University of Delaware
Office of Public Relations
UpDate - Vol. 16, No. 31, May 15


           English students learn from professional writers
                                   
     Deborah Andrews, English, uses several different
methods to teach students to write in her advanced class,
"Rhetoric for Business and Technical Writers."
     Defining rhetoric as "the art-or skill-of using words,
numbers and pictures to inform or persuade an audience,"
Andrews organizes the course around texts dealing with
rhetoric, business and science; a variety of writing
assignments, such as e-mail interviews; and a "story hour."
     During the story hour at the end of each three-hour
class, professionals who write on the job are invited to
become storytellers. The professionals work in both large
and small organizations and perform a range of tasks from
creating web pages to writing complex, technical proposals.
They share their writing experiences with the class,
interacting and answering questions from the students. Their
talks are centered around a single document or project-the
procedures they had to follow, the constraints and
challenges they encountered, the successes they had, the
mistakes they made and how they tailored their work for
specific audiences.
     "The story hour brings the nitty-gritty of the real
world into the classroom," Andrews said. "The sessions are
informal and anecdotal and give students a perspective on
the different opportunities for writers and the challenges
they face."
     For example, Robert Bonk, Delaware '79, of Zeneca,
described the launching of a new drug. Beginning with the
research documents, he led the class through the many steps
involved-seeking FDA approval, informing the medical
community through journals and professional meetings,
writing material to be distributed directly to physician,
informing the public-all within legal and governmental
constraints and regulations.
     Harley Stein works with teams of as many as 40 people
on proposals for the Advanced Technology Laboratory of
Lockheed Martin. "Volumes of complex and technical
information are required and these documents weigh more than
I do," Andrews pointed out.
     Chris Miller, Delaware '95, an at-home dad, designs web
pages and told the class about the challenge of setting up
his own business and becoming established as an independent
consultant.
     Perry Chapman, art history, had a different task as the
curator of the Vermeer exhibition at the National Gallery.
Persuading owners to lend their works of art was a delicate
undertaking, and the "rhetoric" was encoded, Andrews said.
"Reading the letters, an outsider would not know what was
under discussion, but the content was perfectly understood
by the writer and the recipient of the letters-this was not
an occasion for e-mail," Andrews said.
     Student reaction to the class is positive. Many said
that they felt their writing skills had improved, and some
said they wished they had taken the class earlier in their
college careers. Others commented that the story hour gave
them a feeling of the wide variety of opportunities for
technical writers.
     Andrews has a strong interest in science and previously
worked in industry as well as teaching.
                                         -Sue Swyers Moncure