BUS 207 Business Communication

Dr. Gina Poncini, Spring 2014

Final Exam - Topics & related readings

Note added before posting to Bb: As announced in class earlier in May, except for the addition of Ch. 5 on emails, the readings/pages for the final exam are exactly the same as the readings for the 3 quizzes, which were posted to BlackBoard before each quiz and also announced and reviewed in class. Throughout the course we have been focusing on material to be covered by the exam.

Ch. 5 was not included on a quiz because the email assessment has just taken place, and other chapters also cover business communication, channel choice, document format, etc.

Since the focus of the final exam is on what was emphasized in class (and covered by the textbook), I suggest that besides reviewing the readings or your notes for the quizzes, you also review all slides related to the pages listed, your own class notes, and materials such as the presentation planner and other guidelines, which summarize key points.

Topics covered in readings / in class / Reading / pages / material
Listening skills. Nonverbal communication. Culture & communication. / Ch. 1 textbook, pp. 11-19.
Business writing goals and the writing process. / Ch. 2 textbook, pp. 36-49 (and summary on p. 50);
Main focus: Organizing to show relationships (direct strategy, indirect strategy). / Ch. 3 textbook, pp. 58-63 and in particular Ch. 3 slides 1-8.
The rest of Ch. 3 mostly involves actual drafting / writing and is for reference.
Designing documents for readability (points in this section are also covered under topics such as email, letters, slides, etc., and in class discussions). / Ch. 4 textbook, pp. 88-91 (no specific questions on typefaces, p. 89) and in particular Ch. 4 slides 15-18.
Emails and memo formats. Our focus was emails. / Ch. 5 textbook, pp. 106-115 (up to the end of the email section).
Business presentations
Polishing presentations; revising slides / Ch. 12, pp. 365-374; pp. 379-384.
See also the slides for Ch. 12 on BlackBoard for a summary of key points.
Positive and negative messages
(routine messages; conveying negative news effectively) / Ch. 6 textbook, pp. 142-148 (Positive messages, requests). See also figure 6.2, p. 147 for a useful example of what effective messages do.
Ch. 7, pp. 178-186 (conveying negative news effectively).
See also the slides on BlackBoard related to the pages indicated above for Ch. 6 and 7.
Teamwork / PDF with 2 readings on teamwork (from MIT) available on Bb
Writing reports / Ch. 9, pp. 246-268
Consider also our discussions and work in class during the individual presentation; guidelines for delivery (slides); the presentation planner.