Course Description and Goals

"Reporting of technical information in descriptions, instructions, memos, reports, and proposals. Emphasizes writing clear, persuasive prose and
giving effective oral presentations."  (AASU 2003-2004 Catalog)

Business & Technical Communication is a course for those interested in functioning effectively as professional writers and speakers in organizations. The overall purpose of the course is to help you improve the strategies and skills that will make you an effective communicator in your profession.

By the end of the term, you should have achieved several key goals:

You should be familiar with the conventions of typical written communications in business, government, and industry: in particular, letters, memos, reports, and proposals.

You should be able to analyze a variety of writing situations and respond to these situations by giving yourself an effective writing assignment.

You should be able to respond to writing assignments (from yourself and from others) with effective discovery and revision strategies, with confident drafting, and with effective consultation (one-on-one and in groups).

You should be able to design communications that are appropriate in format and that your colleagues, your instructor, and others find to be clear, complete, correct, and convincing.

You should be competent and comfortable (a) designing your communications on word-processing and web-building software and (b) using electronic mail and bulletin boards as media for communicating and sharing works in progress.

standard writer's reference books: a collegiate dictionary and an English handbook

Required Resources
Ready access to a networked computer (to take advantage of the resources on the class web site) and an e-mail address (to communicate with the instructor and with your colleagues).  Your student ID provides access to all computing labs on campus.  If you don't already have an e-mail address, please visit the AASU computing lab or stop by my office to set up a web mail account.

Communications
While working on any course project, please don't hesitate to send me questions via e-mail (zeugma@att.net) or to fax (921 7355) drafts for me to review.  I'll also be happy to visit with you in my office, but please call or e-mail ahead of time to schedule an appointment.  Because committee work, various administrative chores, and appointments with other students frequently gobble up my days, the one way I can be counted on to give you undivided attention is to ask that you schedule an appointment at a mutually convenient time. (Thanks!)  In any case, if you're having academic problems, let me know.

Course Web Site (www.nt.armstrong.edu/bc.htm)
Our course web site will be developed by and for the class throughout the spring term.  Among other activities, you will be in charge of developing the class minutes (concise records of material covered in class), locating online resources, and posting short assignments via e-mail and the class bulletin board.   At least twice a week I will be posting notes, which will include previews (to help you prepare for upcoming classes and assignments) and postscripts (essentially afterthoughts on material covered in our class sessions, often with links to supplementary resources).  In addition, all reading and writing assignments will be posted online--usually, at least one week before the due date.   

To stay current with class activities, please check the NEWS  link frequently (at least twice a week): the NEWS  page will alert you to updates on any of the other course web pages.

Ethics
For all course assignments, you should rely solely on course texts, class discussions, and your own ideas--unless you are specifically instructed otherwise.  In any case, reliance on uncredited primary or secondary sources of any kind (whether direct or indirect) will be treated as plagiarism and a violation of the Armstrong Atlantic Honor Code.  Additional information (as well as a link to the Honor Code: http://www.sa.armstrong.edu/Activities/hccoc.htm) will be provided on the course web site  and in the context of particular assignments and projects.  If you are ever in doubt as to what constitutes plagiarism, simply notify me and we'll decide together.

Attendance
Because of the workshop nature of this class (planning, drafting, discussing samples, and practicing a variety of strategies), regular attendance is essential. (Though the course web site should serve as an important resource, ENGL 3720 is not an online course, and work on the web is not an alternative to class attendance and participation.)

Class attendance means arriving and leaving at the scheduled times.  You're permitted six cuts during the term. (These six cuts anticipate disease, despair, carburetor problems, and other disasters.  In other words, I recognize that you're adults and your reasons for taking the cuts are your own business: no need for phone calls or letters from the doctor.)  If you must miss a class, it's your responsibility to get in touch with a classmate to collect any handouts and to find out what assignments have been given and what changes (if any) have been made in the syllabus.  If you take your six cuts before midterm, I'll strongly encourage you to drop the course at that time with a W.  That said, if you do need to drop the course, it's your responsibility to complete the necessary paper work before midterm to receive a grade of W (rather than WF).

Your final course grade will drop a full letter grade (i.e., 10%) for each absence beyond the allotted six absences.

Exams
The midterm and final exams will
  focus on information conveyed in the text, on the course web site, and in class handouts and discussions;
  provide opportunities to evaluate sample communications in a variety of forms;
  test your ability to edit documents correctly and effectively. 
Tips on preparing for each of these examinations will be posted on the course web site about one week before the exam. 

Grading and Projects
In determining your final grade, I will weigh your course work as follows:
15%   participation, quizzes, homework, short assignments, and small projects
15%   midterm exam
15%   employment project
30%   final exam
25%   final project
The employment project will include a job description, a resume, a letter of application, and an in-class interview.  Final projects will include proposals, reports, and an in-class presentation.  The precise nature of each project will be defined, in part, by your particular professional interests and goals.

All assignments must be submitted no later than the start of class on the posted due date.  
Any assignment may be submitted before the due date for revision suggestions.   Indeed, I strongly encourage you to take advantage of these opportunities to get advice before  assignments are due. 
A late assignment will be docked one letter grade per day.  An assignment that is not turned in at all will receive a grade of 0 (the equivalent of a double-F on the grade scale).

Site maintained by Dr. Richard Nordquist
Armstrong Atlantic State University
Solms 211-C
Savannah, Georgia 31419
(912) 921 5991 
e-mail: zeugma@att.net
07 January 2004