• Time Required
• 10–12 hours, including reading time

Welcome to Week Six of the course. This week, we finish up work on the Technical Description and Instructions Assignments. To ensure that you earn a Complete on your work, pay attention to the criteria and the information in the Self-Check activities, which tell you exactly what I will look for in your submissions.

Next week we will begin work on the Recommendation Report with a presentation that pitches the topic you want to explore in your report. Next week also marks the middle of the semester, so it’s a good opportunity for you to aim to finish any outstanding work from the first half of the term.

Holidays & Events This Week

• Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, is celebrated from September 25–27.
• Navaratri, a Hindu festival, lasts from September 26 to October 5 this year.

If you observe these holidays and need me to adjust your due dates, send me a message in Canvas.

Objectives for this Module

After 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

📚 To Read This Week

1. Chapter 20 of Markel & Selber, “Writing Definitions, Descriptions, & Instructions”
2. Chapter 11 of Markel & Selber, “Designing Print & Online Documents”
3. Technical Description of a Tramontina Dutch Oven (Student Example)
4. American Omelet Instructions (Student Example)
5. Cast Iron Skillet Instructions (Student Example)

📝 To Write This Week

• Finish work on the Technical Description Assignment, using these additional resources:
  • Technical Description Criteria
  • Tip Sheet: Technical Description of an Object
  • Technical Description Self-Check
• Finish work on the Instructions assignment, using these additional resources:
  • Instructions Project Criteria
  • Tip Sheet: Instructions
  • Instructions Self-Check
• Try out strategies from the course by submitting these activities:
  • Try-It #11: Calculating Readability Statistics (Tuesday)
  • Try-It #12: Analyzing Design in Your Instructions (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 October 5.
• 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 6 Check-In Survey to let me know how you are doing in the course.

 

 

Photo credit: Research process by Raul Pacheco-Vega on Flickr, used under a CC-BY-NC-ND 2.0 license.