ENGL 304: Advanced Composition: Business Writing

Transcription

1 ENGL 304: Advanced Composition: Business Writing Course Overview Welcome to English 304! This course is designed to teach you the skills of effective business communication. Have you ever: read a set of directions that didn't make sense? received an message from a co worker that had an off putting tone? come across a memo with embarrassing grammar and surface errors? perused a flyer about volunteering that did not include contact information? looked at an ad with a busy or unattractive design? The differences between good and bad business communication can sometimes be small but still have profound effects. Fortunately, every instance of ineffective business communication can be recognized and fixed all you need is a little knowledge. This course will give you that knowledge, along with the necessary skills to excel as a business writer in a multitude of situations. To help you learn these skills, we have divided the course into three units: Unit 1 introduces the fundamentals of business writing and focuses on writing strategies common to all effective business writing. Unit 2 requires you to apply the skills you acquired in the first unit to create specific types of business documents. Unit 3 guides you through the entire process of creating a substantial business project. We will be using Internet resources and other technologies to supplement the primary textbook. The interactive format of this course will provide you with access to real world business documents and will supplement your learning with Internet activities, quizzes, and additional resources. Course Goals The goal of this course is to improve your written business communication skills. To achieve this goal, we will concentrate on specific strategies that successful business writers use to communicate effectively. This course stresses basic principles of sound business communication that can be applied to a wide

2 range of contexts. The exercises encourage you to view each writing assignment as a unique situation by reinforcing techniques used to analyze problems and audiences. Although Unit 2 explores the standard techniques used in a variety of different business documents, please remember that there is no ready made formula for business correspondence. You are expected to analyze each assignment and adapt your acquired skills to respond to the situation at hand. The course emphasizes the following qualities for direct and effective business communication: Clarity: Express yourself clearly, avoiding unnecessary jargon, long winded word choice, or convoluted syntax. Say what you mean directly and precisely. Completeness: Analyze each writing situation thoroughly, respond to all its facets, and anticipate all the information your audience will need. Know what you should leave out of a document. Accuracy: Develop an eye for details. Your information must be accurate, and you must also present it accurately. Organization: Present convincing, logical arguments. Think through the logic of your arguments and consider your options for developing coherent, persuasive presentations. Tone: Regularly foster goodwill in your correspondence. Analyze your audience and adapt the tone of your correspondence to the readers and the situation. Style: Use sound writing techniques. Develop a confident, courteous, and natural writing style grounded in an understanding of advanced grammatical structures. Appearance: Present your information so that it impresses your audience. Consider the visual impact of your work. Neatness and layout count in every assignment. Flexibility: Have a firm grasp of the basic principles of communication so that you can adapt your knowledge and skillfully respond to complex writing situations. We will focus on these elements of successful business writing throughout the course. They represent our main objectives as you work toward mastering sound business writing techniques. Required Textbooks See course description for an up to date list of materials. Optional Materials See course description for an up to date list of materials. How to Approach Your Assignments Study Suggestions Read through the contents of this online course manual so that you have a general idea of how this course will build your writing skills. Click on lessons and read through the final project assignment in Lesson 10 briefly. You may want to begin thinking about the topic you will choose for this final report

3 so that you can begin collecting data or arranging interviews. If you are geographically isolated or for other reasons think that you might have difficulty obtaining materials to prepare your final project, contact me now and explain your situation. Put yourself on a regular schedule and stick to it. If you encounter a difficult problem, take a break from it and return when you have a better perspective. As you wait for me to return one assignment, begin working on your next lesson. Give yourself about a week to complete an assignment. When an assignment is returned, correct it immediately before it gets cold. Log your errors and then check over your current assignment for these same mistakes. Then put the current assignment aside for two days. After two days, reread the assignment with a fresh perspective. When the assignment looks good after this distancing period, send it to me. Feel free to contact me for suggestions about the assignments. You may return your corrected problems with questions attached if you encounter difficulties in understanding the corrections or suggestions. The time required to complete each assignment may vary, especially at first, but should average about eight hours (except for the final project, which will require more). Each assignment is equivalent to about four days of work in a course taken on campus. In preparing your assignments, follow these steps for each lesson: 1. Read the Reading Strategies section on the lesson pages for the early assignments. These techniques will help you process the information in the assigned reading. 2. Read the text carefully. Underline important points and take notes as you feel necessary. 3. Read the Discussion section for each lesson. 4. Do the For Practice exercises and check your answers to see if you are on the right track. These exercises will help you master the skills required for the graded assignments and will solidify your understanding of the reading. 5. Analyze your assignment before you start writing and make sure that you do not overlook any of its components. Think carefully about both the content of your message and your audience. Use the prewriting strategies (brainstorming, clustering, and free writing) discussed in Unit 1 to formulate what you are going to say. 6. Try to work without continually referring to your texts. Do refer to your dictionary to hone your word choices and extend your vocabulary. Don't use a thesaurus ballpark synonyms impede the clarity and effectiveness of your writing. 7. Make a rough draft of your assignment. 8. Make necessary revisions and subsequent drafts. Aim for clarity, completeness, accuracy, positive attitude, organization, and succinctness. Check for mistakes that you made on previous assignments. 9. Create a final copy. If you have used any sources other than the text and prescribed Web

4 sources, you should note them in a postscript. Your work should always be correctly formatted and neatly presented.you should save your work as a Microsoft Word file. 10. Proofread. Do not underrate this step. Poor proofreading indicates an attitude of negligence. me at any stage of this process if you have questions. Submitting and Receiving Assignments You will submit each assignment as a Word document attached to an message that you will send to both me and to Student Services. Use the Submit Your Assignment button provided in the Assignments section of each lesson it will automatically provide these two addresses for you and enter the correct subject line. You should only submit one message for each assignment. Also, please include all parts of the assignment in a single Word document (unless the assignment requires you to format part of your exercise in a way that requires separate documents). IMPORTANT! Add your name to the end of the pre entered subject line. Include in the message body of your your name student number lesson number special comments for me. Although you may work on the next assignment while you are waiting for me to return your previous assignment, it is best to wait for my feedback before submitting the next assignment. This allows you to revise your current assignment and avoid repeating mistakes that lower your grade. If you want to submit more than one assignment at a time, you must have my permission. As each assignment is returned, write out the comments and corrections on a separate sheet of paper for your own study and review. Make note of your common mistakes in the error log provided and work to resolve these problems. Be sure to keep your corrected assignments on file for easy reference. Grading Your work will be graded on your ability to grasp the featured techniques for analyzing or responding to the assigned situations critically analyze the assigned problem adapt standard writing strategies to unique situations anticipate the needs and reactions of the audience be resourceful and use tact in handling any situation adjust your tone both to the circumstances and content of your communication

5 organize and develop your communication logically write clear and concise sentences achieve stylistic competence by using parallel structures, transitions, key words, sentence variation, and so on make thoughtful and accurate word choices master grammar, punctuation, and spelling complete the assigned exercises in their entirety. Carelessness in any of these activities lowers your effectiveness as a communicator. Wordiness, vagueness, or monotonous sentences will automatically place an assignment in the C class or lower. Illogical, incomplete, or hopelessly vague statements merit failure for an assignment. Misspelling, grammar errors, and careless punctuation will also lower your grade. Your final grade will not be a mere average of your assignments, but also an indication of your development as a business writer. As the course progresses, I will expect improvement in your ability to generate effective communication. To improve, you must work diligently on the areas I indicate when correcting your assignments. I will keep a log of your progress and will monitor your improvement. Grading Distribution There are ten graded assignments for this course. While I have the discretion to adjust your grade to reflect your progress throughout the course, generally, your grade will be calculated as follows: Assignments 1 9 Assignment 10 averaged scores worth 80 percent of your final grade 20 percent of your final grade The grading distribution for components of a particular lesson assignment can be found in the Assignments section of that lesson. Grading Scale A A B B B C C C D D

6 60 or below F Final Exam This course has no final exam. Instead, the final report required for Assignment 10 serves as a culminating work that requires you to demonstrate the skills learned in the course. Academic Policies The University of North Carolina Code of Student Conduct: It shall be the responsibility of every student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to obey and support the enforcement of the Honor Code, which prohibits lying, cheating, or stealing when these actions involve academic processes or University, student or academic personnel acting in an official capacity. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel HIll's Honor System Website. Self paced Courses Online Honor System Policy: If you enroll in a Self paced Course, you are responsible for obeying and supporting an honor system that prohibits lying, cheating, or stealing in relation to the academic practices of constituent institutions of The University of North Carolina. The honor system also requires you to refrain from conduct that significantly impairs the welfare or the educational opportunities of others in the University community. You are expected to do your own work in all aspects of your course. Your enrollment in a course certifies that you agree to adhere to this honor system. from the Self paced Courses Online system Website. As the policies on academic honesty quoted above make clear, you must generate all the writing for this course on your own. Peers and co workers can be especially helpful in critiquing your writing for clarity and precision, and you may discuss your assignments with them. However, they should not write one word of your assignment. To adhere to the Honor Code, you must solicit only oral feedback from these reviewers. Many of the lessons in this course ask you to incorporate information from sources such as newspapers, magazines, or websites in your written assignments. It is therefore essential that you understand what constitutes plagiarism and how to avoid it in your writing. The UNC Writing Center has an excellent plagiarism handout. If you are ever unsure about whether you have correctly attributed your information and cited your sources, please contact me before you submit your assignment. Online Library Resources Students enrolled in Self paced Study Online can access online library resources from the UNC Library System by linking to Distance Education Library Services. This site includes information on using

7 general online reference works. If you are using an off campus computer, you will need to consult that website for instructions on how to access the resources. The UNC library staff is available to assist any students who have difficulties accessing online library resources. If you encounter difficulties, please report your problem by visiting the Web page for reporting a problem and sending an to the Proxy Server Team. Course Outline This course is divided into 3 units: Unit 1 explores the basics of sound business writing to provide you with a solid foundation for creating effective business documents. Unit 2 builds on the sound writing strategies developed in Unit 1 as we explore ways to write a variety of specific types of business documents. For each lesson in this unit, you will be asked to master the techniques for a specialized genre of message. As you move through the different documents, try to note the differences and the similarities among the various methods for approaching these assorted writing tasks. Unit 3 explores how to produce effective and impressive reports. Please pay particular attention to the example proposals and reports in the assigned reading. The unit builds toward a final project that is described in Lesson 10. The written assignments in both lessons will relate to this final project, so choose carefully. See the outline below to see the specific lessons contained in each unit. Use the navigation bar to the left to access each lesson. Unit 1: The Basics of Communication and Writing Lesson 1 Lesson 2 Lesson 3 Introduction to Business Communication Improving Your Writing Creating Effective Documents Unit 2: Specific Types of Business Documents Lesson 4 Lesson 5 Lesson 6 Lesson 7 Lesson 8 Informative and Positive Messages Negative Messages Persuasive and Sales Messages Résumés Job Application Letters Unit 3: Reports Lesson 9 Lesson 10 Researching Reports and Writing Proposals Putting Together the Report

8 The University of North Carolina Send comments and questions to