COMMUNICATION IN THE WORKPLACE: Are Your Students Prepared?

Stacey Pigg, Melanie Graham, and Jamie Larsen of NCSU’s Professional Writing Program present: “Communication in the Workplace: Are Your Students Prepared?”

How much time do engineers spend writing? What kinds of writing technologies are most important to professionals in marketing and management? How important do scientists perceive writing to be to career advancement? In this brown bag talk, instructors from the Professional Writing Program (PWP) will address questions such as these by presenting results from the 2018 Communication in the Workplace report, an ongoing collaboration among students and faculty members in the PWP at NC State. In this project, students enrolled in the PWP surveyed and interviewed individuals who work in positions across a range of business, engineering, and scientific contexts. Faculty members then analyzed that data in order to learn more about contemporary workplace writing and speaking practices and technologies. As a result of this research project, the presenters will share key results, along with a few lessons and practical scenarios to inform how instructors across the university prepare students for future workplace communication.