English 371

Sections A&B

Semester: Fall 1997

Instructor: Dr. Roger R. Easson

Location: Kenrick 108

[the old writing center]

Time Section A: 9:30-10:45

Time Section B: 10:00-12:15

Required Text:

Raymond V. Lesikar, John D. Pettit, Jr., Marie E. Flatley. Lesikar's Basic Business Communication. Seventh Edition. Irwin. 1996.

COURSE DESCRIPTION: An examination of logical and psychological patterns of business writing, and adaptation to varying audiences. We will study all forms of written communication in the business world from letters for both routine and problem situations to memos and short and long reports.

OBJECTIVES OF THIS CLASS

• Mastery of effective business prose
• Orientation to business letter writing
• Orientation to report writing
• Mastery of wordprocessing as a writer's workspace
• Mastery of ability to meet deadlines
• Mastery of copyediting

FINAL GRADES are determined by three criteria:

• Quality of Writing,
• Class Participation, and
• Attendance.

WRITING QUALITY: The Final grade is assessed by my appraisal of your encounter with the stated objectives above and by the CLARITY of your writing;

CLASS PARTICIPATION: High marks are given for attentive discussion and demonstration of knowledge of the materials assigned.

ATTENDANCE:

• Students are expected to attend class. Any student who is absent, even for a legitimate cause, is responsible for the material covered and assignments given during the class that is missed.
• Students who miss in excess of 5 classes (MWF) may receive a one letter lowering of the final grade.
• Consistent with the College-wide policy, students who miss in excess of 20% of the total classes scheduled for a course (9 MWF, 6 TTH) will be dropped from the course with a grade of "F". Class attendance will be a factor in determining fina l grades in borderline cases.
• As we will be working a good deal in small groups, much of what will be missed cannot be made up as it consists of small group interaction.
• Late arrivals will be marked absent.
• Should there be an emergency which takes you out of class--illness, death in the family, kidnapping by space aliens--please contact me as soon as possible so that I will know your absence is beyond your control.

PLAGIARISM: Given the unholy tradition of plagiarism on this campus, I go out of my way to design this class so that plagiarism will be impossible, however, it is my responsibility to alert you to the regulations regarding this issue at CBU, and to assure you that no leniency will be permitted should you be caught.

SCHOOL OF ARTS PLAGIARISM STATEMENT: "Plagiarism is the taking of work of others and offering it as one's own. Plagiarism is a major breach of the responsibility of students and scholars and is unacceptable in any community of learning. As such. plagiarism is cause for automatic failure for the course in which the assignment, paper, project, test, experiment, or oral presentation has been plagiarized."

NOTE WELL

• This is a class devoted to improving your writing skill. If you need tutoring or assistance in improvement I am willing to provide you with special guidance and help. As Director of the Writing Center, I have many special resources at hand.
• However, should you elect to either copy work from a published source, or to substitute the writing of another author--a student's or parent's--you will be guilty of subverting the goals of the class. Given the amount of writing we will do in this cl ass, it will be nearly impossible to disguise the great difference between your work and a professional writer's work.
• I reserve the right to use stylistic and rhetorical markers to detect when another writer's work is being substituted for your own. Such detection indicating that you have elected to subvert the goals of the class, will trigger an automatic F.