assignments ENGL202 Business Writing: Top Five Documents
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Content Guidelines: For every reading assignment you will write a Top Five reader response. As you might guess, as the title of the assignment would indicate, you need to identify the top five ideas that you think any reader should take away from the material. Include the following information for each of your five points:
1. Identify the concept in a few words or a sentence; use the language of the text here as much as possible.
2. Provide a brief but substantive explanation of that concept and its application in professional writing.
3. Discuss, also very briefly, why this concept seems important to you--enough so that you've included it in a top five.
The Format Rules: Top Five in this course is a version of a reading journal. But, since this is a course on professional writing, it should also give you practice in how you write in a professional setting--that is to say, in a genre and format that isn't like the academic genre of the essay. Therefore,
1. Top Five is a one page, single spaced document.
2. It should be typed in a 10 or 12 point font with one inch margins.
3. Each point should be numbered.
4. Each point should have a title (I suggest you bold the words or sentence that identify your concept).
5. Put one space between each of your five points.
Do not fudge these rules. Part of the assignment is to follow them. In academic essays, students often mess with these kinds of guidelines in order to fill up pages with text they don't have enough of or to cram in all the information they want their instructor to see and value. But, in the professional world, as will become clear, this kind of fudging is not appreciated. It's seen as unprofessional. So it's worthwhile to practice writing within space and content limitations now.
A note about this assignment as a reading journal: I assign reading journals in all of my classes. I do this because keeping reading journals in graduate school was, for me, one of the best learning experiences I had. It was an opportunity to work through ideas on my own in an informal writing setting. Stuff I wrote about has stayed with me to this day. Additionally, I appreciated that all of my diligent reading was valued in the class. I have found that many students don't do the reading because they aren't graded on it. So, rest assured, doing the reading matters in my evaluation of your work in this class, and the way you will show it to me is in these Top Five documents.
Finally, Top Five documents will be active documents in our class. You should be prepared to share it with your classmates, to defend your Top Five choices over other possibilities, to add to your list of five, to change it. As for how I will read and assess these documents, this is informal writing meant to help you learn things rather than show me that you know things. So my comments will be conversational rather than evaluative. As long as you are doing the assignment, giving the content serious thought, and following the format rules, you will be successful. If you are not doing these things I will say exactly that. If I am not doing that, you are fine. The only time to really worry is if I say nothing at all. That means I'm bored. Never a good sign. We will do a practice Top Five in class for you to get the hang of it. After that, Top Fives are due for every reading, as indicated on the syllabus.
NOTE: when there is reading from multiple texts, you DO NOT need to write multiple Top Fives. You need only write one Top Five document on any given day for all of the read.
WANT TO SEE A SAMPLE? Click here.
How I will evaluate your Top Five Documents
Top Five Documents are worth 15% of your grade. In order to earn a "B"grade for the assignment, you must:
Turn in 10 out of 12 Top Five Documents that qualify as "acceptable."
An acceptable Top Five Document reflects this consideration of content:
1. Identify the concept in a few words or a sentence; use the language of the text here as much as possible.
2. Provide a brief but substantive explanation of that concept and its application in professional writing.
3. Discuss, also very briefly, why this concept seems important to you--enough so that you've included it in a top five.
An acceptable Top five Document follows the FORMAT RULES exactly.
1. Top Five is a one page, single spaced document.
2. It should be typed in a 10 or 12 point font with one inch margins.
3. Each point should be numbered.
4. Each point should have a title; I suggest you bold the words or sentence that identify your concept.
5. Put one space between each of your five points.
*You can earn an "A" for the Top Five Document assignment by completing all 12 required Top Five Documents at the acceptable level.
*You can earn a "C" for the Top Five Document assignment by completing 8 required Top Five Documents at the acceptable level.
*If you complete fewer than 6 required Top Five Documents at the acceptable level, you will fail that 15% of your final grade.
NOTE: You may revise any "unacceptable" Top Five Document until it meets the requirements for an "acceptable" Top Five Document.
1. Identify the concept in a few words or a sentence; use the language of the text here as much as possible.
2. Provide a brief but substantive explanation of that concept and its application in professional writing.
3. Discuss, also very briefly, why this concept seems important to you--enough so that you've included it in a top five.
The Format Rules: Top Five in this course is a version of a reading journal. But, since this is a course on professional writing, it should also give you practice in how you write in a professional setting--that is to say, in a genre and format that isn't like the academic genre of the essay. Therefore,
1. Top Five is a one page, single spaced document.
2. It should be typed in a 10 or 12 point font with one inch margins.
3. Each point should be numbered.
4. Each point should have a title (I suggest you bold the words or sentence that identify your concept).
5. Put one space between each of your five points.
Do not fudge these rules. Part of the assignment is to follow them. In academic essays, students often mess with these kinds of guidelines in order to fill up pages with text they don't have enough of or to cram in all the information they want their instructor to see and value. But, in the professional world, as will become clear, this kind of fudging is not appreciated. It's seen as unprofessional. So it's worthwhile to practice writing within space and content limitations now.
A note about this assignment as a reading journal: I assign reading journals in all of my classes. I do this because keeping reading journals in graduate school was, for me, one of the best learning experiences I had. It was an opportunity to work through ideas on my own in an informal writing setting. Stuff I wrote about has stayed with me to this day. Additionally, I appreciated that all of my diligent reading was valued in the class. I have found that many students don't do the reading because they aren't graded on it. So, rest assured, doing the reading matters in my evaluation of your work in this class, and the way you will show it to me is in these Top Five documents.
Finally, Top Five documents will be active documents in our class. You should be prepared to share it with your classmates, to defend your Top Five choices over other possibilities, to add to your list of five, to change it. As for how I will read and assess these documents, this is informal writing meant to help you learn things rather than show me that you know things. So my comments will be conversational rather than evaluative. As long as you are doing the assignment, giving the content serious thought, and following the format rules, you will be successful. If you are not doing these things I will say exactly that. If I am not doing that, you are fine. The only time to really worry is if I say nothing at all. That means I'm bored. Never a good sign. We will do a practice Top Five in class for you to get the hang of it. After that, Top Fives are due for every reading, as indicated on the syllabus.
NOTE: when there is reading from multiple texts, you DO NOT need to write multiple Top Fives. You need only write one Top Five document on any given day for all of the read.
WANT TO SEE A SAMPLE? Click here.
How I will evaluate your Top Five Documents
Top Five Documents are worth 15% of your grade. In order to earn a "B"grade for the assignment, you must:
Turn in 10 out of 12 Top Five Documents that qualify as "acceptable."
An acceptable Top Five Document reflects this consideration of content:
1. Identify the concept in a few words or a sentence; use the language of the text here as much as possible.
2. Provide a brief but substantive explanation of that concept and its application in professional writing.
3. Discuss, also very briefly, why this concept seems important to you--enough so that you've included it in a top five.
An acceptable Top five Document follows the FORMAT RULES exactly.
1. Top Five is a one page, single spaced document.
2. It should be typed in a 10 or 12 point font with one inch margins.
3. Each point should be numbered.
4. Each point should have a title; I suggest you bold the words or sentence that identify your concept.
5. Put one space between each of your five points.
*You can earn an "A" for the Top Five Document assignment by completing all 12 required Top Five Documents at the acceptable level.
*You can earn a "C" for the Top Five Document assignment by completing 8 required Top Five Documents at the acceptable level.
*If you complete fewer than 6 required Top Five Documents at the acceptable level, you will fail that 15% of your final grade.
NOTE: You may revise any "unacceptable" Top Five Document until it meets the requirements for an "acceptable" Top Five Document.