ENG1680: Writing for the Workplace: Technical Communication

Abstract

COURSE DESCRIPTION Today’s professionals need to communicate more frequently, more rapidly, more accurately, and with more individuals than ever before. In this course, we will work to develop the skills and qualities shared by successful workplace communicators. There will be a large focus on collaborative writing and group projects in this class, with a focus on digital and cross-platform communication, including social media and online content creation and management. Work we will do this semester includes, but not limited to: a summary and response of a peer reviewed technical article, conducting an interview with a professional in a field you're interested in entering (or with a professor in that field) and then writing a report of the interview, writing an analysis of a website, and writing an application letter for a potential job or internship. The final class project includes a team proposal, technical report, and presentation. As part of a small team, you will compose a proposal for your potential project, and after your proposal is approved, your team will conduct field research in New York City and secondary research. Your team will write a detailed technical report and then present your work orally at the end of the semester. You will also create a website through Google Sites, and this website will house finalized drafts of your formal works, revised versions of writing from throughout the semester, an interactive version of your technical report, and a reflective essay. More than ever before, companies are allowing and even requiring employees to conduct their work remotely, outside of the office. Our classroom will be following a similar model. We will be doing a significant amount of coursework online through Canvas and through our own websites that we will be developing. This will be asynchronous online work in addition to individual team work and will replace approximately 30% of our course meeting times. With this in mind, I strongly recommend that you take this class only if you have access to a reasonably new laptop computer and reliable Internet access from your home. We can only continue with this format if we have a high success rate. If we, collectively, are unable to keep up with the online work, we will revert to a traditional class. (Continued below.)