ENG2575 OL68 Technical Writing, Fall 2021

For this week’s Weekly Writing Assignment, add a comment to this post in memo format that describes what you have contributed to your team’s collaborative project. Include any writing drafts and/or research that you have done. This is a way to maintain accountability for each team member’s contributions and to keep Prof. Ellis apprised of the work that your team members are doing to help bring the project together. Watch this week’s lecture for more details.

For this week’s Weekly Writing Assignment, add a comment to this post in memo format that describes what you have contributed to your team’s collaborative project. Include any writing drafts and/or research that you have done. This is a way to maintain accountability for each team member’s contributions and to keep Prof. Ellis apprised of the work that your team members are doing to help bring the project together. Watch this week’s lecture for more details.

Due to the Thanksgiving Holiday, I am posting this week’s lecture and weekly writing assignment early.

After watching this week’s lecture and continuing your teamwork on the Analytical Research Report, each student should individually write a memo (TO, FROM, DATE, and SUBJECT: Research Project Update) that describes that individual’s work and responsibilities for researching and writing on the project and copy-and-paste any writing (including quotes that you might discuss) into your memo. Post your memo as a comment to this Weekly Writing Assignment post. Again, this is an individual assignment that demonstrates what each team member is responsible for working on their team’s project.

This is an individual writing assignment based on your team’s collaborative project. Each team member should write a short memo of no more than 250-words addressed to Prof. Ellis that describes what research responsibility he/she has been delegated or volunteered to do this week for the team project and include three IEEE references to articles and/or ebooks found through the City Tech Library that might be useful for your team’s research. Copy-and-paste your memo into a comment made to this post.

After watching this week’s lecture and reading Prof. Ellis’ “Reply-All” email with your new team assignments, each team should have one member create a folder on Google Drive and share it with the other team members. Then, create a Google Doc inside your team’s shared folder to write a memo together about your team’s project topic deliberations and the topic that you ultimately chose. Each team member should then copy-and-paste the memo into a comment added to this post. Remember: Each team member will copy-and-paste the same memo that you wrote together.

TO: Prof. Ellis
FROM: Hari Seldon, Mose Ellis, and Moomin Papa
DATE: 11/17/2021
SUBJECT: Team Project Topic

Write one sentence stating the purpose of this memo. Then, write about the topics that you considered and ultimately the topic that your team picked for your research report. This only needs to be 250 words. 

There is no Weekly Writing Assignment this week. Focus on completing your Instruction Manual draft in Google Docs for sharing and peer review next week. We will discuss this in the Week 10 Lecture.

Write a 250-word memo addressed to Prof. Ellis with the subject, “Other Sections for Instruction Manual,” in which you strategize what other sections to include in your instruction manual document. Below, you will find some suggestions. Also, look at the Instructions chapter and Instruction examples in David McMurrey’s Online Technical Writing Textbook for models that you can look to about how they are organized. Copy-and-paste your memo into a comment made to this post.

1.0    Introduction
1.1    Purpose
1.2    Intended Audience
1.3    Scope
1.4    Organization Description
1.5    Conventions (abbreviations, left/right)
1.6    Motivation (answers the “so what” question)
1.7    Safety and Disclaimers
2.0    Description of the Equipment
2.1    Illustration of the Equipment
2.2    Description of the Equipment’s Parts
3.0    List of Materials and Equipment Needed
3.1    Illustration of the Parts Needed to Carry Out the Instructions
3.2    Tools needed
3.3    Table of the parts with description of each
4.0    Directions
4.1    Assemble the Skateboard
4.1.1    Step 1 (don’t write Step 1--write a brief statement on what the first step is)
4.1.2    Step 2
4.1.3    Step 3...Step n (write as many steps--briefly--as you can think of--you can fill this list out later)
5.0    Troubleshooting
6.0    Glossary
7.0    Reference List

Watch and take notes on this week’s lecture before proceeding.

Write a memo to Prof. Ellis that presents a basic numbered, process list for your Instruction Manual.

Write as much as needed to show the process in your instruction manual.

However, this is a draft–you may add, subtract, and change as needed later.

Include notes about what images to include with each step as appropriate (think of WOVEN).

We will look at the other components of your Instruction Manual next week. 

Copy-and-paste your memo into a comment made to this post on our OpenLab Course Site.

After watching this week’s lecture, begin thinking about what tasks and processes would be appropriate and interesting for you to write an instruction manual on for the next individual project. Possible instruction manuals should focus on your degree and career goals so that you create something relevant to your training and illustrative of your communication skills.

For this week’s Weekly Writing Assignment, write a 250-word memo addressed to Prof. Ellis with the subject line of “Instruction Manual Topic Selection.” In the body of your memo, discuss the pros and cons of three possible instruction manual topics and state which one you choose to work on for the project. Copy-and-paste your memo into a comment made to this post.

To aid in your thinking, review the links below for sample instruction manuals, and see a sample instruction manual outline at the bottom of this post.

Sample Instruction Manuals

• LEGO Instructions
• IKEA Instructions
• ASUS B550 Motherboard Instructions
• Multimeter Instructions
• Examples of Instructions and User Manuals in David McMurrey’s Online Technical Writing Textbook
• Prof. Ellis’ Skateboard Assembly
• Prof. Ellis’ Lightsaber Assembly
• Prof. Ellis’ Raspberry Pi Touchscreen Computer Assembly

Sample Instruction Manual Organization

1.0    Introduction
1.1    Purpose
1.2    Intended Audience
1.3    Scope
1.4    Organization Description
1.5    Conventions (abbreviations, left/right)
1.6    Motivation (answers the “so what” question)
1.7    Safety and Disclaimers
2.0    Description of the Equipment
2.1    Illustration of the Equipment
2.2    Description of the Equipment’s Parts
3.0    List of Materials and Equipment Needed
3.1    Illustration of the Parts Needed to Carry Out the Instructions
3.2    Tools needed
3.3    Table of the parts with description of each
4.0    Directions
4.1    Assemble the Skateboard
4.1.1    Step 1 (don’t write Step 1--write a brief statement on what the first step is)
4.1.2    Step 2
4.1.3    Step 3...Step n (write as many steps--briefly--as you can think of--you can fill this list out later)
5.0    Troubleshooting
6.0    Glossary
7.0    Reference List

For this week’s Weekly Writing Assignment, continue your research and writing for the next two sections of the Expanded Definition Project: Context and Working Definition. As discussed at length in this week’s lecture, which you should watch before proceeding, write drafts of the Context and Working Definition sections and include in-text citations for quotes and corresponding references to those quotes at the end of your document. Copy-and-paste just those sections into a comment made to this post to demonstrate your on-going progress on the project.

Separately, you should aim for having a rough draft of your Expanded Definition project ready for peer review next week.

I am including the sample quotes and citations from today’s lecture below. Also, links to IEEE citation guides are at the bottom of the post.

TO:         Prof. Jason Ellis
FROM:     Your Name
DATE:         Due Date
SUBJECT:     Expanded Definition of Your Term

Introduction [Heading Level 2]
What is the purpose of this document? What term are you defining? How are you discussing the way it is defined and the way it is used in context? Describe a road map for what follows (definitions and context). This content should be published as paragraphs, unlike the heading for this section, which is a level 2 heading.

Definitions [Heading Level 2]
Compare and contrast at least two quoted definitions from different sources of the term that you selected. Provide quotes and IEEE in-text citations for each definition, and include your sources in the References section at the end of the document. Each definition that you include deserves discussion in your words about what it means and how it relates to the other definitions that you include. Consider how they are alike, how are they different, who might use one versus another, etc. And, as a part of your compare and contrast, discuss the etymology or history of the word (e.g., one definition might be more like what the word meant originally or more recently). Each quote should have an IEEE in-text citation and reference entry.

Context [Heading Level 2]
Compare and contrast at least two sentences that use the term as it appears in different sources. This discussion should focus on how the context of the word shapes its meaning. A range of sources would provide the best source material for your discussion of how the term is used in these contexts. For example, a quote from an academic journal, a quote from a newspaper or magazine, a quote from a blog, and a quote from social media would give you a range of uses that might have different audiences. For each quote, you should devote at least as much space as the quote discussing what it means in that context and how it relates to the other quotes in context. Each quote should have an IEEE in-text citation and reference entry. 

Here’s a quote example from The New York Times: Technology Opinion Writer Kara Swisher wrote about the bombshell allegations made by Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen in a television interview: “Everything the former product manager on Facebook’s dispersed/disbanded (depending on whom you believe) Civic Integrity team said in her interview with CBS’ “60 Minutes” on Sunday rang true, including her allegations that the company’s algorithm is a wildfire that feeds on rancor and that the company always chooses its business over safety” [3]. The use of the term algorithm here refers to how Facebook surfaces certain content and submerges other content on a given Facebook user’s feed. 

Another quote example from a book on optimizing Rust language programming applications: While Swisher uses the term algorithm to refer to a specific decision-making technology at Facebook, Moraza uses it in a more general way where he writes: “You will also understand the difference between the common standard library collections so that you can choose the right one for your algorithm” [4, p. 1]. Algorithm here refers to the programming code that the reader of Moraza’s book is developing using the Rust programming language. Any computer code that is performing a process would qualify as an algorithm in this context while Swisher’s use of the term algorithm referred to a specific algorithm developed and used by a specific company.


Working Definition [Heading Level 2]
Based on the definitions and word history that you quoted and discussed, and the contextual uses of the term that you quoted and discussed, write a working definition of the term that's relevant to your career field or major, which you will need to identify (this is the specific context for your working definition).

References [Heading Level 2]
Order your IEEE references in the order that they appear in your document. The first would be [1], the second would be [2], etc.



[1]    "Algorithm," in Oxford English Dictionary, 3rd ed. Oxford, UK: Oxford Univ. Press, Mar. 2012, def. 2. [Online]. Available: https://www.oed.com
[2]    “Algorithm,” in Science and Technology Encyclopedia, Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2000. [Online]. Available: https://archive.org/details/sciencetechnolog00univ/mode/2up 

[3]      K. Swisher, "Brazen is the order of the day at Facebook," The New York Times, Oct. 5, 2021. [Online]. Available: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/05/opinion/facebook-blackout-2021.html

[4]      I. E. Moraza, Rust High Performance: Learn to Skyrocket the Performance of Your Rust Applications. Birmingham, UK: Packt Publishing, 2018. [Online]. Available: ProQuest Ebook Central.

IEEE Citation Guides

• Purdue OWL IEEE References
• IEEE References
• RIT Libraries > Newspapers
• RIT Libraries > Magazines
• RIT Libraries > Books

For this week’s Weekly Writing Assignment, you will begin writing your Expanded Definition project. To start, focus on the first two sections as detailed below, which are the Introduction and Definitions sections. For all the definitions and etymological (word history) information that you quote, remember to use IEEE in-text citation numbers and create a corresponding References section at the end of your document in which the numerated IEEE bibliographic references match the numbered quotes in your Definitions section. Format your writing as a memo with the subject, “Expanded Definition of Your Term, First Half, Rough Draft.” There is no word count on this assignment. Its purpose is to demonstrate your best effort on the first half of your Expanded Definition project. Save your work in a safe place and copy-and-paste it into a comment made to this post (remember to click the title “Weekly Writing Assignment, Week 4,” scroll to the comment box, copy-and-paste, and click “Post Comment.”

Overview of the Expanded Definition Project Deliverable

TO:         Prof. Jason Ellis
FROM:     Your Name
DATE:         Due Date
SUBJECT:     Expanded Definition of Your Term

Introduction [Heading Level 2]
What is the purpose of this document? What term are you defining? How are you discussing the way it is defined and the way it is used in context? Describe a road map for what follows (definitions and context). This content should be published as paragraphs, unlike the heading for this section, which is a level 2 heading.

Definitions [Heading Level 2]
Compare and contrast at least two quoted definitions from different sources of the term that you selected. Provide quotes and IEEE in-text citations for each definition, and include your sources in the References section at the end of the document. Each definition that you include deserves discussion in your words about what it means and how it relates to the other definitions that you include. Consider how they are alike, how are they different, who might use one versus another, etc. And, as a part of your compare and contrast, discuss the etymology or history of the word (e.g., one definition might be more like what the word meant originally or more recently). Each quote should have an IEEE in-text citation and reference entry.

Context [Heading Level 2]
Compare and contrast at least two sentences that use the term as it appears in different sources. This discussion should focus on how the context of the word shapes its meaning. A range of sources would provide the best source material for your discussion of how the term is used in these contexts. For example, a quote from an academic journal, a quote from a newspaper or magazine, a quote from a blog, and a quote from social media would give you a range of uses that might have different audiences. For each quote, you should devote at least as much space as the quote discussing what it means in that context and how it relates to the other quotes in context. Each quote should have an IEEE in-text citation and reference entry.

Working Definition [Heading Level 2]
Based on the definitions and word history that you quoted and discussed, and the contextual uses of the term that you quoted and discussed, write a working definition of the term that's relevant to your career field or major, which you will need to identify (this is the specific context for your working definition).

References [Heading Level 2]
Order your IEEE references in the order that they appear in your document. The first would be [1], the second would be [2], etc.



[1]    "Algorithm," in Oxford English Dictionary, 3rd ed. Oxford, UK: Oxford Univ. Press, Mar. 2012, def. 2. [Online]. Available: https://www.oed.com
[2]    “Algorithm,” in Science and Technology Encyclopedia, Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2000. [Online]. Available: https://archive.org/details/sciencetechnolog00univ/mode/2up 

[3]      Author,Title, volume, edition. City, State, Country: Publisher, year.

[4]      Author, “Title,” Journal, volume, number, page range, month year, DOI.

Helpful Resources with IEEE Style

• Dictionary or Encyclopedia (IEEE)
• Purdue OWL > IEEE > In-Text Citations (also click on References in menu)
• IEEE Reference Guide

This week’s Weekly Writing Assignment has two parts. The first part should be submitted as a comment made to this post. The second part should be conducted over email with your team. Watch this week’s lecture from start to finish before proceeding.

The first component of this week’s Weekly Writing Assignment is the beginning research that you need to accomplish for the second major project: 750-1000-Word Expanded Definition. Think of several possible technical or scientific terms, phrases, or acronyms that would be interesting to research the definition, etymology, and context of. Then, using the resources described in the Week 3 lecture, see which term might have the most useful material for you to use on the project. Once you see which term might yield the most research material, write a 250-word memo describing the terms that you considered, which library and approved sources yielded the most useful material (give accurate and specific titles), and what term you decided to choose for your expanded definition based on what you found in your initial research. Your memo should look like this:

TO: Prof. Ellis
FROM: [Your Name]
DATE: 9/29/2021
SUBJECT: Expanded Definition Term: [Term you selected]

First sentence should state the purpose of the memo in your own words. Follow with the possible terms you choose from, discuss the resources that you looked in, and state which term you chose for your expanded definition based on your initial research.

After you have written your memo, copy-and-paste it into a comment made to this post and click “Post Comment.” As I showed in a previous lecture, you click on the title of “Weekly Writing Assignment, Week 3” and scroll to the bottom to find the comment box where you copy-and-paste your memo.

The second component of this week’s Weekly Writing Assignment is to use email to connect with your teammates by clicking “Reply All” to the email that Prof. Ellis will send to each team. Follow the directions in Prof. Ellis’ email to initiate introductions and to share the draft of your 500-Word Summary rough draft with your teammates for peer review. We will talk about revising and posting the final draft of your 500-Word Summary during next week’s lecture.

This week’s writing assignment will help you develop the scaffolding for your 500-word summary project by creating a reverse outline of the article that you find in your research on a topic related to your field of study and eventual career field. This is due by our next week of lecture on Wednesday, Sept. 22.

Watch this week’s lecture and make notes before proceeding!

For this Weekly Writing Assignment, do the following (detailed in this week’s lecture):

• Find an article in the library’s databases on an appropriate topic and of sufficient length (Remember: go to library.citytech.cuny.edu > Find Articles > click on “A” for Academic Search Complete and Academic OneFile or click on “I” for IEEE Explore)
• Create a new document in your word process of choice (Google Docs, Microsoft Word, Apple Pages, LibreOffice, etc.).
• Write a memo addressed to Prof. Ellis with the subject “Reverse Outline.”
• Under the memo header, type “1.” followed by one sentence in your own words summarizing the first paragraph of the article that you chose. Then, type “2.” on the next line followed by one sentence in your own words summarizing the second paragraph. Write an enumerated sentence for each paragraph until you reach the end of your selected article. Do not make the mistake of using the author’s words in your one sentence summary–put away the article when you write each summary sentence so that you express the main idea of each paragraph using only your own words.
• Conclude with a section titled “Reference” followed by an IEEE formatted reference entry for the article. See my example in the lecture, and use this, this, and this for additional help.
• Copy-and-paste your memo into a comment made to this Weekly Writing Assignment post.

Also, you have some homework to accomplish before Wednesday, Sept. 22.

First, “reply-all” to the “Team Assignment” email that I will send you during the next two weeks. Follow the directions contained in the email to meet your fellow teammates and to show Prof. Ellis that you are actively taking part in establishing rapport with your teammates.

Second, take your reverse outline that you prepared for this week’s Weekly Writing Assignment and paste it into a new document on your computer or in the cloud. Remove the numbers before each summary sentence. Consolidate the sentences into paragraphs or one large paragraph. Read the sentences and edit as needed to create flow from one sentence to the next. Then, add a memo header as shown below (edit the subject according to my directions in the lecture or as you see below–meaning the main topic of your selected article), add an introductory sentence explaining what the document is (see the example first sentence below), and add a significant quote from your selected article with an in-text citation in IEEE Style as shown in the first paragraph below. This will yield a rough draft of your 500-word summary for the first project, which we will conduct peer review on during the week beginning on Sept. 22. Save this document until Sept. 22. We will use it for that week’s Weekly Writing Assignment

TO:       Prof. Ellis
FROM:     Your Name
DATE:     Oct. 6, 2021
SUBJECT:  500-Word Summary of Article About Virtual Reality

The following is a 500-word summary of a peer-reviewed article about tracking human bodies in virtual reality. The authors discuss the body tracking software that they developed called Pfinder by showing how the software was developed, tested, and improved. According to Wren et al., “To  address  this  need  we  have  developed  a  real-time  system called   Pfinder   (“person   finder”)   that   substantially   solves   the problem  for  arbitrarily  complex  but  single-person,  fixed-camera situations” [1, p. 780]. 

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Reference

[1]     C. R. Wren, A. Azarbayejani, T. Darrell, and A. P. Pentland, (1997). “Pfinder: Real-time tracking of the human body,” IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence, vol. 19, no. 7, pp. 780-785, July 1997, doi: 10.1109/34.598236.

After watching this week’s lecture (embedded in the post above) and reading this article on best practices for emailing professors, complete your first Weekly Writing Assignment by sending an email of introduction from your official City Tech email account to Prof. Ellis at jellis@citytech.cuny.edu according to the following parameters:

• Send an email to Prof. Ellis at jellis@citytech.cuny.edu from your City Tech email account.
• Subject line: ENG2575 [Your Section] Student Introduction
• Salutation
• Body: Tell me about yourself, your major, career goals, hobbies, what you want to get out of our class, and your availability for teamwork.
• Closing: Sign with your name or how
  you would like me to refer to you.
• If you need to reset your City Tech email password, go to forgot.citytech.cuny.edu.