Topic outline

  • Welcome to LC-1111 Online Writing Skills for Engineers 2! (1 ECTS)

    Course teacher: Anya Räsänen
    Contact details: anya.rasanen@aalto.fi
    or 050 597 4455 (WhatsApp or Telegram)

    freaking writing

    Image source: https://pixabay.com/en/laptop-woman-education-study-young-3087585/

    This course introduces typical patterns for organising information within a text at macro level, such as topic sentences, problem-solution pattern, extended definitions, and approaches to comparing and contrasting information. You will also learn approaches to using connectors and complex-sentences to maintain readability of texts. At a micro level, the course also offers (as an optional task) the common rules for using (or not using) articles (determiners, such as the/a/an) in writing.


    Unlike LC-1110, this course will involve much fewer interactive exercises and videos. Instead, LC-1111 emphasizes the writing process as well as improvement of your writing through peer and teacher feedback.

    To help get you better oriented, this iteration of course will start with a short (1 h) Zoom Kick-off session on the first Tuesday of the course, Tue 9th January from 10:00-11:00. During this Kick-off, you'll meet your fellow writers and also have a chance to brainstorm feasibility report topics with each other and the teacher.


    Otherwise, during each week, you will independently study material, such as handouts, videos and/or interactive exercises that support the writing process of a short feasibility report. Although most feedback will come from the teacher, at one point (Week 3), you will exchange your text with another student to see what others are writing about and also to gain a peer’s reaction to your writing communication (peer feedback).

    Deadlines for the writing assignments:

    Each week ends Sunday 23:59, unless otherwise stated.

    The new week always begins Monday 00:00 of that week, the Kick-off is exceptionally on a Tuesday. To see the suggested hours of work needed for each week along with the schedule find below the Weekly schedule, and for the estimated workload (hours), look at LC-1111 schedule and estimated hours of work per week:

     

    Week

    Dates

    Theme

    Writing Assignment

    Feedback

    1

    08. – 14.01.

    Introduction to writing short reports + Online Kick-off

    WA1: Outline

    Approval of topic by teacher

    2

     15. – 21.01.

    Describing the problem and solution (PSP)

     

    WA2: Problem-solution text: Introduction section

    Teacher feedback via Panopto video

    3

     *22.–28.01.

    Defining technology/ concepts + Topic sentences (paragraphing)

     

    WA3: Definitions section (added to Introduction)

    Peer feedback via Forum

    4

     29.01.–04.02.

    (Compulsory) 4A. Evaluating the solution

     (Optional) 4B: Use of Articles

    WA4: Evaluation of solutions section (added to previous sections)

    -

    5

    **05.–08.02.

    Receiving feedback and revising report

     

     

    Teacher feedback face-to-face or online on WA4

    6

     09.–11.02.

    Revising your report

     

    WA5: Final complete feasibility report (All other sections plus conclusion)

    Final grade on your report

     

    * This will be a very busy Week, ensure you reserve more time than usual for the assignments:

    1. Writing the Definitions section (potentially several paragraphs) and adding it to your Introduction section,
    2. Submitting the report (WA3) to receive feedback from two peers, and
    3. Giving feedback to two peers on sections of their reports.

    ** Depending on the final no. of participants, the majority of feedback appointments are scheduled for Week 5 (the scheduler is already available in the section for that week), but if necessary a few more will be provided Week 6.

    Course assignments and tasks

    Course description:

    - Completion of weekly online exercises (15 %)

    - Assignments (45 %)

    - Final report (40 %)

     

    Exercise modules (Tablet computers): 15 pts

    · Different stages of writing the feasibility report:

    o WA1 Outline 10 pts

    o WA2 Problem-solution text (intro) 10 pts

    o WA3 Definitions text + peer review (review 2 students’ texts) 5 (deposit of own text) +5 (feedback on 1) +5 (feedback on 2)= 15 pts

    o WA4 Evaluation of solutions text 10 pts

    o WA5 Final report: 40 pts

     

    In this course, we follow a writing process: you will write your report on your selected topic in sections, but most sections will be reviewed and rewritten. By the end of the process, you will have written a complete (but short) feasibility report which will include in-text citations as well as a References list.