20066. Public Writing
Writing as Stanley Arnowitz argues, "is not a skill but both an art and a form of critical learning". Deployed with care and commitment, it is also a political agent, capable of effecting visible change beyond the printed page. Each of these courses recognizes the power of writing by teaching students to develop and apply critical thinking skills through writing for non-academic contexts. In Writing Public Policy, students analyze case studies and problem sets to draw on a variety of information resources as they create citizens' roles in advocating public policy. Students focus on reaching the policy audience they identify from the citizen role they choose or are assigned to play for the individual cases. Student assessment of each piece of policy work is a prominent feature of the course, related to Professor Murphy's assessment of learning outcomes.
In Professional/Technical Writing, students learn to use writing as a means of problem posing and problem solving as they identify, research and then propose solutions to campus and/or community problems. Students discover that the way an idea is expressed is as important as what is being expressed; indeed form and content are nearly inextricable. Many of these final projects are ultimately shared with the specific campus leaders to whom they are written.
Both courses allow students to experience writing as action in the workplace and political arenas.
Connections:
Eng 280 Professional and Technical Writing
and Pols 303 Writing Public Policy