ENG1133 Specialized Communication for Technology Students, SP2019

Today’s class will focus on studio time and my helping you on your assignments as needed. I will want to find out what you plan to do during our class time, and you will want to ask me questions and request help on the tasks that you focus on.

After class, email me or come to my office hours (Wed. 4-5pm, Thur. 2:30-3:30, except tomorrow due to substituting for a colleague’s class). If you can’t meet me during office hours, let me know what your schedule looks like for a few days and I’ll find a time when we can both meet in my office.

Next week, please remember that we don’t have class, because Wednesday follows a Monday class schedule.

If you’d like to receive 10 bonus points added to your final research report, submit it a week early on Wednesday, May 15. If you need more time and turn in your report by the last day of class, you may still receive the full 100 points–depending on the quality of the work that you submit.Remember, it should be submitted as a Word docx file attached to an email to me (jellis at citytech.cuny.edu).

Our last class is the week after on Wednesday, May 22. All assignments must be completed by then: post your beginning of class writing assignments on OpenLab, email your final research report to me as a Word docx file attachment (see assignment sheet linked above), and come to class prepared with a PowerPoint on a flash drive, a script, and dressed professionally (business casual is fine). As you prepare your final work, please practice your presentation to ensure proper length of presentation and seek feedback from your classmates, friends, and family on your writing in addition to performing spellcheck, grammar check, and reading your writing aloud to edit it further for professionalism, conciseness, and precision.

No work is accepted after the last day of class. If there’s an issue with your successful completion of the class, you should reach out to me earlier rather than later with details so that we can meet and discuss.

As we’ve discussed before, Project 2 (Research Report) and Project 3 (Oral and Visual Presentation of Your Research Report’s Key Findings) will be due at the same time on the last day of class.

Project 2 (Research Report) should be sent to Prof. Ellis (jellis at citytech.cuny.edu) as a Word docx email attachment. Include a brief, professional message about what you’re writing about and sending (don’t forget an informative subject line–just like our memos previously). I will reply confirming receipt of your document.

Project 3 (Research Report Presentation) will be delivered during our last class. It should incorporate a script, a Microsoft PowerPoint presentation (not Google Slides, Apple Keynote, or other presentation software), and be at least 5 minutes long (due to the number of students in the class, it may be longer but no longer than 10 minutes). The key is that it is at least 5 minutes long. Practicing your presentation is key to a successful delivery. I will not collect your files. If you do the scaffolding work that I suggest and show a well-designed PowerPoint presentation to accompany what you say, you will demonstrate a strong presentation.

Project 2 and Project 3 are due by the end of our last class on Wednesday, 5/22. All late work must be submitted by then, too. No work will be accepted after this date.

View other examples of presentations–some using PowerPoint and scripts (and others not)–on my YouTube channel.

Due to an off-campus appointment, I am cancelling office hours for Wednesday, Apr. 17. I will have office hours on Thursday, Apr. 18 from 2:30-3:30PM and by appointment (email Prof. Ellis at jellis at citytech.cuny.edu).

A part of discussions have involved the importance of interdisciplinary thinking and knowledge. James Burke, a British science historian, hosted a television series (among many that he has hosted over the years) called Connections, which illustrates how interconnected our world and the realms of knowledge that make our modern world possible. Here is the first episode of Connections, which focuses on the New York City blackout of 1977.

Academic misconduct can be less obvious than you think. This workshop will give you practical information to ensure your writing is plagiarism-free. The workshop is April 16, from 1:00-2:00, in Namm 517. No RSVP required

During today’s beginning of class writing assignment, I would like you to write a memo reflecting on the practice of reading articles related to your professional interests and writing about those readings.

Address your memo to Professor Ellis and use the subject, “Reflection on Professional Readings.”

These are some ideas about what to respond to in your reflection: What purposes do you think this kind of professionalism serve? What have you gained from this process? Have you learned new things, and if so, what are they? Since you read an article for today’s class, you can incorporate it into your reflection in summary or as an example.

Below your reflection, write an APA bibliographic citation for the article that you read.

Copy-and-paste your reflection memo into a comment made to this blog post.

Perdomo Event Flyer 2019

For today’s beginning of class writing assignment, create a memo in Microsoft Word addressed to Prof. Ellis with the subject, “Simple Word Summary.”

Using xkcd’s Simple Writer, write one or two sentences summarizing the article that you read for today’s class. You may only use the 1,000 most commonly used English words to write your summary. This will require inventiveness on your part to simplify what you are saying using only these words. The same will be true for any jargon that you want to reference–how can you simplify those? Copy-and-paste your summary sentences into the memo that you began in Microsoft Word.

End your memo with a References section followed by an APA bibliographic entry for your article.

Copy-and-paste your memo into a comment made to this blog post.

For today’s beginning of class writing assignment, create a memo addressed to Prof. Ellis with the subject, “In-Class Interview of a Peer.”

You will serve as interviewer, and one of your classmates will be your interviewee. The memo’s purpose is to briefly interview a classmate about the article that they read for today’s class, cite the interview, and cite their magazine article.

Your memo will look like this:

TO: Professor Ellis

FROM: Your Name

DATE: March 27, 2019

SUBJECT: In-Class Interview of a Peer

As requested, I am interviewing First Last Name about the article that they read for today’s class.

According to First Name, “<quote a sentence summarizing what your interviewee says the article is about>” (FirstInitial. Last Name, personal communication, March 27, 2019).

The article’s bibliographic reference is below.

Henry, W. A., III. (1990, April 9). Making the grade in today’s schools. Time, 135, 28-31.

Copy and paste your short memo into a comment made to this blog post.

For today’s beginning of class writing assignment, you will look for and document three web pages that have information relevant to the article that you read for today’s class using APA format.

Imagine that after reading your article that you thought it has an idea relevant to your workplace and you want to share the article and three relevant websites with your coworker.

Create a memo addressed to a co-worker with a subject indicating sources related to a topic found in the article that you read for today’s class.

Begin your memo by introducing its purpose.

Write a one or two sentence summary of the article followed by an APA citation for the magazine article.

Write a sentence explaining that the three web pages cited below are related to the article and might provide more information on the topic.

Find three web pages (not entire sites) that have content related to the topic of the article that you read. Use the modifier (site:com, site:edu, and site:org to find one web page on each of those top level domains–TLDs). Write APA citations for each web page–three in total. You do not need to read or summarize these pages.

Copy-and-paste your memo into a comment made to this blog post.

Then, we will turn our attention to Project 2: Technical Report.