Business and Professional Writing Course

Syllabus
Written by Sandy Branham
Parent Category: Professional & Technical Communication
Category: Resources for Instructors
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Course Description

This course offers an introduction to the techniques and types of professional writing,
including correspondence and reports. It is designed to help strengthen skills of
effective business and professional communication in both oral and written modes. After
successful completion of this course, students will have the skills necessary to
communicate effectively in a variety of professional situations.

Each project in the course is paired with a selection of readings and resources in order
to provide the information necessary to complete the tasks required in each project. You
may notice that some readings are paired with more than one project—in this way, each
project can be approached as a self-contained unit. However, the projects are also
designed to complement each other, and approaching the course as a whole exposes
students to a variety of business and professional writing situations.

After completing this course, students will have gained exposure to the following genres
of business and professional writing:

 Email
 Business Letter (Positive News Letter, Negative News Letter, Fundraising Letter,
Cover Letter)
 Memo
 Proposal
 Press Release
 Promotional Video
 Presentation
 Résumé
 Report (Progress Report, Informative Report, Recommendation Report, Business
Plan)

Additionally, students will gain valuable experience with research, reading and
analyzing popular press business articles, issues in business ethics, and working with
teams.

Course Objectives

Upon successful completion of this course, students should be able to:

  Analyze written and verbal communications and evaluate their usefulness,
relevance, rhetorical components, and stylistic elements
 Think critically about rhetorical choices and audience awareness
 Compose effective and persuasive written, visual, and oral texts for diverse
audiences
 Recognize and implement the qualities associated with effective business writing,
particularly the hallmarks of correctness, conciseness, coherence, and clarity
 Design visually attractive documents with informative and eye-catching visual
elements
 Use technology to effectively present your messages
 Conduct research using a broad range of sources, synthesizing and judging the
quality of collected information
 Communicate ethically
 Write in a variety of workplace genres including resumes, letters, emails, memos,
white papers, and reports
 Collaborate effectively with peers

Introductory Readings and Resources

 “Effective Business Writing”

o “Good Business Writing”
o “Principles of Written Communication”
o “Style in Written Communication”
o "Overcoming Barriers to Effective Written Communication"
o "Diplomacy, Tone, and Emphais in Business Writing"
 "Text, Email, and Netiquette"
o "Email Guidelines for Students"

Projects

Project 1: Letter Writing Project

To complete this project, students will write a positive letter, a negative letter, and a
fundraising letter.

Context for Project

Learning to write an effective business letter is a skill that you will likely use many times.
Business letters serve a number of purposes: you might write a business letter in order
to request some information from a company or organization or in an attempt to raise
funds for a particular project or organization. Business letters are also used to apply for
jobs, as you’ll see when writing a cover letter for the Employment Project below, and to
resign from a position. Additionally, business letters can be used to deliver positive
news, such as appreciation for excellent service or an offer of employment, or negative
news, such as a complaint about unsatisfactory service or a letter of termination.
Readings and Resources

 “Memorandums and Letters"

 "Negative News and Crisis Communication"
o “Delivering a Negative News Message”
o “Eliciting Negative News”
 “Sales Message”

Deliverables: Overview

 Positive News Letter

 Negative News Letter
 Fundraising Letter

Deliverables: Specifications

Positive Letter

Now that you have learned about the characteristics of business letters, it’s time to
practice writing a business letter that delivers positive news. You will write a positive
business letter that follows the conventions of a business letter and addresses one of
the following scenarios:

1. Write a letter to a company that expresses your appreciation for consistent

quality, either in service, product, or both. Be sure to provide specific information
about your positive experiences.
2. You are the dean of a college within a large university, and you have just learned
that your budget has been raised by 20% for the next school year. This budget
increase not only means that you can purchase some additional supplies, but
that you can also give each staff member in the department a 2% raise. Write a
letter that informs your staff of the budget increase, identifies the new supplies
you will purchase, and explains the details of the pay raises.
3. You are the CEO of Fortune 500 company, and after interviewing a number of
qualified candidates, you have decided to extend one of the applicants an offer of
employment for the position of Vice President of Sales. Write the applicant a
letter that delivers the good news and clearly details the offer of employment,
including information about salary, benefits, expected start date, and the deadline
for acceptance.

Negative Letter

After completing the readings above, you should be familiar with some common
scenarios in which a negative news letter may be necessary. You will write a negative
news letter that addresses one of the following scenarios:
 1. You are the manager of a company, and you have noticed that once of your
employees has been arriving to work 20 minutes late every day for the past two
weeks. You have made an appointment to speak with the employee, but it is also
company policy that you write a letter to the employee that identifies the
infraction, explains the action necessary to correct the problem, and explains the
consequences for not addressing the issue.
2. Identify a company with which you had an unsatisfying experience as a
consumer. Write a letter to the company that expresses your dissatisfaction,
provides a detailed account of your experience, and suggests a possible solution
for the problem.
3. As the human resources manager for a large company, you are tasked with
informing 250 of the company’s 700 employees that they are being laid off. Write
a letter that clearly explains the situation to the employees but that also maintains
trust and respect for the company.

Fundraising Letter

A fundraising letter is very similar to a sales message—the main difference between the
two is that a sales message is intended to sell a product or service, while a fundraising
letter is intended to sell the feeling of goodwill that comes from philanthropy. Identify a
non-profit organization that upholds a mission you support, and write a fundraising letter
that is designed to inspire people to support this organization by donating either money
or items that can be resold or reused.Project 2: Rhetorical Analysis of a Popular
Press Business Article

To complete this project, students will complete a rhetorical analysis of a contemporary,

popular press business article. Students will submit their findings in memo format.

Context for Project

While it is certainly important to be able to read a document and determine what is

being said directly, it is also important to develop the skills necessary to look deeper at
a piece of writing in order to determine how persuasion and rhetoric are being used in
order to craft a particular message. Training yourself to think about the author, his or her
intended audience, and the way in which he or she uses the rhetorical appeals of ethos,
pathos, logos, and kairos to deliver an intended message will enable you to better
understand and critically examine a wider variety of texts.

Readings and Resources

 "Memorandums and Letters"

 "Critical Reading Practices"
 Rhetorical Analysis: “Why Study Rhetoric? or, What Freestyle Rap Teaches Us
About Writing”
 “Rhetorical Appeals”
o “Ethos”
 o "Pathos"
o "Logos"
o "Kairos"
 “Logical Fallacies”
o “Fallacious Ethos”
o “Fallacious Pathos”
o “Fallacious Logos”
o “Fallacious Kairos”

Deliverables: Overview

 Rhetorical Analysis

Deliverables: Specifications

Your goal for this project is to select, critically read, and analyze and business article
from a popular press source that was published in the last 5 years. You will write a 1-2
page memo that presents a rhetorical analysis of your chosen article. Not only is it
important to discuss the author’s use of rhetorical appeals, you must also identify the
author’s intended audience and intended message, commenting on the success or
failure of the author’s use of persuasion and rhetoric in achieving his or her desired
result. In other words: Does the author successfully convince his or her intended
audience of the message he or she is trying to convey? If so, how? If not, what went
wrong?

Sources that you might use for this project include, but are not limited to:

 Bloomberg Business Week ( https://www.businessweek.com/)

 Forbes ( https://www.forbes.com/)
 The Economist ( https://www.economist.com/)
 Fortune ( https://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/)
 Wired ( https://www.wired.com/)
 Fast Company ( https://www.fastcompany.com/homepage/2013/10/25)

*Please note that each of the above listed publications contain articles on a variety of
topics. Please choose an article that is, in some way, related to the field of business.

Project 3: Employment Project

To complete this project, students will engage in a job search, conduct company
research, and produce a targeted resume and cover letter.

Context for Project

In today’s extremely competitive job market, it is important for each of you to develop
the skills necessary to produce quality resumes and cover letters. Each of these
documents serve different purposes: the resume should provide an overview of your
qualifications, while your cover letter should provide more detailed information.

This project requires you to select a job (or internship) ad for which you are currently
qualified. After you have received instructor approval on your job ad, you will complete a
resume and a cover letter that are targeted to the job ad you have selected.

Readings and Resources

 "Cover Letters"
 “Résumés”
o “Writing the Conventional Résumé”
o “Quality Checking Your Résumé”
o “Common Action Words Used to Describe the Job Experience
o “More Advanced, More Daring Résumés"
o “The Graduate Student and Post-Graduate Résumé”
o “Computer Scanning of Résumés”

Deliverables: Overview

 Résumé
 Cover Letter

Cover Letter

You will write a cover letter that is specifically targeted to the job ad you have chosen.
The cover letter should be written in the form of a traditional business letter, and you will
use the job ad as well as external research about the organization to write the letter.
Your cover letter should contain key words from the job ad and organizational materials
while highlighting your most unique qualifications for this particular position.

Résumé

Like the cover letter, your résumé will also be targeted specifically to the job ad you
have chosen. Your résumé should adhere to content, organization, and design
specifications. Rather than functioning as a comprehensive list of everything you have
ever done, the résumé should focus on the skills that are most relevant for this
particular position.

Project 4: Formal Report

To complete this project, students will work in groups of 3-4 to produce a business plan,
a website redesign, a client deliverable, an informative report, or a recommendation
report. Each option requires students to conduct research, create original materials,
write progress reports, write a formal report, and to create a presentation.
Context for Project

The project options below are designed to provide students with the opportunity to
develop original materials while also allowing students to continue to develop their
professional writing skills. Formal reports can serve a number of purposes but, in most
cases, are designed to provide information to decision-makers. As a result, it is
important to learn to design these documents in order to enable busy readers to quickly
locate relevant information. While each option below is slightly different, they all require
similar skills.

 Option 1: The Business Plan is designed for students who are interested in
becoming entrepreneurs or managers. This project option allows the student to
develop a business concept and create a related business plan, while also
developing associated promotional materials.

 Option 2: The Website Redesign is intended for students with an interest and
aptitude for technology. This project allows students to identify an existing
website that is in need of revamping and asks students to redesign the site. In
addition, students are asked to create a series of documentation addressing the
redesign, including a project proposal, a progress report, and a final report.

 Option 3: The Client Deliverable is designed for students interested in

producing professional documents for a real client. The documentation might
include the development of an electronic resource, creation of promotional
materials, such as brochures or pamphlets, or the development of an instruction
manual, just to name a few. This project allows students to create an actual
product for the client while also asking them to produce a series of
documentation surrounding the project, including a proposal, a progress report,
and a final report.

 Option 4: The Local Informative or Recommendation Report is designed for

students who are interested in solving problems. This project option asks
students to identify an issue that concerns a local organization. After researching
the problem, students will complete the process of writing either an informative
report, which should be used in cases in which the organization is unaware of the
problem, or a recommendation report, which should be used in cases in which
the organization is aware of the problem but is unsure of how to solve it. As with
the other project options, this option asks students to create a series of
documentation, including a proposal, progress report, and final report.

Readings and Resources

For all project options:

 “Business Proposal”
 “Report”
 o“Audience Analysis in Formal Reports”
 “Front Matter Components”
 “Body of Report”
 “Back Matter Components”
 "Business and Professional Meetings"

For all project options: Presentations

 "Business Presentations"
o “Myths and Realities of Public Speaking”
o "Overcoming Obstacles in Your Presentation"
 “Presentations to Inform”
o "Functions"
o "Types"
o "Prepare"
o "Create"
 “Presentations to Persuade”
o "Principles"
o "Functions"
o "Meeting the Listener's Basic Needs"
o "Sample Persuasive Speech"

Project Specific:

Option 1:

 “Sales Message”
 “Press Conference”

Deliverables: Overview

Option 1: Business Plan

 Company concept and logo

 Website home page
 News Release
 PR Piece
 Promotional video
 Business plan
 <>Presentation

Option 2: Website Redesign

 Proposa
 Recommendation Report
 Progress Report
  Final Report
 Presentation

Option 3: Client Deliverable

 Proposal
 Progress Report
 Client Deliverable
 Final Report
 Presentation

Option 4: Local Informative or Recommendation Report

 Progress Report
 Final Report
 Presentation

Deliverables: Specifications

 Option 1: Business Plan: Create a company and develop a logo, website home
page, news release, PR piece, promotional video, and a business plan (including
executive summary, product or service development, management team, market
and competition information, marketing and sales information, and additional
deliverables such as brochures, videos, podcasts, and slideshows). Be sure to
use a combination of text and images when producing your materials. You will
conclude this project by developing a presentation that introduces your company
to the class.

 Option 2: Website Redesign: Identify a company with an existing website that

needs improvement. You’ll begin by developing a proposal for your project. Once
your proposal is approved, you will develop a recommendation report for the
client that provides several possible approaches for redesigning the website and
recommends the solution that appears the most feasible. Next, you will complete
the website redesign and prepare a final report for the client that explains the
changes and provides any necessary information regarding maintenance or use
of the site. Be sure to use a combination of text and images when producing your
materials. You will conclude this project by developing a presentation that
introduces your website redesign to the class.

 Option 3: Client Deliverable Project: Identify a client that has a need for a
professionally written deliverable. Your client may be located within the university
or in the surrounding community. After conducting research on both the client
and the writing project, develop a proposal for the client that will outline your
development process for the client. Once the client has approved your proposal,
you will develop the deliverable for the client, along with a short report to be
submitted to the client along with the deliverable. The report should explain the
 development process while also providing the client with any necessary
information related to the use or maintenance of the deliverable. Be sure to use a
combination of text and images in your materials. You will conclude this project
by preparing a presentation that will introduce your deliverable to the class.

 Option 4: Local Informative or Recommendation Report: Choose a local

organization (community, campus, or local business) and identify a topic area for
either an informative or a recommendation report. The topic you choose should
be centered on a specific problem, and the report you develop should help the
organization solve the problem you have identified. For this project, you will
prepare a proposal, a progress report, and a final informative or recommendation
report. Be sure to include a combination of text and images in your materials.
You will conclude this project by preparing a presentation that summarizes your
report for the class.