Advanced Technical/Professional Writing
Assignment Descriptions

Advanced Technical Writing Home Page Schedule of Assignments

Listed below are brief descriptions of assigments; full descriptions can be downloaded here.


Online Porfolio Research Memo (I)

This first memo should show me that you've familiarized yourself with the ranges and types of online portfolios, in preparation for completing your own by the end of the semester. Here is a quick guide to what I'll be looking for; here is a sample standard memo with excellence in design.

Resume/Career Materials (I)

You'll revamp your current resume to be featured on your e-portfolio site , as well as updating your print copy, and add another professional element of your choice to help you network. Here is a rubric to guide you.

Work Plan (G)

Once your group has established the basic parameters of your portion of the project, you will create a work plan (directed to me) to show me that you have thought through the scope of work, including the amount of hours you believe each step will take, and that sets forth the division of responsibility among group members. Most importantly, it keeps you on track! It is a key document in your semester-long collaborative project.

Proposal (G)

The purpose of your proposal is to secure my and your client's approval to create materials that will help them improve their presence, some of which you will then create and feature on your individual online portfolios. The material may be a web site—this would be ideal—but it can also be other marketing materials: you and your client need to discuss this to decide.

In order to get my approval to proceed, you will need to convince me that you have a good sense of how to gather information for research, that you understand what is involved in designing and creating the materials and/or the web site, and that you have established an equitable division of labor among team members. You'll use the lynda.com tutorial on using MSWord 2013 to create and manage long documents to build a blueprint for the proposal.

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Online Web Portfolios with Proposal (I)

The other major project of the class revolves around building an online porfolio that showcases the work you have done up to now in your college career. You'll create at least three sections: a career section that somehow presents your experience, education, and other suitable information; materials created for your client for this class; and another project or paper of your choice.

My goals here are to help you understand what goes into developing a useful and good site, to get you familiar with standard web site design and writing strategies, and to get you some experience with the language involved with building a site.

Though you'll have already begun working on the site before the proposal for the site is due (I'm feeling wacky this semester), you will also write up a detailed description of how your own site will be organized, which will help guide you to your finished product.

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Progress Report (I)

For this assignment, you will report on the status of your individual responsibilities and tasks, based on what was established in your group’s proposal.

Web site Usability Assessment and Response(I)

You will each evaluate another classmates' current web site/portfolio, providing feedback on content, organization/nagivation, the site's "look" and feel, and the writing style. Then, you'll write a response to the assessment done for your site, telling me how you might revise your web pages based on the usability assessment you received.

 

Presentations (G)

In seven to ten minutes, present your collaborative projects to the class. You should discuss the materials created for your clients, including design, writing, and layout; and what, if you had the time, would you like to have added or changed. What did you actually create and what remains in mock-up stage, and why?


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Advanced Technical Writing Home Page Schedule of Assignments