Communications II
Recommendation Report – Memo – worth 5% and out of /30 points
To submit the assignment
The assignment is due in Week 5 , and as outlined in the ENL 1823B Course Section Information, you must submit the assignment twice:
1. A paper copy in person in class
2. An electronic copy through TurnItIn on our BlackBoard in the Assignments section on the same day
The assignment is completed only when you have submitted it twice in the ways outlined above. No emailed assignments will be accepted; if you will not be in class for whatever reason, arrange for a peer to hand in you assignment and submit it through TurnItIn yourself. No late assignments will be accepted without a doctor’s note. Any late assignments accepted with a doctor’s note must be submitted handed in the following week; they will be graded but no comments or rubric will be provided.
Without exception, any assignments that are intentionally or unintentionally plagiarized or in any way violate academic honesty as outlined in Policy AA20 will receive an automatic zero, and the incident will be immediately reported to the School of Business Chair and the appropriate Program Coordinator.
To prepare for before the assignment
• Read “Chapter 8: Informal Reports” (pages 201-219 in paper copy of textbook)
• Review “Appendix A: A Guide to Document Formats (pages 413-423 in paper copy of the textbook)
• Review ENL1813 material – Chapter Two Writing Adaptations (use of audience benefits, ‘you’ view, and so on) and Chapter Three Revision Techniques (use of concise wording, avoidance of wordy prepositional phrases, avoidance of long lead-ins, and so on)
To draft, revise, and proofread the assignment
• Compose a 250-300 word memo (note that the format is not the same as the last assignment and remember the format requirements)
• Consider the following scenario: You have decided that your program of study needs revision; after reviewing all of the courses offered in all of the levels of your program, you would like to eliminate one existing class and add one new class, and to do so, you will write a recommendation report in the form of a memo and address it to your program coordinator. In your report, explain the problem, clarify how your recommendation will fix the problem, and consider the potential drawbacks or complications associated with your recommendations (that is, include both pros and cons)
• Assume that your coordinator will be resistant to the changes you are recommending and write to persuade; familiarize yourself with the entire program and consider ways you will be most persuasive to the coordinator
• Use headings (talking or functional) and bullets (consistent and parallel) in your memo to improve readability
• Consider the model email on page 213 of your textbook but do not copy from it
Your assignment will be graded with the following rubric:
Zero F D C B A
Memo Format 0 point
5 or more problems 1 point
4 problems 2 points
3 problems 3 points
2 problems 4 points
1 problem 5 points
Zero problem
Clarity of Explanation, Strength of Ideas, Persuasiveness(5) 0 point
Not enough of your own words 1 point
Inaccurate and unclear 2 points
Somewhat inaccurate and unclear 3 points
Somewhat accurate and clear 4 points
Accurate and clear 5 points
Accurate, clear, and engaging
Headings, Bullets and Indirect Organization (5) 0 point
5 or more problems 1 point
4 problems 2 points
3 problems 3 points
2 problems 4 points
1 problem 5 points
Zero problem
Clarity and Business Writing Conventions (5) 0 point
5 or more problems 1 point
4 problems 2 points
3 problems 3 points
2 problems 4 points
1 problem 5 points
Zero problem
Grammar, Sentence Structure, and Spelling (10) 0 point
5 or more errors 2 points
4 errors 4 points
3 errors 6 points
2 errors 8 points
1 error 10 points
Zero error
Total /30 points