The Program offers a wide variety of courses to undergraduate and graduate students, ranging from introductory courses in research methodology to graduate courses in professional writing theory and visual rhetoric. All of our courses place a premium on teaching students the practical methods of multimedia writing for the digital workplace, on developing rich professional portfolios, and on collaborating with peers and community leaders. Following the links will take you to online course materials or sample syllabi, where available.

• English 203 - Introduction to Research for Professional Writers

  In Spring 2005, students in this course produced mutlimedia technology autobiographies, collaborative research projects, and entries for the "Born Digital" competition of the Center for the Future of the Book. In Fall 2002, students in this course produced multimedia projects for the Human Relations Commissions of the area , with assistance from a grant from Purdue's Office of Engagement.

• English 306 - Introduction to Professional Writing

  In this class students learn to analyze and effectively respond to rhetorical situations by planning, writing, revising, and editing a variety of workplace documents. As well, students explore the range of careers open to professional writers and develop a strategy for shaping their individual programs to position themselves to enter the field after graduation.

• English 309 - Computer-Aided Publishing

  Students learn strategies for planning, writing, and revising the content and design of documents; improve their management of electronic tools that are often used in the workplace; learn the rules of design—and how to break those rules; integrate content, design, audiences’ needs and expectations into readable, inviting documents; develop a critical eye for design; and design a professional portfolio they can develop and use during job interviews.

• English 419 - Multimedia Writing

  This course helps students understand the principles and practices of multimedia design and implementation, with emphasis on the function and practice of writing in multimedia contexts. The stress is on managing writing projects targeted for specific audiences and designed to convey information effectively and persuasively using multimedia authoring software. To see a recent course, visit Jeremy Tirrell's English 419 site from Fall 2006.

• English 420 - Business Writing

  This course is offered every Fall, Spring, Maymester, and Summer semester. The course serves about 1,700 Purdue students per year (in about 85 sections), students chiefly majoring in the areas like technology, management, consumer and family sciences, liberal arts, and agriculture. The course teaches the rhetorical principles that help students shape their business writing ethically, for multiple audiences, in a variety of professional situations. English 420 is also offered as an online course (ENGL 420Y). To see a "live" version of our distance education sections or learn more about these courses, see "Online Business Writing (ENGL 420Y) and Technical Writing (421Y) Courses Offered through Continuing Education."

• English 421 - Technical Writing

  Technical Writing is a course also offered every Fall, Spring, Maymester, and Summer semester. The course serves over 500 Purdue students per year (in about 30 sections), students chiefly majoring in the areas of technology, computer science, and agriculture. The course teaches the rhetorical principles that help students shape their technical writing to suit a range of readers, for multiple purposes, in a variety of professional situations. To see a "live" version of our distance education sections or learn more about these courses, see "Online Business Writing (ENGL 420Y) and Technical Writing (421Y) Courses Offered through Continuing Education."

• English 424 - Writing for the Computer Industry

  In this course, humanities students, computer science students, and others concerned with information management learn how to write and evaluate manuals for general computer users.

• English 470 - Theories of Rhetoric and Composition

  A general introduction to the field of rhetoric and composition. Overview of studies in written discourse, including studies of the processes and contexts of written discourse as well as methods of research in the field.

• English 488 - Internship in Professional Writing

  The course provides students with a sustained period of on-the-job experience as writers in a professional setting. Students intern in a local organization and participate in a weekly seminar on applied rhetoric. The seminar is designed to complement the internship by preparing students for the workplace experience and by providing an opportunity to discuss observations, problems, and accomplishments.

• English 505 - Professional Writing Practicum

  This course is designed for new instructors of ENGL 420 and 421. Its aim is to prepare instructors to teach online versions of English 420, Business Writing, and English 421, Technical Writing at Purdue by introducing relevant theories and teaching strategies through readings, class discussion, and hands-on workshops.

• English 515 - Advanced Professional Writing

  This course is designed for undergraduates and graduates interested in professional writing and electronic publication. Students learn to produce documents and coordinate assorted publishing projects, study and apply principles of document design and electronic publication using assorted application software, and work as teams in a computer-networked environment.

Graduate Level

Graduate instructors take English 505 and often English 515. Courses at the 600-level include the following recent offerings:

• English 680T - Professional Writing Theory

  The seminar is designed as a forum for collaborative inquiry into Professional Writing, viewed as both workplace practice and a field of theory, research, and pedagogy.

• English 680D - Rhetoric and Digital Publishing

  The omnipresence of new media poses new opportunities and challenges for publishing. This seminar focuses on the implications and possibilities of digital multimedia for the dissemination and archiving of knowledge, the problems multimedia poses for traditional disciplinary and discursive formations, and the means of production that are transforming literate practice in the humanities.

• English 680V - Visual Rhetoric

  Spring 2007 seminar (Blakesley)
  Spring 2002 Seminar (Blakesley)
  Spring 2000 Seminar (Sullivan)

• This course focuses on the rhetorical and philosophical problems posed by the visual turn; the role of perceptual processes, time, movement, and memory in the act of seeing; the interanimation of the verbal and the visual in representation; the circumstances of visual culture and art; visual communication in print and on the Web; and identification as a visual/rhetorical process.

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