Course Outline

Department of Communication and Visual Arts

FACULTY OF ARTS

CMNS 1290 – EN2 - 3 Credits

Introduction to Professional Writing (3,0,0)
Winter, 2025

Instructor: J. Bermiller Phone/Voice Mail: 250-377-6081

Office: OM 1831 E-Mail: jbermiller@tru.ca, PREFERRED: Moodle message
Office Hours: Posted on Moodle.
Class Times: Tuesdays and Thursdays, 8:30 am – 9:45 am. Location: IB 1007
Thompson Rivers University recognizes its place on un-ceded territory of the Secwepmc people.
Calendar Description
Students study the theories and practice of professional organizational communication, learning the
importance of effective communication to meeting goals, developing and maintaining relationships and
the overall facilitation of work. Students develop skills in evaluating communication scenarios, designing
communication strategies that meet goals and audience need, including requests, information sharing
and persuasion. In addition, students learn to employ writing techniques and editorial skills relevant to
professional communication contexts.
Educational Objectives/Outcomes
By the end of the course, the students will be able to:
● Apply critical thinking and persuasion skills to business, and professional writing situations
● Recognize and use various rhetorical modes to outline and structure business documents
● Recognize and explain the features that make business and professional writing both similar to and
different from academic writing
● Recognize and correct common grammatical errors in writing and speech
● Recognize and adjust writing that is inappropriate to academic, business and professional situations
in tone, style, audience match, visual organization, focus on purpose, and/or choice of channel
● Create documents for business situations requiring cause/effect, process analysis, and
division/classification modes of development, and
● Design and create documents that meet or exceed the expectations of the relevant business and
professional communities.
Prerequisites
1st Year Status (none)

Texts/Materials
Required
Meyer, Carolyn. Communicating For Results, Fifth Edition. Don Mills: Oxford, 2014. Print ISBN: 9780199036127,
0199036128, Etext ISBN 9780190161149, 0190161140
Potential source for etext: https://www.vitalsource.com/en-ca/products/communicating-for-results-carolyn-
meyer-v9780190161149

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Student Evaluation

Item Value

Informative Email Message 10%

Bad News Message 10%

Instructions 15%

Informal Report 20%

Midterm Exam [Grammar exercises, scenarios and concepts 20%

from text readings and lectures will be the focus of this exam]

Presentation Project 10%

Professionalism 15%

Assignment Policies
Written assignments are due at the time and date that is posted on Moodle. Assignments submitted
without reasonable excuse past the due date and time will receive an automatic zero. Late
submissions are not accepted without legitimate reasons.
Legitimate reasons for late submissions (for example, illness) MUST be submitted online or in
person BEFORE the due date and time or at the beginning of class on the due date. If a student
reports a legitimate reason for late submission, then the assignment due date and time will be
moved for that assignment for the requesting student. That extended due date and time will hold
as a firm deadline. After the extended due date and time has passed, if the student has not
submitted the assignment, then the assignment receives a zero.
Legitimate reasons are: personal illness, family tragedy, or an accident suffered by the student.
Legitimate reasons are not: conflict with other courses, sporting events, computer failure, or a
family member’s or friend’s illness or emergency.
NOTE: All written assignments MUST be submitted in MS Word format (.doc, .docx). Any written
assignment that is not submitted in MS Word format will automatically receive a zero.
NOTE: Technical problems such as computer failure will not be considered as legitimate.
NOTE: Any work submitted with errors in style, editing, spelling or grammar will not receive an “A” mark.
The final mark will be reduced to reflect the deficiencies, no lower than an “F” or “0” mark. The decision
to grant the opportunity to better the mark is at the discretion of the instructor; in any case, re-submitted
work will not receive a mark higher than “B” or equivalent percentage/points. Work submitted with
misspelled names of persons or organizations will be given an “F” or “0” mark with no opportunity to
resubmit.
Course Topics/Readings/Assignments Itinerary (subject to minor changes)
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 Reading
Week Topic Assignment
(Chapters)

1 1, 2, 3 (4) Intro to Course p. 144 – 145: 1 – 5

A Communication Model
Concision

2 6, 7 Writing and Audience p. 145 – 146: 6 – 8

(4 & 5) Email, Memos p. 175 – 176: 2 – 6
Lists p. 205 – 207: 1 – 5
Concision p. 245 – 246: 1 – 4
Feedback session: Informative Email
Message

3 8 Bad News p. 146 – 147: 11, 12

(4 & 5) Editing Fragments p. 177 – 178: 10 – 13
Passive-Active Voice p. 283 – 284: 1 – 6
Assignment submission: Informative
Email Message

4 9 Persuasion p. 146 – 147: 8 – 10

(4 & 5) p. 176 – 177: 7 – 8
p. 318: 1 – 5

5 (4) Informal Reports p. 178 – 179: 14 – 16

Assignment submission: Bad News
Message

6 11 Informal Reports p. 425 – 426: 1 – 5

(5) p. 427: 9
Assignment submission: Instructions

MID-SEMESTER BREAK

7 11 Informal Reports p. 427 – 428: 10, 11

Visuals p. 426 – 427: 6 – 8

8 11 Informal Reports Midterm

Feedback session: Informal Report

9 Presentation Project

10 13 Presentation Project Assignment submission: Informal

Report

11 13 Presentation Project

12 Presentation Project

13 Presentation Project Assignment submission: Presentation

Project

Descriptions of Assignments and Rubrics

Full descriptions of each assignment and the rubric for each assignment will be found on Moodle in each
assignment module. NOTE: all aspects of grammar and correctness apply to all written assignments.
Professionalism

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Professionalism is a grade based on attendance and participation in seminar and classroom activities. Students
must arrive within the first 5 minutes of class to be admitted to class. Students’ participation in group and
individual work in class is part of this grade. If a student cannot attend a class for a legitimate reason (see
“Assignment Policies”), then the student is marked “excused”. If a student misses a class without a legitimate
reason, then the student is marked “absent”. A student who cannot attend a class for a legitimate reason MUST
contact the instructor via Moodle messaging or directly speak with the instructor PRIOR to the beginning of the
class that will be missed.
Use of Technology
Students are required to use Moodle. Moodle is where marks will be reported and important information about the
course will be made available. Students are expected to reply to the instructor’s message on Moodle within 24
hours. For fast communication, Moodle is the preferred method of contacting your instructor. Moodle will be the
primary mode of content delivery for this course.
TRU Policies
Students must read and understand the following TRU policies explained in the Calendar:
● Academic Honesty, and
● Academic Recognition.
Students should expect these policies to be enforced in this course. All policies can be found online at
www.tru.ca/policy/allpolicy.html

A note about Plagiarism:

From the TRU Libraries website,

“Plagiarism is using someone else's words, ideas or theories and claiming them as one's own.
To avoid plagiarism you must always give credit for information you have taken from someone else.
You must give credit whenever you use things like:

 charts, graphs, drawings, diagrams, music, art

 words, phrases, quotations
 ideas, theories, or opinions

Plagiarism also includes:

 Having a friend write a paper for you or using someone else's as your own.
 Submitting a paper or assignment for more than one class!
 Downloading or buying a term paper from the web.”
(from: https://libguides.tru.ca/c.php?g=193931)

If plagiarism and/or cheating is detected, the Academic Integrity Committee becomes involved. To see how the
process works, go to https://www.tru.ca/senate/committees/academic_integrity.html. So, use the tips to avoid
plagiarism. When in doubt, ask your instructor for guidance.

Academic Recognition (Grades)

Here are the university’s definitions of grades. You are assigned a letter grade at the end of the course.

Letter Numerical Grade Letter Grade Definitions

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Grade Grade Points
A+ 90-100
4.33 4.00 Excellent. Superior performance showing comprehensive, in-depth understanding of
A 85-89
3.67 subject matter. Demonstrates initiative and fluency of expression.
A- 80-84
B+ 77-79
3.33 3.00 Very Good. Clearly above average performance with knowledge of principles and facts
B 73-76
2.67 generally complete and with no serious deficiencies.
B- 70-72
C+ 65-69
Satisfactory. Basic understanding with knowledge of principles and facts at least adequate
2.33 2.00
to communicate intelligently in the discipline.
C 60-64
C- 55-59 1.67 Pass. Some understanding of principles and facts but with definite deficiencies.
Minimal Pass. A passing grade indicating marginal performance. Student not likely to
D 50-54 1.00
succeed in subsequent courses in the subject.
F 0-49 0.00 Unsatisfactory. Fail. Knowledge of principles and facts is fragmentary.
Did not complete the course, less than 50% of course work completed or mandatory
DNC 0.00
course component(s) not completed. No official withdrawal.

Accommodation
Any student who needs accommodation for any visible or invisible disability should contact the Disabilities
Services office as soon as possible. TRU is committed to facilitating accommodation for any student – domestic,
international or exchange – who requests it.

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