M JAN 7 Introduction to the Course: discussion of course policies and procedures

• read the Frequently Asked Questions for this course; if you have other questions or concerns, ask Dr. Engles by writing to him at cftde@eiu.edu

• bring a new, blank computer disc to class
• In order to familiarize yourself more fully with what you'll be doing in this course, read Major Steps in the Writing in the Wild Research Project

• send the required e-mail message to Tim Engles by the beginning of class today; in your message, 1) describe yourself in whatever way you choose, including your career aspirations, 2) list at least two types of "writers in the wild" whose writing you might like to research during this semester–are these people you already know?  if not, how might you find and contact such professional writers? (for a list of writers other students in this course have worked with, click here), and 3) write a statement to the effect that you have read and agree with these course policies and procedures.
• bring to class a disc, your EIU e-mail login, and your password (to see your login, EIU e-dress, and EIU web site, click here, enter your name in the search box, and press Enter)

M JAN 14 Course packet reading: bell hooks, “Confronting Class in the Classroom”

• read the first half of hooks’ article, and bring to class and turn in one written question in response to it

• read the second half of hooks’ article, and bring to class and turn in a one- or two-paragraph summary of what you see as her main point or points

• Bring your copy of the Blair Handbook to class
• bring a one-page explanation of why you will probably find two particular sections or chapters of this book useful this semester for improving your writing

M JAN 21 KING'S BIRTHDAY: NO CLASSES

W JAN 23 Technology Workshop: Converting Documents to HTML

• Blair Handbook: Chapter 59, "Writing in Business"
• bring your 3001 disc and work on Confirmation Letter in class, including proper tone, sufficient content, and acceptable formatting
• the letter should: briefly describe yourself and why you have sought this person out; confirm arrangements you've already discussed; very briefly describe the "writing in the wild" project, and mention that you've included a longer, printed description of the project; thank your writer for agreeing to work with you; accurately list the URL for your assignment index, in case this person would like to follow the progress of this project online; and state that you're looking forward to working with this person
• bring a brief, written description of who your “writer in the wild” will be this semester, including name, contact information, and workplace (if you don't come to class today, you must send this information to Dr. Engles via e-mail by 5 p.m.); penalty for not turning in this information by today--20% deduction in Confirmation Letter grade

• bring to class, on disc, a draft of your Confirmation Letter
• practice alternative mode of saving word-processed documents to html
• plan to include a copy of the Research Project description as an enclosure with your letter when you send it; click here to print the description out in the lab
• Confirmation Letter Draft One due (must be published on your website by the end of class and linked to your Assignment Index)
• sign up in class for conference on worksite research and Confirmation Letter

M JAN 28 No class--conferences on worksite research and Confirmation Letters (remember, there is a penalty for missed conferences; if you can't make it, call ahead of time to reschedule)

• Reading: Blair Handbook, Chapter 14, "Field Research"
• come to conference (today or Wednesday) prepared to describe your general plans for working with your writer in the wild, based in part on your Blair reading (Chapter 14)--identify during the conference which sections of this chapter look useful for your research
• bring TWO printed copies of your Confirmation Letter Draft
• bring any questions you have about publishing items on your web site

• Confirmation Letter Final Draft due (publish Letter after your conference; must be published by 10 p.m., unless you make other arrangements with me ahead of time)

• read the first half of Kleimann’s article, and bring to class and turn in one written question in response to it
• discussion of proposal guidelines

M FEB 4 Kleimann

• read the second half of Kleimann’s article, and, by class time on Monday, send to the class listserv one, three-part question series about Kleimann's article, based on the bell hooks handout format

• work on your proposals in class
• ask any questions you have about your web site
• Proposal Draft One Due by 10 p.m. Thursday night
• note that by next Monday at noon, you'll need to go to a classmate's web site and then post on your site a peer critique of his or her research proposal, in accordance with the peer review guidelines

Week Six (Discussion Room)

M FEB 11 Course Packet: Peggy McIntosh, “White Privilege and Male Privilege: Coming to See Correspondences through Work in Women’s Studies”

• read the first half of McIntosh's article, and bring to class and turn in one written question in response to it
• Proposal Draft Peer Critique due by Monday at noon
• Proposal Final Draft due by Tuesday (2/12) at 10 p.m.

• read the second half of McIntosh's article, and, by class time on Wednesday, send to the class listserv one, three-part question series about McIntosh's article, based on the bell hooks and Susan Kleimann handouts format

• read before class in The Blair Handbook, Section 15b, "Electronic Resources," and Chapter 16, "Sources"
• bring your Blair Handbook to class

M FEB 18 Technology Workshop: Design Issues and Techniques

• read before class in Online!, sections 2c through 2j
• in class: locate and download an appropriate image from the internet, then publish it on your Assignment Index (we'll talk about how to do this during class--for directions, click here)
• in class (if you have time after the "image" tasks--if not, do it by 5 p.m. on Tuesday): post a message to our class listserv describing your research: describe your writer, and how your research is going so far

• Reading: review and generally familiarize yourself with the Blair Handbook, Chapter 57, "Social Sciences" (this chapter explains APA documentation style; this is the style most commonly used for business documents, and you'll be using it for your final report)
• by the end of class today (or by 5 p.m. Thursday at the latest), link to your assignment index an annotated bibliography of five sources (formatted in APA style) that will be useful in supporting and further shaping your research (use the criteria described in Blair, Chapter 15, to evaluate the apparent reliability of these sources); title this document "Working bibliography and research links," and link it to that section of your assignment index; throughout the rest of the semester, add links to any web sites that also become useful in your work for this class so that you can use this list of links as a handy gathering of online research sources; you can model your bibliography after this one, and don't worry about setting things up in nice tables and boxes and so on--a straightforward list of annotated links is fine. Also, the items need to be in APA style--list more than the name of the web site.

• normal deadline rules begin with this assignment: fifteen points off for each day late; also, all previous assignments must be posted by this time--any previous assignments not posted will receive a zero

• turn in a written analysis of one of the Internet sites linked to your "Working bibliography and research links" that answers the "reporter's questions" about it, as described in the Blair Handbook, 225-32

M FEB 25 Using Online Research Sources

• Special Guest: Karen Whisler, EIU Librarian
• Don't come to our regular classroom!  Instead, we will meet Karen Whisler at 1:00 (be on time!) in the foyer of the North entrance of your brand-spanking new Booth Library

R FEB 28 Mid-term: last day to drop courses with no grade

F MCH 1 Discussion of preliminary report requirements and other plans for the future

Week Nine (Computer Room)

M MCH 4 Grammar Workshop: How to Use Commas

W MCH 6 Grammar Workshop and Technology Workshop: How to Avoid Passive Voice

• conference sign-up sheet passed around in class today

• preliminary report draft one must be published by the end of class (1:50 p.m.); Dr. Engles will send you comments on this draft via e-mail (at the address linked to our online class list); the final draft, revised in response to those comments, must be posted by 10 p.m. on Friday, March 22
• attendance not required--I'll be there in the lab, if anyone wants to work on their preliminary reports or other aspects of their web sites

Week Ten (Discussion Room)

M MCH 18 Discussion: Delivering Effective Oral Presentations

• Homework: write and bring to class a one-page description of an especially good OR an especially bad oral presentation that you have given--what in particular went well, or didn't go well?  What would you do differently?
• In-class video: "Time to Stand and Deliver"
• Discussion of Oral Presentation Guidelines
• Oral presentation schedule and peer review pairings handed out

• bring two printed copies of your Preliminary Report Draft to your conference (in CH 3831)
• look closely at the writing style of your Preliminary Report Draft; find two or three areas of your writing that you still need to work on, and bring to your conference two or three labels for these problems (passive voice, commas, choppy sentence style, awkward sentence structure, wordiness, etc.); also, bring your Blair Handbook; be able to identify the sections in this book that offer advice on these particular problems; and tell Dr. Engles how helpful, or unhelpful, you found this advice from the book
• also be prepared to discuss your general plans for your Oral Presentation, and to ask any questions that you have about it

• preliminary report final draft must be published by 1:00 p.m. today

M MCH 25 through F MCH 29: Oral Presentations

• "Oral presentation peer critique” deadline: one week after the second of the two presentations you critique
• “Self commentary on oral presentation” deadline: one week after your own presentation (both must be posted on your website, and you must also notify Dr. Engles via an e-mail message that you have posted each item); write and publish as a link to your assignment index a one-paragraph self-commentary on your oral presentation, answering these questions: How well do you think your presentation went? What would you do differently if you could do it again?  What did any of your classmates do that you think you could have done to improved your own presentation?

M APR 1 through F APR 5: Oral Presentations

Week Thirteen (Discussion Room Monday, Computer Room Wednesday and Friday)

M APR 8 Writing Workshop: Regarding the Final Report

• Keep working all week on your report, including additional outside readings, interviews, observations, writing the report itself, and so on

• Read before class: Blair Handbook, 432-36 (BE SURE to bring your book to class)
• Sign up for conferences on final report
• pairings for in-class passive vs. active voice exercise: Eileen Boucher/Amy Tantillo;

Michelle Merriman/Dianne Frank; Katherine Linder/Matt Hopper; Catherine Field/Melissa Hedlund; Jessi White/Tricia Peterson; Katie Lyman/Theresa Kronenburger; Danielle Harms/Michelle Dirks; Taryn Nordquist/Nick Ludes.
• In-class exercise: (1)cut and paste a paragraph TWICE from a classmate's final preliminary report into a blank Word page (find your partner's page here); (2) in the second version of the paragraph, identify any "passive" verbs, and then change them to "active" verbs; (3) save the two paragraphs as a Word document on your disc; (4) open your e-mail account in web e-mail, and send the revised version to your classmate AS AN ATTACHMENT (not in the body of the message); (5) when you receive your partner's attached copy of two versions of your paragraph, open it in Word; (6) look over the changes, then write below the second paragraph a response to EACH changed sentence--do you think it sounds better, or not?  also, write a couple of sentences in response to this question: do you think excessive use of passive voice is a problem in your writing?  (7) Then send this entire document (which is probably 1.5 or so pages) to Dr. Engles as an attachment (cftde@eiu.edu)

Week Fourteen

WORK HARD ALL WEEK ON YOUR FINAL REPORT, EVEN AFTER YOU GET THE ROUGH DRAFT PUBLISHED!!  Also, bring two hard copies of your rough draft to your conference.

M APR 15 NO CLASS—Conferences on final report

• final report rough draft must be published by noon today

F APR 19 NO CLASS—Conferences on final report

• peer review of a classmate's report draft must be published by noon today; also due at this time: an e-mail message to the person whose draft you critiqued, telling that person that your critique is published, and where it is (include the URL in your e-mail message)

M APR 22 Technology Workshop: Creating Internal Links, Fine-tuning Your Web Site

• For instructions on creating links within a page to another section in that page, click here.

• Reading and Writing Assignment: Go to the Plain English Network and familiarize yourself with the site by clicking around and finding out what's there; then find their "major guidance document--WRITING USER-FRIENDLY DOCUMENTS," and peruse the online version (you can also print out a printable version).  Find two sections of this guidance document containing advice that you think will be helpful toward editing your report; write down the titles of these two areas, and be able to tell the class why you found the advice they offer useful.

• due date for the Final Draft of your Final Report (must be published by 5:00 p.m.)
• Final Self-commentary must be published by Monday, April 29, at 5 p.m.; final fine-tuning of web site also due at this time
• Also by Monday at 5:00, write your final Formal Letter, make a hard copy and send it to your writer in the wild, AND send a copy of the letter in the body of an e-mail message to Dr. Engles (cftde@eiu.edu)