Berea College - Economics and Business - Written Communication Plan

“It is socially unacceptable to submit written work with an annoying level of error.
You may damage yourself irrevocably in business and professional life if you do so. You
might as well learn the habits of careful editing and proofreading now while you are in college.”
-- John C. Bean

Statement to Students
Written communication skills are important in any profession; they are essential for students seeking a career in business or economics. Students are expected to display critical thinking skills, construct an argument based on evidence, and demonstrate practical reasoning in all written work. The Economics & Business Department has developed a Written Communication Plan to help you better understand the skills you will be expected to learn and to let you know where the opportunities exist in the curriculum to practice these writing skills.

Students will be exposed to writing for diverse audiences, from colleagues and management to customers and clients. Various forms of written communications will be completed in departmental courses, including professional proposals, reports, memos, research papers, and case analyses. Students will have opportunities to write both individually and in a team environment. Our goal is to provide opportunities for students to improve their written and oral communication skills in order to help prepare them for the challenges of their chosen professions in business, government, not-for-profits, and academics.

Written Communication Standards
The department offers two areas of study, economics and business administration, and each has discipline-specific goals. For both areas, a high level of written communication skill is critical.

Writing well is a learned skill that benefits from practice. The practice of good writing involves planning, researching, drafting, reviewing, and revising. Writing for different disciplines may have different end products from other academic disciplines (case analyses, reports, memos), but good writing shares some common characteristics.

Economics
Economists in any field (education, research, business, or government) spend a majority of their time producing written documentation. As such, a high level of written communication skill is required of all economics majors. All economic majors should demonstrate the ability to:

Several economics courses provide the opportunity to practice these skills, including assignments, projects, or assessments. Courses offering these opportunities are identified in the following table. (‘X’ indicates that the course has assignments, exercises or exams that address the goal.)

Business Administration
Business administration majors, whether completing an accounting, finance, management, or marketing concentration, must have good written communication skills. Business administration majors will be given opportunities to practice these skills in the following ways:

Business courses that provide opportunities to practice these skills are identified in the following table.

Student Evaluation
Students will be evaluated for specific written communication skills in each of the courses identified above. The instructor will give clear guidance on the requirements of written communication assignments as well as the standards the student will be expected to meet. The instructor will provide feedback on students’ written work. During the semester, instructors will refer students failing to meet minimal standards to the Center for Learning, Teaching, Communication and Research (the Learning Center).
At the end of each designated written communication course, the instructor may identify students that have not met the minimal requirements for the skill being evaluated in that course. As with all requirements, it is ultimately the student’s responsibility to meet the department's minimum written communication requirements.

Conclusion
Good writing skills are critical to the intellectual development of both economists and business professionals. The General Studies curriculum provides a foundation for the written communication goals Economics & Business Administration majors need. The department seeks to build on that foundation by providing opportunities to enhance and develop those skills in economics and business contexts.