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This course has been designated by the department as a "writing intensive" course as part of the University's core requirements to include writing across the curriculum. This is not an English course; the writing assignments will closely match real-world writing situations in a technical and professional setting. When we get feedback from CS professionals in government, business, and industry, including from our own graduates, the one requirement that almost always tops the list is the ability to write clearly, concisely, and persuasively for business situations. This requires reasonable command of spelling and grammar, if only to avoid a bad impression. The most important requirement is to be able to organize a topic well and stick to the organization in writing. This means disciplined writing that follows logical development, isn't rambling or repetitive, and has good sentence and paragraph structure. That's it, in a nutshell!
One of the assignments in this class also requires you to complete a review of a draft paper by a colleague.
For assistance on what questions should be asked (and answered) in a review,
see the part
about reviews in the writing reference by Jolliffe.
Another useful set of questions, originating from the Department of English,
Virginia Tech, may be helpful. In any case, you should always look at the review
questions as part of your own development process to make sure that you have
covered all the points whether you intend to have a formal review done by someone
else or not. You should also examine the guidelines for writing a summary
or a critique
that was provided by the Virginia Tech Writing Center.
There will be several writing assignments in this course from short writing exercises in-class, to lengthy reports. Each will be designed to make you more facile in your writing abilities and at the same time will provide a learning element which hopefully will help you assimilate the contents of the course.
The writing exercises in this class are intended to give the student further experience in writing in a technical environment. In most cases, writing in organizations is in response to some requirement set by a manager or group leader and has very specific goals and expectations. Perhaps the most frequent kind of writing need (beyond email) you will encounter as a CS professional is a business letters or memos to coworkers, your boss, or higher up administrators. You will also be called upon to help write proposals. Sometimes you will want to write what is often called a "white paper", a more detailed document that describes an issue or other phenomenon that you wish to make others aware of. You may wish to take a stand on the issue and even urge others to take some kind of action. For example, because of the operating system being used, your organization might be highly susceptible to significant damage due to computer viruses but your coworkers aren't aware of the danger and most wouldn't know how it can happen or what to do about it. By way of writing a white paper on the topic and sending it out or posting it, you can raise awareness of this important issue, inform your coworkers by spelling out the technical details, and motivate people to do what it takes to achieve your goal.
We are not trying to get you to write for publication, but even in writing for publication, such as in the ACM Communications or the IEEE Computer Society Computer, prospective authors are given a set of guidelines that they are expected to follow. In such cases, it is also to get a copy of the questions that are asked of reviewers of potential publications to make sure that the manuscript provides answers to the questions that they are being asked in the process of deciding whether this paper is worthy of publication. In this course we will attempt to provide a set of guidelines in three forms:
One of the major guidelines to be followed is that the what you write should answer the questions posed by the prospective audience (e.g., your coworkers, your boss, larger groups of people in your organization). The reader (and grader, in our case) should be able to find those answers easily. Frequent use of subheadings or topical sentences in paragraphs can ease this burden. If the assignment contains a description of the questions to be answered, or the topics to be covered, then use that as the initial outline of the report or paper. Immediately you will have solved two problems:
It is necessary to superimpose on this initial outline the other guidelines of assisting the reviewer and meeting the grading expectations.
Finally, but very importantly, while you may have been taught in earlier classes to weave your thoughts into a flowing narrative and make your writing "interesting", in the case of technical writing the major purpose is to provide information clearly and not to try to impress the reader with your fancy wording and clever constructions. Avoid flowery language and "literary" stylism!
(Please forgive any repetition you find here with other parts of the site. This part is intended to be stand-alone and may repeat some points from elsewhere.)
This is the component of the course that addresses written communication. We stress literate business writing in the CS professional setting. Often this means formal writing (e.g., letters, proposals). You can find the details of each assignment by following the individual assignment links on the "Writing" Web page. The class calendar indicates all due dates. The initial writing assignment is short, with an additional purpose of "calibrating" the process for everyone. The written assignments are more or less of increasing value in percentage of your grade, so that the initial learning process is not disproportionately costly.
Unless otherwise specified, each written assignment must be typed and double-spaced with approximately 250 words per page. Written assignments that are significantly shorter (or significantly longer) than the assigned length will be penalized in the grading. You will be asked to state the length (number of words) on the grading form for each written assignment. For this requirement, you should use a word count function on your word processor, not just an estimate.
As stated on the "Writing" Web page, you are asked to staple a grading form (that you can print from this link) as a cover sheet to the front of each of your written assignments before handing it in. This grading form is a guide as to how the written assignment will be graded, based on the following general factors (as applicable to the specific assignment):
1. Content. Definitions, if appropriate, must be complete and correct. The content must reflect knowledge of the subject on your part. An important factor is your ability to make your own original synthesis of information taken from other sources. You should also avoid repetition. Present each point the best way you can in one place, then don't come back and repeat the same thought somewhere else. The best way to accomplish this is to have a good outline. Without an effective outline, the temptation is to keep making the same points. I repeat: avoid repetition.
2. Organization. The order in which you present your ideas is crucial to good communication. Your written assignment should always contain an introduction in which you set the stage, saying what the written assignment will be about. This could be a restatement of the assignment in your own words. The introduction is to be a guide to the overall structure the written assignment will take. Each written assignment should also have a conclusion (more than one sentence) and a list of references (as appropriate) at the end.
3. Structure. Each section and paragraph, as well as the whole written assignment, should start with a topic/thesis sentence, followed by development of that point (only). Make each point well just once. Repetition is often one of the most difficult things to avoid in writing, but it usually dulls the mind of the reader. Within each sentence there should be just one cohesive thought or idea. The development of each topic sentence must include some ideas, evidence, and/or opinions to support the topic sentence. So, in the case of the written assignment itself, it must support the requirement stated in the assignment. In the case of a paragraph, each sentence must serve to support the first sentence of that paragraph. This support can come from your own ideas, the text book, or other outside sources. When you use sources other than your own ideas, you must cite them (this is itself a big issue in ethics and professionalism) and give the reference at the end of the written assignment, including the relevant page numbers.
4. Style and tone. Because of our stress on professionalism in this course, we require a formal writing style not a chatty one. Therefore, avoid casual or colloquial terms and hackneyed expressions (e.g., "kids," "clobbered"). You should avoid diatribe, hyperbole, idiomatic expressions, clichés (e.g., "all well and good"), contractions, casual language, or trite expressions. Avoid fluff, shooting the bull, and repetition. Repetition is perhaps the single most common writing error. Say it once, the best way you can; we repeat: Don't repeat! Be parsimonious with your own opinions. Most readers want facts and critical and logical thinking. Style also includes the clarity with which you express your ideas. Readers want crisp, clean communication.
Good writing is interesting, has few grammatical errors, and flows smoothly so the reader doesn't have to work at it. Bad writing has lots of grammatical errors, rambles without any clear point, strings together many quotes without original writing in between, and shows no stylistic variation (e.g., "In 1993, he …. In 1995, he further …. Then in 1997, he ….").
Finally, avoid flowery, "purple" phrasing that sounds like romance novels or travel brochures (sophomoric attempts at "sophisticated" writing).
5. Mechanics. You will be graded on the details of your writing mechanics, a factor in writing quality. With spelling checkers, there is no excuse for misspellings or typographical errors. Correct grammar is required, e.g., matching number and tense between subject and verb, correct punctuation, and sentence structure. Avoid run-on sentences and paragraphs. Use accurate and precise words, good phrasing, smooth transitions between paragraphs, and parallel construction. Quotation marks and ellipses (. . .) must be used correctly for text taken from a reference. Do not overuse quotations. If a large percentage of your written assignment is quoted text, it will be regarded as an attempt to "pad" its length. We want to see your writing.
Proofreading and iteration are essential parts of the writing process, and we will take them seriously in this class. Proofreading is more than just skimming through your written assignment. We want someone to really get in there and mark it up, so you can benefit from the process and improve the writing quality. Try to find people who you know are good writers. Iteration means editing and rewriting the same document over and over again, each time improving. When I write a paper for publication, I always do it in a cycle of writing, reading, marking up, editing, and rewriting. It is typical for me to go through this iterative cycle 20 times over a period of six months for a single paper!
NOTE about plagiarism (repeated from the syllabus): We will be especially zealous in prosecuting Honor Court cases involving plagiarism from the Web or Internet. Plagiarism of any work from a current or former student in this course is also considered to be an honor code violation. Through the use of peer evaluations and collaborative development, and the use of the WWW, there is a strong possibility that you will be exposed to concepts and ideas that you can use in your own work. Getting permission to use those ideas and concepts from the originator (except when it is already in the public domain) and/or giving appropriate acknowledgment in your own work circumvents a charge of plagiarism.
All assignments submitted shall be considered graded work unless otherwise noted. All aspects of your coursework are covered by the honor system. Any suspected violations of the honor code will be promptly reported to the honor system. Honesty in your academic work will develop into professional integrity. The faculty and students of Virginia Tech will not tolerate any form of academic dishonesty.
Some of your grade will be assigned to the grammar and spelling elements of a written assignment. These are important parts of the core of writing. You usually don't get any credit from the reader for good grammar and spelling; it is simply expected. On the other hand, poor grammar, spelling, and vocabulary can create an impression of ignorance, which can negate good ideas you might have expressed in the content. If the grammar and/or spelling are bad enough to hinder reading of your assignments, we will NOT be able to read and grade such assignments. Use the spelling and grammar checkers on the text but do not rely on the results. There are three additional steps that you can take:
If you need assistance on grammar, the university writing center provides a "hotline" to which you can submit questions by e-mail. The e-mail address is grammar.hotline@ebbs.english.vt.edu.
As part of some assignments, we will assist you in two other ways. (1) On one assignment you will be REQUIRED to have had the work reviewed by another member of the class. The peer reviewer should not only mark up suggested changes to the text, but must also provide a critique of the work from both stylistic and content points of view. The marked-up manuscript and the critique must accompany the final submission of the assignment. The peer reviewer will receive a portion of the writing grade for this activity. (2) On one assignment you will be required to hand-in a draft for review by us two weeks ahead of the actual due date. The draft will be reviewed for both content and English. No grade will be assigned at that time (just checked off for compliance).
Other Helpful Aids to Writing and Reviewing/Evaluation
To support an evaluation of your writing emphasizing what you have learned, and the pitfalls to avoid next time, see this list of questions that you should answer for yourself after reviewing your writing. We like to use the word "developing" to describe the process of writing. The term "writing" by itself connotes a process that starts by writing the first word and proceeding through linearly until you get to the last word in the piece. Good writing is not like that! It is an evaluation-centered highly iterative process, just like the development of software or a user interface. Here are some suggested development activities you should consider/follow in your development of a writing assignment.
The intermediate headings used above correspond to the stages of development suggested by Jolliffe. Alternatively you may want to use the steps in the Waterfall model as discussed in the notes.
As you work through the development of your writing, you should respond to each of the following questions:
Tichy, H.J., Effective Writing for Engineers, Managers, and Scientists, 2nd edition, John Wiley & Sons, New York, 1988, pp. 580+xix.
A listing of do's and don'ts of writing (primarily don'ts) is to be found here.
Try this page from Carnegie-Mellon University for help also.
You may also be able to get help on-line at the University of Missouri! Also if you extra proud of your work you can submit it for publication on the WWW at the same location. If you do this, then also please let us have a copy!
The Elements of Style by William Strunk, Jr., published originally in 1918, is a classic book on writing style -- and is now on-line.
Closer to home you may want to try out the Virginia Tech Writing Center's OWL project!
One of the most appreciated helps you can get in learning almost anything is to see what your peers have accomplished. Two sources exist today that you may wish to examine:
A set of papers from a course at MIT
that covered topics similar to those in this course, and
a paper by Lee Angelelli, a student
in CS 3604 in Fall 1994, was incorporated into an on-line biography of Steve
Jobs.
You may also want to look at the papers written by students like you that appear
in the ACM Student Newsletter.
