MIS 396 W Reporting Techniques Spring 2016 Instructor: John M. Penrose Email: John.penrose@sdsu.edu Voice/Message: 619.594.4759 Office: SSE 3126 (north end of building) Office Hours: Tuesday and Thursday, 2:15-3:45 Sections: 22156, 7, and 8 Classroom: AH 3150/ ssw 25122 Units: 3 T/Th 12:30-1:45 (T at 4, Th at 4) Department office: SS 2411 Course Description: In this class, you'll learn concepts and develop advanced skills in both written and oral reporting for business. You'll be able to apply these skills immediately in your other classes as well as in your work. These communication skills are ones business executives repeatedly identify as the most important factor in their success. Learning Objectives: Upon successful completion of the course, you will be able to: 1. Learn the essentials of organizing business messages. 2. Gather primary information and interpret it effectively. 3. Prepare short documents for business such as instructions, proposals, and policy and procedure statements. 4. Prepare a substantial analytical report using both primary and secondary research and supported with suitable graphics. 5. Deliver individual and team oral business presentations using appropriate visual support. 6. Design effective visual support for written and oral business presentations. Required Texts and Readings: Kuiper, Shirley. Contemporary Business Report Writing, 5th Edition. Cincinnati, OH: South-Western College Publishing, 2013. Penrose, Rasberry, and Myers. Communication for Managers, 5th Edition, 2004. Penrose, class materials, available in Aztec Shops. Tufte, Edward. The Cognitive Style of PowerPoint, 2d Edition. Course design: lecture, discussion, experiential exercises, exams. Course conduct: on-time attendance is expected at each class; assignments will be collected in class; students are expected to be prepared for each class by having read assignments, prepared homework, and so on. Grading: All your work and the final course grade will be evaluated on a performance scale rather than a curve. Tests are based on both your knowledge about writing concepts and your application of these concepts to a variety of writing and speaking assignments. These assignments are ones you are likely to encounter both in the workplace and in your upper division work in business. The following list shows the weighting of various components in your final grade. MIS 396W Syllabus 2 Written assignments 35% Topic proposal (10) Analytical report (25) Oral presentations Individual (20) Team (15) 35% Visual support project 15% Mid-term exam 15% Grading Scale: Cutoffs: A+ = 99 A = 95 A- = 91 B+ = 88 B = 85 B- = 81 C+ = 78 C = 75 C- = 71 D+ = 68 D = 65 D- = 61 Attempted F = 50 Unattempted F = 0 90 80 70 60 "W" Credit: In order to clear the Upper Division Writing Requirement with this class you must have met the following prerequisites before enrolling. Completed the Writing Proficiency Assessment or Transfer Writing Assessment with a score of 8 or higher or earned a C or higher in RWS 95, RWS 96, RWS 280, RWS 281, or LING 281 Completed 60 units (or will complete this semester) Completed the General Education requirements in Composition and Critical Thinking Academic Honesty Policy: You are expected to comply with all university sanctions against cheating, plagiarism, and other forms of academic dishonesty and unethical conduct. While you’ll find cheating and plagiarism defined more fully at http://its.sdsu.edu/resources/turnitin/pdf/Plagiarism_AcadSen.pdf, here are important parts of the discussion: MIS 396W Syllabus 3 “Plagiarism shall be defined as the act of incorporating ideas, words, or specific substance of another, whether purchased, borrowed, or otherwise obtained, and submitting same to the University as one’s own work to fulfill academic requirements without giving credit to the appropriate source. Plagiarism shall include but not be limited to (a) submitting work, either in part or in whole, completed by another; (b) omitting footnotes for ideas, statements, facts, or conclusions that belong to another; (c) omitting quotation marks when quoting directly from another, whether it be a paragraph, sentence, or part thereof; (d) close and lengthy paraphrasing of the writings of another; (e) submitting another person’s artistic works, such as musical compositions, photographs, paintings, drawings, or sculptures; and (f) submitting as one’s own work papers purchased from research companies.” Lateness Policy: Out-of-class assignments turned in late will only be accepted one class period late and then with a late penalty applied. Missed in-class assignments and exams cannot be made up without prior arrangement with the instructor. Only severe illness or other grave circumstances will be considered valid reasons for allowing make-up work. Electronic Devices Policy: As both a courtesy to all and a way to keep your focus solely on the class activities, please turn off all cell phones, iPods, and other electronic devices. If there is some extraordinary reason why you must have an electronic device on, please see me. No devices will be permitted during tests. Reminder: These are the goals the College of Business Administration has set for all our undergraduate students: BSBA students will graduate being Effective Communicators, Critical Thinkers, Able to Analyze Ethical Problems, Global in the Perspective, and Knowledgeable about the Essentials of Business. This class contributes to these goals through its learning outcomes. Class Schedule: While the following class schedule gives you an idea of the material to be covered and exam dates intended, you are responsible for any changes as announced in class or by email. Students with disability: If you are a student with a disability and believe you will need accommodations for this class, it is your responsibility to contact Student Disability Services at (619) 594-6473. To avoid any delay in the receipt of your accommodations, you should contact Student Disability Services as soon as possible. Please note that accommodations are not retroactive, and that I cannot provide accommodations based upon disability until I have received an accommodation letter from Student Disability Services. Your cooperation is appreciated. IDS 396W Syllabus 4 MIS 396W Class Schedule – Spring 2016 Date January February March April May Topic 21 26 28 2 Course Overview Writing Style Introductions; topic selections Visual support 4 9 11 16 18 23 25 1 3 8 10 15 17 22 24 5 Visual support Visual support Writing proposals Making oral presentations In-class writing assignment: proposal Using PowerPoint; return proposals Making effective oral presentations Making effective oral presentations Individual oral presentations Individual oral presentations Individual oral presentations Individual oral presentations Individual oral presentations Doing library research (meet in library) Mid-term examination Formal analytical report components Assignment Class materials Class materials, K4 P3, K5 P4 & 8 Visual support project due Proposal Tufte P11, K 9 K 11, 12, 13 Exam 7 Writing the analytical report (researching, editing, and documenting) 12 Organizing the analytical report 14 Writing the analytical report (analyzing) Writing the abstract 19 Team presentations 21 Team presentations 26 Team presentations 28 Team presentations 3 Discussion of analytical report 5 Grade and final exam discussion K 14; P 9 12 Final exam 10:30 a.m. Final exam K 15 K16 Analytical report K=Kuiper, P= Penrose, Tufte= Tufte booklet