Professional Writing
Draft Date: 4/10
Spring 2024, ENC 3250 – Professional Writing, Credit Hours: 3, Department of English
TR 12:30pm-1:45pm @ BSN 1400
1Acknowledgments:
- I thank Heather Shearer (Teaching Professor at UC Santa Cruz) for sharing her expertise with labor-based grading.
- I thank Asao Inoue (Professor of Rhetoric and Composition at ASU) for his research and mentorship regarding contract grading. Now that AI tools such as ChatGPT are widely available, I believe it makes more sense than every to try ungrading.
- I thank Ilene Frank, Librarian extraordinaire at HCC, for her ongoing tutelage regarding all-things AI.
Contract Grading – UnGrading Resources
- Contract Grading – So Your Instructor Is Using Contract Grading
- Labor-Based Grading Resources by Asao Inoue
- Labor-Based Grading Contracts: Building Equity and Inclusion in the Compassionate Writing Classroom, 2nd Edition
Instructor Information
Joseph M. Moxley, Professor of English, He/Him/His
Office: CPR 383, College of Arts & Sciences
Office Hours: Tuesdays and Thursdays, 2-3 p.m. and by appointment. Please email me when you have questions: mox@usf.edu. I’ll typically respond pretty quickly. If you don’t hear from me within 24 hours, pls send me a 2nd email. I’m generally available via Teams throughout the workday, especially the afternoons. Don’t hesitate to reach out. I don’t mind jumping on a call. I’d much rather have you ask sooner rather than later. We can meet online through Teams, Zoom, or Google Meet. Let me know your preference.
University Course Description
The course is an introduction to the techniques and types of professional writing, including correspondence and reports. It is designed to help strengthen skills of effective business and professional communication in both oral and written modes. This course fulfills the University’s general-education requirement for an emphasis on collaboration, a high-impact practice.
Course Prerequisites
ENC 1102 Minimum Grade: C-
or English Language and Comp Minimum Score: 4
or English Lit and Comp Minimum Score: 4
USF Core Syllabus Policies
USF has a set of central policies related to student recording class sessions, academic integrity and grievances, student accessibility services, academic disruption, religious observances, academic continuity, food insecurity, and sexual harassment that apply to all courses at USF. Please be sure to review these online: USF Core Syllabus Guidelines <usf.edu/provost/faculty-success/resources-policies-forms/core-syllabus-policy-statements.aspx
Welcome
Dear Students,
Welcome to Professional Writing. Below are the course requirements and schedule.
Throughout the course, at least two times each week, please check Announcements @ Canvas. I make weekly and often biweeklyAnnouncements. For instance, for the class I may clarify a student question, or I may give some group feedback on an assignment. Please email me when you have questions. I’ll typically respond back in 24 hours. If you don’t hear from me within 24 hours, pleases send me a 2nd email. If I’m online when your message comes in, I’ll jump on a quick call with you, via Zoom, Teams, or Google Meet. We can schedule longer meetings, as necessary.
My AI Policy
I’m all for your using AI tools such as Chat GPT or Midjourney. I think moving forward, like it or not, we will be working a lot with AI to accelerate communication processes. However, I strongly encourage you to develop your own unique style, voice — and thoughts. At this point of time, it’s easy to recognize a prose style generated by AI: it tends to address content at the superficial level, it hallucinates, and it tends to follow a formulaic sentence and organizational structure. Remember, as well, that tools such as ChatGPT are founded on the greatest intellectual property theft of all time: The developers vacuumed the internet, swallowing all of that content whole. They didn’t care about U.S. copyright law or intellectual property rights — or the laws that protect a writer’s work in other countries. Instead, they dumped all of those words into a bucket — what corpus linguists call a corpus. Then they used statistical probability analysis to predict which letter or letters are likely to follow other letters. Then they used humans to train the dataset.
You should know that I can tell when work is based on AI and served up whole as if context doesn’t matter in clear communication. I can also determine, I believe, whether your prose has been worked though multiple iterations. Eventually, it may be impossible to discern AI prose from human prose. Presently, though, that’s not the case.
Currently, in higher education there is a great deal of conversation and debate about how professions and disciplines should respond to the usage of AI assisted writing for classroom assignments.
In my opinion, we are in a pickle: the conventions that have guided our society regarding intellectual property are shifting in response to the emergence of large language models. Professional organizations, journals, and book publishers are working on new methods for attributing sources generated from humans coauthority with AI. Lawyers and businesses and the government are wresting with how AI can be used for the benefit of humanity. We are at a revolutionary moment when it comes to language practices. People in school and workplaces are suddenly grappling with powerful AI-informed Digital Assistants, who are capable of setting their appointments and doing routine writing. All of this brings into question what the future is for writing and professional writers, and how if humans strop writing that may influence cognition and the ongoing conversations of humankind
Meanwhile, though, it’s also important to note that in school settings and work settings it is a violation of academic and/or professional integrity for you to submit work that has make up sources and evidence. Thus, if you experiment with AI, you must not simply “copy and paste.” Instead, you need to check every source and quotation — really every word. So, from my perspective, it’s fine for you to work with AI but whatever you turn in needs to be yours: it needs to reflect your voice, tone, voice, persona — and thinking.
Academic & Professional Writing Citation Styles for Attributing AI
If you choose to use an AI technology for writing, attribute your use of AI by referencing it. For assignments in this class, it is fine for you to attach a statement to your assignment that explains how you worked with AI to author the text. You do not need to attach transcripts. Please note, however I may ask you to provide a transcript of the prompts you gave to the AI when working on the assignment.
As an academic or professional writing, you need to identify the citation style the discourse community you are addressing expects you to use. Here are the guidelines for students from APA 7 and MLA 9:
- APA 7: Open AI. (Year). ChatGPT (month day version) [Large Language Model].
- MLA 9: “Prompt text” prompt. ChatGPT, day month. version, OpenAI, day month year, chat.openai.com/chat
- Chicago: ChatGPT, response to “Prompt text,” OpenAI, month, day, year,
Personal Pronouns
So that I may refer to you with the appropriate pronoun in Canvas, the University’s course LMS (learning management system), please set your preferences for your personal pronoun at Canvas > Settings. If you have a first name change request for Canvas, please email IDM-Help@usf.edu from your official USF email account. You do not need to provide personal details for the request. Tell USF the first name you want to show in Canvas. This will also change your name in the directory, but it will not change your email address.
Learn more about personal pronouns and how they are tied to inclusive language.
How Can You Do Well in This Class?
- Show up.
- Show up every time we meet.
- Show up on time.
- Show up ready to participate enthusiastically in class activities and class discussions.
- Show up prepared (i.e., complete all assigned readings and assignments before class).
Best wishes for a productive semester. Reach out to me when you have questions: mox@usf.edu.
Professor Moxley
Student Learning Outcomes
USF General Education Council
Effective Fall, 2021, ENC 3250 is an approved general education course under the high impact practice of collaboration. Below are USF’s General Education Council policies and outcomes for ENC 3250. All of the sections of ENC 3250 share these common core course outcomes:
General Education
- Students will engage in meaningful critical reflection in required coursework.
- Under professional oversight, students will utilize contextually appropriate behaviors, tools, techniques and/or dispositions.
- Students will integrate discipline-specific knowledge into the contextualized experience.
- Students will synthesize discipline-appropriate learning via a culminating assignment.
Collaboration High Impact Practice
- Students will utilize collaborative skills to plan and execute a rigorous project central to the course learning outcomes, employing flexibility, and internal conflict resolution as necessary
- Students identify, acknowledge, and manage conflict.
- Each student supports a constructive team climate by doing the following: Treats team members respectfully, motivates teammates, and provides assistance and/or encouragement to team members.
Course Specific
- Students will analyze and write in a specific context defined by purpose and audience
- Students will demonstrate effective document design
Required Course Tools – Writing Spaces
- Canvas (for grading purposes & Announcements)
- Each week, I will use Announcements @ Canvas to adjust the schedule, if necessary, clarify student questions, and give group feedback. I will ask you to upload some assignments to Canvas discussion forms and drop boxes.
- gDocs
- Zotero (for citations — unless you have another favorite app for citation management)
Required Texts
In the schedule below you’ll see links to a number of readings. Those are all available for free online. The primary texts for the course are
- GCF Global. Google Drive and Docs
This is a thorough, free guide to using gDocs. You’ll need this resource if you are unsure how to create and share gDocs - Web Accessibility Initiative. Images Tutorial
This is a free resource. Not sure how to caption images? Learn how to make your images more accessible. - Syllabi Policies for AI Work
- Writing Commons
You can block the ads by adding Adblock Plus, a free Chrome extension. The ad blocker works great.
Recommended Resources
- USF Guidance for Ethical Generative AI Usage
- USF AI Resources & Tools
- Grading
Your grade will be based on your labor over the semester. This approach is called “labor-based contract grading.”
Grading Criteria
To earn an A in this course, you need to
- meet all of the requirements outlined below to earn a B grade
- maintain a Labor Log throughout the semester
- Write Progress Update memos to your me and a final reflection.
- Please see schedule below for details on optional assignments
To earn a B in this course, you need to
- complete all but three assignments/projects on time
- have no more than three unexcused absences
To earn a C in this course, you need to
- complete all but five assignments/projects on time
- have no more than four unexcused absences.
To earn a D or F in this course, you need to
- complete all but six assignments/projects on time
- have no more than six unexcused absences
Canvas Workaround
Nearly all assignments in Canvas will be marked as “Complete” or “Incomplete.” If Canvas shows you a percentage in your “Grades” view, ignore it. Any cumulative percentage that Canvas might show you is meaningless.
- You earn a score of complete on an assignment by completing it as described in the assignment description and related supplementary materials
- You earn an incomplete by failing to submit an assignment, by submitting an assignment that does not fulfill the requirements, or by submitting an assignment that cannot be opened/read.
Late & Incomplete Assignment Policy
Due dates. The due dates for all assignments are indicated in Canvas and in the schedule below. If you’re outside of Florida, make sure that you keep track of “Tampa Time” (EDT), as all due dates are listed according to the time zone in which the main campus is located. Most assignments are due on Monday. Take note of the following differences:
- 11:59 AM = 1 minute before noon. You probably won’t see this in our class.
- 11:59 PM or 23:59 = 1 minute before midnight. You’ll see this listed as a common assignment due-date time at Canvas.
Late assignments are those that are turned in after the due date listed in Canvas.
Incomplete assignments are those that are not submitted, those that are submitted in an inappropriate form (for example, via email or incorrect file type) or a file that cannot be reviewed (this includes files that cannot be opened), or those that do not meet assignment guidelines or baseline criteria for passing. Incomplete assignments earn a score of “incomplete.”
No late assignments are accepted. The only exceptions to this policy are students with USF-excused absences (medical absences require a doctor’s note; school activities such as USF teams require a note from Athletics BEFORE THE ABSENCE). You are welcome to work ahead if your schedule requires that.
Attendance
Students are expected to attend classes. Students who anticipate an issue with regular attendance or with being on time should take the course in a semester when their schedule is more flexible.
An attendance sheet will be shared at the beginning of each class meeting. It is your responsibility sign that attendance sheet in order to be counted as present during that class meeting. Students who accrue three unexcused absences—missing one and a half weeks of a fifteen week semester—will receive a B in the course provided they complete the labor efforts required to otherwise earn a B grade. Students who miss five classes (unexcused) will will receive a C in the course provided they complete the labor efforts required to otherwise earn a B grade. Upon the sixth unexcused absence, the student will automatically fail the course.
Students may arrange to turn assignments in late if they miss class for one of the following university-approved reasons, AND they’ve alerted me prior to the absence when feasible. Excused absences include:
- Court Imposed Legal Obligations
- Jury Duty, court subpoena, etc.
- Military Duty
- Religious Holy Days. Note: Students who anticipate the necessity of being absent from class due to the observation of a major religious observance must provide notice of the date(s) to the instructor, in writing, by the second class meeting.
- Ongoing Medical Conditions. Students facing extenuating circumstances, such as a debilitating illness or injury (physical or mental) or disability that inhibits him or her from attending class or completing assignments, must work with the appropriate on-campus organization (e.g., the Center for Victim Advocacy & Violence Prevention, SOCAT: Students of Concern Assistance Team, USF’s Student Health Services, USF’s Student Accessibility Services). The appropriate on-campus organization will then act as a liaison on behalf of the student and help the instructor determine appropriate action. As your instructor, I am not qualified to determine appropriate accommodations for ongoing medical conditions, and I will require documentation and guidance from these experts/liaisons.
- Presenting at a professional conference. Students who miss class because they are participating in a scheduled professional conference are expected to present a schedule of the event upon returning to class.
- USF Athletics’ Participation. Students who miss class because they are participating in a scheduled USF athletics event are expected to present a schedule of the USF athletic events that require their participation to me by the first week of the semester if they intend to be absent for a class or an announced examination.
If you plan to miss assignments due to the reasons listed above, you are responsible for informing me about your excused absence prior to the absence and for making up the missed work within a week of the original deadline.
Beyond university-excused absences: please be in touch with me as early as possible if you’d like to request an extension for a *very* good reason (e.g., serious illness or accident, death of a family member, job interview), and I will consider your request if it is accompanied by relevant documentation.
If you do not have a university-approved excuse for your absence or if you do not receive an extension from me, I will not accept late work.
Schedule
Week 1, 01/08 to 01/14 – Introduction to Professional Writing
Tuesday, 1/9
In-class First-Day Attendance. You need to be present in class to avoid being dropped per USF’s first-day attendance policy.
Review
- Course Syllabus & Schedule
- USF Core Syllabus Guidelines
Wednesday, 01/10, Assignment Due – What is Professional Writing?
Readings
Audience
You have two audiences for this post: (1) students in your class; (2) the instructor.
Write a note to your instructor and peers in memo format. In your post, in 200 to 250 words, summarize how Gerdes, Moxley, and Staggers distinguish professional writing from academic writing. You are encouraged to use tables, lists, and visuals. If you add images, be sure to follow citation conventions and intellectual property law. You may also respond to this assignment as an infographic. Because this is a class project, and your peers have also read Gerdes,’ Moxley’s and Stager’s definitions of professional writing, you do not need to cite the assigned readings. If you do copy and paste more than three words from those texts, however, you’ll need to formally quote the source.
Assessment
Your instructor will be looking to see
- that you can use descriptive, concrete, sensory language
- that you understand the need for exemplification in workplace writing
- that you support claims with evidence
- that you can write college-level, reader-based prose.
Submission
- Upload memo to Canvas
Thursday, 1/11 – Create Your Homepage at the Course Sandbox
Lab – Writing Workshop
- Attendance – Today I will call attendance by asking you to link your gdoc bio to the Course Sandbox. By adding your name to the Course Sandbox, you are acknowledging that you have read the Course Syllabus and the USF Core Syllabus Guidelines, including the Campus Free Expression Act. Also, please note I’m using your gdoc bio to conduct first day attendance, per USF policy.
- Discussion of first assignment
- Moxley comments on critique and radical transparency
- Discussion of Sunday’s assignment
- Log on to Library Services and use Academic Search Premier.
- In class workshop: Create your gdoc homepage for this class using gdocs.
- Using gDocs, write a 50-to-75 word bio. In your biography, please introduce yourself. You might think of this genre as exemplified by professionals on Linked In. For instance, you may
- Provide a pic or avatar. List your name as you preferred to be called in a professional context.
- List your personal pronouns
- List your major, internships, and professional affiliations
- List jobs or career interests
- List competencies, especially those related to academic and workplace writing.
- Using gDocs, write a 50-to-75 word bio. In your biography, please introduce yourself. You might think of this genre as exemplified by professionals on Linked In. For instance, you may
- Create a link at the Course Sandbox to your bio at gDocs. For this assignment, share a version of you bio that enables users to view and not edit. See GCF Global. Google Drive and Docs to for questions about using gDocs.
Sunday, 01/14, Assignment Due – Evaluative Summary – Academic Search Premier
Readings
Assignment Guidelines:
- Log on to Library Services and use Academic Search Premier. Search for topics related to AI (Artificial Intelligence) and writing or AI and the future of work.
- You might also trace authors from this library guide: University of South Australia > Library Guides > AI for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education
- You may use a variety of search queries, such as “AI and business or AI and future employment.” Be intellectually open. I encourage you to play around with different keyword search terms. As you skim through the search results, look for sources that you know are authoritative, such as Forbes, the New York Times. Look for journals and books published by distinguished university presses and professional organizations? Here I’m asking you to think about authority, which is becoming a preoccupation for our culture given the spread of fake news.
- Skim through at least 10 possible credible articles before selecting one to summarize.
- Write an “evaluative summary” — a summary that reviews the accuracy, authority, currency, purpose, and relevance of your source.
Submission Instructions:
- Upload Evaluative Summary to Canvas
Week 2, 1/15 to 1/21 – Citation, Strategic Searching, & Evaluative Summary
Readings
- Citation Guide – Learn How to Cite Sources in Academic and Professional Writing
- Summary – Learn How To Summarize Sources in Academic & Professional Writing
- The CRAAP Test
Tuesday, 1/16
Lab
- Moxley: I’ll review your summaries and talk more about the critical perspectives educated readers and knowledge maker make about discourse conventions pertaining to summaries:
- Students will orally present a one-minute presentation on the article they found using Academic Search Premier. In groups of three, please share the article you reviewed. .
- Time permitting, students will work on their 2nd evaluative summary
Tasks
- Engage in Strategic Searching
- JSTOR Search
Log on to Library Services. Search for topics related to AI (Artificial Intelligence) and writing or AI and the future of work. Here, in the spirit of intellectual openness, I encourage you to play around with different keyword search terms. Find an article that interests you and that you believe will interest your peers. - Library Guide Search
Search for university library guides on AI. Consider, e.g.,- credible articles before selecting one to summarize.
- Write an “evaluative summary” — a summary that reviews the accuracy, authority, currency, purpose, and relevance of your source.
- When you introduce your source, please do not list the entire title. Please follow APA Conventions for citing sources. Provide the bibliographical information your readers need to find the original source. Use APA 7
- Avoid a Question/Response style. That’s choppy unless formatted as FAQs. Instead, address the main questions your readers are likely to have, such as
- What was the purpose of the article? Do the authors employ empirical research methods or is it a scholarly article that uses primarily textual research methods?
- In your written work to me and your peers, adopt a prof writing design
- Per our first reading, recall the importance of visual design. IOWs, break longer paragraphs into shorter chunks. Make your work visually appealing.
- JSTOR Search
Deliverables
- upload your 2nd evaluative summary to Canvas as a .pdf
- upload a note to me. Tell me how your experience with JSTOR differed from your search via Academic Search Premier. If you used AI, that’s fine. Explain how you used it and what you learned about integrating it into your writing process.
Wednesday, 1/17 – Due: Evaluative Summary – JSTOR
Thursday, 1/18
Lab
- Moxley – Discussion of Emidio’s, Nathaniel’s, and Mason’s evaluative summaries
- In large group, concisely share the gist of your 2nd evaluative summary:
-
- Is the publisher associated with a professional association or university?
-
- Time Permitting
- Writing Workshop
Sunday, 1/21, Assignment Due: Critique the Authority of an Article You Found on Google Scholar
The goal of this exercise is for you to continue reflecting on how authority is defined. Whereas your first two writing tasks grounded your search in peer-reviewed research, this exercise — using Google Scholar — provides access to the open web. Here you will hit paywalls, scams, clickbait, and yet you may also find some terrific open content.
Readings
Tasks
- Use Google Scholar
- Search for topics related to AI (Artificial Intelligence) and writing or AI and the future of work. Here, in the spirit of intellectual openness, I encourage you to play around with different keyword search terms.
- Skim through at least 10 possible credible articles before selecting one to summarize. Engage serendipity and creative play.
- Find an interesting article that in your view lacks authority.
- Consider critical questions regarding the authority of the article:
- Who was the publisher? What journal was it published in?
- Is the publisher associated with a professional association or university?
- Who is the author? What are their qualifications?
- Is it a Formal Report by an organization, such as a Financial Company or a Non Profit?
- What genre was the article?
- What were the research methods employed by the authors?
- Is it an empirical study?
- Was it an empirical or a scholarly article?
- Is it a scholarly article?
- Is it an empirical study?
- What were the research methods employed by the authors?
- Who was the publisher? What journal was it published in?
Deliverables
- upload your critique of an article’s authority to Canvas as a .pdf
- In a research note to your peers — who have not read the article — explain why you believe the article lacks authority. Be sure to provide your readers with the bibliographical information they need to track down the source so they can make their own assessment. If it’s available online, hyperlink to it in your review. Use APA 7 for citations. Be sure to provide details your readers need to understand your assessment.
- upload a reflection on your writing process to me. This reflection report should use a professional writing style
- Tell me how your experience with Academic Search Premier and JSTOR differed from your search via Google Docs
- Tell me about your experience working with AI. Explain how you used it and what you learned about integrating it into your writing process. Recommended: Ask AI to critique your in-text citation. How did that help you?
Week 3, 1/22 to 1/28 – Critique of the Authority of a Text Found on Social Media
Tuesday, 1/23
Lab
- Moxley discussion of evaluative summaries of Google Scholar articles
- Remember to introduce the authors of the text and to use APA 7. If you are not comfortable with APA ask AI to revise your phrasing to make it conform to APA 7. Then learn from that and edit your work as necessary.
- Group Exercise
- In small groups develop a gdoc page. Share ownership of the group with group members.
- List the name of the group
- List the name of the students in the group
- Thought Experiment: Engage in rhetorical analysis to assess accuracy, authority, currency, purpose, and relevance of “AI versus old-school creativity: a 50-student, semester-long showdown.”
- As a group, write a one-page summary that introduces your peers to “AI versus old-school.” First introduce your readers to your source. Tell your peers about the publisher and what you can discern about its authority. Then talk about the authors. Note their whom they cite.
- explain the study the investigators conducted
- review the research methods the authors used
- present preliminary findings
- Link your summary to the course sandbox.
Wednesday, 01/24, Assignment Due – How Are the Standards of Credibility Evolving as a Consequence of Social Media?
The goal of this assignment is to give you a moment to reflect on how social media changes and remediates traditional ways to assess the credibility of information accuracy, authority, currency, purpose, and relevance.
Deliverables
- upload your speculative analysis of how the concept of authority is evolving as a result of AI, social media and the internet to Canvas as a .pdf
- In a research note to your peers, explain to your peers how you believe the old standards used to assess credibility of a source of information — accuracy, authority, currency, purpose, and relevance — are used as critical frameworks to evaluate online resources.
- Use APA 7 for citations. Be sure to provide your readers with the bibliographical information they need to track down the source so they can make their own assessment. If it’s available online, hyperlink to it in your review.
- Be sure to provide details your peers and I need to understand why you believe traditional measures of authority — accuracy, authority, currency, purpose, and relevance — do or do not matter.
- upload a reflection on your writing process to me. Your reflection report should use a professional writing style
- Tell me how your experience searching through Social Media differed from your search strategies on Academic Search Premier, JSTOR, and Google Scholar.
- Tell me about your experience working with AI. Explain how you used it and what you learned about integrating it into your writing process. Recommended: Ask AI to critique your in-text citation or other uses of APA. How did that help you?
Thursday, 1/25 –
Lab
- Labor Log — Can we as a group revise this labor log to serve as a template moving forward?
- I will review your reflections on how the concept of authority is evolving as a result of AI and the internet
- I will introduce the optional assignment.
Sunday, 1/28, Assignment – Optional Assignment Due – Writing Log and Writing Journal
The goal of this assignment is for me to get an update on your path toward an A. I need to learn about the labor you’ve conducted thus far.
Assignment Guidelines
Readings
- Why Should I Keep a Writer’s Log?
- The Writing Process – Research on Composing
- Discovering Your Unique Writing Process: A Guide to Self-Reflection
- The 7 Habits of Mind & The Writing Process
- The Secret, Hidden Writing Process: How to Tap Your Creative Potential
- The Ultimate Blueprint: A Research-Driven Deep Dive into The 13 Steps of the Writing Process
This assignment has two deliverables:
- Memo to Instructor
- Writer’s Log
Memo to Instructor
Write a 200 to 250 memo that updates me on your progress on the path toward an A. I ask that you elaborate on
- how you are spending your time. What research have you conducted?
- What kind of work are you doing – prewriting, inventing, drafting, collaborating, researching, planning, organizing, designing, rereading, revising, editing, proofreading, sharing or publishing?
- how you are using AI to complete course tasks, such as ensuring you have used APA 7 format?
- how can I help? What questions do you have?
Pls use use a memo format. Write in a professional writing style. When composing your memo, pay attention to the design as well as the content of your message. Use the jargon of professional writers — as outlined in the readings above.
Writer’s Log
You may personalize this labor log. At a minimum, I want to see Duration, Day, Session Description, Use of AI:
Submission Instructions
Upload your 1. Memo and 2. Writing Log to Canvas. You may provide a link to your spreadsheet.
Week 4, 1/29 to 02/04 – The Elements of Style – The DNA of Powerful Writing
Professional writers share discourse conventions — common writing styles, page design, and citation styles. They are members of a shared discourse community. In public and professional writing, professional audiences have expectations about how discourse should be composed. The Elements of Style form the foundation for powerful writing. Brevity, coherence, flow, inclusivity, simplicity, and unity — these stylistic elements empower writers to enhance the clarity and power of their work. Esteemed by educators, editors, and professional writers, they serve as the essential building blocks — indeed, the DNA — of clear, compelling communication.
Readings
- The Elements of Style
- Brevity – Say More with Less
- Clarity (in Speech and Writing)
- Coherence – How to Achieve Coherence in Writing
- Diction
- Flow – How to Create Flow in Writing
- Inclusivity – Inclusive Language
- Simplicity
- Unity
Tuesday, 1/30
Lab
- As a group, engage in analysis of the discourse practices, style, and design of these articles by subject matter experts in PTC
- How People Can Create—and Destroy—Value with Generative AI.
Note: This is an example of a professional research study conducted by Boston Consulting Group, an organization that is widely recognized as a world-authority on business practices. - Open AI response to the New York Times lawsuit
- McKinsey Global Institute, “Generative AI and the future of work in America,” July 26, 2023
- How People Can Create—and Destroy—Value with Generative AI.
- Review the discourse conventions that inform style in PTC prose
- Review the Elements of Style that form the found for lucid communication in workplace and academic writing
- Working as a group, develop a gdoc presentation and link to it on the course sandbox. On the first slide, list first and last names of group members (so I can record credit). On subsequent slides, inform the other groups regarding ways these tests exemplify a professional writing style and design.
Wednesday, 1/31, Due: Experiment with AI & The Elements of Style
Tasks
- Review
- Choose two or three texts you wrote during the first three week to revise
- Copy/Paste the article Brevity into ChatGPT (4 if you have it; otherwise 3.5). Tell chat, “I ask that you read this article on brevity and then use that that advice to revise my article, which I’ll feed to you subsequently,
- Copy/Paste your article into Chat and ask it to revise it for Brevity.
- Wash/repeat. What I mean here is to work your way through the other Elements of Style. Consider as well if I asked you to improve the readability of your prose, ask Chat to make it more readable. Or if I commented on awk pronoun reference, ask it to review your pronoun references. And so on.
Submission Instructions
- Upload to Canvas your revised documents
- You may upload it as a .pdf or provide a url that links out to a gdoc page.
- Upload to Canvas an informal note (150 to 200 words) to me that
- tells me what you learned about the elements of style and AI as a result of doing this exercise
- explains how you used AI and what you learned about integrating AI into your writing process.
Thursday, 2/1 – Audience Awareness, the Elements of Style, & Brainstorming about How to Improve USF’s AI Tools and Resources Page
Tasks
- Read Audience Analysis and consider the diverse needs of students, teachers, and administrators who are working to respond ethically and professionally to the emergence of AI
- Review USF’s AI Tools and Resources page.
Lab
- Working as a group, use Google Slides to prepare a presentation that presents a revision plan for USF’s AI Tools and Resources page based on your audience analysis, knowledge of AI and its emerging importance to business, and knowledge of a professional writing style. Please place group name and names of all authors on the first slide and link to the presentation at the course sandbox.
- Share your presentation — Write a definition of one of the element of style and then show “dos and don’ts.” Use examples from one text or multiple texts to help your readers understand the importance of the element of style you are explicating.
Sunday, 2/4 – Nothing is Due
- Nothing is due. On Tuesday, we will finish Thursday’s group exercise. Student groups will present.
Week 5, 02/05 to 02/11
Tuesday, 2/6 – Rhetorical Analysis Exercise
Lab
- Finish the group exercise on critiquing USF’s website for AI
- Place a link to your group’s presentation on suggested revisions for USF’s website on the course sandbox. Present group insights
Wednesday, 2/07, Assignment Due: Description of Open AI’s Creation Story
Tasks
- Read
- Recall the questions we asked when engaging in rhetorical analysis of USF’s AI webpage or our analysis of the NYT’s lawsuit against open AI. Now, ask those same sorts of questions about OpenAI’s creation story.
- Write a description of OpenAI’s creation story. Outline OpenAI’s contribution to knowledge on AI. Explain broadly how ChatGPT works. Here you may need to define core concepts such as LLM (large learning model) and AGI – Artificial General Intelligence. Remember to keep your language as simple as possible (BTW, for a creative example of a simple definition, see How AI Works).
Submission Instructions
- Upload to Canvas your description of Open AI’s creation story. Address Open AI’s mission, accomplishment, and goals.
- You may upload it as a .pdf or provide a url that links out to a gdoc page.
- Upload to Canvas an informal note (150 to 200 words) to me that
- tells me what you learned about AI as a result of doing this exercise
- explains how you used AI and what you learned about integrating AI into your writing process. Try to learn something new this time. Try Elicit.com
Thursday, 2/8
Lab
- Discuss student descriptions of Open AI’s origin story. Review of submissions
- Discuss Sunday’s visualization exercise
Sunday, 2/11, Assignment Due – Visualization Exercise
This assignment has 3 deliverables:
- Data Visualization
- Informal note (200 words) on process of composing the data visualization
- please put the word count on the top of your page
- What tool or tools did you use to create your visualization?
- Why did you choose that tool over other available tools?
- What process did you work through in order to select a visualization tool?
- What principles of design informed your composition?
- Informal note (200 words) on how you experimented with AI on this assignment
- please put the word count on the top of your page
- How did you experiment with AI?
- what did you learn about integrating AI into your writing process?
Tasks
- Read
- Carefully analyze “Syllabi Policies” — a corpus of AI Policy Statements college faculty wrote to govern AI usage in their classes.
- Create a visualization of data (aka information) derived from “Syllabi Policies”
- For this exercise, I’m not requiring use of any one particular visualization tool. You are not expected to create an infographic — a full story. Rather, your goal is to visualize one insight you gained by analyzing the corpus. For example, you could create
- a table that summarizes key findings you’ve derived from analyzing the corpus
- some word art
- a table, graph, chart
- a picture generated by AI.
- Your image should not be gratuitous: it should tell a story — in this case — your perception of interesting information in the corpus. If it’s not apparent to the reader how the images relates to the interpretation, then it’s not responsive to the assignment prompt.
- For this exercise, I’m not requiring use of any one particular visualization tool. You are not expected to create an infographic — a full story. Rather, your goal is to visualize one insight you gained by analyzing the corpus. For example, you could create
Submission Instructions
- Upload to Canvas a screenshot of your visualization. Or, provide a url that links to your visualization. Note — I understand some of the freemium models stamp a template on the background of visualization. If that happens to you, don’t worry about it; I’ll ignore it.
- Upload note on your visualization process
- Upload note on AI.
Week 6, 2/12 to 2/18
Tuesday, 2/13
Lab
- Place a link to your visualization on the course sandbox.
- Do a one minute presentation on your visualization
- Begin work on a second effort to visualize some insight(s) you have inferred from analyzing the corpus. This can be a revision/expansion of your earlier effort or it can be a new effort. For instance, you could explore
- whether or not they should use AI
- integrating AI into some aspect of your writing process.
- using AI ethically and professionally
Wednesday, 2/14
Tasks
- Readings
- Design
- Data Visualization – Information Visualization – The Art of Visualizing Meaning For Better Decision-Making
- Based on what you learned from your peers’ presentations and from what you learned composing the 1st visualization, create a 2nd visualization that interprets some interesting information you’ve identified from the corpus.
- Write a 250 word memo that explains your design choices. Please place the word count at the top of the page
- To be considered responsive to the assignment prompt, your design memo must use the design terms (not all of them but enough to explicate your message) that other professionals use, such as
- Write an informal note to me that explains your use of AI.
Deliverables
- Upload to canvas a link to your illustration or upload it
- Write a memo to me (200 words) that explains your design choices
- Write an informal note to me that updates me on your experimental uses of AI. What new AI-moves did you learn this time?
Thursday, 2/15
Week 7, 02/19 to 02/25 –
Tuesday, 2/20
Lab
This is a two-day exercise.
It should adopt a professional writing style. Your summary should include
- at least one information visualization that depicts the evidence
- APA 7 style in-text citations
Rhetorical Situation
- Audience: Classmates
- Context: When I reread your descriptions of Lance Eaton’s (2024) corpus of “Syllabi Policies for Generative AI,” I never got a clear understanding regarding any patterns you saw in the data. A number of you in this class and in another class I teach reported some interesting findings
- Purpose: Working in groups of 4 to 5, write a 250 to 500 word summary of the Syllabi Policies corpus.
Your summary should address insights you’ve gleaned from studying the corpus through a quantitative lens. You want to pull from the corpus all you can to describe it in an honest, accurate, complete way - Assessment: Your description should adopt a professional writing style. It should use an APA 7 style. Remember to identify the author of the statement. Do not say the author’s statement is the university’s statement — as that would be inaccurate.
Wednesday, 2/21, Optional Assignment Due
Readings
- Why Should I Keep a Writer’s Log?
- The Writing Process – Research on Composing
- Discovering Your Unique Writing Process: A Guide to Self-Reflection
- The 7 Habits of Mind & The Writing Process
- The Secret, Hidden Writing Process: How to Tap Your Creative Potential
- The Ultimate Blueprint: A Research-Driven Deep Dive into The 13 Steps of the Writing Process
This assignment has two deliverables:
- Memo to Instructor
- Writer’s Log
Memo to Instructor
Write a 200 to 250 memo that updates me on your progress on the path toward an A. I ask that you elaborate on
- how you are spending your time. What research have you conducted?
- What kind of work are you doing – prewriting, inventing, drafting, collaborating, researching, planning, organizing, designing, rereading, revising, editing, proofreading, sharing or publishing?
- how you are using AI to complete course tasks, such as ensuring you have used APA 7 format?
- how can I help? What questions do you have?
Pls use use a memo format. Write in a professional writing style. When composing your memo, pay attention to the design as well as the content of your message. Use the jargon of professional writers — as outlined in the readings above.
Writer’s Log
You may personalize this labor log. At a minimum, I want to see Duration, Day, Session Description, Use of AI:
Submission Instructions
Upload your 1. Memo and 2. Writing Log to Canvas. You may provide a link to your spreadsheet.
Week 8, 2/26 to 03/03 – No Assignments Are Due This Week
Dear Students,
Please note that I will be unavailable this week.
I understand playing around with a new tool or idea takes time. I personally feel that sometimes as a writer I need to retreat from society and the chatter of small talk. Thus, I’m giving you this week to take some time to
- Check out Zotero and develop a References list in APA 7. While there’s an initial learning curve, having a free tool like this during your schoolwork can be a huge time saver.
- If you are putting the labor in to earn an A in this course, engage in the strategic searching necessary to become conversant on the scholarly conversation, the topic, that interests you.
Week 9, 03/4 to 03/10 – Statement of the Problem
Note: Spring Midterm Grading Ends
Welcome back. I hope last week was productive for you.
Tuesday, 3/5
Lab
- Let’s do a collaborative critique of this document using a structured approach.
Wednesday, 3/6. Due: Description of Faculty Members’ AI Policy Statements
If I had only one hour to save the world, I would spend fifty-five minutes defining the problem, and only five minutes finding the solution.”
Albert EinsteinAssignment Guidelines
Ok! Now — following weeks of discussion and a group exercises, it’s your time to summarize the corpus with authority. Consider this the Super Bowl!
Ideally, your goal here is to be accurate, truthful, comprehensive — and insightful. Your goal is to describe the problem space that teachers and students find themselves in thanks to the rise of AI. Beyond other students and teacheRs, consider your audience to be the broader public–people who are curious about how higher education is responding to tools such as ChatGPT
Please use words — a professional writing style and at least one visual but multiple visualizations are welcome.
In terms of genre, you may write this as a memo or article.
Required Word Length: 500 words. Place word count on top of page.
Important Note: You will not receive credit for this work unless all requirements are completed.
Suggested Tasks
- As a first step, please review once again Eaton’s Syllabi Policies for AI Work. Carefully analyze the range of policy statements faculty have authored to govern the use of AI in their classrooms.
- Review — for inspiration — some of the visualizations you and your classmates have designed (see course sandbox)
- Reflect on multiple lines of analysis:
- How can we discern the demographics of the contributors to “Syllabi Policies?”
- Do faculty who work in similar institutions — private universities, state universities, R1 universities, liberal arts colleges — share any perspectives? Or, can professors’ comments be sorted by discipline or subject to reveal any interesting results?
- By reviewing the course title, can you ascertain whether faculty from particular disciplines (e.g., the sciences, social sciences, humanities) tend to share perspectives?
- Are there any points a majority of faculty agree on?
- For instance do faculty agree “You may not use GenAI to produce an assignment in its entirety” (Noël – Boston College)
- What percentage of the faculty are entirely opposed to AI in the classroom?
- What percentage of the faculty explicitly said any use of AI is an instance of plagiarism and academic dishonesty?
- What percentage of faculty support the use of AI with an attribution on the part of the writer?
- How do professors ask students to attribute their use of AI? Do they provide specific citation conventions? For instance, do any of them point to the APA guidelines for citing AI? Are faculty concrete or vague about the policies they expect students to follow in the classroom?
- How do faculty describe the usefulness of AI during various stages of the writing process — prewriting, inventing, drafting, collaborating, researching, planning, organizing, designing, rereading, revising, editing, or proofreading.What percentage of faculty support the use of AI without any attribution?
- What penalties will students pay if they use AI and it has hallucinated — it has created false academic journals or publishing companies?
- How many of the authors explicitly mention academic integrity and ethics?
- How can we discern the demographics of the contributors to “Syllabi Policies?”
How To Cite from the Corpus
- Get the Author Name from the Contributor field
- Provide Name of Course as if it’s the title
- List the Name of the Institution as the Publisher
Submission Instructions
- Upload your problem-definition memo/article to Canvas
- Upload an informal note to your me regarding how you experimented with AI to complete this project.
Thursday, 03/07
Readings
Today, in class, I’d like to run additional revision exercises. To prepare, before class, I ask that you review Structured Revision – How to Revise Your Work.
Friday, 03/08, Optional Assignment Due
Readings
- Why Should I Keep a Writer’s Log?
- The Writing Process – Research on Composing
- Discovering Your Unique Writing Process: A Guide to Self-Reflection
- The 7 Habits of Mind & The Writing Process
- The Secret, Hidden Writing Process: How to Tap Your Creative Potential
- The Ultimate Blueprint: A Research-Driven Deep Dive into The 13 Steps of the Writing Process
This assignment has three deliverables:
- Memo to Instructor
- Writer’s Log
Memo to Instructor
Write a 500 word memo that updates me on your progress on the path toward an A. Place wordcount on top of page. I ask that you elaborate on
- how you are spending your time.
- What kind of work are you doing, such as prewriting, inventing, drafting, collaborating, researching, planning, organizing, designing, rereading, revising, editing, proofreading, sharing or publishing?
Pls use use a memo format. Write in a professional writing style. When composing your memo, pay attention to the design as well as the content of your message. Use the jargon of professional writers — as outlined in the readings above.
Writer’s Log
You may personalize this labor log. At a minimum, I want to see Duration, Day, Session Description, Use of AI:
Submission Instructions
Upload your 1. Memo and 2. Writing Log to Canvas. You may provide a link to your spreadsheet.
Week 10, 03/11 to 03/17 – Spring Break Week
Week 11, 3/18 to 03/24
Wednesday, 3/20, Assignment Due – Interview #1
Readings
- Qualitative Research – Interviews
Assignment Guidelines
- Read
- Working With People, Try This
- Interview a professor, student, or business leader on the impact of AI on higher education (e.g., AI and the future of communication) or business (marketing, design, and all other forms of work). Write, using gdocs, a summary of the interviewers’ thoughts on what an appropriate policy would be regarding the use of AI to complete coursework? Avoid a question/answer format because that may create choppiness in tone. Instead, digest what you’ve learned.
- If you want, you can write up the interview from their perspective, as if you are them. If you choose this option, just put a line in the page separating the bio and pic from the story. IOWs, if you like, you may write up the interview from the persona and point of view of the person you interviewed. Or, you may narrate the story from your perspective–that of a researcher who is curious to learn more about the effects of AI on the future.
- Be sure to provide specifics about how the interviewees uses AI now? Note, if they don’t know anything about AI, move on. Find someone who has used AI! Explore their cdomments as they come up.
- I ask that you take a pic of the person you interview and include it in the text you submit. Remember how when we were talking about info lit, and I explained the importance of introducing the authority of your textual sources? Well, that still makes sense. At the top of the page, you want to introduce the expert, give their bio and expertise on the topic.
- Minimum word count: 400 words.
- Use a professional writing style.
Submission Instructions
- Upload to Canvas a link to your interview at gDocs. To receive credit, share the URL that permits editing. Note: Submissions that aren’t in “edit view” will not receive credit, nor will their be opportunities for revision.
Thursday, 3/21
Lab
- Workshop on surveys. Pls add your two cents to these gdocs regarding the student and teacher surveys:
Week 12, 03/25 to 03/31
Tuesday, 3/26
- Discussion of rhetorical reasoning, audience, PTC style, and interviews.
- Another exercise to get the surveys right:
Note: Spring last day to withdraw; no refund & no academic penalty.
Wednesday 3/27, Assignment Due: Interview #2
Assignment Guidelines
- Review
- Working With People, Try This
- Interview a professor, student, or business leader on the impact of AI on higher education (e.g., AI and the future of communication) or business (marketing, design, and all other forms of work). Write, using gdocs, a summary of the interviewers’ thoughts on how AI is influencing their composing practices, business practices, and the future of academe/work. Avoid a question/answer format because that may create choppiness in tone and a loss of stylistic unity. Instead, digest what you’ve learned, ascertain key, interesting points, and they reveal them for the reader with sufficient detail that they can follow and learn from you.
- The interview can be anonymous, yet if so create an image; if not, use the real image. A lack of a pic will earn an “incomplete.”
- If you want, you can write up the interview from their perspective, as if you are them. If you choose this option, just put a line in the page separating the bio and pic from the story. IOWs, if you like, you may write up the interview from the persona and point of view of the person you interviewed. Or, you may narrate the story from your perspective–that of a researcher who is curious to learn more about the effects of AI on the future.
- Remember how when we were talking about info lit, and I explained the importance of introducing the authority of your textual sources? Well, that still makes sense. At the top of the page, you want to introduce the expert, give their bio and expertise on the topic.
- Be sure to provide specifics about how the interviewees uses AI now. Note, if they don’t know anything about AI, move on. It’s a waste of time not to interview someone w/ some expertise on AI. Find someone who has used AI! Explore their comments as they come up.
- Minimum word count: 400 words.
- Use a professional writing style. Interviews that are one paragraph will not receive a “complete.”
Submission Instructions
- Upload to Canvas a link to your interview at gDocs. To receive credit, share the URL that permits editing. Note: Submissions that aren’t in “edit view” will not receive credit, nor will their be opportunities for revision.
Sunday, 3/31, Assignment Due: Interview #3
Assignment Guidelines
- Read
- Working With People, Try This
- Interview a professor, student, or business leader on the impact of AI on higher education (e.g., AI and the future of communication) or business (marketing, design, and all other forms of work). Write, using gdocs, a summary of the interviewers’ thoughts on what an appropriate policy would be regarding the use of AI to complete coursework? Avoid a question/answer format because that may create choppiness in tone. Instead, digest what you’ve learned.
- If you want, you can write up the interview from their perspective, as if you are them. If you choose this option, just put a line in the page separating the bio and pic from the story. IOWs, if you like, you may write up the interview from the persona and point of view of the person you interviewed. Or, you may narrate the story from your perspective–that of a researcher who is curious to learn more about the effects of AI on the future.
- Be sure to provide specifics about how the interviewees uses AI now? Note, if they don’t know anything about AI, move on. Find someone who has used AI! Explore their cdomments as they come up.
- I ask that you take a pic of the person you interview and include it in the text you submit. Remember how when we were talking about info lit, and I explained the importance of introducing the authority of your textual sources? Well, that still makes sense. At the top of the page, you want to introduce the expert, give their bio and expertise on the topic.
- Minimum word count: 400 words.
- Use a professional writing style.
Submission Instructions
- Upload to Canvas a link to your interview at gDocs. To receive credit, share the URL that permits editing. Note: Submissions that aren’t in “edit view” will not receive credit, nor will their be opportunities for revision.
Week 13, 4/1 to 4/7
Tuesday, 4/2
Lab
- Note: No f2f class. Professor Moxley is attending CCCC, a professional conference.
Wednesday, 4/3, Optional Assignment Due
For those of you who are engaging in the labor to earn an A in this course, provide me with a progress report. Show me a copy of what you’ve completed thus far. Tell me what you need to do next. Make a Ghent chart to illustrate the work you need to complete in order to submit the assignment on time.
Week 14, 4/8 to 4/14
Tuesday, 4/9
Lab
- In-class work on AI Policy for Teachers
Wednesday, 4/10, Assignment Due: Recommended AI Policies for Teachers
Your policy statement should
- explicitly cite textual research you’ve engaged in this semester on AI and the future of writing/business/higher education to substantiate your policies
- Use APA 7 to cite sources. When you introduce your polices, root them in scholarly conversations on the topic. Be sure to cite at least 4 sources. Feel free to cite Lance’s corpus, one another’s interviews, and the survey results (if available by then)
- Employ a professional writing style
- Minimum Length: 500 words
Submission Guidelines
Upload a link to your recommended AI policy to Canvas.
Important Assessment Note
- Papers lacking the 4 citations in apa 7 format will receive in completes
Thursday, 4/12
In-class work on policy statements; class evaluation
Tuesday, 4/16: In-class Peer Review of Other Students’ AI Policy Statements for Teachers (or–see below–for Students)
Upload a link to your Teacher Policy at the Course Sandbox. Then read two other students’ policy statements and make suggestions/comments. For those of you who received a “complete” for your teacher version, provide a link to your rough draft for the student version.
Wednesday, 4/17: Revision Opportunity for Recommended AI Policy for Teachers
If you received an “incomplete” or a non-grade w/ just comments, resubmit it to Canvas for grading.
Your policy statement should
- explicitly cite textual research you’ve engaged in this semester on AI and the future of writing/business/higher education to substantiate your policies
- Use APA 7 to cite sources. When you introduce your polices, root them in scholarly conversations on the topic. Be sure to cite at least 4 sources. Feel free to cite Lance’s corpus, one another’s interviews, and the survey results (if available by then)
- Employ a professional writing style
- Minimum Length: 500 words
Submission Guidelines
Upload a link to your AI policy to gDocs and provide a link at Canvas. However, note that I plan to read them at gDocs so make sure your gDoc version is the latest version.
Important Assessment Note
- Papers lacking the 4 citations in apa 7 format will receive an in completes
Thursday, 4/18 – Reflection on Collaboration (General Education Requirement) – In class exercise
- In-class assignment: reflection on your collaborations this course. This course, as you may recall from Day 1, is a General-Education course with a focus on collaboration. In your reflection on your collaborative efforts for this semester, please address the following actions as either “professional,” “adequate,” or “inadequate:”
- Members attended team meetings
- Members completed their tasks
- Members communicated openly with other team members
- Members resolved conflicts constructively
Sunday, 4/21, Optional Assignment Due
For those of you who are engaging in the labor to earn an A in this course, provide me with a final report. 1. Provide the labor log, which shows your labor throughout the semester; 2. Summarize what you’ve learned about your writing process as a result of logging your work and reflect on what you’ve learned about your writing process. This summary should be 500-750 words long, and it demonstrate an awareness of assigned readings for this optional assignment:
- Why Should I Keep a Writer’s Log?
- The Writing Process – Research on Composing
- Discovering Your Unique Writing Process: A Guide to Self-Reflection
- The 7 Habits of Mind & The Writing Process
- The Secret, Hidden Writing Process: How to Tap Your Creative Potential
- The Ultimate Blueprint: A Research-Driven Deep Dive into The 13 Steps of the Writing Process
Tuesday, 4/23 — Last Day of Class – In-class Workshop – Summary of Course Grade
Review the syllabus policies for labor-based grading. Review your grade-book assignments scores. Then write a one-page memo to me summarizing your grade for the course
Nothing is Due. At USF, Test Free week is 4/20 to 4/26. There is no final exam in this course.