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ENG 135

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HENRY FORD COMMUNITY COLLEGE

ENGLISH DIVISION

COURSE MASTER—ENGLISH 135

APPROVAL DATES:

English Division: March 24, 2006

Academic Council: June 21, 2006

The Council: November 6, 2006

COURSE TITLE:     Business and Technical Writing and Research

 CREDIT HOURS:    3 credit hours

TOTAL CONTACT HOURS: 47

PREREQUISITE:    C- or better in English 131

CO-REQUISITE:      None

COURSE GRADING SCALE:       A through E

CATALOG DESCRIPTION:

Designed for students interested in developing professional workplace communication skills, English 135 satisfies the Information Literacy and Written Communication General Education graduation requirements for many HFCC degree programs. Students design documents such as resumes, letters, memos, instructions, proposals, and an extensive, research-based documented report for the kinds of readers they will address as professionals. This course should be especially valuable for students pursuing careers in business, computer science, automotive technology, allied health, and other technical fields. It transfers to many four-year institutions.

GOAL STATEMENTS:

Students will learn to apply the rhetorical principles and techniques characteristic of professional communication. As a result of analyzing and writing documents, such as memos, letters, proposals, instructions, and reports, as well as preparing and delivering a short oral report, they will see how communication is an important dimension of professional effectiveness. They will become familiar with the following:

·         The role of written and oral communication within organizations.

·         The challenges and problems associated with professional communication, including ethical concerns.

·         The various audiences targeted by professional communication and the importance of adapting to them.

·         The importance of information literacy in communicating effectively in professional settings.

·         The methods of creating an effective professional voice or ethos in a document.

·         The use of computer technology, including computer-generated graphics, as a critical tool in professional communication.

MAJOR CORE COURSE OBJECTIVES:

Upon successful completion of the course, students should demonstrate their mastery of General Education outcomes for information literacy, critical thinking and problem-solving, and written communication, as described below.

·         Information Literacy General Education Outcome: Ability to identify, locate, evaluate, and effectively use information to solve problems.

·         Critical Thinking and Problem-Solving General Education Outcome: Ability to address a problem or situation described verbally, graphically, symbolically, or numerically.*

·         Written Communication General Education Outcome: Ability to read and write proficiently in Standard English at the college level.

Specifically, using writing and reading skills, students will demonstrate the following:

·         Ability to read and understand a document and to organize a response suitable for the intended audience.

·         Ability to develop communication using effective rhetorical techniques and persuasive language.*

·         Ability to generate and develop a defensible inference based on available information.

·         Ability to find and evaluate research material in terms of its credibility, accuracy, bias, and ethics.

·         Ability to incorporate selected research material effectively and purposefully into an assignment by using quotation, paraphrase, and a formal documentation style and by distinguishing clearly between sources of information.

·         Ability to synthesize those sources with the students’ own experience of a topic.

·         Ability to use page design (including sectioning and headings) and visual aids to enhance a document’s readability and persuasiveness.

·         Ability to edit prose for grammatical correctness, accuracy, and diction and style appropriate for the audience.

·         Ability to purposefully critique their own and others’ written documents.

ASSESSMENT OF ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT:

One major assessment instrument is the professional, documented, research-based report, required in all sections. That research-based report will be worth at least 20% of the final course grade. Other mandated instruments for assessment of student mastery of the writing, critical thinking, and information literacy general education outcomes (such as a common information literacy test or assignment) will be determined by the English 135 Committee, as appropriate for the formal course assessment cycle, and will be shared with English 135 instructors before or at the beginning of each semester.

In assessing the research-based formal report, all instructors must use the approved rating scales for writing and critical thinking (available from the English 135 Committee Chair or the English Division web site); instructors must also use the approved answer key and rubrics for the information literacy outcome. Instructors will also share these standards with students, ensure that students understand them, and guide students in using them to strengthen their reports.

GENERAL COURSE REQUIREMENTS:

Major projects should be word processed.

TEXTBOOKS:

Required Text: Instructors will use one of the following textbooks:

·         Paul Anderson, Technical Communication: A Reader-Centered Approach, Harcourt Brace (latest edition).

·         William S. Pfeiffer, Technical Communication: A Practical Approach, Prentice-Hall (latest edition).

Optional Text: A style manual (instructor’s choice).

CORE COURSE TOPICAL OUTLINE:

Ideally, exercises and projects done early in the term will gradually introduce skills needed to successfully complete the more complex documented report due at the end. Instructors may assign linked projects to mimic long-term workplace writing situations and to give the students opportunities for additional troubleshooting related to the report while simultaneously introducing them to varied forms of professional writing (e.g., a formal proposal memo seeking approval of plans for the formal report, a progress report on the formal report, and the formal report itself).

Below is a suggested time line for commonly assigned major projects. New English 135 instructors are encouraged to contact experienced English 135 instructors in order to see examples of more detailed schedules of reading and writing assignments and class activities.

1.      Introduction to professional communication (1 week)

2.      Job application package (3 weeks)

3.      Formal proposal (2 weeks)

4.      Process/instructions (3 weeks)

5.      Progress/status report (2 weeks)

6.      Documented formal report (4 weeks)

7.      Instruction on research strategies, specific writing formats and oral reports (distributed throughout the semester)