This week marks the end of the first half of the course. In Weeks 1 through 8, you’ve gotten a rapid-fire introduction to primary strategies, elements, concepts, and approaches to technical and professional writing. It was quick and messy, I know!
Through the rest of the course, we’ll return to these ideas, refine them and look at examples in your fields in order to help you put them into action.
This week, you will read, think, and write broadly about what technical and professional writing/communication is all about and how some of the things you’ve learned thus far apply to the kinds of writing you see yourself doing ‘out there’ in the professional world.
You will also turn in your first major project and pause to reflect on the work that you did.
Assigned to read this week:
As you’ll remember from the syllabus, there’s no mid-term exam in the course. This week’s discussion invites you to pause and reflect on what you’ve learned in the course so far.
Complete the 2.9 What is TPW again? discussion thread in your group before 5:00 on Tuesday. Here’s the prompt:
Aside from your textbook readings and the required texts I’ve listed above, find one other source (from our library, in a scholarly journal, or another reputable source) that provides a definition or explanation of technical and professional writing or technical communication.
What exactly is technical and professional writing/communication? Compare three definitions of technical and professional communication that you’ve found in our course readings, notes, and the extra source you selected. How do those definitions help you think about what we’ve looked at so far in this course?
How do the ideas, concepts, and strategies we’ve discussed so far connect to the sort of writing you foresee you’ll be doing in your own professional field someday, whether that’s in the criminal justice system, freelance writing, government work, environmental science, physical therapy, or something else? That is, how do they help you understand the kinds of work you might do and the skills you might need to develop?
Finally, describe two or three specific ideas about writing or writing practices and strategies that you’ve tried to apply and integrate into your writing practices over the last nine weeks.
Criteria for success:
Turn in "Project 1: Fact Sheet about writing in your field" on Blackboard.
Also turn in a short reflection on your project. This can be as part of the “comments” with your submission or as a second document you upload with the assignment. For this reflection, I’m asking for something a little more structured, and it may sound like an odd prompt–but don’t underestimate it!
Your prompt for reflecting:
Think holistically about everything that went into–and everything that was cut out of—-your fact sheet. You should reflect on and write about 4 things explicitly as they pertain to project 1:
Your reflection will be as long or as short as it needs to be; there is no prescribed length. What I am looking for is depth and complexity of thought in how you understand writing and how you understand you** as a writer.
I will not “grade” your reflections in terms of spelling, grammar, etcetera. But your reflection is required as part of your submission.