Business Communication

 

COM 270-705 Tu-Th:6-8.50pm	Summer 2007
Instructor: Nick Linardopoulos	Voice: 215-895-6252 /267-259-0687-cell
Classroom: Curtis 255A	Office Hours: Tu: 4.00-5.30pm, Th: 4.00-5.30pm, Creese Cafe
Office: 3001 Market Street	E-mail: nl33@drexel.edu

 

 

 

 

Course Description

This course will explore the main topics of business communication. In particular, we will look at elements such as memos, formal business correspondence, presentation techniques, as well as instruction and report writing. In addition, the course will look at specific writing and presentation techniques used in the corporate world. Ultimately, you will employ these techniques to develop effective and ethical communication skills used in corporate settings. Finally, the course will show the connections between business writing and other forms of communication such as group process and public speaking.

Course Objectives

1. Familiarize students with the main themes of business writing.

2. Improve students' communication skills.

3. Polish students' writing skills.

Texts and Reading Materials

Successful Writing at Work, 8th edition, Philip C. Kolin, New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2007. ISBN: 0618593705

There will be additional course materials posted on WebCT. The course materials at WebCT will not exceed 100 pages. It is imperative that you familiarize yourselves with WebCT as the supplemental materials, course notes as well as other pertinent course information will be posted online.

 

Note on the book: You must have the 8^th edition of the book. The page numbers and exercises are substantially different compared to previous editions.

You must bring the book with you to every class. I promise to tell you if we won’t be using the book for an upcoming session so you will not have to carry it.

We will also watch a number of videos and documentaries as well as the movie The Insider. You are responsible for all video material covered in class

Assignments & Evaluation

Below is a list of the required projects for the course. Detailed instructions in regards to the projects will be given in class.

Project 1: Complaint Package -15%

Project 2: Press Release-20%

Project 3: Report- 20%

Project 4: Presentation- 20%

Quizzes:-15%

Portfolio/In-Class Assignments: 10%

By the end of the second week of class you will have to choose a company and a position in order to develop the report and the press release project (if applicable). The company must be real but the position/department can be factual. You must inform me in writing by the second week of the term which company and position/department you chose.

-Complaint Package: The complaint package will require you to initially produce a complaint letter. You will then exchange letters with a classmate and will generate an adjustment letter and a memo based on your classmate’s complaint letter

-Press Release: In this assignment you will be asked to write a press release based on The Insider or based on the topic related to the company of your choice.

-Report: For the report project you will have a choice between your selected company scenarios or a scenario based on The Insider.

-Presentation: Your will be asked to make a formal presentation of your report in class.

-Quizzes: Throughout the term, you will be tested on the material that we are covering in class. Although you will not know when a quiz will be given, you will be tested on the material that we covered in the previous session. That way you will have enough time not only to complete the readings but also to digest the information from the lecture. You will be given a total of four quizzes. All quizzes consist of multiple choice/true-false questions. Your grade for this component will be the average of your three best scores (assuming that you have taken all four of them of course). If you are absent when a quiz is given you will, regrettably be given a grade of zero for that quiz.

-Portfolio: During the term, we will complete a significant number of in-class exercises aimed to enhance your understanding of the concepts of the course. Some of them will be collected by me and returned to you for feedback purposes. The rest of them we will simply go over in class. Although you can request to be given a replacement copy of an exercise that we covered (in case you were absent or misplaced it) it is your responsibility to ensure that your portfolio is complete at the end of the term. Such requests need to be made to me at least 7 working days before the last day of class to ensure that I can provide you with a replacement copy.

Special Note: In order to pass the course you must hand in all assignments and projects.

You are allowed one rewrite during the course. That means that you may resubmit the complaint package or the press release assignment for a new grade. The deadline for the rewrite is the last day of class. You may not submit a rewrite for an assignment that you received a failing grade as a result of plagiarism.

The written components of the above assignments must be submitted in hard copies during the designated class day unless the parameters of the assignment require otherwise (e.g submission on WebCT). I do not accept assignments via e-mail unless you have received permission to do so by me in writing.

Grading

Grading will be based on the content, form, style and mechanics for the above writing projects.

I use standard letter grades for the evaluation of all of the assignments described above with pluses and minuses. For the computation of your final grade I assign GPA values based on the following scale indicated by a *. Those values correspond to the GPA scale used by Drexel University (note the new values and grades effective Fall 2006)

A+         4.00

A          4.00*

    A-         3.67*

 

    B+         3.33*

    B          3.00*

    B-         2.67*

 

    C+         2.33*

    C          2.00*

    C-         1.67

 

    D+         1.33

    D          1.00*

 

    F          0.00*

 

Your final grade will be the corresponding letter grade of the sum of the assignments' weighted GPA value. For example if your total is a 3.67 you will receive an A- in the course.

Course Policies

Attendance & Participation: I do not assign marks simply for people showing up in class. If you must miss class please let me know in advance of your absence. You are responsible for the material covered during your absence. The nature of the quarter system and the accelerated format of the specific course section that meets only for five weeks, requires you to come to every class. Be forewarned that excessive absence will affect the grade as will poor participation. If you miss more than 2 sessions you will fail the class. Overall, the effort you put into this course will be noticed and taken into consideration especially if your grade is borderline (i.e. extra points based on attendance and participation). The successful completion of the course is contingent upon your active involvement. If you do not attend the class, you can not get involved. While I do not expect you to be perfect communicators, I do expect you to try and do the required readings and other work. If you join the class late it is your responsibility to make up for what you have missed!

Punctuality and In-Class Behavior: It is crucial that you arrive in class on time. Late arrivals are disruptive to the instructor and to your fellow classmates. Please do not read irrelevant material during class time. Laptop use is only allowed for class related tasks. If I see you using your laptop for non-class related tasks you will be marked absent for that specific session. If there is an urgent need for you to do work unrelated to class please let me know in advance. You may bring food and/or non alcoholic drinks to class provided that you consume both quietly!

Extensions and Incompletes: You must hand in all required projects and present on the assigned days. If you miss your presentation date, you will be assigned the grade of 0 unless you can provide documentation of a medical or family emergency (i.e. death of an immediate relative). Assignments that are late within one session of the due date will be penalized at the rate of one scale per day (unless you have received an extension). Assignments more than a session late will not be accepted (unless you have received a specific extension by me to that effect).

Accordingly, based on the above, an attendance sheet will be circulated once at the beginning of each session. It is your responsibility to sign the attendance sheet in order to receive proper credit. If you arrive within 15 minutes of the beginning of each session you will be marked late. Two late arrivals equal one absence. If you arrive more than 15 minutes late, you will be marked absent for that specific session.

E-mail Policy: As stated above, I do not accept assignments over e-mail. Inquiries about the course could be made via e-mail at any time; you can expect a response within 24 working hours. I expect your e-mails to be written with clarity and grace!

Academic Honesty

It is assumed that the work you submit for this course, whether written or spoken, is your own. Any attempt to represent someone else's work as your own will be considered plagiarism--a form of academic misconduct. For more clarification on plagiarism, see Drexel's Student Handbook, especially pages 40-42.

Be forewarned that all plagiarism cases will be reported to your academic Chair and subsequently to Drexel’s Judicial Affairs. As per the academic policy of the University, sanctions for a first offense include (at the instructor’s discretion, depending on the severity of the offense):

-Reduction of the course grade

-A failure for the assignment or exam

-Failure for the course with inability to withdraw

-Other action deemed appropriate (including but not limited to requirement to re-complete the assignment, complete an additional assignment etc)

Violations beyond the first offense are subject to the sanctions above as well as disciplinary action imposed through the University’s judicial process (Office of Judicial Affairs).These sanctions may include suspension or expulsion from the University.

Submitting assignments previously submitted in other classes constitutes cheating. In short, for com 270-705, you may not under any circumstances whatsoever submit work done in other classes for which credit was previously received or credit is currently pending.

Ignorance is not an acceptable excuse. If in any doubt please talk to me.

Please remember that academic honesty regulations apply equally to written and oral work. Please note that the report and press release projects will have to be submitted online to confirm the originality of your work through the turnitin database.

Plagiarism and cheating will not be tolerated.

 

Prerequisites and Recommended Resources

As per the University Catalogue you must have at least sophomore standing in order to be able to take the course. The only exception is if you are a transfer student with at least 15 transfer credits accepted by Drexel University.

This course also presumes you have successfully completed English composition or its equivalent. All written assignments should be typed and should conform to standard American English. Your resources for writing the assignments should include an English composition handbook. Also, consider some of the resources for writers on the internet including Purdue's writing center and Strunk's Elements of Style.

Please note that this is a writing intensive course.

For additional  services or resources, please refer to the following Drexel web sites:

• Office of Disability Services
• SUCCESS Program (ACT101 Program and other support services)
• English Language Center
• Office of Student Services
• Writing Center

                             Welcome to my course!

Course Schedule (note that the schedule is subject to change in order to accommodate specific situations as they arise).

 

Day	Date	Topic	Reading Due	Assignment Schedule
1	6/26	Introduction and Ethical Writing	Ch. 1, 9   Plagiarism Documents (WebCT)	Writing Sample (in-class)
2	6/28	Writing Process Memos and E-mails Letter Writing and Types	Ch.2 (41-58), 4, 5, 6 Memo Instructions, Unprofessional E-mail, Letter Examples (WebCT)	In-class exercises: Time-off work, adjustment letter, idioms
3	7/3	Concision, Clarity, Sexist Language Summarizing Team Work	Ch.10 (409-431) Ch. 2 (58-69) Ch. 3 (75-104) Sexist Language Handout, Clarity Handout, Sample Summaries (WebCT)	In class-writing exercise: concision, summary of qualifications Due: Complaint Package Draft Due: Company of Choice Statement
4	7/5	Press Releases Parallel Structure Movie: The Insider (part I)	Ch. 10 (431-438) Parallel Structure reading (WebCT)	Due: Complaint Package Revised In-class writing exercise: parallel structure identification, ethical exercise in press release writing
5	7/10	Instruction Writing Movie: The Insider (part II)	Ch.13 Instruction examples (WebCT)	In-class writing exercise: instruction writing
6	7/12	Research Techniques Short Reports Business Communication in action Passive vs. Active	Ch.8, 15 Sample Reports, Passive and Active Voice Reading (WebCT)	In-class writing exercise: passive and active identification, The Insider Ethics Due: Press Release
7	7/17	Coherence & Emphasis Presentation Techniques	Ch. 17 Coherence Reading (WebCT)	Show & Tell   In-class writing exercise: coherence identification, presentation evaluation
8	7/19	Presentations		Due: Report (draft)
9	7/24	Presentations		Due: Report
10	7/26	Wrap-Up, End of Term Celebration		Due: Portfolio