Hawaii Pacific University
COM 3420 Business Communication Section ____
Semester and year, meeting times
Instructor: Name, contact information and other relevant information about the instructor.
Course description: Writing of business documents, including reports, letters, and memos required to
meet the needs of today’s competitive business world. Research and documentation skills are reviewed.
The course also includes units on teamwork, conflict management, interpersonal business
communication, and cultural communication, and requires individual and team oral presentations. This
course fulfills the General Education Upper Division Research and Writing Requirement.
Course prerequisite: WRI 1200
General Education Requirement: This course satisifies the requirement for an Upper Division
Research and Writing course for BSBA majors and for other majors whose programs of study permit
students to choose any upper-division research and writing course. (Check the requirements for your
specific degree program to determine whether the course can be used for this requirement by students
in your major).
General Education Student Learning Outcomes and the Five Themes: HPU’s general education
curriculum is focused around five themes. As an upper division research and writing course, this course
emphasizes the Communication Skills Theme and the Research and Epistemology theme and provides
students with opportunities to achieve the following related general education student learning
outcomes:
Written and oral communication and critical reasoning
Students will demonstrate critical reasoning in organizing thoughts, feelings, concepts, and information
for effective, clear, and accurate oral and written communication. (CS 4)
Students will use reasoning skills, such as identifying assumptions, considering multiple perspectives and
positions including one’s own, making inferences, and drawing conclusions, to advance an argument
supported by reasons and evidence. (R&E 4)
All writing assignments will be graded in part on organization and clarity. The research assignment will
be graded in part on critical thinking, organization, topic development, and style. The Mock Interview
and Business Presentation are oral presentations that are graded on the critical thinking that is entailed
in determining content and arrangement of ideas as well as the clarity and effectiveness of the
presentation
Information Literacy
Students will develop the information literacy needed to determine the validity of information sources
and apply these skills in communication environments. (CS 5)
Students will analyze the content, argument, and rhetoric of sources; evaluate the credibility, reliability
and validity of sources; consider the influence of contexts. (R&E 3)
The Mock Interview and Business Presentation are graded, in part, on the appropriate use of supporting
materials. The research assignment will be graded, in large part, on the selection and use of research
materials. The memos are graded primarily on successful selection and citation of sources to support the
students’ arguments
Performing Research
Students will identify a research question or problem, gather and organize relevant information, apply
appropriate problem-solving strategies, and communicate the results to others. (R&E 2)
Students will utilize methods and technologies appropriate to the discipline to investigate research
questions, generate predictions, test hypotheses and/or solve problems. (R&E 7)
Achieving these outcomes is the primary objective of the Business Presentation (oral communication)
and the research assignment(s) (written). The Business Presentation asks students to select a business
related problem (i.e., marketing a product), research and gather relevant information, devise a strategy
to address the problem, and present their report to the class. The research assignment is similar in
components, except that it is a written report based on a research question that may be theoretical or
general, rather than applied.
Remember that all UDRW courses must meet the following four requirements. This information does not
need to appear on the syllabus but is a checklist for instructors in planning the course syllabus.
1. These courses should require students to work with scholarly sources (such as those from peer
reviewed academic journals). For example, students may write research papers drawing on these kinds
of sources (either literature reviews or original arguments synthesizing information from these sources)
and/or do written assignments or give oral presentations where they summarize, critique or compare
and contrast such sources.
2. These courses should provide explicit instruction in how to find appropriate scholarly sources for the
relevant discipline.
3. These courses should provide explicit instruction in how to avoid plagiarism and cite sources in a
documentation style appropriate to the discipline.
4. These courses should prepare students to conduct research at the professional level required in their
discipline.
Note: Purple text shows places where specific course information must be filled in. Red text contains
explanatory notes to the instructor which should be deleted before using the syllabus. Blue explanations
should be rephrased as needed to fit the course by the individual instructor. Course-specific student
learning outcomes below may vary slightly depending on the instructor and are provided as an example
Course- Specific Student Learning Outcomes for COM 3420
Upon completion of this course, students will improve their overall understanding and practice of the
processes of communication generally and apply them to business communication. Assignments are
structured to develop the following objectives:
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Students will be able to define and explain basic communication terms and principles which
underline competent business and professional communication.
Students will be able to prepare effective and concise documents.
Students will be able to facilitate meetings, including planning the meeting and preparing
agendas
For the rest of these required syllabus items see the details in the faculty handbook. Delete this note
once the syllabus is complete. For online courses there are some additional requirements given at this
link.
Texts List textbooks with ISBN’s and include this language as well
All textbook information (pricing, ISBN #, and e-books) for this course can be found on the HPU
Bookstore website: hpu.edu/bookstore.
If you have any questions regarding textbooks, please contact the HPU Bookstore at:
Phone:
808-544-9347
Or e-mail:
jyokota@hpu.edu
mmiyahira@hpu.edu
Assignments and mode of evaluation
Summary of important dates and deadlines (if the schedule is a separate document and due dates are
not given with the description of the assignments).
Class rules and policies (including regarding attendance, late work and academic dishonesty)
Schedule of events (may be attached separately)