English 420

Professional Writing

Course Texts

Course Website

Unfortunately, due to a server transfer, this site is no longer available. As with most Professional Writing classes at Purdue, this course uses a Druapl site.

Course Description

In line with my teaching philosophy, my approach to teaching Professional Writing focuses on the importance of context and audience to the writing process. Professional writing is often situated in multiple contexts and prepared for multiple audiences; successful writers learn to negociate these added complexities. Although my approach relies on genres, I frame genres not as stable or static forms but rather as dynamic fluctuating guidelines. Successful writers know when to conform to genre expectations, but also recognize when deviation from the norm can bring heightened success. Deviation is a risk, but risk can reap reward.

I firmly believe that contemporary Professional Writing classes have to prioritize visual rhetoric and document design. I don't believe professional writing students should be turning in papers in Times New Roman font on 8 1/2 X 11 inch paper. We have to encourage them to experiment with the visual appearance of their writing, to adjust the size, color, and layout of their documents to specific contexts and purposes. No Professional Writing class is complete without some consideration of the impact of new media publication technologies on form, content, and usability. For this class I use Robin Williams' extremely accessible Non-Designer's Design Book; while this might not be the most sophisticated of visual primers, it does intoduce students to all the core concepts of document design: alignment, balance, contrast, and typography.

I also emphasize collaboration and teamwork, since few professional environments treat writing as an isolated activity. Students need to learn to work as a part of a team--dividing and assigning tasks, making group schedules, offering and accepting positive, constructive criticism from peers. Peer review and evaluation are built into most of our in-class and online activities.

Finally, I am committed to service learning at this level for two reasons. First, because I believe students need practice working for a client that is not their teacher. Professional Writing service learning projects allow students to take a guided step outside the safety of the classroom. Often, in both my Professional Writing and Multimedia Writing class, this gives students the kind of experience that can further develop their resume and marketibility (I have had professional writing students create polished materials for local community groups and provide detailed, updated documentation for Purdue's food service program). But there is another reason why I push for service learning projects in upper-level courses: as scholars, we have an obligation to connect the learning in our classes to people and places outside of our small academic circles. Many people speak to the disconnect between higher education and the general public; service learning allows us to bridge this disconnect by showcasing the skills and abilities our students acquire in our classes. Put simply, we have an obligation to give something back.