Course Outcomes - WR 227: Professional and Technical Writing

Prerequisite: A passing grade (C- or better) in WR 121 or a passing score on the English Department's waiver exam. Recommended:  A passing grade (C- or better) in WR 122. This transfer course emphasizes forms of writing demanded in the workplace rather than academic essays.While addressing issues like evaluation of materials and audiences, sources of information, organization and design, ethics, and visual communication, the writings include professional correspondence, informal reports, instructions, job search materials, and proposals. Also available through distance learning.

1. Engage in and value a respectful and free exchange of ideas.
2. Demonstrate critical thinking and reading skills:
   • Interpret, analyze, evaluate, and use various types of information, including visual and statistical information;
   • Interpret, analyze, evaluate, and use discipline-specific sources of information;
   • Understand potential ethical issues involved in technical and professional communication.
3. Make appropriate and effective rhetorical choices during all stages of the writing process: invention, drafting, revising, and editing:
   • Analyze audience, purpose, and context to make effective writing decisions about content, form, style, and ethics;
   • Understand a variety of technical/professional communication forms and their suitability for particular communication needs;
   • Create effective technical/professional documents collaboratively, including giving and receiving feedback on documents in process;
   • Use available technologies as appropriate to exchange ideas, access information, and to design and generate documents;
   • Edit and proofread in order to create clear, accurate, and polished documents.
4. Exercise appropriate methods of development and support:
   • Plan and organize documents that effectively fulfill a clear purpose;
   • Make effective style choices (such as concise writing, use of technical language, active/passive voice, personal pronouns, and/or others) that consider document type and writing situation;
   • Apply strategies of development and support to a substantial project.
5. Demonstrate Ability to Communicate Information Visually:
   • Create and integrate visual information (such as graphs, charts, tables, illustrations, diagrams, and/or others) meaningfully and ethically;
   • Make page layout and other design decisions that support and contribute to the document's goals.
6. Demonstrate successful use of the research process:
   • Effectively identify information needs and methods of gathering the information that meets those needs (including discipline-specific resources);
   • Use library resources, online databases, and the internet to locate information;
   • Evaluate information for relevance, accuracy, and reliability.