Mickey Marsee, Instructor
Phone: 277-6410/7-6347
Office: Humanities 268
Office Hrs: TR12:30-1:45
email: mickeyl@unm.edu
For the moment, forget about the word technical. Though the word may be perfectly applicable to your scholastic or career environment, it tends to necessarily connote things industrial and mechanical. This course involves much more than writing mechanical specifications. Think of English 219, rather, as a course in functional writing.
To write functionally is to manipulate written information to suit the needs of different communication situations. I do not teach the information part of functional writing -- that is, you must supply the "data." I will act, instead, as your supervising writer/editor and work with you to find the proper functional writing strategy and communication strategy for your information. You will have to consider many different things before and during each writing assignment, and the decisions you make about each of them will affect your communication strategy.
This class functions best as an on-going workshop, not as a series of lectures. There are no set rules for functional writing that work in every different situation, very few in fact that work in more than one. You will produce the best writing if we work as a group to determine what is an appropriate strategy for any given writing situation.
Five basic guidelines we must consider before and during every writing assignment are...
Again, let me re-emphasize that this course may not cover the specific type of report required in your field of study. However, this course does introduce you to a variety of writing and verbal situations so that, by the end of the semester, you will be able to tackle any communication situation no matter what format (or lack of) you are given.
In this class you will
We will be using a fairly traditional and handy textbook in this class. We will not directly discuss the readings from the textbook each week; however you are responsible for the material. I will also list suggested readings some weeks that are not due for class, but they do offer additional assistance to you for that week's assignment. The textbook acts mainly as an additional guide for you by providing a slightly different viewpoint than mine on the material we will be working on and by providing excellent models/examples for you to work from.
Do not miss class. We will be either writing or discussing what you have written every time we meet. Make yourself available to this opportunity to improve your writing and to help others improve theirs.
Final course grades will be based on the following:
20% Project 1 - Memo & Definition
20% Project 2 - Brochure
20% Project 3 - Instructions
20% Project 4 - Business Proposal/Oral Briefing
20% Project 5 - Final Project/Oral Presentation
The A report shows insight and the ability to state and develop a central concept. It addresses the assigned topic directly; it provides a thorough, informative response appropriate to its target audience. Its ideas are concise, understandable, logical, and thought-provoking; it contains all the positive qualities of good writing, which
The B report has a clearly stated concept and central purpose; it is logically and adequately developed. Its ideas are clear because it contains most of the qualities of good writing. It is comparatively free of grammatical and mechanical errors. Although indicating competence, the B report lacks the insight and style that characterizes the A report.
The C report is what an employer would minimally expect of a writer. It is an average report; its central ideas are organized clearly enough to convey its main purpose to its identified audience. It avoids serious errors in the use of English; it may, in fact, have few correction marks on it. However, the C report lacks the vigor or thought and expression, the development, and the insight that would characterize the B or A report. A C report indicates that the writer has completed the report assignment adequately but has not gone beyond the assignment.
Mickey Marsee
Send comments to: mickeyl@unm.edu
URL: http://www.unm.edu/~mickeyl/219.html
last revised: September 30, 1995