Course goals and texts

English 306, Fall 2015, Bradley Dilger

The course has five goals:

  1. Investigate six concepts central to professional writing: rhetoric, genre, networks, situated learning, ethics, and user-centered design.
  2. Connect theoretical concepts in rhetoric and professional writing to practice by considering examples and interviewing a professional in a field of interest to you.
  3. Consider best practices for writing, from ideation (invention) to publication, and the role rhetorical theory can play in shaping those practices.
  4. Learn to analyze organizations and individuals within them to evaluate, understand, and shape communication practices.
  5. Learn best practices for understanding web-based writing, common styles and conventions, and methods for developing, revising, and editing web-based text.

Books

Please purchase the books immediately. I'll supplement these books with a selection of articles from the field which should cost about $20 to copy or print.

Ginny Redish, Letting Go of the Words 2/e
Paperback: new $26, used $22
Kindle $20

Clay Spinuzzi, Topsight
Paperback: new $18, used $10
Kindle $8

Austin Kleon, Steal Like an Artist
Paperback: new $7, used $3
Kindle not recommended

We will use Blackboard for a few things (grades, distributing copyrighted information securely). However, this site should be your first stop for all things 306.

English 306, Fall 2015, Bradley Dilger