ENGL 3365: Professional Report Writing

• Table of Contents

<aside> ✋ We are all adults in this class, so please be proactive in your learning—this means coming to class prepared, reading the material, being willing to ask questions, and contacting me as soon as there are any concerns or obstacles with either the course content or academic performance. You are responsible for keeping track of due dates and course requirements. I am always willing to help you move forward in the course, but the first step always starts with you.

All course information, resources, and materials can be found on the course website.

All assignments and peer reviews will be submitted and graded in Blackboard.

Note: This syllabus is subject to change if deemed necessary.

</aside>

Instructor: Michelle Cowan

Email: [email protected]

Office hours: M/W after class and by appointment

Office location: English 456 (fourth floor) and our Zoom room

Course website: https://bit.ly/reportsrule

Class time D01: M/W 10:00-11:20am

Class Meeting Room: https://texastech.zoom.us/j/94752077653?pwd=dVI1OUg3Nm94ZEFhampaQTg1MmJZZz09

Zoom Meeting ID: 947 5207 7653

Zoom Meeting Password: 878153

Course Description

English 3365 is designed to prepare you to write the kinds of professional reports you are likely to encounter in the workplace. This class will not only cover common structural techniques for these reports but also the rhetorical and social nature of writing in professional settings.

The course will begin with you exploring business ideas, product designs, or career paths and writing a report comparing different options. The second unit will ask you to build on that research in teams, creating a lengthy formal report involving a number of rhetorical techniques. Your team will also present its findings to the class in a formal presentation. The final unit will focus on the creation of a class survey and the creation of a short report on those survey findings. These units allow you to explore topics of your choice and also simulate real-world information gathering and reporting processes.

In addition to the main assignments in each unit, you will complete a few shorter memos and peer reviews to measure progress and give/receive feedback. This class may be online, but it is highly collaborative from beginning to end.

We will explore questions such as:

• How do you approach new types of writing in unfamiliar contexts?
• How do you evaluate and learn to fit into new groups and manage complex writing projects?
• How do you conduct research and develop a variety of research methods?
• How do you present usable information for different audiences and purposes?
• How do you adhere to or break genre conventions to achieve certain goals?

As a result of this course, you should be able to research, read, and write different types of professional reports with a critical eye and ethical intent.

Course Objectives

We will work on several departmental course goals and outcomes. By the end of the class, you should be able to:

• Analyze, compose, and distinguish professional communication genres for different audiences and purposes
• Practice revision strategies to better organize, format, and clearly articulate goals to others
• Consider the ethical implications of business and professional communication
• Document sources ethically and according to genre conventions and professional constraints
• Develop research, reading, presentation, and writing skills
• Plan and manage group projects of a collaborative nature
• Write clearly and persuasively for different audiences
• Build oral and visual presentation skills

Email Correspondence

I will respond to emails with 48 hours. Emails received Friday evening through Sunday and student holidays will be answered on the next working business day. If you do not hear back from me in 48 hours, resend your email or talk to me before or after class, in case your email was accidentally lost or redirected to my spam folder. In your emails: