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=media type="youtube" key="u3PJlo_A-0c" height="315" width="560"Sean Wippert & Bryan Eleogram's - Joule Thief Project=

media type="youtube" key="XYI1jLUS9U8" height="315" width="420" = = =English 407B: Fundamentals of Technical Writing=

Nov. 28
Course Portfolio Assignment

Screencasting Tips and Best Practices How to Create Screencasts Part 3 Step 5 Editing Your Screencast

Youtube Video Editor How to Edit a Youtube Video 10 Best Free Video Editing Software

Nov. 14
Discusions/questions about readings
 * [|Places to find how-to-videos]
 * [|HOW TO: Make a Great How-To Video]
 * Tips on project selection: When not to choose your Project 1
 * Reminder: Situation Analysis 3 due


 * How Video/Film becomes video/film **
 * Meeting the Cowardly Lion vs Script and Storyboard


 * Planning your how-to video: storyboards and scripting in Celtx **
 * [|Glossary of shot types]
 * Glossary of [|scriptwriting terms]


 * Using Celtx
 * 1) Video tutorial: Writing scripts
 * 2) Video tutorial: Creating a storyboard

**Activity: Storyboard Beard's Company**
 * 1) Download Celtx
 * 2) Start a new project (choose AV and then ADD a storyboard)
 * 3) Script and storyboard three minutes of [|Beard's Company]
 * 4) Submit whatever you have to MTCL by the end of class

**Help/Resources** >
 * Using the Celtx Splash Page
 * Celtx Wiki: Walkthroughs and Tutorials
 * Video: Downloading and Installing Celtx
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">12 Screencasting Tools for Creating Videos
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">How to Create Screencasts You Can Be Proud Of

Nov. 10
// Agenda //


 * Activity: How Do I Do Mermaid Makeup?
 * Start Project 2: Web Video [[file:web video project.doc]]
 * <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 15px;">[]
 * Finding your project topic
 * Assignment (due by the beginning of next class): [[file:situation analysis worksheet1316627304204 (1).doc]]
 * How I Make a Screencast: Demo Girl

**Lecture Notes with Tips!**
 * NOV. 2**
 * Dr. S Lecture Notes: Descriptions (use Step 3 as a checklist for content development)
 * Dr. S. Lecture Notes; Definitions (remember you'll need multiple types of definitions)

Resources
 * Lorem Ipsum Generator
 * Tutorials for Some Word Formatting Features: Columns, etc.
 * Tips on Styles in MS-Word
 * Create Process Diagrams with Word Smart Art
 * Tutorial: Charts and Graphs in Word
 * How to Make Charts in Excel




 * OCTOBER 31**

Samples of past student work (Sustainability Project now E-waste): @http://407bgreen.pbworks.com/w/page/939445/Sustainability%20Made%20Simple

The White Paper Guy - Sample White Papers

Situation Analysis Worksheet for Project 2 [[file:situation analysis worksheet1316627304204 (1).doc]]
Discuss as a group

Trade Journals vs. Scholarly Journals
//**Trade journals**// (keeping up your education on the job, articles written by leaders/experts for a range of practitioners)
 * BLS.gov - Occupational Outlook Handbook
 * For students in your major, what are your professional organizations? conferences? trade journals? student chapter? Go to the Occupational Outlook Handbook type in your career and find the answers.

My professional organization (as a technical communicator) Society for Technical Communicators publishes trade journals:
 * InterCom
 * Technical Communication

//**Scholarly journals**// (research by scholars, creation of new information in the field, articles written by professors for professors) My professional organization (as a professor, teacher) Association of Teachers of Technical Writing and Council for Programs in Technical and Scientific Communication publish scholarly journals >
 * Technical Communication Quarterly (compare to Technical Communication)

Research trivia

 * 1) TAs vs. Adjuncts vs. Professors
 * 2) Why books are not your friend: Peer review and the publishing cycle
 * 3) Citation styles - The Pink Ladies Jackets of academia (or That MLA garbage your lit professors use? Guess who uses that?)

Where do you find trade journals and scholarly journals?

 * E-journals
 * Databases
 * Card Catalog (gone cyber).

**ICE: Build a bibliography**
Do a Lied Library search for E-Waste (or your preferred search string if you already have a topic) from
 * the new Quick Search feature
 * Academic Search Premiere (for all returns and for scholarly/peer-reviewed articles only)
 * LexisNexis Academic (for News)
 * an Environmental Studies or Computer Science database that looks relevant
 * a relevant e-journal
 * the books catalog

Submit a bibliography with a properly-formatted citations from at least one book, e-journal, and database by the end of class; upload your bibliography via the assignment link in MTCL. Aim for a mix of trade and scholarly resources.

Resources
 * UNLV RefWorks
 * Purdue OWL APA Style

Oct. 17
Sean and Bryan

Intro to Project 2: In-class Exercise: Marketing USB Drive

media type="youtube" key="OFb0NaeRmdg" height="315" width="560"
 * Here's a nifty video example of the sort of semi-technical description you did in class on Monday.**

//**Purely for fun - a process description from 1935**//

media type="youtube" key="JZ9BiaU7qkI" height="315" width="420"


 * OBJECT description - explains a natural or man-made item as a static entity, focus is on the whole and its parts
 * MECHANISM description - identifies the components of a man-made item and explains their operational relationships, focus is on parts and their function in relationship to each other.
 * PROCESS description -- explains the operations of a complex event over time, focus is on how events unfold

Oct. 12

 * Marilyn and Tia**

This is the class web space for English 407B: Fundamentals of Technical Writing with Dr. Julie Staggers at UNLV.

Oct. 10
Download for Anthony and Jason

Download image for Carmelisse, Mandino, Nicholas

Oct. 5
Team meetings -- finalize presentations/materials

Oct. 3
Team meetings - Run-throughs and revision

Sept. 30
Team meetings - Drafting and development

Sept. 28
From storyboards to scripts Team meetings

Sept. 26
[] Visual Sets and Visual Hierarchies Proximity, Alignment, Repetition, Contrast Horrible Menu: Shopsins

Some basic elements of instructions

Designing instructions from storyboards

Audience, purpose, tone, style in instructions

Sept. 21
Set up MyTech Comm Lab access: www.mycomplab.com Storyboarding as a planning technique - start with a task list

Milestones for this week
 * Team Meetings**
 * Complete background research?
 * Analyze the rhetorical situation - Use [[file:situation analysis worksheet1316627304204 (1).doc]] and upload to MTCL by end of session
 * Consider pros & cons of Word vs. Google Docs for sharing, reviewing drafts and make a decision about what you're using
 * Begin planning the presentation - storyboarding
 * Upload meeting minutes by end of class - [[file:Team minutes template.doc]]

Next week scripting/drafting and developing visuals, see MTCL Study Plan for details.
 * Looking ahead**

Mon. 9/18
Today's theme: "Wow Factor Added to Corporate Presentation."

//**Presentations**// Old school, new school


 * Activity:**
 * 1) Spend 10 minutes scanning [] to find a presentation you find truly compelling (and one or two that are real duds).
 * 2) Then working with 2-3 people around you, compare what you've found. Working together, make a list of the common features that make these slides effective.
 * 3) Submit the results of your discussion, along with a list of links to the presentations you found to the wiki discussion space (1 per group, include names of all participants.
 * 4) If time permits, do the same for the less interesting presentations.

//**Collaboration**//
 * Google Docs vs. MS-Word
 * Google Docs Tour, Getting Started in Google Docs
 * GANTT chart vs. PERT chart; free Gantt Chart tools; Gantt Chart tutorial


 * MBTI
 * Overview of the Four Temperaments
 * Temperament: The College Zone
 * Temperament: The Work Zone

Clean Up Your Mess: A Guide to Visual Design for Everyone
 * Supplemental Resources**

Wednesday - 9/15
Agenda
 * Overview of the Procedures Project [[file:Procedures Project Overview.pptx]]
 * Team minutes: What are they? Why do we have to use them? [[file:Team minutes template.doc]]
 * Discuss: What should we accomplish on the first day in a team?

> Download a copy of the team minutes. Submit your team minutes via email to julie.staggers@unlv.edu before the end of class. > Goals: Settle on a topic for the procedures project and clear it with me. Begin background research.
 * Set up teams.
 * Team meetings.

Monday - 9/12
Agenda Working in a group of 3-4 people, revise the Popcorn Memo so that it conforms to the Principles of Effective Professional Writing. Consult the Reader-Based Revision Checklist on p. 31 and the Principles of Effective Professional Writing on p. 24. ||
 * Discussion: Homework 911
 * Professional Writing Style [[file:7 Types of Bad Writing.pptx]] Examples for your consideration
 * **Activity: Revise the Memo**
 * Consider not just tone, content, organization, but also the physical layout of the document.
 * Also consider the issues raised in Chapter 2: Context? Purpose? Audience? Role of the Writer? (ethos)
 * Not all information in the original may be necessary in the revision
 * Post your group's revision on the **Discussion** page in this workspace. || [[file:popcornmemo.pdf]]

Due > Read
 * Exercise 3 from Chapter 2
 * Chapter 3