Computer Lab Activities

Virtually all of the Business & Technical Writing courses require that some classes be scheduled in a computer lab. Since the number of visits is limited, it is very important to carefully plan the activities that need to be accomplished. This page gives some suggestions from instructors who have been using the computer labs on a frequent basis.

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When students are ready to introduce their topics for project proposals, the following activity can be done to test the merits of the topics.

Computer Lab Day-Topic Proposal Rough Draft Revision

1. Go to either Microsoft Word or Corel WordPerfect. Type in your topic proposal and funding source statement. Once everyone has done that, we will begin.

2. At the signal, everyone should move to the next terminal to the right. Read the proposal and funding source statement and then scroll down to the end. Enter your initials and comment critically (meaning good and bad criticism) on the proposal. When you are done, move to the right again and repeat the process until you have read everyone's work and are back at your own terminal. Don't skip from machine to machine out of order, or the whole system will break down. Be patient and wait a minute. Conversely, don't hold up the line by writing a dissertation on the proposal-a few good sentences will do.

3. If you are having a hard time thinking of something helpful to say about the topic proposal, you may read and comment on other people's comments. If you think someone else's suggestion is good or bad, say so, referring to that person's initials.

4. Once we are all back "home," save the file on your disk under a recognizable name like "proposal comments"

5. Review all of the comments and use them to help you write your final draft of the Topic Proposal and Funding Source Statement.

6. Once you have received approval of your proposal from your instructor, you can get started on your Annotated Bibliography.

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This activity can be done when students bring their midterm paper drafts to class for peer review.

Directions for In-lab Peer Revision of Midterm Paper I

One of the main purposes of the midterm sales letter is to get your funding source interested in your idea. You can do that by being as clear and direct as possible in the way that you explain what you propose to do, and you can try and structure your argument so that the benefits to your funding source or its mission are clear. Today, along with the usual stylistic peer revision work, we will use the computer to highlight those places in the draft which may or may not appeal to the funding source. The focus of your attention today will be to remember that these letters are WRITTEN FOR AN AUDIENCE.

1. Insert your disk and pull up your rough draft.

2. Switch terminals with someone else and review each other's work.

3. Complete these steps:

a. Write your name at the top of the peer revision sheet as reviewer, and the writer's name.

b. Read through the paper once; then start over, paying careful attention to the tone and the way the writer addresses the audience. If you see any
passages where you think the writer needs to be more diplomatic in tone,
highlight them in red. Highlight passages in green where the writer is doing a good job relating his or her concerns with the funding source's objectives or goals. [Notice the color symbolism!]

c. If you see misspellings or awkward grammar, highlight those passages in yellow

d. Using the peer revision sheet from the coursepack, check off the yes and no answers at the top.

e. At the end of the person's draft, answer the numbered questions from the handout. Alternatively, you could make comments in brackets directly in the writer's text as close as possible to passage in question.

f. When you are done commenting, please save the new file, using the Save As function-don't cancel out the person's original draft. I suggest naming the file "Rdcomments.doc" or something like that.

6. If you have any bibliographic format questions which cannot be answered by the MLA style guide in the coursepack, try doing a web search to find what you need to know.

7. Switch with your partner and go back to your original terminal. Discuss with each other the comments you have made, and provide suggestions as to how the draft can be made more appealing to the funding source.

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Once proposal topics have been finalized, the following team activity helps students find sources.

Researching Proposal Topics

Place students in pairs, each having a computer. Then, for about 25 minutes, both students search for information on on of their topics. During this time they can share finds, offer suggestions for search terms, and consider the strength of the sources. Once the time is up, the two students write a brief "Activity Report" which is handed in. The report notes successes and problems. The class continues with the pairs of students now searching for sources for the other topic. Again, they will spend 25 minutes on search time with a few minutes afterwards for an "Activity Report" which is handed in.

It is interesting to see how the pairs work. The student whose topic is being searched often tends to be too narrowly focused. The other student tends to be "freer" and often makes a good discovery. The entire activity takes a full class period.

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