Teaching Materials

Writing for the Health and Human Sciences, ENGL 42201

Purdue University (3 sections)

Course Description:

English 422 focuses on the rhetorical principles and writing practices necessary for producing effective charting, reports, policies and educational materials in the context of the healthcare industry. All assignments in this course have been developed in collaboration with medical professionals and though no specific medical knowledge is required to take this course, the material presented will most benefit those pursuing a career in medicine. The curriculum is informed by current research in rhetoric and professional writing and is guided by the specific needs and practices in hospitals, clinics, extended care facilities, and home health agencies, as well as by the expectations of Purdue students and programs. Like other sections, English 422 is offered in networked computer classrooms to ensure that students taking the course are prepared for the writing environment of the 21st-century workplace.

Course Syllabus and Sample Assignments and Student Work:

Technical Writing, ENGL 421

Purdue University (3 sections)

Course Description:

Technical writing is a course designed for students training for professions that require conciseness, clarity, and brevity in workplace communication. In many technical fields, such as those in the sciences and engineering, language is positioned as an obstacle to objectivity and usability for its ability to influence and alter a study, apparatus, or even the operability of a device. At the same time, it is this social nature of the human experience that makes these professions and their discoveries possible. Technical writing is in many ways a negotiation of language that works to form language into a more predictable form by through an emphasis on conciseness, clarity, and brevity. The technical writer is constantly placed in this challenging position between the inherent messiness of language and the objective ideals of scientific professions.

Course Syllabus and Sample Assignments and Student Work:

Introduction to Professional Writing, ENGL 306

Purdue University (1 section)

Course Description:

What is professional writing? Who is a professional writer? What kinds of tasks do professional writers do? What skills, knowledge, and experience are needed of them? What kinds of challenges do professional writers encounter and what tools and strategies are available to help them negotiate these situations?  In this course, we will explore and seek to answer these questions (and others) as we analyze the rhetorical principles and theoretical concepts that mark the touchstones of professional writing. This course will also ask you to examine, reflect on, and engage in the work of professional writing in the following ways:

  • Investigate five concepts connected to PW: rhetoric, genre, ethics, networks, and user-centered design
  • Connect theoretical concepts in rhetoric and PW to practice by interviewing a professional in a field of interest to you
  • Consider best practices for writing in the creation of documents that exhibit an understanding of their specific audience, purpose, and context
  • Learn to analyze organizations and individuals within them to evaluate, understand, and shape communication practices
  • Conduct, analyze, and report research mindfully and ethically
  • Offer constructive feedback and incorporate instructor and peer comments into your own writing

Course Syllabus and Sample Assignments and Student Work:

Introductory Composition, ENGL 106

Purdue University (7 sections, 2 approaches)

Course Description:

English 106 is the standard 4-credit hour composition course for students at Purdue. The course provides students with the opportunity to interpret and compose in both digital and print media across a variety of forms. Students engage in active learning, which includes class discussion, learning in small groups, problem solving, peer review, and digital interaction. English 106 is grounded in the idea that writing provides an outlet for sharing and developing ideas; facilitates understanding across different conventions, genres, groups, societies, and cultures; and allows for expression in multiple academic, civic, and non-academic situations. In short, writing is a way of learning that spans all fields and disciplines

Writing about Writing Approach

The Writing About Writing approach within an ENGL 106 course integrates multimodal composing and research. It allows students to consider the relationships between literacy practices, rhetorical situations, and discourse communities. The sequencing then situates academic and/or public writing as literacy practices within and aimed toward particular discourse communities.

Course Syllabus and Sample Assignments and Student Work:

Global Engineering Cultures and Practice Learning Community

Course Description:

Because this class is part of the linked learning community for Global Engineering Cultures and Practices, we’ll be spending time thinking critically about the expanding global context of engineering, exploring the role of engineering in various cultures and technical applications, and participating in cross-cultural communication and interactions.  Also, as part of the learning community offering, we will coordinate with a course in your major (ENGR 103) through both in-class and out-of-class activities to enhance your professional knowledge and create a sense of being a community of learners.

Sample Assignments and Student Work:

Engineering Projects in Community Service (EPICS) Learning Community

Course Description:

Because this class is part of the linked learning community for the EPICS program, we’ll be spending time thinking critically about not only what it means to be involved in EPICs as an engineer, but what it means to be a global citizen whose work has a significant impact on his/her local community. Additionally, this course aims to give you the theoretical tools to decipher, analyze, and engage in the discourse of your discipline—engineering. Finally, as part of the learning community offering, we will coordinate with a course in your major (ENGR 133) through both in-class and out-of-class activities to enhance your professional knowledge and create a sense of being a community of learners.

Sample Assignments and Student Work:

UR@ Approach

The UR@ approach within an ENGL 106 course sees the act of composition as a process of locating oneself within and engaging with interdisciplinary discourses in order to move through networks of relations within and across spaces. In short, this approach encourages students to locate themselves in relation to contemporary cultural domains and engage with various media, such as film, music, text, and webtext.

Course Syllabus and Sample Assignments and Student Work:

Note: All students have given permission for their work to be shared and their names to be listed on their assignments.