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76-420 Process of Reading and Writing
This course is an introduction to the constructive processes behind reading and writing. It asks: what are social and cognitive processes, what are the conscious and unconscious problem-solving strategies we use to comprehend and interpret text, to construct and communicate our own meanings, and to project or discover our readers' responses? Good writers and designers don't just convey information, they work as problem solvers trying to persuade, educate, or motivate in diverse contexts where they must anticipate the meaning-making reader and the constructive, interpretive process of comprehension. Understanding (and user-testing for) what readers actually make of a text is critical in many situations, from creating a job application, to a public relations crisis response, an educational website, or a policy report urging change. In this course, you will learn to recognize the factors that affect communication and to use methods that track the constructive, inferential process of readers' comprehension. You will learn the why behind the what they do through an introduction to the research and theory on reading and writing as social and cognitive processes. You will see how the action of memory networks, cognitive schemas, and meta-knowledge shapes and is shaped by language and discourse as socially constructed mediating tools. In the second half of the course we turn to your own writing as a thinking process in which you juggle competing goals and draw on problem-solving strategies for reader-based writing and design. The course project (which you can design as a portfolio piece focused on a kind of writing of your choice) will let you create a writer's toolkit of strategies 1) for effective composing & communication and 2) for comprehension-based inquiry and user testing, with real readers, to uncover how other people actually interpret what you thought you said. | |
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No sections available for semester Fall 2007.
No sections available for semester Fall 2006.
No sections available for semester Fall 2005.
No sections available for semester Fall 2004.
No sections available for semester Spring 2004.
No sections available for semester Fall 2003.
No sections available for semester S03.
| Course textbooks | |
* Spring 2007 textbooks given as estimate for Spring 2008 requirements | | VOICES OF THE MIND
Sections: A | The Construction of Negotiated Meaning: A Social Cognitive Theory of Writin
Sections: A | S&H, taxes** | Total | | | $23.50 | $30.50 | $0.00 | $54.00 | |  $17.75 | $23.00 | $0.00 | $40.75 | | | | $3.00 | $3.00 |  | | | $0.00 | $0.00 | | | $33.95 | $3.50 | $37.45 | | | $32.45 | $0.00 | $32.45 | | | $10.00 | $0.00 | $10.00 | |
Textbooks listed may be optional. Verify books with the course syllabus. * Items may be in new or used condition. Check site for details. ** Shipping, handling and taxes are estimated. Actual charges may vary.
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