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Welcome/Orientation Letter: Read this first!	Course Description & Objectives	Required Textbook
Course Policies	Assignments and Grading	Course Schedule

Description and Expected Course Outcomes

Course Description

English 1320 continues and extends the rhetorical principles and composition skills addressed in EGL 101.Students develop and sharpen critical thinking and writing skills, applying them to materials from business and the professions with an emphasis on evidence-based analysis, evaluation, interpretation, and persuasive presentation of conclusions. Specifically, students in EGL 1320 focus on developing appropriate voice, tone, style, content, and structure for effective written communication in a business or other professional context.Prerequisite: Grade of C or higher in EGL 1010.

Expected Course Outcomes

Plan, organize, and write in cogent, Standard English: business letters, memoranda, reports of various types, résumés, employment-related correspondence, and other business documents.
Write in clear, concise style appropriate to audience, context, purpose, and writer’s role
Use correct grammar, spelling, punctuation, and mechanics, and apply conventions of business writing and documentation.
• Produce professional-looking, current, standard formats for business letters, memoranda, reports, and other documents.
• Collect, select, analyze, interpret, and organize data, and use it appropriately in business communications.
• Conduct primary and secondary research, and present this information in a formal, documented report.
• Integrate visuals, headings, and other graphics into business communications.
• Explain cross-cultural, ethical, and legal considerations pertinent to business communication.
• Give an effective oral presentation (may include oral reports, employment interviews.
• Work effectively in a collaborative or team communication situation.

Required Textbook

Guffey, M. (2010). Essentials of Business Communication. Eighth edition. Mason, Ohio: Southwestern-Cengage Learning..

This text is available at the PGCC College Bookstore or at online bookstores like http://www.half.ebay.com/textbooks. You may buy books in person, or have them shipped to your home.  Contact the bookstore by phone, email or in person.

Course Policies

English 1320 Email Account and Web Browser 

    Email 

• To protect our PGCC computer network security, you must use your OwlLink student Owl Mail email address, not any personal email address, to get English 1320 email messages sent from Blackboard, our online classroom or course management system. No exceptions! Please activate your Owl Mail now, so you don't miss any important email messages sent from within Blackboard. To activate your Owl Mail account, visit the Owl Mail for students website at live.pgcc.edu.  You will need an Owl Link account and your Student ID# in order to activate your PGCC Owl Mail account. Your new student email account will be YourOwlLinkUserID@students.pgcc.edu. 
• Example: a student1234@students.pgcc.edu  

    Blackboard Compatible Web Browser

• Internet Explorer 8 (IE8) and Firefox 3.5 are not compatible with this version of Blackboard.  If you have IE8, click on Tools>Compatibility View Settings>Add this website and type in pgcconline.blackboard.com to make Blackboard compatible. If you have Firefox 3.5, you must downgrade to version 3.2 or below to use it for navigating your Blackboard classroom.  The PGCC eLearning Services office will not help you if you have problems using an incompatible web browser. Contact eLearning Services at eLearning@pgcc.edu if you need additional information. 

Cheating and taking other people's work has become so widespread in colleges and workplaces that a backlash is taking place. I use the Turnitin.com database to check students' work for originality.  Please protect your grades and your reputation by observing the following guidelines:

• Seek feedback from me and your classmates to improve the rough drafts of your memos and reports.
• Seek additional support in writing and grammar from the PGCC Writing Center or Grammar Tutoring Center. Call 301-322-0748 for an appointment or click on the Writing Help link on this web page menu.
• Do not let others write, edit, or proofread your work unless it is part of their assigned tasks for the course.
• Plagiarism is the intentional or accidental misrepresentation of another person’s words or ideas as your own. If you plagiarize, you will receive a zero grade. Plagiarism includes:
• Using direct quotes from outside sources with a citation (documentation or credit to the source) but no quotation marks
• Summarizing (your own words) graphics, data, or other information from a source without crediting the source (citation). You gain authority by indicating you've researched outside experts, so cite them!
• Copying sentences, paragraphs, graphics from outside sources without using quotation marks or crediting the source.
• Copying or slightly revising material someone else has written and claiming it as your own. 

Examples: When I post a partial sample report, you must be careful not to copy or slightly revise the wording.  If you copy from a group partner in this course while commenting on each other's report drafts, I will give an automatic zero to the offending partner. (Report drafts are date and time stamped, so I can tell who copied the work.) Cooperation, tact, and trust are crucial in any kind of teamwork. Similarly, don't think you're being generous to let someone copy your work.  Most professors will give zeros to both students.  

• Fabricating, which means making up facts, statistics, and/or sources of bogus information, gets a zero assignment grade as well.

• All work is due by 11:59 p.m. of the due date. Late or plagiarized reports or discussion group assignments get a zero unless I've given you an extension in advance of the deadline. Once a due date for any assignment has passed, it may not be made up nor submitted late.
• I will give you up to 2 extensions for up to one week each during the semester if you ask for them in advance of the deadline. Students who join the course late may use their extensions in the beginning as long as the 1-2 assignments are not more than a week overdue.
• The only extensions granted after a deadline has passed are for medical emergencies or military deployments. You must send me official documentation of the emergency/deployment to get credit. You must still complete the work within one week of the original deadline unless you've completed most of the course and want an Incomplete Grade.
• Even with an extension, work submitted more than 7 days late gets a zero grade. If you cannot meet original or extended deadlines, you may be better off dropping the course to protect your grade point average.
• I can give you partial credit for incomplete work, but I can't give you any credit for late work without an advance extension. If you don't need the extension you requested, I don't count it towards the two allowable extensions.

• To make sure your email messages to me or your classmates are read, include English 1320 plus a brief descriptive phrase in the Subject heading.  Use business greetings (Dear Professor Greene, Dear Sue, Dear Dave, etc.) to identify yourself.  Also, sign your complete name at the bottom of every email message and Discussion Group post (Best regards, Sincerely, John Doe).  
• For your letters, memo reports and formal reports, use a Microsoft Word template (File>New>Memos, Reports, or Memos and Letters, depending on your software version) or design one of your own.  For Report 5, use PowerPoint presentation slide software, saving your presentation in PowerPoint 97 format.
• Call your organization "The BW Group" (Business Writing Group) for your logo if you don't have any real name to use. Since memos are in-house communications, write from the viewpoint of a manager/employee of the organization listed in the memo's logo.
• Single-space your text, adding a line of space between paragraphs. Use boldfaced descriptive headings and subheadings for all memo reports.  I will give you further guidance in each assignment.
• Name your files using this convention: FullNamePaperNumber&Version.
• Examples: mgreene1final.doc,  mgreene5draft.doc,  mgreene5final.doc
• Spell check and proofread your work, taking care to use standard American English grammar and spelling. Check your responses to the Discussion Board as well to keep them free of errors and sign your complete name at the bottom.
• Save your files in Rich Text Format (.rtf) or Microsoft Word 2007 or 2003.  Important: I can't open or read Microsoft Works, so be sure to save Works in Word .doc or .docx or Rich Text Format (.rtf).
• Post your reports and other non-conference assignments as file attachments. Do not paste them into a text box because all formatting will be lost. (In contrast, post your weekly class Conference responses directly on the Conference Board or your Group's Conference Board, and I will comment there.)

• Expect me to answer your email messages within 24-48 hours on weekdays unless a personal emergency intrudes. On weekends, response time may be longer. Often I respond within hours, but please don't wait until the last minute to ask questions. I want you to get your answers before deadlines. 
• Unless I am delayed by emergencies or illness, I grade your assignments within one week of their deadlines. At that point, your grades appear in the Gradebook you access through the gray and white Tools menu directly under the course navigation buttons. Click on Course Tools>My Grades to find your grades listed in the order of your course assignments on the Syllabus. Each one is listed under an abbreviation of the assignment name. 
• If you do not see your grade after 7 days, please email me to ensure I received your assignment. Also, check your own assignments area to make sure you don't have assignments that have been Saved by mistake because you clicked on the Save instead of Submit button. In those cases, use the Assignments section Attach local file function to Submit the file saved by mistake. Then, I can verify that your Save date/time met the original or extended deadline and give you full credit for a "late" submission. 
• You can only submit your assignment files once, so check carefully before submission to ensure you are sending the right file. 

Assignments and Grading

Assignment	Points
Class Discussion Board Assignments (8 @ 2 points = 16 points)	16
Writing/Grammar Practice (2 @ 4 points= 8 points)	8
Group Discussion Board Assignments (2 @ 5 points = 10 points)	10
Report 1: Letter/Email Collection	10
Report 2: Online Job Posting, Cover Letter, and Resume	10
Report 3: Proposal for Career Study	10
Report 4 Title Page with Graphic and Internet Sources (5+ in APA format) Digital Drop Box	3
Report 4 Completed Summary Table	3
Report 4 Complete Draft: Formal Researched Career Study	5
Report 4: Formal Researched Career Study	15
Report 5: PowerPoint Presentation of Career Study Findings	10
No Final Exam!  Total Points	100

Grading Criteria and Scale

 You will earn points for completing each conference, study group, and report assignment. Failing to submit an assignment on time (or without a previous extension) will result in a zero grade.

I list specific grading standards for each report assignment within the assignment file. In general, to get full credit, your writing should meet your assignment's purpose and all the listed requirements in clear, concise, unified, well organized, and grammatically correct Standard English. The content must be substantive, incorporating sufficient and relevant explanation, examples, and supporting facts. Submit only your own original work, and document any previously published outside sources you use in APA format.

Points from all assignments will total 100. Therefore, a grade of 10 on an assignment worth 10 points is a perfect score--the equivalent of 100.   If the assignment is worth 4 points, a grade of 4 is a perfect score.

To track your overall progress, deduct the cumulative points you've lost on the assignments required so far from the total points you could have earned.  Example: Suppose you've lost 20 points out of 50 possible points by mid-semester because of some low scores and missing assignments.  This means that you've lost 2/5 or 40% of the total points awarded--not a hopeful sign.  If you stay at this same performance level, you will lose 40 points out of 100 possible points by the end.  By subtracting 40 from 100, you can calculate your final score of 60, the borderline between D and F.

Translate your final numerical grade into a letter grade using the following scale:

A =  90-100
B =  80-89
C =  70-79
D =  60-69
F =   0-59

Course Schedule

Note:  Course  weeks run from Monday to Sunday, and you will have mid-week deadlines as well as Sunday deadlines.  Do you prefer to work during weekdays (or weekends) only?  Just check this schedule one week ahead to plan your time, submitting your Reports and posting Conference responses before the weekend. For teamwork, it's usually no problem finding a partner in your group who also wants to complete the assignment early.