English 350 Professional Writing
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Dr. J. Pierce
Spring 2001
TTh 8-10, Renfro B
E-mail: jpierce@mhc.edu		 Printable Syllabi: html | plain text
Office: Cornwell 203
Office Hours: MWF 9-12 & by appointment
Phone: (828) 689-1237
Dr. Pierce's Homepage: http://users.mhc.edu/facultystaff/jpierce/home.html
Description
English 350 offers instruction in advanced expository writing for business and technical venues, including composition for computer media. Students are expected to have developed competent writing skills (including mastery of basic grammar) and computer applications experience beforehand.
Required Materials
Markel, Mike. Technical Communication. 6th ed. Boston: Bedford, 2001.
a 3½" PC-formatted disk
an MHC network account
Course Goals and Objectives
The primary goals of this course are to acquaint students with the strictures of writing in professional contexts and to hone students' writing skills through practice with grammar, mechanics, and workplace document forms. Additionally, students will develop their interpersonal and computer-mediated communication skills through group work and extensive use of computer technologies.
Instructional Methods
Though there will be occasional lectures and software demonstrations, this course will be taught primarily through individual and group hands-on exercises. Students will need to be able to log into their MHC network accounts at the beginning of every period to participate in class activities and will need to be able to connect to the MHC network outside of class time.
Useful Links
TechComm Web — the course text's companion site, offers online exercises, research and documentation guidelines, chapter summaries, an online web design tutorial, and plenty of useful content
A Guide for Writing Research Papers — developed by the Humanities Department and Banks Library at Capital Community College in Hartford, Connecticut, provides extensive information about MLA documentation, as well as an invaluable guide to grammar and writing for those who need a refresher
Dictionary.com — arguably the most useful and extensive online dictionary and thesaurus
The American Heritage® Book of English Usage — "a detailed look at grammar, style, diction, word formation, gender, social groups and scientific forms...ideal for students, writers, academicians and anybody concerned about proper writing style"
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