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ETWR 1378: Administrative Reports & Other Documents (the current title of this course) focuses on writing clear, succinct, unambiguous policy for government and business organizations. The course includes the study, critique, planning, writing, and revising of administrative rules, guidance documents, inspection reports, and policy-procedure documents commonly developed in government and business agencies; as well as a survey of existing standards and guidelines for the preparation of these documents. During the course, guest speakers will address these issues in terms of strategies, audience, contents, organization, format, and style.
See the Course Calendar for a calendar-style view of semester due dates.
| Semester/year |
Fall 2005 |
| Instructor |
David A. McMurrey |
| Class meetings |
TTh: 7:45-9:00 pm (Aug. 29-Oct. 23) in NRG 4207 |
| Office & hours |
Northridge 4225: Mon/Wed. 4:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m., and by apptmt.
(Always call before driving all the way out to Northridge Campus.) |
| Phone |
512.223.4804 |
| E-mail |
hcexres@io.com |
Start-up. This first week, I'll ask you to fill out the questionnaire, write a get-acquainted memo, read those of others in the class, get to know each other in class, and discuss (and modify, if necessary) the goals and activities of the course.
Project 1: Response to citizen/customer inquiries. Our first project will involve responding to a citizen or customer inquiry (complaints will come soon enough!). If you work for a government agency, imagine that a citizen has written you a letter or e-mail inquiring about the interpretation of some particularly complex administrative rule in your area. Your challenge is to explain that administrative rule—or some tricky part of it—as clearly as possible. If you work for a business, imagine a similar situation in which a customer has written asking help with a complex product or with warranty or licensing policies.
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Readings & exercises
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(to be determined)
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due Aug. 31
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In-class activities
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- Fill out the questionnaire
- Write the get-acquainted memo
- See the get-acquainted memos
- Discuss strategies, content, organization, format, and
style of response to inquiry letters.
- Review examples of these types of documents.
- Practice revising segments of response to inquiry letters.
- Interview guest speakers about response to inquiry letters.
- Review project requirements.
- Brainstorm scenarios for this project.
- Review grammar, usage, punctuation, machanics rules (this
week and following).
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due Aug. 31
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Out-of-class projects
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Project 2: Audit/inspection report. A common task for government people is to visit a business and either investigate a complaint or alleged policy violation or to conduct a regular audit against relevant regulations. Find yourself a situation in which you can inspect a site concerning complaints or alleged violations or conduct a standard audit and then write a report of your findings. (In class, we will hear from guest speakers about standard format, style, organization, and content requirements for these types of reports. Consult people in your own organization for similar information and be ready to present it in class.)
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Readings & exercises
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(to be determined)
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due Sept. 5
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In-class activities
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- Discuss strategies, content, organization, format, and style of audit and inspection reports.
- Review examples of these types of reports.
- Interview guest speakers about these types of reports.
- Review project requirements.
- Brainstorm scenarios for this project.
- Practice revising problems causing wordiness, redundancy, lack of clarity.
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Out-of-class projects
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Project 2: Audit/inspection report. Let's continue what we started last week.
Project 3: Policies and procedures. This week, we arrive at an important application of administrative policy writing. Policy-procedure documents tell people in an organization how to go about important tasks and explain the policies behind those tasks. (In class, we will hear from guest speakers about standard format, style, organization, and content requirements for policy-procedure documents. Consult people in your own organization for similar information and be ready to present it in class.)
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Readings & exercises
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(to be determined)
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due Sept. 19
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In-class activities
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- Discuss strategies, content, organization, format, and style of policy-procedure documents.
- Review examples of this type of document.
- Practice revising segments of policy-procedure documents in class.
- Interview guest speakers about policy-procedure documents.
- Review project requirements.
- Brainstorm scenarios for this project.
- Practice revising problems causing wordiness, redundancy, clarity and emphasis problems.
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Out-of-class projects
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Project 3: Policies and procedures. Let's continue what we started last week.
Project 4: This week you have some choices:
Guidance documents. Government agencies often produce guidance documents, which enable ordinary non-legal, non-technical citizens to understand and comply with laws and administrative rules. Find an administrative rule in your area—or a related set of rules—for which no guidance documents exist, and write a document document for it.
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Legislative reports. Many government agencies produce reports based on legislative hearings. These legislative reports organize and consolidate the information presented in hearings and give them a readable format. Find a set of legislative hearings in your area for which no legislative report exists, and write the legislative report.
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White papers. Business organizations often produce white papers, which present new technologies, products, or services to potential customer in a language that customers can understand and in a style that will attract the business of those customers. Find something in your business organization about which to write a white paper.
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Readings & exercises
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In-class activities
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- Discuss strategies, content, organization, format, and style of guidance documents, legislative reports, and white papers.
- Review examples of these types of documents.
- Practice revising segments of these types of documents in class.
- Interview guest speakers about guidance documents, legislative reports, and white papers.
- Review project requirements.
- Brainstorm scenarios for this project.
- Practice strategies for improving transitions ("flow") of writing.
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Out-of-class projects
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Project 5: Administrative rules. Most government agencies develop administrative rules which provide the executive detail necessary for carrying out federal and state laws. Find yourself a federal or state law (most likely one currently being deliberated in a legislative body) for which no administrative rules exist. Develop a set of administrative rules (not necessarily an exhaustive set) that will enable the relevant agencies to enforce the related law. (In class, we will hear from guest speakers about standard format, style, organization, and content requirements for administrative rules. Consult people in your own organization for similar information and be ready to present it in class.)
For people working in business organizations, we will negotiate a final assignment relevant to your organization.
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Readings & exercises
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In-class activities
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- Discuss strategies, content, organization, format, and style of administrative rules.
- Review examples of these types of documents.
- Practice revising segments of administrative rules.
- Interview guest speakers about administrative rules.
- Review project requirements.
- Brainstorm scenarios for this project.
- Practice strategies for improving transitions ("flow") of writing.
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Out-of-class projects
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Semester wrap-up. We'll do whatever catch-up activities are needed and wrap this course up!
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Readings & exercises
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In-class activities
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Out-of-class projects
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