TCID 3110 - Technical Communication Style & Analysis

3 Credits (Minimum) 3 Credits (Maximum)

Technical communication covers a span of fields (engineering, medicine, computer science, etc.) and applies to genres (e.g., research) and sub-genres (e.g., patient education) of communication. Understanding and anticipating conventions and common linguistic devices within genres and sub-genres is key to developing strong technical communication skills and adaptability within the field. This course aims to familiarize students with an understanding of basic grammatical structures and genre moves that are pervasive across technical communication and allow students opportunities to discover these structures through textual analysis. Consulting and applying style guides (e.g., CMOS) will further encourage students to focus on consistent application of style, as is expected in professional writing environments. Textual analysis practice will strengthen students’ abilities to further consider the rhetorical choices motivating structure and content and help students develop awareness of their own technical writing style. Students will write to explore their ideas, share, and discuss findings, and argue for textual revisions. Prer., TCID 2080 or TCID 2090.