Course Description:

This course introduces students to the basic principles of effective report writing.  Written assignments provide practice in organizing and composing several memos, letters, and a formal report.  Throughout the semester, students learn practical application of report writing skills, as well as work collaboratively on assignments. Students evaluate and create documents and PowerPoint presentations, focusing on clear expression of ideas, mechanical correctness, and format.

 

Course Objectives:

To understand the contexts, purposes, audiences, and processes of written and visual communication in the workplace. To recognize and be able to analyze effective and ineffective written and visual workplace communication. To learn and use effective electronic strategies for collaborative work in preparing written and visual workplace communication. To produce various types of written and visual workplace communication that are appropriate for and that appeal to various audiences. To use a variety of software programs, including word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, and graphics. To balance visual and verbal elements of communication in documents and presentations. To use mechanically and grammatically conventional language in written documents and presentations. To participate actively in electronic class activities and discussions.

 

ENGL 1020: English Composition I

 

E-Mail Etiquette; Organizing Information; Drafting Documents; Revising Documents for Grammar and Mechanics; Revising Documents for Coherence, Emphasis and Ethics; Collaborative Writing; Internal Proposal; Principles of Business Correspondence; Types of Business Correspondence; Writing Instructions; Designing Effective Documents and Visuals; Informal Reports

 

Students must be able to work in Microsoft Word and PowerPoint for success in this class.

 

Please visit the Virtual Bookstore to obtain textbook information for this course.  It is located at http://rodp.bkstr.com.

 

Access to a grammar text of student's choice. Disk or CD-ROM for saving back-up copies of course work.

 

The minimum requirements can be found at http://www.rodp.org/students/hardware_software.htm.

The minimum requirements can be found at http://www.rodp.org/students/hardware_software.htm. Specific hardware requirements for this course include Acrobat Reader and Microsoft Office.

Please see the separate page inside the course to find instructor contact information as well as a statement of virtual office hours and other communication information.

All reading quizzes are taken and graded online. Writing assignments and the course project are submitted in Microsoft Word (.doc extension) or rich text format (.rtf extension) and Powerpoint (.ppt extension) for assessment by the instructor. The written midterm and final exams are also taken online; these exams are available for a three-day period only and are limited to two hours

 

For this course, grading standards will correspond as nearly as possible with what would be expected in an actual business setting.  Your texts must be: word processed. All out-of-class assignments should be typed or word processed and presented on good quality paper or on the WIN template memo or letterhead and submitted electronically.  Handwritten work is not acceptable in a professional setting. clean.  Appearance and format count toward the grade.  The proper use of heads, white space, margins, and other related visual devices all contribute to readability and accessibility of information. error free.  Simple mechanical and grammatical accuracy is absolutely necessary.  Credibility is destroyed by spelling and grammatical errors. audience appropriate.  Readability, style, and tone should be adjusted for clarity of expression and made suitable to the target audience. purposeful and well supported.  Whether designed to explain, analyze, or persuade, your documents should have a clear purpose that is supported with appropriate facts and details.

 

Grading Scale:

Points are designated for each assignment.  Taken as percentages, these points correspond to the following letter grades with business world values.  Your work deserves: an A (900-1000 points) when an employer would be impressed with the professionalism and clear understanding of purpose, audience, content, expression, organization, style, and mechanics. a B (800-899 points) when a document is geared toward an audience and is well organized but content could be more specific or there are stylistic problems. a C (700-799 points) when there is a deficiency in content, arrangement, concept of audience, mechanics, and style, and the employer has to take time out of his or her schedule to correct the work and send it back for revision. a D (606-699 points) when the work is poor and the employer will be looking for someone to replace him or her. an F (599 and lower) when the employer finds your work totally unacceptable and has fired you. a 0 (zero) when you fail to submit your work.

 

Lesson   1, An E-Party Lesson   2, Getting Started Lesson   3, Organizing Your Information Lesson   4, Writing the Draft Lesson   5, Revising for Essentials Lesson   6, Revising  for Coherence, Emphasis, and Ethics Lesson   7, Collaborative Writing and Meetings Lesson   8, Internal Proposal and Semester Project Lesson   9, Principles of Business Correspondence Lesson 10, Types of Business Correspondence Lesson 11, Instructions and Other Writing Strategies Lesson 12, Designing Effective Documents and Visuals Lesson 13, Informal Reports

 

Students are expected to communicate with the instructor as a learning resource. Students must check the course bulletin board frequently for announcements. Students must actively participate in threaded discussion events.

 

Assignments are due on dates specified on the calendar. Five (5) points will be deducted for each day an assignment is late. After one week (7 calendar days), a zero will be posted for the missed assignment.

 

Participation is required. Students are expected to communicate with other students in team projects. Students are to learn how to navigate in WebCT. Students must keep abreast of course announcements.  Students must use the assigned college or university e-mail address as opposed to a personal e-mail address. Students must address technical problems immediately. Students must observe course netiquette at all times.

 

• Columbia Guide to Online Style by Janice R. Walker and Todd Taylor
• Citation Styles Online http://www.bedfordstmartins.com/online/cite6.html

Library

The Tennessee Virtual Library is available to all students enrolled in the Regents Degree Program. Links to library materials (such as electronic journals, databases, interlibrary loans, digital reserves, dictionaries, encyclopedias, maps, and librarian support) and Internet resources needed by learners to complete online assignments and as background reading must be included in all courses. 

Students With Disabilities

Qualified students with disabilities will be provided reasonable and necessary academic accommodations if determined eligible by the appropriate disability services staff at their home institution. Prior to granting disability accommodations in this course, the instructor must receive written verification of a student's eligibility for specific accommodations from the disability services staff at the home institution. It is the student's responsibility to initiate contact with their home institution's disability services staff and to follow the established procedures for having the accommodation notice sent to the instructor.

Syllabus Changes

The instructor reserves the left to make changes as necessary to this syllabus. If changes are necessitated during the term of the course, the instructor will immediately notify students of such changes both by individual email communication and posting both notification and nature of change(s) on the course bulletin board.

Technical Support

If you are having problems logging into your course,
timing out of your course, using your course web site tools, or other technical problems, please contact the Eduprise Help Desk by calling

1-866-550-7637 (toll free)

or go to their website at:

http://help.rodp.org