Required Workshop Discussions

Your textbook Introduction will give you insight into how writers work together and on their own to design, write and revise their work. In Chapter 5 and 6, it is clear that good style is as relevant to technical writing as any other writing task or genre, and often involves a collaboration. In addition the opening chapters lay out guidelines for writing that emphasize the need to research and edit carefully.

This semester you are required to send work to the entire email list of students. Thereafter, you must pick out at least two students' work to revise, edit, proofread and help perfect. You will send them and me your comments on their work. I will check off your two required comments for each section of the course.

Don't forget that you need to send me both copies of your own work and copies of the comments you make on the work of other students.

That means soon you will send all of your draft of a letter of complaint to me and to every one of your fellow students. Soon after that, you will send two fellow students and me comments on two student letters.

PLEASE! Please label your comments when you send them to me to check off as requirements you completed for the course:

Your email label when sending me comments should be

RE: WORKSHOP COMMENTS

Here's more on how the workshops work:

Artists may create art for themselves. Technical writers, however, are writing with a very specific audience and purpose in mind. Hence, you must be completely aware of what is required to do the job correctly and completely polished and professional when you produce your work. You should learn to revise, to eliminate all errors.

You will send your work to your fellow students and together you will form a workshop, a self-improvement society! Writing is infinitely variable--it can be written or revised in an unending number of ways.

The test of good writing you will apply here is whether your writing gets the desired effect. To know that you will ask others to read and react to your work. They will suggest edits and changes, catch any typos.

HERE ARE SOME SUGGESTIONS/RULES REGARDING YOUR WORKSHOP EXCHANGES:

Click here: RULES

Instructions:

1. Send a copy of your writing to your instructor and also to the other students whose email addresses are listed on our Students page.

2. In turn you will receive a letter, a set of instructions, a brochure or webpage and a fourth assignment from each of your fellow writers.

3. Send corrections and revisions back to your instructor and to each of your fellow writers.

In total you will send three assignments via email, for comment. If you are doing the optional fourth assignment, please also send it out to the entire email list.

You should, in turn, pick at least two other students' work to comment on--for a total of six (6) comments, with copies, of course, to your instructor as well. You may comment on more work (for extra credit) as evaluating the writing by other students is a great way to learn!

Note that the work is due during each month a particular form of writing has been assigned. Don't save up and try to do all the commenting at the end of the term!