience for a specific purpose and apply the conventions they learn to real situations in order to perform the intended function of creating a technical genre effectively.
The content of this course will utilize literature as the source of audience and context in constructing technical documentation. Using literature as context provides a way for students to make connections between what they already know and what they are learning about technical communication, which helps students to contextualize the constructs and implementation of knowledge demonstrated in technical documentation−audience, analysis, invention, information design, and documentation. The ability to identify a document's audience, context, and subject matter is imperative to technical communication, as those elements determine the design decisions students will need to make. Pairing literature with professional writing assignments allows students to engage in real-world writing experiences, which improves their ability to communicate succinctly, directly, and effectively.
Course Content
Each segment of the course is centered on a particular piece of literature as a basis for contextualizing a representative technical document for a specific kind of communication activity. Furthermore, each novel shares a common theme in their contextualization involving a depiction of a dystopian future.
Segment 1: The Enclosure
Literary Text: Terrarium by Scott Russell Sanders (1985)
Technical Document: Environmental Protection Act of 1970
Major Assignments: Formal/Informal Letter
Process Explanation
Segment 2: The Republic of Gilead
Literary Text: The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood (1985)
Technical Documents: The United States Constitution
Lebensborn e.V. Documents (Nazi Germany)
Major Assignments: Instruction Manual
Usability Testing
Segment 3: The Planet of Rakhat
Literary Text: The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell (1996)
Technical Document: A Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) report (or "Project Cyclops") (1971)
Major Assignments: Report Proposal
Audience-Analysis Report
Segment 4: Choose Your Own Adventure
Major Assignment: Collaborative Research Project
Assignment Description
The last major project requires students to collaboratively create a microcosm of their field of study through the lens of a technical document indigenous to the field and representative of some larger concept indicative of that field. Students must figure out a focus for their group's project, whether the group consists of similar or dissimilar disciplines, in ways that bring the three fields together. They then must choose a story that provides a context for the technical document they are creating, as demonstrated in the structure of the first three segments. Within these constraints, each group completes a number of assignments intended to broaden their knowledge and understanding of the concept through research and development.
The audience for this assignment consists of technical communication teachers who want to know more about the different disciplines on campus in order to better teach technical communication. This major project includes a variety of supplementary assignments that inform their thinking about the content of the document: a proposal, a journal report, an audience-analysis report, two progress reports, a cover memo, and a final presentation. As part of this assignment, students are expected to include presentation materials and a summary and analysis of the story and how it works as a context for their document.
Major Assignments
Minor Assignments
General Course Design
(To read the Overview of Problem & Rationale for this course design, click here: overviewofproblem.pdf)
Course Description
Communication is fundamental to human existence; it allows us to share ideas, generate knowledge, develop relationships, construct meaning from our experiences, and understand the world around us. This course introduces students to the principle characteristics and skills central to professional and technical communication, those inherent to effective writing, documentation, communication, and problem solving, which will always have significant value within our complex and constantly changing world. Technical communication is about more than just "good writing," its about learning to effectively communicate, problem-solve, and reach a specific audience. The overarching aim of this course is to help students become effective communicators across disciplines, in multiple genres, for real audiences by acquiring writing skills that are practical and relevant to their present and future endeavors, whether in academia or business.
Learning Objectives
By the end of this course, students will learn to:
- Develop rhetorical strategies for effective communication and document design
- Employ writing as a process, including research, drafting, testing, revising, and editing
- Understand that technical communication is not objective, but highly rhetorical and dependent on audience, context, and culture
- Recognize genre as a form of rhetorical action
- Transfer communication skills across disciplines, in multiple genres, for real audiences
- Address a particular audience for a specific purpose, and apply the conventions learned to perform the intended function of technical genres
- Write succinctly, directly, and effectively, in an appropriate register for the audience and with the right tone for the situation
- Employ sound principles of layout and design in the creation of the documents
- Make genre decisions, invent content appropriate to the situation, and present this information in an appropriate form, style, and tone
Required Texts
- Atwood, Margaret. The Handmaid's Tale. McClelland and Stewart, 1985.
- Russell, Mary Doria. The Sparrow. Villard, 1996.
- Sanders, Scott Russell. Terrarium. Tor, 1985.
Course Overview
Moving beyond the outdated definition of technical writing as objectively "simplifying the complex", this course embraces a contemporary view of technical communication as the process of applying one's rhetorical, sociotechnical, and problem-solving expertise as a means of providing context-specific information a particular audience needs within a given situation, while using the most effective means available to support understanding and disseminate knowledge. This course will help students develop a more comprehensive understanding of the two fundamental factors upon which effective technical documentation is built: audience and context. To achieve this goal, students will be given opportunities to address a particular audience for a specific purpose and apply the conventions they learn to real situations in order to perform the intended function of creating a technical genre effectively.
The content of this course will utilize literature as the source of audience and context in constructing technical documentation. Using literature as context provides a way for students to make connections between what they already know and what they are learning about technical communication, which helps students to contextualize the constructs and implementation of knowledge demonstrated in technical documentation−audience, analysis, invention, information design, and documentation. The ability to identify a document's audience, context, and subject matter is imperative to technical communication, as those elements determine the design decisions students will need to make. Pairing literature with professional writing assignments allows students to engage in real-world writing experiences, which improves their ability to communicate succinctly, directly, and effectively.
Course Content
Each segment of the course is centered on a particular piece of literature as a basis for contextualizing a representative technical document for a specific kind of communication activity. Furthermore, each novel shares a common theme in their contextualization involving a depiction of a dystopian future.
Segment 1: The Enclosure
Literary Text: Terrarium by Scott Russell Sanders (1985)
Technical Document: Environmental Protection Act of 1970
Major Assignments: Formal/Informal Letter
Process Explanation
Segment 2: The Republic of Gilead
Literary Text: The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood (1985)
Technical Documents: The United States Constitution
Lebensborn e.V. Documents (Nazi Germany)
Major Assignments: Instruction Manual
Usability Testing
Segment 3: The Planet of Rakhat
Literary Text: The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell (1996)
Technical Document: A Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) report (or "Project Cyclops") (1971)
Major Assignments: Report Proposal
Audience-Analysis Report
Segment 4: Choose Your Own Adventure
Major Assignment: Collaborative Research Project
Assignment Description
The last major project requires students to collaboratively create a microcosm of their field of study through the lens of a technical document indigenous to the field and representative of some larger concept indicative of that field. Students must figure out a focus for their group's project, whether the group consists of similar or dissimilar disciplines, in ways that bring the three fields together. They then must choose a story that provides a context for the technical document they are creating, as demonstrated in the structure of the first three segments. Within these constraints, each group completes a number of assignments intended to broaden their knowledge and understanding of the concept through research and development.
The audience for this assignment consists of technical communication teachers who want to know more about the different disciplines on campus in order to better teach technical communication. This major project includes a variety of supplementary assignments that inform their thinking about the content of the document: a proposal, a journal report, an audience-analysis report, two progress reports, a cover memo, and a final presentation. As part of this assignment, students are expected to include presentation materials and a summary and analysis of the story and how it works as a context for their document.
Major Assignments
- Formal/Informal Letter
- Process Explanation
- Instruction Manual
- Usability Testing
- Report Proposal
- Audience-Analysis Report
- Collaborative Research Project
Minor Assignments
- Technical Descriptions
- Procedures for Reading Literature
- In-Class Activities
- Engagement
Sample Assignments
Technical Description (General)
Ask students to work in groups of three or four to write parenthetical, formal, and expanded definitions for terms from the perspective of a character. By asking students to write technical definitions from a particular character's point of view, they are challenged to expand their awareness of different contexts that affect the construction of knowledge and audience.
Process Explanation (Terrarium)
As a representative of the Enclosure Group, Dr. Passio has asked you to create a fact sheet informing the residents of Earth of the procedures for moving into the Enclosure. In addition to the procedures, this fact sheet should also include contact information. Your co-worker, Phoenix Marshall is trying to explain to Judith Passio, who has never been in the Enclosure, how certain mechanical devices work. He has asked for your help. In the appropriate genre and tone, choose one of these processes (vaporizers, dis- mantling cities, pedbelts, eros and chemmie parlors, or establishing Jonah Colony) describe how its works. Your description should include a graphic of some kind.
Procedures for Understanding Literature
These procedures situate the literature within the language of technical communication. This activity asks that students write a brief statement for each procedure, using the literature as a context.
Example Assignments derived from:
Bridgeford, Tracy. "Story Time: Teaching Technical Communication as a Narrative Way of Knowing." Innovative Approaches to Teaching Technical Communication, edited by Tracy Bridgeford, Karla Kitalong, and Dickie Selfe, University Press of Colorado, 2004, pp. 111-134.
Technical Description (General)
Ask students to work in groups of three or four to write parenthetical, formal, and expanded definitions for terms from the perspective of a character. By asking students to write technical definitions from a particular character's point of view, they are challenged to expand their awareness of different contexts that affect the construction of knowledge and audience.
Process Explanation (Terrarium)
As a representative of the Enclosure Group, Dr. Passio has asked you to create a fact sheet informing the residents of Earth of the procedures for moving into the Enclosure. In addition to the procedures, this fact sheet should also include contact information. Your co-worker, Phoenix Marshall is trying to explain to Judith Passio, who has never been in the Enclosure, how certain mechanical devices work. He has asked for your help. In the appropriate genre and tone, choose one of these processes (vaporizers, dis- mantling cities, pedbelts, eros and chemmie parlors, or establishing Jonah Colony) describe how its works. Your description should include a graphic of some kind.
Procedures for Understanding Literature
These procedures situate the literature within the language of technical communication. This activity asks that students write a brief statement for each procedure, using the literature as a context.
- Comprehending the Story (asks students to consider the meaning of the story as a whole)
- Determining the Rhetorical Situation (asks students to consider the circumstances and the context of the story and how they affect the meaning of the story as a whole)
- Identifying the Exigency of the Situation (helps students identify the action or burden called for by the situation)
- Identifying the Stakeholders (asks students to identify the people involved in the situation and the significance of their participation; emphasizes the importance of audience analysis in the creation of technical documents)
- Reflecting and Connecting the Story to Technical Communication (helps students equate their interpretative activities with the activities associated with creating technical documents such as audience analysis, gathering and organizing information, and determining ethical dilemmas
Example Assignments derived from:
Bridgeford, Tracy. "Story Time: Teaching Technical Communication as a Narrative Way of Knowing." Innovative Approaches to Teaching Technical Communication, edited by Tracy Bridgeford, Karla Kitalong, and Dickie Selfe, University Press of Colorado, 2004, pp. 111-134.