BTW 250 - Principles of Business Communication

Fall 2022, Section S3

 Lee McGuire
 lmcguire@illinois.edu
 59 English Building
 Office hours: Tuesday/Thursday, 10:00 am -11:00 am, or by appointment.

COURSE DESCRIPTION
In this course, we will focus on specific principles and strategies which will allow us to adapt
and communicate within an ever-changing business environment. By focusing on
communicating through writing, we will learn how to use writing to structure and solve
problems. By examining and understanding our own personal writing processes, we will learn to
adapt our writing styles to specific scenarios, and to be able to recognize and address multiple
audiences. This course considers writing to be a social task, especially business communication,
and the choices we make as writers are determined by audience and social context. Our writing
and communication skills need to be fluid and adaptable to this ever-evolving workplace
environment, which includes the traditional business genres as well as online documentation.

COURSE CREDITS
This course is worth three credits, and requires that the Composition I requirement has been
fulfilled.

COURSE LEARNING OBJECTIVES

1. Compose effective business communication in written and/or multimodal forms.
2. Adapt content and form to specific professional conventions, audiences, and situations.
3. Take part in collaborative work to compose effective professional communication.
4. Identify and make use of resources to compose goal-oriented texts.
5. Develop and follow a recursive process of investigation, task definition, drafting,
feedback, revision, and editing.

COURSE WIKI
This section of BTW will use a wiki webpage that contains descriptions of the concepts you will
be asked to master, background information about businesses and business communication, and
explanations of each assignment. There will be links within Moodle that will direct you to the
appropriate wiki page. The link to the BTW Instructional Wiki
is https://wiki.cites.uiuc.edu/wiki/display/BTW/Home. A UIUC NETID and an active directory
password is required to login.

MOODLE
In addition to the BTW Instructional Wiki, this class will also use a course Moodle site.
Important coursework and readings will be posted to our Moodle page, and all assignments
must be uploaded to Moodle to receive credit. The prompts for all the major assignments are
available at any time on our Moodle page, for those who wish to preview the content.

ATTENDANCE AND PARTICIPATION

Attendance during classes, online or face-to-face is required. If you are not able to attend class
during regularly scheduled times, you are required to inform me in advance of any absence.
Informing me during your scheduled class time, or after class time will result in an unexcused
absence. Honesty is always the best policy.

The instructor decides when a student’s attendance becomes irregular, typically four or more
unexcused absences. In this case, the instructor may send oral, written, or electronic notice of
the student’s irregular attendance to the dean of the student’s college. The dean shall then notify
the student in writing, with a copy to the instructor.

Excused absences include religious holidays, University-sponsored events documented with an

official letter, or serious illness excused with a letter from the Student Assistance Center. The
Religious Observance Accommodation Request form is available at
http://odos.odosdev.illinois.edu/studentassistance/absence/letter_students.asp.
Submit the form to the instructor and to the Office of the Dean of Students
(helpdean@illinois.edu) by the end of the second week of the course; in the case of exams or
assignments scheduled after this period, students should submit the form to the instructor and to
the Office of the Dean of Students as soon as possible.

For an absence to be excused and make up work to be accepted, the student must provide an
explanation to the instructor and supply supporting evidence as required by the instructor, which
may include an absence letter, when the absence meets the criteria outlined above. The student
must make arrangements with the instructor to make up missed work expeditiously.

We will also be holding five peer review sessions during the semester. These peer reviews are
mandatory, will be submitted, and graded as part of the participation grade.

HOMEWORK AND QUIZZES

The deadline dates and times for assignments are clear and posted far in advance and there
should no excuse in submitting work past the deadline. All late work will be penalized a full
letter grade for each day late, until the assignment will result in a failing grade and zero credit.
This applies to all homework assignments and the major portfolios. Not submitting any of the
big three portfolio assignments (Correspondence, Job Application, Recommendation
Report) will result in an automatic failing grade for the semester.

We will have in-class writing assignments which you need to be present in class to get credit for.
We have three big in-class quizzes. These quizzes and any smaller quizzes given during the
semester will account for 5% of your final grade. These quizzes and in-class writing assignments
cannot be made up if you are not present in class to take them.

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GRADING
Your final class grade will be determined on the following basis:
Class Participation - 5%
Quizzes - 5%
Homework - 10%
Correspondence Portfolio - 25%
Writing honest, cohesive, coherent, and professional correspondence within specific “business” scenarios (10 pages)
Job Application Portfolio - 20%
Researching potential employers and organizations. Writing resumes and cover letters to these specific audiences (6 pages)
Recommendation Report Portfolio - 35%
Researching and analyzing a local organization in order to construct a comprehensive feasibility report (10 pages)

Grading scale (percentiles): A 93-100

A- 90-92
B+ 87-89
B 83-86
B- 80-83
C+ 77-79
C 73-76
C- 70-72
D+ 67-69
D 63-69
D- 60-62

The final grade is never simply calculated as the total percentage of all Moodle points, but
calculated according to the percentile weights of the previous mentioned assignments.

PLAGIARISM AND ACADEMIC INTEGRITY

According to the Student Code, “It is the responsibility of each student to refrain from infractions
of academic integrity, from conduct that may lead to suspicion of such infractions, and from
conduct that aids others in such infractions.” Please know that it is my responsibility as an
instructor to uphold the academic integrity policy of the University, which can be found
at Article 1, Part 4 of the University Student Code.According to the code, using words, ideas, or
images from another source as if they were your own, as well as falsifying research to gain an
academic advantage, is consider plagiarism, a violation of academic integrity. Submitting your
own work for more than one course without acknowledgment can also constitute plagiarism.
Ignorance of the code does not excuse infractions, so for any questions about the definition of
plagiarism, please consult the code at the following web address:
http://admin.illinois.edu/policy/code/article1_part4_1-402.html.
The University Student Code also explains the consequences of plagiarism, which can include
automatically falling the assignment, failing the course, or suspension or dismissal from the
university.

STUDENTS REQUIRING ACCOMODATION

If you have a disability that requires accommodation in order for you to be successful in this
class, please let me know immediately. To obtain disability-related academic adjustments and/or
auxiliary aids, students with disabilities must contact me and the Disability Resources and

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Educational Services (DRES) as soon as possible. To contact DRES, you may visit 1207 S. Oak
St., Champaign, call 333-1970, e-mail disability@illinois.edu or go to the DRES website. If you
are concerned you have a disability-related condition that is impacting your academic progress,
there are academic screening appointments available on campus that can help diagnosis a
previously undiagnosed disability by visiting the DRES website and selecting “Sign-Up for an
Academic Screening” at the bottom of the page.

CLASSROOM CONDUCT
Much of this should go without saying. But to be clear, the effectiveness of this course is
dependent upon the creation of an encouraging and safe environment. Exclusionary, offensive or
harmful speech (such as racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, etc.) will not be tolerated and
in some cases subject to University harassment procedures. We are all responsible for creating a
positive and safe environment that allows all students equal respect and comfort. I expect each of
you to help establish and maintain an environment where you and your peers can contribute
without fear of ridicule or intolerant or offensive language.

The University of Illinois is committed to combating sexual misconduct. I am required to report

any instances of sexual misconduct to the University’s Title IX and Disability Office. In turn, an
individual with the Title IX and Disability Office will provide information about rights and
options, including accommodations, support services, the campus disciplinary process, and law
enforcement options. A list of the designated University employees who, as counselors,
confidential advisors, and medical professionals, do not have this reporting responsibility and
can maintain confidentiality, can be found here:
https://wecare.illinois.edu/resources/students/#confidential. Other information about resources
and reporting is available here: wecare.illinois.edu.

As members of the Illinois community, we each have a responsibility to express care and
concern for one another. If you come across a classmate whose behavior concerns you, whether
in regards to their well-being or yours, we encourage you to refer this behavior to the Student
Assistance Center (1-217-333-0050) or online at
https://odos.illinois.edu/community-of-care/referral/. Based upon your report, staff in the Student
Assistance Center reaches out to students to make sure they have the support they need to be
healthy and safe. Further, as a Community of Care, we want to support you in your overall
wellness. We know that students sometimes face challenges that can impact academic
performance (examples include mental health concerns, food insecurity, homelessness, personal
emergencies). Should you find that you are managing such a challenge and that it is interfering
with your coursework, you are encouraged to contact the Student Assistance Center (SAC) in the
Office of the Dean of Students for support and referrals to campus and/or community resources.
The SAC has a Dean on Duty available to see students who walk in, call, or email the office
during business hours. For mental health emergencies, you can call 911 or contact the
Counseling Center.

FERPA
Any student who has suppressed their directory information pursuant to Family Educational
Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) should self-identify themselves to me to ensure protection of

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the privacy of your attendance in this course. See
https://registrar.illinois.edu/academic-records/ferpa/ for more information on FERPA.
COVID-19 PROTOCOLS
Following University policy, all students are required to engage in appropriate behavior to
protect the health and safety of the community. Students are also required to follow the campus
COVID-19 protocols.

Students who feel ill must not come to class. In addition, students who test positive for COVID-
19 or in quarantine must not attend class. The University will provide information to the
instructor, in a manner that complies with privacy laws, about students in these latter categories.
These students are judged to have excused absences for the class period and should contact the
instructor via email about making up the work.

EMERGENCY RESPONSE
Recommendations can be found at the following website: https://police.illinois.edu/emergency-
preparedness/. I encourage you to review this website and the campus building floor plans
website within the first 10 days of class.

MODIFICATIONS
This syllabus is subject to modification. Modifications will not increase the workload, but may
be made in order to better address the unique needs of each class. The coronavirus and the shift
to distance learning is challenging for all of us, and we should all maintain flexibility during
these ever changing times. Students are responsible for staying current with the syllabus, even if
a student does not attend the class during which a modification was announced. The most up-to-
date version of the course syllabus will be available on Moodle.