Course Title: Write complex documents

Part B: Course Detail

Teaching Period: Term2 2014

Course Code: OFFC5208C

Course Title: Write complex documents

School: 650T TAFE Business

Campus: City Campus

Program: C4340 - Certificate IV in Frontline Management

Course Contact : Sylvia Baroutis

Course Contact Phone: +61 3 9925 5469

Course Contact Email:sylvia.baroutis@rmit.edu.au


Name and Contact Details of All Other Relevant Staff

Seymour Jacobson

Tel: 9925 1563

seymour.jacobson@rmit.edu.au
 

Nominal Hours: 50

Regardless of the mode of delivery, represent a guide to the relative teaching time and student effort required to successfully achieve a particular competency/module. This may include not only scheduled classes or workplace visits but also the amount of effort required to undertake, evaluate and complete all assessment requirements, including any non-classroom activities.

Pre-requisites and Co-requisites

None

Course Description

This unit describes the performance outcomes, skills and knowledge required to plan documents, draft text, prepare final text and produce documents of some complexity.


National Codes, Titles, Elements and Performance Criteria

National Element Code & Title:

BSBWRT401A Write complex documents

Element:

1. Plan documents

Performance Criteria:

1.1. Determine the purposes of documents
1.2. Choose appropriate formats for documents
1.3. Establish means of communication
1.4. Determine requirements of documents
1.5. Determine categories and logical sequences of data, information and knowledge to achieve document objectives
1.6. Develop overview of structure and content of documents
 

Element:

2. Draft text

Performance Criteria:

2.1. Review and organise available data, information and knowledge according to proposed structure and content
2.2. Ensure data, information and knowledge is aggregated, interpreted and summarised to prepare text that satisfies document purposes and objectives
2.3. Include graphics as appropriate
2.4. Identify gaps in required data and information, and collect additional material from relevant enterprise personnel
2.5. Draft text according to document requirements and genre
2.6. Use language appropriate to the audience
 

Element:

3. Prepare final text

Performance Criteria:

3.1. Review draft text to ensure document objectives are achieved and requirements are met
3.2. Check grammar, spelling and style for accuracy and punctuation
3.3. Ensure draft text is approved by relevant enterprise personnel
3.4. Process text amendments as required
 

Element:

4. Produce document

Performance Criteria:

4.1. Choose basic design elements for documents appropriate to audience and purpose
4.2. Use word processing software to apply basic design elements to text
4.3. Check documents to ensure all requirements are met
 


Learning Outcomes



Details of Learning Activities

This course will focus on in-class exercises that build business document production skills. The major reports produced may be used as assessment  for other courses.


Teaching Schedule

Teaching Schedule

<thead> <th scope="col">Week</th> <th scope="col">Elements and Performance Criteria</th> <th scope="col"> Content and assessment</th> </thead>
1. 7 July

Introduction to course

Course overview, Assessment overview, Academic administration

 

2. 14 July

 1. Plan documents
1.1 Determine the purposes of documents
1.2 Choose appropriate formats for documents
1.3 Establish means of communication
1.4 Determine requirements of documents
1.5 Determine categories and logical sequences of data, information and knowledge to achieve document objectives
1.6 Develop overview of structure and content of documents

Business writing Chapter 15   The three-step writing process;The seven components of writing style

Assessment 1 In-class exercises
Practice exercises 1a - g, and 4 and 9  (Page 427)
Complete in class and submit

 3.21 July  1. Plan documents
1.1 as above

Business writing Chapter 15    Organisation’s signature    Evaluate and revise   Advantages of writing in plain English

Assessment 1 In-class exercises
Practice exercise 1a,b,c,d (Page 433)
Complete in class and submit 

 4. 28 July

 

 

2. Draft text
2.1 Review and organise available data, information and knowledge according to proposed structure and content 
2.2 Ensure data, information and knowledge is aggregated, interpreted and summarised to prepare text that satisfies document purposes and objectives
2.3 Include graphics as appropriate
2.4 Identify gaps in required data and information, and collect additional material from relevant enterprise personnel
2.5 Draft text according to document requirements and genre
2.6 Use language appropriate to the audience


Writing emails, memos, and short reports - Chapter 17

Assessment 1 In-class exercises
Practice exercise 2 a,  Page 490
Complete in class and submit 

Assessment 2a Plan for Report on Social Sustainability in your home(Implement and monitor environmentally sustainable work practices)

 ONLINE CLASS

5. 4 August

ONLINE CLASS ONLY

2. Draft text
2.1  as above

Writing emails, memos, types of reports  and short reports Chapter 17
Short report writing; Short report formats

Assessment 1 In-class exercises
Practice exercise 2 b, Page 490
Complete and submit


Assessment 2b Draft  Report on Social Sustainability in your home (Implement and monitor environmentally sustainable work practices)

 6. 11 August 2. Draft text
2.1 as above

  Writing business letters Chapter 16
The three-step writing process for business letter; formatting a businesss letter; writing different types of letters; writing recommendations

Assessment 1 In-class exercises
Practice exercise 4 (Page 451)
Complete in class and submit 

 7. 18 August  2. Draft text
2.1 as above
 Writing business letters - Chapter 16
The three-step writing process for a business letter. Writing different types of letters

Assessment 1 In-class exercises
Practice exercise 3 (Page 458)
 Case study 2, Questions 1,2 (Page 478)
Complete in class and submit

 8.  25 August

ONLINE CLASS

  ONLINE CLASS ONLY

2. Draft text
2.1 as aboive

 ONLINE  CLASS ONLY

  Assessment 1 exercises
Case study 2, Questions 1,2,3 (Page 510)
Complete and submit

1-7 September

                                        MID SEMESTER BREAK

 

                                    MID SEMESTER BREAK

 9. 8 September 3. Prepare final text
3.1 Review draft text to ensure document objectives are achieved and requirements are met
3.2 Check grammar, spelling and style for accuracy and punctuation
3.3 Ensure draft text is approved by relevant enterprise personnel
3.4 Process text amendments as required
Writing long reports Chapter 18
Planning, writing, formatting, completing long reports

Assessment 1 In-class exercises
Review questions 1,16,17,18 (Pages 544-545)

Complete in class and submit

10. 15 September 3. Prepare final text
3.1 as above
Writing long reports Chapter 18
Planning, writing, formatting, completing long reports
11.22 September   3. Prepare final text
3.1 as above

  Writing technical documents - Chapter 19
Style, outlining, definitions

 

 12. 29 September

ONLINE CLASS

 ONLINE CLASS ONLY

3. Prepare final text
3.1 as above

 ONLINE CLASS ONLY

 

 13. 6 October  3. Prepare final text
3.1as above

 Communicating visually through graphics Chapter 20
Effective visual communication ; Types of graphics

Assessment 3a Draft report on Home Sustainability (Implement and monitor environmentally sustainable work practices)
 

 14. 13 October

 4. Produce document
4.1 as above

 Assessment 1 In-class exercises
To Be Advised
Complete in class and submit

 15.  20 October  4. Produce document
4.1 as above

 Assessment 3b Final report on Home Sustainability -(Implement and monitor environmentally sustainable work practices)

 16. 27 October     Course Review

NOTE : This schedule may be varied due to unforeseen circumstances but students will not be disadvantaged as a result 

 


Learning Resources

Prescribed Texts

Dwyer, J 2012  The Business Communication Handbook 9 ed,  Pearson,  Australia.

9781442546738


References


Other Resources

1. RMIT Library
2. myRMIT
 


Overview of Assessment

Assessment may incorporate a variety of methods including technical requirements documentation, homework, assignments, group and/or individual projects, in class exercises, written and practical assessments, problem solving exercises, presentations, direct observation of actual and simulated work practice, presentation of portfolio of evidence which may comprise documents, and/or photographs and/or video and audio files, review of products produced through work based or course activities.

Students are advised that they are likely to be asked to personally demonstrate their assessment work to their teacher to ensure that the relevant competency standards are being met. Students will be provided with feedback throughout the course to check their progress.


Assessment Tasks

Assessment 1  In-class and online exercises
Complete exercises in class every week and during online weeks. Students, draft, edit and finalise in class, submit online

 Assessment 2a
Plan for Report for course Implement and monitor environmentally sustainable work practices Week 4
Students will write a plan for the report for the Social Sustainability part of the Home Sustainability Report.

Content of the plan will include:

  • Purpose of the report
  • Appropriate format
  • How the report will be communicated
  • Document requirements
  • Categories of data and
  • Sequence of data
  • Information and knowledge to be used
  • Overview of structure and content

Assessment 2b
Draft Report for Social Sustainability report Implement and monitor environmentally sustainable work practices
Students will prepare a draft report as required for the sustainability course EASC5040C 
Partial co-assessment with the Sustainability Course EASC5040C Week 5

 

Assessment 3a
 Draft report  on Home Sustainability Improvement (Implement and monitor environmentally sustainable work practices) Week 13 
 
 Assessment 3b
 
Final report 2000 words on Home Sustainability Improvement (Implement and monitor environmentally sustainable work practices)
   Students will prepare a Final Report for course EASC5040C 
 


Assessment Matrix

REQUIRED SKILLS AND KNOWLEDGE
This section describes the skills and knowledge required for this unit.


Required skills
• communication skills to clarify requirements of documents
• literacy skills to edit and proofread documents; to create documents with a complex, organised structure of linked paragraphs which use simple and complex syntactic structure
• numeracy skills to collate and present data, graphs and annotated references
• problem-solving skills to use processes flexibly and interchangeably.


Required knowledge
• enterprise style guide/house style
• formatting styles and their impact on formatting, readability and appearance of documents
• organisational requirements for ergonomics, work periods and breaks, and resource conservation techniques
• rules and conventions for written English, as defined by general and specialist dictionaries and books about grammar.
 

Other Information

Academic Administration Procedure

Plagiarism
Plagiarism is the presentation of the work, idea or creation of another person as though it is your own. It is a form of cheating and is a very serious academic offence that may lead to expulsion from the University. Plagiarised material can be drawn from, and presented in, written, graphic and visual form, including electronic data and oral presentation. Plagiarism occurs when the origin of the material used is not appropriately cited. Examples of plagiarism include:
• Copying sentences or paragraphs word-for-word from one or more sources, whether published or unpublished, which could include but is not limited to books, journals, reports, theses, websites, conference papers, course notes, etc. without proper citation;
• Piecing together text from one or more sources and adding only linking sentences;
• Copying or submitting whole or parts of computer files without acknowledging their source;
• Copying a whole or any part of another student’s work; and
• Submitting work as your own that someone else has done for you.
For further information including “Plagiarism (and how to avoid it): Resources for Students” refer to the Plagiarism section of the RMIT Policies, at http://www.rmit.edu.au/governance/policies in the Teaching and Learning Policy section. Penalties include official reprimand, recording of a failure result or expulsion from the University

Referencing
Students are to use the Harvard Referencing System
Essays which do not use the Harvard system of referencing will not be graded until referencing is correct. Wrong referencing includes using the footnote system instead of the Harvard (author-date) system, no page numbers in references where there is a quote, being unable to use the formula for in-text referencing, using a bibliography instead of a reference list, having no reference list, failing to show where a quote begins and ends, writing out the book title because you don’t know how to use references and not using all elements of the reference citation i.e. surname, initial, date published, title (correctly signified), publisher and place published. Minor errors such as wrong punctuation, a wrong page number or a simple typographical error in a date are not defined as an error.

Submission Requirements
Assessment tasks need to be via electronic submission from the students via MyRMIT and then hard copies (if required by your teacher) handed in during class.


Late Submission Procedures
You are required to submit assessment items and/or ensure performance based assessment is completed by the due dates.
If you are prevented from submitting an assessment item on time, by circumstances outside your control, you may apply in advance to your teacher for an extension to the due date of up to seven calendar days.


More information: http://www.rmit.edu.au/students/assessment/extension
Form to use: http://mams.rmit.edu.au/seca86tti4g4z.pdf


Where an extension of greater than seven days is needed, you must apply for special consideration. Applications for special consideration must be submitted no later than two working days after the assessment task deadline or scheduled examination.
More information: http://www.rmit.edu.au/browse;ID=g43abm17hc9w
Form to use: http://mams.rmit.edu.au/8a5dgcaqvaes1.pdf


Resubmissions:
If you are found to be Not Yet Competent in a Course Assessment Task you will be allowed one resubmission only. Your teacher will provide feedback regarding what you need to do to improve and will set a new deadline for the resubmission. The highest grade you will receive if your resubmission is successful is "CAG".
If you are still not meeting the assessment requirements you must apply to your Program manager in writing outlining the steps you will take to demonstrate competence in your course. Your submission will be considered by the Program Team and you will be advised of the outcome as soon as possible.
 

Adjustments to Assessment
In certain circumstances students may be eligible for an assessment adjustment. For more information about the cirumstances under which the assessment arrangements might be granted please access the following website:
More Information: http://rmit.edu.au/browse;ID=7usdbki1fjf31


You should:
• Ensure that you submit assessments on or before the due date. If your performance in the assessment is affected by unexpected circumstances, you should consider applying for Special Consideration. Information on the process and application forms is available at myRMIT and check links in your Student Diary.
• Always retain a copy of your assessment tasks (hrd copy and soft copy)
• When you submit work for assessment at RMIT University you need to use a cover sheet that includes a declaration and statement of authorship. You must complete and submit an Assessment Record/Cover Sheet with work you submit for assessment, whether individual or group work. On the cover sheet you declare that the work you are presenting for assessment is your own work. You will find the relevant Assessment Record/Cover Sheet on Blackboard.
• Each page of your assessment should include a footer with your name, student number, the title of the assessment, unit code and title and page numbers.


Marking Guide (competency):
Vocational Education and Training (VET) is based on current industry needs and the focus on preparing you for the workplace. Because VET courses are informed by practical application of knowledge and skills, they are based on a system known as ‘competency based training’ (CBT). So when you are assessed in VET it is about whether you are competent to do the job, as well as having a firm grasp on the knowledge and skills required to do that job, as opposed to traditional curriculum based education settings that are often based on knowledge retention.
You need to demonstrate you are competent in each element of the unit of competency you are studying. You will receive feedback on each assessment task that will inform you whether you are competent or not and how well you are performing. Once competent in all elements of the unit you pass that unit of competency.

Marking Guide (Grading)
Each assessment task is marked as Competent or Not Yet Competent, but not graded until achieving competency across the assessment tasks. We then grade your performance in the unit; this gives you the opportunity to have the level of your performance formally recognized against industry standards and employability skills.
The grading is according to the following criteria:


1. LEVEL OF INDEPENDENCE, INITIATIVE, ENTERPRISE AND PERFORMANCE OF WORK TASK
We are looking for a high level of ability to complete all tasks independently as per the specifications as well as demonstrating a high level of initiative in your approach to implementing writing complex documents in a workplace situation


2. DEMONSTRATED BREADTH OF UNDERPINNING KNOWLEDGE AND A WILLINGNESS TO CONTINUE LEARNING
We are looking for depth of understanding of the key concepts and knowledge required in writing in the workplace.. You should be able to demonstrate a thorough understanding of all applicable writing principles in all the assessment tasks.


3. TECHNIQUES & PROCESSES, TECHNOLOGY SKILLS AND PROBLEM SOLVING
We are looking for appropriate use of technology to assist in presenting all tasks clearly and suitable for the intended audience. You also need to show an understanding of the kinds of problems that can arise in writing complex documents

4. WORK ORGANISATION, PLANNING AND SELF MANAGEMENT
We expect to see on-going uploading of information that is relevant to the unit, full utilisation of Blackboard as per course requirements and timely submission of all required assessment tasks.


5. COMMUNICATION, PEOPLE NETWORKING, LANGUAGE AND INTERPERSONAL SKILLS AND TEAMWORK
We expect to see contributions to relevant discussions and scheduled collaborative sessions. In addition your tasks should demonstrate a very good understanding of strategies to writing complex documents.


Marking Guide (Grading)
After achieving competency we then grade your performance in the unit; this gives you the opportunity to have the level of your performance formally recognised against industry standards and employability skills.
Final Grades Table:
CHD Competent with High Distinction
CDI Competent with Distinction
CC Competent with Credit
CAG Competency Achieved – Graded
NYC Not Yet Competent
DNS Did not Submit for assessment

Course Overview: Access Course Overview