C-ID Descriptor
Business Communication

ENG 100² (First-Year Composition)

None

Course Content: 

Th           The course begins with the theory of written and oral communication.  Messages are broken into their component parts for a critical analysis of organization and content, style, tone, grammar, format, and appearance.  Students analyze business situations and plan, organize, write, and revise letters, memos, emails, and reports.

Students will prepare and submit for grades at least one of each of the following types of business messages.

1. Direct request and direct reply.
2. Negative (bad news).
3. Persuasive.
4. Employment-related (e.g., a resume)
5. Analytical report which analyzes a problem or question, compares and contrasts alternative solutions, includes properly inserted visuals, page numbers and an associated table of contents, includes documented sources, an executive summary, and provides conclusions and recommendations. The report will be prepared using word processing software, properly formatted, and printed by a computer printer.
6. Oral presentation, using presentation software and/or audio-video multimedia, on a topic suitable for a business situation.

At the conclusion of this course, the student should be able to:

1. Explain the elements of the communication process.
2. Analyze how word selection and usage affects communication.
3. Solve business communication problems through planning, problem solving, organizing, writing, listening and presenting techniques.
4. Illustrate sensitivity to audience needs and desire, including cross-cultural situations.
5. Plan, organize, write and revise letters, memos, emails, and reports suitable for a variety of business situations, including quantitative (e.g., accounting and finance) and business legal contexts.
6. Plan and deliver individual or team oral-presentations for business meetings.
7.  Understand communication in an internationalization and globalization context.
8.  Identify a basic logical fallacy in an oral or written context.
9.  Select a proper delivery format—face-to-face v. electronic—and identify the strengths of each modality.
10. Understand uses of social media and related Internet writing contexts.
11.  Adjust composition, prose, and rhetorical language use for optimal conciseness and clarity.
12. Demonstrate an understanding of social etiquette applicable in a business environment.
13. Be able to discern and appreciate the differences between primary sources and secondary sources.
14. Demonstrate an understanding of the importance of original work, the role of proper citations and references, and the ability to avoid plagiarism of either a deliberate or inadvertent nature.

1. Exams are given periodically to monitor students' communication knowledge, understanding and skills.
2. Instructor will provide detailed written feedback on all business letters, memos, emails, and reports, and on oral presentations.
3. Final exam will be comprehensive and written.

A college level textbook supporting the learning objectives of this course.

Examples:

Guffey, Mary Ellem,  Dana Loewy, Business Communication: Process & Product, Cengage

Flately, Marie, M: Business Communication, McGraw Hill

Kolin et al., Successful Writing at Work., Cengage

Ober, S., Contemporary Business Communication, Houghlin-Mifflin

McLean, S., Business Communication for Success, FlatWorldKnowledge