English 315: Business Writing
M/W 8:30-9:50 | Bachelor Hall 264 | http://www.eng315.weebly.com
Bridget Gelms | Bachelor Hall 362 M 10-12, W 10-11, & by appointment | [email protected]
Welcome to English 315: Business Writing! This course is designed to give you practice with writing for business contexts, purposes, and audiences. Throughout the semester, we will read, analyze, and write variations of the fundamental genres used in business contexts today. This will allow us to examine business writing from overlapping perspectives--- rhetorical, visual, ethical, and cultural aspects of communication are all integral parts of understanding how to interact with others through writing. Primarily, this class will give you experience in planning, collaborating, designing, writing, and delivering business genres of writing so that you can apply what you learn to your professional lives and goals.
Course Objectives:
Required Text: Locker, K. O., & Kienzler, D. S. Business and Administrative Communication (10th ed.). Irwin/McGraw Hill. | ISBN-10: 0077630408
* We will use this book almost every day. Please make sure you have continual access to it throughout the semester, and that you bring it with you to class each meeting.
Course Policies
Access/Accommodations: I’m committed to maximizing your learning potential through creating a safe and accessible learning environment. If there is any way I can adapt this course in order to better meet your needs as a learner, or if you have emergency medical information to share with me, please let me know. If you have a documented disability, please share that information with me so I can provide any accommodations that have been best determined by you and the Office of Disability Resources (http://www.units.muohio.edu/oeeo/odr/; 513-529-2541).
Attendance: You can miss 3 class periods without penalty. These three absences are built in to the class in order to allow for schedule conflicts, emergencies, and times of illness. Please reserve them for such events. For every absence after three, your overall grade in the course will be reduced by one half step (from an A to an A-, an A- to a B+, etc.). Missing more than 20% of the course (8 absences) will result in an automatic failure of the course.
Late Work: I understand that life happens and this can impede our abilities to finish our work on time. Therefore, I will consider requests for extensions on a case-by-case basis only if the request is made at least 48-hour prior the due date. Otherwise, as due dates are clearly marked on the schedule, I will not accept late work. If assignments are not completed and turned in on time, you will receive a zero. Assume technology will fail you and plan ahead!
Academic Integrity: The assumption is that your work is original and was generated for English 315 during the Fall semester of 2014. There are many types of plagiarism—some more obvious than others, but there are more subtle forms you may not be aware of. A good rule of thumb to live by: if you're not sure you're violating these rules, talk to me about it. To familiarize yourself with the details of Miami’s Academic Integrity policy and examples of /penalties for instances of academic dishonesty, visit http://www.muohio.edu/integrity/undergrads.cfm.
Conferencing: There will be times when we meet outside of class for group and/or individual conferencing. Conferences are meant to give you the opportunity to ask me questions about and receive feedback on your work. Please arrive prepared to discuss your work in a critical and engaged way. Missing or arriving late to a scheduled conference will result in an absence and a reduction in your Performance & Professionalism grade.
Technology: While we are in a hard-wired classroom, a laptop is not required, but I encourage you to bring a laptop , tablet, or smartphone to class, fully charged, in order to better facilitate group work and/or in-class work time. Please limit your technology use to class related activities. I don’t mind the occasional text, but please don’t make it a habit or a distraction to me and others. I do, however, mind the occasional Facebook and/or instant messaging. Your friends and their status updates will still be there when you get out of class :)
Course Tips
Course Spaces: In addition to our class website (http://eng315.weebly.com), we will also use:
Protect Your Work! Please make sure to have a plan for backing up all of your work in multiple places in case of computer failure—consider investing in a flash drive or making use of cloud storage systems like Dropbox or GoogleDrive.
Feedback: I’m always happy to talk with students about their work, and so I encourage you to schedule times to meet with me outside of class to receive feedback. This is the best way to ensure you’re on the right track. I will not give feedback to students who email me their paper and ask me to look at it and respond. My feedback will be much more beneficial if we can have a conversation about it together. If meeting face-to-face is not an option, I’d be happy to meet online using whatever method you prefer. Plan ahead—it’s difficult for me to help if you contact me the night before a project is due.
Contacting Me: The fastest way to reach me is via email ([email protected]). I usually respond within 24 hours, unless it’s over a weekend in which case it may take me a little longer. I hold office hours in Bachelor 362 on Mondays immediately after class from 10 to 12, and Wednesdays from 10-11, and can certainly make appointments at other times to accommodate your schedule. Again, I encourage you to meet with me to work on your writing. Or, just stop by to chat—you’re always welcome, and I’m here to help (I usually have candy, too).
Twitter: During the academic year, I maintain a professional Twitter account (@BridgetGelms) solely for my students and colleagues. I tweet about teaching, research, and materials related to my classes—stuff that will help you succeed, so consider this a resource for your learning! Tweets about our class specifically will be tagged with #ENG315. Feel free to use this hashtag to tag your own tweets specific to class (questions, links, revelations as you read and write) should you care to engage via Twitter. This is not a requirement, and I don’t follow my students unless they ask me to.
Bridget Gelms | Bachelor Hall 362 M 10-12, W 10-11, & by appointment | [email protected]
Welcome to English 315: Business Writing! This course is designed to give you practice with writing for business contexts, purposes, and audiences. Throughout the semester, we will read, analyze, and write variations of the fundamental genres used in business contexts today. This will allow us to examine business writing from overlapping perspectives--- rhetorical, visual, ethical, and cultural aspects of communication are all integral parts of understanding how to interact with others through writing. Primarily, this class will give you experience in planning, collaborating, designing, writing, and delivering business genres of writing so that you can apply what you learn to your professional lives and goals.
Course Objectives:
- Develop effective rhetorical strategies for producing persuasive, ethical documents that respond effectively to a particular business audience’s needs
- Practice designing effective, appealing, and readable documents
- Understand how delivery choice impacts how a document should be presented, designed, and written
- Cultivate writing strategies to build, maintain, and sustain working relationships
- Practice incorporating persuasive research-supported evidence into your writing
- Examine the social and cultural dimensions of business writing to develop adaptive and flexible communication practices
Required Text: Locker, K. O., & Kienzler, D. S. Business and Administrative Communication (10th ed.). Irwin/McGraw Hill. | ISBN-10: 0077630408
* We will use this book almost every day. Please make sure you have continual access to it throughout the semester, and that you bring it with you to class each meeting.
Course Policies
Access/Accommodations: I’m committed to maximizing your learning potential through creating a safe and accessible learning environment. If there is any way I can adapt this course in order to better meet your needs as a learner, or if you have emergency medical information to share with me, please let me know. If you have a documented disability, please share that information with me so I can provide any accommodations that have been best determined by you and the Office of Disability Resources (http://www.units.muohio.edu/oeeo/odr/; 513-529-2541).
Attendance: You can miss 3 class periods without penalty. These three absences are built in to the class in order to allow for schedule conflicts, emergencies, and times of illness. Please reserve them for such events. For every absence after three, your overall grade in the course will be reduced by one half step (from an A to an A-, an A- to a B+, etc.). Missing more than 20% of the course (8 absences) will result in an automatic failure of the course.
Late Work: I understand that life happens and this can impede our abilities to finish our work on time. Therefore, I will consider requests for extensions on a case-by-case basis only if the request is made at least 48-hour prior the due date. Otherwise, as due dates are clearly marked on the schedule, I will not accept late work. If assignments are not completed and turned in on time, you will receive a zero. Assume technology will fail you and plan ahead!
Academic Integrity: The assumption is that your work is original and was generated for English 315 during the Fall semester of 2014. There are many types of plagiarism—some more obvious than others, but there are more subtle forms you may not be aware of. A good rule of thumb to live by: if you're not sure you're violating these rules, talk to me about it. To familiarize yourself with the details of Miami’s Academic Integrity policy and examples of /penalties for instances of academic dishonesty, visit http://www.muohio.edu/integrity/undergrads.cfm.
Conferencing: There will be times when we meet outside of class for group and/or individual conferencing. Conferences are meant to give you the opportunity to ask me questions about and receive feedback on your work. Please arrive prepared to discuss your work in a critical and engaged way. Missing or arriving late to a scheduled conference will result in an absence and a reduction in your Performance & Professionalism grade.
Technology: While we are in a hard-wired classroom, a laptop is not required, but I encourage you to bring a laptop , tablet, or smartphone to class, fully charged, in order to better facilitate group work and/or in-class work time. Please limit your technology use to class related activities. I don’t mind the occasional text, but please don’t make it a habit or a distraction to me and others. I do, however, mind the occasional Facebook and/or instant messaging. Your friends and their status updates will still be there when you get out of class :)
Course Tips
Course Spaces: In addition to our class website (http://eng315.weebly.com), we will also use:
- GoogleDrive: for in-class writing activities, access to grades, and turning in work
- Google Community: for weekly reading responses and digital interaction
Protect Your Work! Please make sure to have a plan for backing up all of your work in multiple places in case of computer failure—consider investing in a flash drive or making use of cloud storage systems like Dropbox or GoogleDrive.
Feedback: I’m always happy to talk with students about their work, and so I encourage you to schedule times to meet with me outside of class to receive feedback. This is the best way to ensure you’re on the right track. I will not give feedback to students who email me their paper and ask me to look at it and respond. My feedback will be much more beneficial if we can have a conversation about it together. If meeting face-to-face is not an option, I’d be happy to meet online using whatever method you prefer. Plan ahead—it’s difficult for me to help if you contact me the night before a project is due.
Contacting Me: The fastest way to reach me is via email ([email protected]). I usually respond within 24 hours, unless it’s over a weekend in which case it may take me a little longer. I hold office hours in Bachelor 362 on Mondays immediately after class from 10 to 12, and Wednesdays from 10-11, and can certainly make appointments at other times to accommodate your schedule. Again, I encourage you to meet with me to work on your writing. Or, just stop by to chat—you’re always welcome, and I’m here to help (I usually have candy, too).
Twitter: During the academic year, I maintain a professional Twitter account (@BridgetGelms) solely for my students and colleagues. I tweet about teaching, research, and materials related to my classes—stuff that will help you succeed, so consider this a resource for your learning! Tweets about our class specifically will be tagged with #ENG315. Feel free to use this hashtag to tag your own tweets specific to class (questions, links, revelations as you read and write) should you care to engage via Twitter. This is not a requirement, and I don’t follow my students unless they ask me to.
Grading
* More detailed explanations of each component can be found on our course site, http://www.eng315.weebly.com/projects. Please note that final grades will not be rounded up, and there are no extra credit opportunities.
Please note grades will be reported to you via a document you can access in your private GoogleDrive folder. To access this document, please go to drive.google.com, log in using your Miami username and password, and click "Shared With Me" in the navigation menu on the left. If you have any trouble accessing or viewing your grades, please let me know.
* More detailed explanations of each component can be found on our course site, http://www.eng315.weebly.com/projects. Please note that final grades will not be rounded up, and there are no extra credit opportunities.
Please note grades will be reported to you via a document you can access in your private GoogleDrive folder. To access this document, please go to drive.google.com, log in using your Miami username and password, and click "Shared With Me" in the navigation menu on the left. If you have any trouble accessing or viewing your grades, please let me know.
Project 1: Problem Solving w/ Letters & Memos
Project 2: Communication Strategy Report Project 3: Researched Proposal & Presentation Project 4: Employment Materials Packet GoogleCommunity Posts Project Reflections (4 total) Performance & Professionalism Total: |
10%, 100 points
20%, 200 points 25%, 250 points 15%, 150 points 10%, 100 points 10%, 100 points 10%, 100 points 100%, 1000 points |
Grade Point Value
A 1000-930
A- 929-900
B+ 899-870
B 869-830
B- 829-800
C+ 799-770
C 769-730
C- 729-700
D+ 699-670
D 669-630
D- 629-600
F 599 and below
*By remaining enrolled in this course, you acknowledge that you've read, understand, and agree to adhere to the policies outlined in this syllabus.
A 1000-930
A- 929-900
B+ 899-870
B 869-830
B- 829-800
C+ 799-770
C 769-730
C- 729-700
D+ 699-670
D 669-630
D- 629-600
F 599 and below
*By remaining enrolled in this course, you acknowledge that you've read, understand, and agree to adhere to the policies outlined in this syllabus.