Saturday, April 19, 2025 : TES > Courses > 3106 > Requirements
ENGL 3106: Professional Comm
Course Requirements
Required Materials
- Guffey, Mary Ellen. Business Communication: Process and Product. 6th ed. Mason, OH: South-Western, 2001.
- Johnson-Eilola, Johndan. Designing Effective Web Sites: A Concise Guide. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2002.
- Floppy Disks or FTP space
- Soft-Cover Writing Folder with Pockets (for turning in assignments)
- An email address that you check daily
Recommended Texts
- Castro, Elizabeth. HTML for the World Wide Web with XHTML and CSS: Visual QuickStart Guide. 5th Ed. Peachpit Press, 2002.
- Williams, Robin. The Non-Designer’s Design Book. Peachpit Press, 1994.
Distribution of Grades
This course’s activities center around four major components:
Daily / Weekly Assignments: 40%
Web Portfolio: 30%
Oral Presentation: 20%
Class Participation: 10%
For individual due dates, see the schedule.
Daily / Weekly Assignments
You will design and prepare documents that mirror writing situations encountered by professionals. Some of the types of documents that you will create will include Emails, Memos, Recommendation Requests, Résumés, Letters of Application, Interview Summaries, Various Formal Letters, Formal Reports (Proposals/Feasibility Studies), Group Company Projects, and/or Personal Web Pages. Also, we will do a variety of in-class writing activities that will enhance your ability to create these documents.
Web Portfolio
Each student is required to construct and keep up-to-date a Web Portfolio. The purpose of the portfolio will be to present yourself to a prospective employer by including the information below. Students may construct their class homepages in a format of their choosing, but they must be aware of aesthetic and stylistic concerns and include the following:
- Index Page / Introduction
- Links to Sites Relevant to Area of Expertise
- Professional Autobiography
- Résumé
- "Mailto:" Link
- Hypermedia and Multimedia
- Writing Samples
Portfolios will be graded by content, organization, and aesthetics in that order of importance. This component of the course will require a strong familiarity with the World Wide Web. “Browsing” and “surfing” are integral for students to gain a knowledge of HTML aesthetics and design; this endeavor must begin immediately and should be continued independently and aggressively throughout the portfolio’s development. A full multimedia page is encouraged.
Web design, like any other creative undertaking, requires a specific literacy and competency which should be displayed in each portfolio’s design. Students wishing to collaborate on this requirement may do so with my approval.
Oral Presentation(s)
Each student, or students if two or more would like to combine efforts, will each be required to research a career, one that they may be contemplating or already have, and present that career to the class. Some sort of presentation software (Web site, PowerPoint, etc.) should be utilized, and the presentation should be no longer than fifteen minutes.
In addition to the required oral presentation, an impromptu, informal presentation may be assigned during the semester. This ad hoc presentation will probably be a group effort and count towrd your oral presentation grade.
Class Participation
Regular class attendance and active participation in classroom discussion and the class interchanges are required. Some assignments will occasionally count for participation: quizzes, peer editing, the viewing of a film, and similar activities. Additional assistance may be obtained from me during my office hours or by appointment. Your participation in group activities both in-class and at a distance will be weighed heavily in evaluation. Since writing is an on-going process, participation, effort, and attitude will count as much as written work.
For every assigned reading, a quiz should be expected. These quizzes are designed to test factual aspects of the text, not interpretation or evaluation. Read every text carefully and take reading notes — character names, general plot, important items, etc. — and the quizzes will be no problem. Quizzes, other class activities, and homework assignments not explicitly outlined on this document will be factored into your final class participation grade.
Bulletin Board
This class will be involved in beta testing a new bulletin board system on LitMUSE. Participation is optional and will be rewarded as follows: regular postings to the forum for your class and a minimum of fifty (50) posts will earn you an additional twenty-five (25) class participation points at the semester’s end. These posts must be quality; i.e., posts like “me, too” and “yeah, that reading was cool” or just posting a URL or a question will not count toward your total posts. Your post must show some thought and consideration of the topic or issue. In order to receive any credit for your participation will require a minimum of fifty (50) posts — no exceptions. Additional points may be earned as follows:
- 50 posts = 25 points
- 100 posts = 50 points
- 150 posts = 75 points
- 200 posts = 100 points
Remember, posts must pertain to the course topic in any way. Feel free to test this system in any way. Offer suggestions and ask questions. Good beta testers test every aspect fo the system; please feel free to do just that. Posts that discuss the system will also count for your total.
Final Exam
The instructor will reserve the right to give a final cumulative exam based on class lectures, discussions, assignments, and reading. If the class handles itself and its assignments with enthusiastic professionalism, a final exam can certainly be avoided.