Communication 307 Spring 2014
Communication in Professional Settings
Instructor: Billy Fallon
Schedule Number: 20841
Classroom: Communication 206
Meeting Time: Tuesdays 7:00 p.m. – 9:40 p.m.
Office: Communication 233
Email: speaking@billyfallon.com (preferred method of contact)
Phone: (858) 576-4908 (for emergencies only)
Office Hour: Tuesdays 6:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m., or by appointment
Welcome to Communication in Professional Settings! This class is designed to help you
understand and explore the many ways communication theory applies to workplace
situations. Moreover, it is designed to help you explore your entrance into (or progression
through) the working world, where you might fit in, and how to survive once you’re there.
Areas of exploration will include oral presentations, interviewing, and meeting
management. Each of you will take something away from this course that will have
lasting benefit for your future. Whatever it may be, I encourage you to start this course
with a personal, academic, or professional goal in mind. If you do this, you will put more
into the course, take more away from the course, and probably end up with a better grade
as well, because you’ll be here to learn something for yourself.
Objectives
By completing this course, you will learn to…
1. chair, facilitate, and record a business meeting
2. refine your presentation skills in prepared and impromptu situations
3. assess your writing ability as it relates to grammar, punctuation, and spelling
4. develop communicative sensitivity to others based on culture, gender, and age
5. apply ethical standards to professional dilemmas
6. respond professionally to uncomfortable situations in the workplace
Required Materials
Text
Adler, R. B., Elmhorst, J.M., & Lucas, K. (2013). Communicating at work: Strategies for
success in business and the professions (11th Ed.).New York: McGraw-Hill.
Special Note Regarding Exams
Exams in this class will not be returned. You may review your exams in my office during
office hours. All exams will be destroyed at the end of the following semester.
Course Expectations
This class is a laboratory for you to experiment with communication in professional
contexts. You are expected to apply what you learn this semester to your verbal,
nonverbal, and written communication in this class. In other words, your communication
in this class should reflect your ability to communicate on the job. This includes, but is
not limited to: attending class regularly and on time; treating each other with the level of
respect demanded in corporate America; participating in discussions and meetings; using
email appropriately; and exercising the communication skills you have learned prior to
this class.
I will not lecture on the readings. I expect some discussion of the readings, but the
focus of class discussion will be driven by your questions, experiences, and interests.
Policies
I adhere strictly to the policies set forth by the university regarding nondiscrimination and
plagiarism. The academic policy is included at the end of this syllabus.
Students with disabilities are encouraged to contact me at the beginning of the semester
to facilitate learning and/or testing accommodations. Confidentiality is assured.
Attendance: I take attendance. You are allowed one unexcused absence. Subsequent
unexcused absences will significantly and adversely affect your participation grade.
Excused absences require written verification.
Participation: Your participation in this class will determine 10% of your total grade.
Participation points are determined as follows: Regular attendance will earn you 75 of
100 points; regular attendance and consistent contributions to class discussion will earn
you 90 of 100 points; regular attendance and consistent, meaningful contributions to class
discussions will earn you 100 of 100 points (meaningful contributions are generally
reactions to what you have read in the chapter, or how the topic relates to your own
experience).
Written Work: Written work is to be submitted via Blackboard. Grammar, punctuation,
and spelling count! Mistakes in grammar, punctuation, or spelling will result in lost
points on a graduated basis as follows: 1 point for the first mistake, 2 points for the
second mistake, etc. (e.g. five mistakes on a paper will result in a loss of 15 points).
Assignments
Vision, Values, & Goals
1. Write a 3 page report describing your vision for your life for the next five years,
the personal values (guiding principles) by which you will live your life, and the
goals that will enable you to realize your vision. Your statement of goals should
focus on the professional aspect of your life: career, financial, material, social, etc.
However, feel free to include spiritual, health, and personal goals. Your goals
should include a sufficient level of detail to explain how you will realize your
vision.
2. Be prepared to give a 2-3 minute presentation describing your vision, values, and
goals. Include in your presentation what you learned about yourself in this
assignment.
Business Memo
This written assignment is designed to give you practice communicating with your
business colleagues in writing. This assignment includes three parts:
1. Choose a topic from the text.
2. Following the guidelines in Appendix III of your textbook, compose the memo
explaining to your colleagues why your topic is the most/least important part of
the book. Encourage your colleagues to pay particular attention to, or ignore that
particular part of the book.
3. Turn a copy of your memo into me.
Topic Expansion
This assignment is designed for you to go beyond what is presented in the text and to
share your knowledge with the class.
1. Find a topic within the assigned readings that is of interest to you (look at pages
xiv-xviii of your textbook for ideas).
2. Clear your topic with me.
3. Do additional research on the topic, finding information that is not in the text.
4. Conduct a 5-10 minute guest lecture in class. You may use media (video,
PowerPoint, etc.) to illustrate your information. Schedule your guest lecture by
February 11th.
Peer Evaluations
This assignment is designed for you to evaluate and give feedback to your colleagues
about their presentations. You will be provided a grading sheet, and you will be expected
to evaluate your colleagues’ Topic Expansion presentations. Furthermore, you will be
expected to ask questions at the conclusion of the students’ presentations.
Examinations
The Oral, Midterm, and Final exams will emphasize knowledge and mastery of course
materials through multiple choice questions, short answer essays and verbal interaction.
Exam items will be based on readings, class discussions, and group presentations. The
Final Exam is comprehensive.
Informational Interviews
This written and oral assignment will help you gain valuable information about your
future career. Contacts made for this assignment could become leads for future jobs
and/or internships. Many former students have been hired as a direct result of these
interviews. Utilize the knowledge you have gained in the first two written assignments to
project a professional image and gain valuable information. Be sure to collect business
cards and write Thank You notes!
1. Locate interviewees and schedule interviews. You will need to locate people
who are currently employed in the profession(s) you think you might like to
pursue. The purpose of the interview is to find out as much as you can about the
industry and if it is well suited to your vision, values, and goals. Remember, the
first contact sets the stage for the impression you project to that organization. You
may not interview family members!
2. Conduct the interviews. Approach each of these interviews as if you were
applying for a job. Consider carefully the image you want to project in both dress
and personality. A list of possible interview questions is posted on Blackboard.
3. Write a brief report. In this 3 page report, include a 1- 3 paragraph summary of
each interview. The summary must include the person’s name, title/position,
company, and a description of the most important things you learned from your
interview. This part of the paper will be evaluated on the clarity with which you
communicate what you have learned.
4. Share what you learned with the class. In this 3-5 minute informative
presentation, give your audience the most interesting information about the
industry or field. This is your opportunity to share with the rest of the class what
you learned and for you to learn about other fields from them. If you asked good
interview questions, you should have a sufficient amount of good information. Do
not give us a line by line recount of your interview; summarize and pull out the
most interesting information. Creativity in your presentation is encouraged.
Meeting Minutes
You will have several short meetings with your group throughout the semester. As a
group you will discuss the chapter for the week. You will each take turns keeping the
minutes of the meeting. You will submit the minutes of your group meeting for a grade.
GRADING
Course Assignments
Point Value
Participation
100
Oral Exams (2 x 25 pts)
50
Topic Expansion
100
Midterm
150
Final
150
Vision, Values & Goals
100 (50 paper/50 presentation)
Business Memo
50
Informational Interviews
150 (50 paper/100 presentation)
Peer Evaluations (2 x 50 pts)
100
Meeting Minutes
50
Total Possible Points
1000
GRADING SCALE
Points
Grade
> 929
900-929
A
A-
870-899
830-869
800-829
B+
B
B-
770-799
730-769
700-729
C+
C
C-
670-699
630-669
600-629
D+
D
D-
< 600
F
Schedule and Agenda for Class Meetings
Subject to change as needed
Date
Jan 28
Feb 4
Feb 11
Feb 18
Feb 25
Mar 4
Mar 11
Mar 18
Mar 25
Apr 1
Apr 8
Apr 15
Apr 22
Apr 29
May 6
May 13
Discussion Topics / Activities / Presentations
Class Introductions, Class Policies
Oral Exams; Ethics; Networking; Elevator
Speeches; Delivery Review
Oral Exams; Listening; Visions, Values, Goals
Presentations
Oral Exams; Verbal & Nonverbal Messages;
Gender; Visions, Values, Goals Presentations
Oral Exams; Leading and Working in Teams;
Topic Expansions
Oral Exams; Effective Meetings; Problemsolving; Topic Expansions
Oral Exams; Interpersonal Strategies & Skills;
Conflict Management; Sexual harassment;
Topic Expansions
Oral Exams; Interviewing; Topic Expansions
Midterm Exam
SPRING BREAK
Oral Exams; Visual Aids (Ch 10); Q&A (Ch
11); Topic Expansions
Oral Exams; Business Presentations; Topic
Expansions
Interview Presentations; Topic Expansions
Interview Presentations; Topic Expansions
Oral Exams; Culture; Topic Expansions
FINAL EXAM
Reading Assignments Due
Ch 1
Ch 3
VVG Paper
Ch 4
Ch 7
Ch 8
Ch 5
Ch 6
Ch 10 &
11
Ch 12
Interview Paper
Ch 2
PLAGIARISM
Plagiarism is one of the highest forms of academic offense. It represents several ethics violations.
It is theft of intellectual property. In academe, a scholar’s words, ideas, and creative products
represent essential intellectual property, which are the primary measures of scholarly identity,
status and achievement. It is fraud. Students should be assessed on their own ideas and abilities;
not the ideas and abilities of others. It is unfair. It introduces bias and inequity in the assessment
process, producing grades for fellow students based on disadvantaged standards and
expectations. It is corruption. It undermines the credibility of higher education by
misrepresenting the meaning of university grades and degrees to the rest of the public. Whether
by ignorance, accident, or intent, theft is still theft, fraud is still fraud, inequity is still inequity,
and corruption is still corruption. Therefore, the offense, no matter how minor in quantity, is still
serious, and is treated as such.
The 2008-2009 SDSU Graduate Bulletin policy1 states:
Plagiarism is formal work publicly misrepresented as original; …. Work shall be
deemed plagiarism: (1) when prior work of another has been demonstrated as the
accessible source; (2) when substantial or material parts of the source have been
literally or evasively appropriated (substance denoting quantity; matter denoting
qualitative format or style); and (3) when the work lacks sufficient or
unequivocal citation so as to indicate or imply that the work was neither a copy
nor an imitation. This definition comprises oral, written, and crafted pieces. In
short, if one purports to present an original piece but copies ideas word for word
or by paraphrase, those ideas should be duly noted. (Lindey, 1952, Plagiarism
and Originality)
The 2008-2009 Graduate Bulletin continues by stating:
San Diego State University is a publicly assisted institution legislatively
empowered to certify competence and accomplishment in general and discrete
categories of knowledge. The president and faculty of this university are
therefore obligated not only to society at large but to the citizenry of the State of
California to guarantee honest and substantive knowledge in those to whom they
assign grades and whom they recommend for degrees. Wittingly or willfully to
ignore or to allow students’ ascription of others’ work to themselves is to
condone dishonesty, to deny the purpose of formal education, and to fail the
public trust.
One of the primary objectives of higher education is to advance humanity by increasing and
refining knowledge. Such an objective is therefore threatened by students who commit plagiarism,
in which the evidence of the student’s knowledge is not genuine. Given the gravity of the offense,
students suspected or accused of disregarding, concealing, aiding, or committing plagiarism must
be assured of thorough, impartial and conclusive investigation of any such accusation. Likewise,
students guilty of such an offense must be liable for an appropriate penalty, even severance from
the University and in some cases revocation of an advanced degree, should the demonstrated
plagiarism clearly call into question a student’s academic ethics, competence or accomplishments.
1
San Diego State University Graduate Bulletin, 2008-2009, p. 35.
THE ACADEMIC DISHONESTY POLICY OF
THE SCHOOL OF COMMUNICATION
In any case in which an instructor identifies evidence for charging a student with violation of
academic conduct standards or plagiarism, the presumption will be with that instructor’s
determination. The instructor(s) will confer with the School Director to confirm the evidence.
Once confirmed, the student will be informed and presented with the evidence. Some conditions
and terms below clarify the School policy and procedure.
Proper source attribution: Proper attribution occurs by specifying the source of content or ideas.
This is done by (a) providing quotation marks around text, when directly quoted, and (b) clearly
designating the source of the text or information relied upon in an assignment.
Intellectual contents: Intellectual contents include all forms of ‘text’ produced by another person
or persons. It includes: writings, course syllabi, course lectures and recordings of lectures, visual
information such as models, videos, lyrics, software, etc.
Secondary citations: Secondary citation is not strictly a form of plagiarism, but in blatant forms, it
can present similar ethical challenges. A secondary citation is citing source A, which in turn cites
source B, but it is source B’s ideas or content that provide the basis for the claims the student
intends to make in the assignment. For example, assume that there is an article by Jones (2006) in
the student’s hands, in which there is a discussion or quotation of an article by Smith (1998).
Assume further that what Smith seems to be saying is very important to the student’s analysis. In
such a situation, the student should always try to locate the original Smith source. In general, if an
idea is important enough to discuss in an assignment, it is important enough to locate and cite the
original source for that idea. There are several reasons for these policies: (a) Authors sometimes
commit citation errors, which might be replicated without knowing it; (b) Authors sometimes make
interpretation errors, which might be ignorantly reinforced (c) Therefore, reliability of scholarly
activity is made more difficult to assure and enforce; (d) By relying on only a few sources of review,
the learning process is short-circuited, and the student’s own research competencies are diminished,
which are integral to any liberal education; (e) By masking the actual sources of ideas, readers must
second guess which sources come from which citations, making the readers’ own research more
difficult; (f) By masking the origin of the information, the actual source of ideas is misrepresented.
Some suggestions that assist with this principle:
 When the ideas Jones discusses are clearly attributed to, or unique to, Smith, then find the
Smith source and citation.
 When the ideas Jones is discussing are historically associated more with Smith than with
Jones, then find the Smith source and citation.
 In contrast, Jones is sometimes merely using Smith to back up what Jones is saying and
believes, and is independently qualified to claim, whether or not Smith would have also
said it; in such a case, citing Jones is sufficient.
 Never simply copy a series of citations at the end of a statement by Jones, and reproduce
the reference list without actually going to look up what those references report—the only
guarantee that claims are valid is for a student to read the original sources of those claims.
Self-plagiarism: Students often practice some form of ‘double-dipping,’ in which they write on a
given topic across more than one course assignment. In general, there is nothing wrong with
double-dipping topics or sources, but there is a problem with double-dipping exact and redundant
text. It is common for scholars to write on the same topic across many publication outlets; this is
part of developing expertise and the reputation of being a scholar on a topic. Scholars, however, are
not permitted to repeat exact text across papers or publications except when noted and attributed, as
this wastes precious intellectual space with repetition and does a disservice to the particular source
of original presentation by ‘diluting’ the value of the original presentation. Any time that a writer
simply ‘cuts-and-pastes’ exact text from former papers into a new paper without proper attribution,
it is a form of self-plagiarism. Consequently, a given paper should never be turned in to multiple
classes. Entire paragraphs, or even sentences, should not be repeated word-for-word across course
assignments. Each new writing assignment is precisely that, a new writing assignment, requiring
new composition on the student’s part.
Specific exemplary infractions and consequences:
 Course failure: Reproducing a whole paper, paragraph, or large portions of unattributed
materials without proper attribution, whether represented by: (a) multiple sentences, images,
or portions of images; or (b) by percentage of assignment length, will result in assignment
of an “F” in the course in which the infraction occurred, and a report to the Center for
Student Rights and Responsibilities (CSRR2).
 Assignment failure: Reproducing a sentence or sentence fragment with no quotation
marks, but with source citation, or subsets of visual images without source attribution, will
minimally result in an “F” on the assignment, and may result in greater penalty, including a
report to the CSRR, depending factors noted below.
 Exacerbating conditions--Amount: Evidence of infraction, even if fragmentary, is
increased with a greater: (a) number of infractions; (b) distribution of infractions across an
assignment; or (c) proportion of the assignment consisting of infractions.
 Exacerbating conditions--Intent: Evidence of foreknowledge and intent to deceive
magnifies the seriousness of the offense and the grounds for official response. Plagiarism,
whether ‘by accident’ or ‘by ignorance,’ still qualifies as plagiarism—it is all students’
responsibility to make sure their assignments are not committing the offense.
 Exceptions: Any exceptions to these policies will be considered on a case-by-case basis,
and only under exceptional circumstances.
Additional Stipulations for Graduate Students & GTAs: If, following a review with a
Communication graduate student, a faculty member and School Director determine academic
dishonesty has occurred, the evidence will be submitted to the Center of Student Rights and
Responsibilities (CSRR). The report “identifies the student who was found responsible, the
general nature of the offense, the action taken, and a recommendation as to whether or not
additional action should be considered by the campus judicial affairs office” (CSRR Website2).
The student will be permitted to continue as a student in the Communication graduate program
and as a Teaching Associate (if so assigned), until such time as CSRR due process has taken its
course. If CSRR rules in favor of the student, the student’s status in the program will continue. If
due process rules against the student, then the student will immediately be dropped from all
classes in the Communication graduate program and any Teaching Associate position in the
School will be terminated. Graduate students may voluntarily withdraw from classes and
Teaching Associate duties when charges are brought forward. The School’s Director must be
notified in writing. Students who voluntarily withdraw, notify the director in a timely manner,
and who are subsequently found not guilty of plagiarism may be reinstated without prejudice at
the start of the next semester.
SafeAssign: In most classes, major writing assignments will be turned in to SafeAssign via
Blackboard. Faculty may use additional methods to detect plagiarism.
2
http://csrr.sdsu.edu/academics1.html