COMMUNICATION FOR INTERNET TECHNOLOGY

LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT I

ENGLISH 155—SPRING 2005

Section 3

 

Colin S. Cavell, Ph.D.                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Course Room No.:  S17-113

Class SMW:  14:00-14:50                                                                                                                                                                                        INTERNET:  ccavell@gmail.com

Office Hours:  By appointment                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Office No.:  S17-263

VOICE:  17438775 (W)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              17729091 (H)

                               

This skills-based course introduces students to the written conventions and techniques common to technology-related business communication.  This incorporates the writing process:  planning, researching by internet, writing, and revising.

 

Course Aims:  This course aims to introduce students to internet correspondence and research and to the chief rhetorical modes of writing required for short technical essays and reports.

 

Course Objectives:  By the end of the course, students should be able to:

 

·          Demonstrate their knowledge of appropriate email messages;

·          Recognize several types of paragraphs and their organization;

·          Demonstrate basic knowledge of summary, paraphrasing, reported speech, citing and quoting;

·          Recognize the basic requirements of reports;

·          Understand how to use the internet for basic research;

·          Demonstrate knowledge of descriptive, process and opinion writing.

 

Grading Policy:  25% for Test 1; 25% for Test 2; and 50% for the Final Exam.  A course grade sheet for Section 3 is available at:  <http://userspages.uob.edu.bh/cscpo/english155/>.

 

Attendance Policy*:  Attendance in class is mandatory.  It is the student’s responsibility to sign the attendance sheet each day of class; failure to sign the attendance sheet—even if in attendance—will be counted as an absence.  If your unexcused absences exceed 25% of the total number of lectures of the course in this semester, you will be automatically withdrawn from the course and be given a grade of (WF) which will be counted towards your GPA.  As well, you are expected to follow the syllabus and accordingly be prepared for each day's class.  This means that you must read the pre-assigned readings before class so that you will be prepared to discuss and debate in class the subject matter scheduled for that day and answer questions related to the issues being covered.  NOTE:  TURN OFF all cell phones during class.

 

* Absence from class may be made up by preparing a two-page, typed (i.e. using maximum 12 point font size and maximum double-spaced text with one-inch margin on all sides), summary on the missed material scheduled to be covered the day(s) of your absence.  The summary must be in your own words and must not be copied material from the text(s), the internet, or any other source(s).  Times New Roman font is strongly recommended; however, if you use an alternative style, make sure your font does not resemble italic or bold text.  Also, Comic Sans MS font is not allowed. 

 

 

Required Text:

 

Printed materials will be available at the University Print Shop.

 

First Class Assignment:

 

Send me a formal email message introducing yourself.  Send it to ccavell@gmail.com.  Make sure to include your name, id number, class number, and section number in your Subject Heading.

 

 

 

Week I, Feb. 26-Mar. 2:  Effective Email Correspondence

 

Subject Matter:  Format, vocabulary, tone (formal/informal), abbreviations

 

Week 2, Mar. 5-9:  Paragraphing

 

Subject Matter:  Main idea, evidence/examples, page format, block style, margins, spacing

 

Mar. 9:  [Last day for dropping courses]

 

Mar. 12—Apr. 27:  [End of withdrawal period with a “W”]

 

Week 3, Mar. 12-16:  Sentences

 

Subject Matter:  Editing, connectors, sentence types, punctuation

 

Week 4, Mar. 19-23:  Descriptive Paragraphs

 

Subject Matter:  Review articles, adjectives, adjective clauses, appearance, location, size, functions, composition

 

Week 5, Mar. 26-30:  How-to/Process Writing

 

Subject Matter:  Organization, steps, transition

 

Week 6, Apr. 2-6:  Passive, past tense

 

Week 7, Apr. 9-13:  TEST I—April 12, 11:00-13:00, Hall 18

 

Week 8, Apr. 16-20:  Mid-semester break [No classes]

 

Apr. 21:  Prophet's birthday—Holiday [No classes]

 

Week 9, Apr. 23-27:  Cause and Effect

 

Week 10, Apr. 30-May 4:  Compare and Contrast, similarities/differences, comparatives and superlatives

 

Week 11, May 7-11:  Opinion/Evaluation Essay, paraphrasing

 

Week 13, May 14-18:  Research—Library, online, magazines, review citation, quotation

 

Week 11, May 21-25:  TEST II—May 22, 14:30-15:30, Hall 18

 

Week 14, May 28-June 1:  Report Format/Organization

 

Subject Matter:  Title Page, Contents, Headings, Bullets, Resources (Bibliography), Appendix

 

Week 15, June 6:  Last day of classes; Review for Final—June 15

 

June 15:  Final Exam 14:30-16:30

 

June 23, 2005:  Last day for submitting grades