Aaron Feng’s Profile Student Toggle navigation

ENG 3771, Ad­vanced Ca­reer Writ­ing gives you op­por­tu­ni­ties to learn im­por­tant tech­ni­cal com­mu­ni­ca­tion skills, heuris­tics, and ap­proaches that you will use in the work­place. Bor­row­ing ideas from Don­ald A. Nor­man’s Liv­ing with Com­plex­ity (2010), we can think of tech­ni­cal com­mu­ni­ca­tion as a way of man­ag­ing com­plex­ity. Using rhetoric, re­search, and process, we can make com­plex in­for­ma­tion, tasks, and tech­nol­ogy far eas­ier to un­der­stand, ac­com­plish, and use. In order to ac­com­plish these things, we need to focus our use of WOVEN (writ­ten, oral, vi­sual, elec­tronic, and non­ver­bal) modes of com­mu­ni­ca­tion on the needs of our read­ers. How­ever, we must base our strate­gies and ap­proaches on clearly ar­tic­u­lated goals and firmly es­tab­lished re­search; we must test our de­liv­er­ables for us­abil­ity; and we must re­vise our de­liv­er­ables to meet our clients’ re­quire­ments. Above all else, as tech­ni­cal com­mu­ni­ca­tors, we must fol­low pro­fes­sional and eth­i­cal codes of be­hav­ior. In this class, you will learn about these im­por­tant as­pects of tech­ni­cal com­mu­ni­ca­tion through daily ex­er­cises, hands-on ac­tiv­i­ties, and col­lab­o­ra­tive ser­vice-based pro­jects.

ENG 3771, Advanced Career Writing gives you opportunities to learn important technical communication skills, heuristics, and approaches that you will use in the workplace. Borrowing ideas from Donald A. Norman’s Living with Complexity (2010), we can think of technical communication as a way of managing complexity. Using rhetoric, research, and process, we can make complex information, tasks, and technology far easier to understand, accomplish, and use. In order to accomplish these things, we need to focus our use of WOVEN (written, oral, visual, electronic, and nonverbal) modes of communication on the needs of our readers. However, we must base our strategies and approaches on clearly articulated goals and firmly established research; we must test our deliverables for usability; and we must revise our deliverables to meet our clients’ requirements. Above all else, as technical communicators, we must follow professional and ethical codes of behavior. In this class, you will learn about these important aspects of technical communication through daily exercises, hands-on activities, and collaborative service-based projects.

Stu­dent is as­signed to find field­work/study sit­u­a­tions of ap­prox­i­mately eight hours per week at an in­tern­ship site ap­proved by the De­part­ment In­tern­ship in­struc­tor. Ap­proved Sites in­clude ad­ver­tis­ing agen­cies, graphic de­sign firms cor­po­rate de­sign of­fices, pub­li­ca­tions art de­part­ments, pho­tog­ra­phy or il­lus­tra­tion stu­dios, TV or mul­ti­me­dia pro­duc­tion com­pa­nies. Stu­dents will be re­quired to keep a learn­ing jour­nal of their in­tern­ship in the form of a blog using Open­lab. A por­tion of the class will be de­voted to pre­sent­ing and shar­ing ex­pe­ri­ences with class­mates. Stu­dents will learn how to as­sess their tal­ents, up­date their re­sume, and pro­mote them­selves and their work through so­cial net­works dur­ing class meet­ings. Stu­dents will be re­quired to setup and main­tain at least two so­cial media net­works such as: Face­book, LinkedIn, Twit­ter, In­sta­gram, and Pin­ter­est.

Student is assigned to find fieldwork/study situations of approximately eight hours per week at an internship site approved by the Department Internship instructor. Approved Sites include advertising agencies, graphic design firms corporate design offices, publications art departments, photography or illustration studios, TV or multimedia production companies. Students will be required to keep a learning journal of their internship in the form of a blog using Openlab. A portion of the class will be devoted to presenting and sharing experiences with classmates. Students will learn how to assess their talents, update their resume, and promote themselves and their work through social networks during class meetings. Students will be required to setup and maintain at least two social media networks such as: Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest.