Writing in Professional Writing & Communication
by Dr. Teresa Henning
Writing is important
Since Professional Writing & Communication as a field studies writing, one might argue that writing is the single most important human act for changing our world. This field values writing more than anything else.
Bad writing is a good way to demonstrate why anyone should care. Here are the costs associated with bad writing:
- Bad writing costs businesses money. See also: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/10/16/bad-writing-costs-businesses-billions.html?via=desktop&source=email
- Bad writing, such as the writing surrounding the Challenger disaster, can cause the loss of life. See also: https://www.hurleywrite.com/Blog/84834/Technical-Communication-Failure-and-the-Challenger-Explosion
- Bad writing can interfere with decisions one makes about his/her everyday life such as the kinds of health choices one makes. See also: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4103576/
Types of writing in Professional Writing & Communication
In Professional Writing you can either be a scholar or a practitioner or both. As such, all kinds of writing are done in my field. I have loosely divided the list into scholar and practitioner, but this is a loose division as scholars in my field often also work as practitioners. The core differences between a scholar and practitioner concerns the kinds of writing that are more dominant
The dominant kinds of writing for scholars:
- Write articles for scholarly journals
- Write grant proposals
- Write reports
- Write training materials (e.g. textbooks, syllabi, instructions, presentations, assignments, online course content, etc.)
- Write email messages, text messages, Facebook posts, tweets, etc.
- Make PowerPoint presentations
- Make multimedia presentations
The secondary kinds of writing for scholars:
- Write articles for blogs, web sites, newspapers and magazines
- Make movies
- Make posters and infographics
The dominant kinds of writing for practitioners:
- Write articles for blogs, web sites, newspapers and magazines
- Write press releases
- Write proposals
- Write reports
- Write training materials (e.g. instructions and presentations)
- Write email messages, text messages, Facebook posts, tweets, etc.
- Make PowerPoint presentations
- Make movies
- Make multimedia presentations
- Make Posters and infographics
The secondary kinds of writing for practitioners in my field:
- Write articles for scholarly journals
Writing in the classroom
Students in the classroom:
- Write essays/papers
- Write articles for blogs, web sites, and newspapers
- Write press releases
- Write proposals
- Write reports
- Write training materials (e.g. instructions and presentations)
- Write email messages, text messages, Facebook posts, tweets, etc.
- Make PowerPoint presentations
- Make movies and multimedia presentations
- Make posters and infographics
These types of writing are highly relevant as they mirror the kinds of writing students will do on the job.
Professional Writing and Communication: Disciplinary Perspective
Reading in Professional Writing and Communication
Research in Professional Writing and Communication
Documentation in Professional Writing and Communication