As public relations professions advance toward new media platforms, one traditional tool--the backgrounder/position paper (more technically termed white paper) remains a compelling vehicle to impart enduring professional competencies. Moreover, the skills requisite to produce a white paper can be deployed in a variety of new and traditional media…

Describes an undergraduate writing course on communicating public policy. Discusses how academic instruction in professional and technical communication can show students, by simulating practical experience and by developing a discourse analytic perspective, what elected officials, governmental staff, and non-profit non-governmental organizations…

Describes a technical writing course that meets the needs of students in English and the sciences. (RB)

A collaborative project in a college freshman technical writing class produced multiple benefits to those involved. The project, designed to be an experiential and investigatory writing assignment rather than a perfunctory one, challenged students to identify a campus problem regarding enrollment procedures and to work through the problem-solving…

Describes a management communication course that programs class activities but not individual student participation, delegating some routine activities to students and enabling teachers to handle larger classes. Discusses the workbook and assignment structure, evaluation and grading procedures, and positive student evaluations of the course. (RL)

This language arts minicourse guide for Lampeter-Strasburg (Pennsylvania) High School contains a topical outline for a course on technical and business writing. The guide includes a list of five course objectives; an outline of the sequence of instruction in the course; a description of the content, concepts, and writing exercises covered by the…

A two-semester course in English composition offered in a Japanese university is described. The course is designed to transition students from minimal skills in communicative writing at program entry to a course in field-specific technical writing by exposing students to several writing genres. Key activities of the course include pre- and…