Fall 2011

ENC 3250: Professional Writing

Course Theme: Social Media: Transforming Professional Communication Practices PR: ENC 1101 and ENC 1102 or ENC 1121 and ENC 1122. This course is an introduction to the techniques and types of professional writing, including correspondence and reports most often found in business, technical, and scientific communities. Professional and technical writing practices are increasingly becoming entrenched in digital environments. In order to work productively in workplace and academic settings, students and professionals must become intimately familiar with the digital rhetorical situations in which they are now placed. In light of such realities, this course focuses on teaching students the skills and concepts necessary to engage in digital professional writing contexts while still maintaining a practical focus in course outcomes. Instructor Information Daniel Richards Department of English University of South Florida Office Location: CPR 305 Hours: W 10:00am-11:00am; 12:00pm-2:00pm; or, by appointment. Tel.: 863.272.9391 Email: drichar3@mail.usf.edu Course Objectives Students will learn to communicate at work both orally and in writing through internal and external business documents. Students will learn to compose online and print documents and images for workplace contexts. Students will gather and disseminate information from primary and secondary sources in linguistic and visual formats for non-academic contexts. Readings i) A subscription to Professional Writing Online 3e ii) The Backchannel iii) You'll also download PDFs from the course calendar to supplement our textbooks. Materials Buy a USB drive (aka flash drive, pen drive, jump drive) so that you can easily move files back and forth between the classroom and home. Make sure it's at least 4 GB. You should be able to find one for under $20. You will download free trials of some programs to your own computer to make up for our software deficits in the lab. Most of our computers in the lab are brand new. No food or drinks allowed. Projects Plan on spending a minimum of 2 hours outside of class doing work for every hour we spend

ENC 3250 Professional Writing - Syllabus Fall 2011 - Richards

Fall 2011

ENC 3250: Professional Writing

together. For a student taking 15 credit hours as recommended by most advisers, this 2:1 ratio results in a 45 hour work week. So, in any given week, you'll have 2.5 hours of ENC 3250 class meetings (1.25 X 2) and about 5 hours of homework for our class. That means our class should account for at least 7.5 hrs of your week total. You'll receive credit for all of the work you do for our class, inside or outside, as long as your follow proper protocol for submission and submit your work on time. You'll have regular inclass writing to submit to dropboxes. You'll upload homework to dropboxes at least once a week. These dropboxes are automated and will close at the appointed times. The boxes will not re-open for any reason. Due dates for major projects will probably not change. Please see our calendar for the most up-to-date schedule. Unit 1: Backgrounder Project (group): 25%, due October 5 Unit 2: Blog for Small Non-Profit Organization (individual or group) : 25%, due November 2 Unit 3: Employment Package (individual): 25%, due December 5 In class work, homework, quizzes (individual or partnered, it's up to you): 25% Grading Policy A+=97 and above A =94-96 A-=90-93 B+=87-89 B=84-86 B-=80-83 C+=77-79 Attendance Policy Students will be graded on attendance and participation. Much of our time together is devoted to working in groups on projects. There is no way for you to "make up" missed assignments (including Labs) or quizzes. Asking me repeatedly to make up work will not change this policy. The drop boxes for assignments, big and small, close when the assignments are due. They won't be reopened for any reason. Each class member is allowed a total of 3 absences without additional penalty beyond the missed coursework which cannot be made up. Every absence after 3 will lower your final grade one full letter, even if you are absent for very good reasons (illness, death in the family, work, and so on). C=74-76 C-=70-73 D+=67-69 D =64-66 D-=60-63 F=below 60

Emergency Policy In the event of an emergency, it may be necessary for USF to suspend normal operations. During this time, USF may opt to continue delivery of instruction through methods that include but are not limited to: Blackboard, Elluminate, Skype, and email messaging and/or an alternate schedule. It's the responsibility of the student to monitor Blackboard site for each class for course specific communication, and the main USF, College, and department Web sites, emails, and MoBull messages for important general information.
ENC 3250 Professional Writing - Syllabus Fall 2011 - Richards 2

Fall 2011

ENC 3250: Professional Writing

Notes Policy You may NOT sell notes or tapes of class lectures.

ENC 3250 Professional Writing - Syllabus Fall 2011 - Richards