Academic Writing/Research
While in the Professional and Technical Writing program at the University of Arkansas in Little Rock (UALR), I was required to take four theory courses: Composition Theory, Rhetorical Theory, Language Theory, and Theory of Technical Communication. These four theoretical courses provided insight into various theories of rhetoric and writing. The following are some topics that were common among the theoretical courses :
- Authorship
- Authenticity
- Ethics
- Discourse Communities
- Collaboration
- Audience
- Argument
- Kairos
- Web Usability
- Visual Rhetoric (Graphics)
At the end of these courses, I had to write a final paper relevant to a rhetorical topic or topics. To support my purpose, I could use literature assigned during the course but had to perform research for more content. I had written many research papers during my high school and undergraduate years, but never had I viewed academic writing the way I began to view it during my graduate education. Through the wonderful guidance of the rhetoric and writing professors at UALR, I realized that academic writing could be more interesting than I thought it could be. I had total freedom of topics within the scope of the course like in high school and undergrad, but I never knew what all could be incorporated into presenting information to enhance understanding until I learned how much of a role document design and graphics play in communication. I also realized that writing didn't have to be as rigid as it previously seemed when my knowledge of grammatical rules wasn't as broad.
The samples below are academic research papers for the following courses: Rhetorical Theory and Theory of Technical Communication. The document written in Rhetorical Theory is based on two of Aristotle’s Five Canons of Rhetoric. Because its connection to my future career, I wanted to learn more about copyright law and decided to research it for Theory of Technical Communication.
Samples
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