Overview

The purpose of ENG 3430 is to enhance your workplace writing skills.  As students, you communicate with your peers and your professors verbally and in writing. You encounter communication challenges, but those challenges are limited, primarily because you interact with limited audiences. In the workplace, you continually communicate with all kinds of audiences, using many different modes in a variety of situations.

Communication skills are critical to determining success in the workplace. If we analyze the characteristics and skills of successful individuals in any profession, the majority of these people are excellent communicators. They know how to analyze audiences, plan, research, design, edit, evaluate, and produce effective, professional documents.

In ENG 3430, you will produce a variety of common workplace documents--resume/application letter, proposal, researched report, and correspondence (emails, memos, letters). All of these documents require analyzing audience, planning, researching, designing, editing, and evaluating--important components of successful communication in the workplace.

I've divided the course into 4 content units that will become available as the semester progresses:

• Reader Analysis
• Research Writing
• Correspondence
• Resume Writing

For each unit, you will

1) read assigned textbook material

2) read online unit lecture notes

3) participate in online discussions and other course activities

4) produce a written document(s) that you will send to the Academic Center for review prior to submitting to me for a grade.

Although you will have some flexibility in completing course readings and activities, this course is not self paced. You will need to follow the weekly course schedule (icon located on course homepage).

Prerequisites

Students enrolled in online ENG 3430 are expected to have

• completed both lower division composition courses
• experience using email and sending attachments
• expertise in Macintosh or Windows Operating Systems, including saving and transferring files, uploading files, opening programs, and using File Manager
• expertise in Word, WordPerfect, or MS Works

Goals and Objectives

ENG 3430 is a required course for all UHV undergraduates. Each semester we offer multiple sections of this course--some online and others onsite in Victoria, Sugar Land, and/or Cinco Ranch.  All sections of ENG 3430 have the same course objectives and goals.

Instructor Contact Information

Welcome! I'm your instructor and have been teaching this course since 1988; I have been teaching online since 2000. Since we will not meet face-to-face until the final exam, please become familiar with my contact information and availability so that you know how to reach me throughout the semester with any questions you may have.

Required Textbooks

You have two required textbooks for this course.

1. Everyone will purchase the Locker and Kaczmarek text.

2. Depending on your major, you will also purchase either the APA Quick Guide or the MLA Handbook as noted below.

Required Text for all Majors	Required Text for all Majors, Except English and History	Required Text for English and History Majors Only
Locker, Kitty O., & Kaczmarek, Stephen Kyo. (2004). Business Communication: Building Critical Skills. (ISBN: # 0-07-286571-7)	Robert Perrin. (2004). Pocket Guide to APA Style. (ISBN: 0-618-30820-2)	Gibaldi, Joseph. (2003). MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers--Sixth Edition. (ISBN: 0-87352-986-3)

Writing Assignments, Revisions, and Grades

Each unit of the course has at least one writing assignment (some units have more than one). All assignments are located under the Assignments Icon on the course toolbar near the top of your Vista screen.

Writing Assignments

Your written assignments determine 90% of your course grade, and the final exam determines 10% of your course grade. All assignments including the quizzes and final exam and their corresponding percentages are listed below.

You can expect written feedback and a letter grade for each written assignment. I'll post your grades online in the gradebook. Only you will be able to access your online grades. I will use the grading rubric below for all written assignments.

All papers must be submitted by the due dates. Exceptions will be made only for students who have emergencies and have contacted me prior to the due date. Other late papers will lose a letter grade for each day they are late. Students who fall more than two papers behind may be dropped from the course.

All written assignments except the research paper will be submitted via the Vista assignments tool (located on the course toolbar) and will be published within the course for your classmates to read. If you do not want your papers published, you need to withdraw from the class. The research paper and copies of sources used to write the paper will either be mailed or dropped off in my office.

This is a professional writing course; therefore, all documents submitted to me for a grade should look professional, similar to those in the business world. Typographical errors, misspellings, sloppy formats, etc., will affect your final document grades.

A more detailed description of each of these assignments, their submission requirements, and due dates will be in the appropriate course unit.

Notes regarding the final exam: The final will be given in Victoria and in Sugar Land.

The Victoria final will be at the University Center building on May 7 from 9:00 - 11:00am. The Sugar Land final will be at the University of Houston System at Sugar Land on May 7 from 2:00 - 4:00pm.

Please note that since the final exam dates are set early in the semester, you are expected to arrange your schedules so that you can take the final at the specified times. Only students who have emergencies will be allowed to take the final exam at other times.

You will need to score a 70 or above on the final exam to pass ENG 3430. If you score below 70, you will receive an "I" in the course and must contact me, and retake the final exam by the end of August 2005. Students failing to retake the final by the deadline must re-enroll in ENG 3430. Students who do retake the final but fail it a second time must retake ENG 3430.

Revisions

You will be able to revise one of your written assignments for a higher grade. You will see the notation on each assignment where revision is an option. I encourage you to revise one of your documents because:

1. revision is an integral part of the writing process;
2. revision helps you develop objectivity toward your writing which leads to better "you attitude";
3. revision puts your focus on communicating with a reader(s);
4. revision helps you improve your writing.

To facilitate the revision process and teach you how to effectively revise, I have included online information in the course on "Revision Strategies." If you plan to revise any of your papers, read through this information first to ensure that you follow the established revision guidelines.

Grading Rubric for ENG 3430 Writing Assignments

I use the following grading rubric for all written assignments in ENG 3430.

Grading Rubric for ENG 3430 Writing Assignments
Letter Grade	Criteria
A (Exceeds all expectations)	Uses the appropriate format for the assignment Contains no major grammatical errors Uses white space well for visual appeal Establishes and maintains good "you attitude" Organizes the content to maximize ease of reading and understanding Develops sufficiently to fulfill needs of the reader Meets due date
B (Exceeds most expectations)	Uses the appropriate format for the assignment May contain a few grammatical errors Uses white space fairly well for visual appeal Establishes and tries to maintain good "you attitude" most of the time Organizes most of the content to maximize ease of reading and understanding Develops the content sufficiently to meet most of the needs of the reader
C (Meets Expectations)	May not have used appropriate format for the assignment Contains quite a few major grammatical errors, causing reader interference Has difficulty with use of white space Has difficulty establishing and maintaining "you attitude" Organizes some of the content effectively, but overall lacks effective organization Develops content insufficiently to meet many of the needs of the reader
D (Does not meet Expectations)	May not have used appropriate format for the assignment Contains many grammatical errors Uses white space ineffectively, leaving either too much or not enough Does not organize well Fails to meet the information needs of the reader
F (Fails the Assignment)	Fails to meet general assignment guidelines

General Semester Schedule

Although I will provide a weekly schedule on the course homepage, here is a general schedule for the semester. You are resposible for keeping up with all course activities and due dates.