Topics in Professional Writing

Fall, 1997

Kim Pearson

104 Bray Hall
office: x2692
office fax: 637-5112
e-mail:"kpearson@tcnj.edu"
Office Hours: T: 2:00 -- 5:00 or Thursday afternoons, by appointment

Overview

Your mission this semester is to serve as the design and production team for UNBOUND,the online magazine created by students in the Journalism/Professional Writing Program. In this capacity, you will make fundamental decisions related to the design, marketing and content of this publication. You will also expand your understanding and mastery of such new communications technologies as the World Wide Web,e-mail and presentation software. These technologies have become de rigeur for those seeking to earn a living as professional communicators.

You will also experience the ways in which these new technologies affect the ways in which organizations work, both in theory and in practice. For example, each of you comes to the class withv arying levels of prior experience with these technologies. Some of you will be more knowledgeable about these technologies than I am. I plan to call upon your expertise in this regard. Also,you will be heavily involved in structuring the class schedule, and in determining the roles of yourself and other class members. I will have a dual function in the class: I will serve both as your teacher and as the publisher of UNBOUND. It may take some of you a while to understand this conflation of roles, but that will be part of the learning process as well. Finally, you will collaborate, to some degree, with members of the Feature Writing and Introduction to Professional Writing classes. This will all become clearer as we go along. I promise.

Grading Policies

An E-Mail Address must be obtained by 9/8 class session

Readings and assignments are due for next class, unless otherwise specified

Grading Distribution (on a scale of 100 points

Editorial, production duties -- 40 points

Homework assignments -- 20 points

Monthly e-mail memos -- 20 points

Teamwork and professionalism -- 20 points

Books

Required:

Budgeting and Finance: First Books for Business (BF)

Sales and Marketing: First Books for Business (SM)

Business Communications: Process and Product (BC)

Recommended:

Supervising and Managing People: First Books for Business (S&M--*smile*)

Communicating Leadership

On Reserve (listed under English 307)

The Magazine Publishing Industry (MPI)

Class Covenant

We will:

Class Schedule and Readings

SEPTEMBER........................................................................ ............................................................................

9/4 -- Review and critique UNBOUND. Read Media In Cyberspace -- chapters on the growth on online media, as well as "Philosophy"section of Yale WWW Style Guide. Discuss UNBOUND structure, job descriptions. Form personnel committee. Application and resume due for 9/8 class. Refer to BC on resumes and application letters.

9/8-- Discussion of HTML fundamentals. For 9/15: Group presentations of well-designed e-zines. Read BC on oral presentations, MPI chapters 1,2, 9

9/11-- Announcement of staff positions. Discussion of Competitve analysis. Read Designing Business,also SM, pg. 1-19, 44-49. Recommended reading, particularly for managers : S&M, pgs 1-13, 22-27, MPI, chapters 3, 8

9/15 -- Presentation of well-designed websites. Check out:Student Net, and U Magazine. What have you learned that might be applied to UNBOUND? By next class: Review MS Excel Quick Preview, Examples and Demos

9/18 -- Drafting and presentation of rudimentary UNBOUND style guide. Discussion of production schedule

9/22 -- Announcement of UNBOUND production schedule for Issue 3, review requirements and rationale for departmental planning memos, including timekeeping requirements. Read BC on Report Planning and Research. Memo style departmental reports should be e-mailed to me by 9/29.

9/25 -- Fnalize Issue 2, further discussion of departmental reports.

9/29 -- Review status. Begin dicussion of Editorial principles. MPI, chapter 4. Review The Slot, a great site for copyediting tips

OCTOBER....................................................................................... ............................................................................

10/2 -- Continued discussion of editorial principles.

Production of Issue 3, Development of staff and production schedule for !0/9 -- Memos due. Refer to Memo Writing

10/16 -- Workshop. Schedule Midterm review conferences with me.

10/30 --Monthly departmental reports due. Midterm review conferences.

NOVEMBER............................................................................................................................................ ...................

10/13-- Circulation and advertising principles. MPI, Chapter 3&4; New York Times Review of Marshall Mc Luhan Biography. Also read the interview with Mc Luhan linked to the review.

11/25 -- Monthly departmental reports due. Edit meeting. Senior Managers' input to budget report

Finish production of Issue 3,

Begin production of Issue 4

DECEMBER..............................................................................................................................................................

Magazine Production in the Real world: Presentation of the UNBOUNDBudget Report in MS Excel. Review BF

Links, cleanup, job evaluations.

Performance evaluations