- 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
- Black History Month in American and Canada continues through February 28.
- Tu Bishvat, a Jewish holiday, begins at sundown on February 5 and ends at sundown on February 6.
If any of these events interferes with your work in the class, send me a message with Canvas Inbox and let me know how you need me to adjust your due dates.
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
- All work is due by 11:59 PM on Friday, February 10.
- Grace Period:
- Ends at 11:59 PM on Wednesday, February 15 for your Check-in Survey.
- Ends at 11:59 PM on Friday, April 28 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
- Optional ways to discuss class issues:
- Post public questions in the General Q&A Discussion in Canvas if it can be shared with the class.
- If you have a private question, send me a message with the Canvas Inbox.
- Ask a question or make a suggestion anonymously with the Anonymous Questions & Suggestions form.
- Post public questions in the General Q&A Discussion in Canvas if it can be shared with the class.
📓 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.