I. Course Description:
This course is designed to give final year students exposure to the content
and format of business reports in English with authentic terms of reference
and data. In addition, grounding in the techniques of writing as a process
will be given together with sufficient writing practice.
II. Objectives:
By the end of this course students will be able to write their own complete
business reports both from given and self-generated terms of reference.
III. Format and Procedures:
Necessary input will be achieved with text and teacher generated handouts.
Grammar, syntax and paragraphing mechanics will be reviewed/taught in
appropriate pre-teaching modules. Weekly assignments are designed to give
writing practice.
IV. Course Requirements:
Students are required to attend class regularly (minimum 80%), participate
actively and submit assignments in a timely fashion.
Required student activities include:
Text: Reading and understanding, controlled and freer exercises
Writing: Brainstorming, preparing data=notes; cyclic improvement through
drafting, self, peer and teacher correction/feedback on content and clarity.
Internet: The internet will be used extensively for assignments.
Course readings:
(a) Business Reports in English Comfort, Revell and Stott
(b) Teacher generated handouts
V. Grading Procedures
(1) In-class
a. Participation 10%
b. Assignments 15%
c. Attendance 20%
(2) Final Project 30%
(3) Final Examination 25%
VI. Writing Labs
Reports are done during the lab portion of the class as well as for homework.
The lab portion consists of writing, questioning and getting feedback
from the instructor and peers. There are no formal lectures during this
portion of the class but it is critical – both from the perspective
of learning as well as grading – that students attend the labs.
Attendance will be routinely taken and have an impact on individual marks
for the reports.
VIII. Course Schedule
Week 1: Introduction and overview of business report writing. Form work
groups.
Week 2: Collecting information. Assessing relevance, audience, fact and
opinion Distinguishing fact from opinion. Being precise. Propositions
and evidence. Terms of reference
Week 3: Using graphs and statistics Interpreting graphs. Transferring
information from text to diagram. Referencing illustrations and representing
numbers.
Week 4: Writing about graphs and numbers. Amount, difference, quantity
and graph description. Making a graph. Writing about a graph.
Week 5: Selecting and organizing material. Conciseness, Ordering, headings,
classifying. Writing notes, information sequence.
Week 6: Presenting findings. Organization, style. Ordering and reclassifying.
Personal and impersonal styles. Selecting information.
Week 7: Presenting findings continued Continuity and reference. Paragraphing.
Reported speech. Reporting information.
Week 8: Midterm examination period
Week 9: Concluding and recommending. Linking findings, conclusions and
recommendations. Interpreting findings. Writings recommendations
Week 10: Concluding and recommending continued. Degree, probability and
recommendation. Matching recommendations with conclusion. Writing conclusion.
Week 11: Summarizing Extracting main points, descriptive and evaluative
summarizing. Classifying information, simplifying Writing a summary.
Week 12: The writing process. Main steps in writing a report. Organization
and planning. Writing a short report.
Week 14: Writing labs. The longer business
report. Data collection and first draft Drafting.
Week 15: Writing labs. Formatting a business
report. Revision and rewriting. Final drafts due on assignment.
Week 16: Final examination period
|