MEMORANDUM

MEMORANDUM

To: English 102 Students

From: Lauren OConnor

Subject: Formal Assignment (FA) #1- Bad News Letter and Strategy Memorandum

Date: August 31, 2007

The purpose of this memo is to describe your first formal assignment and to detail assignment criteria and due dates. The goal of FA#1 is to practice letter and memo writing, and to more fully understand how audience, purpose, and tone affect a writing situation.Assignment Description

You are Chris Vanderson, president and owner of Custom Research Services. Your firm recently constructed a new headquarters building on a five-acre lot, and you've landscaped the unused four acres with lighted walkways, fountains, and ponds for employees to enjoy during their lunch hours, and before and after work. Your lovely, campus-like site is one of the few such locations within the city limits.

John Okura, the mayor of your city, will soon be running for reelection. He has written to you asking permission to hold a fund-raiser on your grounds on Saturday, September 22, from 8:00 p.m. until midnight. This event will be for heavy contributors-- up to 150 people, each paying $500, are expected to attend. His campaign will take care of all catering, security, and cleanup.

You do not want to become involved in this event for several reasons. First, you are not a supporter of the mayor's policies. Second, if the present mayor loses, you do not wish to risk offending the new mayor. Third, if you allow this event, you will probably receive many similar requests by other candidates, nonprofit organizations, and the like. Despite their best efforts, so many people gathered outside at night are likely to damage the lawn and plants and create other problems.

You decide to write a formal letter to the mayor and decline his request (The Honorable John Okura, Mayor of Hudson, City Hall, 2554 Main St., Hudson, Michigan 49236).

Your return address is the following:

Custom Research Services

434 Melrose Avenue

Hudson, Michigan 49236

Phone: (517) 973-8226

Fax: (517) 734-0129

www.customres.com

Criteria for Your Formal Bad News LetterYour letter should be type-written using block format (see attached sample letter), and it should adhere to the following six guidelines:

12 point Times or Times New Roman font (or another professional font like Garamond) One page in length

One inch margins on all sides (left, right, top and bottom) Include the mayors name/address and your own return address @ top (see attached sample letter) Address your letter to the mayor, not myself! Your greeting should read dear and your salutation should read sincerelysee back(Description of Strategy Memorandum (a pre-writing activity for your letter)Before you begin writing your bad news letter to the Mayor, youll want to do this pre-writing exercise that allows you to examine purpose, audience, information, (reader) benefits, objections, and context (a.k.a. PAIBOC) before you begin drafting your letter. This PAIBOC strategy memo should be addressed to me, not the mayor, and should contain six headings in bold font. See the handout entitled negative messages, p. 208-209 for more information regarding PAIBOC as a technical writing tool. Its always a good idea to analyze any writing situation before you begin writing a formal draft. We will discuss PAIBOC in more depth during class. Note: when you are writing your bad news letter, you may need to create certain details depending on the focus of your letter. For example, if you wish to provide Mayor Okura with the name of an alternative location for his event, feel free to create an original venue name if need be.Criteria for Your PAIBOC Strategy MemorandumAgain, you should write your PAIBOC strategy memo before you draft your letter. Your document should follow the conventions of a standard memorandum (see this assignment sheet as an example of how to format your memo). Also, be sure to adhere to the following seven guidelines: 12 point Times or Times New Roman font (or another professional font like Garamond) Do not to exceed 1-2 pages in length One inch margins on all sides (left, right, top, and bottom)

Address the To: field to Lauren OConnor

Your Subject Line should read PAIBOC Strategy Memo

Include a statement of purpose before you begin your first heading. A statement of purpose is usually rather concise and it explains the purpose of the memo itself. Include the following 6 bolded headings: Purpose, Audience, Information, Benefits, Objections, ContextValue of AssignmentFA #1 is worth up to 50 points; see below for a breakdown of the grading system:

35 points for your formal letter 10 points for your PAIBOC strategy memorandum addressed to your instructor 5 points for attendance and active participation during peer review

Dates and Deadlines

Below are important due dates for FA#1:

3 copies of your rough draft of FA#1 (your letter and your PAIBOC strategy memo) due at the beginning of class (Monday, September 10)

1 revised copy of FA#1 (your letter and your PAIBOC strategy memo) + your peer review sheet(s) due at the beginning of class (Friday, September 14)

MEMORANDUMTo: English 102 Students

From: Lauren OConnor

Subject: Formal Assignment (FA) #1- Grading Criteria

Date: Fall Semester 2007

The purpose of this memo is to outline the grading criteria for FA#1. Please review the criteria prior to submitting your finalized FA#1. Let me know if you have any questions.

Recommendation Memo Point BreakdownTone and Content (10 points)

_________

Audience Awareness & Audience-Centered Language (10 points)

_________

Organization of Ideas (5 points)

_________

Grammar, Punctuation, Style, and Clarity (5 points)

_________

Format: Margins, Spacing, Block Format etc. (5 points)

_________

PAIBOC strategy memo submitted by deadline (10)

_________

Peer review participation and attendance (5)

_________

Overall Point Total (out of 50 possible)

_________