English 419-20:
Advanced Business Writing
Spring 2005
Jim Manis
Office: A-205
Phone and voice mail:
450-3189
Email: jdm12@psu.edu
Office Hours: Monday,
Wednesday and Friday:
Web site: http://www.hn.psu.edu/faculty/jmanis/
Course Description:
The purpose of this course is
to help students acquire the knowledge and writing skills that make successful
negotiation of professional communities possible. Because you have taken
English 202, I will assume you are already familiar with the forms of
communication typically used in business settings: memos, instructions,
reports, presentations, résumés, and letters. This class is designed to
help you become more adept at writing these kinds of documents. In
addition, you will work to become a writer who understands WHAT a good argument
entails, WHEN and WHY certain documents are used, HOW to define your audience
and its expectations, and WHICH strategies you might employ to convince a
particular audience to heed your message.
Because this course is
concerned with the writing process, we will move through the stages of
invention, drafting, revision, and editing to arrive at a “finished”
product--that is, one you are confident in presenting as the communication of
your ideas and efforts. Modeling our class on the pursuits of the
workplace, we will proceed in a largely collaborative fashion, as we seek to
gain a critical awareness of contexts, communities, and tasks. Yet we
will constantly endeavor to become more than skilled technicians. Along
the way we will also ask questions about values, ethics, and politics, as we
try to understand how we individually fit into this larger picture of writing
for and in professional communities.
Required Texts
Philip C. Kolin. Successful Writing at Work (Seventh Edition). Abbreviated on course schedule as SWAW.
Barbara Ehrenreich.
Nickle and Dimed
David Cay
Andrew Leckey
and Johyn C. Bogle. The Best Business Stories of the
Year 2004 Edition. Abbreviated on course schedule
as BBSY.
Grading
Grades for the course are
based on a 100 point scale, and will be weighted in the following way:
Individual Projects
Individual Participation
5 % or 5 pts
Three Memos
10 % or 10 pts
Ehrenreich
Paper
10 %
or 10 pts
Johnston
Paper
10 % or 10
pts
Proposal
5% or 5 pts
Research
Project
20% or 20 pts
Critique of
Presentation
5% or 10 pts
Quizzes
5% or 5 pts
Group Projects
Recommendation Report
20% or 20 pts
Group Presentation
10% or 10 pts
Final Grades will be calculated as follows:
A: 100-93 points; A-: 92-90;
B+: 89-87; B: 86-82; B-: 81-80 points; C+: 79-77; C: 769-720 points; D: 69-60;
F: 59 points and below.
Assignments
Group Work/ Workshops/
Conferences
You will work in small groups, participate in group discussions, and various other
activities. Writing workshops ask you to provide constructive feedback on
your peer’s writing. In general, when you are in class, I expect that you
have something constructive and relevant to contribute. You are also
required to schedule and participate in conferences with me during the
term. Each activity is designed to help you improve your writing.
Quizzes
Because this is a course that
covers a great deal of ground, and because I am most concerned that you keep up
with the reading, I will give a quiz from time to time. Each quiz will be
graded on a scale of 1-10.
Attendance
After one unexcused absences,
I will subtract 10 points from your final course grade for each additional
absence. If you miss more than three classes, you will automatically fail the
course. Repeated tardiness will be treated like absences.
If you do need to miss a
class, make every effort to inform me before the class you will miss and
always follow-up after concerning what you missed.
Class Participation
I expect you to come to class
prepared; that is, having read all the assigned material for that day and ready
to contribute to class discussions, writing exercises, and group
projects. Participation includes discussions, small group work, workshops,
conferences, and in-class writings.
In general, a “C” for
participation means that the student attends class with the assignments
completed, but seldom participates in class discussions. A “B” for
participation is reserved for those students who satisfy the requirements for a
“C” AND contribute to class discussion on a more regular basis. An “A”
for participation is reserved for those students who satisfy the requirements
for a both a “C” and a “B” AND consistently find ways to make relevant comments
during class discussion. Keep in mind that when it comes to speaking in
class, quantity is not always the same as quality.
Late Papers
Out of class assignments are
due at the beginning of class on the day they are due--after that, they are
considered late. I will subtract one full letter grade from an assignment
for each day it is late.
Academic Integrity
All students are expected to
act with civility and personal integrity. You are expected to respect other
students' dignity, rights, and property. You are expected to help create and
maintain an environment in which all students can succeed through the fruits of
their own efforts.
Academic integrity includes
avoiding acts of falsification, misrepresentation, or deception. You will not
cheat, copy, plagiarize, submit another person's work as your own, use Internet
sources without citations, fabricate citations, steal examinations, tamper with
the academic work of another student, or facilitate another student's act of
academic dishonesty. Students charged with a breach of academic integrity
will receive due process. If the charge is found valid, academic
sanctions may range from an F for the assignment to an F for the course. The
University's statement on academic integrity is available at
<http://www.psu.edu/dept/oue/aappm/G-9.html>.
Course Accommodation
The
It is encouraged that
students request accommodation need early in the semester and, once identified,
a reasonable accommodation will be implemented in a timely manner.
Course Schedule:
All assignments must be
completed by class time on the dates listed. Remember to bring your
textbook to class.
If inclement weather results
in class cancellation, then we will simply double up class periods. If we do
not meet on a Tuesday, then all the work due on that Tuesday will automatically
shift to being due on Thursday, along with the work originally due on Thursday,
etc.
Should it become necessary to
modify the course schedule, I will notify you in writing.
Week 1
|
Date |
Activity/Related |
Writing Assignment |
|
Wednesday, January 12 |
Course Introduction |
|
|
|
Making Writing Work; E-mail
and Memos SWAW: Memos and Email: Chapter 4 SWAW: Chapter 7 |
due: Email (résumé) Send prior to next class (This constitutes the first
memo assignment.) |
Week 2
|
Date |
Activity/Related |
Writing Assignment |
|
Wednesday, January 19 |
Instructions; Description;
Editing SWAW: Chapter 13 |
due: Memo #2 (Request for a set of instructions to be created as
a memo for posting in the work place) |
Week 3
|
Date |
Activity/Related |
Writing Assignment |
|
Wednesday, January 26 |
Ehrenreich, Nickle and Dimed, pp. 1-120 BBSY: Holt, “The Death of One American Dream” and
Andrews: “Shattered Dynasty” SWAW: Chapter Two |
Memo #3: Instructions |
Week 4
|
Date |
Activity/Related |
Writing Assignment |
|
Wednesday, February 2 |
Ehrenreich, pp. 121-221; BBSY: Olsson, “Up Against Wal-Mart” and Landry: “Is Our
Children Learning?” |
|
Week 5
|
Date |
Activity/Related |
Writing Assignment |
|
Wednesday, February 9 |
Rough Draft Workshop BBSY: Stewart: “Spend!
Spend! Spend! Where Did Tyco’s Money Go?” and Hill: “The Decline and Fall of
the Cult of Equity” |
due: Rough draft of Ehrenreich Essay |
Week 6
|
Date |
Activity/Related |
Writing Assignment |
|
Wednesday, February 16 |
BBSY: Krugman, “For Richer”
and Lewis, “In Defense of the Boom” |
Due: Ehrenreich
Essay |
Week 7
|
Date |
Activity/Related |
Writing Assignment |
|
Wednesday, February 23 |
BBSY: O’Brien and Davis, “Rich Man, Poor Company” and Henriques and Fabrikant
“Deciding on Executive Pay” SWAW: Chapters 14 and 15 |
|
Week 8
|
Date |
Activity/Related |
Writing Assignment |
|
Wednesday, March 2 |
|
Due: Proposal for Research paper project |
Week 9
|
Date |
Activity/Related |
Writing Assignment |
|
Wednesday, March 16 |
Workshop on SWAW: Chapter 16 |
due: Submit rough draft
of |
Week 10
|
Date |
Activity/Related |
Writing Assignment |
|
Wednesday, March 23 |
Recommendation Reports SWAW: Chapter 3 |
Due: Final draft of |
Week 11
|
Date |
Activity/Related |
Writing Assignment |
|
Wednesday, March 30 |
Workshop |
Due: Rough Draft of
Research Report |
Week 12
|
Date |
Activity/Related |
Writing Assignment |
|
Wednesday, April 6 |
Rough Draft Workshop SWAW: Chapter 17 |
Due: 5 copies of your
group’s rough draft of its Recommendation Report |
Week 13
|
Date |
Activity/Related |
Writing Assignment |
|
Wednesday, April 13 |
Group Presentations |
Due: Research Report |
Week 14
|
Date |
Activity/Related |
Writing Assignment |
|
Wednesday, April 20 |
Group Presentations |
Due: Recommendation
Report |
Week 15
|
Date |
Activity/Related |
Writing Assignment |
|
Wednesday, April 27 |
Group Presentations if
needed |
Due: Critique |