- Time Required
- 8–10 hours, including reading time
Welcome to Week Four of the course. At this point, you should have completed and submitted your Label Analysis Assignment. If you need details on catching up with that project, visit the assignment page
The next projects in the course focus on the genres of technical description and instructions. You will write a technical description of a food-related item and then compose instructions on how to do something appropriate with the item. For example, you might write a technical description of a wok and then compose instructions for seasoning a wok or directions for making a particular recipe in the wok. You’ll find many more examples in the assignments.
Holidays & Events This Week
Each week, I mention religious holidays and cultural events that I know about. If I leave out a religious holiday that should be included, please email me so that I can add.
Here’s what’s coming up this week:
- Patriot Day is Sunday the 11th.
- National Hispanic Heritage Month.begins Thursday the 15th.
Objectives for this Module
By completing this week’s activities, you address the following course objectives:
- Analyze the rhetorical situation and determine the appropriate audience or users of written communication, considering the needs of global audiences and people with disabilities. [CLO 1]
- Use conventions of various workplace genres, such as proposals, instructions, correspondence, reports, and slide decks, with understanding of how the genre conventions can be used as heuristics and as principles of arrangement. [CLO 4]
- Collaborate with classmates in planning, researching, writing, revising, and presenting information. [CLO 5]
Activities to Complete
Due Dates
- Friday, September 16: Suggested due date for this week’s work
- Grace Period:
- Ends at 11:59 PM on Wednesday, September 21 for your Try-Its and Check-in Survey.
- Ends at 11:59 PM on Friday, December 2 for the rest of the week’s work.
📚 To Read This Week
- Chapter 20 of Markel & Selber, “Writing Definitions, Descriptions, & Instructions,” pp. 561–569
- Chapter 11 of Markel & Selber, “Designing Print & Online Documents”
📝 To Write This Week
- Begin work on the Technical Description Assignment, using these additional resources:
- Try out strategies from the course by submitting these activities:
- Try-It #7: Introducing Your Description (Tuesday)
- Try-It #8: Checking Document Design (Thursday)
💬 To Discuss This Week
- Check in with your Accountability Group, according to the agreement that you have made. Use whatever tool your group has agreed to. Remind your group that Try-Its and Check-In Surveys have a 5-day grace period and must be submitted by September 21.
- Post any questions you have in the General Q&A Discussion Board in Canvas. If you have a private question, send me an email at tengrrl@vt.edu.
📓 To Check-In This Week
- Fill out the Week 4 Check-In Survey to let me know how you are doing in the course.
Photo Credit: Image from page 531 of "Cyclopedia of American horticulture" by Internet Archive Book Images on Flickr, used under public domain.