professional writing

Unit 2 Writing Assignment: Professional Correspondence (3 parts) Worth: 90 points (30 for each part of the assignment) Document Type: Microsoft Word (*.doc or *.docx) or Rich Text Format (*.rtf) File Name: Last Name First Name – Unit x – day month year.doc Example: Higgins Jeffrey – Unit 1 – 3 June 2012.doc Readings: See Chapters 5-9 in Business and Professional Writing: A Basic Guide for Americans Instructions For this writing assignment, you need to write three pieces of correspondence: a bad-news letter, a good-news memo, and a persuasive response email to a customer complaint. Each piece of correspondence should have appropriate formatting, including a header, inside address, salutation, body, complimentary closing, signature/printed name, and any addendums such as an enclosure line or cc line, where needed (refer to the text as necessary). You will be graded on the accuracy of your formatting as well as the tone and style of your writing. For each piece of correspondence, you’re going to pretend that you are an employee in a manufacturing firm called Omni Consumer Products (O.C.P.). You will use your name to sign each piece of correspondence, and your title will be Administrative Assistant to Richard Jones, Vice President of O.C.P. You will write each letter from your perspective as the Administrative Assistant, and you will work to maintain your company’s professional image through your writing. Please write all three pieces of correspondence on separate pages in the same Word Document, and just save and submit one document.

Correspondence 1 – Bad-News Letter Author: You – An Administrative Assistant at Omni Consumer Products Audience: A Job Applicant, Bertrand McConnaughy Genre: Bad-news letter, Block Format Information: You are the Administrative Assistant to Richard Jones, Vice President of Omni Consumer Products. Roughly a month ago, the firm announced a job to be awarded to one of the company’s interns, one that would offer the successful applicant an opportunity to work side by side with the Vice President in many facets of the company’s administration. Consequently, requirements are rigorous, and

many otherwise exceptional applicants will have to be turned down in selecting the most promising candidate. Bertrand McConnaughy is one of those otherwise exceptional applicants. Write a block format letter on behalf of Richard Jones (not as Richard Jones), telling him that he is not a finalist a finalist for the internship. The primary reason for Bertrand’s rejection is that he is a first-semester junior, whereas the majority of applicants had significantly higher class standing (and therefore more experience). This is the only essential information of the letter; use your best judgment to determine what else you might say in accomplishing the letter’s overall purpose. You may invent addresses and details for the header and inside address.

Correspondence 2 – Good-News Memo Author: You – An Administrative Assistant at Omni Consumer Products Audience: Another Job Applicant, Byron Jamieson Genre: Positive Message, Memo Format Information: You are the Administrative Assistant to Richard Jones, Vice President of Omni Consumer Products. Roughly a month ago, the firm announced a job to be awarded to one of the company’s interns, one that would offer the successful applicant an opportunity to work side by side with the Vice President in many facets of the company’s administration. Several of the interns have been selected for an interview with Richard Jones, Vice President of O.C.P. Write a professional memo to one of the interns, Byron Jamieson, telling him that he has earned one of the final interview slots. In addition, tell him that you, the Administrative Assistant, would like him to call you upon receiving the letter to schedule the next phase of the application process: the in-person interview with President Jones. (As the initial job announcement requested, Byron has already sent them a letter of application, a transcript, and a sample of his written work.) Your telephone number is 317-220-7909.

Correspondence 3 – Persuasive Response Email Author: You – An Administrative Assistant at Omni Consumer Products Audience: An Unhappy O.C.P. Customer Genre: Persuasive Response, Email Format *Note – Don’t actually write and send an email, just write it out as a document, as if it were an email Information: You are the Administrative Assistant to Richard Jones, Vice President of Omni Consumer Products. This morning, you received the following email about a

problem with one of O.C.P.’s products, the recent software updates to the Security Upgrades to the ED-209 Home Response System. To: OCP Customer Service From: Alex and Ellen Murphy ([email protected]) Subject: Malfunctioning Home Response System Date: June 10, 2012 Dear O.C.P., We are very upset with the services you have provided for our O.C.P. Home Response System (Model # ED-209). The system has always been reliable until last month’s mandatory software upgrade to version 3.8.133 (on May 16, 2012). After the upgrade, the system stopped recognizing our passwords and would not permit us to enter our own home. We had to call the dealer who sent a repairman out to the location. He was able to shut down the Home Response System, but it has not worked since. We would like you to do something about our malfunctioning system, and we would like it done quickly, as we’ve already been waiting a month. You may reach us at our home phone number (361.555.5555) or by responding to this email. Sincerely, Alex and Ellen Murphy It will be your job to respond to the complaint with an appropriate, professional tone that maintains good customer relations for your company. Your company is aware of the problem with the ED-209 Home Response System, and it is a problem with the most recent version upgrade to version 3.8.133. You understand the customer’s frustration, since the upgrade was installed a month ago and caused the system to be down since then. The new upgrade will be released next week (the morning of June 17, 2012). The Murphys will just have to make sure their ED-209 unit is plugged into its docking station and connected to the internet. It will download the new software upgrade to version 3.9.002 automatically. It should be restored to normal operation after the upgrade.

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