ENGL 302-B13: Advanced Composition for Business
Spring Semester, 2006  George Mason University

Instructor: Scott Berg
Office: Performing Arts Building, room 407G
Office Hours: Wednesdays, 2:00-3:00, or better yet, by appointment
E-mail: sberg1@gmu.edu

Required Materials:

One text is required:

Gary Blake and Robert W. Bly, The Elements of Business Writing

Other class "texts" will consist of the research you conduct and your own writing.  You will be responsible for the costs of printing and copying your research and your own writing.

Be sure that you own a good dictionary and a good English handbook.  I recommend The American Heritage College Dictionary or The American Heritage Dictionary (hardcover in either) and Diana Hacker's A Writer's Reference, 6th edition.

You'll also need a two-pocket folder.  I may think of other required items as the course goes along.

PREREQUISITES FOR ENGLISH 302

You must have completed 45 total credit hours and any 200-level English courses required of your major.  While you are not necessarily required to take a section of 302 relating to your major, this is a Business section and will focus on writing and research in an organizational context.  If you question your eligibility for this course, please tell me about your concerns immediately.

THE COURSE

English 302B is intended to help students refine their writing, editing, and research skills in preparation for writing in organizational contexts.  It will be important that your grammar and syntax be correct, but it will be equally important that your writing be direct, concise, and thorough.  If you're motivated to move well beyond a freshman level of writing competence, I can assist you in doing so.  I'll give each of you as much help as you'd like, tell you  what works and what doesn't.  If you're willing to take advantage of such help, you'll see the results in your writing.

George Mason University and the Department of English maintain certain goals and expectations in this course.  By the end of ENGL 302, students should have demonstrated the ability to:

1) Use strategies that focus on writing as a process, including invention, drafting, revision, and editing.
2) Give and receive useful criticism of their writing in order to promote effective revision.
3) Produce writing that demonstrates proficiency in Standard Edited American English
4) Recognize and write for a variety of purposes and audiences.
5) Identify and use research sources, including traditional print sources, online databases and web sites.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

Each of you, as a student at George Mason, is entitled to a free e-mail account, and should have basic e-mail competency.  Let me know immediately if this is not the case.  You are required to subscribe to the course listserve; though I will not assign anything exclusively via e-mail, I will send reminders, updates, and other course information electronically.

This is a cooperative discussion and workshop class, which relies on the attendance and active contribution of its members to succeed.  I will require that you let me know in advance of any absences.  An excused absence will be any legitimate absence which I know of ahead of time. These excused absences (as long as they are not frequent) will be treated differently than unexcused absences: there will be more opportunity to make up graded assignments, in-class writing, etc.

Punctuality is important.  Please be on time for class.

Your grade for class participation will represent my subjective opinion of your over-all level of commitment to and engagement with the course and the coursework.  You may have to ocassionally present your material orally.  There will be no formal graded presentation, but any oral work will figure into your class presentation grade.

You will write a wide variety of materials in this class. The emphasis is on learning the skill of adaptation to different business writing situations. To that end, you'll produe the following documents: Personal Statement, Resume, Cover Letter, Memos, Letters, Press Release, Informal Report, and Proposal. The last two documents on the list are longer -- 3-4 pages -- but the others will all be two pages or less in their finished form.

We will sometimes do other in-class and out-of-class writing assignments, including responses to pieces of research and responses to the writing of your peers. These writings may be less structured than the major papers, and will range in length from a single paragraph to a two pages.  Shorter assignments will be given a check mark; exceptional examples may receive a plus or minus as well.

We will conduct at least one peer review workshop during the semester, when you will meet in groups of four or five classmates to discuss your work.  These days are very important to this class, and as such, workshop participation is a required assignment, which cannot be made up.

REVISIONS

Revision is an important part of this class.  You will often be asked to take documents through more than one writing step; these various steps are part of your grade.  These steps may include very rough, open writing or very focused, specific revisions.

GRADING

You must do everything assigned--reading, rough and final drafts of papers, Endnote bibliography, workshops, conferences, and shorter writings--to receive a passing grade in the class.

Your grade will be determined according the following mix:

Collected documents (not including Informal Report and Proposal): 40%
Informal Report and Proposal: 25%
Drafts, workshops, workshop responses, and other written work for the course (weighted proportionately):  20%
Class participation: 15%

A grade of C or better in the course is necessary for graduation.

PLAGIARISM AND LATE ASSIGNMENTS

Here is the definition of plagiarism, according to the English Department:

Plagiarism means using the exact words, opinions, or factual information from another person without giving that person credit.  Writers give credit through accepted documentation styles, such as parenthetical citation, footnotes, or end notes; a simple listing of books and articles is not sufficient.  Plagiarism is the equivalent of intellectual robbery and cannot be tolerated in the academic setting.

Egregious plagiarism will result in an F for the assignment and an Honor Code violation on your record.

Late papers and assignments will be penalized.  This penalty will depend on the nature of the offense; for example, a paper three hours late will suffer much less than a paper three days late.  The standard penalty is a letter grade per day.

THE UNIVERSITY WRITING CENTER

The University Writing Center is a free one-on-one tutorial service, available to all GMU students who want to work on writing skills.  Stop by Robinson Hall, room A114, or call 993-1200 for information and appointments.