Grades & Assignments

All late work will will receive 60% unless arrangements are made well (a week or more) in advance and will not receive instructor feedback.

Late “feedback” assignments will not be accepted.

Our class will be run on an intensive write, review, revision, resubmit cycle. Drafts you submit are just as important to your reviewers learning as they are to you. As such, it really is quite impossible to submit a late “writing” or “review” assignments because it disrupts your peer reviewers workflows. As such, I can not accept “writing” or “review” assignments submitted late.

You should submit your work on time. Late work will only be accepted if you consult with me prior to the class period in which the work is due. PLEASE NOTE: 120 hours of internship must be completed to pass this course.

Contract Grading

In this class we will be using “contract grading.” For each assignment you’ll be given a list of quantitative requirements that you must meet to reach a specific number of points. In this particular class, that means that you choose the number of points you want.

GPA Percentage

“Satisfactory,” work addresses assigned requirements as well as being turned in on time. You must receive 70% of total points in the course to receive a satisfactory grade in addition to your 120 lab hours on site.

“Unsatisfactory,” work misses requirements or is not turned in on time.

Assignments

Note that these are just brief overviews—full‐length assignments and examples will be provided in class. All written assignments, with the exception of peer feedback, can be revised and resubmitted with revision cover letter that clearly outlines changes between drafts as well as strategic choices in drafting process within two weeks for a new grade.

Participation: 100 points total

The online nature of this course means that it will requires active participation, including in-class discussions and assignments that involve intensive use of reading and group work. Discussion questions and informal pass/fail assignments will appear in Moodle. Percentage of completed work will appear as percentage points for participation e.g if 14 of 20 participation activities are submitted you will receive 70 points.

Weekly Internship Log: 5 points per week

Sometimes, it can feel like we aren’t doing much at our internships. Every task you do, however, has the potential to contribute to the story of you and your profession but first we need to track what you do, no matter how small. Every week, make a record of your hours and the work that you do at your internship. Even if you don’t work that week it is important to log that you did not. This log is due Friday at 10:00 pm. You will receive credit for completed logs. 

Cover letter / Resume: 100 points

In a world where cover letters are read by computers, For this project, you will submit a set of professional documents, specifically:

  • Part A: A job announcement and citation in a professional writing/communication field you have tailored your resume for.
  • Part B: A cover letter and resume that you can both use and that is tailored to the specific  job announcement you have chosen.

At this point, you would have read several pieces on resumes, looked at and critiqued older resumes, and used several worksheets and critique sheets as well as looked at several examples of good resumes to think though resumes.

Career Report Memo: 100 points

For this 3-4 page report, you will explore professional writing from a few vantage points. You will research what professional writing means (for instance, by interviewing working professionals and faculty) in your internship and career. You will also, most importantly, research what professional writers do, what they produce, and what tools they use to do their jobs. Once you have done your research, your report must have a core focus. Having done the research, you should be able to say that  “professional writing is…” or “professional writers are…” and then support that claim with quotes, examples, details, and description. Feel free to sub out “professional writers” for the position title you have at your internship i.e. “social media coordinators are,” would be a good way to start the the memo.

Professional Portfolio: 100 points

A professional portfolio is an organized collection of relevant documents and artifacts that showcases your talents, most relevant skills, and charts your professional growth. A professional portfolio can be created and used for any discipline or profession (teaching, art, research, nursing, journalism, etc.) but they are key to educating employers as to who you are and what you can do beyond your degree and title. For English majors, this is a key move to dust off perceptions about you only being good at reading books.

Provide Helpful Feedback | 300 points

As part of your participation, you will share your writing and offer feedback to others that helps them improve their own thinking and their drafts. We’ll spend a good deal of time talking about how to improve in this area, as it is a key leadership skill needed to advance in any knowledge worker career paths.

Employer evaluation/hours | 100 points

Your employer will evaluate your efforts and score them. Must complete and document 120 hours at organization.