- The scenario texts are deliberately disorganized and poorly written. Scenario texts contain unnecessary, irrelevant, and/or “unprofessional” information; the details are disorganized and generally out of order; and the texts are poorly written. This is on purpose—to force you to make choices about what information you’ll include, in what order, using what tone, etc.
- In other words, be selective about the information you include in your correspondence—omit unnecessary or irrelevant information (information that doesn’t help you to achieve your purpose/s)—organize content logically and effectively, use a rhetorical approach, etc. to to meet the needs of your audience.
- You may make up information/details (such as an end date for action, if one is not provided) to add to your correspondence if you feel it is necessary. However, any additional information/details must not significantly change the context/scenario and must be noted in your document plan(s).
- If you are writing as the representative of a company, you do not need to create/provide letterhead. However, be sure to indicate your position and organization in the signature block.
- All of your correspondence should be formatted according to the conventions of their genres—in other words, letters should look like letters, memos should look like memos, etc.
- For emails, remember to include all of the necessary fields (To Address, From Address, Subject [and, if needed, CC, BCC, Attachments]).
Who wouldn’t want a thousand sheets of Lux Metallic Premium Quality 100lb Cardstock for $38.00? At the new Dunder Mifflin website, many delighted customers scrambled to order the bargain cardstock. Unfortunately, the price should have been $380.00!
It’s all Ryan Howard’s fault. After he got promoted and moved to corporate, he was eager to get the new website online. He was in such a rush that he didn’t think to have someone proofread the product and price list—it looks like someone misplaced a decimal point. Before Ryan or the website team could correct the mistake, several hundred Dunder Mifflin e-shoppers had put the premium cardstock into their digital shopping carts and checked out.
You receive an email from Ryan with a draft of the email he’s thinking of sending out to customers. The email draft’s subject line was “mistake!” and Ryan began the draft with this statement: “I wish we could sell such amazing, premium quality cardstock for only $38.00. Our price mistake on Lux Metallic Premium Quality 100lb Cardstock (1000 sheets) probably went right by you, but rather than charge you such a large difference, I’m writing to alert you that this item has been removed from your recent order.”
Ryan wants to know what you think of his draft. You hate it, but instead of telling him that, you decide to draft a different (better) email message and send it back to him—to give him an idea of what good communication looks like.
Pictures of himself in front of the Great Pyramids of Giza, shots of the famous Blue Mosque in Istanbul, and photographs of himself dancing with children around a fire in a Thailand village—all lost because of a faulty shutter mechanism on his camera. Your boss, Michael Scott, made a once-in-a-lifetime trip around the world this past summer (he thought the trip would help him get over his breakup with Jan). To record the sights and adventures, he invested in a Kodak Advantix camera. While Kodak is a reputable company, honestly, Michael bought the camera because he liked a commercial he saw on TV—the ad shows an American tourist snapping a pic of his gorgeous Italian date in Venice. When the beautiful Italian woman is gone, the tourist discovers that he mis-loaded the memory card of his no-name, discount digital camera and he shouts, “I should have had a Kodak Advantix camera!”
Michael liked the idea of meeting beautiful women, but he also liked that the Advantix had an easy load memory card feature which worked well during his trip. He swapped out memory cards as he filled them up—easy.
Unfortunately, when Michael returned from his trip, he discovered that 2 of the 5 memory cards he used on the trip had no photos on them. Michael is very unhappy. The feature Kodak marketed in commercials—the easy load memory card feature—was a big part of what made him buy the camera in the first place, and it seems like something went wrong with that exact feature. Michael thinks half of the fun of the trip is in looking back at the photos and reminiscing about what a fantastic time he had… and showing the photos to people he works with to prove what a great time he had. The emotional value of his pictures is far greater than the memory cards on which they are recorded… greater than the camera, even!
Michael decides he won’t settle for a couple of new memory cards or even a new camera. He wants Kodak to send him around the world to repeat his trip. He figures that it is the only way he can recapture and record his lost adventure. He thinks it would cost him about $15,000 to repeat his 12-day trip.
Michael wants you to help him write a convincing letter to Kodak. You respond that it’s highly unlikely that Kodak will grant this claim, but Michael says, “Hey, what have I got to lose? Kodak ruined my trip, and I think a lot of travelers would be interested in hearing about my troubles with Kodak’s Advantix camera.”