Restaurant Mishap

Writing Assignment Guidelines for the Positive and Persuasive Message Assignments

1. Log in to MindTap and in the Week View, click on the assignment title, e.g. Who Done it? and/or Restaurant Mishap.

2. If the assignment wouldn’t load, please perform a System Check and adjust your browser’s settings accordingly. Link to System Check: http://ng.cengage.com/static/browsercheck/

3. Once you open the assignment, you’ll have four writing aids available:

a) Writing Prompt – This is basically your assignment; the scenario based on which you’ll have to write your essay. Please make sure to read it carefully but do not copy any sentences verbatim to use in your essay because the software will mark it as plagiarism and you will receive a 0.

Please write your essay in a Microsoft Word document and only post the final draft into MindTap when you are ready to submit a final copy. This is to ensure that you will not lose any work done due to internet connection problems or any technical difficulties. Please use the copy and paste icons within MindTap to copy and paste your essay; do not use keyboard shortcuts because it causes software issues. Only click the light blue “Submit and Score” icon if you are ready to submit the final version of the essay. Once the essay is submitted, it will be scored immediately and cannot be edited, even if submitted accidentally. Please be careful not to copy and paste your essay from a Word document into MindTap twice. MindTap will mark it as plagiarism as well.

b) My Editor – It will provide grammar and style feedback once any text is typed or posted into the white writing space. The feedback will be in general terms; it will not tell you how to edit exact sentences from your essay but will provide general guidelines.

c) My Tutor – Similarly to My Editor, My Tutor will provide general feedback about the Focus, Content, Organization, Language, and Mechanics of your essay. Again, exact sentences from your essay will not be corrected.

d) The Writer’s Model provides six sample essays scored between 1 and 6 points. The sample essay which scored six points is the best example that should guide you in writing. Again, please do not use any sentences from the writer’s model samples because the software will regard it as plagiarism.

e) If you click on Editor Only, all tutorials and the writing prompt will be hidden from your screen.

4. Format – Please use 12pt Times New Roman, single-space, double-space between paragraphs, 1-inch top and bottom margins, 1-inch left and right margins. Note that when you copy and paste your essay from a Word document into MindTap, your formatting is likely to change. Please make sure to manually adjust it, especially spacing between paragraphs. The space between each paragraph should not be greater than the space between paragraphs in these guidelines. If bullet points will not transfer, use hyphens instead.

5. Positive Message – This assignment contains an extensive scenario which should be followed closely when writing your message. However, if you would like to include any additional information to clarify your message, you are more than welcome to do so. You may make up any additional information you’d like. Please make sure to analyze your audience and reasons for writing, as discussed in the 3x3 writing process. Information in paragraphs should flow in a logical order. For ex.: Do not begin discussing an issue, then jump to an apology, and then return to describe the solution. Rather, begin conveying the good news, then return to describe the issue, what caused it, what have you done specifically to mitigate the issue and avoid its reoccurrence in the future (repeat up to this point with each issue discussed separately), then include an apology if appropriate (you should not just say: Sorry, this won’t happen again), restore confidence of the recipients in your institution and software, request feedback, and end with a pleasant closing.

Based on the scenario, there are three issues that occurred when the newly installed software did not function correctly and/or the bank tellers did not follow certain guidelines. You will need to address all three issues and discuss their solutions specifically. First, describe the issue, then discuss the solution, including specific implementation of the solution, describe how will this solution benefit the tellers and bank customers, and finally what will you do to ensure that this issue will not occur again. Repeat the same chain of thought for the remaining two issues. Remember, bank tellers may not have any IT background and may have no information regarding software issues, so explanation of processes and guidelines need to be specific. They also had to deal with upset customers because of you, the IT Head. It is your task to restore their confidence in the bank’s software and reassure them that this mishap will not happen again. However, do not merely state that it will not happen again but explain what changes you actually made to correct the mistakes. Make sure to explain everything in detail. Do not assume that they know and fully understand the information you’re trying to convey.

6. Persuasive Message – The assignment itself is very short; therefore, you will have to create any additional information for your essay. Feel free to use your imagination but remember to use only professional language and be very specific.

You are basically writing a news article addressed to past and future patrons of this restaurant who became ill after eating the food you’ve served. Your primary audience are the patrons but you have a secondary audience of anybody who will read this news article; therefore, even more extensive explanation is necessary to restore confidence in your restaurant. I cannot emphasize enough that the reader may not know what happened and therefore you shouldn’t expect them to automatically understand what information you’re trying to convey.

Your main task is to restore confidence in your restaurant and promote goodwill. Therefore, it is necessary to highlight any positive information about your restaurant. Why should patrons come back after they became ill? Then you should describe exactly what happened that made them ill. What did you do to ensure that this will never happen again? List incentives that will make restaurant patrons want to come back and have dinner at the restaurant again. Basically, after all is said and done, your essay should furnish specific and extensive answers described in different paragraphs to the following questions: who, what, when, where, why, and how.

7. Additional writing tips: The essays must be written in a highly professional language and contain 1.5 – 2 pages (800-900 words). “Short and sweet” essays will not be sufficient. For ex. half-page essays usually receive an unsatisfactory grade (F). Please follow the writing rules discussed in Chapters 8 and 10 regarding Positive and Persuasive messages, and the 3x3 writing process. Remember that sentences should contain no more than 20 words each. Also, you should review the Writing Rubric posted on Moodle to get a general idea of criteria based on which the essay will be graded.

Please be certain to use professional language: Any slang, idioms, or descriptive adjectives should be avoided. Business writing is different from what you’ve likely experienced in an English writing class. It is much less descriptive, more straightforward, and structured. Your essay should sound conversational but professional. Thoughts should be organized logically, follow a chronological order, and explain everything based on the scenario extensively. Do not assume that the reader knows what you are trying to say. Rather explain it more extensively and specifically. After reading your essay, the recipient of your message should not have any further questions.

Most importantly, if you have any questions or if you are uncertain about anything, please do not hesitate to ask before submitting your essay. Please do not try to copy phrases or sentences from the Writer’s Models or from the assignment itself. Substituting words with synonyms is considered plagiarism and your essay will automatically receive a score of 0. If you need help with paraphrasing correctly, please read pages 414-415 The Fine Art of Paraphrasing. It is located in Chapter 11, Section 4: Documenting Information, Sub-Heading: The Fine Art of Paraphrasing. The software stores all previously submitted student essays. If you’d try to submit another student’s essay, you will automatically receive a score of 0.

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