BA 374 Week 3 Discussion Research: Business Communication
BA 374 Week 3 Discussion Research: Business Communication
Applying your own thinking, experiences, and application and citation of information from at least three resources (textbook, mindtools.com website, and a UIU library article), respond to the following Discussion topic(s). Remember, the Discussions are a dialog (conversation) and an opportunity to build community. This is the only Discussion in Week 3. In this Research: Business Communication Discussion, post your main response on or before Day 4 (Thursday night). Post at least four additional responses (one-two paragraphs each) during Monday through Sunday, all on different days. It is a UIU requirement for Discussion participation to occur on at least four of the seven days in each Week. With the exception of Week 8, “Weeks” begin on Mondays and end on Sundays. It is assumed in this Business Communication class that all writing will have been thoroughly proofread, grammar and spell-checked and never represent the first draft. Writing is always a process, one which requires more than one draft prior to submitting a final, polished posting. Grading rubrics for the Research: Business Communication Discussion are included below the Directions.
The Research: Business Communication Discussion is the place for you to delve into and learn about the myriad of aspects of business communications.
Directions:
1. Visit the website www.mindtools.com. You will be able to acquire the information you seek without needing to register and/or pay. This is a website accepted by business schools as a reliable website. It is not good practice in higher education for students to apply and cite information from dictionary or encyclopedia websites, Wikipedia, Investopedia, or blogs (for example). Students may use these resources for their own use, but only as starting points for further investigation, not as respected or reliable references. Refer to the APA Publication Manual and/or the Purdue OWL APA website to see how to accurately cite APA in-text and reference citations for online referenced material.
2. Next, in the Mindtools website, click on the icon which emulates a magnifying glass. In the “Search the site” box, type in “Business Communication”. A new page opens with a list of topics (all interesting). You likely will see 2,666, or more than 2,600, results from your search. Please note that not all of these resources are free; however, you will choose one (and only one) that is free. There are ample free resources (so no worries). Your choice of a Business Communication topics is now your starting point (choose one that interests you perhaps more than others on the list and choose one that includes the full-text article). Do not choose one for which you must pay money. Attempt to choose an article not chosen by someone else who has already posted their response. The intent is to learn from every research effort. Typically, every person has a different interest and rarely if ever have I seen the same resource chosen for this Discussion.
3. Next, go to the UIU library and choose a full text, peer-reviewed journal article (refer to the Week 1 Overview section for a reminder) related to your chosen mindtools.com topic (related to Business Communication).
4. For the third resource, go to your textbook and look in the Index for the topic (the one you chose from the mindtools.com website and the topic your chosen journal article has focus).
5. Write a three-five paragraph summary review of what you learned from these three resources about your chosen topic. You may include your own opinions and experience about the topic within your response. Somewhere, within the entire main response include one quote from the textbook, from the mindtools.com website, and from the journal article you acquired from the UIU library.
6. Use APA formatting for the three in-text citations and for the list of the three references at the end of the response. Refer to the APA Publication Manual for accurate formatting. (You should not cite the APA Manual as a reference.) Another resource to help in learning APA formatting is the Purdue OWL APA website. You already have experience with APA formatting of the textbook and journal articles in prior units. This is your opportunity to learn how to find APA-related resources by using how to use APA to format the mindtools.com website article (both in-text citation and reference list).
7. Give yourself the gift of allocating an appropriate amount of time to think, research, and
write. Follow the directions. Run spell and grammar check and proofread your crafted response (reading aloud is highly recommended because it slows down the review, indicates where pauses are appropriate, and suggests where editing is beneficial). Discussion settings allow you to edit an already posted response without any change in date or time.
8. As noted above, postings should be made on four of seven days during the week. A main response plus three additional conversational responses to other postings is a requirement. Main postings should be present on or before Day 4 (Thursday night).
9. Enjoy the learning journey. If you have questions or need clarification, send an email to petersonm@uiu.edu
ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE CLASS
Discussion Questions (DQ)
Initial responses to the DQ should address all components of the questions asked, include a minimum of one scholarly source, and be at least 250 words.
Also Read: BA 374 Diverse Workplace Audiences and Communications
Successful responses are substantive (i.e., add something new to the discussion, engage others in the discussion, well-developed idea) and include at least one scholarly source.
One or two sentence responses, simple statements of agreement or “good post,” and responses that are off-topic will not count as substantive. Substantive responses should be at least 150 words.
I encourage you to incorporate the readings from the week (as applicable) into your responses.
Weekly Participation
Your initial responses to the mandatory DQ do not count toward participation and are graded separately.
In addition to the DQ responses, you must post at least one reply to peers (or me) on three separate days, for a total of three replies.
Participation posts do not require a scholarly source/citation (unless you cite someone else’s work).
Part of your weekly participation includes viewing the weekly announcement and attesting to watching it in the comments. These announcements are made to ensure you understand everything that is due during the week.
APA Format and Writing Quality
Familiarize yourself with APA format and practice using it correctly. It is used for most writing assignments for your degree. Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for APA paper templates, citation examples, tips, etc. Points will be deducted for poor use of APA format or absence of APA format (if required).
Cite all sources of information! When in doubt, cite the source. Paraphrasing also requires a citation.
I highly recommend using the APA Publication Manual, 6th edition.
Use of Direct Quotes
I discourage overutilization of direct quotes in DQs and assignments at the Masters’ level and deduct points accordingly.
As Masters’ level students, it is important that you be able to critically analyze and interpret information from journal articles and other resources. Simply restating someone else’s words does not demonstrate an understanding of the content or critical analysis of the content.
It is best to paraphrase content and cite your source.
LopesWrite Policy
For assignments that need to be submitted to LopesWrite, please be sure you have received your report and Similarity Index (SI) percentage BEFORE you do a “final submit” to me.
Once you have received your report, please review it. This report will show you grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors that can easily be fixed. Take the extra few minutes to review instead of getting counted off for these mistakes.
Review your similarities. Did you forget to cite something? Did you not paraphrase well enough? Is your paper made up of someone else’s thoughts more than your own?
Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for tips on improving your paper and SI score.
Late Policy
The university’s policy on late assignments is 10% penalty PER DAY LATE. This also applies to late DQ replies.
Please communicate with me if you anticipate having to submit an assignment late. I am happy to be flexible, with advance notice. We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances.
If you do not communicate with me before submitting an assignment late, the GCU late policy will be in effect.
I do not accept assignments that are two or more weeks late unless we have worked out an extension.
As per policy, no assignments are accepted after the last day of class. Any assignment submitted after midnight on the last day of class will not be accepted for grading.
Communication
Communication is so very important. There are multiple ways to communicate with me:
Questions to Instructor Forum: This is a great place to ask course content or assignment questions. If you have a question, there is a good chance one of your peers does as well. This is a public forum for the class.
Individual Forum: This is a private forum to ask me questions or send me messages. This will be checked at least once every 24 hours.