WRITING ON BUSINESS AND SOCIETY: A PRAGMATIC APPROACH TO BUSINESS PLANS, WHITE PAPERS and ESSAYS

WRTG 3040 Sections 017 & 020, Fall2010

CONTACT INFORMATION

Instructor: Don Wilkerson

Office: Temp Building #1, Rm. 202
Office Hours: W 12:15-2:15; TH 12-1:00
(I will also be available on Fridays to discuss major projects) / E-Mail:
Office Phone: 303-492-3606 (rely on email)
CU Writing Center Information:
BUSINESS, ARGUMENT AND YOU
One could define business as an ongoing argumentover how to allocate a company's financial and human resources in order to maximize the profits of the stockholders. Everything from product development, to finance, to marketing, to operations and personnel management is a collective process of defining common goals and determining how best to achieve those goals--while at the same time balancing the competing interests of the various departments of the company. In addition, every employee is, in one way or another, expected to identify and respond to the constantly changing expectations of customers and business partners. If we then add concerns about social responsibility and corporate image, we quickly see what a complex social negotiation business is.
Written argument is the one comprehensive means you have of adding something significant to this complex negotiation. None of you would expect to succeed in business without knowing the basic business concepts and specialized skills that you have learned in your business courses. Most of you realize how important it is to understand numbers (i.e., the ability to create and interpret a spread sheet, a balance sheet, a budget, etc.) All of you are aware of the importance of a winning smile, appropriate clothes and a positive outlook. Some of you, however, have yet to realize just how important it is to write and think logically. Every business is awash in sea of information--some of it trivial, some of it vital. Numerical analysis is certainly one of way of sorting out the facts. But written analysis is the only way of making sense of both the social facts and the numbers.
You all know how competitive the business world is. Now consider this: You and several thousand other business majors nationwide will enter the workplace with roughly the same rudimentary business skills. Some of you will survive and thrive because you are just better than most of your peers at performing those skills. Others of you will get ahead because you are more energetic, or better-connected, or just plain lucky. Most of you, however, will only be able to get ahead because you will find a way to make your ideas relevant to the overall business goals of the company. You can't hope to do that unless you can make clear and convincing written and oral arguments. That is why the University considers this course an important part of your business education.
COURSE OVERVIEW
Our goal is to write just one logically coherent and rhetorically appropriate paper or proposal. All other assignments will, in one way or another, help you achieve that goal. I will not ask you to “dabble” with several different genres. We won’t have a “resume assignment” and a “memo assignment” and a “letter to the customer” assignment. We will read a number of brief essays on the nature of pragmatic argument and discuss how pragmatic considerations inform a variety of genres relevant to writing in and about business and economic policy. I will then give you models of the following genres:
  • essays written for a general audience on issues relevant to business, economics and public policy,
  • business proposals,
  • white papers that analyze a problem in a business or institution and propose a solution,
  • analyses of corporate web sites,
  • curriculum reform proposals.
Early in the semester, you will decide which type of essay or proposal you want to write, and you will start doing library research in preparation for it. Later in the semester you will hand in an annotated bibliography and begin drafting the paper or proposal. You will write three preliminary drafts and one final draft of your paper or proposal. Your classmates will comment on each draft, orally and in writing. You, in turn, will comment on each draft written by each student. Such commentary will force you to consider the unique rhetorical demands of each genre listed above.
During the first half of the semester, while you are doing your preliminary research for your major term project, you will write a brief essay patterned after the GMAT analytical writing test. Through the GMAT paper you will learn how to write a clear sentence and a coherent paragraph. You will also learn how to define terms, clarify unstated assumptions, present evidence in support of an assertion, and respond to counter arguments and objections. You will write two preliminary drafts and one final draft of the GMAT paper. Some students will critique your draft in class; others will critique it in writing.
The GMAT papers will cover a wide range of topics, among them—the nature of leadership and management, the relationship between business and government, the nature of innovation and problem solving in business, the social effects of advertising, the ethical obligations of a professional, and the rights and obligations of a citizen. I will not lecture on these topics. Instead, your paper will teach the entire class a lesson on the topic you choose.
Through the GMAT exercise, you will learn what an argument is and how to critique one. You will then apply these skills to your major term project and to your commentary on other students’ projects.
COURSE OBJECTIVES
This course is designed to introduce you to the basic modes of descriptive, analytical and argumentative writing, and to help you apply those modes to business writing. In all, the purpose of this course is to teach you how to read and think critically and how to express your thoughts in a rhetorically compelling and convincing way. You should understand that this is not a course in "how to format a business letter or memo." The specific goals of this course can be subdivided into the following categories:
Rhetorical Knowledge:
  • Understand how situational contexts, assumed background knowledge and other contextual factors inform both the content and structure of a document.
  • Understand writing as a technology that sometimes constitutes reality and does not merely reflect it.
  • Understand that all communication, and specifically analytical writing, is a cooperative act between the writer and his or her audience.
  • Learn how to calculate the expectations and relative expertise of your likely audience
  • Learn how to emphasize the novelty of your ideas within a given field or the “public mind”
  • Enhance your understanding of the specific formal elements of a conventional essay and how to adapt those elements to a specialized business, academic or political audience
  • Refine your skills in presenting economic and business ideas analyses in terms that a non-expert can understand
  • Understand how to weigh and employ common rhetorical appeals in both specialized and general arguments
  • Refine your skills in crafting an introduction that focuses the reader’s attention on the issue at hand and the purpose of your essay
  • Understand the paragraph form as the basic unit of composition and verbal reasoning
  • Refine your skills in crafting a conclusion that places your specific argument in a broader social or intellectual context
  • Acquire a “tool kit” of rhetorical terms that will allow you to speak intelligently about the aims and strategies of your paper and the aims and strategies of the papers that you critique
  • Appreciate writing as tool for building consensus within an informed community
Critical Reading and Thinking:
  • Recognize and evaluate a statement of brute fact, of institutional fact, of arguable opinion, of taste and of dogma.
  • Understand the common types of evidence in an argument
  • Understand how unstated assumptions can undermine the validity of an argument
  • Refine your ability to state a defensible analytical or argumentative thesis
  • Explore advanced means of defending and developing the thesis over the course of a 7-12 page essay
  • Review how to summarize a counter-argument or objection fairly and sympathetically
  • Learn how to analyze and refute an argument by addressing the validity of its claims, evidence, and unstated assumptions
  • Understand how to evaluate the validity, relevance and credibility of academic and non-academic sources in both print and electronic formats
Social and Professional Context:
  • Understand the general ethical responsibilities of a professional
  • Understand that business ideas are always developed within a political context
  • Understand how the conventions of political argument influence public policy related to business
  • Understand the basic conventions of academic peer review and how they differ from the conventions of journalism and think tank advocacy
  • Understand how “groupthink” can influence organizational decision making and public policy debate
  • Understand how novel analyses and clear writing adds value to any business or organization
Writing Process:
  • Learn how to brainstorm ideas for an essay by evaluating your personal interests and knowledge, and by consulting with your peers, professors and other relevant professionals
  • Understand the importance of actively pursuing sources and arguments that are counter to your case
  • Understand the recursive nature of revision
  • Learn how to refine and focus your ideas through the practice of revision
  • Learn how to present purposeful, direct and tactful oral critiques of your peers’ writing
Writing Conventions:
  • Refine your ability to write simple, clear, economical prose
  • Learn how to quote, paraphrase and cite sources according to discipline-specific conventions

WORKSHOP Format
This course is a writing workshop. Much of our class time will be spent analyzing and discussing your essays. Every third class period you will post a draft of your work on the CU-Learn website for this course ( Your classmates will download a copy of the draft. Some will insert written commentary into your draft and repost the document on the website. Others will be prepared to offer an oral critique of your work in class. On some days the entire class will discuss your paper; on other days your paper will be discussed in a small group of 6-9 students. The workshop method is designed to:
  • Teach you how to analyze and critique the work of others;
  • Give you direct audience response so that you can develop a realistic sense of the diverse interests and expectations of your audience;
  • Teach you that writing is never a solitary act, but an ongoing dialogue with your collaborators, critics and the wider culture;
  • Provide you with a method for drafting and revising your essays in your other courses and in your future careers.
You are expected to write multiple drafts of each essay. Each draft should be presented as if it were a final draft. Each draft must be typed, double-spaced and turned in on time. Late drafts are not accepted. I will comment either in writing or in discussion on each draft. I will grade the final draft only.
Assignments and Assignment Values
  • A 3-5 page response to a standardized test question similar to the GMAT analytical writing test (25%)
  • Major Term Project: a 7-12 page business plan white paper, feasibility analysis, web site analysis or essay on business and public policy on a topic of your choice (45%)
  • Un-graded writing assignments over the course of the semester, including discussion questions about our readings, responses to business scenarios, a research prospectus, a summary of an essay you want to refute, and an annotated bibliography (10%).
  • Frequent written and oral critiques of your classmates’ writing (20%)
Regular participation in class discussion of the texts and handouts is also required. If you fail to participate in class discussion in a substantive way, I may grade you down as much as one full letter grade.
DUE DATES (subject to change at my discretion)
  • 8/27 - Response to Farm Challenges Whistle Blower Scenario
  • 9/13-9/15 - Elevator Pitch Oral Presentations on your initial idea for major project
  • 9/20 – Summary and Group Presentation of an Essay
  • 10/8 - Research Prospectus for Paper #2
  • 10/22 -Annotated Bibliography and Summary (electronic Friday Posting)
  • 10/29 -Paper #1 - GMAT Response
  • 12/15 or 12/16- Paper #2 – Business Proposal or Argumentative Essay (may be handed in as early as 12/10)
  • Frequent Written Critiques of student writing throughout the semester
  • Daily Oral Critiques of Student Writing
  • Occasional worksheets and brief written, ungraded responses to readings that are intended to prepare you for class discussion

Texts
Course readings will be available through the CU-Learn website. (I will also sometimes email readings, hand out packets or refer you to relevant web sites.) Under the Course Content link on the left-hand menu, you will find several folders with a diverse range of readings—essays on rhetoric; background readings on science, ethics and public policy; model student essays; readings on style, mechanics and proper citation form; and other relevant topics. You can also find hyperlinks to a variety of useful guides and resources at: The schedule below contains the specific readings for the course. Don’t panic if some of the readings in the calendar seem long. You may have four readings on a given day, but many of the essays will be as short as 2-5 pages.
In addition, I would like you to buy a copy of They Say, I Say, by Graff and Birkenstein, available at the CU Bookstore.
PARTIAL Schedule (Subject to Change at My Discretion)
The readings below can be found on the CU Learn website for this course unless otherwise noted in the schedule. Each day’s schedule is subdivided into Reading, Discussion, Writing and Written Peer Review assignments. The boxes below are designed to give you a general outline of the assignments and its rationale based on the goals of the course. You should expect some small changes to individual assignments and the sequence of assignments. I will send out emails on a weekly basis that will remind you of the assignments and inform you of any changes to the schedule or the content of the assignments. Typically, the emails will also contain a more detailed set of discussion questions than the ones you find below.
Week 1: Monday 8/23 / WedNESday 8/25
Course Introduction /
Ethics and Ethos
Discussion: Course Syllabus and Objectives / Readings:
Social and Professional Context:
1.)Student Whistle Blower Scenario - MarkkulaCenter for Applied Ethics (handout from Mon)
2.)“Rights, Duties and Responsibilities” - Markkula Center for Applied Ethics
3.)“Guide to Moral Decision Making”—Chris MacDonald
4.)Institute of Management Consultants USA Code of Ethics (word doc)
5.)“Professionalism” at
Rhetorical Knowledge:
6.) Silva Rhetoricae , an online encyclopedia of classical rhetoric at Read the links entitled “What is Rhetoric?” “Persuasive Appeals,” “Logos,” “Pathos” and “Ethos”
Writing: 2-3 page response to the Student Whistle Blower Scenario in drawing upon the above readings. Should the student appeal to the business owner or go to the EPA? In either case, what sorts of rhetorical appeals should he employ?
Discussion: Full class discussion of the scenario and your specific strategies in structuring your written response.
Week 2: Monday 8/30 / Wednesday 9/1
Facts, Inferences, Speech Acts / Writing on Business and Public Policy for a General Audience (Model Student Essays for Your Term Projects)
Readings:
Rhetorical Knowledge; Critical Reading and Thinking:
1.)“Speech Acts” – Joan Cutting (pp 13-19 of Pragmatics and Discourse)
2.)“Clarifying Speech Act Theory: How Language Regulates, Constitutes and Reflects Reality” - Wilkerson
3.)Brief selections from The Construction of Social Reality pp.27-29 on brute and institutional facts; 93-94; 100-101on the theory of rights – John Searle
4.)“Facts, Opinions, Value Judgments and Writing as a Collaborative Act” -- Donald Wilkerson
5.) “Facts and Opinions Discussion Assignment” – Wilkerson
Discussion: Be prepared to discuss the 18 statements in the Facts and Opinions discussion Assignment in light of the above readings. Tell me whether the phrasing of the statement makes it a brute fact, an institutional fact, a defensible inference, an indefensible assertion, or a statement of dogma. Revise the indefensible assertions so that they are defensible.
Writing: I will send out an email that assigns one statement to each student. Write a one-paragraph analysis of it according to the questions contained in #5 above. You will also lead class discussion of the statement. / Readings:
Rhetorical Knowledge:
1.)“Argument as Reasoned Dialogue”– Douglas Walton (pp. 1-10 of Informal Logic: A Pragmatic Approach)
2.)“Grice’s Conversational Maxims
Critical Reading and Thinking (model student essays):
1.)“The Economics of Medical Malpractice (annotated early sections)”
2.)Lauren Premo – Final Project (White Paper Analyzing the Problems with a Corporate Web Site)
3.)“Model Intro and Developmental Sectionsof Reimportation of Prescription Drugs
4.)"Stephen Karcher - Curriculum Proposal"
Discussion:
1.)We will complete our discussion of the Facts and Opinions statements from last time.
2.)Be prepared to discuss Walton’s ideas according to the questions I email you.
3.)Be prepared to analyze the main assertions of each model student essay in light of our discussions.
4.)Identify the strongest and weakest aspects of each model student essay.
Week 3: Tuesday 9/8 / Thursday 9/10
The Writing Process: How to Brainstorm Topics for Your Term Projects (Business Plans and Prospectuses) / Elevator Pitches on Your Provisional Paper Topics
Readings:
Writing Process:
1.)“Assignment Sheet for Your Major Projects”
2.)Slipstream Systems Business Plan – Tom Kutina
3.)Treeline Wireless Business Plan –Joshua Price
4.)Model Prospectus Worksheet for “Bioterrrorism and Science”
5.)Model Prospectus and intro for “Unapproved and Unregulated: Dissolving Body Fat in America” —Ashley Moore
6.)Model Prospectus and intro for “The Gene Patenting Controversy” – Suzanna Fiala
7.)Model Prospectus and Intro Ryan Roth
8.)Model Prospectus for Kutina’s Business Plan