http://tc.eserver.org/dir/Academic/Writing A listing of the most recently indexed works about Academic and Writing in the field of technical communication (and technical writing). en-us Copyright (c) 2005-08 by the EServer. All rights reserved. tclib-editorial@eserver.org (TC Library Editorial Board) webmaster@eserver.org (Geoffrey Sauer) http://tc.eserver.org/images/newlogo.gif http://tc.eserver.org/dir/Academic/Writing http://tc.eserver.org/35629.html http://tc.eserver.org/35629.html On the web, write in small digestible chucks, which fit into the information hierarchy. To create your hierarchy, outline the website as you would for printed material. Then examine the site’s purpose and outline the main sections (e.g. words people use to navigate) and the links within those heads. Test it before it goes online. http://tc.eserver.org/33997.html http://tc.eserver.org/33997.html Annals. Computer Science Series (Romanian original title Anale. Seria Informatică) was founded in 2003 by the collective of researchers of Computers and Applied Computer Science Faculty in "Tibiscus" University of Timişoara, being an annual – in printed form - international journal. The journal publishes scientific research papers presented in the framework of the International Conference "Actualities and Perspectives in Hardware and Software", event under the high patronage of the Romanian Academy, as well as research articles exposed on the "European Conference on Computer Sciences & Applications". Annals. Computer Science Series is an e-journal with free publication of original scientific work in any Computer Science area, as well as its applications to other domains such as Mathematics, Economics, Technical Sciences or Medicine. We accept to publish, after reviewer’s evaluation, theoretical and applicative studies, wishing to offer to interested audience interpretations and analyses of most recent approaches and results in above mentioned areas. http://tc.eserver.org/33565.html http://tc.eserver.org/33565.html In partial answer to the many questions that have been raised about the definition and location of technical writing programs, a random sample of full-time teachers of professional writing was conducted. The results indicate that those located in English departments do not receive the respect and support they need. Those located in other departments are significantly more satisfied. Some strategies for improving the situation are suggested. http://tc.eserver.org/33497.html http://tc.eserver.org/33497.html Technical writing is nonfiction writing meant to make the complex simple. It informs, instructs, and persuades. And it can take many forms -- manuals, references, instructions, correspondence, reports, and proposals, among others. Whatever form is used, technical writing's focus is to ensure that readers can make informed choices, understand complex information, and follow complex procedures. In this class, technical writing is treated rhetorically: We will build on lessons of rhetorical analysis, organization, and style learned in previous classes, but we will apply those lessons to concrete real-world problems. http://tc.eserver.org/32826.html http://tc.eserver.org/32826.html This course will ask you to explore the ways that literacy, technology, and humanity interact. You will look at the ways that each of these entities affects the others. The course will begin with a historical look at human technological literacy, but the majority of the course will focus on present literacy and technology. http://tc.eserver.org/32770.html http://tc.eserver.org/32770.html English 206 introduces theoretical and practical aspects of professional writing. Class activities highlight rhetorical analysis, diverse research methods, collaboration, and document design. Through participation in the course, you will explore opportunities and resources in the field and identify priorities for your own professional development. http://tc.eserver.org/32772.html http://tc.eserver.org/32772.html Writing always has included technical components. In fact, writing itself can be considered a technology. Relatively recent developments in computers and digital media, however, have reshaped our understandings of relationships between technology and writing. This course will explore the cultural, institutional, professional, and pedagogical implications of such shifts. Our explorations will draw upon theories of technology as well discussions from the field of computers and composition. http://tc.eserver.org/32612.html http://tc.eserver.org/32612.html The last decade has seen an explosion in digital media in numerous outlets of contemporary culture. During English 289.22 Multimedia Writing Workshop we will explore various media, genres, and technologies we use everyday. We will examine the communication, creative expression, interactivity and design of multimedia composition for the purposes of persuading, negotiating, contesting, and creating narratives as well as individual and community identities. In other words, we will ask: How does this multimedia text tell a story? What elements help tell the story? In what ways does it reflect who I am or want to be? In what ways is it trying to persuade me to socially identify? We will interrogate our cultural practices as they relate to the cultural and technological underpinnings of our use of media such as blogs, podcasts,wikis, text messages, chats, MySpace, Facebook, film, videogames, etc. to tell stories and convey our identities. http://tc.eserver.org/32613.html http://tc.eserver.org/32613.html This section will focus on both the creation and production of technical writing, particularly concentrating on how using a specific medium to convey information frames how the information is received by the intended audience(s). http://tc.eserver.org/32148.html http://tc.eserver.org/32148.html English 306 introduces you to the rhetorical principles and theoretical concepts that you will need as a professional writer. These principles and concepts will help you analyze and respond effectively to a variety of workplace writing scenarios. While the course will address some practical skills such as how to write memos, emails, and reports, we will focus most of our attention on theories of rhetoric, language, and information. We will learn how information operates in organizations, theories about information architecture, as well as rhetorical concepts that will allow you to effectively assess and approach any writing situation you might encounter. Additionally, the course will introduce you to the strategies and skills necessary for using various communication technologies in workplace contexts. http://tc.eserver.org/32149.html http://tc.eserver.org/32149.html The class English 396D: Digital Rhetorics and Writing covers contemporary digital writing practices and rhetorical theories about those practices. This space is a metasite intended to aggregate class content. http://tc.eserver.org/32150.html http://tc.eserver.org/32150.html English 419 introduces students to the fundamental rhetorical theories, principles, and practices of multimedia design, implementation, and publishing. The main objective for the course is for students to understand critical theories of multimedia and the new media technologies that create and publish multimedia content, with a particular emphasis on visual rhetoric and usability. Since multimedia is, by nature, interactive, we will cover the rhetorical nature of interactivity, the relationship of the audience—or users—to interactivity, and the discovery of innovative methods for successfully interacting with others through multimedia. Students will explore these theories through projects that require creative engagements with a variety of technologies and users. http://tc.eserver.org/32151.html http://tc.eserver.org/32151.html English 420 teaches students the rhetorical principles and writing practices necessary for producing effective business letters, memos, reports, and collaborative projects in professional contexts. The curriculum is informed by current research in rhetoric and professional writing and is guided by the needs and practices of business, industry, and society at large, as well as by the expectations of Purdue students and programs. All sections of English 420 are offered in networked computer classrooms to ensure that students taking the course are prepared for the writing environment of the 21st-century workplace. The course teaches the rhetorical principles that help students shape their business writing ethically, for multiple audiences, in a variety of professional situations. http://tc.eserver.org/32152.html http://tc.eserver.org/32152.html English 470 will explore some of the major theories of rhetoric and writing which shape the ways that we use language in social, educational, political, and professional situations. We will examine various definitions of rhetoric, key rhetorical concepts and debates, theories of writing, the impact of new technologies on rhetoric and writing, and philosophical questions, among others. Our trajectory for the course can be mapped across several different heuristics. We can say that we will begin with oral traditions of rhetoric, move to written traditions, and then to electric or online instantiations of rhetoric. Another way to think about the structure of the course is philosophically: we start with ancient concepts of language and thought, then move to modernist conceptions, and finish with postmodern ideas about the place of rhetoric in the world. While we won't be able to cover every historical period and every rhetorical concept, you should leave the class with an understanding of what rhetoric is, when, where, and how it can be deployed, and why rhetoric is important. The ultimate goal of the course is for students to understand rhetoric as a productive art that offers transformative possibilities. http://tc.eserver.org/31880.html http://tc.eserver.org/31880.html How many times have you written a 75+ page guide and heard the customer say, This is great, but can you give us a condensed version? After the third or fourth time I’d heard this, I decided to actually try it. http://tc.eserver.org/31818.html http://tc.eserver.org/31818.html The purpose of this course is to introduce you to several new writing genres that are based on "Web 2.0" technology, which include mostly database-driven websites such as blogs, wikis, and virtual environments. These sites are designed to facilitate collaboration and discussion, rather than the one-to-many model of the typical website in which readers do not participate beyond reading or viewing material. Although many of these technologies are used for entertainment, they are also finding their way into professional settings. For instance, a game such as Second Life might be adapted for use in the workplace, allowing employees at distant locations to occupy the same virtual space and model behaviors or objects that would be impractical in physical space. http://tc.eserver.org/31817.html http://tc.eserver.org/31817.html This course is designed to familiarize you with the type of writing you'll encounter and produce as a college-educated professional. You'll learn how to write clearly, confidently, and effectively for an international audience. You'll also learn how to compose great resumes, emails, proposals, and Power Point presentations. You'll learn productive strategies for working in groups. Finally, you'll get to work with powerful, yet easy-to-use software. http://tc.eserver.org/30999.html http://tc.eserver.org/30999.html We offer you Level 1 and Level 2 courses in technical writing, plus a workshop on writing system requirement specifications. We're constantly updating and restructuring our content. We also welcome your active participation in building and improving this learning community. http://tc.eserver.org/29786.html http://tc.eserver.org/29786.html Rhetoric 3316 studies and practices 'workplace communication required of professionals who write as part of their jobs. Emphasis on developing a sense of audience and purpose, writing in teams, and learning problem-solving strategies. Intensive practice writing workplace documents such as memos, letters, e-mail, resumes, and reports.' http://tc.eserver.org/28953.html http://tc.eserver.org/28953.html The main objective of this class is to help you gain the skills needed to think through writing tasks, analyze the audience(s) involved, secure various types of resources, generate documents, and present those documents in an effective manner. http://tc.eserver.org/27490.html http://tc.eserver.org/27490.html An introduction to technical writing, with outlined notes about writing clearly. http://tc.eserver.org/26552.html http://tc.eserver.org/26552.html This course focuses on media, techniques, and formats of writing that are used in professional environments. Students explore the assumptions that govern writing in their fields and practice the writing skills and styles applicable to communicating effectively. http://tc.eserver.org/26483.html http://tc.eserver.org/26483.html Post announcements about job openings in this forum. Posters are encouraged to send their announcements to WPA-L as well. http://tc.eserver.org/26018.html http://tc.eserver.org/26018.html This course will help those employed within technical fields (scientists, engineers, medical professionals, etc.), as well as those who address technical audiences, to effectively plan, research, write, and present technical information. http://tc.eserver.org/25988.html http://tc.eserver.org/25988.html This course is a variation of Utah State University's twice-annual Technology and the Writer Course. The Technology and the Writer course is based on research done in the 1990s to determine which writing professions demanded the best salaries and were most likely to survive overseas outsourcing. http://tc.eserver.org/25578.html http://tc.eserver.org/25578.html This is a course about writing and the World Wide Web in at least two different and related ways. First, we will be reading, 'browsing,' and writing about the World Wide Web in order to understand how the web works rhetorically. Second, we will be creating web sites that are good examples of effective web sites. http://tc.eserver.org/25313.html http://tc.eserver.org/25313.html This course is designed for students who expect to write in their future employment. Successful employees know how to communicate clearly and effectively, changing writing style and content for varying audiences and purposes. This class will focus on the difficult task of meeting readers' needs while simultaneously representing your best interests and those of your employer. To meet that end, the assignments will cover a variety of tasks produced under different circumstances, some done quickly during class and some polished and perfected over time. Students completing the semester's work should see a visible improvement in their writing, especially in terms of clarity and precision. http://tc.eserver.org/25142.html http://tc.eserver.org/25142.html In a time of declining resources and expanding needs, accurate assessments of WAC program value are of great interest to administrators and faculty across the curriculum. http://tc.eserver.org/25038.html http://tc.eserver.org/25038.html Course materials and teaching suggestions for the Technical Communication classroom (as taught at New Jersey Institute of Technology); website contains current assessment criteria and goals. http://tc.eserver.org/24156.html http://tc.eserver.org/24156.html Given on this site are free PowerPoint slides to teach technical writing. These slides come from The Craft of Scientific Writing (3rd ed., Springer, 1996). More than 400 instructors around the world have requested these slides. http://tc.eserver.org/24116.html http://tc.eserver.org/24116.html The format in technical writing is similar to the pyramid technique used in journalism. Information is presented quickly to the reader with the most important details in the first sentence or two. http://tc.eserver.org/24036.html http://tc.eserver.org/24036.html Instruction covers primary and secondary research techniques, analysis and interpretation of information, audience analysis, report design, format and graphics, and oral reporting. Instruction also covers writing in its social context and the management of complex research and writing projects. http://tc.eserver.org/24004.html http://tc.eserver.org/24004.html According to the university catalog, the subject matter of WRT 307, Professional Writing, is: professional communication through the study of audience, purpose, and ethics; rhetorical problem-solving principles applied to diverse professional writing tasks and situations. http://tc.eserver.org/24005.html http://tc.eserver.org/24005.html The primary aim of Writing 205/Writing Studio 2 is to help you become more adept at meeting the writing demands of the university. In your earlier work in writing courses, you may have focused on reflection or understanding what you have come to know through experience and observation. http://tc.eserver.org/23737.html http://tc.eserver.org/23737.html English 5373 covers the management and production of forms of print and online manuals, including software and hardware manuals, instructions, and performance support.  Students will learn how to manage projects, and how to address issues of user analysis, text design, graphics design, task orientation, and translation. Class activities will include exercises and presentations focused on student project work. http://tc.eserver.org/23530.html http://tc.eserver.org/23530.html This course provides an introduction to business writing, which includes business reports, memos, and letters; this course is particularly appropriate for students in business and related areas, although it is open to students from any major. The course requires critical thinking, problem solving, attention to detail, ingenuity, and a significant commitment of time to complete the writing assignments. http://tc.eserver.org/23529.html http://tc.eserver.org/23529.html This course provides an introduction to technical writing, which includes technical reports, instructions, proposals, letters of application, resumes, procedures, and manuals; this course is particularly appropriate for students in English, information resources, science, engineering, architecture, education, and other applied sciences, although it is open to students from any major. http://tc.eserver.org/23533.html http://tc.eserver.org/23533.html The first part of the course will help you acquire reading and writing skills needed in graduate school. Consider these survival skills as well as a way to get a competitive edge. In class, we will focus on the reading and analysis (written and oral) of academic writings in Computer Science and closely related fields. Most weeks you will be expected to read a journal or other technical article and report on it. You may be asked to make a short oral presentation to the class. http://tc.eserver.org/23327.html http://tc.eserver.org/23327.html During the last few years the growth of technical communication courses and programs in departments of English has been unprecedented. While this development has generally been viewed as healthy, not only for technical writing but for English departments themselves, the success of these courses and degree programs will depend on how well the administrations and faculties of the departments face up to a number of problems. What follows is an effort to identify these problems and suggest possible solutions. http://tc.eserver.org/23317.html http://tc.eserver.org/23317.html English 421 helps students become better professional communicators through contextual research and analysis. The curriculum is informed by current research in rhetoric and professional writing and is guided by the needs and practices of business, the high-tech industry, and society at large. http://tc.eserver.org/23156.html http://tc.eserver.org/23156.html http://tc.eserver.org/22978.html http://tc.eserver.org/22978.html This course is designed to meet two objectives. First, it offers an opportunity for students to conduct a collective inquiry into the theory and practice of academic writing. Second, it allows students to practise, explore, and experiment with various strategies for enriching their own writing. http://tc.eserver.org/22812.html http://tc.eserver.org/22812.html English 515 is designed for undergraduates and graduates interested in professional writing for both print and electronic publication. Students learn to produce documents and coordinate writing projects, study and apply principles of document design and electronic publication using appropriate application software, and work in teams in computer-networked environments. Students will work both individually and collaboratively as they document, utilize and analyze writing practices, literacy tools, and research methodologies. http://tc.eserver.org/22470.html http://tc.eserver.org/22470.html English 413 presents principles of Web-based document design, creation, layout, editing, and posting to the Internet and on corporate intranets. http://tc.eserver.org/22347.html http://tc.eserver.org/22347.html To understand technical documents as audience-centered and write for a target audience. To realize that knowledge is socially constructed and that writing is determined to a large extent by context. To improve grammar, mechanics, and style. To write for the Internet and become familiar with the weblog as a writing genre. To design and test a set of instructions. To use software tools, simple design principles, and effective typography to create documents with superior readability and usability. To create a major report using multiple information-gathering techniques, including library research and interview. To learn the differences among various writing genres used in the workplace, including the memo, proposal, progress report, and research report. http://tc.eserver.org/22348.html http://tc.eserver.org/22348.html In this course, students will master two important aspects of technical communication: its genres and its process. Students will learn and apply several primary genres of technical communication, including the résumé and cover letter, the memo, the proposal, the abstract, the progress report, and the empirical report. Students will use these genres to document their research progress and results. Students will also learn and use the technical writing process. http://tc.eserver.org/22346.html http://tc.eserver.org/22346.html This course introduces the writing process and the types of academic writing you may be expected to complete in your college career such as research papers, argumentative papers, and literature reviews. The course is designed to help you develop a clear thesis in a written paper and support that thesis with appropriate sources. Time will be spent discussing rhetorical elements in writing such as audience, purpose, and argumentative structure. In addition, you will practice steps in the writing process such as invention, research, organization, drafting, revision, and editing. Your assignments will report, synthesize, and draw conclusions regarding the significance of what you read. Assignments may include 1) summary or abstract; 2) rhetorical analysis; (3) short thesis paper; (4) prospectus; (5) evaluation or review of literature; (6) research paper. Some courses are taught in a computer classroom and some in a traditional classroom. http://tc.eserver.org/22279.html http://tc.eserver.org/22279.html A PDF document intended as a resource for teachers who want help describing the memo to students. This (relatively lengthy) sample memo attempts to make an all-too-familiar document strange again by explaining what it is and how to use it. http://tc.eserver.org/22163.html http://tc.eserver.org/22163.html In this course you will learn the methodology of single sourcing and the technology of a help applications tool (RoboHelp Office X4). http://tc.eserver.org/22162.html http://tc.eserver.org/22162.html This course aims to prepare you for on-the-job writing. You will study and practice writing a variety of professional and technical documents such as emails, letters, resumes, instructions, proposals, presentations, and reports. http://tc.eserver.org/21972.html http://tc.eserver.org/21972.html The course provides a Humanities perspective on web design. It introduces students to basic issues and practices of web design, but also examines how web pages can be seen as texts that are amenable to rhetorical and cultural analysis.  Web sites embody 'architectures', which as MIT professor of architecture William Mitchell notes, raise many of the same issues of access, assembly, use, control, and community formation that occur with urban planning.  We will thus not only practice designing web pages, but we will also consider methods for interpreting and analyzing web sites. http://tc.eserver.org/21971.html http://tc.eserver.org/21971.html This web site contains information about Chris Werry's section of RWS 503W Technical Writing. You'll find the syllabus, course description, on-line readings, assignments, and other course materials here. http://tc.eserver.org/21876.html http://tc.eserver.org/21876.html Teaches how to apply the principles of information architecture to the creation of intuitive navigation systems and a seamless user experience. http://tc.eserver.org/21550.html http://tc.eserver.org/21550.html What's happening to all of the things our students in the different strands once shared in common? When I taught the research methods class last fall, I was struck when my students in both strands commented on how they had not realized until then how much they shared and how happy they were to be able to help each other and to inform each other's work. These comments, and the tangible evidence I had of their truthfulness in my students' productive exchanges, are at the heart of my concerns. I am curious if other writing programs with multiple strands are also encountering these issues. Is becoming more separate a natural response to developments and progress in our respective fields? Is it the best response to those developments and progress? http://tc.eserver.org/21540.html http://tc.eserver.org/21540.html This course is designed for undergraduates and graduates interested in the professional writing and publishing of both print based and electronic documents. Through a variety of projects, we will cover advanced theories of document design, web-based publishing, educational media, information delivery, and multimedia production. The course is designed so that students will have opportunities to work on both electronic and print based projects. http://tc.eserver.org/21036.html http://tc.eserver.org/21036.html This course is designed to be an introduction to professional/technical communication as a profession and academic discipline. We will examine current issues, theories and practices, career opportunities, professional development, significant tools, and UNI's curriculum. http://tc.eserver.org/21039.html http://tc.eserver.org/21039.html This course is designed to provide you with professional experience outside of the standard classroom. http://tc.eserver.org/20918.html http://tc.eserver.org/20918.html The goal of this course is to foster a sophisticated understanding of rhetorical situation, style and arrangement. Writing for the electronic medium with its specific demands should reveal by contrast material aspects of the practice of conventionalwriting that may have been taken for granted. Technologies encourage certain kinds of thinking and behavior and discourage others. Writing has always been one such technology. The World Wide Web is not the introduction of, but a shift in, technology. Students will analyze, conceptualize and create websites with HTML and graphics without the use of WYSIWYG helpers. WYSIWYG programs can make website development easy; however, we will stay close to the actual code in order to get a better understanding of the medium. http://tc.eserver.org/20879.html http://tc.eserver.org/20879.html Applies principles of effective professional writing to the planning, production, and evaluation of computer user manuals and other writing tasks. http://tc.eserver.org/20573.html http://tc.eserver.org/20573.html A practical Guide to assist in the crafting, implementing and defending of a graduate school thesis or dissertation. Authored by S. Joseph Levine, Michigan State University (levine@msu.edu). http://tc.eserver.org/20558.html http://tc.eserver.org/20558.html ENGL 420 teaches students the rhetorical principles and writing practices necessary for producing effective business letters, memos, reports, and collaborative projects in professional contexts. The curriculum is informed by current research in rhetoric and professional writing and is guided by the needs of business, industry, and society at large, as well as by the needs of Purdue students and programs. http://tc.eserver.org/20559.html http://tc.eserver.org/20559.html ENGL 421 helps students become better professional communicators through contextual research and analysis. The curriculum is informed by current research in rhetoric and professional writing and is guided by the needs and practices of business, the high-tech industry, and society at large, as well as by the expectations of Purdue students and programs. Students learn effective strategies for communicating with other people about and with technology, particularly in networked workplaces and through usability testing. They learn how to collaborate with colleagues in project teams as they analyze writing situations and respond to them with informative and visually effective print and electronic documents. The course teaches the rhetorical principles that help students shape their technical writing to suit a range of readers, for multiple purposes, in a variety of professional situations. http://tc.eserver.org/20497.html http://tc.eserver.org/20497.html The assignment in this unit is to learn about technical reports, their different types, their typical audiences and situations, and then to plan one of your own. Specifically, your task in this unit is to pick a report topic, report audience and situation, report purpose, and report type. http://tc.eserver.org/20387.html http://tc.eserver.org/20387.html This web site is one of the online resources for English 271 students at MSU, Mankato. In addition, the instructor uses the gradebook feature in Ucompass Educator, our university's e-learning platform. http://tc.eserver.org/20377.html http://tc.eserver.org/20377.html Technical Writing is not a grammar class but an applied writing course in which you will learn to: write clearly, concisely, and accurately for intended readers; apply good writing skills to technical documents; write various technical documents common in business and industry; write as a member of a team; and use word processing, electronic mail, and graphics software applications on a personal computer. http://tc.eserver.org/20348.html http://tc.eserver.org/20348.html In this course we will explore the various forms and media by which working professionals convey technical information to both expert and novice audiences. As a student in this course, you will learn to write a variety of genres used in technical communication -- resumés and cover letters, memos, proposals, progress reports and final reports. http://tc.eserver.org/20347.html http://tc.eserver.org/20347.html Teaches how to apply the principles of information architecture to the creation of intuitive navigation systems and a seamless user experience. http://tc.eserver.org/20281.html http://tc.eserver.org/20281.html As a student in this course you will have the opportunity to learn to write for the World Wide Web and use appropriate hardware and software. http://tc.eserver.org/19710.html http://tc.eserver.org/19710.html Through course readings, class discussion, and web projects, you'll learn to apply rhetorical principles of audience analysis, invention, organization, style, and design to hypermedia authoring; to use hypertext markup language as a presentation tool for publishing on the World Wide Web; to plan and manage web projects; to develop independent learning and problem-solving skills. http://tc.eserver.org/19651.html http://tc.eserver.org/19651.html Technical Writing introduces students to the world of technical and professional communication. The focus of this course is upon writing that you might use on-the-job. http://tc.eserver.org/19592.html http://tc.eserver.org/19592.html 503W is designed to help upper-level students develop the communication skills needed for successful professional careers. The course provides the opportunity to write in the variety of forms you are likely to encounter in your professional lives (that is, memos, manuals, proposals, etc.). http://tc.eserver.org/19611.html http://tc.eserver.org/19611.html A directory of academic conferences in technical writing and technical communication. http://tc.eserver.org/19081.html http://tc.eserver.org/19081.html Perhaps the trouble for academic programs that teach workplace writing begins with the term 'technical communications.' Perhaps the trouble grows with those programs’ focus on the teaching of writing rather than on the development of professionals who bring complex, strategic writing/thinking processes into work communities. http://tc.eserver.org/18979.html http://tc.eserver.org/18979.html English 301 is an introductory course in the principles and practice of technical and business writing. Technical and business writing is, of course, part of the universe of written discourse, and so you will be building on writing skills that you already have and acquiring skills that you will be able to use in other writing tasks. While it is difficult to define technical and business writing precisely, we can say that it differs, generally, from other kinds of writing in its subject matter, purpose and approach, formal conventions, and style. At the same time, the differences are differences of degree rather than absolute differences. The subject matter of technical and business writing is, obviously, the world of science, technology, and business. However, subject matter that is not normally considered 'technical' can be the subject of technical writing, provided the approach to it is objective rather than subjective. In other words, the purpose and approach may allow an otherwise 'untechnical”'subject to become 'technical.' The two primary purposes of the writing you do in this course will be to inform and to persuade. You will study some basic principles of defining, instructing, and evaluating, and you will concentrate on presenting material objectively. When you persuade, you will persuade on the basis of verifiable evidence, not on the basis of appeals to emotion. Most technical and business writing observes specific conventions of form, and you will be introduced to a variety of these. Three elements of form that are particularly important in technical and business writing and are seldom used in other kinds of writing are headings, lists, and illustrations. These elements of form, when used effectively, will, of necessity, also affect organization and style. In addition, there are specific conventions of form that govern memo writing, letter writing, and report writing, and you will practice using these. http://tc.eserver.org/18710.html http://tc.eserver.org/18710.html An intensive training session on how to write clear, crisp, persuasive copy for letters, memos, proposals, reports, and other business documents. http://tc.eserver.org/18709.html http://tc.eserver.org/18709.html An intensive training session on how to write clear, crisp, technically accurate copy for letters, memos, proposals, reports, articles, papers, and other technical documents. http://tc.eserver.org/18615.html http://tc.eserver.org/18615.html The format of a review of literature may vary from discipline to discipline and from assignment to assignment. A review may be a self-contained unit -- an end in itself -- or a preface to and rationale for engaging in primary research. A review is a required part of grant and research proposals and often a chapter in theses and dissertations. Generally, the purpose of a review is to analyze critically a segment of a published body of knowledge through summary, classification, and comparison of prior research studies, reviews of literature, and theoretical articles. http://tc.eserver.org/18472.html http://tc.eserver.org/18472.html Because the role of the modern technical writer and communicator is expanding rapidly and will continue to do so, the ethical scope of the technical writer's responsibility is comparably expanded too. The technical writer is now seen as an information developer in the formative stages of creating technical information, as a communicator in disseminating information, as an interpreter in explaining information, and as a usability expert in guiding the application of information. As a result, ethics becomes in involved in technical writing in many ways both traditional and new, obvious and non-obvious. In this course we will study the role of ethics in technical writing and communication at various levels. Ethics is the study of what is right and good, whether as abstract theories or as concrete actions, usually involving deciding a course of action in a dilemma offering several possibilities. Ethics here is understood broadly as encompassing both conventional theories of ethics and values and value systems. http://tc.eserver.org/18412.html http://tc.eserver.org/18412.html Technical writing is a growing and dynamic field. Technical writers work in scientific, medical, and technological contexts, and because of that, need to be both good writers and active learners: they need to learn how to understand technologies and scientific concepts; they need to learn how to analyze and understand work and workplaces; they need to learn to write for and with audiences; and they need to learn how to conduct research. http://tc.eserver.org/18428.html http://tc.eserver.org/18428.html There are several facts of contemporary business or technical communication that are now nearly universal: the acts of writing or managing any project occur in group settings; directions from employers are goal-oriented and the responsibility for development is left to a team (usually either external or internal to the assigning agency); organizations possess and frequently reassess corporate personae; and communication occurs with multiple audiences, with varying levels of knowledge. The purpose of this course is to give you practice in all of these skills. In addition, I intend to explore at length an issue far too rarely considered today: the ethical considerations of business and technical communication. For all these reasons, the design and specific requirements of the course are unusually (and, you should note, very intentionally) ambiguous. Given some goal, and composition into small teams of four to five people each, you will design and implement your own instruction in technical writing. Operating under certain requirements, constraints, and limitations, groups will propose, design, test, and recommend a specific solution to a particular need. I will base evaluation upon a percentage that reflects how well the groups (and individuals in them) achieve set criteria. http://tc.eserver.org/18183.html http://tc.eserver.org/18183.html In addition to competing for general scholarships available to all Purdue University students, undergraduates majoring in Professional Writing can apply annually for $3,000 Crouse Scholarships in Writing and Publishing, Technical Writing, and Print and Electronic Publishing. http://tc.eserver.org/15040.html http://tc.eserver.org/15040.html In this course, we will explore the various forms and media by which working professionals convey technical information to both internal and external audiences. As a student in this course, you will learn to write a variety of genres used in technical communication -- résumés and cover letters, memos, proposals, progress reports, and final reports. To facilitate production of such documents, you will also learn to use several types of desktop software, such as Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, as well as others. http://tc.eserver.org/15042.html http://tc.eserver.org/15042.html Course goals: to analyze specific audiences and rhetorical situations in the design of large-scale Web sites; to apply the principles of information architecture to the creation of intuitive navigation systems and a seamless user experience; to learn how hypertext markup language (HTML) renders Web pages and supports the use of graphics, video, and other media; and to learn the basics of visual design and production as they relate to Web photographs and graphic images. http://tc.eserver.org/15011.html http://tc.eserver.org/15011.html Course goals: to prepare you to communicate effectively, ethically, responsibly, and professionally in a business environment; to provide you with skills, strategies, and conceptual knowledge to help you address a variety of communication tasks; to help you understand the symbiotic relationships among form and content, and audience and purpose; and to give you practice in collaborating with other professionals in managing and completing group projects, and to improve your own individual communication and management skills. http://tc.eserver.org/14978.html http://tc.eserver.org/14978.html English 504 introduces students to varying perspectives about the design and implementation of instruction in business and technical communication—with primary attention to academic classroom instruction but some attention to workplace training. http://tc.eserver.org/14905.html http://tc.eserver.org/14905.html English 2309-Technical Communication-is an introductory course to the kinds of documents produced and used in business, industry, and technology. The assignments and the way they are evaluated reflect different audiences and purposes than those normally addressed in English 1301 & 1302. However, you should be reasonably proficient in the writing skills normally acquired in these two courses. We are a community of writers from various disciplines sharing our work and insights about writing with one another. This course is designed to create an environment in which you can develop and exhibit professional work habits. These habits include meeting deadlines, satisfying all assignment criteria, and attending class on a regular basis. http://tc.eserver.org/14904.html http://tc.eserver.org/14904.html The course emphasizes practical knowledge of technical communications techniques, procedures, and reporting formats used in business and industry.  Topics include methods of describing devices and processes, as well as the proper use of standards manuals, guides, specifications, and interpretations of data in report format. http://tc.eserver.org/14906.html http://tc.eserver.org/14906.html English 2309, Technical Writing, will introduce you to some of the types of documents that you will be likely to write in your careers. We will study audience-centered writing and writing as a series of recursive steps through which a writer moves in preparing a final draft. The students in this section will participate in the Texas Tech University Computer-Based Research Project by meeting class in the Macintosh Computer Classroom located in the English building (324A). The course will be VAX-based, but students do not need any prior knowledge of computers or computer skills. Because the course is computer-based, students will have to find time outside of class to work on a computer. http://tc.eserver.org/14899.html http://tc.eserver.org/14899.html ENGL 202C, Technical Writing, serves students who are preparing for careers in the sciences and applied sciences (particularly engineering). This advanced course in writing familiarizes students with the discourse practices prized in their disciplinary and institutional communities—and helps them to manage those practices effectively in their own written work. In this way the course teaches those writing strategies and tactics that scientists and engineers will need in order to write successfully on the job. http://tc.eserver.org/14842.html http://tc.eserver.org/14842.html Effective communication skills in the workplace can prevent problems, streamline production, and determine who gets promoted and who doesn'ï¿t. This course will develop your use of several genres of scientific and technical writing, as well as teach you planning, drafting, and revision strategies that will dramatically improve the quality of your communication. A significant part of this course will be devoted to exploring new communication technologies, such as web design and presentation software and hardware. Graphics and document design have always been important elements of technical communication, but new technology has made them required features of workplace communication. In short, technical communicators are both writers and designers. As such, you must also regularly confront a range of ethical questions ï¿ from the political implications of the language you use to the decisions you make about the appropriateness or appeal of particular images. Throughout the semester, weï¿ll consider the ethical implications of what often seems to be (but isnï¿t) a straightforward, value-free form of communication. http://tc.eserver.org/14851.html http://tc.eserver.org/14851.html This course offers an overview of the field of technical communication and provides practice in the composition of traditional technical writing forms, especially letters and memorandums, interim reports, feasibility studies and formal proposals. http://tc.eserver.org/14592.html http://tc.eserver.org/14592.html Linked to this page are 6 high-school-level exercises that teach (through worked and scaffolded examples) how to write good technical descriptions. Also included is a set of description-writing guidelines on which these exercises depend. The summary table below links to two versions of each exercise: * A plain version suitable for classroom use as is, and * An annotated version that: * spells out the goal of each exercise and the writing issues that it addresses, * compares the exercise with others in this set, * suggests effective, relevant teaching strategies, as well as extended activities, and * notes the specific 1998 California English-Language Arts content standard(s) that the exercise most strongly supports. http://tc.eserver.org/14570.html http://tc.eserver.org/14570.html This course is designed to provide you a theoretical and pedagogical foundation for teaching an introductory undergraduate course in technical communication. http://tc.eserver.org/14569.html http://tc.eserver.org/14569.html This course will prepare students to: * identify and discuss principles of design and information architecture that apply to web pages and web sites * evaluate the design and architecture of existing web sites and recommend appropriate revisions * design different types of pages and sites * test the usability of pages and sites * use appropriate software to implement effective and ethical decisions regarding the design and architecture of sites http://tc.eserver.org/14342.html http://tc.eserver.org/14342.html This course is designed to help you accomplish the following goals: To give you practice understanding, analyzing, and responding to writing situations. To help you recognize, learn and use persuasive strategies. To help you construct rhetorically effective arguments. To write to multiple audiences, recognizing and anticipating their differing needs. To recognize and use effectively different standard genres. To learn about and incorporate document design into your writing process. http://tc.eserver.org/14307.html http://tc.eserver.org/14307.html A collection of advice about how to do research and how to communicate effectively (primarily for computer scientists). http://tc.eserver.org/14282.html http://tc.eserver.org/14282.html Process explanations have become an important part of the workplace. However, professionals don’t create process explanations only for auditors. Process explanations are used to communicate sequential activities to a variety of audiences and for many different reasons. As Technical Communication, 5e illustrates in Chapter 12 (“Creating Process Explanations”), several forms of process explanations exist, though they have some common characteristics that you should be familiar with. In this exercise you will revise a set of detailed instructions into a process explanation. You have to decide what type of information is most appropriate for your audience and the purpose of your document. http://tc.eserver.org/14285.html http://tc.eserver.org/14285.html Writing project reports is an important part of the engineering curriculum at Singapore universities. One important section of the formal report is the literature review. Most universities around the world provide guidelines on writing reviews, emphasizing that plagiarism is unethical. However, these guidelines do not offer explicit training on how to avoid plagiarism. In order to write academically acceptable reviews while avoiding copying from source materials, students face a major challenge and resort to employing various strategies to cope with the task. In this study, we examined the literature review sections of final year project reports to find out how engineering undergraduates in a Singapore university cope with writing reviews and to suggest ways in which they can extend their skills to improve their literature reviews. http://tc.eserver.org/14277.html http://tc.eserver.org/14277.html This exercise will give you practice in organizing sentences into effective paragraphs. This computer file contains 12 sentences that you need to group, order, and connect so that you can create coherent, cohesive paragraphs. http://tc.eserver.org/14279.html http://tc.eserver.org/14279.html Regardless of what industry you work in, as a professional communicator you will encounter the difficulty of defining a new or unfamiliar term for your readers. How will you explain a new concept like random access memory? How would you even know where to begin? Technical Communication/4e presents several options you have for writing technical definitions, providing examples of both short and extended definitions. For this exercise you will construct a technical definition for a specific audience. The strategy you choose for defining the concept depends on the audience(s) you select, that audience’s need(s) for the information, and the type of document in which the definition would appear. http://tc.eserver.org/14265.html http://tc.eserver.org/14265.html For this exercise, you will be looking at as many as four texts about Java, a programming language that has recently become a phenomenon because it allows programmers to make interactive pages on the World Wide Web. You’ll examine and discuss the way these different texts approach their different audiences, then construct an article, pamphlet, or brochure about Java for an audience you choose. http://tc.eserver.org/14181.html http://tc.eserver.org/14181.html This course is designed to strengthen your understanding and mastery of language in the context of technical and professional communication. This involves exploring the concept of rhetoric and the various rhetorical options available for a given professional writing task. The truth is, you already know what rhetoric is in an instinctive way. Without knowing it, you use rhetoric in conversation and personal letters. The aim of the course, however, is to raise your rhetorical awareness to a more conscious and effective level when you sit down to write in the workplace. http://tc.eserver.org/14049.html http://tc.eserver.org/14049.html The aim, or purpose, of this course is to prepare you for a variety of job-related writing tasks. Success in technical writing, however, requires that you first know for whom you are writing and why. Consequently, this course will stress audience awareness and purpose in written communication. The course will also help you select the appropriate materials for a writing assignment and arrange the material in a logical and appropriate sequence. Additionally, you will learn to evaluate your products (and those of others) before submitting them for approval. In other words, you will develop your writing processes, much as you are developing other problem-solving tools necessary for success in your career. You will learn to anticipate the needs of your audience, to select materials and their arrangement to best meet those needs, to prepare the final product, and to analyze and revise until you achieve professional-quality work ready for submission to your audience. http://tc.eserver.org/14006.html http://tc.eserver.org/14006.html Este curso presenta algunas estrategias generales básicas para la redacción de informes técnicos, tesis, comunicaciones a conferencias y artículos en revistas científicas. El curso está destinado a investigadores en ciencias básicas y aplicadas, estudiantes en las mismas áreas, e ingenieros y otros profesionales de orientación técnica. http://tc.eserver.org/13955.html http://tc.eserver.org/13955.html CSIS 500, Technical Communication, Graduate Programs in Software, University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, Minnesota. The fundamentals of technical communication as practiced in industry are presented, emphasizing clarity and organizational skills. Students engage in exercises that focus on technical writing, editing, public speaking and graphic design, and apply their skills across a broad range of activities, including critique of presentations and writing of proposals, reports, memoranda, user manuals, instructional modules, and specifications. Techniques presented are intended to assist an understanding of the structure of the language, and an appreciation for format and content, to better prepare students for project documentation. http://tc.eserver.org/13855.html http://tc.eserver.org/13855.html When the idea of culture is expanded to include institutional relationships extending beyond the walls of one organization, technical writing researchers can address relationships between our power/knowledge system and multiculturalism, postmodernism, gender, conflict, and ethics within professional communication. This article contrasts ideas of culture in social constructionist and cultural study research designs, addressing how each type of design impacts issues that can be analyzed in research studies. Implications for objectivity and validity in speculative cultural study research are also explored. Finally, since articulation of a coherent theoretical foundation is crucial to limiting a cultural study, this article suggests how technical writing can be constituted as an object of study according to five (of many possible) poststructural concepts: the object of inquiry as discursive, the object as practice within a cultural context, the object as practice within a historical context, the object as ordered by language, and the object in relationship with the one who studies it. http://tc.eserver.org/13832.html http://tc.eserver.org/13832.html In The Electronic Word: Democracy, Technology, and the Arts, Richard Lanham suggests that perhaps those most resistant to the 'digital revolution' are members of English departments, those who are often divided between what does and what does not constitute a text. Often at the heart of this debate is the privileging of one literacy paradigm, that of print, and the marginalizing of another, primarily that devoted to the production of electronic discourse. To further complicate the issue, even when we do recognize electronic models of literacy, we tend to shape our experience, as Johnson-Eilola has so eloquently pointed out, through our nostalgia for earlier models of literacy, again, those focused on print and the printed page. It is no doubt important to teach students the ways in which rhetorical and literary texts are produced, distributed, and consumed; however, it is equally important for teachers of writing, primarily members of English departments, to acknowledge the production and consumption processes of texts external to the genres of the academy and to recognize that the essay is a printed form that admittedly for our students has little use outside the academy. http://tc.eserver.org/10769.html http://tc.eserver.org/10769.html Academic writing in American institutions is filled with rules that writers often don’t know how to follow. A working knowledge of these rules, however, is critically important; inadvertent mistakes can lead to charges of plagiarism, or the unacknowledged use of somebody else’s words or ideas. While other cultures may not insist so heavily on documenting sources, American institutions do. A charge of plagiarism can have severe consequences, including expulsion from the university. This handout, which does not reflect any official university policy, is designed to help writers develop strategies for knowing how to avoid accidental plagiarism. http://tc.eserver.org/10765.html http://tc.eserver.org/10765.html An outline is: a logical, general description; aschematic summary; an organizational pattern; a visual and conceptual design of your writing. An outline reflects logical thinking and clear classification. http://tc.eserver.org/10770.html http://tc.eserver.org/10770.html This handout is intended to help you become more comfortable with the uses of and distinctions among quotations, paraphrases, and summaries. The first part of the handout compares and contrasts the terms, while the second part offers a short excerpt that you can use to practice these skills. http://tc.eserver.org/10762.html http://tc.eserver.org/10762.html Despite the illusion, the research-paper writing process (as with any writing process) is quasi-linear at best. Follow the green navigation bar on the left from top to bottom to follow the nine major steps in writing a research paper. http://tc.eserver.org/10783.html http://tc.eserver.org/10783.html Describes the two types of abstracts: informational and Descriptive, then gives some tips on how to write effective report abstracts. http://tc.eserver.org/10760.html http://tc.eserver.org/10760.html In this section of our site, we offer you handouts and exercises on different aspects of research and the writing of research papers. If you are interested in a more extensive tutorial on research papers, check out our new Research Paper Workshop.