Welcome to English 202

Welcome to English 202.

Various individuals have given English 202 different names. The school calls it advanced exposition. I call it business writing. I should rename it "Reading and Thinking."  The name probably sounds odd or too elemental. Not so. Most individuals do too little of both--in the world of school and the world of business. As you will hear me say, probably more than once, "We think we think more than we think."

To perform at an average level in this class, you will need to read all the assignments and more about Internet marketing.You will read to have information that your imaginations will re-formulate into unique concepts. When you do that, writing becomes easier, and you will hold the attention of a reader--a person with blood in his/her veins, who gets bored, who wants information, who does not give a darn about you or me because in the end reading is an egocentric act.

To achieve above-average work, you must think--not merely parrot (repeat) the ideas you will have read and those you hear about in class. In other words, you must learn how to integrate new ideas with old ones in order to create a different perspective for the reader. Otherwise you are wasting the reader's time.

When you write to another individual, you ask him/her to surrender her time to read your ideas. Why should the reader trouble herself with your ideas? Are you offering the reader [teacher, classmate, business associate] a "new" way of seeing a problem? Are you proposing a concept that will make the reader's life easier? Are you advancing knowledge--whether the subject is particle physics or the latest cosmetic disaster for a pop diva? Are you offering your ideas clearly and logically--based on standard American English? In other words, the average reader (not your friends reading a tweet) wants to know what she is getting out of reading your work.

You,therefore, earn a reader's respect by offering her a new perspective or new idea in a format that makes it easier for the reader (not the writer) to understand. If you cannot achieve that, you fail--in business and in this classroom.

How do you come up with new ideas or perspectives? Reading. And you do not merely repeat what you have read. In that case, you only rehash information that a reader already could access. You read to pick up facts and ideas from experts in the field. You then take that information and integrate it into how you think. Eventually an original idea or perspective (original for you) will come out.

For this class, you will need a computer with Internet access. Use your own, a friend's, or one of the many in the school's library. Will I tolerate the excuse my computer crashed and I lost all my work. No. Save your material on a thumb drive, portable hard drive, or to a storage system on the Internet, such as Google's G-Drive (it's free if you have a Google account, which is also free).  and a office suite product. Use your own, a friend's, or one of many in the school's library.


You will need an office suite, such as Microsoft Office. (Microsoft Works will not work in this class.) You can get free office suites: OpenOffice, Libre Office, and IBM's Symphony. I use OpenOffice and Libre Office. They are excellent products that are compatible with Microsoft Office. The three have word processors (like Word), presentation software (like PowerPoint), and spreadsheet software (like Excel). OpenOffice and Libre Office also have graphics and data base management software. All three products have been around for more than a decade. They are reliable. If you have a broadband Internet connection, downloading will take about three minutes and installation about 20. OpenOffice and Libre Office work on PCs and Macs.

You will not need to buy a text. I provide you your reading material through links on the syllabus. You can access the syllabus from the class web page: http://www1bpt.bridgeport.edu/~jconlin/. Here are the links that you need for now.

Syllabus: <http://www.bridgeport.edu/~jconlin/Fall2012English202.pdf>
Course Description: <http://www1bpt.bridgeport.edu/~jconlin/CourseDescription.pdf>
Class Webpage: <http://www1bpt.bridgeport.edu/~jconlin/>
Class Blog: <http://dana238.blogspot.com/>

Start the semester right. Read the syllabus.

Finally, you will use APA citation formats for everything that you write this semester. Most students already have learned, and maybe mastered MLA. APA is not that different. Scroll down two posts and you will find the format for APA. Why am I making you use APA? Because UB's Business School has designated APA as its citation method of choice and the citation method that its MBA students must use. You can see examples of APA citation (intext and works cited listing) in the previous two posts.

See you tomorrow.