ENGLISH 131B

 

 

Texts/Equipment

APS, English 131B: Advanced Exposition/Business Writing (APS)

1 floppy disk

Career Guide (free at UCLA Career Center, Strathmore Building, or download from http://career.ucla.edu/resources/pubs/)

Bruin Online account

Class website Section 1—http://ecampus.humnet.ucla.edu/classes/engcomp131b_lec1_03w

Section 2—http://ecampus.humnet.ucla.edu/classes/engcomp131b_lec2_03w

 

Overview

English 131B is a course in organizational rhetoric and a workshop for writers of business prose. You will work on three substantial projects, each of which will require you to write in several genres, including prose analysis, survey, report, proposal, résumé, memos, and letters. As students of business communication, you will focus on the audience and rhetorical context specific to each paper. As writers, you will practice communicating in different formats, increasing your stylistic range, and working collaboratively.

 

You will have three types of assignments:

(1) 3 projects. Each of these will incorporate several writing genres, proceed through at least two drafts, and require you to do some research in the business community.

(2) Short writing assignments. These are ungraded, required assignments designed to help you plan and revise your projects and expand your style. You will do many of them in teams or with a partner.

(3) Group editing. To develop your sensitivity as editors, you will all read and be responsible for revising one another's work. Working sometimes in pairs and other times in groups, you will pool your talents to give each other suggestions on content, rhetorical strategies, organization, and style.

 

You will be using a computer and Internet access for all the writing and research and much of the class discussion you do in class and for some of the out-of-class assignments. If you don’t have your own computer and modem, the CLICC labs in Powell or the walk-in labs in 87 or 88 Kinsey are available for your use. The Macintoshes in our classroom will read PC-formatted disks and will save documents in PC format.

 

This is a hands-on course, a series of workshops rather than lectures. You will be working together as a community of editors and writers, so always bring your books, disks, and papers-in-progress with you. Teamwork and regular attendance are both important to your success in the course and will figure in your final grade. You cannot make up a missed class.

 

Goals

The goals of the course are 1) to sharpen your intellectual acuity, and 2) to increase your rhetorical skill, specifically as writers of business prose. Specifically, you will refine your ability to do the following:

• Analyze the strategies and style of organizational prose

• Write in the standard genres of business communication

• Work collaboratively with other writers

• Draw inferences from specific information

• Synthesize ideas and information from different sources

• Organize your ideas around a central point

• Explain your ideas in detail, using extensive illustrations

• Expand your stylistic range

 

Requirements

• 6 drafts, minimum

• short writing assignments

• participation in co-authoring, planning, peer editing groups

• participation in on-line discussions

 

Grading

Paper #1:                      25%

Paper #2:                      25%

Paper #3:                      25%

Work grade:                  25%

(attending all classes, on time and prepared; timely completion of all in- and out-of-class assignments, including peer editing, email discussion, and short written work; substantial contribution to all collaborative projects; working responsibly with your writing team weighs heavily in your work grade)

 

SCHEDULE

 

UNIT 1: PROSE ANALYSIS, REPORT

Week 1

T  1/7         Class:        Introduction to the course and to business writing

Home:        APS 1-15 (getting started), 77-114 (reports, headings, lists); make appointment for interview (paper 1) and request writing sample (business prose)

Th 1/9        Class:        Brainstorming for paper 1; report writing; interview questions

Home:        APS 72-76 (business prose)

 

Week 2

T  1/14       Class:        Business rhetoric; analyzing prose

Home:        Bring 3 copies of business prose to class Th 1/16

Th 1/16      Class:        Analyzing business writing

Home:        Paper 1, draft 1; APS 115-147 (sample student reports); 40-43 (conciseness); 71-72 (quotations)

 

Week 3

T  1/21       Class:        Paper 1, draft 1 due; discuss work-in-progress; stylistic revision

Home:        APS 16-25 (development), 33-36

Th 1/23      Class:        Discuss work-in-progress; stylistic revision

Home:        APS 64-68 (working with other writers); bring 3 copies of Paper 1 to class T 1/28

 

Week 4

T  1/28       Class:        Stylistic revision; noun/verb styles; edit groups

Home:        APS 148-167 (proposals), skim 168-182 (sample proposals); 321-326 (updated expressions); “Too Trite and So True”; Paper 1, draft 2

Th  1/30     Class:        Open

Home:       

 

UNIT 2: PROPOSALS, MEMOS

Week 5

T  2/4         Class:        Paper 1, draft 2 due; proposal writing; approaches to Paper 2; updated expressions, journalism clichés

Home:        APS 183-197 (student proposals), 198-228 (memos, email); APS 327 (evaluation guide)

Th 2/6        Class:        Memos; evaluating writing; plan collaboration strategy

Home:        Paper 2, draft 1; APS 52-55 (styles of jargon; bureaucratic style)

 

Week 6

T 2/11        Class:        Paper 2, draft 1 due; discuss work-in-progress; noun/verb style; bureaucratic style

Home:        APS, 36-41 (passive voice)

Th 2/13      Class:        Discuss work-in-progress; Revising Business Prose videotape; passive voice; sentence revision

Home:        Bring 3 copies of Paper 2 to class T 2/18; APS 44-46 (punctuation and style)

 

Week 7

T  2/18       Class:        Punctuation and style; edit groups

Home:        Paper 2, draft 2; APS, 238-276 (business letters)

Th 2/20      Class:        Open; teams work on drafts

Home:       

 

UNIT 3: JOB LETTERS, RESUME

Week 8

T  2/25       Class:        Paper 2, draft 2 due; business letters

Home:        APS, 277-320 (resumes, job letters, personal statements); Placement Manual

Th 2/27      Class:        Résumés/job letters/personal statements; approaches to Paper 3

Home:        Paper 3, draft 1; APS 60-62 (imitation, expanding style)

 

Week 9

T  3/4         Class:        Paper 3, draft 1 due; discuss work-in-progress; sentence revision; imitation; parallel structure

Home:        APS 63 (cumulative sentence); bring 3 copies of Paper 3 to class Th 3/6

Th 3/6        Class:        Discuss work-in-progress; edit groups; cumulative sentence

Home:        APS 63 (periodic sentence)

 

Week 10

T  3/11       Class:        Stylistic revision (expanding style); discuss work-in-progress

Home:        Paper 3, draft 2

Th 3/13      Class:        Paper 3, draft 2 due