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COM 307 Business Communications
Fall 2022 CRNS 3093 & 2295
Dr. T. Twomey-Smith
Email: twomeyt@sunypoly.edu
Schedule: this is an ASYNCHRONOUS course. All work will be completed within the Blackboard
learning environment. Please email me with any questions.
Office Hours:
Online by appointment: please let me know via email if you would like to meet virtually, and we
will schedule an online conversation using Google Meet or Collaborate.
Required Readings:
Selections from Lumen’s Business Communication Skills for Managers (OER textbook)
available online (find links to each assigned chapter in the Blackboard shell)
Handouts and articles hosted or linked in the Blackboard (BB) shell
Course Description: Business Communication will give students preparation for effective
writing in business and related fields. Because an understanding of persuasion is key to
effective business communication, students will practice and master audience and rhetorical
analysis for all formal assignments. Students will also master the standards of both rhetoric and
formatting for various business documents and will compose and record one oral presentation.
Specifically, students will write single- and multiple-audience routine and specialized
correspondences using direct and indirect organization patterns, including a résumé and job
letter, proposal, annotated bibliography, and multipart research paper. Students will write
graded and ungraded work individually and in groups.
Learner Oriented Objectives
Upon completing this class, you should have acquired the following skills:
• Proficiency in audience analysis
• Proficiency in rhetorical adaptation to fit various writing situations
• Proficiency in writing a variety of routine and persuasive business correspondences
• Proficiency in the construction of multipart documents
• Experience recording a spoken presentation
• An understanding of effective use of visual elements and social media
Student Outcomes
Students will:
• Demonstrate knowledge of the various purposes for business correspondences
• Demonstrate knowledge of the various audiences for business correspondences
• Demonstrate effective report writing
• Demonstrate proficiency at writing individually and collaboratively
• Practice effective professional correspondence with the teacher and peers
• Compose and present an effective slide show and oral presentation
• Demonstrate sufficient knowledge of revision strategies.
• Write an effective résumé and job application letter
Grade Breakdown
• Formal Assignments (mostly written; includes Diversity Project, presentation
components, resume, letters, etc.): 40%
• Informal Assignments (includes open-note “quizzes,” other assignments, and situational
analyses): 45%
• Discussion fora: 10%
• Final exam (open-note): 5%
Note: Team projects and tasks, both formal and informal, will comprise about 25% of our total
graded work in this course.
What You Need To Know: Procedures and Policies
This course is asynchronous in nature. We will have NO scheduled meetings, although I am available
to meet with students individually if the need arises (please email me to schedule an
appointment). You should familiarize yourself with the course platform so that you can let
support staff know if you have any immediate problems. Take the tutorial in Blackboard,
especially if you have not taken an online class before. You are unlikely to run into serious
problems with the class due to technology because I keep it pretty low tech.
Although extensive previous computer experience is not a requirement for this course, as with
any online course, you should already know how to use a computer, access the Internet, use
your own word processor, and send and receive email; you will also need access to a working
web camera for the presentation project. Just as an instructor might require a particular textbook
or a dictionary, this course requires that you have regular access to a computer with the correct
