professor: Dr. Amy C. Kimme Hea

office hours: T 12:30-2:00 & by appointment

office locations: M LNG 476 & ML 376 (ML 476 is the office where conferences will be held.)

course description

English 307 introduces you to a variety of business writing situations. The approach in this course is a decidedly rhetorical one. That is, in each course project, you will consider the purposes, audiences, and your role(s) as author. The course emphasizes the changing business writing environment. From the variety of majors represented in this course to the inclusion of more electronic media in workplace environments, business writing as a category is marked by diversity. Keeping in mind this diversity, you will learn to:

Understand the role(s) of business writers through contextual research and analysis.

Conduct field, electronic, and library research to develop course projects.

Collaborate with your colleagues in self-directed project teams.

Work with clients to complete writing projects for the course.

Participate in the development of a range of written genres including professional emails, print-based and electronic résumés and job materials, proposals, reports, and other written materials.

Use technology to plan, develop, and support individual and peer projects.

course description required materials course policies assignments grading

required materials

A fundamental assumption of this course is that an increasing amount of workplace writing will take place online--not merely as documents word processed then printed out, but in email, realtime remote discussion, and other forms. In order to learn to communicate more effectively online, much of your work in this course will rely on email, listserv, the WWW, and other electronic media.

In fact, the bulk of your course materials such as syllabus, schedule, and project guides will be made available to you through this course web site.

If you would like to purchase a handbook to give you supplemental information about business writing genres, I suggested you purchase a copy of The Business Writer's Companion, spiral edition
by Charles T. Brusaw, Walter E. Oliu, and Gerald J. Alred.
Used and new copies available through Amazon or other online bookshops.

course description required materials course policies assignments grading

course policies

technology requirements
In our class, you should expect to engage in quite a bit of computer work this semester. The main form of communication as well as planning and production of documents will rely on the computer. Thus, in order to participate fully in the course, you should be able to use the technologies listed below.

Microsoft Office Applications, particularly Word, PowerPoint, and Publisher.

Internet Explorer or other web browser.

UA webmail which allows you to send and receive email attachments during computer class sessions.

technology responsibilities
Because the exchange of information and materials in this class will be largely electronic, familiarity with certain technologies is crucial for participation and success in the course. Thus, you should be able to attend to the responsibilities in the list below. If you need any assistance now or at any point during the semester, please do not hesitate to ask me.

Have access to a University of Arizona account for communication with me, your peers, and clients, and for storage space of web documents.

Become proficient sending and receiving email attachments through your University of Arizona account.

Read all course update messages sent to our class listserv.

Check the course calendar before the beginning of each class.

Become more proficient with unfamiliar computer technologies and applications.

Maintain back-up copies of all assignments via disks and/or email attachments to yourself.

collaborative work
Collaborative work is a major element of our course. In fact, most projects in our course will require you to act as either co-developer and/or co-author. You and your team members are responsible for updating one another and me about assignment progress. In addition, you are responsible for negotiating together all aspects of your work including planning, drafting, revising, file managing, and scheduling of tasks. You will be asked to evaluate your own and your peers' participation in collaborative projects, and thus, you should maintain detailed daily notes and records about your work.


attendance & punctuality
Attendance is mandatory. The Writing Program has a strict attendance policy that states "students who miss more than 2 classes of a TR course may be dropped within the first 8 weeks with a W or thereafter receive an E." Each absence above the allowed number will result in a one percent deduction from a student’s final grade if that student remains in the course. Students may fail during the second half of the semester for excessive absences. Keep in mind that since you will working collaboratively with peer and community partners, you also will be required to attend any scheduled out-of-class meetings with your team and client to complete course assignments. Being late to class is disruptive. If you are late to class on a regular basis, I will suggest that you to drop the course.

All holidays or special events observed by organized religions will be honored for those students how show affiliation with that particular religion. Dean's excuses will be honored for approved events.

late & incomplete work
If you must miss a scheduled class meeting, you are not excused from the work due at or accomplished during that class session. You should make arrangements to turn in your work in advance of your absence. If you fail to make advanced preparation, the assignment will receive a grade of E.

All assignments, unless otherwise specified, are due at the beginning of class. If you come to class without your project printed or emailed to me, you will be docked 10 points.

If a serious and unavoidable problem arises, however, you should contact me as soon as possible to determine whether or not an extension for the work will be granted. An extension of a deadline is a privilege not a right, and therefore, is based upon my judgment of what is reasonable and fair.

A grade of an "I" for incomplete will only be assigned in extreme cases and where a majority of the work for the course has already been completed.


academic integrity
Projects in this course focus on your own experiences as a professional and your collaborations with peers and community organizations. Taking credit for the work of others or cheating in any form will not be tolerated.

All UA students are responsible for upholding the Code of Academic Integrity, available through the office of the Dean of Students and online at http://dos.web.arizona.edu/uapolicies/cai1.html

Because a variety of research methods will be used in our course and your crediting of those sources is vital, we will discuss the preferred citation method used to produce most professional writing documents, which is APA. If you have any questions about citing sources, collaborating with your peers, or working with clients in the community, please feel free to contact me.

Please note that submitting an item of academic work that has previously been submitted without fair citation of the original work or authorization by the faculty member supervising the work is prohibited by the Student Code of Conduct.

class conduct
All UA students are responsible for upholding the Student Code of Conduct of which the classroom applicable information can be read online at http://web.arizona.edu/~policy/disrupt.shtml.

disabilities accommodations
Students with disabilities who require reasonable accommodations to fully participate in course activities or meet course requirements must register with the Disability Resource Center. If you qualify for services through DRC, give your letter of accommodation to me as soon as possible. See http://drc.arizona.edu/drc/process.shtml for details.

course content
If any of the course materials, subject matter, or requirements in this course contain materials that are offensive to you, speak to me. Usually the resolution will be to drop the course promptly.

Memo of Introduction 5% (individual)

Unit 1: Job Analysis Materials 15% (individual)

Unit 2: Client Research & Proposal 25% (collaborative)

Unit 3: Client Deliverable Production & Product 25% (collaborative)

Unit 4: Reflective Report & Evaluations 10% (individual)

Unit 5: Job Materials Portfolio 20% (individual)

Because genres will vary widely across projects, formatting guidelines will be given for each of the major assignments.

course description required materials course policies assignments grading

grading
You must complete all the larger projects and their components to pass the course.

For each project you must submit multiple components (including preliminary assignments, research notes, drafts, etc.). For the specifics of each unit, follow the links provided in the above assignments section.

All assignments will be graded on the standard letter-grade scale:

A=100-90

B=89-80

C=79-70

D=69-60

F=59 or below

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course description required materials course policies assignments grading

page last updated: 12.18.6