Business
Report Writing Syllabus
Summer 2004
Instructor: Roger Gorman
Phone: 896-9375 (o)
899-3671 (h)
896-3964 (fax)
e-mail: rogdgorman@aol.com (home)
rgorman@chnola.org (office)
rgorman1@tulane.edu (Tulane)
text: Courtland L. Bovée and John V. Thill. Excellence in Business Communication (6th Ed.),
Prentice Hall.
Objectives
This
course will teach you effective written communication and given you the
opportunity to apply your knowledge by writing business documents on a variety
of subjects that are taken from business environments. You will learn the form, content and design
of a variety of business documents, including resumes, letters of application,
long and short reports, proposals, and executive summaries. You will apply your knowledge of effective
communication in the documents you write.
The documents you will write in your line of business reflect your
knowledge of the subject on which you are writing, your expertise, your
attitude, and your professionalism. This
course will concentrate on helping students learn to organize business
messages, use the language correctly and write concisely. The course will also help you to sharpen your
grammar and punctuation skills.
In
homework assignments you will answer questions and explain concepts covered in
each class. You will also write those
types of documents covered in class. You
will have weekly quizzes to that cover the concepts discussed in the previous
class. You will take three exams. The first exam covers communication
fundamentals, grammar and punctuation, and planning, organizing, composing and
designing business documents. The second
exam is cumulative and also covers planning, researching, organizing and
writing short and long reports and proposals.
The third exam is the final exam and covers all material covered during
the semester.
Assignments:
May 18 Introduction and
tailoring the message to meet the needs of your audience.
May 20 Planning Business Documents and
writing Good News messages and Direct Requests. Read Chapters 4,5,6,
& 7.
May 25 Writing Bad News and negative
messages. Read Chapter 8. Claim letter due. Submit Long Report Topic.
May 27 Writing Resumes and Cover Letters. Read Chapter 14. Bad News letter due.
June 1 Writing
Persuasive Letters and Planning Business Reports. Read Chapters 9 & 10. Resume and Cover Letter
due.
June 3 Exam
1.
.
June 8 Using
Visual aids and writing the introduction to a report, and writing a
proposal. Read Chapter 11. Sales letter due.
June 10 Writing and
revising the long report. Read Chapter
12. Proposal due.
June 15 Exam 2.
June 17 Writing the
letter of Transmittal and the Executive Summary. Rough Draft due.
June 22 Making an Oral Presentation. Read Chapter 13.
June 24 Oral Reports. Long Report due.
June 29 Final
Exam
Conferences:
If you need to discuss any
aspect of this course, I will be happy to meet with you after class or
you may call me at my home or
office. If you prefer, you may call me
at my office at Children’s
Hospital (
Grading:
The following grading system
will determine your final grade in this class:
Exam 1 10%
Exam 2 10%
Final Exam 20%
Homework 20%
Proposal 10%
Long Report 20%
Oral Presentation 10%
Final grades will use a “+”
and “-“ system and have the following numeric
equivalents:
A = 94 and above C+ = 77-79 D- = 60-63
A- = 90-93 C = 74-76 F = 59 and below
B+
= 87-89 C- = 70-73
B = 84-86 D+
= 67-69
B- = 80-83 D = 64-66
Written
assignments are graded on content, design, grammar, punctuation and appropriate
style. Please type all assignments. The Long Report must be typed.
Attendance:
This course relies heavily
upon lecture presentation. Students are
expected to attend
every class meeting during the
term. Missing more than two (2) class
meetings will
result in a reduction of the final
grade for the course by .5 points (e.g., a “B” becomes a
“B-“).
Late Papers:
All papers are to be turned
in by the end of the class period on the date assigned. If you
are unable to attend class on
the evening a paper is due, you may turn your paper in to me
within 24 hours without
penalty. To turn the late paper in, you
must bring it to my office
(Development Office,
Children’s Hospital,
fax or e-mail. A paper more than 24 hours late will be
penalized one full letter grade. No
paper will be accepted more than
72 hours late. Note: The Long Report must be
turned in no later
than
after that time
will receive an F. Failing to turn in
the Long Report will result in a failing
grade for the
course.