Technical Communication & Information Design Minor and Certificate

The Technical Communication and Information Design program provides students with several options.

1. The Technical Communication and Information Design Minor for All Non-English Majors
   Students in the College of Letters, Arts & Sciences, the College of Business, and the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences may select a minor in Technical Communication and Information Design by completing 21 credit hours in TCID courses. Course requirements for the minor may be found at the bottom of this page.
2. Students may include Technical Communication and Information Design as part of a Interdisciplinary Studies, BA  degree. See that program description and speak to an advisor for details.
3. The Technical Communication and Information Design Certificate for Unclassified Students
   Unclassified students and students with a baccalaureate degree may earn the Certificate in Technical Communication and Information Design by completing 21 credit hours in selected TCID courses. 
4. The Professional and Technical Writing Emphasis for English Majors
   English majors may select the Professional and Technical Writing Emphasis. See the English, BA  degree page for complete details.

TCID Program Outcomes

Research (Critical Thinking, Reading, and Writing)

Students will show they can:

• Use research methods to gather information
• Evaluate, analyze, navigate and synthesize appropriate primary and secondary sources
• Identify reader/user/viewer expectations
• Interpret findings and articulate results
• Produce appropriate and ethical text and graphics for displaying research data and findings

Practices and Processes

Students will show they can:

• Conduct user/reader/viewer analysis
• Focus on a defined purpose
• Meet the needs of the readers/users/viewers
• Respond appropriately and ethically to different rhetorical situations
• Understand writing as a collaborative and iterative process of research, discussion, negotiation, writing, and editing
• Manage projects in stages
• Evaluate and use appropriate strategies for production, revision, editing, proofreading, and presenting

Knowledge of Conventions and Genres

Students will show they can:

• Write in multiple genres
• Evaluate ethically how each genre shapes content and usability
• Control such features as tone, syntax, grammar, punctuation, and spelling
• Identify the main features and uses of writing in a specific field
• Document resources as defined by a specific field

Collaborative Learning

Students will show they can:

• Participate collaboratively with others in the iterative process of research, discussion, negotiation, writing, and editing
• Participate and communicate effectively in a community
• Integrate their own ideas with those from various stakeholders
• Balance the advantages of relying on others with the responsibility of doing their parts

Technological Literacy

Students will show they can:

• Critically and ethically choose from a variety of technologies in order to address specific rhetorical situations and a range of readers/users/viewers needs
• Engage in a critical perspective of technology, its uses and contexts
• Analyze technology as a physical tool, and as a socially constructed system
• Use various software for writing, editing, and designing