BUSINESS CORRESPONDENCE PROJECT Frequently Asked Questions
- When I submit for grading, should I submit two different files—one for the PAGOS and one for the correspondence? NEW!
- For the BCP, can we use the PAGOS blank document we used for the practice exercise we did a few weeks ago? NEW!
- What scenarios should I write to?
- Is there a difference between positive, neutral, and informational contexts?
- When writing our correspondence draft, are we required to write in a certain form like email, letter, memo, or any?
- My scenario doesn’t say whether I should write an email, memo, or letter. How do I know which one to choose?
- When we write our PAGOS plans for the BCP project, should we do what we did for the “PAGOS Practice” assignment?
Answers to Frequently Asked Questions
Q. When I submit for grading, should I submit two different files—one for the PAGOS and one for the correspondence?
A. I prefer both documents—the PAGOS and correspondence—saved as one file.
Q. For the BCP, can we use the PAGOS blank document we used for the practice exercise we did a few weeks ago?
A. Yes! You can use the blank PAGOS file for the BCP plans. In fact, I recommend it!
Q. What scenario should I write to?
A. You must write for the scenarios you were assigned (by character). This information will be posted to Canvas.
Q. Is there a difference between positive, neutral, and informational contexts?
A. For our purposes, no—positive, neutral, and informational are all one context.
There are three broad contexts for professional correspondence: 1) positive/neutral/informational, 2) negative, and 3) persuasive.
That first context—positive/neutral/informational—is one context. In other words, positive = neutral = informational.
I realize my language for positive/neutral/informational was inconsistent. Sometimes I called it “positive,” sometimes “positive/neutral,” and sometimes “neutral/informational.”
I’ve gone back through everything on Canvas and all my course materials, notes, and readings (linked from the course schedule) and corrected every instance of inconsistent language I found.
You should now see “positive/neutral/informational” everywhere.
However, there may be a few stray instances of inconsistent language that I missed. If you come across one of these, just know that positive, neutral, and/or informational all mean the same context. Think of it as positive/neutral/informational.
Q. When writing our correspondence draft, are we required to write in a certain form like email, letter, memo, or any?
A. Yes. You are required to write your correspondence as a correspondence genre—email or memo or letter.
Based on your understanding of correspondence genre conventions and what’s presented in the scenario text, you need to make a purposeful decision about which genre to write within.
Take a a rhetorical approach and use your PAGOS plan to guide your decisions. In the PAGOS plan, genre asks:
- What genres might be appropriate in this situation?
- If there is more than one appropriate genre, what are the benefits and drawbacks of each?
- Which genre is best (or which do you choose)? Why?
Q. My scenario doesn’t say whether I should write an email, memo, or letter. How do I know which one to choose?
A. You should make the best choice based on your understanding of the genres, the scenarios, and other elements of your PAGOS plan (purpose, audience, [genre], organization, and style).
Q. When we write our PAGOS plans for the BCP project, should we do what we did for the “PAGOS Practice” assignment?
A. The PAGOS plan is a heuristic—part of a rhetorical approach.
As a heuristic, it’s supposed to be flexible—not formulaic or fill-in-the-blank. So, ideally, you write about what’s important in each of the five areas—purpose, audience, genre, organization, and style.
You don’t have to download the prompts or follow the examples exactly, but you can if you want to be sure you don’t miss anything.
And to be clear, a “good” PAGOS plan isn’t about “answering” each of the prompts, or writing the most… it’s about thinking through the rhetorical situation in a way that asks you to consider the possibilities and make the best choices in your correspondence.