"The limits of my language mean the limits of my world" - Ludwig Wittgenstein

Dec 31

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Dec 31

Welcome to English 306

English 306 introduces students to the field of professional writing through a sustained engagement with its practices and principles. Students will produce a variety of documents (across a variety of genres) in terms of and in the context of key theoretical understandings of that work: namely, rhetorical theory, ethics, information design, and decision architecture. As future professional communicators, students will be continually required to analyze (that is, theorize) audiences, activities, organizations, and contexts. Professional writing practice is always predicated on a prior theoretical understanding or framework.

Throughout the semester, students will engage readings and one another, complete a variety of in-class exercises, and produce a range of documents in exploring (both theoretically and in practice) the work of professional writing. All work in the course will stress the importance of primary research, document design, effective writing, and audience awareness, considerations that will shape the professional lives of students.

Apr 22

Coming to Terms: Final Presentations

Below is a collection of final presentations in English 306. You will find video of the presentations as well as accompanying visuals and/or handouts. Students were asked to "conclude" the semester by forwarding some claim about professional writing (i.e., what it is?, what do we do?, or what else we can become?). For an audience, students imagined both future students in 306 as well as their fellow classmates. Students incorporated (variously) course projects and in-class assignments from throughout the semester, their final reports (which explored the work of professional writing by drawing on an interview with a professional writer), readings they had engaged (both in PW theory and related areas), as well as their own personal experiences and interests outside of the class.

Students took various routes to explore professional writing: below you will find their particular journeys.

Dec 31

Instructor Introduction

My name is Nathaniel Rivers. I am a PhD student in Rhetoric and Composition with an interest in Professional and Technical Writing and Public Rhetorics. I am the Assistant Director of Professional Writing here at Purdue University.

I hail from Evansville, Indiana, where I earned my BA in English and Psychology at the University of Southern Indiana. Other Info: