Course

Workplace Writing

Important Notice

This course is not active. Please contact Department Chair for more information.

Faculty
Language, Literature & Performing Arts
Department
Communications
Course Code
CMNS 1118
Credits
3.00
Semester Length
15
Max Class Size
30
Method(s) Of Instruction
Lecture
Seminar
Typically Offered
To be determined

Overview

Course Description
This course is designed for students in the Print Futures Professional Writing Program as an introduction to workplace writing: that is, writing governed by the constraints of audience, purpose and context. Students will learn to differentiate between informational, persuasive and researched writing tasks, and will consider various organizational strategies for fulfilling specific purposes for specific audiences.
Course Content

Discourse Theory

The student will:

  1. examine and summarize applicable theories, including, among others, those provided by  Kinneavy,  Flower and Hayes, Bitzer, MacKinnon, and Selzer
  2. analyze the distinctions between various genres and modes of discourse: persuasive, informational expressive, instructional
  3. analyze the specific characteristics of genres and rhetorical situations
  4. produce written samples of specific genres

Context, Audience and Purpose

The student will study the rhetorical situations of non-academic texts, and:

  1. establish the characteristic identity of potential readers for particular purposes and exigencies;  establish the social/cultural context of the reader; clarify the expectations to the reader
  2. clarify the textual and subtextual requirements of particular genres and rhetorical situations; identify  the focus of the text: writer-based versus reader-based; direct versus indirect;  purposeful versus reflective
  3. analyze the typical  reader's  response:
    • acquisition and retention of information
    • need for visual aids
    • relationship of style and organization to reader efficiency
    • importance of diction
  4. produce written examples

Workplace Writing Conventions

The student will:

  1. examine genre and social context
  2. examine specific writing situations

Developmental & Coherence Strategies

The student will:

  1. use standard developmental strategies, including definition, sequence, description, comparison, contrast, analysis, and example
  2. analyze effectiveness of text in relation to sentence and discourse level coherence (readability): a series of exercises to be completed from Vande Kopple’s Clear and Coherent Prose
  3. study and practice summary strategies
Learning Activities

This course will utilize a combination of classroom activities (collaborative work on exercises and assignments, revising and editing workshops) and lecture/seminar.  Under the instructor’s guidance, students will learn to integrate discourse theory into actual writing practice and will produce typical workplace writing tasks for particular purposes and audiences.

Means of Assessment

Evaluation will be as follows:

Summary  15%
Rhetorical Analysis    15%
Definition by Comparison/Contrast 20%
Text Analysis 15%
Instructions (Genre Analysis) 20%
Instructions Sample and Analysis 15%
  100%
Learning Outcomes

Students will be introduced to composing and rhetorical theory and will apply relevant theoretical concepts to the production of typical workplace writing tasks: developing material in relation to context, purpose, and audience; and utilizing organizational and coherence strategies to ensure readability.

Textbook Materials

Textbooks and materials to be Purchased by students:

Vande Kopple, William.  Clear and Coherent Prose.  Scott, Foresman and Company, 1989.

Readings in the Rhetoric of Professional Writing (Course Ware Reading Package)

Requisites

Prerequisites

Acceptance into program or permission of coordinator.

Corequisites

No corequisite courses.

Equivalencies

No equivalent courses.

Course Guidelines

Course Guidelines for previous years are viewable by selecting the version desired. If you took this course and do not see a listing for the starting semester / year of the course, consider the previous version as the applicable version.

(Current)

Course Transfers

These are for current course guidelines only. For a full list of archived courses please see

Institution Transfer Details for CMNS 1118
There are no applicable transfer credits for this course.

Course Offerings

Winter 2025