ENGLISH 394 9005, 9006, 9009 – Spring 2017 SYLLABUS Instructor: Kate Wilson Email: wilsonk@umd.edu Office Location: online Office Hours: online – primarily we will communicate via Canvas Conversations. If the need arises we can meet in Canvas online conferences. Course Description: The purpose of this course is to familiarize students with formats and structures of business communication and provide practice in writing clear and concise professional documents (reports, letters, employment communication, memos and emails). Much emphasis will be placed on writing for a specific audience and purpose.

Specific Objectives: Course activities revolve around several specific objectives that apply to all assignments. You will learn to: • Analyze a variety of professional rhetorical situations and produce appropriate texts, adapting the text to the knowledge base of the audience • Produce persuasive texts that reflect the degree of available evidence and take into account counter arguments • Understand and practice the skills needed to produce competent, professional writing including planning, drafting, revising and editing • Identify and implement appropriate research methods for each writing task • Practice the ethical use of sources and the conventions of citation appropriate in your field • Improve competence in Standard Written English (including grammar, sentence and paragraph structure, coherence and document design) and use this knowledge to revise texts Required Materials: Canvas Module assignments, module schedule, non textbook

readings, discussion board for Weekly Discussion Question, conference tool. Major writing assignments due to the Assignments tab.

Major assignments due to Canvas by end of day on Sundays. Discussion Board: initial posts due Thursdays by end of day and reply to peer due Monday by end of day

Aplia E-textbook and problem sets Reading and problem sets completed in Aplia and due Sundays at end of day.

Please see information on ordering your Aplia product below.

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How to access your Aplia course

ENGL394-9005, 9006, 9009 Instructor: Katherine Wilson Start Date: 01/25/2017 What is Aplia? In just 10 years, more than one billion answers have been submitted through Aplia, the premier online

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GENERAL CLASS INFORMATION:

Canvas Conversations: As upper-level college students, you’ve probably already experienced several different types of communication. In the electronic realm, for instance, you have realized that the emails you send to your friends from home contain a different level of formality than the ones you’ll send to potential employers and future co-workers. In this class, we’ll practice becoming adept at communicating with each other in a professional manner. In other words, emails sent to your classmates and instructor will use correct grammar, spelling, punctuation, and capitalization, as well as proper salutations. Instead of UMD email, students should use the Conversations feature on Canvas to contact the instructor and peers.

Evaluations: PWP uses its own evaluation that will be distributed during the last two weeks of the semester. However, we also encourage you to fill out the online evaluations. Your participation in the evaluation of courses through CourseEvalUM is a responsibility you hold as a student member of our academic community. Your feedback is confidential and important to the improvement of teaching and learning at the University as well as to the tenure and promotion process. Please go directly to the website (www.courseevalum.umd.edu) to complete your evaluations. By completing all of your evaluations each semester, you will have the privilege of accessing online, at Testudo, the evaluation reports for the thousands of courses for which 70% or more students submitted their evaluations.

Academic Honesty: Academic honesty is not just a principle on campus; in the “real world, “ using someone else’s words or ideas can constitute copyright infringement, which is a serious crime. You must always submit work that represents your own original ideas. Since you are learning to gather and choose information, you will be encouraged to use outside sources in class, or in your writing. However, you must cite all relevant sources in all written and oral communications. Your readers or listeners should also be aware of the extent to which you are using outside information. Using ideas or language without verifiable references constitutes plagiarism. I will give automatic zeros to all work that is plagiarized.

Further information about university policies on plagiarism may be found at the following URL: http://www.inform.umd.edu/ugradcat/registration/integrity.html

Students with Disabilities: The University of Maryland is committed to providing appropriate accommodations for students with disabilities. Students with a documented disability should inform the instructors within the add/drop period if academic accommodations are needed. To obtain an Accommodation Letter prepared by Disability Support Service (DSS), a division of the University Counseling Center, please call 301.314.7682, e-mail dissup@umd.edu, or visit the Shoemaker Building for more information.

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ASSIGNMENTS AND POINT VALUES: Please see Canvas Calendar for schedule Assignments Chapters Point Value

PROJECT 1 – Weeks 1-4 Informational Report: 100 points

Finished Draft: 10 points Peer Review: 10 points Final Draft: 80 points

1-4, 9, 13 100

PROJECT 2 – Weeks 5-9 Correspondence Selection: 100 points

Finished Draft: 10 points Peer Review: 10 points Final Draft: 80 points

6-8 100

PROJECT 3 – Weeks 10-16 Formal Report: 150 points

Topic Proposal & Audience Analysis: 10 points Topic Proposal & Audience Analysis – peer review: 10 points Work Plan: 10 points Work Plan – peer review: 10 points Research & Documentation: 10 points Research & Documentation – peer review: 10 points Outline & Design Graphics: 10 points Outline & Design Graphics – peer review: 10 points Draft: 10 points Peer Review: 10 points Final: 50 points

5, 8, 10-11 150

Problem sets on textbook readings: 100 points Chapters listed above

100

Discussion Board posts: 50 points 5 initial posts @ 5 points = 25 points 5 reply to peer @ 5 points = 25 points

50

TOTAL ASSIGNMENTS 500 points

The grade for assignments submitted late, without prior notification, will be deducted 1 letter grade per day. No assignment will be accepted after 4 days. The class is worth 500 points, and is on a 10-point scale. You can expect to receive feedback in the form of comments and/or major assignment grades from the Instructor at the following points throughout the semester: Project 1 – draft comments and grade Project 2 – final comments and grade Project 3 – topic proposal & audience analysis Project 3 – draft comments and final grade If you desire more feedback than what is provided, or you have any other questions throughout the semester, you are encouraged to visit during office hours and to visit the Writing Center.

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Grading Standards Three broad evaluative criteria determine the grade students receive on all assignments. Content—the use of effective evidence to support the main points of the text. This includes the research, ideas and conclusions you have presented. This is what the text is about. Format—the overall structure of the text, including the appropriate format for the specific assignment. This is the visual design and organization of the text. Mechanics/Readability—skills such as style, mechanics, sentence and paragraph coherence; the degree of ease with which the reader can understand the document. This is the quality of your content and format. Please see Canvas Calendar for details on project assignment dates. Official University Policy A- = 90 to 93.9; A = 94 to 96.9, A+= 97 and above B- = 80 to 83.9; B= 84 to 86.9, B+= 87 to 89.9 C- =70 to 73.9; C =74 to 76.9; C+= 77 to 79.9 D- = 60 to 63.9; D= 64 to 66.9; D+ = 67 to 69.9

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INFORMATION ON THE THREE MAJOR PROJECTS

I. Informational Report: Charting Your Career Path This is the completed peer review version of your Informational Memo Report. Your completed report is 4-6 pages and features in text citations and a References page. You will submit your draft to Canvas, and it will then be sent to a peer for review. In the meantime, you will receive a draft your peer's work. Peer Review of drafts should be completed by Thursday. Peer Review is complete when you make 2-3 in text comments per page (what is/is not working), complete the Informational Report_Peer Review worksheet, upload it to your peer's submission, and upload it to Project 1: Peer Review.

APA style - Report should contain in text citations and a References page At least 4 secondary sources 2 of the secondary sources should be from the UMD databases 2 pieces of primary research may be substituted for 2 pieces of secondary research See figure 9.3 in textbook: no email transmission needed Report should make use of graphic highlighting and other high-skim techniques

Gather information about a career or position in which you might be interested. Learn about the nature of the job. Discover whether certification, a license, or experience is required. One of the best places to search is the latest Occupational Outlook Handbook compiled by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Also, the UMD career website has access to databases to research businesses, industries, jobs and more. Your Task: Write an informational report to your instructor that describes your target career area, and describes the results of your Focus-2 assessment. Use your own voice as a guide when moving between sections of the report. Do not just cut and paste information from your research. The report should attend to the following 5 content sections • Discuss the nature of the work, working conditions, necessary qualifications, and the future job outlook

for the occupation. Include information about typical salary ranges and career paths. • Discuss up-to-date issues facing your career area and industry using the library databases. Use

research to discover what challenges and opportunities the industry you think you’d like to enter is currently facing.

• Collect information about two companies where you might apply. Investigate each company’s history, products and/or services, size, earnings, reputation, and number of employees. If you choose to complete primary research (informational interviews), interview one or more individuals who are working in that position. Devote sections of your report to the specific tasks, functions, duties and opinions of these individuals.

• Dedicate a section of the report to the results of your Focus-2 assessments. How do the assessments align or disagree with your target career area?

• Prior to the conclusion, include a section that summarizes what you have drawn from the process of researching your potential career. Are you surer than ever of what you'd like to do? Were realities brought to light you didn't consider? How do you see yourself moving toward your career goals?

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II. Correspondence Project: Writing Typical Business Messages

Assume that you have created a business and have been in operation for several years now. In the correspondence project, you will consider different business scenarios that might occur in the running of your business, and you will create pieces of correspondence that will attend to those scenarios.

This project's discussion board posts were intended to guide you. If you're happy with the description of your company, the scenarios you've chosen, and the 6 pieces of correspondence you've selected - use them! If you'd like to change any part of that, you may.

Your Task:

1. Memo to professor Wilson from you as an ENGL394 student. See Writing Plan for Informational Emails (memos) in Figure 5-1d for more information. The memo should contain a header, subject line, introduction, body, and conclusion.

The memo completes the following:

describes your business - you can include your mission statement, too, if you'd like details the 1-4 scenarios you've created as the exigence for a text between an author and an

audience, (remember, exigence is the event that prompts a text) lists the pieces of correspondence you've chosen as the texts to attend to and/or remedy these

scenarios. You should choose 2 positive texts, 2 negative texts, and 2 persuasive texts. analyzes each of the 6 texts using TRACE. See the PowerPoint below for additional support with

TRACE.

In the body of the memo, most students describe the scenarios and then give and rhetorically analyze the 2 or 3 texts they're using in that scenario.

2. Six pieces of correspondence. You should title each text and say whether it is a positive, negative, or persuasive message. Write each message by following the format for positive, negative, or persuasive messages shown in Ch. 6-8.

You must select texts that are discussed in Chapters 6-8. See below for a list of those texts.

To Review:

The project begins with a memo to me that explains the 1-3 scenarios (hopefully the ones you created in this week's discussion board post), lists the 6 piece of correspondence (2 positive messages, 2 negative, and 2 persuasive) that you've selected to satisfy or attend to those scenarios (again, hopefully the ones you've already chosen in the post), and offers a TRACE analysis for each text.

The project ends with 6 pieces of correspondence in the order that your scenarios dictate.

III. The Formal Report

APA style - Proposal should contain in text citations and References page 8 secondary sources

o 2 of the 5 secondary sources should be from the UMD databases o 2 pieces of primary research may be substituted for 2 secondary research pieces

Report is 8-10 pages Please choose a topic from the list shown in [Project 3] PREWRITING / ReportTopics

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Discussion Board Posts Students will post substantive replies to the 5 Discussion Board questions posed. Content: You should reference details from the readings/videos/ and/or prompt question for the week and add new information and narratives of your own experience to the conversation. Responses should be a minimum of 200 words, and should fully answer the questions in the prompt. Reply to peer is timely, uses the peer’s name, and makes a relevant and unique contribution to the conversation. Format: Use graphic highlighting techniques and other high skim techniques to help benefit the reader. Use block paragraphs that contain a topic sentence, evidence, a brief summary and a transition. Mechanics: Post should be free from spelling errors, and should exhibit quality word choices, sentences, and paragraphs. Post should be easy for your peers to understand. Post has been read aloud so that easy sentence errors are fixed. Problem sets on Essentials of Business Communication (readings and problem sets completed in Aplia – see schedule on Canvas.) From the syllabus: Students are only required to comment upon the post of one peer; however, to receive credit for discussion board replies to peers, students must post the reply in two places: 1) as a response to a peer on the discussion board and 2) to the Reply to Peer assignment submission spot. In order to receive points for your reply, you must submit the reply to these two places. To repeat, students must post the Reply to Peer as a response to the peer on the discussion board (so that peers can see your reply) and to the assignment submission spot for Reply to Peer (so your reply can be graded and recorded in Grades).

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