Wednesday, September 6, 2017

Letter to Cousin

Dear Taylor,

A few weeks ago at our family reunion in McCall, I told you about all the courses I would be taking this fall, and you seemed especially interested in my class called Technical and Professional Communication. You asked me many questions about what this class was all about and what kinds of things I would be learning and doing throughout the semester. I didn’t know all the answers to your questions but I would like to explain a little more about what Technical and Professional Communication is all about in this letter to you.
To begin, a great place to find general description of ‘what this class is all about’ is in the USU course catalog. In this course’s description, it reads, “skill development in oral technical reporting, interviewing, and interpersonal communication to meet the unique communication requirements of business, industry, and the professions.” The following are some assignments I will do throughout my time in this course: I will be writing a letter to a corporation and actually sending it, I will be learning how to write a letter to a customer as if I were from the headquarters of a corporation, and I will practice interviewing skills for a job of my choosing. This class may be a bit outside of my usual comfort zone, but I am excited for what I can learn and gain over the next few months.
The nice thing about this class is that it will be so applicable to the real / professional world. A website called “Writing Commons” explains that there are two categories that professional and technical writers generally fall under. The first being writers who focus specifically in technical areas, and the second being those who write as part of their jobs (even if they do not consider themselves “writers”).  They also explain the terms ‘technical’ & ‘professional’ and ‘writing’ & ‘communication’ are used pretty interchangeably and that “the field is pretty broad itself”. So I figure it can be anything from writing about technology & technological instruction to exchanging formal business letters to being an author.
I look forward to tell you more about what I learn and allowing you to also apply it to your life and even your future career.

Much love, Jessie



The USU Course Catalog:

Writing Commons Website:


2 comments:

  1. I enjoyed that you kept your letter simple and to the point. The layout was simple and easy to follow. Your references were also clearly defined.

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  2. I liked how you talked about what you'll be learning, and listed some of the assignments you'll be doing to show how you can apply what you learn. I also thought you did a good job on talking about it's applications to a professional world.

    ReplyDelete

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