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ENGL 421: Technical Writing

This overview of ENGL 421 provides core information about the course for Purdue students, faculty, and academic advisors who have general questions about the course. Questions about a specific section of the course should be directed to the individual instructor.

ENGL 421 is also offered as an online course (ENGL 421Y). Visitors and prospective students can read our Guide to Online Courses in Professional Writing to learn about the online version of the course.

Course Background

English 421, Technical Writing, is a course offered by the Department of English every Fall, Spring, Maymester, and Summer semester. Professional Writing serves an array of Purdue students majoring in the areas of engineering, technology, computer science, science, agriculture, and more.

Sample course syllabus: ENGL 421, Fall 2023

Catalog Description

Catalog: Workplace writing in networked environments for technical contexts. Emphasizes context and user analysis, data analysis/display, project planning, document management, usability, ethics, research, team writing. Typical genres include technical reports, memos, documentation, Web sites. Credits: 3.00

Official Course Description

English 421 helps students become better technical writers, across multiple global audiences, for multiple purposes, and in a variety of media. The work of the course is centered on presenting technical material in written and visual formats that demonstrate an awareness of audience needs and contexts, effectively achieve implicit and explicit rhetorical purposes, and work to effectively address workplace, social, or global problems.

Course Outcomes

By the end of this course, students will be able to:

  • Use technical writing theories and approaches to analyze and solve problems individually and in teams
  • Communicate complex technical information, processes, and procedures via a variety of media, genres, technologies, and presentations to a range of audiences and stakeholders
  • Adapt written genre conventions and expectations to both technical and non-technical audiences with changing organizational needs
  • Apply primary and secondary research methods and strategies to produce technical documents
  • Demonstrate awareness of both the technical and human needs of users, paying special attention to accessibility, cultural diversity, and global sensitivity
  • Interpret, contextualize, explain, and visualize data sets in specific rhetorical contexts or problems