Professional Documents
Culture Documents
T ECHNICAL C OMMUNICATION
LMC 3403 Section L
Georgia Institute of Technology, School of Literature, Media, and Communication
Fall term 2015, 3 credits, prerequisite: ENGL 1102 (or equiv.)
Course web site: http://rhetoricked.com/teaching/lmc3403lf2015/
Instructor: Brian N. Larson, 316 Skiles, BLarson@GATech.edu
Office hours: Mondays, 3:00-4:00; Wednesdays, 1:00-2:00; Fridays, 1:00-2:00
Contents
Course overview .................................................................................................................................. 1
Equal opportunity and accessibility and mental health services ........................................................ 2
Succeeding in this class; student writing support ................................................................................ 3
Required texts and materials ............................................................................................................... 3
Assignments, grades, and absences ..................................................................................................... 4
Student conduct and related matters .................................................................................................. 7
Instructor information ......................................................................................................................... 8
C OURSE
OVERVIEW
Learning objectives
Disciplinary, technical, and professional communication (DP&TC) involves an effort to
change the minds of audiences. The goal of the
communicator is to affect the beliefs, goals, or
actions (which themselves are controlled by the
audiences mind) of the audience. Effective
DP&TC thus requires the communicator to
know the mind of the audience and then to
change the mind of the audience ethically to
achieve the communicators goal.
LMC 3403 expands the competencies students
developed in English 1101 and 1102, with an
emphasis on communicating in scientific, business, and technological fields. Practically every
employer in every survey in any professional
field (including engineering) emphasizes the
need for employees and team members to be
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4.
E QUAL
5.
6.
Disability accommodations
The Institute is committed to providing quality
education to all students regardless of ability.
Determining appropriate accommodations is a
collaborative process. You must register with
the Office of Disability Services and provide
documentation of your accessibility needs in
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S UCCEEDING
R EQUIRED
You will need access to required texts, computer software, and other resources to complete your work in this class successfully.
2.
Your notes on required readings the instructor provides in PDF form. (You need
not print the PDF, though you may find it
Texts
The text for this course is Alred, G. J., Brusaw,
C. T., & Oliu, W. E. (2015). Handbook of
Technical Writing (11th edition). Boston: Bedford/St. Martins. (You may be able to use the
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O ther m aterials
You should budget a small amount of money
(less than $50) for purchase of other materials
that you may need for performance of class
assignments. These might include copying,
presentation materials, etc. If you choose to
print readings provided in electronic form, you
should consider the cost of printing (both to
yourself and to the environment).
A SSIGNMENTS ,
Course grade
components
The
following
components will determine students final
grades, and the weight that each has in the final
grade is set out in Table 1:
Assignment 1: Literacy narrative. In this
assignment, students describe their histories as
communicators, including their communica-
Image courtesy
flickr.com/photos/NCDOTCommunications
(Creative Commons license)
tions education and experiences. This is assignment is not graded, but it must be submitted to pass the course.
Assignment 2: Genre analysis memo.
Students identify two genres of communication
from their own disciplines of study (engineering, business, etc.) or from their jobs. Students
explain how the rhetorical situations to which
those genres respond motivate similarities and
differences between them. The instructor will
provide extensive feedback and a tentative
grade on this assignment to acquaint students
with grading standards for the course. Students
who wish to do so will be allowed to revise and
resubmit the assignment for a higher grade.
Assignment 3: Usability assessment
report. Each group of students writes a report
including a usability assessment of the assembly
instructions for a consumer product distributed
worldwide. The assessment is based on empirPage 4
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If there is a potential that you will face a personal challenge during the term that may affect
your participation, talk to your instructor as
soon as you realize it. Do not wait for matters
to get out of control. Your instructor may grant
extensions to due dates for good reasons if you
speak to him in advance!
D An employer would not send or distribute this document because it has more than
one major problem or fails on numerous
grounds to address the audience or a solution
to the problem.
Grading Disputes: If you believe your instructor has given you an unfair or inappropriate grade on an assignment, you may dispute
the grade by writing a memo to your instructor
explaining why you believe you deserve a higher grade. Write the memo and send it to your
instructor at least 48 hours, but no more than
14 days, after receiving the grade to which you
object. If you object to your final course grade,
you may appeal it any time during the following
term pursuant to the policies of the School of
Literature, Media, and Communication.
Absence policy
This course is a small, discussion-oriented
class. For this reason, your attendance in class
and participation in discussions factor significantly into your grade.
Missing the equivalent of one week or more of
class with unexcused absences will result in a
lower grade. Missing the equivalent of three
weeks or more with unexcused absences will
result in failing the course.
Students will not be penalized for absence during the semester due to unavoidable or legitimate circumstances. Such circumstances include verified illness, participation in authorized intercollegiate athletic events, subpoenas,
jury duty, military service, bereavement, and
religious observances. If you are in doubt, consult the instructor.
A student who is absent for any reason is responsible for all material and activities missed
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S TUDENT
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I NSTRUCTOR
INFORMATION
Contact information
Brian N. Larson, J.D., Ph.D.
You may call me Brian or by any other respectful name, and I prefer masculine pronouns. Please let me know what name and
pronouns you prefer me to use for you.
The best ways to contact me:
Email:
BLarson@GATech.edu
Expect my response within 24 hours,
though I may respond quickly saying
it will take me longer to give you a full
response.
Office location
316 Skiles
686 Cherry St.
Atlanta, GA 30332
Personal background
I'm a researcher, teacher, and until very recently a practicing lawyer. As a scholar, I'm interested in rhetoric and the law and in the creation, reception, and interpretation of legal texts;
as a teacher, in helping students develop the
skills to communicate with impact; as a lawyer,
in digital media, copyright, trademark, internet,
and antitrust matters.
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