Writing In Business

(Mejivar) (Pallab)

WRITING FOR BUSINESS MAJORS

Table of Contents

Introduction/Overview……………………………………………………..1

Field Guide………………………………………………………………………..3

Research Resources…………………………………………..........3

Writing a Resume……………………………………………………...3

Interview: Top Ten List……………………………………………….4

Advice for Business Majors…………………………………………5

Business Pre-‐requisite classes………………………………….…6

Interview: Upperclassman Business Student………………………7

Interview: Business Professor…………………………………………….9

Genre Investigation………………………………………………………….11

Proposal For Change…………………………………………………………24

Works Cited………………………………………………………………………31

Introduction/Overview

As a student, you will find that the kind of writing you are expected to do will change

based on your major. As a business major you will find that you will rarely have to write a

traditional paper. Therefore, it is very important to understand the kinds of genres that are

involved in business writing. First of all, there are specific kinds of writing that you are

required to do just to get into the business school. Some of these genres include: resumes,

short essays, business proposals, case studies, marketing plans, etc. This portfolio is meant

to give you a greater understanding of genre and how you will apply it as a business major.

The first major section of this portfolio is the field guide. The purpose of the field

guide is to offer a brief understanding of what you need to know about becoming a

business major. Inside the field guide there is a brief description of about six research

resources. This is meant to give you examples of where you can go to conduct research for

your writing assignments. The next section of the field guide is a brief description of a

resume and the kinds of things that need to go into a resume. One important part of your

business school application is your resume and as a potential business major it is very

important for you to know how to make a good resume. Also in the field guide there is a

Top Tens List section on “Things to do at/for an Interview.” You will find out that interview

become critical for not only getting into the business school but also for getting a job or

position. The list is meant to help you know the kinds of things you need in order to have a

successful interview. Another section of the field guide is a blurb with great advice that

business majors (prospective and upperclassman) and professors, have told me throughout

my research. This part of the field guide is meant to give you some few things that would

make your process of becoming a business major a little bit easier. The final section of the

field guide is a description of all the courses and requirements that are in the business

school pre-‐requisite sequence. This section acts as a simple easy to read tool that you can

use to navigate your progress in becoming a business major.

Introduction/Overview

The second major section is the interviews. In the research phase of this project, I

conducted two interviews, one with an upperclassman international business major and

one with a marketing professor. This section shows a summary for each interview and a

transcript of the questions and answers given in the interviews.

After that there is the genre investigation section. The genre investigation is where

I discuss things like genre theory and the specific examples of genres that you should

expect to encounter as a business student. In the genre investigation you will learn

about genre and the different components that make something a genre. Also, you will

learn to apply genre theory in order to successfully navigate through any genre that you

will face

The next section is the proposal for change. The proposal is a letter that was

written for you and the administrators of the business school. It is making an argument

for “Why There Should be Less Pre-‐requisite Classes to Get Into the Business School.”

Also, the proposal shows you the kinds of actions that you, as a student, can take to

have your voice heard by the business administrators in order to do something like

changing the amount of pre-‐requisite classes it takes to get into the business school.

To conclude, there are certain guidelines that come with writing as a business

major and if you fail to understand these guidelines then you will have a hard time being

successful in your business classes. This portfolio will help you to understand what is

genre and to use your understanding to become a better writer.

FIELD GUIDE: what to know about becoming a Business Major Research Resources 1) The World Bank website: http://www.worldbank.org/ -A website which provides access to data from studies done in many different places and categories. -Uses: access to a variety of databases (local and international), provides statistical resources you can use in business writing. -Limitations: must be proficient with Microsoft Excel because all databases transfer over into Excel. Also, because of the data that is offered you have to know what kind of data you are looking for. 2) University of Denver Research Center -A section on the first floor of the library that offers help with research and finding resources. -Uses: There are librarians at the research center that specialize in business and economics reference. They will help you direct you to books and online resources. -Limitations: Not the best starting point because you need to have an idea of what kind of resources your are looking for in order to take full advantage of their services

WHAT IS A RESUME & WHY IS IT IMPORATANT? RESUME BUILDING: THINGS TO INCLUDE

Contact Information

-‐Name, Address, Email, Number

Objective

-‐Goals, what you are trying to get?

Education: High School, College, Major, GPA

Skills-‐

Ex: Microsoft Certifications

Work Experience

-‐Jobs, Internships

Activities/Honors

-‐Clubs, positions, scholarships, awards, events, etc.

References

-‐Teachers, mentors, bosses, etc. (contact info.)

One important aspect of a student’s business school application is a resume. Resumes also serve many functions such as getting jobs, internships, or even mentorships. Your resume is how you present yourself on paper. You want to highlight all your strengths through you resume. This diagram shows the different sections that you need to have on a resume and some examples that you as a potential business major can include on your resume.

FIELD GUIDE: what to know about becoming an International Business Major? Research Resources 3) Yahoo Finance: http://finance.yahoo.com/ A website that provides information and news about stocks, the stock market, and business around the world. Uses: Great for finding out information about a company (stocks, financials, current profits, etc.) or about how the economy and the stock market are doing. Limitations: Need to have knowledge about stocks and how to read data on stocks. There is a lot of information so sometimes it is hard to pick out the important information. 4) Yahoo Finance: http://finance.yahoo.com/ A website that provides information and news about stocks, the stock market, and business around the world. Uses: Great for finding out information about a company (stocks, financials, current profits, etc.) or about how the economy and the stock market are doing. Limitations: Need to have knowledge about stocks and how to read data on stocks. There is a lot of information so sometimes it is hard to pick out the important information.

Top Ten Things to do at/for an Interview INTERVIEW: WHY THEY ARE IMPORTANT

1) Be on time: 10-‐15 minutes is ideal. 2) Dress appropriately for the position: It is always better to be overdressed than underdressed 3) Come with resume: Don’t assume that they have it at hand 4) Research the company and the position :It is good to be prepared for any questions they might ask you 5) Ask questions at the end of the interview: It shows you are interested in the position 6) Make Eye contact: It is important to connect with the interviewer 7) Ask for business cards at the end: It is a good way to have a contact and a reference in the company 8) Firm handshake: Shows that you are confident 9) Send a thank you letter or email: Show that you appreciate the time they took to interview you 10) Find directions ahead of time: It is good to know the exact location of the interview

Another important aspect of a your business school application and any job or position application is the interview. The interview can be seen as your first opportunity to make a good impression through some sort of personal interaction. The interview is very crucial in getting accepted into the business school and even getting a job. You should expect to do an interview for jobs, internships, or even certain positions and mentorships. This Top Ten List includes the things that are important for you to do at or for an interview. If you complete these things on the list, you have a very high chance of having a successful interview.

(Bitzer)FIELD GUIDE: what to know about becoming International Business Major? 1) The World Bank website: http://www.worldbank.org/ A website which provides access to data from studies done in many different places and categories. Uses: access to a variety of databases (local and international), provides statistical resources you can use in business writing. Limitations: must be proficient with Microsoft Excel because all databases transfer over into Excel. Also, because of the data that is offered you have to know what kind of data you are looking for. 2) University of Denver Research Center A place in the library that offers help with research and finding resources. Uses: In the terms of business writing there are librarians at the research center that specialize in business and economics reference. Limitations: Not the best starting point because you need to have an idea of what kind of resources your are looking for in order to take full advantage of their services.

TOP TEN THINGS TO DO AT/FOR AN INTERVIEW

1) Be on time (10-‐15 minutes is ideal.) 2) Dress appropriately for the position (It is always better to be overdressed than underdressed) 3) Come with resume (Don’t assume that they have it at hand) 4) Research the company and the position (It is good to be prepared for any questions they might ask you) 5) Ask questions at the end of the interview (It shows you are interested in the position) 6) Make Eye contact (It is important to connect with the interviewer) 7) Ask for business cards at the end It is a good way to have a contact and a reference in the company 8) Firm handshake (Shows that you are confident) 9) Send a thank you letter or email (Show that you appreciate the time they took to interview you) 10) Find directions ahead of time (It is good to know the exact location of the interview)

The next step after applying for the business school, or a job, an internship, or any position, is the INTERVIEW. Interviews are your opportunity to sell yourself through personal interaction. This Top Tens list gives you the most important things that you should do at or for any interview that you will have, from your business school interview to an actual job interview. This diagram shows the different sections that you need to have on a resume and some examples that you as a potential business major can include on your resume.

INTERVIEW: A CRITICAL STEP IN ANY APPLICATION PROCESS

FIELD GUIDE: what to know about becoming an International Business Major? Research Resources 5) Forbes: http://www.forbes.com/ Website that contains articles on business news and financial information. Uses: Finding articles on business related subjects. Finding contemporary news about what is going on in the business world. Limitations: Not all articles and information is academically acceptable. Possibility of being distracted by useless articles such as “The Forbes Five: Hip-‐Hops Wealthiest Artists 2013”

GREAT ADIVCE FOR ANY POTENTIAL BUSINESS MAJORS

-‐Business Teachers don’t like “fluff,” keep your test answers short and sweet -‐If you have a Mac computer, buy parallels, it will make things a lot easier. If you do, have UTS install your Windows Software for you. -‐Pass ALL the certifications before your first year. -‐For Business Calculus, just by the online version, it is a lot cheaper -‐Research Case Studies, they will be very important once you are in higher-‐level business classes -‐Your professor is a great resource when doing research. -‐Be patient, there is no need to be in a hurry to get into the business school. The secondary admission office has a lot of benefits. -‐Schedule classes with people you know, they will be very helpful when it is time to study. -‐Attend the secondary admission meetings. They help you to navigate the process of getting into the business school. -‐Don’t sign up for classes because of the time. Having a good instructor is more important than having a good class time. -‐Planning for classes as first year is always rough and you never get your first choice for your classes. So always have backups.

FIELD GUIDE: what to know about becoming an International Business Major? Research Resources 6) Daniels School of Business Student Resources: http://daniels.du.edu/current-‐students/ This website provides all the resources that are available for current business students. Uses: Finding information of business school professors, Daniel’s career services, and business student organizations. This is a great way to get connected with anyone in the business school. Limitations: page is hard to locate on the Daniels School of Business website. Not a great place to start any kind of assignment. You have to know what you’re looking for or whom you are trying to communicate with.

DANIELS SCHOOL OF BUSINESS PRE-‐REQESITE COURSES: CLASSES/CERTIFICATIONS YOU NEED TO TAKE TO GET IN

Business Information and Analytics

INFO 1010: Analytics 1:Data & Analysis

INFO 1020: Analytics 2: Business Stats & Analysis

Economics: Micro and Macroeconomics

ECON 1020

ECON 1030

Gateway to Business

Bus 1000

Mathematics: Business Calculus or Calculus 1

MATH 1200

MATH 1951

Microsoft Certifications: Excel, Word, & PowerPoint

YOU MUST RECEIVE AT LEAST A C-‐ IN EACH OF THESE CLASSES AND SCOE AT LEAST A 700 ON EACH MICROSOFT CERTIFICATION TEST!!!

Interview: Upperclassman Business Student

Summary This is a transcript of an interview conducted with an upperclassman student that is an International Business Major in the Daniels School of Business. The objective of the interview was to find out how this student views writing through the kinds of assignments they receive, how these assignments prepare them for the professional field, etc. In the interview I learned about the genre of case studies and case analysis. The main thing that I took away form this interview in terms of research is that your professor is always a great research resource. And in most cases your professor is your audience so it is always beneficial to know what they expect to see in an assignment. The best advice that this student had was to “stay patient.” They said as a first year you should not be in a rush to get into the business school. Mawukle Yebuah (M) -‐ Interviewer Aminta Mejivar (A) – Interviewee

M-‐ What types of writing do you do most often for classes in your major? A-‐ In classes like in International Studies you are writing an essay or an analysis research or something like that. You are still going to have to structure your essay to say the introduction, and in the introduction you describe to the reader what you’re going to write about. And you structure it really well and you divide it into sections. M-‐ Who do you imagine as your audience when you do these types of analysis, and how would you characterize that audience and what they value? A-‐ It depends on what I’m writing, really when I think about the audience I think about someone who is interested in the subject but doesn’t know much about it. So it is very important to describe to them what it is all about, give them a quick background, not a huge summary. That is really what the Introduction is for, when you say the introduction you write your thesis and you write what you’re going to write about and you move on. M-‐ What advice about writing would you give freshman considering becoming business majors? What do you wish you’d known going in? A-‐ Research case analysis and case studies. As I said back in the beginning case studies are very different from regular essays, in their structure and in the level of content that they used. Some people think that case analyses are easier than regular essays because they tend to be shorter but they are not. There’s a very good reason why their shorter, and that’s that is very clear and crisp and to the point. So as a first year student I recommend that you go online and look for case studies, read them, and find out what kind of structure they have because you are going to find that very useful, especially once you get into those high level management classes

Interview: Upperclassman Business Student

M-‐ What are the main resources you use when researching a case study? A-‐ The professor, the professor is the main resource that you can use and after that just Google. So when it comes to case analysis the professor because the professor is the one who knows what to expect. The writing center will tell you whether your writing is good or not. But when it comes to business writing and case studies and writing business reports, you have to be a good writer because everyone knows that you will lose credibility if you have a bunch of spelling mistakes or stuff like that in your essay. But when it comes to your content, your professor is the first line. M-‐ How much do you know about the types of writing you’ll be expected to do as a professional, and in what ways are the classes preparing you for these types of writing? A-‐ What I know especially in my profession is that I will be writing a lot of business reports, especially once I complete my research that I plan to do in Botswana. And the reports I expected them to be hybrids. Because I may be doing economic research, and economics, its business, but there is also a large proportion that is in the humanities so I expected that it is going to be a hybrid. M-‐ Do you think your business classes are preparing you to do your reports? A-‐Yea. And its not just my business classes, That is really the beauty of attending a liberal arts institution, is that you get to take classes outside your main area of study. So yes I get to learn how to write case study reports through the business school but then I have also written larger research reports for other classes. M-‐What overall advice would you give a student who is trying to get into the business school? A-‐ Just take advantage of the fact that DU offers the Secondary Admission process. I know that when you are a first year students you just really want to be officially in the business school. I know how that feels and you just have to be patient. And especially us business students we are not known for our patience. But there is a very good reason for it. In my opinion, and I believe a lot of the advisors here at the business school will agree with this, the secondary admission process is designed to help the students determine whether business is meant for them or not.

Interview: Business Professor

This is a transcript of an interview conducted with a Daniel’s School of Business marketing professor. The objective of the interview was to find out how the professors views writing through the kinds of assignments they assign, their expectations in the kind of writing their students’ produce, etc. Through this essay I learned about the marketing plan genre and what king of components the professors expects in that genre. Also, I learned that sometimes professors do not see themselves as the audience. In the case of marketing plans the audience is the high-‐level management officer. Mawukle Yebuah (M) - Interviewer Professor Paul Pallab (P) – Interviewee

M – What types of writing do you assign when you teach a class to business majors? P -‐Well actually there are quite a variety of those I do; the major part of course is the marketing plan. M -‐Because you are a marketing professor P -‐That’s exactly right so students have to do a marketing plan and usually that’s a good project. So three or four students will work on this plan. It is pretty hefty it is about 20 pages. Those are some big examples. So 20 pages and they are to research and since I teach mostly international marketing. The project is about taking an American product from this country and going to a foreign country of their choice. They are to figure out what would work best. Lets say they pick China, let’s say they want to introduce this pencil to Chine so they have to figure out if they want to do this what are the consideration they should have to write a marketing plan for this pencil. Should it be as big as the U.S. pencils or smaller, or narrower in diameter, or what kind of lead, and where people typically buy pencils, is it a supermarket, is it in grocery store or discount store, so they have to do a whole lot of market analysis. They have to look at the cultural issues for the Chinese people; they have to look at the political issues, legal issues. Is it legal to sell pencils? They have to look at all those different things to figure out whether if it makes sense and then they have to come up with a strategy on how to introduce this pencil to the Chinese population. So that’s the premise of the project. So now they have to write a 20page project on that. So that’s a major writing assignment they have in my classes. But beyond that they also have to do almost every week something like short assignments. Like in my class go on do some research and find out politically which country is the riskiest country for a U.S. business to enter or politically which country is the worst country for a U.S. business to enter today. So they have to a political analysis and come up with a page or two analyses to submit in class. So this is an example of a short example. M -‐And these are usually 1-‐2 pages? P -‐Yes those shorter ones are usually one to two pages because the way I do that the paper is sort of a platform, they have to do the research, they have to think about it, they have to analyze it, and then the actual learning takes place in class where they have to share what they found. Like what you found and why you think. If you say Zimbabwe is the worst country to enter, why? They have to give me some reasons and then go to the next student and that they should have some other ideas. And so we all discuss that in class so that the written assignment the two pages is essentially a tool to prepare the students for the class discussion.

Interview: Business Professor

M -‐ What do you look for when you evaluate these kinds of writing? P -‐Two major components. One component of course is the substance. So what do you say, does it make sense, what kind of research do you have to back up. So if you say Zimbabwe well that’s great but why. Why did you get your information, what kind of information that you have. So that people can say that yea that makes sense Zimbabwe is a risky country to enter. So I look at the substance, look at the arguments, look at the evidences that you provide in your paper to make your case. So that is one card. And then beyond that of course I look at the grammatical issues, the spelling, and organization in your paper to make your case. Sometimes you will be surprise the way some students write, one page report no paragraph. Just one page paragraph. So it is very difficult to read those because then you don’t know how is it going, where is starts, because it starts with an idea and by the time you get to the end of the page it is completely different. So I always tell the class make short paragraphs and each paragraph should have a central idea or theme and then connect it the next paragraph and the next paragraph. Use headings, subheadings so that it is for the reader to follow what you are trying to say. M -‐ Who should your students imagine as their audience when they write a paper for you class? P -‐Well it depends on the assignment like when they do this big marketing plan, the final report. Usually the audience is the top management of a company, people who decide. The CEO of the pencil company, and I’m thinking about three different countries. I can go to China, I can go to India, I can go to Brazil. Which country should I pick? So that would be the audience, the people at the top, the C-‐level people, who will make a decision about international expansion because this class is all about international expansion and international marketing. M -‐From these kinds of writing assignments what do you hope your students will take form the assignments? P -‐Well two things again. Substantially they should learn how to make a case, how to make your arguments. How to present a case to your boss and then not just say you want to go to China. Well that sounds great but why? Give me five reasons. So they should learn how to make a case, provide evidence, and justify a case that they’re making. And beyond that they should learn how to do research. These days with the amount of the information on the Internet and all they have to do is just start with Google and there’s so much information. Those days are gone when you have to go to the library, look at book and journals. People don’t do that they just look on the Internet. So people have to look through all the information, there’s so much information, and of course you cannot take everything so you have to pick which information is most relevant for you project, figure them through and present the most interesting facts and the most relevant facts in your paper.

Genre Investigation: Introduction

If someone were to ask you what is a genre and why are genres important, what would you

say? For many of us we are unable to answer this question because we think of genre as categories

in different forms of media. In an article called “Navigating Genres” by Kerry Dirk, the author tells

this joke:

“Q: What do you get when you rewind a country song?”

“A: You get your wife back, your job back, and your dog back...” (Dirk)

See for many people this joke did not even make sense. The author examines that “in order for to get

the joke you must be familiar the country music genre” (Dirk). Genres are more than just categories;

they have certain characteristics that make them very specific in how they are used. Genres require

an audience to have background information and knowledge about how that genre works.

If we were talking about movie genres, many people would simply name the genres as:

action, adventure, comedy, romantic, horror, and etc. However, if you look deeper into the genre of

horror movies you will see that there are different kinds of sub-genres inside the subject of horror

films and that throughout history horror films have changed in the way that they attempt to scare

their audience. This can be seen in the change from the serial killer genre with movies like “The

Texas Chainsaw Massacre,” to the genre of zombie movies like “Zombieland,” to the supernatural

genre in movies like “Paranormal Activity.”

In general, the important thing about understanding genres is that you need to have the

knowledge of genre as a whole and the things that constitute a genre. This allows you to be able

identify different genres and use your knowledge of how genres work to be able to mange the

different situations that come up with experiencing different genres. Then maybe with a greater

knowledge of genre if someone tells you another joke about country music you might even get why

the joke is funny.

Overall, this investigation will explain the theory of genre, discuss the different sections of genres

that you, as a business student, should expect to see, and provide specific examples of these genres

in order to understand what characteristics make up that genre. The purpose of the examination and

analysis of genre theory and these different sections of genres is to prepare a student for the genres

they will be facing in the business school and to prepare them for how to successfully navigate and

produce writing in these genres.

Genre Investigation: Genre Theory & Application

In order to understand genre and how we apply genre and how we apply our knowledge of genre, we

have to discuses the components of genre theory. Throughout this investigation there are certain

terms that will be used in the discussion of genre theory. These terms include:

• Social Action: An idea brought forth by Carolyn R. Miller in the article “Genre as a Social Action.” She explains that every genre has a separate purpose that it is trying to fulfill.

• Rhetoric: It is how people communicate; this can include languages, speeches, writing, and

etc.

• Exigence: The motivation to solve a problem. You can view the exigence of this investigation as breaking down genre theory so you as a student better understand how you will interact with genre.

• Discourse: the type of language that one will use to appeal to their audience. The discourse

you use with your professor is very different then the discourse you use with your fiend. In terms of writing, if you look at the discourse in the investigation you will find it to be less formal than your regular academic paper, but it is still written to the point that college students are able to understand and still see that it was written in an academic context.

• Constraints: Guidelines that are established for a genre. This can include the format, length,

or even the way it is presented. Constraints can be seen as what your audience expects. As an example, a very formal professor will expect every paper to be 5 pages, double-spaced, Times New Roman, size 12 font.

• Antecedent: Any form of background or prior work that has an influence in the way a certain

genre is viewed or written.

• Kairos: The appeal of time or simply the timeliness of an argument. Kairos becomes very important because if taken advantage of, it can have a big impact on your audience.

• Uptake: This is the last step into how the audience in the rhetorical situation understands the

information. Uptake can be seen as the final way your writing is presented.

• Rhetorical Situation: The context that surrounds the scenario of a genre. Rhetorical situation requires one to know what the appropriate responses would be for that certain situation. You can simply explain rhetorical situation as the setting that the genre occurs.

• Context: The moment that an argument is taking place in. It is very important to know the

context when it comes to genre theory because it helps you understand things like rhetorical situation.


To understand genre theory we use the terms above to show that genre is a form of writing and each

genre has a unique structure and purpose. This is what we mean by saying genre’s fulfill some sort

of social action. Each genre has a goal that it is trying to achieve. Additionally, in Carolyn Miller’s

piece “Genre as a Social Action,” she brings up the idea of an existing hierarchy that is present in all

genres. Every genre has rules that have to be followed. Therefore the rules are seen as a high level

on the hierarchy scale because they have to be followed in order for a piece to fit that genre. The

rules are the constraints of that genre; they are what the audience expects and what you use to help

you communicate your message to the audience.

Another part of genre theory is the idea of rhetorical situation discussed by Lloyd F. Bitzer.

In his article “The Rhetorical Situation,” Bitzer describes “the rhetorical situation as the context in

which speakers or writers create rhetorical discourse.” A simple interpretation of Bitzer is that

rhetorical situation is created by the background information that one will use to communicate with

the audience. Some of the things that come from understanding rhetorical situation is the idea of

rhetoric and antecedents. Also, by examining rhetorical situation you can see the importance of

Kairos. The timing of an argument or the way the genre is presented has a very important effect on

the audience and how effective they are in understanding the rhetorical situation and even the

appropriate response for that situation.


The next part of genre theory is how you present or convey a genre to the audience. Anne Freadman, the author

of “Anyone For Tennis,” illustrates uptake as the strategy that a person decides to take. So with this idea of

uptake, your strategy has to be analyzing the most effective way to get your audience to understand the genre.

Overall, with genre theory, one has to understand that there is a hierarchy, which is based on rules that need to

be followed in writing a certain genre. There has to be an idea of rhetorical situation so you know how to be

effective in the setting of a genre. Finally, there has to be an understanding of audience so your writing reflects

a product that will allow the audience to understand the components of a genre.

To conclude, the discussion of genre theory and application was meant to provide an overview

of genre theory and to offer a simple understanding of why it is important to know the different kinds of genre

you will be facing. The thing that you should take away from this section is that once you understand a genre

and the components of that genre you are more likely to be successful in the writing that you produce within

that genre.

Genre Investigation: Classroom Genre


Name: Syllabi

A syllabus can be viewed as multiple things for a class. It can act as an agenda, a calendar, and

even a checklist for all the assignment due dates. Every college professor you will create some

version of a syllabus that they will hand out to the class. The rhetorical situation of the syllabi is the

first day of class because many professors will spend the first day of class going over the syllabus.

This is because the social action of the syllabus is to produce one piece of formal writing that

establishes the guidelines and expectations for the audience of the class, which in this case is the

student. The syllabus is what a professor will use to indirectly communicate with the students to

make sure that everyone in the class is on the same page. Therefore they use the first day because that

is first instance of communication a professor will have with their class. While the format for the

syllabus might depend on your major or even your professor, the business school syllabi have the

same format. Below is an image of one of the main things that occur in every instance of a business

school syllabus. No matter what major you are the in the business school you will see this image on

the first page of every syllabus.

.

Genre Types Within the Business School

The rest of this investigation will look into specific examples of genres that a student will encounter. The first

situation is the genres that a student should expect to see in the situation of a classroom. The next section is based on

student-produced genres. This is mainly the kind of writing you, the student, will perform in business classes. The

final section is the professional genres that a professor or a person in the professional field of business will write.

While this section is not directly based on the student, it is meant to show the genres that one should expect often

after they graduated.

Genre Investigation: Classroom Genre


This image outlines the ethics of the Daniels School of Business because if you have not already

learned, the Daniels School of Business is very concentrated on making sure that everyone knows

and understands its views on ethics.

However, the only break that you will see with this genre is the way that the professor organizes the

assignments. Some professors will organize the work by week and some will do it by chapters or

modules. It all depends on how the professor plans to grade the work in the class. And since the

professor is the person who creates the syllabus for their class they are the ones who hold the power

because they get to decide how the information in the syllabus will be present to their audience. The

expectation that a professor has for a student is that they will use the class syllabus to gain all the

information they need in terms of what will occur during the duration of the quarter. The class

syllabus is a very appropriate and efficient genre. It gives a schedule of the course material and

assignments so as a student the syllabus will keep you up to speed with what is going on in the class.

It is very short to the extent that no business professor will make a syllabus that is more than 10

pages. And the syllabus is very easy to obtain because professors will always have electronic

versions of the syllabus on either Blackboard or on their personal website.

Genre Investigation: Student-‐Produced Genres

Name: Short Essay Assignment (1-2 pages)

One of the many assignments that students will have to produce in a business class is the

short essay. Now short essays are very different for business classes. In a short essay will you either

have to provide some short and to the point analysis on a subject, a brief but well thought out

argument on an issue, or a summary of an event or situation. The rhetorical situation of this genre

takes place both in and out of class. The student will have to complete the assignment outside of the

classroom. Most short essays are due the next week class period that they are assigned. So for the

average business class, you will have seven days to finish a short essay. The second aspect of the

rhetorical situation of this genre is in class because there is usually a follow up discussion on the

assignment. All the majors in the business school require students to complete this kind of

assignment. The difference is that the topics may change depending on the major. Marketing majors

may have to look at a marketing strategy of a certain company for a product they just released and

then they will have to argue whether the marketing strategy was a success or a failure. While

International Business majors may have to look at a new international policy and then analyze how

it will affect how business is conducted in different countries. The social action of a short essay is to

have the audience read an article and produce a piece of writing that shows what they have learned.

The expectation is that the audience is able to think critically about the subject and produce a well-

written piece of work. The reason why every class has a short essay assignment is because writing in

the business school is very direct and to the point. When you are writing in business class professors

do not like “fluff,” which is just a word for words or sentences that take up space. They want you to

make your point right away, and many professors will agree that the short essay allows students to

practice their skills in this kind of writing.

Genre Investigation: Student Produced Genres

The main thing that occurs in every instance of this genre is the heading. But this is also

where we see a break in the genre. Every professor has a specific way that they want a heading and

the format of the paper to look like. Some professors may even take off points for having the wrong

format. Below are a few examples of sample headings that Professors will want students to put on

their short essay assignments.

In looking at his genre, it may seem that the professor has the power because they are the one

grading the writing, but it can also be seen that they student has the power because they have full

control over what they discuss in the paper. But as a business student you should view the professor

as having the power because they are your target audience when you are writing short essays.

Overall, you can see that the genre of the short essay is very efficient. The writing you will produce

in this genre is very short, direct, and to the point. Professors gave you a limited amount of space to

keep you from writing any “fluff,” so as a business student make sure that you always get right to

the point.

-‐Name -‐Professor’s Name -‐Class -‐Date

-‐Name -‐Class -‐Assignment -‐Title -‐Date

-‐Name -‐Class -‐Date

Genre Investigation: Professional Genres


Name: Academic Articles/ Publications

Academic Articles are writings that are mainly only viewed in the academic sphere. This is mostly

because the genre of academic articles consists of writing that is done by your professors. Many

students will agree that they have not searched for published academic articles or that they do not

even know where to look to find these articles. While as a business student, you can always go the

library’s database to find academic articles; you can also go online to Google Scholar to find

academic articles. Therefore, the rhetorical situation is based in an academic context.

Many of the professors imagine that their audience for their publications is other academics in

higher education institutions. The social action of this genre is meant to add some new information

or bring up new topics to the field that the professor specializes in. In every instance of this genre

there is a process of peer-reviews and revisions. This process can be a couple months long or it can

even take up to a year. Not only do professors get their articles reviewed by their peers, many

professors even act as peer reviewers. So it is very understandable why the peer review process

takes so much time. However, it is expected that professors become publish and continue to produce

writing for their field. Essentially, this is how they can insure that they will be able to keep their

jobs. So with this genre we get an idea into the dual segments of writing that is conducted by

professors. Professors not only work with the writing that they assign and grade for their classes,

they also work on the writing that they themselves produce and try to get published.

Genre Investigation: Professional Genre

One possible antecedent for this genre is other writing that has been done on a similar topic in the past.

Professors don’t always have to bring up new topics to the field, they can argue or elaborate on some

already existing ideas. Part of the writing process for academic articles is the research that a professor

will conduct before they actually begin their writing. Many professors will say that the research that

they do for their articles takes up most of the time in the process of getting published. Throughout this

process, it is the publishers who hold the power because they take part in the peer review and they

decided what gets to become published. Publishers can always tell professors to revise the article and

produce another draft or sometimes they can even tell professors to completely start the draft on a

different topic. Overall, this genre is very appropriate because it requires professors to continue to

research and lean more about their fields. As a student you can see that no matter where you are at in

your understanding of a subject or in your process of writing it is always important to continue to

conduct more research and get peer reviews. This is truly the best way to improve your writing and

your understanding of a topic.

Genre Investigation: Conclusion

In conclusion, as a business major you will have to encounter many new genres that don’t appear in

other majors. In order to be successful in navigating these genres it is important to understand what makes a

genre and the different components of genres. You will need to have a strong grasp on genre and the

application of genre theory so that with every new genre you can identify the rules, the rhetorical situation,

and how the audience will affect your writing. This will allow you enhance the quality of the writing you

produce for your classes. The most important writing you will encounter in the business program is the

writing based on student produced genres. This is because most of the writing that you will produce as a

business major is meant to prepare you for the writing you will be expected to produce as a professional.

Finally, remember that when writing in any genre in the business fields follow the advice of being efficient

in your writing and get to the point and always use subheadings when you can.

Genre Investigation: Proposal For Change

Dear Daniels School of Business Administrators and future Business Students,

Currently, I am in the last quarter of my first year at the University of Denver. As a

prospective business school student, I am at the point in my academic career where I

have almost completed the required courses to get in to the Daniels School of Business.

Through my experience as a student navigating the required Business sequence, I have

come to believe that there are some issues with the amount of classes a student needs

in order to become a business major. The number of pre-‐requisite classes required to

get in to the business school needs to be reduced because it is keeping business majors

from becoming critical thinkers.

In consideration of my proposal I wanted you to know that I understand that the

Daniels School of Business is a highly recognized, praised, and accredited institution.

Because of this, it does make sense to me why the business school has a secondary

admission process. I also understand that you as administrators do not want to loose

the competitive environment of Daniels by making it easer to enter the school of

business.

Why There Should be Less Pre-requisite Classes to Get Into the Business School



However, reducing the amount of pre-‐requisite courses will not reduce the

competitive environment of the school or even cause the school to lose its high

reputation. In fact, reducing the required classes to get into the business school will

actually improve the atmosphere of the business school. Many business students will

agree that by reducing the amount of pre-‐requisite courses, you are giving them a

chance to take a greater variety of classes during their first year, which will result in the

improvement of the critical thinking abilities of the students that enter the business

school. In an interview I conducted with Aminta Mejivar, an upperclassman

International Business major, she says “the beauty of attending a liberal arts institution,

is that you get to take classes outside your main area of study.” This shows that there is

a demand from business students to take a variety of classes. As administrators, by

reducing the number of classes in the business pre-‐requisite sequence, you are allowing

students to have the opportunity to gain background knowledge in other subjects and

in different fields. Overall, this ability of students to become critical thinkers will

transfer into their business classes because they will be able to ask questions that will

not only challenge their teachers but also challenge their peers. As a result, the

environment of the Daniels School of Business will develop new ways to thinking and

solving issues in the business world.



Opposing Views One opposition that you as administrators might have for this proposal is that the

business sequence offers a variety of classes so students who enter the business school are

still going to be well rounded critical thinkers. However, when you look at the classes in the

business sequence, many of them are in the business field. So students are well rounded in

the fact that they know different components of the business field, but they are not well

rounded in the fact that they have not had experience asking and solving questions in other

fields and topics. Many professors will agree to the claim that their aim is not only to get

students to learn the material but also to get students to think critically about what their

learning. Therefore, the best way to develop well rounded critical thinking students is to

give them practice asking questions and critically thinking about the solutions in many

different subjects and fields.

Another opposing view is that the business sequence is meant to be rigorous because

you, as administrators, want to weave out the students who do not actually want to study

business. While it makes sense for the school to weave out the students who are not

passionate about business, it does not take a multitude of classes to make a student realize

that business is not an ideal major for them. It is predicted that on average a student will

switch their major as least twice before their graduation. And personally, as a student, I

have seen a few students decide not to become business majors after taking two classes in

the business pre-‐requisite sequence.



In addition, the classes in the business sequence are basic and they do not pertain to

the variety of business majors that students plan to declare. Also, some of theses classes

aren’t the most interesting classes, especially for someone who is trying to see if they are

truly passionate about business. In fact, for many of the students who drop out of the

business sequence it was not that the classes were too rigorous; it was more that they no

longer had any interest in studying business. Therefore, with such a specific business pre-‐

requisite sequence, the Daniels School of Business runs a risk of weaving out students who

have a passion for business but no longer have an interest to study business.

The next opposition that you, an administrator would have for this proposal is that

the business sequence does not consist of that many classes and it still allows students to

take other courses. While this may be statistically true in terms of credits, many students

are involved in other programs like Living & Learning Communities, or even scholarships

that come with mandatory classes. So for many of these students the only other non-‐

mandatory courses that they can take are for the business sequence. Some students will

even make the choice of becoming less involved on campus just so they can focus on their

business pre-‐requisite classes. Now one thing that the Daniels School of Business likes to

see is students who are involved in campus programs, so does it make sense for a student

to become less involved just so they can get into the business school?



Words For the Students: How to Take Action

As a student who is paying tuition to attend this university, you have to realize that

you have the power to make changes in your education system. It is up to you to make sure

that the business administrators know how you feel about the business pre-‐requisite

sequence. One of the things that you can do is set up meetings with the administrators or

even the chancellor. The first step to creating a change is communicating with the people

who make the decisions. In these meetings it is important to tell them what you want to

change and why you want it to change. Another thing you, as a student, can do is to

honestly fill out your course evaluations and business school assessments. It is up to you to

let teachers know the kinds of things you want to learn in their classes and to let

administrators know which classes you feel are and are not benefiting your education. It is

really important to make sure that your voice is being heard by giving feedback in any

opportunity that you get.



Conclusion

In conclusion, as a prospective student of the Daniels School of Business, I propose

that that the number of pre-requisite classes required to get in to the business school needs to

be reduced. There is a great opportunity for business students to take advantage of a highly

sought out liberal arts education by taking classes in different fields. This opportunity, in

return, will benefit the business school because its students will have developed their critical

thinking skills and they will be able to use their abilities to enhance the environment of the

school. But in order to improve the environment of the Daniels School of Business, there

will have to be collective action by the students to make sure that their voices are heard and

there will have to be objective consideration from the administrators about the student’s

feedback and what will be best for the business school. Thank you all so much for your time

and effort.

In best hopes,

Mawukle Yebuah

Works Cited


Bitzer, Lloyd F. "The Rhetorical Situation." Pennsylvania State University Press, 1966. 1-‐14.

Dirk, Kerry. "Navigating Genres." Writing Spaces: Readings on Writing, Volume 1 (2010): 249-‐262.

Freadman, Anne. "Anyone For Tennis?" Genre In The New Rheotric. Taylor & Francis, 205. 37-‐47.

Mejivar, Aminta. Writing As An Upperclassman Business Major Mawukle Yebuah. 2013.

Miller, Carolyn. "Genre as a Social Action." Quarterly Journal of Speech (1984): 151-‐167.

Pallab, Paul. Writing As A Business Professor Mawukle Yebuah. 2013.

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