BUSINESS/PROFESSIONAL WRITING, Michelle Albert
This course examines theories and practices of professional writing in business and academic settings. Reading, discussion and assignments introduce students to writing conventions for memos, reports, instructions/procedures, proposals, cover letters, resumes, etc. Students will work individually on projects in their own fields of interest—ideally those that can help them define their career goals or turn into “portfolio pieces” that will help them get jobs, internships, and graduate school positions. All writing projects are process oriented with emphasis on planning, drafting and revision. Collaboration, peer review and presentations are key features of the class. Strong emphasis will be placed on tailoring work to a particular audience.
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REAL-WORLD APPLICATIONS, Sigman Byrd
This course aims to prepare you for thinking critically and responding effectively to the challenges you will meet in the business world. The primary text will be your writing supplemented with background readings from the course textbook. Assignments will include a variety of professional documents through which you will practice critical thinking, reading, and writing skills and learn how to address the practical needs of different audiences in a variety of rhetorical situations. Some assignments will be practical in nature and based on real-world scenarios, while other assignments will be academic and focus on public policy concerns. In addition, you will learn reader-centered writing strategies and apply them to your work and the work of your classmates in a collaborative workshop setting. You will experience how business writing is fundamentally a cooperative effort between reader and writer, an ongoing negotiation between you and your colleagues, your employer and clients.
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PROFESSIONAL COMMUNICATION, Dr. Eric Burger
This course aims to ready you for the on-the-job writing required in the business world. You will produce documents such as memos, proposals, reports, policy statements, letters and resumes; you will practice critical thinking, audience assessment and reading/writing skills in doing so. Since effective business writers demonstrate a strong understanding of audience and professional context, you will study the workplace audience(s) in your intended profession and you will research a social or ethical issue in your field of interest. Additionally, in this course we will study and practice effective collaboration, since much of the writing done in the business world is produced by teams rather than individuals.
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WEBSITE USABILITY, Erik Ellis
In this section of WRTG 3040 you’ll apply your critical thinking skills by writing rhetorically sophisticated documents in a variety of common business genres, including e-mails, memos, letters, and a recommendation report. For the major course project, you’ll research website usability and will collaborate with a group of classmates to evaluate the CU-Boulder Information Technology Services (ITS) website. As part of this real-world project, you’ll analyze the values, perspectives, and expectations of various ITS website audiences, including students, faculty, and staff. Then you’ll conduct and videotape usability tests of these audiences trying to complete various tasks on the ITS website. Finally, you’ll analyze the results and make recommendations for improvement. Your team’s recommendation report will be concise, precise, and highly readable for your audience of ITS administrators. It will include a persuasive DVD with highlights from your usability tests. No technical skills required—you’ll learn how to create a DVD.
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WRITING ON BUSINESS ISSUES, Don Eron
This course is designed to improve your writing, speaking, and critical thinking skills. If you choose, you may apply your disciplinary expertise to business related issues in ethics, law, and public policy. But with whatever genre you employ as your tool of communication—memo, cover letter, report, proposal, etc., via written or oral presentation—your objective is always rhetorical; that is, your objective is always to persuade your audience of your thesis. Hence, because so much business writing is inherently political, as comprehensive an understanding of the attitudes and perspectives of your audience as you can muster is essential. With whatever tool of communication you use, you will identify an issue, stake out an opinion about the issue (your thesis), and develop that opinion over the course of the communication
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ESL TOPICS IN WRITING, Dr. Andrea Feldman
ESL Topics is a section of WRTG 3020, 3030, and 3040 that is intended for non-native speakers of English who wish to enroll in an upper-division writing course. The course is taught as a rigorous writing workshop using advanced readings and materials, emphasizing critical thinking, analysis, and argumentative writing. Course readings focus on cross-cultural communication in the arts, business, and scientific fields. Assignments will be tailored to meet the needs and interests of individual students.
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BUSINESS, EDUCATION, AND THE ECONOMY, Amy Goodloe
We will focus on an issue that is of growing concern in the business community: are American public schools and universities effectively preparing students for a global knowledge economy? We will analyze this problem as well as recently proposed solutions through a series of short, practical writing assignments and one longer policy analysis or proposal. These assignments will allow you to engage in a current issue relevant to your field while also improving your writing, critical thinking, and problem solving skills. You will learn strategies for appealing to different types of readers depending on the context as well as your purpose for writing. You will also learn how to use logical reasoning and outside sources to support your assertions and boost your credibility. Finally, you will learn how to control sentence and paragraph structure to reduce the likelihood of misinterpretation and how to provide useful feedback on peer writing. More info: http://spot.colorado.edu/~agoodloe
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ENGAGING BUSINESS DIALOGUES, Michel Lynn Hendry
This course tailors entrepreneurship, small business management, international business, and real estate writing and rhetorical applications to Leeds School of Business accounting, finance, management, marketing, and systems emphases. By undertaking applied exercises and assignments and participating in the workshop methodology for editing and revising, students learn to describe, analyze, evaluate, advocate courses of action, and research, design, and package business information. By completing an informational report, students recognize the value of description (appeals, tropes, definition, visual language). By completing an analytical report, students enlist the critical thinking skills of analysis (claim and evidence) and evaluation (induction, deduction, counterargument) to make information useful to specific audiences. By completing research proposals, recommendation reports, job application materials, and promotional literature, students demonstrate their ability to apply descriptive, analytical, and evaluative principles to multiple business contents and contexts.
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BUSINESS COMMUNICATION, Dr. Nancy Hightower
Students will examine different ethical issues in business through reading essays and articles and respond to them in short, one page analytical papers. Through letters and memos, we will analyze how to effectively communicate one’s purpose to the appropriate audience, taking into account their values and perspectives. We will also have an extensive resume and cover letter workshop with an emphasis on persuasive writing as well as the use of layout. Lastly, students will write one paper in which they analyze a current issue in their industry and propose a solution based on well-researched evidence. This is a workshop format, so revision is an essential component to the class.
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PROFESSIONAL AND TECHNICAL WRITING, Eric Klinger
This course examines theories and practices of professional and technical writing in business and academic settings. Reading, discussion and assignments introduce students to writing conventions for memos, reports, instructions/procedures, cover letters, resumes, etc. Writing projects are process oriented with emphasis on planning, drafting and revision. Collaboration, peer review and presentations are key features of the class. Peer reviews address audience awareness and usability issues. Students will propose a topic relevant to professional ethics and write a substantial argumentative paper supported with scholarly research. Document design, grammar and style are continuous themes throughout the semester.
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TRADITIONS IN BUSINESS WRITING, Dr. Peter Kratzke
This section of WRTG 3040 will emphasize what may be called practical rhetoric: what sort of decisions in business situations will be effective? Although our assignments will center on traditional forms of business writing (resumes and cover letters, memoranda, instructions, reports, and proposals), our readings will raise larger issues about business procedure and, ultimately, citizenship. After a series of shorter assignments based on writing skills, critical thinking, and rhetorical decisions, a longer project propelled by group collaboration and oral presentation will culminate the semester. In the end, all students should leave WRTG 3040 with a thorough understanding of the writing process that they can use for any occasion in their pursuit of professional careers. Required Text: Alred, Gerald J., et al. The Business Writer’s Handbook. 8th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2006.
[Back to top] ESL WRITING ON BUSINESS AND SOCIETY, Catherine Lasswell
Sections: 800, 801
This course satisfies the core curricular upper division writing requirement for students who use English as their second or subsequent language. The course focuses on descriptive, analytical and argumentative writing on various topics and in a range of writing genres related to the students' major fields of study. Particular emphasis is placed on the rhetorical approaches and structures of the students' home languages as they relate to those of English. Students read, write, critique, revise, discuss, and present orally on their writing, using computer technology and WebCT. This course is not a standard ESL or "learn English" course; it is a regular section of WRTG within which second language students receive specialized instruction for using English along with the instruction about writing and rhetoric.
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WRITING IN BUSINESS, Dr. Anna MacBriar
In this course, you will write a business proposal, an ethical policy white paper, and a series of business letters. Each of these assignments requires strong analytical skills and careful reasoning, and emphasizes awareness of focus, audience, purpose and occasion in a variety of real-world business and organizational contexts. You will practice writing clear, concise, highly readable prose, all the while exploring and developing your own personal ethos. In addition, these assignments provide numerous opportunities to explore your professional interests as you prepare for post-graduate life. Throughout the semester, you will share your writing and ideas through workshops of preliminary drafts and a professional-quality class presentation.
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BUSINESS RHETORIC, Susan McArthur
The emphasis for this course is persuasive business writing in a competitive context. Students will analyze and practice classical argument as applied to standard business formats, expanding this framework to write recommendation reports and proposals. Two research projects are completed, based on each student’s focus within the business major; these papers must demonstrate a thorough understanding of audience and purpose. The bulk of class time is conducted as workshops, with student-run critiques intended to result in substantive revision. Finished papers will adhere to modern business standards and avoid the most common barriers to readability and retention. Further, they will be rich in reasoning, empty of logical fallacies, and designed with the reader’s needs in mind. Finally, students deliver two brief oral reports, one a progress update and the other a presentation of their final proposal.
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CONVINCING AUDIENCES, Robert McBrearty
Business writing often involves explaining material to an audience and presenting evidence to recommend a course of action. Using business and social issues as subject material, students will receive instruction in traditional argumentative principles, and learn how to apply those principles in fair-minded, thoughtful, practical ways. Students will consider the needs of their audiences as they develop an effective writing style. Students will write a four-page personal experience essay based on an ethical decision, two four-page arguments, a 5-7 page research assignment, several short business communications including a resume, cover letter, and responses to work-place problems. They will also write a one-page proposal for a final project, and upon approval, will then write the final paper.
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BUSINESS WRITING FROM A CRITICAL PERSPECTIVE, John Piirto
The emphases for this course are analysis, structure, and critical thinking. Students will embark upon three major papers that are business-themed, in which they first pose a question and then clearly answer that question in a detailed and persuasive manner. This task demands research, substantial workshopping, revision, a thorough understanding of intended audience, and a graceful, error-free style. These elements will be covered in lectures and smaller written assignments throughout the semester. Students will also practice and improve their verbal skills through a number of oral presentations and extemporaneous question/answer sessions. These will be approximately 10 – 15 minutes in length.
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MAKING DECISIONS, Paula Wenger
The aim of professional communication is to convey or influence the decisions that drive business. Drawing on field-specific decision-making models as well as principles of corporate social responsibility, you will hone your skills in identifying the evidence and reasoning and selecting the communication strategies that will move a particular audience to a particular course of action. We will explore the critical thinking and rhetorical analysis involved in shaping effective communication strategies, in light of the moral as well as the profit-making challenges of a global marketplace. In addition to writing a cover letter and resume, you will select a research project to develop through a range of written and oral assignments that include a project proposal, annotated bibliography, proposal, and oral presentation. Writing workshops will test your writing with an audience and sharpen your skills in collaborating and giving feedback. We will also cover revising techniques and business writing style.
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BUSINESS WRITING PRACTICUM, Steven Wingate
This hands-on course will focus on developing, in various written forms, student business projects that can have a life outside the classroom: resumes and cover letters, reports, proposals, etc. Students will work individually on subjects of their own choosing—ideally those that can help them define their career goals or turn into “portfolio pieces” that will help them get jobs, internships, and graduate school positions. Strong emphasis will be placed on tailoring work to a particular audience, and one section of the course will involve significant research on the databases of the William White Business Library. Each of the three major projects will be workshopped with peers and significantly re-drafted, with one of those drafts being an oral presentation. Attendance important, motivated students encouraged.
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