Alia Benitez's Portfolio

Project One: Power in Technical Writing & Poetry

Project Type: Research Project

Project Active From: August 2025 to December 2025

Location: George Mason University, Research Course: Writing Nonfiction for the Public (Fall 2025)

This project, titled "The Rhyme and Reason of Power - Technical Writing and Poetry, and Power Therein" intended to peel back the perceptions of technical writing and poetry, revealing their historically similar functions, how the acquisition of knowledge has changed their relationship to one another, and push technical writers and poets alike to consider the ethical weight behind their writing forms. The philosophical crux of this research was understanding both technical writing and poetry as Public Nonfiction genres, and the mantra that "Knowledge is Power, but Power is [in] Intention." The project description is as follows:

Researched technical writing and poetry (rhetorical goals, literary conventions, use and accessibility to general audiences, etc.), utilizing 10+ resources across multiple genres and mediums.
Defined differences and correlations between technical writing and poetry, developing a narrative around their power and whom they do/do not benefit.
Synthesized complex and genre-specific information and transcribed it into a new format (blog post) accessible to general audiences.
Published the completed blog post utilizing digital tools such as Wix.
Collaborated with instructor on transcription methods and citation style.
Initiated class discussion and re-contextualized older academic research to be more suitable for modern contexts.

One of the slides from my presentation on the topic of technical writing, poetry, and power. This slide demonstrates the distinctions between the two genres.

One of the slides from my presentation on the topic of technical writing, poetry, and power. This slide demonstrates the first of three connections between the two genres, with this connection based on rhetorical situation and analysis.

One of the slides from my presentation on the topic of technical writing, poetry, and power. This slide demonstrates the second of three connections between the two genres, with this connection based on the structure, design, and format of either genre (in tandem with rhetorical situation).

One of the slides from my presentation on the topic of technical writing, poetry, and power. This slide demonstrates the last of three connections between the two genres, with this connection based on historical instances where the goals of technical writing and poetry were the same. Two more slides followed this one, expanding on their accessibility and overlapping literary conventions.