IST-110 Writing about writing lab
Section 1 & 2 -- University Park
4/11 April 2000
This assignment is due at the start of class on Thursday, April 13, 2000.
There are three purposes to this assignment:
1. To examine a piece of writing critically and providing
constructive feedback.
2. To practice the group-working skills that we have been
stressing in class and lab.
The assignment will be done by your groups.
The assignment has two parts:
1. In the first week, in your first group, prepare a
review of what the chapter is about.
As a default, come prepared with (a) a short summary of your
chapter (to show that you understood it), (b) a
recommendation of who this chapter would be useful for and
if, who, and how you recommend reading it, and (c) four to
eight constructive comments on how to improve it.
This week, you should produce with your group a summary of the chapter and a list of 8 suggestions. You may have to choose suggestions to pitch if you all bring different ones (you all found different problems), or you may have to brainstorm to find additional places for improvement (you all choose the same four).
Your group will be marked on the two HTML documents that you produce; the first with your primary group, and the second with your larger paired or triple group.
2. In the second week, group will work together. This week, your job is summarise the comments across groups you represent, and create a web site that provides useful and constructinve feedback for the author.
Suggested readings
The chapters are available as part of a pdf file and will be handed out in the previous lab. You must choose either Chapter 2 or Chapter 8 to work on (do not do both).
Bach, J. (1999). Playing the expert game. IEEE Computer, 32(8), 99-101. [handed out in class.]
You may wish to see books on writing like Strunk, W., & White, E. B. (1979). The elements of style. NY, NY: Macmillan.
You might want to read more about email at your choice of sites.
