English 250, Introduction to Professional Writing

Instructor: Kim Pearson

Asst. Professor of English

Fall Semester, 1997

Office Hours: Tues, Thurs, 2-5pm, and by appointment

104 Bray Hall

(609)771-2692

Overview

In an increasingly interdependent, customer-focused world, every professional needs to know how to communicate effectively -- in speech, in writing, and electronically. And, in fashioning that communications, every professional needs to understand the mission, business priorities, stakeholders and organizational climate which provide the context for his or her communications. This course should equip you to become an effective professional communicator in whatever work environment you enter. In particular, you will become conversant with creating proposals, press releases, resumes, and presentations. Finally, you will spend a substantial portion of your time creating materials for the world wide web.

Grading Distribution

E-mail address - 5 percent

Bi-weekly e-mail journals -- 10 percent

Your Web page with resume -- 15 percent

Powerpoint proposal and presentation -- 25 percent

Direct marketing proposal and product 25 percent

Assistance with final production -- 20 percent

Books

All reading materials are on the Web.

Class schedule

SEPTEMBER

Email assignment:

What business are you in?

What is your mission?

What communications skills do you think you need to enhance your employability? 3~

17 Crafting our mission statement, understanding our client. TCNJ English Department Home Page, Studio Archetype's Process ,Designing Business ,Art Department Alumni page.

24 Web fundamentals. ReviewIntroduction to Netscape, Beginner's Guide to HTML, introduction and philosophy sections of Yale Web Style Guide.Also, look at the way one TCNJ alum, Grant Hansen, created two completely different sites to serve different audiences: The all-business GCH Associates, and the almost all-fun Cousin Avocado's Hideway Assignment: create your own Web page, including your resume. Consult Resume Workshop,HTML: An Interactive Tutorial For Beginners, and The Ultimate Web Resume, The Color Site Index and other resources to which you have been exposed.

OCTOBER

1 Customer focus, competitive analysis. Research methods. Develop criteria, philosophy, components for our site.

8 Introduction to Powerpoint. Form groups to create draft proposals due 10/22

15 Workshop. Assignment. Go through Powerpoint examples and demos.

22 Powerpoint presentations of draft proposals

29 Finalizing our proposal to the English Department

NOVEMBER

5 Media Relations -- Press releases and pitch letters on new site for next week.

12 Presentation to the English Department. Coding, mounting of new site

19 Introduction to Pagemaker. Discussion of direct mail. Drafts due 11/26

26 Review drafts. More on commnications theory. Review of Marshall Mc Luhan Biography. Also read Mc Luhan interview linked to this site.

DECEMBER

3 Finalize Direct mail, coding. The business of being a professional Writer.

10 Workshop, final portfolios due in my office on day of scheduled final