For this discussion board, you will analyze a problem on campus or in your work setting. Some examples can be found in Activities 5.15 and 5.16 on pages 183-184. Your post will be an actual message (letter, memo, or email) that could be sent to an appropriate campus official or your supervisor to propose a solution and persuade the audience to implement the change.
- First determine the problem.
- Once you have determined the problem, complete Phase 1 (prewriting) of the 3-x-3 writing process to analyze your audience, anticipate how the audience will react, and adapt the message for the audience. You will not post anything at this point.
- Then, complete Phase 2 of the process where you will draft your message. Use the strategies and tips from Chapter 5 as you prepare your first draft.
- When ready, your initial post will be your first draft. Type your message (letter, memo, or email) into the discussion board exactly as you would in a message to the campus official or your supervisor. You will make revisions to your first draft in your reply post.
Reply Post (10 points):
You are only required to make one reply post and it will be a reply to your own initial post. In Chapter 6, you learn about revising business messages (Phase 3). Using the strategies and tips from Chapter 6, make five suggestions on how you can revise YOUR OWN message from your initial post. While you should use the strategies from Chapter 6, you should not simply list the type of revision (ex: Ditch Long Lead-Ins). Instead, you should explain how this would be done in YOUR message. (ex: Remove the phrase “This email is to inform you that” from the first sentence in the email. This phrase is unnecessary. Instead, the sentence should begin with “Available parking has become an obvious issue on campus.”)
You do not need to retype your message. There is always room for improvement, so stating that your message does not need revising will result in zero points for the reply post.
