Course Spotlight: WRD 320 Writing in Crisis Contexts

While the WRD Department offers a number of classes designed to study historical or theoretical approaches to the discipline of writing studies, some classes also combine the theoretical with the practical. One such practice-oriented course is WRD 320: Writing in Crisis Contexts, one of the department’s “topics in professional writing” courses.

In Autumn Quarter 2020, WRD 320 will be taught by Professor Alan Ackmann on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9:40 to 11:10 am. Professor Ackmann shared some details of the course so students can see how WRD 320 can help them develop their own professional writing practice and expand their repertoire of abilities for writing across many contexts.

What types of projects do students complete for this class?

The centerpiece of the class is an independent research project where students apply the foundational theories and models of crisis rhetoric to a crisis of their choosing. In the past, I’ve had students explore everything from the Chernobyl disaster to Dave Matthews Band’s unfortunately timed dumping of the tour bus waste onto a Chicago River Cruise. Whatever the crisis, students explore what mitigation strategies were used in response, and whether they are successful.

What are some of the key “readings” for the course, and what topics or theories do they cover?

Crisis Rhetoric has a few key theories around which case studies tend to be built. Some of the “big ones” include William Benoit’s model of image repair discourse, which focuses on the kinds of strategies individuals use to handle reputational threats, whether by changing the public’s interpretation of the person in crisis or the act with which they are accused.

A similar theory is Timothy Coombs’ Situational Crisis Communication Theory, which attempts to link crisis response to the kind of crisis being encountered, making distinctions between whether a crisis has an external point of origin (whether accidental or malicious) or whether it will be seen as self-inflicted (and if so, whether the damage was preventable).

There are some more classical ideas along the way as well, like Apologia or narrative theory, for example, and we also explore newer variations on more foundational ideas, like managing crises in the age of swiftly moving information and social media strategies. It’s a buffet.

How might students make use of what they learn in this section of WRD 320 beyond the classroom, such as in the workplace?

There’s a lot of opportunity. One of the core ideas of crisis preparedness is to assume that it’s not a matter of if your organization will be involved in a crisis, but instead a matter of when. Having familiarity with crisis response plans is highly valuable because it keeps you from losing precious time when a crisis hits, and it helps you anticipate the kinds of crises an organization is most likely to encounter.

The kind of material we explore is also helpful in dealing with interpersonal crises—the kind of thing that can impact individuals as opposed to companies or countries. Sometimes, these kinds of interpersonal crises just have to do with things like group dynamics, but individuals can also find themselves at points in their careers where their reputation is in jeopardy. This class is quite helpful for knowing how to handle those kinds of circumstances.

How might the class engage with crisis communication that has emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic?

The curriculum has always been a bit improvisational, and each quarter has drawn at least some of its case study work from whatever crisis is percolating at the time. While it’s difficult to say what will be happening with the COVID-19 pandemic in September, I’m sure the class will engage with the material in some way. I’ve already started compiling a batch of COVID-19 press releases and/or customer emails that have a range of strategies, audiences, and degrees of success.

On the subject of crisis rhetoric and current events, Autumn 2020 is also the first time this course has been taught during an election cycle. Since a large part of political rhetoric involves trying to manufacture and/or respond to various campaign crises, I suspect we’ll have a lot of current events to draw from there as well, which is exciting.