During the 1980s, I consulted for Poly’s Cooperative Education program, visiting Poly students at their co-op jobs. I was often surprised to see these students in a panic about their periodic reviews. Almost without exception, students were upset that they weren’t receiving traditional “grades” for their work. I believe students should be exposed to real world evaluation paradigms before they leave Poly. To the limited extent possible, I’ll try to get you off to a faster start after graduation by introducing into this class some of the evaluation perspectives you’re apt to encounter at work.

Although the industrial model of a periodic review can’t meaningfully be applied within the scope of a traditional academic quarter, I have modified traditional grading to better reflect U.S. industry practices. To begin with, I assign grades based on your work’s effectiveness. Since this evaluative criterion often results in lower grades than would be the case if I used a traditional grading system, I’ve decided to weigh your work along a sliding scale—with your high grades usually counting more than your low grades. This procedure has let a student receiving as many as seven “F” grades during the quarter earn a final class grade of “A”. Receiving multiple Fs doesn’t guarantee you a high class grade, of course. It’s possible to go through the quarter having not received a D or F, yet still earn only a “C” at quarter’s end. Based on these simple if unfamiliar principles, try to formulate some insightful questions about my grading system; ask your questions during class.

This class addresses not corporate writing, but corporate communication. About 25 percent of your class grade will be based on your class participation. The balance of your final grade will be based upon your written work (and quiz grades), with emphasis on your ability to recognize and avoid repeating identified errors. In percentage terms, here’s how your written assignments might contribute toward up to about 75 percent of your final class grade for the class:

 

The lower percentages equal 49%; the higher percentages total 260%. Keep reality in perspective: as long as you submit your work on time and attend class regularly, the “Credit Range” concept (allowing high grades to “count more” than low grades) works to your benefit. This admittedly squishy grading system rewards students who have come to class to learn. Any student merely putting in “seat time” will be hard-pressed to earn a final class grade above a “D.”

Beyond introducing the industry paradigm, we’ll also revisit the kindergarten (“effort”) paradigm. Effort may be needed to complete assignments, but you will never receive grade credit for your effort. Grades assigned to written work merely reflect the work’s market value—its effectiveness.

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* Perspectives and directions for completing Ex. 1.9, p. 37

(This appendix to your contract reflects a suggestion from former English 310 student, Susanna Farber)

Format your response to Exercise 1.9 as a memo to your instructor. Memo format is characteristic of much in house business communication, whether electronic or on paper. Please remember that memo format appears on page 623 in your text; (you’ll find memo format discussed on page 621). To show you what a memo usually looks like, the remarks below appear in memo format.

Today

To: English 310 students

From: Jim Howland

Subject: Perspectives on your approach to exercise 1.5, Introducing yourself to the instructor

English 310 concerns itself with corporate communication. Your goal this quarter will be to begin writing—and rewriting—as you will when you enter a business environment. Workplace writing imposes different standards than academic writing.** Until you learn the more effective standards of industry, please follow the guidelines that appear in your text. During class, you’ll have a chance to explore effective alternatives to your text’s directives.

When you write in the workplace you’ll usually have even less time than you do now to compose your thoughts. Even now, and particularly as you learn new revision tools, you’ll often wish you had more time to revise your early drafts. Use whatever time you can to nudge your early drafts toward perfection. The better your revising ability becomes this quarter, the easier your transition to workplace writing. Learn effective writing and revising habits now so can more readily reclaim those habits when you need them in the workplace.

If you approach Exercise 1.9 as if you’re writing a paper for an English class, you will fail.** Ask yourself what might be an appropriate and worthwhile goal to set for yourself on this assignment. Within the parameters set by your text, you may approach the assignment as you wish, but waste neither your time nor mine.*** Create value, write with full and specific detail, try to lighten up and have some fun, and limit yourself as required on the first page of this contract. Whatever else you do, avoid boring your reader. When all else fails, let reality be your guide…
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** Unless you’ve spent the last several years writing as part of your job, your ingrained writing habits (and ideas) are probably muddled by the arcane standards of academic writing. Insofar as possible and practical, this class employs real world usage in lieu of academia’s murky and often cumbersome guidelines. We will focus to some extent upon academic standards, but only because not to do so might call negative attention to what we write. You would be well served to keep in mind the central touchstone for all writing and work you undertake for this class: effectiveness. We discuss the effectiveness standard more fully during the second and third weeks of this quarter.

*** You might profit from considering that most famous of all job interview questions: “Tell me a little about yourself…” And on the subject of job interview questions, recall the pearl from left field: “Tell me a story.”