Class Description: I see this course in highly practical terms. While your preparation in college-style writing is valuable and useful for many tasks, you may find that writing you’ve done for other classes may be different than writing you will be called upon to produce in this class. The reason is that this class hopes to prepare you for the types of writing that you will be called upon to produce daily in most of the professions you are likely to join. This course hopes to introduce you to a type of writing used in real-world scenarios. We are going to look at issues of readability and what that means in terms of audience and context for communicating in the office. This will include writing memorandums, reports, and informational and technical documents, and evaluating the usefulness of writing we find online. By the end of the semester you will have worked individually and in teams, producing such real world documents as email, numerous memos and letters, and a formal technical report. You will also give an in-class oral presentation using presentation software, such as PowerPoint or Adobe Captivate. The goal, therefore, in this class will be to help you:
This is a writing class and we will be doing lots of it, both in class and out. You are expected to show a high-level or professional proficiency in grammar and usage. While this course will cover some aspects of usage and style, it is not a remedial grammar course.
- Improve your professional writing and to understand the context of your writing;
- Understand how professional writing differs from academic writing;
- Understand the role and principles of readability and how to apply the readability formulae to make your writing clear and direct;
- Employ some of the different styles, forms, and conventions used in professional writing;
- Gain experience in producing reader-based documents, using available high-tech equipment;
- Evaluate the professional writing of others;
- Write and work collaboratively.
This is a writing class and we will be doing lots of it, both in class and out. You are expected to show a high-level or professional proficiency in grammar and usage. While this course will cover some aspects of usage and style, it is not a remedial grammar course.