Instructor: Ron Severson Phone: 346-3258 Office: 174 Gilbert Office Hours: M/W 1:00-2:00 or by appointment Class Email: ba199ibw@oregon.uoregon.edu Instructor's Email: rseverso@oregon.uoregon.edu Class Meeting: Thursdays, 4:00 - 4:50, 180 PLC
Attendance is absolutely important. However, students who have an irresolveable scheduling conflict may still register for this course. Any student registered for the course who cannot regularly attend the class meeting time must obtain classnotes from a peer and meet with one of the tutors hired to work with students in this course
Overview
This one-credit course in business writing is offered in conjunction with BA 101: Introduction to Business. You must be registered for BA101 to enroll in BA199. Students in the writing course will complete the same major writing assignments as students taking BA101. However, they will also complete some additional process stages (planning, responding, revising) for each assignment and will receive more feedback on their writing from peers, tutors, and instructors.
This course treats business writing as a professional activity that differs somewhat from the writing students typically do in university classes. Professionals who write effectively on the job learn to shift the ways they write to meet the particular goals of their organizations and the particular expectations of readers both inside and outside their organizations. Organizational or business writing looks quite different than classroom writing and fulfills different functions than does writing for the classroom.
Objectives
By the conclusion of this course, you will have learned to do the following:
Computer Access
You do not need to own a computer or have any experience with computers to enroll in this course. Several computer centers, including the Lundquist College of Business Technology Center (329 Chiles), the Knight Library Technology Center, and the EMU student lab are available to students and have liberal hours of operation.
Teamwork
Business writers work with others to produce significant documents. They must not only write well but learn strategies for reading and improving the writing of others in their organizations. As part of their responsibilities, managers routinely monitor and improve company communications. In BA199, you will work in a team with at least one other BA199 student to give and receive responses to your writing in progress. By registering for this course, you accept responsibility for engaging in this process of peer review.
Student Support Systems
Several forms of assistance are available to you to help you succeed in this course:
1) For Instructional Assistance:
2) For Tutoring Assistance:
3) For Technical Assistance:
Course Policies
To succeed in this class:
Assignments
Below you will find a brief description of each writing assignment. Please click on each assignment for a more detailed description.
Assignment #1: Memorandum written in response to an Industry Analysis Draft Due Date:
For this assignment, you will advise a company that manufactures bicycles on whether or not they should develop a new product based upon your close reading of an analysis of the bicycle industry.
Assignment #2: Executive Summary written in response to an Annual Report Draft Due Date:
For this assignment, you will summarize the points of an Annual Report from a particular bicycle manufacturer that are most relevant for a decision an executive within your company must make.
Assignment #3: Letter written in response to a Marketing Plan Draft Due Date:
For this assignment, you will write a letter to an advertising agency
Assignment #4: Memorandum written in response to a Business Plan Draft Due Date:
For this assignment, you will write a memorandum to the CEO of your company recommending specific internal changes in the company that must be made to insure the successful implementation of your new business plan.
Assignment#5: Portfolio Final Due Date:
All students in BA101 will submit a hardcopy portfolio that includes the final drafts of the above assignments. Students in BA199 will also submit, in their portfolios, the work completed as steps-in-the-process of improving their writing. This includes the plan, the draft, the peer reviews, the revision plan, and the final draft for each of the four assigments listed above. All students may revise any assignment as many times as desired before submitting it for final evaluation in a portfolio.
Grading
This course will be graded pass/no pass only. To pass, each student must demonstrate a satisfactory level of performance within each and all of the following areas:
Completion: Assignments must be submitted on time and must satisfy the minimum requirements outlined in each assignment description.
Process: For each assignment, students must complete a rhetorical plan, a draft, a peer review worksheet and a revision plan, in addition to the final draft. Since this is the only element of BA199 that differs from the requirements of BA101, these stages of your process will be closely evaluated.
Writing Effectiveness: By the end of the term, each student will submit a hardcopy of each assignment in a portfolio. A team of readers will evaluate your portfolio based on four criteria:
SCHEDULE OF TOPICS FOR EACH CLASS MEETING
Thursday, Sept. 30
Thursday, Oct. 7
Thursday, Oct. 14
Thursday, Oct. 21
Thursday, October 28
Thursday, November 4
Thursday, November 11
Thursday, November 18 (Final Class Meeting)
Note: There will be no final exam in this course.