Courses are inter-related and offer a coherent group of technical communication skills. Students examine and critique the interrelationships between textual and visual elements on published material and compose and design their own documents. The process of document production is viewed through a critical rhetorical perspective, i.e., students learn how visual material and text work together to meet audience needs and to accomplish authors purposes. In addition to analyzing and composing meaningful text, students learn about typography, page design, pictures, and graphics, and issues such as binding, paper selection, and printing. The course involves the development of communicative competence in written and oral discourse.
Students read about document production issues from textbooks and professional articles.
They analyze and critique documents provided by the instructor, as well as gather documents on their own. Students analyze, interpret, and evaluate the effectiveness of written and visual elements in a series of increasingly challenging assignments both oral and written. In addition, the course is a practical, hands-on course that allows ample opportunity to develop good communication skills and design techniques. The skills students develop in this course will help them become professional communicators in a variety of business and technical applications. English 394 Technical Editing Technical Editing, is a pre-professional course which prepares students to become editors and information designers.