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.
