In English 301, I will be studying the principles of written communication in business and other professional contexts. There are four units in English 301.

Unit 1 will focus on business correspondence and explore themes like audience, tone, clarity and presentation. In Unit 2 we will be designing and submitting a formal report proposal to our writing teams. Unit 3 will focus on resume writing and job application skills.  Finally, in Unit 4 we will be submitting a final report.

For me, I hope to gain some practice in how to effectively communicate with different audiences. I think that the feedback on my written assignments that the professor and other students give me will be instructive for how I communicate with others in a professional setting.

A common topic in software development classes is how to communicate technical subjects with non-technical clients. Talking to a client about specific technical aspects of a programs implementation might not be helpful for them. At the same time, oversimplifying technical details might be unhelpful as well as patronizing to the client. Unit 1 sounds like it will be instructive on this topic when we are studying how audience affects our writing.

As a co-op student, I always welcome more advice on how to apply to jobs and convey myself in resume and cover letters. I appreciate that this course will be using Linked-in, which is very relevant and useful for young professionals. More generally, I appreciate this class overall is aimed at useful writing skills that almost everyone can expect to encounter when we leave university and enter the “real world.”