Three senior capstone courses complete the Business Communication track of the Professional Writing Minor: Writing 157A, 157B, and 150. When paired with the prerequisite classes, students become professional communicators who possess the skills to create effective written documents for the workplace.
Each capstone course focuses on specific projects to ensure that students get the most out of their time in the program. To provide a thorough explanation of the capstone courses, brief descriptions of each class are listed below.
Writing 157A – Seminar in Business Communication
Winter Quarter
As the first class in a two-sequence series, writing 157A further develops each student's written communication skills while providing them with a broader understanding of corporate communication. Class assignments, which often serve as building blocks for writing 157B, allow students to produce the following written documents:
- Business proposals
- Newsletters/e-newsletters
- Marketing materials (including brochures and fliers)
- Business letters, emails, and memos
- Personal documents (including a web-resume, a skills matrix, and bios)
Lectures and readings correspond with outside assignments and cover topics such as:
- The principles of effective web design
- Creating user-friendly web copy
- Effective brochure writing; corporate image and identity
- Corporate communication functions
- Communicating with corporate constituencies
Writing 157B – Seminar in Business Communication
Spring Quarter
Writing 157B picks up where 157A left off. Unlike 157A, however, Writing 157B functions more like a seminar in graduate school, as more emphasis is placed on class discussion rather than lecture.
Teams collaborate throughout the quarter. Each student's primary responsibilities revolve around two major projects: The Service Learning Project and the Leadership Series. Each venture involves the creation of deliverables for specific clients, and allows students to work under client deadlines as they would in a professional environment.
Additional tasks keep students engaged as Writing 157B concludes. These responsibilities, designed to assist graduates as they prepare to enter the workforce, include:
- A personal website, featuring a web-resume and a web-portfolio
- A personal logo series, including personal letterhead and business cards
- A policies and procedures document
- Time management & organizational tools (including a gantt chart and project outlines
- Regular status reports
Writing 150 – Internship in Writing
Spring Quarter
The Internship in Writing class—Writing 150—complements the 157B course and permits students to receive customized attention as they work alongside an employer to further advance their oral and written communication skills. This allows students to use skills learned in class in a professional environment
Focus is placed on applying course theory to real-life situations, and under the instruction of a workplace supervisor, each student will develop a set of deliverable documents for completion during the quarter. In addition to the workplace deliverables, interns will be responsible for turning in the following documents:
- Statement of intent
- Engagement letter, status reports
- Final report, summarizing accomplishments
