Technical and Business Writing
ENG 232, Section I1
Spring / Summer, 2018
Instructor: Finch Roberts, MA
Office: Bert Walker 242
Contact Phone: (517) 796-8436
Contact Email: (this is the best way to contact me)
Course Description:
Technical Communications is a course designed to provide practice in a variety of written and video communications to meet the requirements of the workplace. Projects may include descriptions, instructions, resumes, proposals, reports, videos or live conferencing.
Prerequisite(s):
ENG 085 and ENG 131
Performance Objectives:
ENG 232 course goals and objectives incorporate specific General Education Outcomes (GEO’s) and Essential Competencies (EC’s) established by the JC Board of Trustees, administration, and faculty. These goals are in concert with four-year colleges and universities and reflect input from the professional communities we serve. GEOs and ECs guarantee students achieve goals necessary for graduation credit, transferability, and professional skills needed in many certification programs. The GEO addressed in this class:
Writing clearly, concisely, and intelligibly – GEO 1.
Class discussions, activities and practice will focus on:
· Refining the writing and peer responding processes
· Writing with attention to purpose and audience
· Composing meaningful documents
· Organizing, developing, and supporting ideas
· Connecting prior knowledge and new information
· Integrating sources with proper documentation
· Employing proper grammar, mechanics and format, with attention to word choice, tone and style.
Textbook:
Technical Communications: A Practical Approach 8th Edition, William Sanborn Pfeiffer, Kaye E. Adkins 2013.
Text: Textbook Zero! Material is available in a digital format.
This course uses some OER materials in addition to materials that require purchase.
Grading Procedure:
Grading Criteria (Adapted from the State of Michigan):
4.0
The writing is engaging, original, clear, focused; ideas and content are richly developed. Essays contain abundant examples, comparisons, and facts, which are used to expand and support ideas. Control of organization and translations move the reader easily through the text. The voice and tone are authentic and compelling. The work contains few if any errors in spelling, punctuation, or grammar. This is an outstanding reading experience at all levels.
3.0
The writing is generally clear, focused, and well-developed; examples and details support ideas and content where appropriate. The presentation is generally coherent, and its organizational structure is functional. The voice, tone, diction, and sentence structure support meaning. The writing may contain occasional errors.
2.0
The writing has some focus and support; ideas and content may be developed with limited details and examples. The presentation shows some evidence of structure, but it may be artificial or only partially successful. The tone may be inappropriate or the voice uneven. Sentence structure and diction are generally correct but basic. The writing may contain mechanical errors enough to distract the reader. This is an average reading experience.
1.0
The writing has little focus and development. Support for ideas is minimal and at times the ideas themselves may be difficult to identify. There is little discernible shape or direction. The writing demonstrates no control over voice and tone, suggesting the writer's inability to address an idea. Errors in spelling, grammar, usage, capitalization, punctuation, and/or indention are numerous and interfere with the reader's understanding. This is a poor reading experience.
0.0
The writing fails to meet the assignment guidelines, or is plagiarized, or is not completed.
Incompletes are not possible (unless there are very serious extenuating circumstances and more than 80% of your work is complete).
Academic Honesty Policy:
Honesty is expected of all students. Academic honesty is the ethical behavior that includes producing your own work (in your own words) and not representing others’ ideas or work (or words) as your own, either by plagiarism, by cheating, or by helping others to do so. There is a zero-tolerance policy forplagiarism. If you plagiarize material, the penalty can be a failing grade in the course. For your review, the JC Academic Honesty Policy is posted online.
Grading Scale:
●100 points total
●95 - 100 = 4.0
●90 – 94 = 3.5
●85 - 89 = 3.0
●80 – 84 = 2.5
●75 – 79 = 2.0
●70 – 74 = 1.5
●65 – 69 = 1.0
●60 - 64 = .5
Course Assignments:
●Floating Assignments / Instructor Discretion / Assigned Chapters 1,2,4,11,13,16,17. Journal - - - 25 points
●Forums - - - 25 points
●Video Conference - - - 10 points * other options available.
●Power Point / Prezi.com ------10 points
●International Assignments - - - - - 10 points
●Choice Chapter - - - - - 10 points
●Final Exam ------10 points
Other important assignments:
Resume / Vita - Business Card - Graphics use and identification.
●Class Etiquette / Netiquette! (-:
●Show kindness and helpfulness in all you do.
●Your work is governed by the existing plagiarism policy.
●All classwork assignments are to be submitted as a Microsoft Word document or in Rich Text Format only (RTF).
●No e-mailed work will be accepted.
Achieve with originality and enjoy the semester!
Contract Grade Agreement
I agree to complete the requirements for the grade of: A______B______C______
I understand and agree that the instructor retains the right to the final determination of the quality of my work and shall judge whether my work meets or does not meet the grade I have selected to work toward. If my work does not meet these quality standards, I shall receive the next lowest grade. With the approval of the instructor, I have the right to resubmit my work with revisions to attempt to meet these quality standards. If my work is less than the quality for a grade the instructor may assign a minus (.5). If my work exceeds the quality for a grade the instructor may assign a plus (.5).
(For an online class) If a student has not logged in to the class in 5 days or more the instructor may assign a 0.0 as an overall grade. I understand the vital need to log-in, participate in forums and submit assignments in the online environment of Jet Net.
I understand I have the right to revise my contract either up or down through negotiation with the instructor.
(For a face to face class) I understand the attendance requirements and that my grade may be lowered due to excessive absences.
NOTE – SUBMISSION OF THIS CONTRACT TO OUR JET NET CLASS SITE WILL SERVE AS YOUR SIGNATURE.
Signature of Student______DATE______
Signature of Instructor______DATE______
Contract Revision: From______To______(only to be used as needed in the remaining 2 months of the semester).
Initials of Student & Instructor______