ENG 230: BUSINESS AND TECHNICAL WRITING
“Regardless of the changes in technology, the market for well-crafted messages will always have an audience.”
-Steve Burnett
Instructor: Colin M. Griffin
M/W/F: 2-250, B Building Room 108
Office Hours: M 10-12 & W/Th 12-1:30
Telephone: 1(234) 567-8901
Course Description & Goals
This course is designed to prepare students for the types of writing they are likely to encounter in their professional lives. Such writings include memorandums, business letters, reports, and briefings. This course emphasizes the importance of design choice, audience awareness, and the research process. This course also explores the process of preparing and delivering effective oral presentations.
Upon successful completion of the course, the student should be able to:
- create written and spoken compositions in genres commonly found in workplace environments
- engage with the process of research as a means of uncovering information and making meaning
- employ critical thinking and technical proficiency in working to solve existing problems and proposing resolutions to issues
- display an awareness of conversations surrounding ethics, risk and social justice as they pertain to writing for workplace contexts
Required Texts*
Markel, Michael H. Technical Communication. 10th ed. Boston: Bedford/St Martins, 2012. Print.
*Supplemental texts will be made available as warranted by the instructor
Grading Breakdown
Good News/Bad News Letter: 20%
Briefing Memorandum: 20%
Technical Report: 30%
Oral Presentation: 20%
Class Citizenship: 10%
A 90-100 B 80-89 C 70-79 D 60-69 F Below 60
Project Descriptions*
*These descriptions are brief representations of course projects. More detailed explanations will be provided as we begin to work on each assignment
**Detailed weekly schedules will be provided by the instructor. These schedules, much like this syllabus, are tentative and may be adapted to meet student need. These schedules will be distributed at the beginning of each unit (four-week block) and will cover the course of that unit.
Good News/Bad News Letter (20%)
This project will task students with composing two (2) brief business letters. One will present ‘good news’ (promotions, raises, etc.) while the other will present ‘bad news’ (i.e. terminations, cancelations). These letters will test students’ ability to concisely and effectively present information in scenarios where word choice, audience, and design must be critically considered. The instructor will provide a more detailed description of the assignment.
Briefing Memorandum (20%)
For this assignment, students will conduct research on one of three (3) major contemporary organizations provided by the instructor. Students (once aware of the organization, its mission and its current policies) will propose a new policy/modified policy that they feel their chosen organization should adopt. They are to provide a detailed explanation of their policy, and elaborate as to why they feel embracing it would be beneficial to the parties involved. This project may be completed in essay form, but there are other possibilities (i.e. presentations) available should the student choose to discuss those options with the instructor. The instructor will provide a more detailed description of the assignment.
Technical Report (30%)
The Technical Report project tasks students with applying research and their understanding of key course concepts to the decision-making process. The instructor will provide potential issues for students to consider. These issues may have been previously resolved, or may be ongoing to this day. Each potential issue calls for a decision to be made in a high-stakes context that affects a significant number of people, i.e. business owners, employees, shareholders and even society at large. Because of this, students must consider a variety of concepts and possibilities when stating and supporting their decision. This project must be written, and be no less than 1500 words. This project also requires a minimum of six (6) referenced sources. The instructor will provide a more detailed description of the assignment.
Oral Presentation (20%)
Each student in the course will prepare and present an oral presentation on a topic of their choosing. Topics must be proposed to and approved by the instructor. Presentations should tie back to the business and technical communications, and must have a clear purpose and intended audience. Presentations are to be composed with those contexts in mind. Possible options include preparing a sales pitch for a product, advocating for a merger between companies, protesting controversial waste-disposal or patient-care practices—the possibilities are near endless. The relevant inclusion of visual aids is both permitted and encouraged. The instructor will provide a more detailed description of the assignment.
Keep in mind that late work (without proper documentation) will not be accepted. Projects will be due by the start of class on the date indicated on your weekly schedule, unless otherwise noted by the instructor.
Attendance Policy
This class requires that everyone be present and actively engaged for it to run efficiently. If voices are missing from the discussion, it limits our ability to engage with new and differing perspectives. Subsequently, students are expected to attend all scheduled class meetings. Students who miss more than four (4) class meetings will lose 10 class citizenship points for each exceeding absence. Keep in mind that this category is 10% of the overall grade. Should you need to miss a class meeting, please inform your instructor ahead of time so that you can be provided with any materials/updates that you would otherwise miss.
E-mail Policy
I will only engage in e-mail communications from University email addresses. PLEASE do not send me e-mails from Yahoo, Gmail, or equivalent account providers. Please allow me 24 hours to respond to e-mail messages. I WILL NOT respond to e-mail received after 5pm on Friday afternoons until 8am the following Monday.
I am your instructor. Please refrain from the use of “text-speak” in e-mail communications with me. This helps to ensure that messages are clearly conveyed and that all involved parties stay on the same page.
I advise you to check your email at least twice a day to ensure that you stay current with any updates that concern this course. “I didn’t get the e-mail” is not a legitimate excuse.
Technology Policy
Modern advances in digital technologies greatly enhance what we are able to accomplish in the classroom learning community. With this in mind, the use of technology for academic purposes is wholly permitted by this course. This DOES NOT mean that technology is needed for every aspect of this course. Non-academic use of technology, or use of technology when it is irrelevant to the tasks we are performing, is not permitted. If you are caught using technology irresponsibly in this course (i.e. texting, Facebook, etc.) you will lose all participation points for that course meeting. You may or may not be warned by your instructor when this occurs because, as adults, you are expected to be wholly aware of your behavior in the classroom. Some class activities may require the use of technology and, in these cases, you will be informed ahead of time. Provisions will be made to ensure equal accessibility in instances where use of technology is necessary.
Class Citizenship
Being engaged with this class does not simply mean attending; it means being a part of a developing and connected learning community that respectfully allows for the expression of opinions without fear of their reception. This classroom will ALWAYS be a safe space for student voices, and aggressive or discriminatory behavior will in NO WAY be tolerated. Violations will be taken seriously, and may result in removal from the course or other disciplinary action. Students are to respect the views of their peers regardless of differences of opinion, as considering the perspectives of others is a vital aspect of the learning process.
ADA Statement
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Inclement Weather Statement
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