Plagiarism, Quoting and Paraphrasing (Day 1)

Today in class we will be talking about plagiarism. We will define what is means to plagiarize, talk about the various consequences for people who engage in plagiarism, be it knowingly or unknowingly and discuss some ways to avoid plagiarism in your academic writing. This is a very important topic of discussion and will be dealt with accordingly. 

A side note: this is incredibly involved topic of discussion. Unfortunately, we will not have time to discuss it in the depth it requires. Should you have any plagiarism-related questions, please consult this excellent web resource put out by Purdue University's Online Writing Lab (OWL): Avoiding Plagiarism

The follow links will take you to the documents and presentations used in today's class:

Prior Knowledge about Plagiarism Quiz

Identifying Plagiarism in Academic Writing

Identifying Common Knowledge

Plagiarism and Ways to Avoid It (An Overview)

How To Paraphrase

Identifying Paraphrasing

Homework: Finish the paraphrasing handout (parts 2 and 3) and fill out the worksheet about common knowledge from the plagiarism packet. 

Oral Presentations: Delivery

Today's class will be dedicated to a discussion on how to best deliver your oral presentations. In addition to provide high quality, factual content that is well-researched and easy to understand, there are several physical aspects of public speaking that all good public speakers have in common. We will identify these features and then practice them in class. Below you'll find the links for the activities we do during class.

Delivering An Effective Oral Presentation (ppt)

Appearance Practice

Vocal Warm-Ups

Voice Practice

Oral Presentation: Overview, Guidelines, Grades

Below you will find two links. First, there is a link to the handout you received (and we discussed in class today) about the presentations.

Class Presentation Guidelines

The second link is to a shared GoogleDoc that you will use to sign-up for an oral presentation time and topic, as well as to coordinate things like who will reserve the rehearsal room and camera for your presentation. 

Oral Presentation Sign-Up Doc

Finally, I'm adding links on how to reserve a group study room at the Undergraduate Library (UGL) as well as the protocol for reserving, borrowing and returning loanable technology (i.e. the video recorders) 

Reserving a Group Study Room

Protocol for Loanable Technology

Oral Presentations

Today in class we will begin our unit on oral presentations. We will start by talking about how to plan our presentations with an outline and also how to prepare a good visual aid that helps enhance our presentations. Judging from our McDonalds audience activity and the personality testing 'mini-presentations', I think you all already have a good grasp as to what it takes to give an effective presentation. My goal is to simply add to your existing knowledge and give you a few tips from my experience.

The following links will be used in class today:

How to Outline Your Presentation (ppt)

Creating Effective PowerPoint Slides (ppt)

Example PPT #1

Example PPT #2

Example PPT #3

Writing Concisely and Personality Testing

Today in class we will be covering two topics. First, we will deal with a more overtly 'technical' issue, that is, how to write concisely. We will look at few examples of 'wordy' writing and then we will try to revise these examples to make them more concise after looking at a few tips on how to write as concisely as possible.

Writing Clearly and Concisely ppt

Writing Concisely Practice

During the second half of class, we'll be doing a series of fun activities designed to help you better understand what kind of personality you have. While that is far from a definitive, scientific approach, these activities are designed to give you a general idea for the type of personality you possess as well as similar information about your classmates. 

Color Survey Questions

Color Survery Pictures

Color Survey Text

Color Characteristics

Clash or Coordinate?

Homework: Submit your Diagnostic Memo revisions to your Dropbox file folder by 2:59pm on Monday, June 24th. Late assignments will receive a reduction in points. 

Tailor Made Memos

Today in class we will be talking about how to write a "reader centered" memo. This is an important consideration that helps to establish common ground with the person who is reading your communication (your audience). We will learn how to write with a 'you' orientation and how to emphasize the positive aspects of your message by using positive language. Below you will find a list of links that will take you to the information discussed in class.

Warm-Up Exercise

Reader Centered Memos ppt

Practice

More Practice

Homework: Read the passage on "Avoiding Disagreeable Mental Pictures" (p. 43) and the passage on "Courtesy" (p. 54-56) in the Roebuck book. Do exercise 7 on p. 68 also. 

Diagnostic Memo Revision Assignment

This is just a reminder that your revisions for the diagnostic memo are due this Monday (June 24th) before class. Please make sure you upload them to your Dropbox folder with the title, "DiagnosticRevision_Yourname". Here are a few other reminders for the assignment:

-It should have an appropriately clear subject line
-It should be directed to a specific audience
-It should clearly achieve it's intended purpose and use the appropriate organizational pattern associated with the purpose
-It should follow the "Seven C's" of effective writing
-It should be properly formatted (with Times New Roman 12 pt font and 1 inch margins).
-It should mention the fact that this dress code was originally implemented at Illinois State University

If you would like to refer to the original article, you can find it here: ISU Dress Code Article

Please let me know if you have any questions!

Audience and Purpose

Today in class we will be talking about the importance of correctly identifying your audience and the purpose of your communication so that you can better tailor your tone and the content of your writing/speech. This is a very important topic. The better you know your audience and the more clearly you get across the purpose of communicating to them, the more effective that communication will be.

Audience and Purpose Presentation

Video #1

Video #2

Warm-Up Activity: Audience and Purpose

Audience Analysis

After our discussion of these two concepts, you will have an opportunity to put what you've learned into practice, as the second half of our class will involve working in small groups to create mini-presentations that will be tailored to a specific audience group. 

Memo Basics

 Today we will be talking about an important component of modern business communication, the memo. Over the course of class today, we will discuss a few different topics pertaining to memos, including how to write an effective memo and the characteristics of a successful memo and differentiating between the different types of memos.

We will begin by discussing the basic components of a general memo. The following two worksheets will help us in this task. The first worksheet contains the questions you should answer and the second contains many examples of different types of memos.

Memo Basics

Sample Memos 

What To Include In Your Memo (Video) 

After the warm-up activity, we will talk about the characteristics of a good memo. This will be a two-part task. First, you'll be ask to answer some short-answer questions about said characteristics. Then, you will read two memos, decide which one is better and then give three reasons why. Below you will find a copy of the activity (for future use). The second document contains the rules on how to write each part of your memo! Be sure to check it out!

Characteristics of Successful Memos 

Detailed Guidelines for Writing a Memo 

Finally, every memo is written for a specific purpose and for a specific audience. Based on these two factors, certain components of the general can (and should) be altered. The three categories of memos that we will be talking about in this class are: informative/good news, negative/bad news and persuasive. You will find information about these three types of memos in your books in chapters 3, 4 and 5. Below you will find a copy of the worksheet that we will be using in class. 

Types of Memos  

Homework: 

-Set up your Dropbox accounts and share a folder with me (this should be done already)
-Buy the book and read from pages 36-56

The "Seven C's" of Effective Business Communication

As we discussed yesterday, here (again) is a list of the "Seven C's":

• Complete
• Clear
• Concrete
• Correct
• Concise
• Courtesy
• Character 

 

An Introduction to Business Communication

Today we will start by covering some of the essential basic concepts of business communication in English. The presentation below will be the foundation for our discussion. While we won't be able to cover everything today, it is my hope and goal to establish a foundation to base the rest of our class explorations on.

Presentation on Handshakes and the "Seven C's"

Welcome to ESL 505: International Business Communication

Hello and welcome! I just wanted to take a moment to welcome everyone to ESL 505: International Business Communication. My name is John and I'll be your instructor and guide this semester as we take a deeper look into what it takes to write well using English in different business contexts. I look forward to meeting all our new classmates and getting off to a great start this semester.

Just a few ideas on how to use this course website. Think of it as a virtual supplement that will (hopefully :) enhance all of our in-class endeavors. To the right, you will find the most important class information organized under the "Class Links" header. Just below that list, you'll find another collection of links organized under the title, "Helpful Websites". This is a collection of websites filled with tools to help you in your writing as well as some interesting and thought-provoking sites you might want to check out in your free time.

I hope you find this website useful. Please don't hesitate to send me an email (jk.esl.uiuc@gmail.com) or comment directly on the page if you find something you don't understand (or something that doesn't work!). I hope this is an engaging and informative semester for everyone involved!

A Short Introduction to Your Instructor