Syllabus – English 209WI - Stearns
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ENGLISH 209WI BUSINESS AND MANAGERIAL WRITING
(3 credits)
Jeff Stearns
Office: 7-518
Contact:
Email: stearns@hawaii.edu
Office phone: 845-9276 (send email instead)
Office hours: To be announced on first day of class
Course description and objectives
This course is designed to improve a student’s business communication skills so the student will be
successful in his or her career. The course covers methods to write clear and effective business
memos, letters, and reports, and to present ideas orally, all of which are important and relevant in
the real world of business.
English 209 is a writing intensive course.
Prerequisite
Enrollment in English 209 requires a “C” or higher in English 100 or placement in ENG 201-296
Student learning outcomes
Upon successful completion of English 209, a student will be able to
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Demonstrate comprehension of the importance, goals, and patterns of business
communication, both orally and in writing.
Apply effective strategies and techniques to facilitate business communication.
Compose various writing for specific business purposes.
Discuss and explain the importance of ethics in a business environment.
Apply current available technology to business communication.
Revise, edit, and proofread for correctness, clarity, and effectiveness.
Currently, only ENG 100 satisfies the Foundations/Written Communication (FW) requirement for
Honolulu Community College’s General Education Core.
Required textbook
Locker, Kitty O., and Donna S. Kienzler. Business and Administrative Communication, 7th ed. New
York: McGraw-Hill Irwin, 2006.
The textbook is not the latest edition but used copies are carried by the bookstore and cheaper. If
you have a newer edition, you can use it as well.
Bring the textbook to every class, as you will need it for discussion and for reference for in-class
writing.
Required notes
Under your class Resources on Laulima, download and print “ENG 209WI – Class Notes Fall 2013.”
The notes are to be filled out by answering questions that are discussed during class. Some of the
questions may refer to the textbook. Around mid-semester, you must turn in the first half of the
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Syllabus – English 209WI - Stearns
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completed notes, which are graded. You will turn in the second half of the notes at the end of the
semester for a grade.
Also prepare
 Notebook or lined paper for taking additional notes
 Letter-size paper to print your assignments from a computer
 Access to a computer to do assignments (both the computer lab and the library have
computers available for use, but may charge for paper or printing)
Assignments and class participation
Writing assignments – There are eight essay assignments, each with a minimum of 650 words. This
course being a writing intensive class, you must write a total 5,000 words during the semester.
These assignments focus on solving issues common in business communication or encouraging you
to think deeper about issues. Meetings used to be a key element of business communication, but
these days, businesses are turning more and more to written communication because it saves time
and more people can be involved. Through these assignments, you will learn to express your ideas
clearly and effectively.
We will discuss approaches to the assignments so you will know how to deal with similar situations
in the business world. These assignments will be graded on how effectively you organize your ideas,
convince the reader, and explain in clear, precise, correct language. These assignments must be
printed out. They may be in a letter, memo, or report format. Reports are expanded memos, using
the same structure as essays. If you have a management role in a corporation, you will be writing
many reports.
Projects and presentations – There are seven projects (including presentations), some of them
prepared as a group. You must participate with the group to get credit. These projects and
presentations focus on business topics, some requiring research of information through the library
or through web sources. You will be graded as a team, so teamwork will be essential. The grades
for these will depend upon the effort put into the projects.
Mid-semester and end-semester assignments – The mid-semester and end-semester assignments
include submission of completed class notes and revision of papers. Grading will depend upon the
answers provided in the notes and the improvement of the revised essays.
Final exam – The exam will be essay questions about what we read and discussed during the
semester.
Class participation – For the most part, the class will be discussion rather than lecture. You are
expected to do the reading assignments before class and participate in the discussions. I will bring
up topics and issues related to the readings. Obviously, attendance is important and will impact your
grade.
Evaluation
Your grade for the course will be determined by the following:
Essay assignments
56%
Projects and presentations
14%
Mid-semester assignment
10%
End-semester assignment
10%
Final exam
10%
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Syllabus – English 209WI - Stearns
Grading scale
A
B
C
D
F
3
100-90
89-80
79-70
69-60
59-0
Course policies
Due dates for assignments
The writing assignments, presentations, mid-semester paper, final paper, portfolio have due dates,
which are listed on a separate handout. Turn in the assignments on the day they are due at the
beginning of class.
Late assignments not turned in on time lose one grade increment (B goes down to B-, for example)
and any paper turned in one class period late receives two grade increments down (B goes to C+,
for example). After two class periods, the maximum grade you can earn is a C. This policy is to
make it fair to students turning in work on time.
(Exceptions:
(1) If you have a convincing reason you cannot hand in a paper on the date due, you can do
the following:
 Before class begins, email an electronic copy of the paper with a note explaining
why you cannot hand in the paper. Then, turn in the printed copy before the
following class. The electronic copy tells me you did the work on time, but I still
need a hard copy to grade. Send these to stearns@hawaii.edu.
(2) For reasons you cannot turn in electronic assignments that are beyond your control:
 Notify me by email or tell me after class.)
Note that two of the assignments have two parts, one a preliminary submission, so there are two due
dates. If you skip the first submission, you lose points and your grade on the assignment will suffer
significantly, possibly by as much as one-third.
I do not accept any papers or assignments after the last class for the semester.
Attendance and participation
Obviously regular and punctual attendance is essential to pass the course. You cannot learn business
communication or learn to write in a vacuum. The core information of this course is what we do in
class. Therefore, I take into account attendance, attentiveness, and participation as one component
of the final grade. It would be hard to get an A or B in the class without good attendance and active
participation.
If you text message on your cell phone or listen to music during class, you are not paying attention
or participating. Expect to take notes on lectures, ask questions, and contribute to group activities.
Cell phones and music players must be turned off.
I view class attendance, class participation, and submission of assignments similar to how an
employer would view an employee’s work. Even good excuses do not go far with an employer. If
you do not show up to class and do not do the work, you do not get paid (your grade goes down).
If you are absent because of illness, it is your responsibility to find out what you have missed.
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Although attendance and participation is not a percentage of your overall grade (unless excessive), I
will consider it in boosting your grade, especially if you are on the borderline of two grades. I will
base this on the following, assuming full class participation:
- no absences = highly likely to boost your grade
- absent no more than 2 classes = will lean toward boosting your grade
- absent 3 classes or more = not likely to boost your grade
- absent 6 classes or more (more than 20%) = not likely to get an A or B in the class
- absent 8 classes or more (more than 25%) = look to taking the class again in another
semester
Plagiarism - You must do your own work. Plagiarism is not tolerated and will result in an F for the
course.
Conferences – I welcome you to see me any time during my office hours to discuss your papers,
assignment ideas, or any other class issues. If the office hours conflict with your classes, you can
arrange a conference with me for a suitable time. I also may ask you to attend a conference to help
you with writing topics, approaches, or anything else class related. My aim is to help you become a
better writer and understand the class material, so I welcome you to come and discuss anything that
may help you.
Assignment formats
We will be using the MLA format for most papers, but sometimes a memo report format. We will
discuss the formats during the first weeks of class.
Learning accommodations
Reasonable accommodations will be provided for students with documented physical, sensory,
systemic, cognitive, learning, and psychiatric disabilities. If you believe you have a disability
requiring accommodations for this class, please notify the Services for Students with Disabilities at
844-2392. They will verify your disability and provide the course instructor with recommendations
for appropriate accommodations.
“N” grade
Except under special circumstances, I do not give this grade. If you have not put much effort in this
course or have missed more than five classes, do not ask to receive this grade.
Pace of the course
This course is to help you improve your writing of papers. Without writing, you cannot become a
better writer, so there is a minimum wordage for each assignment. The minimum wordage must be
met to pass the course. That minimum wordage also meets the requirement for writing intensive
courses.
We cover a lot of information during the course, but the focus of the course is learning effective
business communication. Do not let the details overwhelm you. The many concepts introduced are
aimed at stimulating your mind so you will learn to organize ideas logically and clearly and be able
to explain them. This course could help you excel in your career.
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