Introduction
to Professional Writing
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policy Hello and welcome to the Spring 2001 version of English 290: Introduction to Professional Writing. Here you'll be studying the sorts of writing that people in the twenty-first century do for pay, and you'll find the range of activities called "writing" both extensive and diverse. Of course, this means you'll be rethinking your notion of what it means to be a writer and deciding whether your talents and interests are sufficiently eclectic to add "writing" to your list of academic and professional credentials. In short, English 290 surveys the field of professional writing as an academic discipline, a professional expertise, and a workplace activity. Course activities aim to ensure your conceptual and practical grasp of the opportunities in the field and to preview the training you must undergo if you are to call writing an area of professional expertise.
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texts Harty, Strategies for Business and Technical Writing Lanham, Revising Prose, 4th ed. Savage and Sullivan, Writing a Professional Life Williams, The Non-Designer's Design Book Williams, Style: Ten Lessons in Clarity and Grace, 6th ed. |
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writing assignments and grades 1 Successful mastery of UNM account procedures: 10 points 2 Resume Packet: biographical information, job description, ASCII and print resume, cover letter: 30 points 3 Document design quiz and redesigned ad: 15 points 4 Business document exercises: 15 points 5 Short paper defining technical writing: 10 points 6 Three one-page speaker reports: 15 points 7 Style Exercises: 15 points 8 ProPenCity letter of application: 5 points 9 Gaant Chart: 5 points 10 ProPenCity Contracts: 5 points 11 ProPenCity progress reports and adherence to contracts: 20 points 12 ProPenCity final product: 25 points 13 Participation and contributions to class well-being: 20 points Point Total: 200 (each 20 points represents 10 percent of your grade) |
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note well • Attend carefully to presentation when you devise your responses to writing assignments. Document design is part of audience awareness in the academic world as well as in the business world. • Be prepared to review the work of your classmates and to submit your work to classmates for review. • As a rule, assignments are due at the beginning of the class period following their announcement on the syllabus. • Be prepared to conduct extensive discussions of our course project (ProPenCity) via the listserv. |
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attendance policy You may miss three classes for whatever reason you find appropriate, including illness, car trouble, and family emergency. Please notify me beforehand or immediately after each absence (email is best). If you miss more than three class periods, your ability to keep up with coursework will be in jeopardy, and I'll encourage you to drop the course. If you choose to stay, I'll be obliged to deduct two points for each absence, regardless of the reasons you may have for not attending class. |
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