Business Communications Syllabus (ENGL 310) Spring 07
Assistant Professor Windy Rachal
Email windy.rachal@nicholls.edu
Work Phone 448-4207
Office Location Peltier 246G
Office Hours MWF 11:45-12:45 and TH 8:45-1:15
Personal Link http://www.nicholls.edu/engl-wsr/
Notes
Appointments encouraged as professors often have committee meetings during office hours.
Course Materials
Young, Dona J. (2006) Foundations of Business Communication. Boston: McGraw-Hill Irwin.
(Companion site: www.mhhe.com/djyoung)
Electronic storage device with backup
Objectives
ENGL 310, a core curriculum course, fulfills three hours of the nine-hour general education
requirement in the core proficiency skill area of writing and is thus designed to enable students to
meet the following broad outcomes.
Graduates will be able
to use the English language effectively, writing with clarity, coherence, and persuasiveness.
to understand, to analyze, and to evaluate readings from a variety of texts and to apply that
learning to academic, personal, and professional contexts.
to think critically, independently, and creatively so that they can make informed and logical
judgments of the arguments of others, arrive at reasoned and meaningful arguments and
positions, and formulate and apply ideas to new contexts.
to locate, access, analyze, and utilize information that facilitates learning and critical inquiry and
to adhere to the standards of academic honesty in their use of that information.
For further explanation of the learning objectives associated with these goals, go to
http://www.nicholls.edu/gened/goal_objectives.html.
ENGL 310 meets these goals by the following course-specific student learning outcomes:
Apply business communication strategies and principles to prepare effective communication for
domestic and international business situations
Identify legal, ethical, cultural, and global issues affecting business communication
Utilize analytical and problem solving skills appropriate to business communication
Select appropriate organizational formats and channels used in developing and presenting
business messages
Compose and revise effective and accurate business documents using computer technology
Communicate via electronic mail, Internet, and other electronic media
Deliver an effective oral business presentation (based on analytic report).
Policies
Documentation
Reports must follow APA 5th edition format, a common style within business disciplines.
Guidelines and a template are provided through the course Blackboard site. While some
documentation will be covered in class, students are expected to be able to use documentation
accurately by Junior level. Inaccurate citations and documentation often leads to unethical
practices (plagiarism) and will count against the student whether intentional or not.
Collaboration
The original research report and presentation based on the report are collaborative projects so
that students gain experience working effectively and efficiently with other people. All students
are expected to work in groups. The only acceptable reason for working alone is a partner
dropping the class. Any problems with collaborative groups should be reported to me as early as
possible, and certainly before the assignment is turned in.
Attendance
Students are expected to attend every class meeting. Regular attendance affects overall course
performance in that participation in activities/discussion is critical to success and can affect the
final course grade. A student with 4 or more unexcused absences in a MW or TH class and 6 or
more in a MWF class may be administratively dropped from the class.
Make–ups
Late assignments will be penalized at the rate of one letter grade per late day. Students must
make back-up copies of their work on separate disks as disk failure will not be an excuse for
incomplete or late work. Assignments may be turned in via email/dropbox if a student cannot
attend class to deliver it. Quizzes and participation may not be made up.
Cheating
Any work submitted that is not the student's own will receive a grade of zero. The student will
also be subject to the disciplinary procedures and penalties detailed in the Code of Student
Conduct. These include failure from the course and expulsion from the university. Examples
include but are not limited to the following:
Submitting an assignment substantially created by another student (a current or former student's
work)
Taking material from a published or other source and not documenting the source.
Modeling the language of your work after the examples in your text or any other text.
Obtaining or attempting to obtain access to an exam prior to its being given.
Turnitin.com
By taking this course, students agree that all assignments are subject to submission to
Turnitin.com, an online plagiarism prevention and detection service. All work submitted to
Turnitin.com will be added to its database of papers. Turnitin’s privacy policy and a description
of the service are available on its website. Specifically, this service compares your paper with
Internet webpages, articles in databases, and all papers previously submitted from this university
or any other. Turnitin then either confirms the originality of your work or gives the source of
plagiarism. In cases of detected plagiarism, the paper and supporting evidence will be handled in
compliance with the Student Code of Conduct.
Classroom Conduct
Students should be respectful of peers and instructor: avoid tardiness, silence cell phones (unless
urgent need), use laptops only for notetaking, and discuss any complaints during office hours
(not in front of the class). Repetitive disruptive conduct may result in dismissal from the course
or being fired from a group project.
Human Subject Review
Interviewing or surveying may be required for completion of assignments such as original
research reports. Policies of the Human Subject Review Board are to be followed. Students must
have HSIRB approval before surveying or interviewing anyone.
Disability Accommodations
If a student has a documented disability that requires assistance, he or she will need to register
with the Office of Disability Services for coordination of academic accommodations. The Office
of Disability Services is located in Peltier Hall, Room 100-A. The phone number is (985) 4484430 (TDD 449-7002).
Grades and Evaluation
The following table describes in relatively general terms what the five letter grades from A to F
represent for written assignments in this course. Grades are meant to reflect the professor’s
assessment of mastery of the course learning objectives.
A
An A document is excellent work. It demonstrates requirements of the task learned through the
text and lecture. The audience analysis is insightful, the topic precise, the organization clear and
logical. The document contains sufficient detail; the information is accurate, timely, clear, and
comprehensive. The writing is excellent: good grammar, well-developed paragraphs, graceful
and concise sentences, precise word choice. The document is complemented by appropriate,
clear, correct, and honest graphics. The design is clear, attractive, and professional.
A supervisor would be impressed and would pass the document along to his or her supervisors,
without revision.
B
A B document is good work. It might have almost all the virtues of the A document, but one or
more of the elements is missing. For instance, persistent spelling errors could reduce an A
document to a B. Unprofessional design, ineffective paragraphing, awkward sentences--any of
these problems could account for the grade of B.
A supervisor would appreciate the work but would want to have the document revised before
passing it along.
C
A C document is satisfactory work. In general, the document satisfies the requirements of the
assignment, but it is significantly flawed. Usually, two, three, or more problems make it difficult
to read or to understand or prevent it from fulfilling its purpose. For instance, a proposal that
lacks a project schedule and a list of secondary sources would receive a C despite excellent
writing.
A supervisor would be somewhat disappointed with the document and would want it revised
significantly before passing it along. In addition, the supervisor would begin to doubt the
employee's ability to complete similar assignments successfully.
D
A D document is unsatisfactory. Although some aspects of the document might be well done, on
the whole there are numerous or significant problems with its conception or execution.
A supervisor would have another employee re-do the document. In addition, he or she would
question the employee's basic competence and suitability for the position. Performance
evaluations would reflect this doubt.
F
An F document is failing work. It is submitted after the deadline, it does not respond to the
assignment, it is extremely difficult to read, or it is unprofessional in appearance or writing
quality.
The employee should work on his or her résumé.
Disclaimer
The professor reserves the right to change the requirements of this course as outlined on this
syllabus. In the event that such changes occur, an announcement will be made in the class. It is
each student’s responsibility to keep up with such changes.
Weekly Schedule
1 Jan 15 MLK Day M Introduction to Course, Syllabus, and Requirements and Chapter 1
“Communication and the Writing Process” Get textbook
2 Jan 22 Chapter 6B & C “Verbal Communication Skills” and Chapter 8 “Team
Communications” Quiz due M; Teams chosen
3 Jan 29 Writer's Handbook Part 4A (Research), HSIRB, begin work on survey
4 Feb 5 Finalizing Survey & submitting HSIRB Group proposals due M
5 Feb 12 Chapter 4 “Office Communications” and Chapter 5A & B “Persuasive
Communication” Quiz due M
6 Feb 19 Mardi Gras MW Chapter 5C and in-class writing In-class work
7 Feb 26 Chapter 5C and in-class writing In-class work
8 Mar 5 Chapter 2 “What is Good Business Writing” and revisions Quiz due M; in-class work
9 Mar 12 Chapter 3 “Developing and Revising” and revisions Quiz due M ; in-class work
10 Mar 19 Chapter 7 “Global Communication and Technology” Quiz due M
11 Mar 26 Group meetings with instructor and Writer's Handbook Part 4B & C Quiz due M
12 Apr 2 Easter F Chapter 9 “Getting a Job” Quiz due M
13 Apr 9 Easter MWF
14 Apr 16 Chapter 6A & D "Verbal Communication Skills" Quiz due M
15 Apr 23 Presentation week Presentations
16 Apr 30 Last Day W Reports due W
Quizzes (10%)
Before coming to class on Mondays of weeks that we cover new chapters (see above), students
will complete an online objective quiz to measure reading comprehension. Each quiz must be
completed within ten minutes, one question at a time with no backtracking.
Group Proposals (10%)
Each group will propose a purpose statement and at least ten survey questions with answer items
for the research report. These proposals will be graded for quality and should be offered as the
final product of the workgroup. Students should submit ONE posting per group to the discussion
board. Collectively, the drafts will be used by the entire class to compose one final survey and
HSIRB application.
In-class writing and revision (40%)
These in-class writing and revision assignments should showcase students' abilities to analyze
audience/purpose and write tactful, concise, and standard English persuasive messages. The
grade for this assignment will reflect students' overall performance on these tasks. More details
to come.
Original research report (35%)
In groups of three, students will collect data to examine a business-related problem or question.
This project involves both secondary and primary research (survey, interview, or observation).
Because of the number of students in the class, larger or smaller groups may be needed in one or
two cases. These must be approved by the instructor. Each group should submit ONE file named
groupname_report.doc or .rtf via the digital dropbox.
Oral Presentation (5%)
As a group, students will prepare a fifteen- to twenty-minute presentation based on the research
report. The allotted time should include a question-answer period. Presentations will be
supported by a PowerPoint slideshow. The audience consists of the other students in the class,
visiting professors, and business professionals we work with during the semester. The
presentation should contain appropriate graphics, such as the figures from the report, to illustrate
information.