Letter Report

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Assignment: Letter Report

Readings: Lesikar’s Chapter 12, pages 395 – 397
                  Sample Letter Report. pages 396 – 397
                  Lesikar’s Appendix B, pages 635 – 639

Length: 750 words minimum, not counting Works Cited

Audience: Your supervisor, colleagues, and clients

Purpose: To research and recommend career advice to potential clients

Format: Formal business letter style, including the following elements:
                    Return Address (or you may use a Letterhead)
                    Date
                    Inside Address
                    Salutation, followed by colon
                    Letter contents
                    Closing
                    Signature Block
                    Second Page Heading
                    MLA-style parenthetical, in-text references for any source material used
                    MLA-style Works Cited List

Writing Situation: You work for a company1 whose mission is to offer advice to college students who are considering their career options. In today’s meeting, your supervisor asked you to research the career outlook in one of the Occupation Groups listed in the “Occupational Outlook Handbook” section of the government’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) website available at this address: 2

For example, if you click the Education, Training, and Library link in the Occupational Groups list, you might research the career of High School Teacher. If you click the Healthcare link, you might research the Nursing career. You may select any career from the ones listed on the BLS website.

Assignment Requirements: Write a 750-word (roughly two full pages, single-spaced) Letter Report in which you present your findings about the career outlook for the occupation you have chosen to research. You should include the following information, in addition to any other relevant material you find in your research:

  • Employment prospects
  • Typical jobs
  • Advancement opportunities
  • Salary range
  • Career advantages/disadvantages
  • Typical responsibilities
  • Your recommendation (see below for more information about this important section)

To succeed on this assignment, you will need clear recommendations in your Report. The specific audience for this part of the Report will be the potential clients who seek advice about their careers. Based on your research, what would you recommend to a college student who is interested in the career you have researched in this Report?

In addition to the BLS website provided above, you might also search for information disseminated by professional societies. These groups will often publish useful statistics on salaries, working conditions, and other information about the field. For instance, the and are both professional societies for Accountants. Whatever sources you use should be credible and professional or academic-based. Do not consult sources such as Wikipedia, Ask, or other sites whose information might not be reliable.

You might also consider interviewing someone who currently works in this field although that is not a requirement of the assignment. 

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1 In writing about the company in this assignment, you should feel free to make up a company name.
2 You must use this website in your research.