“Requesting Information: Routine Business Letter Assignment”

Routine Business Letter Assignment Instructions
Purpose: To practice planning, writing, and completing a routine message letter that requests
information regarding business practices.
This assignment links to course learning objectives: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, & 8.
Type of Assignment and Weight: This group writing assignment is worth 100 points.
Audience: A contact at the company for which you performed research.
Assignment:
Part 1: You and your team must choose a company for which you would like to work.
Research one article about the company. Your goal with this assignment is to make a contact and
obtain additional information about the company which you will need for all other assignments
this semester.
Your team then must prepare a business letter using the letter format on page 256 of the text and
applying the techniques described on pages 257-258. The purpose of this letter is obtain specific
information about the company. Begin your letter with a brief statement of your reasons for
writing and by providing some information about what you learned about the company already
prior to making your request in the article you read; mentioning the article in the introduction to
the letter is also a good idea.
Specifically, you may like information on:
• Company history
• What is the composition of their products/services, and who is their primary competition?
• What are the primary departments in the company and what are their responsibilities? In
other words, how is the company organized?
• When they recruit, what positions and kind of people do they look for? What are the
qualifications?
• Ask if they can send you marketing information or other information regarding history,
milestones achieved, or progress of the company
• What are the key factors for success of the business? What is the corporate culture like?
Why would a new grad want to work for the company?
• What are some industry trends that are affecting the company?
Ask if you may contact them with other questions.
Part 2. A draft of your letter is due to the assignment link/turn-it-in. We will conduct a peer
review of the letter in class.
In addition,
 Limit your letter to no more than ONE page
 Review Figure 8.1 in your text regarding proper letter format.
 Begin your letter by stating your specific purpose for writing followed by a brief
explanation of the research you have performed and what you are requesting. Each
paragraph must clearly relate back to the purpose and request of the letter.
 Use the Times New Roman 12pt. font.
 Your draft and finalized letter must be formatted as a Word file and named Team __
Routine Business Letter.
 Submit the draft through the link provided in the course shell. Each person must
submit a draft.
 Submit the Finalized Letter to the Assignment Link. Only one person from the team
must submit on behalf of the entire team.
Grading: For all assignments, refer to the syllabus grading criteria as well as the rubric
provided.