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Design
Design is a powerful mode of communication, a form of visual language—& more. Learn about 7 design definitions so you can use design thinking to develop texts, products, and services. Knowledge of design principles and processes can empower you to communicate clearly and persuasively.
Read moreEditing
Editing is crucial to establishing a professional tone in school and workplace contexts. Learn about editing and its importance to clarity in communications.
Read moreInformation Literacy
What is information literacy? How should I identify, find, evaluate, apply, and cite information? Review research and scholarship on information literacy. Learn to think for yourself. Distinguish fake news from real news. Learn to distinguish appeals to ethos, pathos and ethos. Develop a nuanced understanding of information and literacy (e.g., critical, digital, quantitative, and visual literacy). info lit in order to Avoid being duped by the rhetorician's tricks. Nurture your imagination. Learn to identify, find, evaluate, apply, and cite information so you can establish a professional ethos and write clearly and persuasively.
Read moreInvention
Invention is the act of creation, the Eureka moment. Learn how successful writers, entrepreneurs, and product developers manage invention. Review research and scholarship on invention. Explore how successful writers, entrepreneurs, and product developers manage their creative processes.
Read moreMindset
Mindsets are ways of perceiving and acting in the world. The mindsets you hold, consciously or subconsciously, shape how you feel, think, and act; your sense of identity and belonging; what you believe is possible. Review research and scholarship on mindset. Learn to coach yourself, to avoid unnecessary negativity and anxiety when writing. Explore how to adopt the habits of mind employed by successful writers, entrepreneurs, and product managers.
Read moreOrganization
Organization is a rhetorical act, a pattern of discourse, an interpretive framework, a cognitive schema, a way of thinking, an attribute of prose. Learn to organize information clearly & persuasively. Explore the organizational schemas that people use to communicate. Review research and scholarship on organization.
Read moreResearch
Research is a method writers, speakers, knowledge makers . . . use to gain knowledge about a topic, to develop new knowledge, and to create new businesses, new applications. Learn how to solve problems at work, school, and home by developing your competencies as a researcher. Learn how to develop new knowledge and test knowledge claims using informal, qualitative, quantitative, textual, and mixed research methods.
Read moreRhetoric
Rhetoric is a theory of human communication. Rhetorical knowledge can help you interpret information, make strategic decisions, and communicate. Rhetorical knowledge informs rhetorical analysis and rhetorical reasoning, two critical literacy processes.
Read moreWorkplace Writing Studies
What is Workplace Writing? What's the difference between Workplace Writing and Professional and Technical Communication? or Business Communication? or Writing across the Curriculum? Review research and scholarship on the past and future of workplace writing. Learn the foundational concepts of writing in contemporary workplaces.
Read moreWriting Studies
Writing Studies is an academic subject of study with B.S., B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. programs in the United States. Writing Studies is an interdisciplinary field, with investigators coming from a multitude of academic and professional fields, including English studies, communication, the learning sciences, corpus linguistics, rhetoric, composition, and English Education.
Read moreFeatured Articles
Conducting a Spatial Analysis through the Lens of Universal Design
The sign in this image reads, “WHEELCHAIR ACCESSIBLE ENTRANCE AVAILABLE, PLEASE ASK INSIDE FOR ASSISTANCE.” Obviously, this picture was taken and turned into a meme because someone thought it was funny, which it is. But is it just funny, or does it reveal a deeper message about the way our society thinks about people with disabilities? What does this meme actually tell us? It tells us this building has been retrofitted with an alternative wheelchair accessible entrance, and its proprietors went so far as to post a sign with this information. However, the proprietors
Read moreWorking Through Revision: Rethink, Revise, Reflect
What is revision? How can it help me improve my writing? Read about what revision is and how to solicit, interpret, and implement feedback that helps you make positive changes to your work.
Read moreYou want me to do what to my paper? Interpreting your professors’ feedback
Feedback is one of the major components of effective writing. Professional technical writers may get feedback from clients or members of their target audience before producing a deliverables; creative writers may ask other writers they trust or a sample of their target demographic to provide feedback; and workplace writers may receive feedback from their boss or coworkers before releasing the final version of a draft. What these writers know is that feedback provides an invaluable opportunity to understand the needs and perceptions of their audiences, so it’s important to take that information into account to produce a rhetorically sound final product. The purpose of this article is to walk you through some common comment types, and help you respond effectively to improve your writing.
Read moreFeatured Courses
Fake News: An Undergraduate Composition Course
Fake News is a themed undergraduate English composition course. This course aims to help students develop an understanding and practice of Empathetic Information Literacy.
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