Professional Writing – Summary of Course Projects – ENC 2251 (Spring 2026)

Learn how writers build expertise by moving through a sequence of increasingly complex tasks. These two major projects are scaffolded so you can practice writing, designing, revising, and presenting in manageable stages. Each step strengthens your stylistic control, visual reasoning, rhetorical judgment, and GenAI oversight, preparing you to produce clear, credible, and audience-centered communication across workplace genres.

A flat design illustration of human evolution, ending with a robot shaking hands with a person before sitting at a computer to write, symbolizing generative AI taking over the act of composition.

Humans are at a crossroads: we can offload the challenge of thinking and writing to GenASI, or we can learn to work iteratively with GenAI in ways that preserve our agency and ownership of ideas--and expand our creativity, productivity, and quality of thinking and writing. As with other transformative forces in history, AI presents both peril and possibility. Writing is thinking—we grow by grappling with ambiguity and uncertainty, listening to our inner speech, and responding thoughtfully to rhetorical situations. Yet writing with GenAI also has real affordances. Used critically, it can expedite composing processes, serve as a thought partner, and support the creation of more robust, rhetorically sensitive, evidence-based documents—so long as a human remains in the loop. That is why Writing Commons invites contributions to our new section, Composing with AI: to help students, teachers, and writers worldwide navigate this moment with integrity, creativity, and care.

Table of Contents

Course Modules

The Language of Work: Style, Rhetoric, and Visual Design in Professional Communication

In this module you move from analysis to creation, completing an assignment sequence that asks you to write, design, and present for real workplace audiences. You begin with an instruction manual that teaches coworkers core design principles, then record a presentation on The Elements of Style. You sharpen your visual thinking by producing an infographic comparing academic and professional writing. The module concludes with a capstone in which you translate a scholarly research article into an executive summary and a visual summary written in a professional style.

Project	Tasks
Visual Language in Professional and Technical Communication	Standalone exercise
Instruction Manual for Coworkers	Substantive draft · Ranking exercise · Final draft
Recorded Presentation on The Elements of Style	Substantive draft · Ranking exercise · Final draft
Infographic Comparison: Academic vs. Professional Writing	Substantive draft · Ranking exercise · Self-evaluation · Final draft
Creative Challenge: Executive Summary, Visualization + Reflection	Executive summary draft + peer review · Visualization draft + ranking · Final submission (executive summary, visualization, reflection — one PDF)

Career Competencies in the AI Frontier

In this module you investigate how AI is reshaping entry-level work in a career field that interests you. You begin by synthesizing labor-market research and producing two visualizations — one mapping traditional workforce competencies, one mapping the AI-era competencies emerging now. You then conduct original research by interviewing subject-matter experts, surveying professionals, or analyzing field-specific texts. The module concludes with a Recommendation Report and a 90-second Video Pitch in which you make an evidence-based case for the competencies that will matter most in your field.

Project	Tasks
Literature Review + Visualizations	Visualization 1: The Pre-AI Foundation · Visualization 2: The Frontier Model · Ranking exercise
Recommendation Report + Video Pitch + Reflection	Upload draft + peer ranking · Final submission (report, video pitch link, reflection — one PDF)

Metacognitive Report

If you use GenAI to complete any deliverable in either module, you must submit a Metacognitive Report. Append it to the end of the same PDF as your main deliverable — do not upload it separately. For exercises, the report can be as concise as 250 words. For capstone deliverables, the report should be several pages and address how you used GenAI tools across the module, the key decisions you made independently to preserve your voice and judgment, and how your use of GenAI evolved over time.

Your report must include:

Header — Beneath your title, record left-justified: Word Count / Name / GenAI Tools Used / Chat Log Links
GenAI Usage Table(s) — One table per tool with these columns: Step in Writing Process (Prewriting, Drafting, Revising, etc.) · Number of Chats · Primary Purpose(s) (Thought Partner, Research Assistant, Teaching Assistant, etc.) · Notes on Use (2–3 sentences: what you asked, what the AI gave you, and whether you accepted, revised, or rejected it — and why)
Critical Reflection (minimum 250 words) — Explain: which roles AI played and why · at least one moment where you rejected or corrected AI output · how AI helped you learn something you then applied independently · where you made decisions AI could not make for you

Upload your report alongside your assignment to Canvas by the required due date. Contact your instructor if you have any questions.

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