Note to Instructors
The authors have developed several items in this section that we believe will be helpful to
you as you teach this course.
Student Tests. If our experience is any guide, students either don’t read the text or do so
superficially. The tests are designed to force them into the text and search for the
answers. Some, such as the open ended questions, require some thought on their part.
Others are a bit tricky unless they’ve read carefully. And others have deliberately obvious
answers merely to reinforce basic concepts they should remember. Tests may be printed
out and distributed as hard copy, or sent via e-mail for students to complete and return.
We suggest giving out the tests a week before that particular chapter is scheduled to be
covered, then making them due on that date. You can assign whatever weighting you
prefer to questions, resulting in a percentage grade which is easy to compute at the end of
the term or semester. In terms of weight toward the final course grade, 10% to 15%
seems about right. Enough to ensure they’ll do the exercises, yet not too much that they’ll
wind up with an inflated grade at the end.
Answer Keys. The test answers, with page references for ease of grading and copy from
the text and comments that can be used as talking points.
Lecture Notes. Annotated versions of the discussion questions at the end of each chapter
and the chapter exercises. You can, of course, add your own comments or disagree with
some of our conclusions.
Student Resources. Take a look at what we’ve put in the student resources. The chapter
Overviews carry a section entitled “Before Beginning” which sets the tone of the chapter
and urges students to start reading newspapers, watching television news and paying
attention to the world around them. “Lead Elements” shows how various elements can be
featured in leads. “Rules on Apostrophes” deals with a basic grammatical rule so that you
don’t have to. “Writing Leads” offers tips for print, broadcast and public relations leads
that foreshadows more detailed information in the relevant book chapters. We’ve also
added what we call a “Business Primer,” which explains the Dow Jones Industrial
Average, the Federal Reserve and the World Trade Organization, and provides
definitions of some common economic terms. If you use a current events quiz in class,
end with a standard “At what did the Dow close on Friday? Was it up or down for the
week and why?” This writer used to make that one of ten questions, and students knew it
was going to be on the quiz. It was a way to force them into reading the business pages,
although many balked.
Questions or comments. E-mail us at dcotrowhitaker@hotmail.com. We hope you and
your students enjoy our book.
W. Richard Whitaker
© Routledge/Taylor & Francis 2012
Janet E. Ramsey
Ronald D. Smith