COMM 3144 Module 4

Professional Writing & Personal Branding

Your Task
The assignment for Module 4 is divided into two parts: professional writing and personal
branding. Part 1 of this assignment will focus on writing professional business letters,
specifically a request letter and a fundraising letter. Part 2 of this module will include
writing a resume and work story for your website. Details related to Part 2 of this module
will be discussed in class April 27.
Part 1: Professional Writing
Fundraising Letter: For this assignment you will represent a nonprofit
organization of your choice and write a fundraising letter to me asking for a
donation. The letter should include the four parts of the fundraising letter
discussed in class and follow standard business letter formatting.
You should approach this assignment as if you are working for the nonprofit
organization. As such, you should be familiar with the organization and its
programs in order to write a persuasive letter. A portion of your grade will reflect
your ability to persuade me to donate to your organization.
Header information should include your clients address, but you should sign the
letter as the representative. Address the letter to me as follows:
Dr. Brandi Watkins
Assistant Professor
Department of Communication
Shanks Hall, Room 110 (0311)
181 Turner St NW
Blacksburg, VA 24061
Request Letter: For this assignment you will write a request letter to Dr. Robert
Denton, Chair for the Department of Communication, on behalf of your client from
the fundraising letter. In this scenario, your organization wants to work with the
public relations campaigns class to develop a campaign that promotes your
clients work in the Blacksburg community. Your letter should ask Dr. Denton for
his assistance with arranging a meeting with faculty teaching this course.
As with the fundraising letter, you are writing as a representative of your
organization. Header information should include your clients address, but you
should sign the letter as the representative. Address the letter to Dr. Denton as
follows:

Dr. Robert Denton

Professor and Department Head
Department of Communication
Shanks Hall, 115 (0311)
181 Turner St NW
Blacksburg, VA 24061
Important Dates:
April 13 Lecture
April 18-20 Lab, in class writing days
April 25 peer editing (in class); fundraising letter due by 2:30 p.m.
April 27 Module 4, Part 1 assignment due
May 2 feedback from Module 4 will be available
This assignment is due Wednesday, April 27, 2016.
Part 2: Personal Branding
Part 2 of this module assignment includes writing a resume and work story for
your portfolio project. The work story is a narrative form of your resume. A work
story allows you to provide additional details that are not necessary on a
traditional resume (i.e., what you learned from a job or internships; or an
experience that has led you to your current career path). A work story can be
accompanied by a graphic resume that further illustrates your unique set of
experiences and skills.
You can embed your resume as a separate page on your website or you can link
to it as a PDF document. Just be sure that you do not include any personal
information (i.e., home address and phone number).
You will submit both of these assignments as part of your portfolio project. If you
would like for me to review a draft of your work story, you should submit it as a
word document via Canvas. This is due Monday, May 2 at 3:45 p.m. This is
optional.
This assignment is due Monday, May 9 at 2:05 p.m. You may submit the website
assignment early (May 4) for two bonus points.