English 392, Fall 2008

Prof. Michael Filas, Ph.D.

Business and Technical Writing

Office: Bates 07, ph. 572-5683

Section 004, TR, 9:45-11:00, Bates 210
Section 005, TR, 11:15-12:30, Bates 118

Hours: M 5:30-6:30,
TR 2:30-3:30, & by appointment

 

email: mfilas@wsc.ma.edu

home page: www.wsc.ma.edu/mfilas

 

Course Description:

 

There is not one right way to approach reading and writing for business.  Whether it seems like it or not, written business communication is always an act of individual choices and decisions.  This course introduces the strategic awareness and practical skills needed when reading and writing professionally.  We will practice business and technical writing in our assignments, but we will also pursue a study of the ethical, social, and political contexts for business communications.  What does it mean to read and write in service to capitalism, in compliance with business ethics, with awareness of legal and moral liabilities?  By the end of this class you will know the form and function of business and technical writing, you will know yourself as an individual writer in these contexts, and you will understand the significance of form to each written communication.  You will learn the conventions of business communication and the way those conventions control meaning.  When is an email better than a letter?  When is a web page better than a report?  Better for whom?  When should agency or responsibility be expressly stated, when should it be unstated or possibly occluded with indirect or distracting language? As individuals, you will be asked to develop your own personal identities as business communicators and to develop the ability to read your business writing situations for all their meanings, explicit and implied.

 

Required Texts:

 

¤  Murdick, William.  The Portable Business Writer.  Houghton Mifflin.

¤  Course Readings, to be provided

¤  Anson, Chris M., et. al.  The Longman Pocket WriterŐs Companion. (recommended); you are required to own a grammar handbook and have this on hand during class.

¤  You are also required to have a stapler, and to make copies on occasion for peer review.

 

Course Requirements:

 

Arrive to class on time.  Late attendance prevents you from hearing initial discussions, assignment specifics, and other announcements.  Late arrival also prevents completion of in class writing and lowers your participation grade.

     

Come to class, stay alert, contribute.  Assignment schedules are subject to changes announced in class.  If you miss class, it is your responsibility to contact a classmate for the assignment and any schedule changes. Perfect on-time attendance contributes to an above average course grade. You will not receive a course grade of C or better if you accumulate more than four absences. No assignment may be turned in via email.

 

Keep up with the reading.  Although we will be doing substantial writing, you will be held accountable for the assigned reading.  Falling behind in the reading can easily snowball into a situation where you are reading under duress, and thus without the same ability to comprehend and retain the material.          

 

 

Assignments and Coursework:

 

¤  The context of employment—If career decisions give you the shivers, then you might want to dress warmly for class.  Many of our assignments are thematically related to each individual studentŐs career plan.  If you have no idea what you want to do when you seek work after graduation, then you will struggle in this course.  You must, at least, demonstrate a sustained and genuine curiosity about a possible profession.  It can even be a fantasy profession, a pie-in-the-sky job, but you should research something that will help you.  Start thinking about this now.

¤  Writing—Assignments will include the following types of business writing: letter, memo, email, thumbnail summaries, meeting agenda, meeting minutes, web content, resume, cover letter, negotiation, resignation, and presentation slides. All assignments must be typed in 12-point font and are due at the beginning of class. 
Work exceeding one page must be printed single-sided and stapled. 
Work is due at the start of class on the due date.  Late work is not accepted. Work is never accepted over email.

¤  Research—Assignments will require research online, at the library, and through interview.

¤  Midterm Project: Executive Summary Thumbnails—For an information summary project you will design and present job research information using parallelism and uniformity.

¤  Web Page Design—You will design a hyperlinked information presentation and write content for a web page.

¤  Agency—Using Ethic of Expediency tactics, each person will write two letters reporting the same event, claiming agency in one and occluding agency in the other.

¤  Oral Presentations—Using PowerPoint, you will prepare and present a brief presentation using overheads.  You will also present a brief collaborative group report.

¤  Final Project—For the final project, you will write and revise a resume, cover letter, and request for recommendation for application to a job researched over the course of the semester in related assignments.

¤  Revision—You will practice revising your own work, revising othersŐ work, and incorporating revisions from others as part of your final project.

¤  Reading Responses—Each person will be assigned to a writing group. Reading responses and theses will be completed individually but assigned by working groups.  

¤  Quizzes—Regular unannounced quizzes on context readings and other coursework will be given in coordination with reading assignments.  Quizzes are given at the beginning of class.  No make-up quizzes.

 

Grading:

 

15%     Participation: includes peer reviews, mission statement examples, mission statement, questions asked for clarification of assignments, timely attendance, focused participation

15%     Midterm Project: Executive Summary—Thumbnail Information Design & Research

15%     Final Project: Job Application Materials (resume, cover letter, request for recommendation)

10%     Oral Reports

10%     Web Site Design

10%     Agency Assignments (Ethic of Expediency)

10%     Negotiation Letter

5%       Meeting Minutes

10%     All Other Assignments: includes thesis responses to readings, quizzes, letters (consumer letter), mission statement, memos, agenda, resignation memo, and others

 

 

Grade Conversion Table:

 

a

a-

b+

b

b-

c+

c

c-

d+

D

4.0

3.7

3.3

3.0

2.7

2.3

2.0

1.7

1.3

1.0

100.0

92.5

82.5

75.0

67.5

57.5

50.0

42.5

32.5

25.0

15.0

13.9

12.4

11.3

10.1

8.6

7.5

6.4

4.9

3.8

10.0

9.3

8.3

7.5

6.8

5.8

5.0

4.3

3.3

2.5

5.0

4.6

4.1

3.8

3.4

2.9

2.5

2.1

1.6

1.3

2.5

2.3

2.1

1.9

1.7

1.4

1.3

1.1

0.8

0.6

 

 

Tentative Schedule:

 

 

 

 

Class Plan

HW

1

R 9/4

Introduction; writing group assignment

Read ethics; read Murdick ch. 3; group 1 write memo with thesis

2

T 9/9

Discuss ethics; explain consumer letter

Read Murdick ch. 2; write consumer letter

3

R 9/11

Peer review consumer letter; Discuss EoE & assignment; discuss passive vs. active

Read EoE,/Katz; group 2 write memo with thesis; revise consumer letter

4

T 9/16

Consumer letter due; active/passive workshop; introduce agency assignment

Draft agency assignment

5

R 9/18

Peer review agency assignment; EoE quiz

Revise agency assignment; read Boisjoly; group 3 write memo with thesis

6

T 9/23

Agency/no agency assignment due; discuss Boisjoli

find ex. mission statement; find ex. terms and conditions

7

R 9/25

Discuss mission statement, ms & t&c

Read Covey ms article; write Mission statement

8

T 9/30

Mission statements due; discuss agenda/interview

Find person to interview

9

R 10/2

Explain minutes; explain oral report; assign dates for orals.

Write agenda

 

 

 

Class Plan

HW

10

T 10/7

Agenda due; explain thumbnail assignment

Thumb topics

11

R 10/9

Discuss criteria

Thumb criteria

12

T 10/14

Minutes due; Peer review criteria; discuss layout & tech writing specs.

Prepare data grids

13

R 10/16

Meet in Library for thumbnail research

Research thumbnail reports

 

T 10/21

———No Class———

CMJ NYC

 

R 10/23

———No Class———

CMJ NYC

14

T 10/28

Orals; peer review thumbs

Finalize thumbs

15

R 10/30

Orals; thumbs due; explain web site assignment

Draft web site

16

T 11/4

Orals; peer review web sites; explain job materials assignment

Revise web site; bring in job ad

17

R 11/6

Orals; web site due; discuss job strategies

Draft resume and cover letter

18

T 11/11

Orals; discuss systems analysis graphics

draft request for rec.; read Covey seven habits

19

R 11/13

Orals; Peer review resume, cover letter, req. for rec.

none

20

T 11/18

Orals; explain negotiation & resignation assignment; final portfolio

Revise job materials

21

R 11/20

Orals; job materials due; explain portfolio; explain group orals

Draft portfolio, negotiation & resignation

22

T 11/25

Orals; peer review negotiation & resignation

Revise negotiation & resignation

 

R 11/27

———No Class———

Thanksgiving

23

T 12/2

Orals; Group oral report planning

Oral report prep.

24

R 12/4

Group orals

Final revision of last assignment

25

T 12/9

Catch up

 

26

R 12/11

Last class; course evals; negotiation, resignation, & revision due