ENGLISH 221: INTRODUCTION TO BUSINESS WRITING
KING'S COLLEGE
WILKES-BARRE, PA 18711

READING: Pages 679 to 694 and re-read pages 53 to 71

WRITING: NONE

At this point in the course you have completed four written assignments (and one exercise). Read over the pages indicated above and revise your first written assignments according to my comments on them and according to the advice Kolin gives for writing grammatical and graceful sentences. Print out your finished work and place it in your portfolio.

From this point on, you might be able to revise your work before you submit it so that it is as close to perfect as you can get it. As you read Kolin on editing and as you work in drafts remember that all good writing is done in revision. In other words, you can write a draft in any way you like since you are usually the only one who will see it: you can misspell words, create run-on sentences, fail to develop a point, and so on. If you try to write perfectly in the drafting stage, you might drive yourself to insanity trying to find the precise word or toying with a sentence until you've forgotten your original meaning. Don't try to write the perfect letter or memo in the rought draft. Of course, as your writing skills increase, you might write solid rough drafts that need very little tinkering to make them flawless. But DON'T risk losing ideas by trying to express them elegantly on the first go. When you revise your draft you can make it perfect--correct the spelling, replace imprecise language, eliminate wordiness and sexist terms, and so on.

Return to syllabus
Send e-mail