English 501
Writing for Careers
Monday Evenings from 6 - 9 PM
Karpen Hall Computer Lab

Course Description: The goal of this course is to help you write letters, memos, employment messages, reports, and other professional documents for many audiences and purposes. We will emphasis editing and revision to create concise, readable prose that is grammatically and mechanically perfect.

Book: Bovee and Thill, Business Communication Today, 6th edition. (Buy it cheap on Amazon).

Due Dates

Online Resources

• Check or Post to the Class Minutes
• See examples of minutes
• Forward your vax mail to your favorite email account

• Visiting Class News Group
• Go to the Prentice Hall Companion Site

• Review the Guide to Editing and Revising
• Tips and problems associated with the drop folders
• Review the Guide to Editing Style
• Check the Key to Grammar and Style Corrections
• Check the sample student grade sheet
• Grammar Resouces:
• Grammar Slammer
• Nonstop English (great source for drills and exercises, esp. good for non-native problems)

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Individual Letter Resources

• assignment 1: Check the tips for writing direct requests
  • Review editing (revision assignment due at end of class  6/8)
  • Check the Key to Grammar and Style Correction
  • downloand the active verbs exercise
• Report Assignment
  • Look at the Organization Guide for Group Reports
  • Report Group Assignment

• Look at the Final Exam Assignment
  • See a sample resume
  • See a sample letter
  • How long should a resume be?
• Job Search Sites:
  • Career Perfect.com
• http://www.jobhunter.com
• http://www.wetfeet.com
• http://www.careerpath.com/infoseek/index2_go.html
• http://www.monsterboard.com
• http://careers.wcu.edu/
• Law Enforcement Employment monthly (subscription offer)
• Federal Jobs Online
• National Parks Service Careers
• American Therapeutic Recreation Association
• Joblink for Journalists
• Technical Writing Jobs Online
• Copyediting Jobs
• see other links and internship resources on the English department links page

Course Policies:

• Attendance: After two absences, your final grade will be dropped one letter for each additional absence. It doesn't matter if your absences are excused or not, so please budget carefully. Extreme or extensive tardiness could count as an absence. If you are absent on the day you are assigned minutes or are making a presentation, you should arrange for a substitute to avoid losing credit for that assignment.
  When are you absent?
  • When you aren't here, no matter what your excuse is
  • When you are tardy at least twice
  • When you leave before class is over
  • When you don't have the book
    
• Missed assignments. I hold you responsible for assignments made in class whether you are here or not. Check minutes or ask classmates for the assignments. I will never consider "I didn't know" a valid excuse.
• Academic Dishonesty is defined as: An intentional act of deception in which a student seeks to claim credit for the work or effort of another person or uses unauthorized materials or fabricated information in any academic work. Students are expected to be honest and ethical in their academic work. Academic dishonesty includes:
  • CHEATING- use or attempted use of unauthorized materials, information or study aids OR an act of deceit by which a student attempts to misrepresent mastery of academic effort or information. This includes unauthorized copying or collaboration on a test or assignment or using prohibited materials and texts.
  • FABRICATION- falsification or invention of any information (including falsifying research, inventing or exaggerating data and listing incorrect or fictitious references.
  • ASSISTING- helping another commit an act of academic dishonesty. This includes paying or bribing someone to acquire a test or assignment, changing someone's grades or academic records, or taking a test/doing an assignment for someone else (or allowing someone to do these things for you).
  • TAMPERING- altering or interfering with evaluation instruments and documents.
  • PLAGIARISM- representing the words or ideas of another person as one's own OR presenting someone else's words, ideas, artistry or data as one's own. This includes copying another person's work (including unpublished material) without appropriate referencing, presenting someone else's opinions and theories as one's own, or working jointly on a project, then submitting it as one's own.
• Penalties for Academic dishonesty: Automatic failure on the assignment and possible failure for the course

• Required: Business Communication Today.

Grade Breakdown:

• Letters and Memos: 45% (includes minutes)
• Report 20% (grade also reflects group participation and timeliness)
• Group Presentations 10%
• Final 15%

Letters/ Memos: You get an automatic revision of the first assignment, and I drop the lowest letter grade. You have the option of revising two more assignments for a new grade.

Final examinations: This is an application letter and a resume (two copies: printable and scannable)

Does Participation Count? While I don't factor participation in, I make note of it. Those who consistently prepare for class and participate in discussion will get credit if they are on the border between two grades. Those who aren't prepared when I call on them or haven't done the reading will receive 1/2 absence. Those who don't have the book in class will be asked to leave and marked absent.

Computer Policies:

• Because I will use your WCU email address to contact you, make sure it is active. If you use another account, forward your WCU email to that account (consult the computer center in basement of Forsythe with questions). I will hold you responsible for information contained in my emails.
• We will use the online syllabus. Check it frequentlly for changes. Remember to always hit reload. You must have access to the online syllabus to do your journal entries.
• Bring a rewritable CD to each class. Pen drives are okay, but harder to work with.