As the fall school term approaches, I know that many of you business communication and business English instructors are planning your courses and wondering if budget cuts will affect your enrollments and scheduling.
In addition to news of the economic downturn, here in Santa Barbara we faced a major fire that forced my family and me to evacuate. At the right is a photo of the approaching fire on our street last May. As I quickly packed a few things to take, one of my first thoughts was to grab my MaXtor backup disk with all of my book files. Fortunately, the fire raged only to the corner of our community, where firefighters made a stand and no homes were lost. Along with 30,000 other evacuees, we were allowed to return to our home after three days.
Life is back to normal, and I'm busy working on two books at the same time, Business English, 10e, and Business Communication: Process and Product, 7e.
Big Change in Business English, 10e, Coming in January, 2010
Because so many courses are now being offered online, the Tenth Edition of Business English will present a revolutionary change! My coauthor, Carolyn Seefer, and I not only revised and updated the entire book, but we also decided to convert half of the reinforcement exercises to interactive online tutorials. Instructors do not have to explain and check every exercise in class. We do it for you, and we provide excellent feedback for every question. We'll be sending more information about this new edition in the fall.
Need Writing and Grammar Short Brush-Up Exercises?
When your students need a quick review of a writing or grammar principle or when you have extra time available during class, use one of my quickie Writing Improvement handouts. These exercises cover such topics as Dangling and Misplaced Modifiers, Affect/Effect, Active/Passive Voice, Capitalization Review, Five Comma Rules, Revising for Conciseness, 20 Words and Expressions to Avoid, Résumé Statements, and Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement. In this issue, my Writing Technique exercise is titled "Perfecting Parallelism." For each issue of the newsletter, I prepare one new exercise. The entire collection is available at www.meguffey.com for registered instructors.
Ask the Author: Chew-Toy Walks Into Office
Misplaced modifiers can result in hilarious bloopers, and Gifford Walker, Fountainhead College, submitted a dandy. See my "Ask the Author" column for advice on remedying this classic blooper and also check out my advice for sending photos with résumés.
Going Green With Guffey Online Materials
Dr. Vesta Whisler, Valdosta State University, reports that the extensive Guffey online support materials have helped in her "going green" effort. This is her attempt to nearly eliminate paper usage in both her face-to-face class and her online classes. She presents everything electronically, and students submit homework the same way. Dr. Whisler says, "It's a challenge to help students with grammar and mechanics in the communication course, but your Personal Trainer has been a Godsend! It allows me to concentrate on the writing and communication aspects of the course, but it provides students with the practice they so desperately need."
Guffey Pretest/Posttest Used in University of Idaho Research
Dr. Marcella Enos used the Essentials of Business Communication Grammar/Mechanics Pretest and Posttest for a research project at the University of Idaho. Results of her study showed that students who took business English scored higher than students in paralegal and law enforcement classes who did not take such a course. These results are hardly surprising! But administrators often fail to accept this reality. Dr. Enos will present her research at the Association for Business Communication conference in Portsmouth, Virginia, in November.
Back From China
Business English coauthor Carolyn Seefer recently returned from a two-week cultural walking tour of China that included delivering school supplies to elementary school students in a rural farming village.
Fifty Lashes With a Wet Noodle!
Marcia Polanis, Forsyth Technical Community College in Winston-Salem, was horrified to see the instructor's edition of Essentials of Business Communication advertised for sale at half.com. She asks for "50 lashes with more than a wet noodle to the person who is selling." I thanked Marcia for reporting this to me. Our legal staff at Cengage Learning acts immediately to warn sellers that offering items such as instructor's editions is illegal. Once notified, sellers usually withdraw the items. However, you should be aware that students may have access to such items.
Kudos to You for Contributing Your Syllabi
Many ABC members contributed their syllabi to a new listing in the Members Only section of the ABC site. I was very proud to see that, of the 41 syllabi submitted for undergraduate business communication courses, 10 were from those of you using one of my books! Such a showing is very gratifying to an author! Remember, though, that I also provide exemplary sample syllabi from business English and business communication instructors across the country. To receive my list of sample syllabi links, just send your request to me at the address below.
See You in November at the 2009 ABC Meeting in Portsmouth, Virginia
It's always wonderful to greet you at the Association for Business Communication conference each year. This year's conference will be in historic Portsmouth from November 4-7. Please drop by the Cengage Learning booth during break times to chat about your courses and students. Learn more about the conference at http://www.businesscommunication.org.
If you have questions or comments about your courses or ideas for this newsletter, let me hear from you! To order my books or support materials, call Cengage Learning at 1-800-423-0563.
Wishing you all the best,
Mary Ellen
m.e.guffey at cox.net