College and Business Composition

A New Writing Adventure 

By Prof. Randee Baty at The Lukeion Project

For years we’ve taught students to be prepared for the demands of college writing before they get there. We’ve offered College Composition, Advanced Research Writing, and rigorous writing assignments in most of our literature, history, and language classes. Many former students have sent us excellent feedback over the years, letting us know how well prepared they felt as they moved through their freshman year of college and beyond. This year, we’re building on our strong writing foundation and making it even better. Starting with the fall of 2026, we’re adding business communications to our composition class.

At The Lukeion Project, we recognize that our talented and ambitious students take many paths after graduation. Many go on to college, but many are already entrepreneurs or continue with apprenticeships, family businesses, the military, or training programs. They may need to understand how writing changes in a business setting compared to an academic setting and be prepared to deal with the types of communication present in business every day. With my undergraduate degree in accounting, which included Business Communication classes, and my graduate degree in English, where I studied all kinds of writing, I’m excited to add this element to our writing program!

If you are headed to college, all the elements that you need to feel confident with academic writing will be there. We will cover such topics as writing a well-constructed thesis statement, using academic vocabulary and tone, citing sources with ease, staying in third person, and organizing your work. These are all essential to the well-written college paper.

We will write two academic papers in this class. Students entering their freshman year will feel prepared to face the types of writing college professors will expect after finishing this course. For those who know they are headed straight to college after high school, we still suggest that you consider adding our “College Research Writing” semester course to your spring semester to ensure comfort with college libraries, academic databases, dealing with sources appropriately, and planning out research timelines. This has always been the progression of classes we have suggested.

If you are not headed to college, or know that you will be in the business world after college (hint: everyone is--in some way--once you’re an adult), we’ll be covering such ideas as professional email writing and etiquette, professional letter writing, basics of marketing tone vs. informational tone, working on a project with a team, and drafting strong memos. An example of something we might do in the class is writing copy for a new product a student might promote at conventions or online or writing memos for various purposes. Our young entrepreneurs should be able to clearly show the benefits of their products to a waiting audience.

Collaboration software is widely used in today’s business environment, so we’ll take a brief look at some of the more popular programs being used, such as Slack, Trello, and Google Calendar, which will give students a good idea of what they might encounter in business. Communicating clearly with an employer, your employees, or prospective clients will make everything about your business or employment more rewarding. Lack of effective writing skills is one of the key complaints of employers in survey after survey.

This type of instruction will also help when you deal with companies that you do business with as a customer. As an adult, being able to get help when needed, file a complaint, ask for a refund, or inquire about services that a company provides all fall under the umbrella of business communications. Many adults shy away from dealing with these types of issues because they are frustrated by their inability to get results. Proper communication techniques enable better results more quickly.

Fortunately, good writing is good writing from one arena to another.  Both types of writing require a clear purpose with an end-goal in mind. They both require strong audience awareness and an ability to adjust the techniques used to best address that audience. Both require the ability to organize and sequence ideas in a logical fashion. The writing for both must be clear and concise, precise and specific. Clarity and coherence are emphasized, and proper grammar and punctuation are a must in both settings. Both require integrity and honesty.

Today’s environment requires that both college students and business professionals transform written communication into other forms such as PowerPoint presentations. We’ll spend some time with that as well, talking about best practices and how to keep an audience engaged.

So, the bottom line is always, “Why should I take this course” or “Why should I enroll my child in this course?”  That’s the most important question to answer here. By the end of this course, the students should be able to

•          Complete college-level writing assignments competently and have the knowledge to keep leveling up the sophistication in their writing.
• Understand the core concepts of academic writing whether it is for research papers or other types of writing assignments.
• Acknowledge the audience that any writing project is for (college professor, scholarship committee, prospective clients, employer, employee) and adjust accordingly
• Understand the needs of strong business communications; information required and expected tone
• Write to employers or employees effectively
• Work in a collaborative business or educational environment comfortably
• Approach collaboration software programs with confidence

Our Lukeion parents and students stay with us because of the rigor and the support we provide. Both will remain the same for this course. A broader writing field, same expectations of hard work and integrity, varied and interesting assignments. I hope to see you there this fall!