This course explores the nexus of theory and practice in terms of writing instruction and of technical writing and communication to help students identify their pedagogical positions and concrete practices. Designed as a collaborative, exploratory space for a community of teacher-scholars, it approaches the teaching of writing as a process that is both practiced and studied, is aided by reflection with others, and requires ongoing revision. Course texts address the scholarship of Composition, Rhetoric, and Technical Writing. Students put these texts in dialog, including with the ?texts? of their classrooms, to examine and reflect on their teaching practices. The course centers acts of engagement and reflection and emphasizes pedagogical inquiry. Students learn to: place a range of theories on writing instruction in conversation with their teaching; reflect on classroom practices and pedagogical theories; articulate individual philosophies of teaching; explore pedagogical issues of personal interest; foster pedagogical ?habits of mind? that serve students in classrooms at the UMN and beyond; and contribute to an active, supportive, and collaborative teaching community. prereq: Grad student

This course provides an intensive survey of rhetoric as understood and practiced in ancient Greece and Rome, and serves as an introduction to graduate-level study of historical rhetoric more generally. The course attends to the development of the discipline of rhetoric in the Classical world and to the recurring themes that constitute "the rhetorical tradition." Class discussions and assignments assess the epistemological foundations, ethical status, and socio-political importance of ancient rhetorical training and discourse. Primary readings (in English) include works by sophists and orators of the Greek Classical period, Isocrates, Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, Quintilian, and others. Secondary readings and class discussion will consider political, cultural, and philosophical contexts for ancient rhetorical theory, oratorial practice, and the teaching of speech and writing. This course will prepare graduate students for preliminary exams, research, and pedagogical encounters in rhetoric.

This course is designed to acquaint graduate students with different traditions of rhetorical theory. It surveys a range of rhetorical tools/methods, and sets out to assist students to find a clear purpose for using rhetorical theory and to develop a structured approach to their objects of criticism. It prioritizes Black, Indigenous, transnational, and anti-racist approaches to rhetoric, and situates those as foundational to the traditions of such theoretical traditions as semiotics, deconstruction, genealogy, affect theory, assemblage theory, and psychoanalysis. It is intended to prepare students for comprehensive exams, conference presentations, and pedagogical encounters with rhetoric.

The primary objectives of this course are to provide students in the rhetoric and scientific & technical communication (RSTC) MA and PhD programs with an understanding of research literature and approaches in the field and help students gain insights into the arguments made by researchers. This course trains students in strategies for designing and developing their own research, and provides a groundwork in the field's most common approaches to gathering and analyzing data. Students also learn about the research of the RSTC graduate faculty and PhD alumni and complete a University-based course for ethics in human participants research. Upon completion of the course, students should be able to create a persuasive research proposal and justify the means of data collection, analysis, theory, and positioning of the project.

Topics may include theories, history, criticism, major figures, movements, visual or material rhetoric. Topics vary. See the Class Schedule.

Topics may include theories, landmark studies, history, gender, ethics. Topics vary. See the Class Schedule.

Topics may include theories of pedagogy or research studies that inform the classroom or workplace, social and ethical concerns, landmark studies, current controversies. Topics vary. See the Class Schedule.

Topics may include computer-mediated communication, democracy/technology, controversies over digital communication, privacy/ethical issues, feminist theory and interactions of gender with science and technology, communication in legal or medical settings. Topics vary. See the Class Schedule.

Topics may include literacy, genre, history of writing, narrative theory and practice, writing as textual practice. Topics vary. See the Class Schedule.

This course examines how verbal, visual, and multimedia content can be designed and combined to create meaning, improve comprehension, and make information more usable. Emphasis is placed on the rhetorical roles of visual elements in print and digital communications, and how technical communicators can use visual means to reach audiences, convey information, and achieve rhetorical goals. Students read and discuss theory, practice information design skills, and apply both to real communications projects suitable for inclusion in a professional portfolio. Projects focus on print and web content design and development; the information design process (plan, design, develop, layout, testing); project planning toward deliverables (web sites, signage, wayfinding); and universal design (color, symbols, etc.)

Topics specified in Class Schedule.

WRIT 5532 is designed as a collaborative, developmental, and exploratory space for graduate instructors in the First Year Writing (FYW) program. The course approaches the teaching of writing as an iterative and situated process that is both practiced and studied, is aided by reflection with others, and requires ongoing revision. Course texts include scholarship in Teaching and Learning, in Writing Studies, and in First-Year Composition. These texts will be brought into dialog with the WRIT 1301 classes all students are teaching. The course addresses such questions as: How do people learn, how do they learn writing, and how can instructors teach writing based on those understandings? How can instructors design environments, materials, and practices that equitably help students learn about writing and develop as writers? Class discussions and assignments also invite students to identify and address challenges, tensions, and pedagogical issues of personal interest; to develop habits of mind that will serve them in other classrooms in their teaching careers; and to articulate the classroom practices and pedagogies informing their teaching philosophies. Students in the RSTC MA and PhD programs take WRIT 5532 in spring of their first year after taking WRIT 5531 in fall term. Graduate instructors from other departments who teach WRIT 1301 must register for one credit of WRIT 5532 in the fall and one credit of WRIT 5532 in the spring during their first year teaching in the FYW program. Spring sections of WRIT 5532 are organized as biweekly reflective practice groups (RPGs). RPGs will build on fall term course content in discussions of readings, in teaching journal reflections, and to build teaching portfolios.

This course explores current and emerging digital writing technologies and teaches students to assess writing situations and make appropriate decisions about digital form, production, and scholarship. Students learn the basic building blocks of writing in Internet environments (text, sound, images, video, interactivity); the vocabularies, functionalities, and organizing structures of Web 2.0 environments and how each impacts understanding and use of information; and how to produce Web 2.0 environments (i.e., multimedia internet documents) that facilitate interactivity and use. This course includes design projects and practice with apps, markup language (html and xml), and content management systems.

This course explores the theories and practices of rhetoric and writing in science, medicine, and health (SMH). Students learn about genres of SMH communication including regulatory documents from the FDA, podcasts created by scientists for the public, patient blogs, and published research articles. The course also engages topics including accessibility, writing in regulated environments, writing for complex audiences, and engaging biomedical and scientific research in writing. Students are challenged to consider how language, science, biomedicine, and health intersect and how different stakeholders such as patients, healthcare providers, scientists, government officials, and insurance companies engage in SMH communication.

This course investigates current understandings of how visuals participate in and extend the rhetorical strategies long associated with speech and writing. Students explore developments in the discipline of visual rhetoric by engaging with an emerging canon of texts that survey the work of rhetoricians, graphic designers, graphic novelists, commercial artists, fine artists, and technical communicators. Emphasis is placed on the use of visuals in science and technology; identifying shared principles of persuasion through visual information; developing the vocabulary to comment on, critique, and create visuals; and assessing whether visuals meet the needs of intended audiences.

Supervised study, reading, or research on projects not covered in regularly scheduled offerings. prereq: instr consent