Calendar/Sequence of Topics
Note: This is a 12-week class that begins on Monday, February 12, 2007 and runs until April 30, 2007. Because the college credit value (3) is the same as a 16-week class, this can be considered an "intensive" course. That means you need to spend 12-15 hours per week on this course versus the 8-10 hours per week for a 16-week version.
Textbooks:
Writing for the Web, Cynthia Jeney
An
English Grammar and Usage Handbook
*Not all assignments are listed here. Several in-class exercises will be assigned as needed.
Week-by-Week Topics:
Week 1 Principles and Strategies of Technical/Web Writing/
Chapters 1, 2, 3
Audience and purpose - situational analyses
Ethics, netiquette, copyright
Roles
of writers, designers, developers
Differences
between onscreen and print documents
Planning Strategies (Categorizing/classifying information)
Assignment: Review and analysis of
2 websites with technical and/or scientific documents (use p.57 questions) Due 2/26
(no class -
2/19)
Weeks 2 and 3 (2/26, 3/5) Technical/Web
Writing Style, Ch. 5, 6
Audience/purpose analysis
Tone, Language Levels
- Readability
Common Writing Problems
Technical Jargon
In class Exercise 7.2, p. 139 (instruction/audience analysis)
Assignment: Ex. and Assignment 4.1 p 62 (revise a homepage of a major
corporation/entity) Due 3/19
Week 4 No Class (3/12 - Spring Break)
Week 5 (3/19) Common Page Types, Chapter 4
Home pages - usability and branding
FAQ's
-- and Help Pages
Links -
choice, responsibility and display
Interactive Pages: Forms, Buttons, Dialog Boxes
Community-Building Pages (internet and intranet)
In class Ex 4.4 p. 76
Assignment: Exercise 4.6 (p. 89) - Write a help page for the EGL 111
website. Due 3/26
Weeks 6 and 7
(3/26, 4/2) Informative Web Site Style/ Chapter7
Company web sites and business users
Audience/purpose
analysis
Organization, Structure: chunking and layering
Writing instructions and process descriptions/integrating design and graphics
Focus on usability
In Class Ex. 7.3 page 141
Assignment: 7.1, page 149 Group Web-Writing Project
Weeks 8-12 (4/9, 4/16, 4/23, 4/30) Group Web- Writing Projects
Week 12 (5/7) Group Web- Writing Project Due (presentation)