English
307, sections 5 & 791
Course Syllabus
Instructor: Stephanie Reents
Office: CCIT #236, cubicle H
Offices Hours: MWF 10:50-11:50 and by appointment
Office Phone: 626-4875 (use only during my office hours)
Engl Dept: ML 445, 621-1836 (leave msg)
Email: sjreents@u.arizona.edu
Web Address:
www.ic.arizona.edu/~profcomm/teaching/sreents307/sreentsS02.htm
Section 5:
T/Th, 2-3:15
T = CCIT 319
Th = CCIT 309
Section 791:
T/Th, 6-7:15
CCIT 319
Course Overview
The goals of this course are two-fold: to learn to write and communicate clearly and to become familiar with the forms (e.g., proposals, memos, reports, resumés) of professional communication. Each of you comes to this class with different professional interests. You may be interested in pursuing a career in advertising, management consulting, healthcare management, teaching, or public service (to name just a few). Each profession (and indeed individual companies within professions) will have a specialized vocabulary and a set of conventions of communication. However, if you're able to analyze the audience for whom you are writing, define what you want to accomplish, and then translate your message into energetic and clear prose (that is free of the jargon that plagues most business writing), you'll be a step ahead of much of the workforce, according to some commentators. In this course, you will analyze different forms of business communication and apply what you've learned to your own writing. Specifically, you will:
- analyze effective and ineffective writing and learn techniques for making your business prose clear and interesting;
- analyze different contexts and determine the most appropriate way to present yourself in those professional contexts;
- familiarize yourself with different forms of professional communication and practice using them;
- explore how technology both enhances and hinders professional communication and the quality of the your working environment;
- practice using technological innovation in your own work; and
- propose and complete a "real world" project in which you will practice everything we've discussed in theory.
Course Calendar
Technology and the Classroom
As you can see, we are ourselves an experiment. In section 5, we will meet Thursdays in CCIT Room 309, a "normal classroom," and on Tuesdays in Room 319, a "wired" classroom. In section 791, we will always meet in a "wired classroom." We will also be using the Composition Program's Profcomm website (www.ic.arizona.edu/~profcomm) as well as Caucus, online posting technology. For better or worse, technology will be an integral part of our coursework. Since part of our focus in this class is on how technology both enhances and hinders professional communication and the work environment, you'll observe firsthand how technology affects this learning and teaching environment.
Requirements and other
Contractual Matters
Required Texts and
Materials
Cason, Robert E., Writing for the Business World. New Jersey: Prentice Hall,
1997.
Lanham, Richard, Revising Business Prose. 4th ed. Needham Heights: Allyn and Bacon, 2000.
Copies of your work as needed for class.
Several computer floppy disks for saving your work.
Some of the readings for this class will be available online from the Profcomm website or via the University of Arizona library's Electronic Reserves under English 307, sections 1-8. I will provide you with the password. You are expected to have completed all the readings by their due dates on the course calendar.
Major Assignments
You can access all the general assignment sheets through the Profcomm website. The assignments, however, are contextualized specifically in this course according to a "professional communications scenario" based on The Profcomm Center.
You will be considered interns of The Profcomm Center for this course. As part of The Profcomm Center, our "division" will focus on how communication technologies are used in the workplace.
The final projects are flexible. They will culminate with a presentation (in which you may choose to use technology as a tool in your presentation) and an informative, analytical report. For the project process, you will propose a project related to communication technologies, write a formal proposal to undertake the project, complete the project, and produce both a project report and presentation. The key will be to choose a project that you can complete during the time allotted for it. We will, of course, go over each of these steps in the process during class. However, to give you an idea of what kind of project I have in mind, you might look at "On the Job: Design and the American Office" (http://www.nbm.org/Exhibits/New_On_The_Job_Text.html).
Policies
You are required to attend class, do the readings, participate in the discussions, and turn in your work on time. You must also adhere to the guidelines of the Composition Program. I've attached them to the end of this syllabus.
Grading
To complete this class successfully, you must attend class, complete assignments on time, and participate in class activities and discussions. Because you will frequently provide feedback to your classmates, it is important that you take their work as seriously as your own, and the quality of your criticism will be a component of your final grade. I will evaluate your major assignments primarily upon how effectively you have used appropriate rhetorical methods (both document content and design) for the writing situation. I'm always available to discuss your grades and how you can improve your performance.
Here is the breakdown of grades:
|
Professional Acceptance Letter |
5% |
|
Memo of interests |
5% |
| Professional Biography Webpage | ungraded |
|
Project Proposal |
20% |
|
Final Project Report |
20% |
| Recommendation Memo/Feedback | 10% |
|
Project Presentation |
10% |
|
Job Application Portfolio |
20% |
|
Informal Writing Assignments |
10% |
Assignment Formats
In-class writing can be handwritten or typed (depending upon which class you are in), though I do expect them to be legible. My grades won't be based upon grammar, spelling, and punctuation, but these assignments provide you with opportunities to practice writing clearly.
Out-of-class assignments must be typed and formatted correctly. As I mentioned earlier, you may need to bring in multiple copies for peer review. From time to time, you will turn in assignments electronically (either through email, diskette, or website), in which case it will be your responsibility to make sure I receive and can access your document.
Late Assignments
I do not accept late assignments. If you turn in an assignment late, I will
subtract ten points from the assignment grade for each day it is past the
deadline. You are also responsible for turning in drafts by the draft deadlines.