Article Analysis

We briefly discussed our first assignment in class today. There are some points that you might find helpful when you are starting your search for an appropriate article and begin your draft. They are:

• Pick an article that clearly addresses one of the audiences.

• Choose a print article. Web-based versions make it hard to discuss layout and illustration.

• Avoid really short articles. One page articles only give you a small amount of information to work with.

• Make sure it is science or technology related.

• The audience for this paper is myself and a student who has not taken TC 231.

Here are the dates you should keep in mind as we work on this assignment:

Due Dates:

Monday, October 3
Hand in photocopies of two potential articles

Wednesday, October 5
Turn in a draft and memo for instructor review

Monday, October 10
Complete Draft for Peer Review

Wednesday, October 12
Hand in the final draft with a copy of your article

Remember, I am happy to meet with you during office hours to discuss your progress and answer questions. You can also make an appointment in the Engineering Writing Center if you want additional help.

*Reminder*

For class on Wednesday:

• Read Chapter 5 in the textbook.

• Download the Article Analysis assignment description.

• Take a look at a student example of the Article Analysis. Remember, this version does not include the cover memo.

• Read about the writer's strategies for the four audiences that we will be discussing for the article analysis assignment.

• Write a blog post (1 paragraph) that explains how you use the Web.

I will post some other tips for the article analysis assignment later today.

Syllabus

Hey everyone, I'm not a genius with computers and when I try to download the syllabus, it is in code or something I can't read. Any suggestions?

Welcome to the Class Blog

I will be using this site to provide online access to course documents, highlight relevant subjects on other web sites and post reminders about class assignments. Students traditionally have found this electronic component to be pretty useful, especially as we move into more collaborative projects later in the quarter.

Also, I will be sending out invites to the blog so that all of you can begin contributing your own posts and comments. If you have any trouble with the invite, please let me know quickly so we can work out a solution.

Please make sure you download a copy of the course syllabus if you have not done so already. Also, review the sections on Purpose, Preparation, Readers and Scope in the handbook and read through Chapter 1 in the textbook.

That should do it for Friday. I look forward to working with you this quarter!