Students can pursue this major within either a Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science degree program. This program is offered by the Institute of Technical and Scientific Communication. Students in this program gain instruction in the study of communication in fields traditionally associated with technical and scientific content, such as biology, chemistry, computer science, geology, mathematics, nursing, physics, and web design. Students are also instructed in components of professional communication that are applicable to technical and scientific communication, such as document design and production, publications management, organizational communication, and speech communication. Keep in mind, however, that some fields will require graduate study or further schooling of some kind.
Many more occupations exist and are worth investigating.
A broad range of resources on career fields, internships, and job search information is also available in the Academic Advising and Career Development Resource Center located in 303 Wilson Hall. Technical writers are typically anonymous authors who must remain objective and factual with the subject matter with which they are dealing. Their sole function is to deal with facts and objects and to relate useful, relevant, and reliable information to the reader. The exceptions to this rule of anonymity are people who write scientific or technical articles for newspapers, magazines, and academic publications under their own names. Their language is simple, direct, and contains a minimum number of nonfunctional descriptive adjectives.