YONSEI UNIVERSITY
GRADUATE SCHOOL OF INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
Communication Skills
Fall 2006
Professor Sungjean Seo (서 성진)
Email: sseo_528@yahoo.com
Office Hours: by appointment.
Course Description and Objectives
The objective of this course is to help students develop effective and sophisticated
written and oral communication skills in English that are essential in academic and
professional environments. Students will focus on strengthening their basic written
skills by working on many different forms of writing throughout the semester and will
be required produce, among other things, a paper in three progressive stages (i.e.,
outline, first draft, and final version). Technical aspects of academic writing and basic
professional writing, such as drafting a resume and business letter will also be covered.
In terms of oral skills, students will be expected to learn and practice presentation and
public speaking skills through in-class debates and a formal oral presentation using
power point.
Course Requirements and Evaluation
Attendance and in-class participation: Attendance and in-class participation are
mandatory for this class. Any unexcused absence will negatively impact your final
grade. An unexcused absence is any absence that is not approved by the professor
prior to the beginning of the class. Students who are more than 10 minutes late to a
class will be considered absent for that class.
Assignment policy: All written assignments are due at the beginning of the class,
unless otherwise noted by the professor. In fairness to the other students, any
assignment that is turned in late will immediately lower your grade for the assignment
by 10%; your grade will be further reduced by increments of 10% for each additional
day the assignment is late. Students are expected to work individually on all written
assignments, unless otherwise instructed by the professor. All written assignments
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should be double spaced, in Times Roman 12-point, with appropriate margins (i.e., 3
centimeters).
Grading: Your grade will be determined as follows:
Attendance and participation:
Attendance
In-class participation
Short un-graded writing assignments
500 points (25%)
assigned from time to time
Short assignments:
Summary
Re-write of Summary
Critique
Re-write of Critique
Outline of research paper
500 points (25%)
Oral Presentation:
500 points (25%)
Oral summary of book: 100 points
Short summary on current issue: 100 points
Power-point presentation
Oral presentation: 300 points
Major written assignments
Paper: 300 points
Rewrite: 200 points
500 points (25%)
Total
2,000 points
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Course Schedule
The following may be modified from time to time at the discretion of the professor. In
addition to the assignments noted below, students are expected to read and listen to at
least one English-language news source on a regular basis.
Week 1 (Sept. 5, 7): Introduction; understanding your audience: introduction and
overview of the course; communicating across cultures; use of appropriate, “politically
correct” language for all communications; stylistic considerations in professional/
academic communication; in-class exercises.
Week 2 (Sept. 12, 14): Writing a Summary; Oral Skills I: considerations in writing a
summary and giving an effective summary in oral form.
Assignment due: three to four minute in-class oral summary of your favorite
book.
Week 3 (Sept. 19, 21): Writing a critique: requirements for writing a critique; critical
analysis of supplied article(s); fair vs unfair criticism.
Assignment due: one to two page summary of assigned article.
Week 4 (Sept. 26, 28): Writing an effective paragraph; effective transitions: topic and
concluding sentences; paragraph blocks, unity and coherence; connection between
paragraphs; connection between sentences; in-class debate on critiqued article(s).
Assignment due: preparation for in class debate; Critique I (two to three page
critique of an assigned article).
Week 5 (Oct. 3, 5): National Foundation Day and Chuseok Holiday (No classes.)
Week 6 (Oct. 10, 12) Writing effective sentences: active and passive voice, action verbs,
sentence length, emphasis, using effective words; in-class exercises; review of Critique
I.
Assignment due: rewrite of Critique I.
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Week 7 (Oct. 17, 19): The research paper: structural elements of a longer research
paper (outline, introduction, discussion, conclusion, references, etc.)
Assignment due: paper topics/ preliminary outline/ list of sources
Week 8 (Oct 24, 28) (mid-term examination week): Individual conferences: Instead
of class, there will be 10 minute individual conferences on paper outlines throughout the
week (you will have an opportunity to sign up beforehand).
Week 9 (Oct. 31, Nov. 1): Citation; notes on plagiarism: in class exercises, technical
aspects of proper citation to sources according to the Chicago Manual of Style.
Week 10 (Nov. 7, 9): Giving an effective oral presentation: public speaking techniques,
persuading the audience, do’s and don’ts in giving an oral presentation, etc.
Assignment due: research paper
Week 11 (Nov. 14, 16): Student oral presentations
Week 12 (Nov. 21, 23): Student oral presentations cont’d
Week 13 (Nov. 28, 30): Feedback on research paper
Week 14 (Dec. 5, 7): Writing in a professional context: writing a resume and a business
letter; mock job interview; drafting an internal memorandum.
Assignment due: resume and cover letter.
Week 15 (Dec. 12, 14): Conclusion: wrap-up.
Assignment due: Rewrite of research papers
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