University of Texas Arlington

“If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.” —Albert Einstein

In addition to a profound understanding of theoretical physics, Albert Einstein also demonstrated mastery of communication. A truly great writer can take the most complex of ideas, break them down, and then communicate them to a wide variety of audiences. This is what technical communication is all about. If you are a nursing major, there will be moments in the future where you will have to take complex medical processes and explain them clearly to your frightened patients. If you plan on being an engineer, you can bet that you will need to explain your ideas to both fellow engineers, as well as the general public. No matter what profession you enter, technical communication will be a part of your job. This semester we will explore the basics of technical communication, which will create a foundation for your future professional writing and interactions. 

“If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.” —Albert Einstein

In addition to a profound understanding of theoretical physics, Albert Einstein also demonstrated mastery of communication. A truly great writer can take the most complex of ideas, break them down, and then communicate them to a wide variety of audiences. This is what technical communication is all about. If you are a nursing major, there will be moments in the future where you will have to take complex medical processes and explain them clearly to your frightened patients. If you plan on being an engineer, you can bet that you will need to explain your ideas to both fellow engineers, as well as the general public. No matter what profession you enter, technical communication will be a part of your job. This semester we will explore the basics of technical communication, which will create a foundation for your future professional writing and interactions. 

“When something can be read without effort, great effort has gone into writing it.” —Enrique Poncela

This semester we will embark on one of the most difficult writing journeys you will ever undertake: writing on behalf of a client in the form of a proposal or grant. The reason this writing task is so difficult is that you have to get into the mind of your client and represent their mission to a third party. When writing, say, a research paper, very rarely will someone you wrote about come to you and say you misrepresented their ideas. In grant writing, however, this can very likely happen. Over the next sixteen weeks, we will explore the basic logic and structure needed to write a proposal or grant. Additionally, we will be working with a real non-profit in the area to help them secure grant funding by undertaking both the research and writing associated with granting. By the end of our time together, you will have a skill set that will make you very attractive to both non-profits and businesses alike. 

“Rhetoric may be defined as the faculty of discovering the possible means of persuasion for any subject.”

Through this definition, Aristotle both conveys the meaning of rhetoric and reveals the mission of the rhetorician: to deploy the most effective means to persuade. Over this semester, we will discover that persuasion (or argumentation) is all around us. From the conversations held in line while waiting for lunch in the University Center to the articles printed in The Shorthorn, our life is steeped in persuasion. Thus, we are all rhetoricians in one sense or another. By engaging in rhetorical analysis, practicing proper synthesis techniques, and implementing the various stages of writing this semester, we prepare ourselves to not only be better rhetoricians, but in fact stronger and more responsible members of both local and global communities. Know that as your instructor, I am here to help you succeed. If you ever have any questions or concerns, never hesitate to contact me. I cannot wait to see what waits for us this semester. 
 

“I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo. “So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”

Through this exchange found in The Fellowship of the Ring, Tolkien offers his reader a definition of heroism: doing the right thing even when it costs everything. This self-sacrificial definition of heroism is one that pops up the most during conversations about the hero. However, we must ask ourselves, does this definition hold true in all situations? Are there other ways to define what it means to be a hero? We will explore these questions and more as we look at stories that span thousands of years. What we will discover is that artists build from previous definitions of the heroic, adapting those ideas and combining them with their own. This is even true of the many films that fill our theaters each year. Get ready for a grand adventure as we attempt to understand the hero and the monster! 

“I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo. “So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”

Through this exchange found in The Fellowship of the Ring, Tolkien offers his reader a definition of heroism: doing the right thing even when it costs everything. This self-sacrificial definition of heroism is one that pops up the most during conversations about the hero. However, we must ask ourselves, does this definition hold true in all situations? Are there other ways to define what it means to be a hero? We will explore these questions and more as we look at stories that span thousands of years. What we will discover is that artists build from previous definitions of the heroic, adapting those ideas and combining them with their own. This is even true of the many films that fill our theaters each year. Get ready for a grand adventure as we attempt to understand the hero and the monster! 

“If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.” —Albert Einstein

In addition to a profound understanding of theoretical physics, Albert Einstein also demonstrated mastery of communication. A truly great writer can take the most complex of ideas, break them down, and then communicate them to a wide variety of audiences. This is what technical communication is all about. If you are a nursing major, there will be moments in the future where you will have to take complex medical processes and explain them clearly to your frightened patients. If you plan on being an engineer, you can bet that you will need to explain your ideas to both fellow engineers, as well as the general public. No matter what profession you enter, technical communication will be a part of your job. This semester we will explore the basics of technical communication, which will create a foundation for your future professional writing and interactions. 

“Rhetoric may be defined as the faculty of discovering the possible means of persuasion for any subject.”

Through this definition, Aristotle both conveys the meaning of rhetoric and reveals the mission of the rhetorician: to deploy the most effective means to persuade. Over this semester, we will discover that persuasion (or argumentation) is all around us. From the conversations held in line while waiting for lunch in the University Center to the articles printed in The Shorthorn, our life is steeped in persuasion. Thus, we are all rhetoricians in one sense or another. By engaging in rhetorical analysis, practicing proper synthesis techniques, and implementing the various stages of writing this semester, we prepare ourselves to not only be better rhetoricians, but in fact stronger and more responsible members of both local and global communities. Know that as your instructor, I am here to help you succeed. If you ever have any questions or concerns, never hesitate to contact me. I cannot wait to see what waits for us this semester. 
 

“Rhetoric may be defined as the faculty of discovering the possible means of persuasion for any subject.”

Through this definition, Aristotle both conveys the meaning of rhetoric and reveals the mission of the rhetorician: to deploy the most effective means to persuade. Over this semester, we will discover that persuasion (or argumentation) is all around us. From the conversations held in line while waiting for lunch in the University Center to the articles printed in The Shorthorn, our life is steeped in persuasion. Thus, we are all rhetoricians in one sense or another. By engaging in rhetorical analysis, practicing proper synthesis techniques, and implementing the various stages of writing this semester, we prepare ourselves to not only be better rhetoricians, but in fact stronger and more responsible members of both local and global communities. Know that as your instructor, I am here to help you succeed. If you ever have any questions or concerns, never hesitate to contact me. I cannot wait to see what waits for us this semester. 
 

“Rhetoric may be defined as the faculty of discovering the possible means of persuasion for any subject.”

Through this definition, Aristotle both conveys the meaning of rhetoric and reveals the mission of the rhetorician: to deploy the most effective means to persuade. Over this semester, we will discover that persuasion (or argumentation) is all around us. From the conversations held in line while waiting for lunch in the University Center to the articles printed in The Shorthorn, our life is steeped in persuasion. Thus, we are all rhetoricians in one sense or another. By engaging in rhetorical analysis, practicing proper synthesis techniques, and implementing the various stages of the writing process, we prepare ourselves to not only be better rhetoricians, but in fact stronger and more responsible members of both local and global communities. Know that as your instructor, I am here to help you succeed. If you ever have any questions or concerns, never hesitate to contact me. I cannot wait to see what waits for us this semester. 

“Rhetoric may be defined as the faculty of discovering the possible means of persuasion for any subject.”

Through this definition, Aristotle both conveys the meaning of rhetoric and reveals the mission of the rhetorician: to deploy the most effective means to persuade. Over this semester, we will discover that persuasion (or argumentation) is all around us. From the conversations held in line while waiting for lunch in the University Center to the articles printed in The Shorthorn, our life is steeped in persuasion. Thus, we are all rhetoricians in one sense or another. By engaging in rhetorical analysis, practicing proper synthesis techniques, and implementing the various stages of the writing process, we prepare ourselves to not only be better rhetoricians, but in fact stronger and more responsible members of both local and global communities. Know that as your instructor, I am here to help you succeed. If you ever have any questions or concerns, never hesitate to contact me. I cannot wait to see what waits for us this semester. 

“You listen for a while, until you decide that you have caught the tenor of the argument; then you put in your oar.”

In The Philosophy of Literary Form, twentieth-century rhetorician Kenneth Burke describes the act of writing as a heated discussion at a dinner party. By describing writing in this way, Burke captures something extremely important about the work of writing, namely that all texts are composed within a discourse community. In English 1302, we will focus on entering into various textual communities. To do so, though, we will need to learn to “listen for a while,” in the words of Burke, before we air our own opinion. For this class, “listening” to our textual community will take the form of research, an activity in which we meticulously evaluate the ideas expressed by the other members of the textual communities we seek to enter. After this time of research, we will then be able to “put in our ore,” adding our own thoughts to the conversation in a way that responds to the ideas already in play. Though this process requires a significant amount of work, it will be worth the toil. Get ready for an exhilarating semester. 

Welcome To ENGL 1301!

“Rhetoric may be defined as the faculty of discovering the possible means of persuasion for any subject.”

Through this definition, Aristotle both conveys the meaning of rhetoric and reveals the mission of the rhetorician: to deploy the most effective means to persuade. Over this semester, we will discover that persuasion (or argumentation) is all around us. From the conversations held in line while waiting for lunch in the University Center to the articles printed in The Shorthorn, our life is steeped in persuasion. Thus, we are all rhetoricians in one sense or another. By engaging in rhetorical analysis, practicing proper synthesis techniques, and implementing the various stages of the writing process, we prepare ourselves to not only be better rhetoricians, but in fact stronger and more responsible members of both local and global communities. Know that as your instructor, I am here to help you succeed. If you ever have any questions or concerns, never hesitate to contact me. I cannot wait to see what waits for us this semester. 

Welcome To ENGL 1301!

“Rhetoric may be defined as the faculty of discovering the possible means of persuasion for any subject.”

Through this definition, Aristotle both conveys the meaning of rhetoric and reveals the mission of the rhetorician: to deploy the most effective means to persuade. Over this semester, we will discover that persuasion (or argumentation) is all around us. From the conversations held in line while waiting for lunch in the University Center to the articles printed in The Shorthorn, our life is steeped in persuasion. Thus, we are all rhetoricians in one sense or another. By engaging in rhetorical analysis, practicing proper synthesis techniques, and implementing the various stages of the writing process, we prepare ourselves to not only be better rhetoricians, but in fact stronger and more responsible members of both local and global communities. Know that as your instructor, I am here to help you succeed. If you ever have any questions or concerns, never hesitate to contact me. I cannot wait to see what waits for us this semester. 

Welcome To ENGL 1302!

“You listen for a while, until you decide that you have caught the tenor of the argument; then you put in your oar.”

In The Philosophy of Literary Form, twentieth-century rhetorician Kenneth Burke describes the act of writing as a heated discussion at a dinner party. By describing writing in this way, Burke captures something extremely important about the work of writing, namely that all texts are composed within a discourse community. In English 1302, we will focus on entering into various textual communities. To do so, though, we will need to learn to “listen for a while,” in the words of Burke, before we air our own opinion. For this class, “listening” to our textual community will take the form of research, an activity in which we meticulously evaluate the ideas expressed by the other members of the textual communities we seek to enter. After this time of research, we will then be able to “put in our ore,” adding our own thoughts to the conversation in a way that responds to the ideas already in play. Though this process requires a significant amount of work, it will be worth the toil. Get ready for an exhilarating semester.