Course/contact information:
| Instructor: | Susan H. Delagrange |
| Office: | OV 231 |
| Office Hours: | M 1:00 pm – 6:30 pm, and by appt. |
| Meeting time: | W 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm first week only M 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm beginning January 16 Online components as assigned |
Course description:
Our goals in Hum 450.03 include developing you as writers of flawless prose, introducing you to the variety of opportunities for professional writers in the worlds of work, helping you network and build a professional profile, and giving you real-world experience practicing the principles we will learn in class. This section of Hum 450, Writing and New Media, allows you to explore writing technologies and the role of new media in all kinds of professional writing.
We will begin by thinking about professional writing as defined by Tim Peeples: “organizationally situated authorship” (Professional Writing and Rhetoric). We will explore both the creative possibilities and challenges posed by this definition as it relates to writing in the workplace, and we will apply what we learn to various work world contexts, both print and online.
Required texts:
Alred, Charles J., Charles T. Brusaw, and Walter E. Oliu. The Business Writer’s Handbook. 9th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2009.
OSU Editorial Style Guide – available online.
Other readings will be available as handouts or on Carmen.
Also required: a Flash drive (recommend 8 GB capacity) that will work with PCs or Macs.
Course Objectives:
You will work both individually and collaboratively to
- Familiarize yourself with some forms of and outlets for writing common in today’s workplaces, with particular emphasis on new media
- Understand how composing in new media operates in a variety of workplaces
- Enhance your professional writing skills and writing accuracy
Assignments:
Team Project 20%
Online Portfolio 20%
Reading Responses & other blog entries 15%
Language usage & mechanics exercises 15%
Oral Presentation 15%
Final Evaluative Paper 15 %
Team Project: Our class is collaborating this quarter with the office of the OSU Mansfield Assistant Dean for Research, Terri Fisher. You will produce online content, promotional materials, and other new media communications based upon research that you conduct over the course of the quarter.
Online Portfolio: You will develop a portfolio of your work for this class, including an online resumé, in a WordPress weblog that will become a resource for your Internship and future job search.
Reading Responses: You will write critical and analytical responses to course readings, to social media sites, and to elements of digital design.
Language Usage & Mechanics: The framework for our language explorations is the Principles of Good Writing outlined by Carroll: Be brief, be precise, be active, be imaginative, be direct, be consistent, be aware, and be concise. Work will consist of writing and revising short passages and doing exercises on specific grammatical points as dictated by class need.
Oral Presentation: You will make a 15-minute report to the class on a topic related to communication in your planned employment area using a planned talk accompanied by appropriate visuals in the medium of your choice (e.g. Powerpoint, Prezi).
Final Evaluative Paper: You will compose a final report to me that evaluates the Team Project process. You will follow guidelines for writing long reports which will be provided with the assignment sheet in class.
Guidelines for Written Work:
- All communications submitted for this course should be work-world-ready writing, i.e., devoid of syntactical, grammatical and spelling errors. Carefully proofread all assignments before you turn them in; assignments with three or more errors will not be accepted until revised.
- For style issues, we will utilize the OSU Editorial Guide, available at the url above, for all documents.
- All work is due at the beginning of the class session in which it is listed. If you think you will have difficulty having an assignment ready the day it is due, talk to me beforehand. I do not accept unexcused late work.
- All written work is to be typed, using 11- or 12-point font and appropriate margins for the assigned document.
- When writing for this course, using the first person (I) is generally acceptable. Don’t overuse it, however. The first person is almost never acceptable in formal documents.
Academic Integrity
Plagiarism is the representation of another’s works or ideas as your own: it includes the unacknowledged word for word use and/or paraphrasing of another person’s work, and/or the inappropriate acknowledged or unacknowledged use of another person’s ideas or words. To help you avoid plagiarism, the OSU Committee on Academic Misconduct has developed Ten Suggestions for Preserving Academic Integrity. Simply put: Don’t cheat.
Attendance
You must attend class regularly. If you don’t, it will affect your performance and your final grade. Class participation includes coming to class prepared, keeping up with the readings, participating in class and group discussions (oral and written), and completing assignments on time. If you miss three or four class meetings without acceptable excuses, your grade will be lowered; if you miss five classes or more, I don’t see how you can pass the course.
Please, please come to see me if you are having problems. I (may) give extensions, but only if you ask me long before the due date; I will not give extensions the day an assignment is due. This applies to all presentations, papers, media pieces and the final portfolio of your work. If you find that you must miss a class or a scheduled conference with me, please notify me in time to make other arrangements.
Accommodations
If you have a disability and need particular accommodations, please feel free to discuss the issue with me during office hours. Students with disabilities who need accommodations should also contact Michelle McLane in the Conard Learning Center (755-4304) to arrange for documentation and a variety of other services.
The Writing Center
The Writing Center (OV-136) promotes writing as a way of learning both within and beyond the university. Its services are free to all students, staff and faculty. Consultants offer feedback on your work at any stage of the composing process, and many of them are proficient in digital media, so please take advantage of their helpful responses on your drafts and revisions.