Week 1

By Monday, January 7, at midnight

• If you have not done so already, read Welcome to English 420Y, Business Writing (Distance Learning).
• Complete Getting Started 1: Registering on the Site
• Review carefully the Course Description, paying particular attention to all requirements. It is important that you become very familiar with the course policies so you can understand what is expected of you in this class. It might be best if you read through the course description twice; ignorance of the course policies will not be an excuse for failure to properly complete an assignment. Please do not fall behind on the first day. This course will proceed at a quick pace, so don't wait a few days to get going!
• Read Learning to Navigate the Site. Then explore the class website. Make sure that you login; some class website features are not available to guests. It'll be easier as we move forward if you take the time now to explore. Get familiar with where things are located, which links take you further into the class website and which take you outside to other resources.
• Read through the rest of this page so that you know when assignments are due the rest of the week.

By Wednesday, January 9, at midnight

• Complete Getting Started 2: Logging in for the First Time and Getting Started 3: Editing Your Account for the First Time
• Review How to Post to Your Individual Weblog and then "How to Post Comments and Replies"
• Note the node under Project Posts in the left menu entitled "Introductions." Post an introduction of yourself there from your blog. In your introduction:

  describe where you are from
  give your course of study and year
  talk about your career goals
  tell what you would like to get out of this course
  share at least one thing personal about yourself (a hobby, your favorite sport, a favorite activity, etc.)

• Once you have posted your own introduction, go and read some posted by your classmates. Respond to at least 5 of them by using the comment/reply function at the bottom of each blog post.

• Reminder: As you work on assignments for this course, always read ahead a few days to give yourself time to ask questions about future assignments. You should direct these questions to the FAQ node on the navigation menu to the left.

By Friday, January 11 at midnight

• You should have purchased the course textbook by today: The Thomson Handbook (Comprehensive Edition), by David Blakesley and Jeffrey L. Hoogeveen. Boston: Thomson/Wadsworth, 2007. This book is available at local bookstores and may also be purchased online (e.g., through Amazon, here). You can buy the hardcover or paperback versions.
• Complete, grade, and submit your Week 1 Quiz.

Reading

• Familiarize yourself with the content and structure of The Thomson Handbook. Scan the frontmatter (including the the table of contents) and the backmatter (the "Glossary of Web Terms" and the "Glossary of Usage") so that you know what the book contains.
• "Rule # 1 and the Two Main Drivers of All Professional Communications".

Check out Week 2. No later than today, you should read through the course calendar for the following week. Make sure that you understand all of the assignments. If you have any questions, contact your instructor.

Week 2

By Monday, January 14 at midnight

Basics of Professional Communications

• The overall emphasis for communications in this class (because it is so in the workplace) will be on professionalism. All communications, regardless of genre (email, memo, blog, webpage, report, etc.) should be professional and appropriate in format, tone, and content. Because you will be judged in the workplace at least partially on your level of professionalism, part of your grade on every single piece of communication in this class will be determined by how professional it is in all three respects.
  
  • The importance of format, tone, and content: a large part of what people think of you is determined in the first few seconds ~ by appearance alone. This is the reason you "dress for success" when going to an interview or an important meeting or presentation. In addition to making the right impression, dressing professionally gives you an edge, illustrating the old axiom: "if you look good, you feel good, and if you feel good, you do good" (we won't complain about the diction; old axioms are known for their expressions of basic truths, not their grammar). The same is true when you "dress up" your written communications. Readers/Audiences make subconcious judgements about you and the importance of what you have to say the instant they see your piece of communication. That judgement is reinforced or refuted by the tone and content of what they're reading. So all three need to be as professional as you are.

Reading

• "Writing Effective Memos" (TH, 232-33; TH is the abbreviation for The Thomson Handbook and will be used henceforth). All documents for this class that are not identified as belonging to a specific genre (such as cover letter, resume, report, etc.) should be prepared in memo format as outlined in this reading.
• "Reading and Writing Email Purposefully" (TH, 604-09), paying particular attention to the "Ten Habits of Successful Emailers" on page 606. These are the criteria by which your emails in this class ~ and as a professional ~ will be evaluated.
• "Writing for Business and the Workplace" (TH, 217-220)
• Read the sample job ad and student response in TH (p. 223-24).

 

Employment Project

• Read the Employment Project description. You can ask questions about the project by adding a new comment to the assignment. Try to answer your own question before posting it too hastily.

By Wednesday, January 16 at midnight.

Peer Review

No peer review this week. We will begin peer reviews with the Job Ad Analysis in Week 3 , and continue with peer reviews throughout the semester.

Reading

• To support your understanding of this first major project, look ahead through Chapter 12 in The Thomson Handbook, "Writing for Business and the Workplace" (220-238). We will return to individual sections throughout the Employment and subsequent projects.
• Read Gareth's Tips on Sucks-Less Writing

Reading Response

• Post a reading response. Suggested Prompts: How might writing for the workplace differ from writing in college? Describe some of the important ways that writing functions in the workplace or other professional contexts. How do Gareth's tips help you understand these differences? Why do you think writing is such an important component of effective business practice? Since this is your first time, you'll want to follow the tutorial for using the class site software, How to Post to Your Individual Weblog. Use the tag "Reading Response" in the category field.
• Please review the guidelines for posting under the Handouts tab.

By Friday, January 18 at midnight

Employment Project

• Step 1: Skills Inventory, Job Description and Job Ad Analysis . Start this step by completing the Job Search Activity 12-1 (p. 221) in The Thomson Handbook. In a blog post, respond to each of the questions with a few sentences or a list.
• Use these handouts from the OWL to give you a leg up on your Skills Inventory: Job Search Self Analysis and the Job skills checklist
  
• Begin research to find two job ads in your area of interest. Internships are good possibilities for some people. Review the Job Search Resources at the Professional Writing website and the Purdue Center for Career Opportunities.

Quiz # 2: please complete before midnight

Reading

• "Networking with Others on the Web" (TH, Chapter 28 , pages 621-40).

Continue posting comments and replies using Principles for Comments and Replies. Please follow the guidelines for effective blog responding as discussed in this chapter. Remember, you need five (5) posts each week which respond to something posted by your classmates (Reading Responses, for instance). For reference on how to do this, review How to Post Comments and Replies. Your posts should adhere to the guidelines for networking in online forums listed in the Project Checklist (TH, page 627).

Check out Week 3 . No later than today, you should read through the course calendar for the following week. Make sure that you understand all of the assignments. If you have any questions, contact the instructor.

Week 3

By Monday, January 21

Activity

Using the resources listed on page 222 of The Thomson Handbook ("Using Print, Campus and Internet Resources"), find two job ads, produce an exact copy of each, then select one that you would apply for. Put the ads in a blog post (use cut-and-paste; provide a URL also if the ad has complex components that don't copy well). In a new blog post, complete the Job Ad Analysis form. ***Note: (always) Copy the questions into your blog post and then answer them.

By Wednesday, January 23 at midnight

Reading

• "Reading and Writing Email Effectively" (TH, Chapter 27, 603-20)
• "Boss's Angry Email Sends Shares Plunging"
• "A Stinging Office Memo Boomerangs" (if you get the free account at the New York Times)

Reading Response

Post a reading response by Wednesday at midnight. Suggested Prompts: You might also describe one instance when you sent an email message that worked wonders or that proved to be a huge mistake. What happened? Why? Which of the "Ten Habits of Successful Emailers" seemed to be missing? How does emailing differ from text messaging, and why do you think email is used more frequently in business and industry for project management? How might Gareth's tips apply to emailing?

By Friday, January 25 at midnight

Peer Review

Write two responses to job ads and analyses posted to your peers' blogs. Respond only to posts that have no or at most one response. What aspects of the job seem most important to you? Which criteria will be hardest to meet? Does it sound like a good job to you?

Check out Week 4 . No later than today, you should read through the course calendar for the following week. Make sure that you understand all of the assignments. If you have any questions, contact the instructor.

Week 4

By Monday, January 28 at midnight

Reading

• Read about the rhetorical concept of kairos ("the right or opportune time to speak or write") in Kairos and the Cover Letter, which includes some exaggerated approaches that you should avoid in your cover letters.
• Read "Preparing the Cover Letter" and "Parts of the Cover Letter" (TH, pp. 224-225).
• Read Cover Letters 2: Preparing to Write a Cover Letter, ~ on the OWL
• Do some research into the potential employer organizations you've chosen. Consider the following: Who is your primary audience? the people you want to influence most directly? Consider age, gender economic class region, ethnicity, education level, and so on. Which of these traits is most important in this writing situation? Do you have a second audience, and if so, whom does include?(adapted from TH pg 20)

By Wednesday, January 30 at midnight

• Step 1 of the Employment Project should now be completed. Your weblog should contain your job search activity/inventory, your two jobs ads, and your job ad analysis.

Reading Response

• In a blog post, write a short profile of the employer organization to which you will be applying. What size? Where located? Provides what goods or services? What stated goals or mission? Also consider the job ad itself. What kinds of key terms and concepts can you use to describe your own skills and experience, to tailor your cover letter to address the specific requirements for the job?

By Friday, February 1 at midnight

• Step 2 of the Employment Project: Drawing on the information you have collected through these activities and assignments, draft an effective cover letter, tailored to the job and organization you've chosen.
  
• Review the sample in The Thomson Handbook, p 225. Your letter should be context-specific (should address the skills and experience, etc. asked for in the job ad) and should contain the required five parts (heading, greeting, opening, persuasion, closing) in the format shown.
• Your letter, in PDF format, should be attached to a blog post along with your resume in Week 5 (see Announcement below). (Read Creating PDF Files if you have questions about how to convert a document to PDF

Peer Review

Announcement: Peer Review of Cover Letters has been combined with your peer reviews of resumes, both which will now take place in Week 6. It will be useful for you to see and review the two documents together and get a feel for how one supports the other. Given that, you can make the best use of the extra time by creating the most effective job search documents possible for peer review next week.

• At the end of Week 5, you will post your cover letter and resume as pdf document attachments for peer review.
• Peer review: In Week 6 you will review the cover letter and resume as a set, using the response questions linked to the calendar. Peer reviews should be blog posts, not attachments. Title of peer review posts should include the writer's name.

Remember to post your 5 comments/replies for the week.

• Also due: Complete and submit your Week 4 Blog post activity report.

Check out Week 5 . No later than today, you should read through the course calendar for the following week. Make sure that you understand all of the assignments. If you have any questions, email the instructor.

Week 5

By Monday, February 4 at midnight

Review the material on Resumes, pp. 226—230 in TH.

Read this fantastic Career journal article by an HR consultant.

Review the following resume samples available at Jobweb.com. Pick a couple of favorites to discuss this week:

• Lots of sample resumes at Jobweb.com

Step 2 of the Employment Project should now be completed. In addition to the deliverables from Step 1, your blog should contain your cover letter draft.

By Wednesday, February 6 at midnight

Readings for this week

Read the following articles on Jobweb.com [some are quite brief]:

• Seven Tips for Effective Resume Writing
• Build the Resume Employers Want
• How to Apply Online and Get an Employer's Attention
• More Tips for Navigating the Online Application Process

Note: There is a surprising amount of good job search information available on the Jobweb.com site. Feel free to follow your own interests, too.

Reading Response

Respond to one or more of the Jobweb.com articles above. Possible prompts: What "best practices" advice can you assemble from these readings? What HR or hiring manager suggestions or demands will you be sure to follow when you draft job search documents from now on? What audience concept have you developed of HR people from reading these articles? How does what you've read in these (or any other specific articles in the Jobweb.com Careers Library) accord with your own job search experiences?

 

By Friday, February 8 at midnight

Employment Project

Step 3: Drafts of resume due for peer review. Your printable resume (one or more pages in length, depending upon the type of job and the depth of your experience) should adapt features drawn from the samples discussed in class or available for review at the Online Writing Lab. It's critical that you shape your resume to the specific job or internship you have chosen to apply for (that it's suited to the context), so be sure to include only the relevant aspects of your professional experience. As in the Job Application Letter, your writing needs to be error-free, concise, and presented in an easily readable format. Draft of both your resume and cover letter due for peer review: Friday, February 8, by midnight. Your resume and cover letter draft should be posted to your blog as a PDF attachment to a blog message that explains the nature of the attachment and invites peer feedback. Read these directions for converting your documents to PDF format if you have any questions about the process. You should also review the principles, guidelines, and resume samples in The Thomson Handbook (Chapter 12, pages 226-232). Pay special attention to the Project Checklist "Evaluating Your Resume's Content" and "Evaluating Your Resume's Design" on pages 228-229. Ask yourself these questions as you prepare your final draft.

Quiz#3 (Week 5): Please complete before midnight.

Week 6

Monday, February 11

Remember that your cover letter and resume drafts should be posted together, as a set. If you have not already done so, begin peer reviewing cover letter and resume sets. You need to peer review and comment on five sets by Wednesday midnight. All peer reviews should be posted as blog posts in Q & A format (copy the questions and paste them into a blog post, etc.). The questions that need to be answered for each cover letter may be accessed here, the questions for peer reviews of resumes here.

By Wednesday, February 13 at midnight

Complete five peer reviews of job application letters and the accompanying resumes following the directions listed. You will find the cover letter and resume drafts to be peer revised under the Employment Project node under Project Posts in the list at the left of your screen. As you are selecting a student's resume and cover letter to which to respond, try to pick ones that have not received any responses or ones that might have fewer responses than others. In your responses, make sure to answer all the questions given in the peer review guides and offer responses to any questions that might have been posted along with the resumes or cover letters. When you are finished, post your critiques as a response to the student's blog to whom you are responding.

You are not required to complete any assigned readings, reading responses, or comment/reply posts (the 5 posts you usually have to do) this week. Your only homework is to complete five peer reviews of other students' cover letter and resume drafts, and then revise and turn in your own final drafts of all the project components (see below), which are due by midnight Friday. Take your time and complete peer reviews thoughtfully, as your critiques will represent your entire grade this week. Remember to consider your audience. Be diplomatic, but honest; point out what the writer has done well, as well as what areas of the documents might need improvement; be detailed and specific in your comments in both instances. No one ever benefitted from generic comments, positive or negative, so remember: be specific.

By Friday, February 15 at midnight

Employment Project Due. Submit, by midnight, the following:

• Cover letter
• Resume
• Project assessment document: in no more than two pages (500 words), write an overview and analysis of your deliverables for the Employment Project and the process you used to complete them. Your Project Assessment Document should identify the most difficult aspects of the assignment, the best tools you gained from completing the assignment, and the things you would do differently if you were to complete the assignment again. See the Deliverables section of the Employment Project description, Step 4, for more complete guidelines for this component of the project.
• Cover note for your final drafts of your cover letter and resume: a document that includes links to your Step 1 and Step 4 documents. Read these directions for converting your documents to PDF format if you have any questions about the process.

Week 7

By Midnight Monday, February 18th:

READ: White Paper Project Description.

READ The Thomson Handbook p. 234-235.

READ Example White Paper #1 (attached).

READ Example White Paper #2 (attached).

READ: White Paper on How to Write a White Paper

POST: Your individual 300-word proposal for a group White Paper topic. Your idea description should include specific ideas for how to approach the project, along with links to research websites, etc. Your description should focus also on audience; it is important that you identify who might be able to best employ the strategies that you propose. [The group proposal will be due next Monday.]

 

By Midnight Wednesday, February 20th:

POST: Response to at least two other White Paper topic ideas, indicating what you think of the idea, what you might add to the idea, how you might be of service if you were to work on the idea, etc.

READ Research Principles and Methodologies (attached).

READ Research Tools (attached).

 

By Midnight Friday, February 22nd:

FORM preliminary groups through your blog responses and feedback. By e-mail or through the blogs, you should "meet" to discuss project trajectory with your group.

READ Rhetoric of Proposals(attached).

 

Week 8

By Midnight Monday, February 25th:

 

DUE: Group Deliverable 1: Proposal

 

Each group (as established over drupal) will submit as a PDF file a 350-word topic proposal, in the form of a memo. This memo will include information about the topic under consideration, the potential solutions to be examined, and possible resources. Follow the guidelines for memo writing outlined in the handbook and at Purdue's Owl.

 

Remember that you are selling an idea -- this is a persuasive, not descriptive, document. This means presenting the issue as worthy of consideration, and the solutions (three) as relevant, while demonstrating the feasibility of the project within the parameters of the assignment.

 

Your MEMO should, at the least, consist of the following sections:
• 1. Executive Summary (this is, after all, a writing class--we want to see if, as a group, you have the ability to summarize, in a cogent, coherent, and succinct manner, the information in your memo).
• 2. Background/Context/Problem
• 3. Proposed solutions (3)
• 4. Formal Request for "go-ahead," which should be addressed to your instructor. You are to convince/persuade me that this is a viable project.
• 5. List of potential resources (this is not part of the 350 words).

READ: More White Paper Samples.

Please link to www.classmarker.com and complete Quiz#4 (Week 8 )

 

By Wednesday, February 27th at midnight:

Continue researching and working as a group on White Paper detailed outline.

POST to Research and Work(b)log (four sources and contributions to project thus far).

READ: White Paper Design and Formatting (attached).

 

By Friday, February 29th at midnight:

POST: Week 8 Posting Report (attached).

REVIEW: The White Paper Purpose Statement, attached to Monday's calendar. Discuss with your group via blogs or e-mails to arrive at responses.

READ: Sophos White Paper, with design elements (attached).

READ: White Paper, with fewer design elements (attached).

POST: A 200-word response comparing and contrasting the Designed White Paper (Sophos) with the undesigned word version [both attached below]. What do the design elements do for the documents? How does the design change/alter the content? In what ways? Does it help you read it in any certain way?

Week 9

By midnight Monday, March 3rd

POST: A group White Paper Purpose Statement (attached).

READ: White Paper Design Elements (attached).

READ: Four InDesign tutorial documents: three word documents and one Adobe document (attached).

FAMILIARIZE yourself with InDesign, Microsoft Publisher, or another design program of your choice. You will be working on design elements beginning this week; it is important that AT LEAST one person in your group has a working knowledge of desktop publishing so that you can create a visually sophisticated document.

By midnight Wednesday, March 5th:

Deliverable 2: Detailed Outline

POSTED TO OUTLINE NODE/TAG UNDER WHITE PAPER PROJECT: Detailed Outline of your group's White Paper. Your outlines should address (at least) the following:

• What sections are you going to include in white paper (e.g. executive summary, previous approaches, proposed solutions, etc.)?
• What will be the content of EACH of those sections of the white paper?
• What sources will you use to help make your arguments for each of the sections (quotes from those sources, tables, statistics, etc.)?
• What sources have you identified for use in the white paper (make a list of works cited in MLA format to attach to the outline)?

By midnight Friday, March 7th:

POST to Research and Work(b)log (contributions to project thus far).

Continue researching and developing White Paper content and design.

Week 10

SPRING BREAK

Week 11

By midnight Monday, March 17

Deliverable 3: White Paper First Draft

POST: White Paper First Draft (full version, with design elements). Post a PDF file attached to a weblog entry with a brief introductory statement.

READ: White Paper Peer Review worksheet (attached). Your group should assign specific peer editing tasks to each member, to be collated and submitted on Friday.

By midnight Wednesday, March 19

Continue working on your peer review documents, as well as revising your own White Papers.

 

By midnight Friday, March 21

Deliverable 4: White Paper Peer Review

POST: Completed White Paper Peer Review document, attached to a blog post. Be prepare to respond to any questions the group whose work you edited may have.

POST to Research and Work(b)log (contributions to project thus far).

Week 12

By midnight Monday, March 24

 

Group Deliverable 5: White Paper Final Draft

 

POST: White Paper Final Draft (full version, with design elements). Post a PDF file attached to a weblog entry with a brief introductory statement.

 

 

By midnight Wednesday, March 26

Please submit to your instructor via E-mail:

 

Individual Deliverable 2: White Paper Assessment Document (attached).

Individual Deliverable 3: Peer Collaboration Evaluation (attached).

 

 

By midnight Friday, March 28

You've all done quite a bit of work over the course of this project, and some very good work at that. In light of that fact, we've decided to give you a chance to catch your breath before you plunge into the final project for the semester. The project will be an individual one and have to do with creating needed communications for your workplace or other organization to which you belong. You can read a complete project description here, and the project will commence on Monday of next week.

As for today ~ take the day off. You've earned it.

Scott & Rebecca

 

Week 13

By midnight Monday, March 31

• POST: A preliminary list of potential organizations for which you might consult for this project.

Note: Beginning this week, you will resume replying to and commenting on your classmates' posts, for a total of 5 comment/replies each week, in addition to your own posts and peer review/critique posts. Remember to record your posts in the post activity report format so that you'll have a complete report ready to turn in at the end of week 16.

 

By midnight Wednesday, April 2

• Choose the organization for which you will create the appropriate communications solutions.
• POST: in 100 - 300 words, describe the organization and the organizational problem, gap, or need.
  

 

By midnight Friday, April 4

• Begin researching potential communications with which to solve the problem, gap, or need you've identified.

***Remember: you're required to post 5 comments/replies to classmates' posts each week, again, starting this week.

 

 

 

Week 14

By midnight Monday, April 7

• POST: a preliminary list of potential communications you can create to solve the organizational problem, gap, or need you've identified.
• Begin researching examples of those types/genres of communications you're considering.

 

By midnight Wednesday, April 9

• POST: a preliminary draft of your project plan memo. Remember to adhere to memo format and address all the issues asked for in the assignment.
  
• POST: a critique (peer review) of two classmates' project plan drafts. Choose drafts that don't already have two critiques posted to them.

By midnight Friday, April 11

• POST your final draft project plan memo as a .doc or .pdf attachment. Remember to use the correct naming conventions for attached documents, as well as correct memo format.

Remember: you must post 5 comments/replies for this week.

 

Week 15

By midnight Monday, April 14

• Begin creating the communications you've chosen as the best, most effective solutions.

 

By midnight Wednesday, April 16

• POST drafts of the communications solutions
  
• Comment on your classmates' drafts.(These should be your 5 comments/replies for this week. Remember: each comment/reply should be 100 words or more.)
  

By midnight Friday, April 18

• Final drafts of your communications solutions will be due on Monday.

Remember: you must post 5 comments/replies for this week (on your classmates' drafts of their selected communications solutions.)

 

 

Week 16

By midnight Monday, April 21

• POST: Final drafts of your communications solutions.
• No comment/reply posts are due this week.
  

 

By midnight Wednesday, April 23

• POST: Your final post activity report (Weeks 9 through 16).

By midnight Friday, April 25

• Take a breather before you dive into finals ~ Good Luck.
  

 

 

 

Week 17

Finals Week: Monday, April 28 ~ Friday, May 2

English 420y Final Exam:

There isn't one! So shut off your computer, go outside, breathe in the fresh air, soak up the sun, and relax for a change!

It's been a pleasure having you with us ~ have a most excellent summer!

Scott & Rebecca