Zabrowski_Syllabus_ProfessionalWriting

Instructor: Katie Zabrowski Fall 2014

ENGL 4000 Business and Professional Writing

Course Objectives:

Use writing to explore personal and professional values | Practice writing in a professional setting | Learn to adapt your writing for different circumstances | Become a more perceptive editor |

Consider your professional interests and goals

Information

Meeting Times

Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays 9:00-9:50 am

Meeting Place

Des Peres Hall Room 212

Office Hours

Adorjan 209 Wednesday, 10-11:30am; by appointment

Instructor Katie Zabrowski [email protected]

Contact Email is the best way to contact me outside of class. I respond within 24 hours M-F and within 48 hours over the weekend.

Your professional life – whatever form it takes –will involve writing. In addition to communicating clearly and effectively in on-the-job situations – including: crafting application materials, communicating your abilities and goals, coordinating projects and deadlines, working collaboratively, scheduling meetings, taking notes, reporting your work progress, drawing plans, building things, and so on, you will also be articulating, always and everywhere, the values of your employer and, perhaps most importantly, your individual personal and professional values.

This course engages many types of writing and communication within the context of a sustained work project that spans the entire length of the course. From within a simulated work environment, we will explore together the rhetorical nature of professional communication and attune ourselves to the strategic enactment of rhetorical principles toward more active, effective, and ethical professional lives.

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Course Plan Our course will be organized into segments, each with a particular focus. A brief outline and description of the segments follows:

Our Rhetorical Perspective (What’s rhetoric got to do with it?)

Working Together (“co-working”; personal time management and reporting)

Getting the Work (job ads; searching for jobs; resumes, CVs, and applications; professional correspondence; writing proposals)

Making and Extending the Work (reaching the goals you’ve set for yourself; writing diverse documents; networking; public relations)

Presenting the Work (formal presentations; web portfolios; framing your experience)

Required Course Materials:

Text: Successful Writing at Work, ISBN: 9781285052564

Access to:

canvas.instructure.com

Any additional readings, as

provided

Course Components Professionalism: 40% (short and in-class assignments, participation, attendance, preparedness)

Group Presentation: 10%

Final Professional Portfolio: 50%

Major Due Dates: Assignment 1, Rebranding Proposal: Sept. 15 Assignment 2, Managerial Documents: Oct. 1 Assignment 3, Job-Seeker Documents: Oct. 15

Assignment 4, Collaborative Rebranding Report: Dec. 1 Final Portfolios: Dec. 15

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Assignments

In this course you will be responsible for both weekly and long-term assignments. Much of the long-term assignments will be collaborative, whereas weekly assignments will focus more on your individual work.

Weekly Networking/Work Logs. Each Friday by the end of business (5pm) – beginning August 29 and ending November 21 – you will email me a report detailing either your networking efforts or the work you completed that week. These weekly reports must adhere to the correspondence etiquette outlined during the first week of the course and described separately in this document. (Grade Category: Professionalism)

Weekly In-Class Writing. Some class sessions will begin with a reflective writing exercise that will prompt you to consider some aspect of your professional life and identity. While these will not be graded individually, they will form part of your professional portfolio to be completed and submitted to me in the final week of the course. (Grade Category: Portfolio)

Final Professional Portfolio. Your final professional portfolio will be a collection of your work and a web portfolio (an about me page, a resume, sample professional documents, and other information you deem important for your particular profession). (Grade Category: Portfolio)

Collaboration. Each week we will be working together on a sustained, course-long project. Your effective collaboration will be recorded in your weekly work logs and also observed by your peers. (Grade Category: Professionalism) Final Performance Review.

Long-Term Collaborative Project. During the early weeks of the course, each student will research a brand of their choosing and create a proposal for how that brand might be redesigned in order to have some effect on their business (ex: how might we revise Nike’s “Just do it” slogan and how would changing it affect Nike’s image, customers, products, etc.?). Together we will vote upon and choose proposals to pursue together in teams for the remainder of the semester. Working together, teams will create a design plan for the rebranding (including who we will need to hire and to do what), create a schedule and note other particulars for its implementation, and analyze projected effects for the company. Work on this project will result in, but will not be limited to, the production of the following documents that correspond to the course’s four major assignments: - Formal Rebranding Proposal - Managerial Documents (job ads and announcement letter; interview questions) - Job-Seeker Documents (cover letters in response to job ads, resumes, interview answers) - Final, Collaborative Long-Form Rebranding Report

Collaboration: not the work of one, but of

many.

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Notes on Correspondence Etiquette & The Final Portfolio All correspondence you exchange with me and your peers should adhere to professional guidelines discussed in our textbook and in class. All emails, for instance, should have the following characteristics:

- an informative and concise subject heading

- a proper greeting and conclusion

- appropriate language, punctuation, formality, and brevity

- leaving little room for ambiguity (clarity)

- Cc-ing (and not Cc-ing or (not) “replying all” to appropriate parties

- describing any attachments

- call to action and date by which action is required (if necessary)

Correspondence Log. To remain aware of and committed to professional correspondence practices, you will include in your final portfolio a “Correspondence Log” that contains all emails you’ve exchanged with me and with your peers in the process of collaboration throughout the course. The purpose of the “Correspondence Log” is to help you practice professional communication at all times as well as to exercise the habit of recording and organizing communication as it pertains to and impacts collaborative work. FINAL PORTFOLIO CONTENTS - ALL weekly work logs - ALL in-class writing pieces - Correspondence Log - Networking Report - All documents produced for course projects: (initial re-branding proposal, job ads, cover letters, interview questions, interview answers, content representative of your contribution to the final proposal) - Professional Web Portfolio (‘About Me’ page, Resume/CV, writing samples/other relevant documents)

A Note on Making Your Work Public

We are, all of us, public citizens. Our selves and our work – in this course and beyond – are made even more public as we distribute each widely through the use of online media and social networking. This fact at once asks us to consider carefully and seriously the content we share and suggests an opportunity for us to respond in a particular way to the affordances and constraints of social technologies.

This course asks you to create a professional portfolio in the form of a website. Requiring you to share your work and your developing professional identity with a wide audience is an ethically precarious matter. Posting your work online means, for instance, that future employers might access it. For this reason, I ask that you consider all the work you produce in this course as effectively shaping your public professional identity. This is not meant to be scary, but rather to push us to produce quality content that we are proud to share and that we believe represents the professionals we are becoming. If you are uncomfortable sharing your work publicly, you have the right and ability to password protect your website. Please discuss this with me.

In addition to pushing us to do our best work, creating a public professional portfolio bolsters our online presence and gives us an early start at producing application materials we might likely use in the future.

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Absence Policy

The structure of this course situates us all as true “co-workers,” meaning that what we do during class meetings relies on our working together. Working together relies on everyone’s consistent attendance and engaged participation. Your commitment to these two facets of attendance will be reflected positively in the “professionalism” component of your course grade.

You are allowed only 3 absences without penalty. Any absences beyond these 3 absences will result in a full-letter drop in your final grade (i.e. if you earn a B in the course but miss four classes, your final grade will be a C; miss five classes and the final grade will be a D, and so on).

Tardiness

Please do not arrive late to class. Punctuality will be both expected and respected in your professional life as it is also in this course. Consistent tardiness will be reflected in your final grade.

Late Work

No late work will be accepted. * Deadlines are a constant reality of professional life, and your commitment to meeting them is a reflection of you and the value you place in your work. Practicing this timeliness is as central to this course as the content we produce in that time.

*Should you encounter any circumstance that prevents you from meeting a deadline(s), please speak with me in advance. It may be that we have to make special arrangements. I cannot, however, excuse late work if you do not speak with me first.

Class Cancellation Policy

Should class need to be cancelled for any reason, I will send an email to each of you as soon as possible. Class cancellation will NOT be announced by a note left in the classroom, or by any other method.

Decorum. Because we will be writing, reading, and working with our digital files during most class meetings,

students are encouraged to bring laptops, tablets, or other mobile devices with them each day. It is not a requirement that every student own one of these devices. Laptops are available for checkout in the Computer Assisted Instruction Lab in Des Peres Hall Room 216. While we will work with these technologies often, it is important that we be mindful of our focus and attention. Please work with these devices wisely, and for class purposes only. When we are not using our computers or other mobile devices – such as during class discussion or presentations - please close the lids or power down.

Writing Help

I am always available to discuss your writing and your progress in the course with you. I encourage you to email me with any questions or concerns and meet with me during office hours or a time that works for you. I will do all that I can to meet with you when your schedule permits.

I will provide you with feedback on your writing throughout the course, but you are welcome and encouraged to seek independent help by way of one-on-one consultations with Writing Services. Saint Louis University supports three undergraduate Writing Services centers: Student Success Center, BSC 331 Pius XII Library, Room 320-8 Student Success Center-Medical Center, Nursing Building, Room 114

International Student Resources

Writing help is also available at the English Language Center, where tutors are specialized to work with second-language concerns. For more information please visit www.slu.edu/x49411.xml.

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Academic Integrity

The University is a community of learning whose effectiveness requires an environment of mutual trust and integrity, such as would be expected at a Jesuit, Catholic institution. As members of this community, students, faculty, and staff members share the responsibility to maintain this environment. Academic dishonesty violates it. Although not all forms of academic dishonesty can be listed here, it can be said in general that soliciting, receiving, or providing any unauthorized assistance in the completion of any work submitted toward academic credit is dishonest. It not only violates the mutual trust necessary between faculty and students but also undermines the validity of the University’s evaluation of students and takes unfair advantage of fellow students. Further, it is the responsibility of any student who observes dishonest conduct to call it to the attention of a faculty member or administrator.

Several Internet sites offer students access to the essays of other students “for research purposes.” These sites require a student to upload a paper of their own to gain access. All students should know that if another student plagiarizes using their essay, the original author is liable for a Class B offense: collusion. Such an offense can result in expulsion from the University.

Student Learning, Disability Statement

In recognition that people learn in a variety of ways and that learning is influenced by multiple factors (e.g. prior experience, study skills, learning disability), resources to support student success are available on campus. Students who think they might benefit from these resources can find out more about:

- Course-level support (e.g. faculty member, departmental resources, etc.) by asking your instructor

- University-level support (e.g. tutoring/writing services, Disability Services) by visiting the Student Success Center (BSC 331) or by visiting www.slu.edu/success.

Students who believe that, due to a disability, they could benefit from academic accommodations are encouraged to contact Disability Services at 314.977.8885 or visit the Student Success Center. Confidentiality will be observed in all inquiries. Course instructors support student accommodation requests when an approved letter from Disability Services has been received and when students discuss these accommodations with the instructor after receipt of the approved letter.

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Assignment 1: Short Rebranding Proposal

This course's first major project will impact how we spend our time during the remaining weeks of the semester. For this assignment, you will choose a brand or company that you believe could benefit from a new marketing strategy. To that end, consider this project as made of two parts: the assessment and the proposal. You are tasked with both assessing a current brand's effectiveness and then proposing how it might be improved upon. Choosing the brand and articulating why it needs a new strategy and how that strategy will affect the brand and its customers moving forward will involve several steps: 1) Identify the brand's current marketing strategy and describe both its positive effects and why it needs improvement. This will include accounting for what makes up the brand - visuals (logos), tag lines, community alliances and outreach, company standards (ethics), etc. 2) Identify the brand's major audience(s) and how they and their needs might be changing 3) Describe the current market in which you find this brand operating. That is, in order to propose changes we must first account for the larger landscape in which we are operating. All of this information should be organized into a proposal report designed in such a way as to reflect the type of market in which you and your chosen brand are participating. Doing so will require your attention to details such as phrasing, visual design, and organization. At minimum, your proposals should include the following sections: Executive Summary. This is a short summary of your overall proposal. In just a few sentences, the summary should describe the brand, the problem it is facing, and your idea(s) for improvement. Statement on the State of the Brand. This longer, more detailed section will be an "assessment" of the brand and its current marketing strategies. How are they working? How are they not? Who are they appealing to? Who should they be appealing to instead of or in addition to who they already are? What challenges are they facing? How has their history affected their current practice? If they are a relatively new brand, how does their newness position them uniquely? Proposal. This section will detail your idea(s) for rebranding. It might be helpful to divide this section into subsections, to include but not be limited to the following: - Statement of the Problem - Statement of the Proposed Solution - Tasks and Tools (steps, resources, materials, timeline, people, etc. required to rebrand) - Statement of Novelty (Why is this proposal needed? Why will it work? Why is it better than other ideas that have been or could be suggested?) A successful proposal will contain all of the above information while also formatting it thoughtfully. The proposal should showcase obvious attention to detail, with colors, fonts, images, and other materials clearly organized in a way specific to the proposal and its target audience. In addition to visual appeal, the formatting should work to organized complex information into smaller, powerful pieces of information.

*Find a proposal report example here (Links to an external site.).*

Deliverables (2).

- The Short Rebranding Proposal Report (submitted as a .pdf)

- Brief In-Class Presentation and Presentation Script

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Assignment 2: Managerial Documents

As a consulting firm that helps other companies rebrand, we must also be aware of how we maintain the brand of our company. That is, we want to maintain a professional presence and a reputation for success so that companies will continue to choose us when they have rebranding needs. Assignment 2 is comprised of a diverse set of managerial documents that we're producing as employees of our consulting firm. These documents are those that would likely be composed by individuals dedicated to particular kinds of correspondence within a company (think: corporate relations, corporate communications, public relations, etc.). That each of us will be writing a version of each correspondence means that the assignment asks you to wear different hats. The job ad will announce the need for new employees with certain skills and qualifications to support the new rebranding projects our company is undertaking. Both the announcement letter and the press release will publicize these new endeavors, and detail the choices to rebrand of companies of choice as well as the projected plans for doing so. Find a description of each document below: Job Ad. The job ad should include, but need not be limited to, the following information: - Title and Description of Job (including type of appointment - short-term contract? Permanent? Renewable contract dependent on success?) - Detailed Summary of the Position's Tasks and Responsibilities - Detailed Statement of the Position's Requirements - Directions on How to Apply (what documents are required? cover letter? resume? a separate application form? writing clips? other evidence of past work?), Who to Contact with Questions, Etc. Publicity Documents. Now that we have chosen rebranding projects, we will need to publicize our work. Doing so, and doing so for diverse audiences, requires us to make some important rhetorical decisions. How many details do we want to give away at this moment, for instance? How many details would our clients prefer we give away or not give away? Do we wish to use this opportunity to build hype for the brand? To create suspense? To attract new customers? To reassure loyal customers? In order to write these two documents, it will be important to consider the audience and aim of each genre. PRESS RELEASES are brief, formal statements that companies share with media outlets. These media outlets then share with other media, and this is one way that news spreads in the press about the internal workings of companies. This is one point among many when a company has control over its publicity, because it manages the information it shares and how/when it shares it. Consider the best strategy for sharing the right amount and kind of information regarding the rebranding project at this point. The ANNOUNCEMENT LETTER is a document we will aim at stakeholders in our consulting company. These are people who have some sort of stake in the company - be it financial (i.e. shareholders) or personal (people who are attached to the brands we're reworking or people who could be). This letter will be formal as well, and you will need to decide the information it includes and how you frame it for your audience of stakeholders. Deliverables (4). - Job Ad (audience: potential employees) - Announcement Letter (audience: stakeholders) - Press Release (audience: media outlets) - Statement of Reflection - This will detail the choices you made in each of the documents, the strategies you chose to employ, the effects you hope those strategies will have, and why.

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Assignment 3: Job Seeker Documents

Assignment 3 places you in the position of a job-seeker. You will be applying for positions with the rebranding project teams at our rebranding firm. For this assignment, you will craft two of the documents commonly required of job-seekers: the resume and the cover letter. The Resume and First Cover Letter. The job ads our class produced for Assignment 2 will be made available to you, and I will assign you one to which you will respond specifically. *You will send your resume and cover letter via email to the person whose job ad you choose, and you will cc: me on that email.* Successful job ads will include the following. - An email with a fitting subject line - A formal email message describing the documents you have attached (cover letter, resume) - A cover letter that expresses your interest in and qualifications for the position described in the job ad - A thoughtfully-formatted and comprehensive resume - The cover letter and resume attached as .pdf documents with appropriate file names Second Cover Letter and Outside Job Ad. You are asked also to write a second cover letter in response to a job available in the field in which you aspire to work. In order to do this, you will search for and find a job you think you might like to have after graduation. You will include the ad, as well as the email response and cover letter you would provide the hiring manager of that particular job in an email to me (as if I were the person in charge of hiring for that job). The requirements for this cover letter will be the same as the first, with the added requirement of including a copy of the job ad to which you are responding. A successful second cover letter will include: - An email with a fitting subject line - A formal email message describing the documents you have attached (cover letter, resume) - A cover letter that expresses your interest in and qualifications for the position described in the ad - The cover letter as an attached .pdf document with an appropriate file name Deliverables (6). (3) Cover Letter, Resume, and Formal Email Response to Peer Job Ad **Remember that the way you submit these documents is via cc-ing me in your email response to your chosen job ad.** (3) Cover Letter and Formal Email Response to a Job of Your Choosing and a Copy of that Job Ad for My Reference **You will submit these in an email only to me** Peer Review. Built into this assignment is an opportunity to review one another's job-seeking materials. Each person will receive a cover letter and resume from a peer in response to their job. In class on the day that the resumes and cover letters are due, we will spend some time providing feedback to one another based on the documents we've provided.

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Assignment 4: Collaborative Rebranding Report

The fourth assignment is a collaborative, long-form rebranding proposal report. The assignment has two principal aims: practice and product. The undertaking of this project asks us to skillfully practice the writing and professional strategies we’ve discussed early in the course now within the context of a collaborative project. The final version of the report is the 4th assignment’s deliverable, and it should have the following qualities. - Thoughtful Formatting - Organization (title page, table of contents, executive summary, rebranding examples, conclusion, appendix, accompanying media, etc.) - Professional tone marked by clear writing and rhetorical awareness - Citations when and where necessary - Use of graphics - Evidence/Research/Data The process/practice portion of the assignment will be assessed according to the following qualifications: - Consistent, professional work - Creation of a work schedule with deadlines, and meeting of those deadlines - Individual engagement with the project and with one another Because much of the work on this project will be completed in class, I will provide feedback throughout the process of crafting the report. Responding to that feedback, as well as peer feedback, will constitute the revision portion of the 4th assignment. Revision for this assignment should be approached with the same sincerity as that of your individual revisions on Assignments 1-3. *A Note on Grading: You will be assigned two grades for this project: group and contribution. - The group grade will be the same for everyone. This will be determined by how successfully we’ve fulfilled our ambitions for the project, as they are outlined above. - The contribution grade may vary for individuals. Each student will provide a report via an online form outlining his or her teammates’ contributions and professionalism. Assessment of contribution should be based on quality rather than quantity, as much of our work is likely to emerge from the collective rather than individual efforts alone. Your assigned grade for assignment 4 will be the average of the group and contribution grade.