Course Description

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Instructor and Course Information

English 420Y, Business Writing Online
Jeremy Tirrell and Ryan Weber
Section: 02 and 04
Office: Heavilon 207 (Tirrell) and 414 (Weber)
E-Mail: jtirrell@purdue.edu and rpweber@purdue.edu

Overview

English 420 teaches students the rhetorical principles and writing practices necessary for producing effective business letters, memos, reports, and collaborative projects in professional contexts. The curriculum is informed by current research in rhetoric and professional writing and is guided by the needs and practices of business, industry, and society at large, as well as by the expectations of Purdue students and programs. All sections of English 420 are offered in networked computer classrooms to ensure that students taking the course are prepared for the writing environment of the 21st-century workplace. The course teaches the rhetorical principles that help students shape their business writing ethically, for multiple audiences, in a variety of professional situations.

This course attempts to find a middle space between the daily assignments, F2F discussion, and interaction of an onsite course and the self-pacing students may expect of distance education courses. This course comprises three major projects. Keep in mind that this course is not completely self-paced, but students can work ahead on a several assignments and, ultimately, can have more flexibility and responsibility within the course structure. See below for a more detailed description of the projects and self-pacing.

Required Texts

  • Thomson Handbook CoverThe Thomson Handbook (Comprehensive Edition), by David Blakesley and Jeffrey L. Hoogeveen. Boston: Thomson/Wadsworth, 2008. This book is available at local bookstores and may also be purchased online (e.g., through Amazon, here). You can buy the hardcover or paperback versions. This text provides essential information, examples, and principles for effective business writing. We will be reading and discussing chapters from Parts 2 through 7. Other chapters in the book will be useful for reference purposes. You may be interested in watching this short Flash presentation about the book's resources.
  • All other course readings will be provided on the course site or via links to sources off-site.

Course Goals

Writing in Context
Analyze professional cultures, social contexts, and audiences to determine how they shape the various purposes and forms of workplace writing, such as persuasion, organizational communication, and public discourse, with an emphasis on

  • writing for general audiences and decision makers
  • understanding the ethical dimensions of workplace communication

Writing Process
Develop and understand various strategies for planning, researching, drafting, revising, and editing documents that respond effectively and ethically to professional situations and audiences.

Collaboration
Learn and apply strategies for successful collaboration, such as

  • working and communicating online with colleagues
  • setting and achieving project goals
  • responding constructively to peers' work
  • working as part of a writing team and/or with a client organization

Research
Understand and use various research methods to produce professional documents

  • analyzing professional contexts
  • assessing and using information resources
  • using primary research methods such as interviews, observations, focus groups, and surveys to collect data
  • working ethically with research participants

Technology
Select technologies appropriate to the generic conventions of various types of workplace communication, including email, memos, letters, reports, online documents, and white papers.

Document Design
Learning the generic conventions of the design of workplace documents including

  • understanding and implementing various principles of format and layout
  • interpreting and arguing with visual information.

Projects and Self-Pacing

This section of 420Y finds the half-way point between the course goals of improving your writing process and collaboration skills while also meeting your expectations as a distance education student. There will be project due dates, and on other days you will be reading, conducting peer review, and working on your projects. You should be responsible and flexible in completing each week's work since you have some, but not complete, freedom to pace yourself. The course moves quickly and often requires students to work on multiple project at the same time, so students are expected to multi-task.

The course is broken down into three major projects. Here are some guidelines to help you understand how self-pacing, peer review, and collaboration will work:

  • Students may work ahead on reading responses.
  • Students or groups may work ahead within each project, but only within that project, and they must submit peer reviews in a timely manner, when due.
  • Students or groups can not work ahead on peer reviews. Begin reviewing and responding on the day that drafts are due.
  • In group work, each student must maintain contact with other group members. Check your email daily, and use your course group space effectively.
  • Reading responses, comments, and give-and take in the blogs must be submitted weekly. The requirement is that you submit one reading response per week and that you write five (5) follow-up responses per week to blog posts submitted by your peers.

Course Projects and Activities

1. Employment Project

You will be asked to locate a job for which you are qualified and apply for it. Step 1 of the project asks you to learn about and use various web-based resources for job seekers and ultimately to select one job to pursue. Step 2 asks you to prepare a resume suitable for such a position. Step 3 asks you to prepare the all-important "Job Application Letter." In Step 4, you will assess your experience in a "Project Assessment Document." In the process of completing each step, you will work closely with your peers and your instructor to shape your writing so that it represents you and your experience fully and effectively, given the rhetorical circumstances. You will also study and respond to examples from the textbook. (Individual; 20% of course grade.)

2. Corporate Communication Project

Students will read articles about JetBlue's crisis and visit the page of The JetBlue Customer Bill of Rights, JetBlue's official response. After reading and analyzing this material, students will write a press release to the general public and a letter to JetBlue customers. After completing these documents, students will analyze the official JetBlue communication in comparison to their own rhetorical strategies. (Individual; 20% of course grade.)

3. Client-Based Service Learning Project

For Project 3, you will work collaboratively in project teams on a client-based service-learning project that teaches you to manage complex writing challenges in real contexts that matter. You will learn principles of project management, collaboration, document cycling, and client-based research. Because you will work with real clients--either in the community or online, you will also learn important principles of professional and ethical communication. (Collaborative; 20% of course grade).

Weblogs

Much of your writing for this class will be posted publicly on the Internet to your individual weblog or our community weblog home page. Weblog posting assignments will include drafts, project logs, and research notes, among others. See posting to your weblog for more information. The calendar specifies what you should post to your weblog and by when, so let that be your guide.

Reading Responses

Although we may have many readings each week, you are responsible for writing one, 300-word blog post. The reading responses will function to synthesize the readings and your reactions to them, much like class discussion. Please refer to guidelines on how to post a reading response.

Comments and Replies

You are required to post five (5) comment replies (e.g., follow-up responses) each week to the posts of your fellow students (such as their reading responses) in keeping with the principles for comments and replies. Comments on instructor blogs and peer editing posts do not count towards this total. Each comment should be, at minimum, 100 words.

All comments and replies to another's blog post should follow effective rhetorical strategies for networking with others on the Web. (Readings from the course text provide guidelines to follow.)

  • Keep threads alive and relevant.
  • Follow-up comments with further discussion.
  • Think of your comments and replies as part of a lively class discussion in which everyone participates.

Our activity online substitutes for in-person discussion in interesting (and sometimes deeper) ways. Of course, you are always welcome, and encouraged, to post beyond these minimum requirements. Participating beyond the minimum requirements can improve your participation grade for this course. The course calendar includes reminders about meeting this ongoing obligation for participating in class discussion.

The format and focus of your weblog comments and replies is described fully in these Guidelines for Posting Comments and Replies. Please bear in mind that your online interaction is the glue that holds the course together, makes collobaration possible, and helps you achieve the course goals. For these reasons--and because we are not meeting F2F--your engagement in these online discussions will require serious and consistent attention throughout the course. It won't be possible to make up missed postings later since the discussion will have already moved on.

Grading

Employment Project

20

Corporate Communication Project

20

Client-Based Service Learning Project (collaborative)

20

Participation (Weblogs, Reading Responses, Project Logs, etc.)

40

Total

100%

The three major projects in the course comprise several components, each of which will be worth a percentage of your final grade. For the collaborative project, students will complete the required Collaborative Evaluation Form.

All major assignments will be graded on the standard letter-grade scale: A=100-90 B=89-80 C=79-70 D=69-60 F=59 or below.

Students must participate in all of the three major projects and complete a majority of the required weblog posting assignments in order to pass this class.

Grading criteria for each project are provided on the corresponding project page and by the instructor. However, as a general rule, projects will not receive an A unless they meet a professional standard and could realistically function in a professional environment. Projects should be as good as the professional examples provided for students. Though this is a high standard, English 420Y is a course designed to prepare students for the professional workplace. Many students will be entering the workplace within the next year or two, and will be expected to write at a professional level. This course aims to help students meet that expectation.

Participation (Weblogs, Reading Responses, Project Logs, etc.)

This portion of your grade will be based on

  • How well you implement the guidelines and best practices for posting comments and creating reading responses, as presented on our course site and discussed in the textbook.
  • The degree to which your your peer reviews and responses offer insightful feedback and suggestions on your classmates' drafts.
  • The degree to which your reading responses and comment posts demonstrate learning of the course content.
  • The degree to which your reading responses and comment posts engage with and contribute to the learning of others in the course.

Technology Requirements

In order to participate fully in the course, the following the following technologies are recommended:

  • A personal computer running Mac OS X, Windows XP, or Windows Vista operating system
  • Microsoft Office (Word and PowerPoint) or Mac Office (Word) and Keynote
  • Web Browser (e.g., Firefox, Safari, Netscape Communicator, or Internet Explorer)
  • Email Program (e.g., Purdue Webmail, Outlook, Eudora, Thunderbird, Gmail, etc.)

Comparable proprietary or open source software may also be used.

Technology Responsibilities

Because the exchange of information and documents in this class will be entirely electronic, familiarity with certain technologies is crucial for participation and success in the course. If you need any assistance now or at any point during the semester, please do not hesitate to ask. During the semester, you'll need daily access to the Internet and email. Because the course home page is the main locus of the class community, you are responsible for reading and keeping current with all weblog postings on the home page, including those submitted by both the instructor and your fellow students. You'll be responsible for configuring your system to access course materials, to read course email and participate in online discussions, and to submit your work. Very early in the semester, you will be asked to demonstrate that you can meet these responsibilities:

  • Register for the course website and complete your profile information.
  • Post a message about yourself and your interests
  • Read the course description and calendar, then ask questions when you are uncertain about requirements or activities.
  • Set up your @purdue.edu email or an alternative that you can access regularly and reliably
  • Become proficient sending and receiving email attachments, resolving file compatibility issues, and following email decorum.
  • Check the course calendar daily for the timely completion of assignments.
  • Become proficient participating in the class Drupal space
  • Become more proficient with unfamiliar computer technologies and applications, such as the creation of PDF files.
  • Maintain back-up copies of all assignments via your home directory, disks, USB drives, or CDs.

If at any time you have problems accessing the Internet from home, you'll need to find a public lab or connection point. This is obviously a technology-intensive course, and not having sufficient access to required technology is not an acceptable excuse for failing to meet assignment requirements. If your Internet goes down, use another computer. If your computer breaks, use another computer. In other words, you are expected to find a way to complete the assignments on time. Because computer problems are a fact of life, always work to complete your assignments early and make frequent backups to multiple media.

There is the possibility that this course website, like any website, may suffer from an outage. Although the probability of this is low, students should be prepared for it by not waiting until the last moment to turn in work. If an extended outage occurs, arrangements will be made between instructors and students.

Because of the nature of this course, student work may be accessible to a wide audience through the Web. A student's grades, of course, never will be shared.

Collaborative Work

Collaborative work is a required component of the course. You and your project team members are responsible for updating one another and me about assignment development and progress. In addition, you also are responsible for negotiating together all aspects of your work, including planning, drafting, revising, file managing, and scheduling of assignments. When a collaborative project is assigned, you will receive guidelines for successful collaboration. Individual group members will complete Collaborative Evaluation Forms. For more information about good principles of collaboration, see the brochure, "Group Work and Collaborative Writing."

Attendance

Since this is an online course, your attendance at a physical location is not required. However, you will need to demonstrate active involvement in the course activities by keeping up with reading responses, project logs, and other coursework. You will also need to respond to course email promptly to ensure that good communication flows in all directions. More than one continuous week of absence from course activities is grounds for failure of the class. If you disappear for a few days here, another few days there, and some more later, then your final grade may be lowered, and you will likely see your class participation suffer and your collaboration fail. In addition, if you are frequently "absent" from the online discussions (i.e., you fail to post for several days at a time), your final grade may be lowered.

Academic Integrity

Purdue students and their instructors are expected to adhere to guidelines set forth by the Dean of Students in "Academic Integrity: A Guide for Students," which students are encouraged to read here:

http://www.purdue.edu/ODOS/osrr/integrity.htm

The preamble of this guide states the following: "Purdue University values intellectual integrity and the highest standards of academic conduct. To be prepared to meet societal needs as leaders and role models, students must be educated in an ethical learning environment that promotes a high standard of honor in scholastic work. Academic dishonesty undermines institutional integrity and threatens the academic fabric of Purdue University. Dishonesty is not an acceptable avenue to success. It diminishes the quality of a Purdue education, which is valued because of Purdue's high academic standards."

Academic dishonesty is defined as follows: "Purdue prohibits 'dishonesty in connection with any University activity. Cheating, plagiarism, or knowingly furnishing false information to the University are examples of dishonesty.' [University Regulations, Part V, Section III, B, 2, a] Furthermore, the University Senate has stipulated that 'the commitment of acts of cheating, lying, and deceit in any of their diverse forms (such as the use of substitutes for taking examinations, the use of illegal cribs, plagiarism, and copying during examinations) is dishonest and must not be tolerated. Moreover, knowingly to aid and abet, directly or indirectly, other parties in committing dishonest acts is in itself dishonest.'" [University Senate Document 72-18, December 15, 1972]

In addition to Purdue's policy, this course abides by the following clear rule: If any assignment includes another author's words, phrasing, or exact writing, and does not indicate that writing with quotation marks and appropriate citation, the assignment authors have committed plagiarism. This act will be considered plagiarism whether it is intentional or unintentional. All plagiarized assignments receive a zero for a grade. Additionally, plagiarism may result in referral to the dean of students and failure of the course.

If you have any questions about this policy, please ask.

In Case of a Campus Emergency

In the event of a major campus emergency, course requirements, deadlines and grading percentages are subject to changes that may be necessitated by a revised semester calendar or other circumstances. You can acquire updated information from the course website, by emailing me, or by contacting the English Department at 765-494-3740.

Late Work

The instructor will stick closely to the course calendar--it is important that you keep up. When possible, you may certainly complete assignments early, but you must complete them on time. Much of what you do for this class quickly leads to another assignment. And often, your postings and comments are part of a larger discussion that will not wait for you. It will also be difficult for you to do your part in group projects if you miss assigned deadlines. Thus, late assignments will be penalized at the instructor's discretion. If a serious and unavoidable problem arises, however, you should contact your instructor by email prior to the deadline to determine whether or not an extension for the work will or will not be granted. Late work will rarely, if ever, be accepted without prior approval.