Course Information- Advanced Technical and Professional Communication
Summer 2005

Course Description

This advanced course is designed to help you examine and gain experience with a variety of professional communication genres. The core of the course is based on a sequence of assignments, each building on the work of the previous one, which will provide you with an opportunity to investigate your own professional communication practices, to conduct primary and secondary source research on an issue of professional interest, and to construct persuasive documents that seek change by convincing others of the value of your proposal. In each of these assignments, you will focus on understanding and negotiating the rhetorical situation which includes the following three core components:

  1. purpose- the reason for which you are writing
  2. audience- the people or groups to whom the communication is directed
  3. context- the situational conditions in which the text will be read and used

By focusing on the rhetorical demands of communication, you will learn practical and theoretical approaches for researching and developing content for multiple audiences. By analyzing the purpose, audience, and context of various communicative situations, you will be able to create documents that successfully achieve their intended goals.

Importantly, this course will also focus on the design and arrangement of documents, as well as on the development of their textual content. As several of your readings will argue and demonstrate, using basic principles of design will help readers to:

  • locate needed information quickly and easily
  • notice and understand important ideas
  • comprehend how discrete parts of a document are related
  • respond more positively to a document's content

Throughout the course, I'd like you to concentrate on how you can best shape your documents to most persuasively and effectively communicate your intended message to your intended audience.


Course Goals

    • Understand the rhetorical nature of professional writing and that each communication situation requires negotiating the unique context in which it is located
    • Understand the communicative conventions of your field and how they function, particularly with regard to technical and/or scientific writing
    • Improve your processes for project planning, research, and development
    • Understand how to investigate and address the rhetorical situation (audience, purpose, context) to shape the development of professional communication
    • Develop a range of strategies for learning technical and scientific information and conducting specialized research
    • Demonstrate that you understand how to integrate written content, graphics, and basic design principles in order to create usable, persuasive, and reader-friendly documents

Required Materials (available from the NMSU bookstore or through Amazon.com)

    • Policy & Politics in Nursing and Health Care (4th edition). Diana J. Mason, Judith K. Leavitt, & Mary W. Chaffee (eds.). St. Louis: Saunders (Elsevier Science), 2002. ISBN 0-7216-9534-5

    • The Non-Designer's Design Book (1st edition). Robin Williams. Peachpit Press, 1994. ISBN 1566091594

    • Additional readings in PDF format- available on CD mailed to you or as downloads from the WebCT course site under the "Additional Readings" link. (From student comments from the last three semesters, your best option would be to have me mail a CD to your physical address, though I have re-scanned these readings and these seem to be working better. Email me at jasheppa@nmsu.edu for more information.)

Technology Requirements and Expectations

As participants in a Distance Education Program, I am making the assumption that you are all at least a moderately comfortable users of your computers and their operating systems. Additionally, I have the following requirements and expectations for this course:

  • that you have consistent and reliable access to a computer and the internet
  • that you can search and navigate the web
  • that you can receive and send email and attachments
  • that you have a working understanding of how to login to WebCT, how to navigate course materials, and how to use some of its basic functions such as the Discussion Board
  • that you have access to and knowledge of Microsoft Word, and possibly other MS Office applications
  • that you have access to and knowledge of Adobe Acrobat Reader for opening and viewing PDF documents from the course web site, course CD, or from the internet. If you don't already have it, Acrobat Reader is available for free at http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html
  • that you will consistently make back-up copies of all your electronic work

If you have questions about any of these requirements, please email at jasheppa@nmsu.edu

 

Course Policies and How to Get Help

    • Since this is an online course, I will have online office hours on Mondays from 6:00-7:00pm and on Wednesdays from 9:00-10:00am. I will generally (though not always) be online between 9:00 and 11:00 am Monday through Thursday. I also usually check my email at least once during the afternoon or early evening on most days, including weekends.
    • If you email me, I will do my best to get back to you within 24 hours.
    • There may be times when it is easier to receive help or feedback by talking to me by phone or in person. If this is the case, please email me and we can set something up.

    • For help with WebCT issues, you can try the following resources: