Communications Studies (COMS) 363-Lecture 21
Professional and Technical Communication
Spring 2008

Mondays and Wednesdays: 18:30-21:00

SA 129

Instructor:                Lisa Bryce 

Office Location:        Second floor, Social Science Building, shared office

Office Phone:            cell 403-708-9201 (please use with discretion)

E-Mail:                     bryce@ucalgary.ca

Office Hours:            by appointment

Additional Information

Please take careful note of the following information:

 

• Overt acts of rudeness, such as using a cell phone during class, are not tolerated. Please see the University's policy on non-academic misconduct in the University Calendar; this is conduct that "seriously disrupts the lawful educational and related activities of other students and/or University staff."

 

• Laptop computers may be used to take notes during class. However, inappropriate use of laptops (e.g. to view non-class related content or do work not for this class) will not be tolerated. Those who do not adhere to this rule will have to leave the class.

 

• Abusive emails are considered non-academic misconduct and will not be tolerated.

 

• There is no registrar-scheduled final examination for this course.

 

• Please do not send email attachments unless you have my explicit permission to do so.

 

• Because you are responsible for all material covered in class, attending all classes is strongly recommended. If lectures or readings are missed, you must make your own arrangements to catch up.

 

• I am always happy to answer questions, so do not hesitate to ask me during or after class, by email or by phone.

 

• I will be happy to look at drafts of your assignments, but I cannot edit them for you. I will go through any problems with you, but it is up to you to make the corrections. Also, showing me a draft of your assignment does not guarantee an A on the assignment.

 

Textbooks and Readings

Our textbook is available in the University of Calgary Bookstore:

 

Impact: A Guide to Business Communication by Margot Northey and Ann Fischer. 7^th edition. Pearson Education Canada, 2007.

 

It is essential that you have this textbook available for reading. You will have a difficult time fulfilling the assignment requirements without doing the assigned background readings.

 

Assignments and Evaluation
It is your responsibility to keep a copy of each submitted assignment. Please do not throw away returned assignments until you have received your final grade for the course.

 

Table 1, following, lists the assignments, percents worth, and due dates.

 

Table 1: Assignment Information

Assignment Name	% final grade	Due Date
Audience Analysis	10	May 14
Team presentation on grammar topic	10	May 26, 28, June 2, 4, 9, 11
Report Project Proposal	15	May 28
Claim Letter	15	June 9
Final Report Peer Review (marked in class: report must be sufficiently completed for reviewer to give an accurate assessment or 5 percent will not be given)	5	June 16
Final report project presentation	10	June 16, 18, 23, 25
Final Report	25	June 18
In-class assignments and class participation Note: in-class assignments cannot "be made up" at a later date.	10	On-going (no set dates)

NOTE: All out-of-class assignments and the two class presentations MUST be completed to receive a passing grade in this course.

Class Participation Grade

Class participation is graded on the quality of the assignments completed. In addition, intellectual participation is required: physical presence in the classroom is not enough to receive a "C" for class participation.

Assignment Submission Policy

Please hand in your essays directly to your tutor or instructor if possible. If it is not possible to do so, a daytime drop box is available in SS110; a date stamp is provided for your use. A night drop box is also available for after-hours submission. Assignments will be removed the following morning, stamped with the previous day's date, and placed in the instructor's mailbox.

 

Grading System

Table 2 shows the grading system is used in the Faculty of Communication and Culture:

 

Table 2: Grading System

Letter Grade	Percent (%)
A+	96-100
A	92-95
A-	86-91
B+	81-85
B	77-80
B-	71-76
C+	65-70
C	62-64
C-	59-61
D+	55-58
D	50-54
F	0-49

 

 

Policy for Late Assignments

Assignments submitted after the deadline will be penalized with the loss of a grade (e.g.: A- to B+) for each day late.

 

Late assignments will be graded but not marked. Assignments more than five working days will not be accepted. In the case of illness, you must submit a doctor's note with your late assignment. For any other circumstance that prevents you from submitting your assignment on time, you must provide appropriate documentation to your instructor.

 

Please note that because all assignments (including the presentations) must be completed to receive a passing grade in this course, it is essential that you hand in assignments no later than five working days after the due date.

Your instructor will not take responsibility for assignments not handed into her personally in hard copy (paper).

Course Description

This course is an introduction to effective communication in the most common genres of professional and technical writing and speech. You will learn the processes involved in planning, composing, and delivering of technical communication for a variety of audiences and rhetorical contexts. Guided practice and peer review will assist you in developing expertise in visual, electronic, print, and face-to-face communication.

Course Objectives

At the completion of this course, you will be able to demonstrate written and oral communication skills so that the professional and technical information you are conveying can be easily understood by people both inside and outside your area of expertise. To this end, we will study the principles and techniques of professional and technical writing, focusing on both written and oral communication skills. You will enhance your writing, editing, and speaking skills, in addition to learning to generate effective professional and technical documents. You will also increase your abilities to read and think critically and to do rhetorical analyses of professional and technical documents.

Writing Skills Statement

Faculty policy directs that all written assignments (including, although to a lesser extent, written exam responses) will be assessed at least partly on writing skills. For details see www.comcul.ucalgary.ca/info. Writing skills include not only surface correctness (grammar, punctuation, sentence structure, etc) but also general clarity and organization. Research papers must be properly documented.

If you need help with your writing, you may use the Writing Centre.  Visit the website for more details: www.efwr.ucalgary.ca

Plagiarism

Using any source whatsoever without clearly documenting it is a serious academic offense. Consequences include failure on the assignment, failure in the course and possibly suspension or expulsion from the university.

You must document not only direct quotations but also paraphrases and ideas where they appear in your text. A reference list at the end is insufficient by itself. Readers must be able to tell exactly where your words and ideas end and other people's words and ideas begin. This includes assignments submitted in non-traditional formats such as Web pages or visual media, and material taken from such sources. The sources for graphics that you have not created yourself must be documented.

Please consult your instructor or the Writing Centre (SS 106, efwr.ucalgary.ca) if you have any questions regarding how to document sources.

Students with Disabilities

If you are a student with a disability who may require academic accommodation, it is your responsibility to register with the Disability Resource Centre (220-8237) and discuss your needs with your instructor no later than fourteen (14) days after the start of the course.

Students' Union

For details about the current Students' Union contacts for the Faculty of Communication and Culture see www.comcul.ucalgary.ca/su

"SAFEWALK" Program -- 220-5333

Campus Security will escort individuals day or night -- call 220-5333 for assistance. Use any campus phone, emergency phone or the yellow phone located at most parking lot booths.

Ethics
Whenever you perform research with human participants (i.e. surveys, interviews, observation) as part of your university studies, you are responsible for following university research ethics guidelines.  Your instructor must review and approve of your research plans and supervise your research.  For more information about your research ethics responsibilities, see the U of C Research Ethics "Information for Applicants," sections 3.0 to 9.0, inclusive: http://www.ucalgary.ca/UofC/research/html/ethics/info_undergrad.html

Schedule of Lectures and Readings

 To be discussed in class.