English 330.4 Business Writing Professor Carol Loranger
2-3:40 pm TTh 414 Millett / 775-2961
012 LX Office Hours: M 6pm,
email: carol.loranger@wright.edu TTh 12-2:00pm
Required Text: Roebuck: Improving Business Communication Skills
(Prentice Hall 1998)
Internet site:
http://cal.bemidji.msus.edu/English/Morgan/Courses/EN293/ReviewingSite.html
Calendar:
March 28 Introduction, course coverage, expectations, challenges.
Workshop: getting on line.
Homework: Read Roebuck Chapter 7. Do exercises on disk:
Chap. 7, Ex. 1; Chap. 7, Ex. 2, 3 or 4 (choose one).
Prepare a concise (one page, single-spaced),
conversational, well-planned print memo introducing
yourself to me, your instructor. Tell me something
memorable about yourself, indicate your future career aims
and tell me what you would like to learn in this class. Use
your best grammar, mechanics and spelling skills. Send a
shorter, electronic mail memo to each of your fellow
students in this course and to me. You may be slightly more
informal in email than in your print memo to me. Use
emoticons if you like, and omit the section on what you
hope to learn in this course.
March 30 Lecture: The communication process; elements of good
business writing. Exercises and Memo(s) due. Workshop: memo
and exercise critique.
Homework: Read Chaps. 2 and 3. Do exercises on disk: 2.3,
2.4, 2.5, 2.7, 3.2, 3.3.
April 4 Lecture/demonstration: appearance, style, correctness.
Exercises due. Group Workshop: Basic grammar and
mechanics. Work in groups to complete handout exercises.
Prepare audio-visual mnemonics to present to class on
Thursday.
Homework: Read Chap. 10. Do exercises on disk: 10.1.
Continue work on visual aids for group grammar lesson.
Write a short print memo to me explaining the
grammar/mechanics principle you are covering and why your
visual aids are appropriate.
April 6 Group presentations. Memos due.
Homework: Read Chap. 4. Do exercises on disk: 4.2, 4.4.
Access and read the Internet site listed at the top of this
syllabus. Spend some time over the weekend cruising the
Internet. Find the website of a corporation of interest to
you. Bring URL to class. Also, find an internet site
offering information pertaining to a state, local or
federal political, social, environmental or education issue
of interest to you. Please, NO abortion or gun control.
Bring URL to class. Using the evaluation guidelines in the
site I've given you, prepare notes for an informal
evaluation of one of the two sites you've found. Be
prepared to discuss your site in class.
April 11 Lecture/demonstration: writing directly. Informal Internet
evaluations due. Discussion: Qualities of good corporate
websites. Workshop: draft a letter requesting information
to your government representative, a university
administrator or to a charitable organization.
Homework: revise the letter. Read Chaps. 13 and 14. Do
exercises on disk: 13.1, 13.2, 14.1. Prepare detailed notes
for drafting your resume in class. Write print memo to me
explaining what effect you hope your completed resume will
have on a potential employer. Alternatively, write memo
about your resume concerns. Find a corporate website for an
employer in your future career path. Read it closely and
bring URL to class.
April 13 Workshop: compare/critique resume notes with your team.
Letter to gov't. representative (etc.) due. Look at
websites for potential employers; plan how to write a cover
letter to get you in the door. Draft resume and cover
letter in class.
Homework: Finish resume and letter.
April 18 Workshop: continue searching the Internet for information
on your issue. Prepare Talking Points for oral
presentation. Prepare quality visual aids for 10-minute
presentation. Resume and letter due.
Homework: continue working on Talking Points and visual
aids. Read Chap. 5. Do exercises on disk: 5.2, 5.3, 5.4
(questions only on 5.4, don't revise).
April 20 Lecture/discussion: delivering bad news. Exercises due.
Workshop: Draft a letter giving your employer notice you
are leaving your job.
Homework: Finish letter. Read Chap. 8 and "Collaborative
Writing Strategies" from Chapter 9. Do exercises on disk:
8.1, 8.2, 8.3.
April 25 Oral presentations. Handout: study guide for exam.
April 27 Wrap up oral presentations. Workshop: Team will collaborate
on writing a 2-page memo containing a post-midterm critique
of this course. Draft and polish in class. June 24
exercises, in-class memo and letter of resignation due.
Homework: Read Chap. 11. Do exercises on disk: 11.1, 11.2,
11.3 (use today's critique-writing team for 11.3. Write an
email memo to each member (and to me) based on 11.3).
May 2 Exam
May 4 No class today
May 9 Web page Critique and Reports Project begins. Meeting 1:
Review assigned website, select name for your team, assign
duties and responsibilities, develop timetable. Remember to
keep a file of all your team communications, meeting notes,
etc. These are due as part of the assignment.
May 11 Work on Critique and Progress Report.
May 16 Work on Critique and Progress Report. Progress Report due.
May 18 Draft version of Critique due today.
May 23 Workshop: draft, polish and complete memo assessing your
progress this term. Begin compiling your course portfolio.
Homework: continue preparing course portfolio
May 25 Corrected draft Critiques returned. Revise Critique for
emailing Critique must be mailed to corporate webmaster by
classtime May 30. Email copy of Critique to me.
Homework: continue preparing course portfolio.
May 30 Team presentation of corporate web page Critiques. Hard-
copy and email critiques due.
June 1 Portfolios due. Have a wonderful summer!
Work: Three essential qualities of good business writing are clarity,
concision and correctness. Another quality is completeness, by which is
meant not simply that it contain all the information it must contain in
good order, but also that it be completed in good time. It does you and
your team no good to do brilliant work after the deadline. That is also
true in this class, where learning good communication skills is our
business. Because of that, each writing assignment will receive 2
grades on a 100-point scale. One grade will reflect its being completed
on time. Turn the assignment in at the beginning of class on the date
due and it receives a 100 for completeness. If an assignment is turned
in after class ends, it will lose 5 points. For every additional day or
part of a day that it is late it will lose 10 points. The forms of
business writing are fairly simple to master; what is trickier is
writing within those forms day in and day out without losing your edge
or becoming stale, dull and repetitive. To that end, the writing
assignments for our class do repeat certain basic forms, asking you to
move beyond mastery into something approaching a strong personal style.
The second grade will reflect the quality of the writing (See Chapter
2) and adequacy to the particular assignment. It likewise begins with
100 points, with 5 points docked for every check-marked deficiency. The
two grades will be weighed at 33% (on-time) 64% (quality).
Besides the writing assignments there are chapter exercises and some
research and note-taking and online research assignments. I will also
be asking you to make several informal presentations (see calendar).
Evaluation:
memos, print and/or electronic 10%
letters 20%
presentations
grammar/mechanics 5%
talking points 5%
informal Internet evaluation 5%
resume/cover letter 10%
progress report (team) 5%
corporate web page
critique (team) 15%
portfolio 10%
exam 10%
exercises on disk 5%
_______
100%
Getting Along With the CEO:
Miss class at your peril. Do not call me to request extra time for
missed work or to inquire what you've missed. If you do not wish to be
docked for late or missed work, you must give me advance notification
of any emergency absence from class, short of emergencies that occur on
your way. Last minute computer/printer problems are not excused
emergencies. Court dates, funerals, medical excuses, etc. require
documentation, as do speed traps or personal heroics. If you have a
child care problem, feel free to bring the child to class. S/he can
draw on the chalkboards.
Return to Dr. Loranger's Home Page
Return to the English Department Syllabus Page