Course goals and texts
English 306, Fall 2015, Bradley Dilger
The course has five goals:
- Investigate six concepts central to professional writing: rhetoric, genre, networks, situated learning, ethics, and user-centered design.
- Connect theoretical concepts in rhetoric and professional writing to practice by considering examples and interviewing a professional in a field of interest to you.
- Consider best practices for writing, from ideation (invention) to publication, and the role rhetorical theory can play in shaping those practices.
- Learn to analyze organizations and individuals within them to evaluate, understand, and shape communication practices.
- 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