1 Welcome!

Welcome to English 235, Technical Writing. My name is Jeff Meyers, and I’ll be your instructor this semester as we look at modern written communication.

If this is your first experience with on-line education, I am sure you will find it an interesting, challenging and rewarding experience. If you have taken on-line courses before, I am glad you decided to participate in this program as well.

I have taught Technical Writing both in the classroom and on-line for quite a few years now. I understand your feelings if you are nervous or a little confused at this point. But I believe you will become more and more comfortable with the concept, as I have, the more you work with on-line lessons.

It’s important to note that you can access technical support to help with any problems you may encounter. Clinton Community College has put a lot of time and effort into it on-line program and offers its assistance openly and easily. The key to developing confidence in a WEB environment is to stay with it and to seek help when needed.

You will find syllabus-like information in a number of documents listed below. I suggest that you read all the documents in this section in order and ask any questions you may have along the way by clicking “Talk with the Instructor” tab at the top of your Table of Contents. You may want to print some of the documents if you take comfort from hard copy.

We will not be using a textbook this semester. I have provided the names of some technical writing text books that you can order and purchase at your favorite bookstore if you would like additional information. Otherwise, I will be providing a lot of additional information for you.

I have posted complementary information for each chapter in the different modules and have included some questions to help get the discussions rolling. Once we get going, I would like to be a participant in the discussions along with each and every one of you. We will all get bored very quickly if I end up doing all the talking.

In addition to the text, we will be looking at several examples of the different kinds of documents you will be assigned to write this semester. I think it is very important that you all understand your role in the “writer-reader” relationship and perform your role in a professional manner. Identifying possible writing designs and techniques is one way to make sure your papers are creative, convincing and professional. So I would like all of you to be confident in sharing your ideas regularly.

I hope you’re getting the idea that your active participation in these discussions will become the heart of this course. After all, we are dealing with professional communication. Don’t think of this solely as a college-level writing course. Think of it as your career, and the documents you’re writing as exemplifying that career.

Thanks for reading this. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask. But for now, I suggest you read through the rest of the Course Information Documents before moving onto the course modules.

Good luck, and remember that help is always available for you. — Jeff Meyers