ENGL 4000 - 21st Century Issues in Professional Writing

Credits: 3
The capstone course in the professional writing minor and also satisfies the COM 3 USP requirement. This spring, we will spend some time constructing a theoretical framework geared toward understanding key issues in the study and practice of professional and technical communication. We’ll start with some foundational material, looking at the role of rhetoric, design, and audience in increasingly digital professional writing spaces and then move to more focused study of ethics, visual rhetoric, and the impact of technology on professional communication, among other things. More traditionally academic (journal review) and professional (e.g., usability test and documentation) projects will range widely and include both individual and collaborative work done in different media for different audiences, some academic, some professional. Students will develop a final portfolio project at the end of the term.