Technical English ESLI-595-TBD
Instructor’s information Name: Office address: Telephone: E-mail: Website: Office hours: Course information Term and date: Course number and section: ESLI-595-TBD Credits: NA Course title: Technical English Meeting times: Building and room number: Prerequisites and co-requisites: Determined by placement test Course description from catalog: This course stresses the techniques and forms of scientific and technical writing for ESL students. It is primarily for graduate students who are studying computer science, engineering, environmental technology, and related fields. Students will engage in academic discussion and debate on topics related to employment and scientific research. Students will create research-based presentations. Students will be involved in academic listening and note-taking activities related to various fields of study. Students practice writing a résumé and cover letter, manuals, memos, and research report. Students will practice academic reading and research techniques. The course will conclude with the writing and presentation of a research paper. Course goals and objectives Technical English is a graduate level course designed to improve your reading, writing, speaking and listening skills clearly and concisely highlighting the basic rhetorical guidelines that will help students successfully get their message across in today's workplace. This course focuses on specific real-world documents and scenarios to help students understand key communication principles. Student then apply those principles to the most common types of professional documents, including emails, cover letters, résumés, summaries, proposals, instructions, and/or oral presentations.
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Learning outcomes and instruments of assessment Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to: 1. Produce well-structured sentences in a variety of patterns. 2. Increase college-level technical vocabulary. 3. Understand, create and respond critically to technical writings. 4. Write professional business correspondence and professional documents. 5. Integrate primary and secondary research into a research paper. 6. Research-based presentation as per guidelines. 7. Increase academic listening skills. 8. Engage in academic discussion. 9. Recognize and use effective forms of logical argumentation. 10. Respond appropriately to various job related scenarios. Methods of assessment • Weekly summaries and critiques of academic articles and other technical writing. • Weekly grammar and vocabulary assignments and/or quizzes. • Interview, cover letter, and résumé. • User manual and presentation. • Research proposal and presentation. Most assessments involve a combination of self-assessment, peer-assessment, and traditional assessment conducted by the instructor. Grading formula Evaluative Tool Attendance Grammar and Vocabulary Speaking and Listening Assignments Reading Assignments Writing Assignments
Description You must attend class 80% of the time. Weekly assignments and quizzes. Two interviews and two presentations. Weekly summaries and critiques. Résumé, cover letter, user manual, and research proposal.
Percentage 10% 18% (3% each) 14% (3.5% each) 18% (3% each) 40% (10% each)
Final grades are either “P” (Pass), “PR” (Progress, Repeat), or “F”. • “P” = sufficient progress to exit to the next level. (65% - 100%) • “PR” = not enough progress made over the semester to pass into the next level. (45% - 64%)
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“F” = excessive absences, consistently missed assignments, and/or any instances of plagiarism. (0% - 44%)
Attendance Policy Regular attendance is mandated. The instructor will pass around a sign-in sheet at the beginning of class. If you arrive after the instructor has collected the sheet, your name will be written on the sheet and the time you arrived. If you arrive more than 30 minutes late, you will be marked absent in the official attendance book. If you are absent, you are responsible for getting the handouts from another classmate or sending the instructor an email asking for a specific handout; please refer to the syllabus for this information. The instructor will not bring all the handouts for the entire semester to every class. All absences due to illness that are officially recorded with a doctor’s note which must be in English. You must have the doctor’s note on the first day you return to class after the absence. If you miss more than six hours of class, Robinson Despeignes, the International Student Advisor, will be informed and you will be in jeopardy of losing your visa status. If you miss more than 20% of the total class hours, you will automatically fail the course. Withdrawal Policy A student may withdraw from a course without penalty through the end of the 8th week of class during a 14- or 15-week semester; in this case the grade is W. It is the student’s responsibility to inform the instructor of his/her intention to withdraw from a course. If a student has stopped attending class without completing all assignments and/or examinations, failing grades for the missing work may be factored into the final grade calculation and the instructor for the course may assign the grade of WF. As withdrawal may violate a student’s condition of admission and/or visa regulations, withdrawal is permitted only with the permission of the coordinator of ELI and the director of international education. Withdrawal forms are available in the ELI offices and once completed must be filed with the registrar. Policy for make-up exams and missed or late assignments Final submission of all essays and the research paper must be submitted to Turnitin on Blackboard no later than midnight on the day that it is due. Assignments can only be made up if the absence is the result of sickness. A doctor’s note is required. Academic integrity and plagiarism policies Each student enrolled in a course at NYIT agrees that, by taking such course, he or she consents to the submission of all required papers for textual similarity review to any commercial service engaged by NYIT to detect plagiarism. Each student also agrees that all papers submitted to any such service may be included as source documents in the service’s database, solely for the purpose of detecting plagiarism of such papers.
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Plagiarism is the appropriation of all or part of someone else’s works (such as but not limited to writing, coding, programs, images, etc.) and offering it as one’s own. Cheating is using false pretenses, tricks, devices, artifices or deception to obtain credit on an examination or in a college course. If a faculty member determines that a student has committed academic dishonesty by plagiarism, cheating or in any other manner, the faculty has the academic right to 1) fail the student for the paper, assignment, project and/or exam, and/or 2) fail the student for the course and/or 3) bring the student up on disciplinary charges, pursuant to Article VI, Academic Conduct Proceedings, of the Student Code of Conduct. The complete Academic Integrity Policy may be found on various NYIT Webpages, including: http://www.nyit.edu/about/administration/academic_affairs/academics/resources_fac ulty.html Other policies • Cell phones must be turned off before class begins, unless they are utilized for in-class activities and/or research. • Electronic dictionaries may not be used while the teacher is speaking. • You must bring your books to class for each session unless told otherwise. (After three warnings, you will be asked to leave class and it will be counted as an absence.) Sharing of books is not permitted. Xerox copying of an entire book is against the law in the United States of America. • You must not eat or chew gum in class. Having something in your mouth will prevent you from speaking clearly. • You MUST check your NYIT email every day for important messages. Description of assignments • Summary assignments – These assignments include student prepared summaries of professional or academic articles. • Critique assignments – For this assignment, you will compose a 2-page critique of an academic articles and academic articles required for students’ research proposals. • Cover letter and résumé assignment – Students will prepare a cover letter and résumé based on a researched job advertisement and their present skills and experience. • Job interview presentation – Students will demonstrate their employment interview process skills as both the interviewer and interviewee. • User manual assignment – Students will prepare a user manual based on a piece of technical equipment provided by the instructor. • User manual presentation – Students will prepare and present a demonstration speech based on their user manual. • Research proposal – students will prepare an original research proposal which will include primary and secondary research.
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Research proposal presentation – students will prepare an informative speech based on their original research proposal.
Required texts The Essentials of Technical Communication ISBN 978-0-19-989078-1 by Tebeaux, Dragga; Oxford, 2nd Edition. The Essentials of Technical Communication Student Resources on the Companion Website: http://global.oup.com/us/companion.websites/9780199890781/student/ Grammar Troublespots by Anne Raimes, Cambridge, 3rd Edition.
ISBN 978-0-521-53286-0
A good English-English dictionary. (We recommend Longman’s Dictionary of American English. Bilingual and electronic dictionaries are not allowed in class or during exams.) Materials and supplies • A notebook to take notes • A folder to keep class notes and handouts • A large envelope to be used for your writing folder (portfolio) to hold your essays and blue book exams. (This will be handed in at the last class.)
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Schedule of Dates and Topics Essentials of Technical Communication =ETC Grammar Troublespots = GT Date Topics September 6, 2014
September 13, 2014 September 20, 2014
Reading and Writing Diagnostic Exam Listening and Speaking Diagnostic Exam Introduction to Technical Writing Introduction to Summary Writing Basic Sentence Structure Writing for Your Readers Sentence Building
September 27, 2014
E-mails, Memoranda, and Letters Sentence Boundaries Punctuation
October 4, 2014
Writing Ethically Verbs and Auxiliaries
October 11, 2014
Effective Writing Present Verb Tenses Past Verb Tenses Active and Passive Voice
October 18, 2014
The Job Search Cover Letter and Résumé Writing Articles Pronoun and Pronoun Reference Adjectives and Adverbs The Job Interview Introduction to Critique Writing Nouns and Quantity Words Subject – Verb Agreement The Interview Process Infinitives, -ing, and Past Participle Forms Designing Documents & Illustrations
October 25, 2014
November 1, 2014 November 8, 2014
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Readings or Other Assignments
ETC Chapter 1 GT 1 #1 summary assignment DUE ETC Chapter 2 GT 2 #1 grammar / vocabulary quiz ETC Chapter 7 GT 3 GT 4 #2 summary assignment DUE ETC Chapter 3 GT 6 #2 Grammar / vocabulary quiz ETC Chapter 4 GT 7 GT 8 GT 9 #3 summary assignment DUE ETC Chapter 12 GT 13 GT 14 GT 15 Cover letter & résumé DUE #3 grammar / vocabulary quiz GT 11 GT 12 #1 critique assignment DUE GT 16 #4 grammar / vocabulary quiz Job interview presentations
Commented [A1]: Invite someone from career services.
Prepositions November 15, 2014
November 22, 2014
November 29, 2014 December 6, 2014 December 13, 2014 December 20, 2014
Instructions, Procedures and Policies Oral Reports and Presentations Relative Clauses Modal Auxiliaries Presentations Introduction to APA Citation Quoting, Reporting, and Citing Sources Introduction to Critiques NO CLASS Technical Reports Introduction to Research Proposals Conditions and Wishes Research Proposal Preparation Research Proposal Presentations Course wrap up
ETC Chapter 5 & 6 GT 17 #2 critique assignment ETC Chapter 10 & 11 GT 10 GT 18 #5 grammar / vocabulary quiz User manual DUE User manual demonstration speech GT 20
#3 critique assignment ETC Chapter 8 GT 19 #6 grammar / vocabulary quiz Research proposal Draft DUE Research proposal DUE
The Schedule of Dates may be modified slightly during the semester. Any changes will be sent as Announcements that will be posted on Blackboard and sent automatically to all students in the class via NYIT email.
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