Enjoy.

As you will see from the slideshow, Georgia Tech students find time to create interesting pieces of art and demonstrate that Tech students excel in areas beyond engineering. Click on the first image to enter a full-size slideshow, then navigate using the arrow keys.

[Show as slideshow]

An effective speech follows a structural pattern; that is, it consists of parts, each performing some function, but joined together into an artistic unity.

After substituting the term “paper” for “speech” in the quote above, the passage served to frame my lecture and our conversation about a popular structural template for writing in engineering and science. The IMRaD structure, or organizational pattern, represents the major sections of an academic paper or journal article: Introduction, Method(s) / Materials, Results, and Discusstion. Since the course is comprised of all graduate students, most of them were familiar with IMRaD and many had utilized the structure in their own writing. However, they were less familiar with how each section of paper seeks to accomplish one or more rhetorical functions.

The slideshow below is from last night’s class and provides examples of how each section of the IMRaD template works from a rhetorical perspective.

The Graduate Communication Certificate Program is sponsored by Graduate SGA and the Georgia Tech Library (Faculty Engagement Department), in collaboration with the Communication Center, the Center for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning (CETL), Career Services, and Communications & Marketing.

There is no fee for the Graduate Communication Certificate Program and all Georgia Tech graduate students may enroll. The program’s website, hosted by the Georgia Tech Library, provides workshop descriptions and a workshop calendar, along with forms to enroll in the program and register for workshops. The purpose of the program is described below:

The goal of the Program is to provide an avenue for Georgia Tech graduate students to enhance their communication skills as they prepare for careers in industry, government and academia.

As CETL’s Communication Skills Specialist, I will be offering six workshops per term that are both core and elective components of the certificate program. However, these workshops are open to all graduate students and postdocs. You do not need to be enrolled in the program to attend the workshops. For a list of workshops I will be offering this term, just click the “Workshops” link in the navigation bar above.

As a Communication Skills Specialist, my primary duties include teaching graduate-level courses in writing and oral communication, conducting workshops, and consulting with graduate students about their writing and speaking projects. I am fortunate to be working in a brand new building on campus, the Clough Undergraduate Learning Commons, which opened Fall Term 2011. Outside of my office, you are most likely to find me at the Starbucks on the second floor.

Clough Undergraduate Learning Commons