Studies have shown that we can learn to write and speak more effectively by critiquing the writing and speaking of others. To help you become better communicators, the structure of this class is based on the dual processes of writing and reading, informing and being informed, talking and listening, composing and critiquing. You will learn about how to send the right and the clearest message by receiving messages and documents from your peers in the class. You will have the opportunity to critique the writing and presenting of others and to be critiqued by your peers before you have to hand in an assignment or make a presentation for grading. And to ensure adequate communication opportunities, you will be required to use email frequently and provide us with a current email address (see Course Guidelines) .

Early in the semester, students in each lab section will be assigned to a particular lab team of 4-5 members. Team members will act as supporters and constructive critics of each other's work each week during lab. Each team should think of itself as an office or division within an engineering consulting firm, able to provide services in many sub-disciplines of engineering. The consulting firm is the entire lab section and should have a name (and perhaps a logo) each lab member may use on written documents.

You will also have the opportunity to work in a two-person partnership on your semester-long project, sharing with your partner the writing of your written assignments and the presenting of your work throughout the semester (at least the Final Presentation).

The one lab-based activity you will not do as part of a team or partnership is written peer review. Peer review is an excellent and easy way to improve your writing by giving you feedback when you need it: before the assignment is due or the document is published/distributed or the presentation is given. Because it is so difficult to be objective about your own writing, you benefit greatly from having other people look at and comment on your documents or presentations. Consider making use of peer review for all your projects at school and at work. If you set up a review group, everyone will benefit. It takes some time to read someone else's work or listen to their talk and really think about it, but doing so will also help you improve your own writing and speaking.

For several of your writing assignments this semester, you will give and get a review of your draft during the regular weekly lab session. For all written peer reviews, we supply questions that will guide your review of the draft. Those questions are found at the appropriate links in this section of the class Web site. You can also use these questions to help guide your composition of your own draft. Then, during lab peer-reviews, you'll answer these questions in class.Here's how all peer-review sessions will work:

For each written assignment, you will first write a draft the week before the assignment is due. For that lab session, you will bring the draft (both hardcopy and an electronic form) and swap it with another student. That student will read it and write a review at the same time that you are reading and reviewing his/her draft. Your draft will be returned to you with comments on its strength, clarity, purpose, structure, and language. These comments should help you to revise and edit your draft, both in lab and on your own, until you have a polished final version ready for turning in to the instructor. A couple of labs will focus on critiquing oral presentations (as preparation for your Final Presentation).

You must turn in the written peer review that was done for you, along with your draft, when you hand in the written assignments (memo, proposal, and report draft) for grading. We will keep track of how fully you comment on the draft you review. These comments (written on the question sheet and on the draft itself) are a very important part of class participation in CE 333T.

Don't forget that a significant percentage of your class-participation grade is based on the thoughtfulness and the writing strength of these reviews. Please take all these peer reviews seriously -- ultimately, you will be the beneficiary.

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