ENG 501 - Introduction to Professional Writing and Rhetoric (PWR)
Fall 2011, August 31 - December 14
W 7:20 - 10:00pm, IN 215GInstructor
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Office Hours
Course Description
English 501 provides a historical and theoretical introduction to professional writing as a field of study. We'll inspect the rise of professional writing against the backdrop of rhetoric and composition as a scholarly field with a focus on key theoretical issues. We’ll be examining “professional writing and rhetoric” both as local institution (the PWR program at GMU) and as the foundation for occupations that require the inter-related practices of writing and rhetoric. The course is conceptualized as both seminar and practicum, challenging students with writing tasks that probe the historical and theoretical issues being presented. These tasks will include: developing an annotated bibliography and literature review related to a research question of your choosing, writing short papers, leading class discussion on a selected topic, and developing a journal review report.
Course Goals
This course is designed to:
- provide a rhetorical foundation for each student's future coursework in the program,
- provide practice in writing a variety of genre related to professional writing,
- provide experience in close reading of documents/texts,
- and provide the context for working as a scholar/practitioner in the field of professional writing.