MEMORANDUM

To: English 102 Students

From: Lauren OConnor
Subject: Formal Assignment (FA) #1- Bad News Letter and Strategy
Memorandum
Date: August 31, 2007
The purpose of this memo is to describe your first formal assignment and to
detail assignment criteria and due dates. The goal of FA#1 is to practice letter
and memo writing, and to more fully understand how audience, purpose, and
tone affect a writing situation.
Assignment Description
You are Chris Vanderson, president and owner of Custom Research Services.
Your firm recently constructed a new headquarters building on a five-acre lot,
and you've landscaped the unused four acres with lighted walkways, fountains,
and ponds for employees to enjoy during their lunch hours, and before and after
work. Your lovely, campus-like site is one of the few such locations within the city
limits.
John Okura, the mayor of your city, will soon be running for reelection. He has
written to you asking permission to hold a fund-raiser on your grounds on
Saturday, September 22, from 8:00 p.m. until midnight. This event will be for
heavy contributors-- up to 150 people, each paying $500, are expected to attend.
His campaign will take care of all catering, security, and cleanup.
You do not want to become involved in this event for several reasons. First, you
are not a supporter of the mayor's policies. Second, if the present mayor loses,
you do not wish to risk offending the new mayor. Third, if you allow this event,
you will probably receive many similar requests by other candidates, nonprofit
organizations, and the like. Despite their best efforts, so many people gathered
outside at night are likely to damage the lawn and plants and create other
problems.
You decide to write a formal letter to the mayor and decline his request (The
Honorable John Okura, Mayor of Hudson, City Hall, 2554 Main St., Hudson,
Michigan 49236).
Your return address is the following:
Custom Research Services
434 Melrose Avenue
Hudson, Michigan 49236
Phone: (517) 973-8226
Fax: (517) 734-0129
www.customres.com
Criteria for Your Formal Bad News Letter

Your letter should be type-written using block format (see attached sample
letter), and it should adhere to the following six guidelines:
12 point Times or Times New Roman font (or another professional font like
Garamond)
One page in length
One inch margins on all sides (left, right, top and bottom)
Include the mayors name/address and your own return address @ top (see
attached sample letter)
Address your letter to the mayor, not myself!
Your greeting should read dear and your salutation should read
sincerely
see
back
Description of Strategy Memorandum (a pre-writing activity for your
letter)
Before you begin writing your bad news letter to the Mayor, youll want to do
this pre-writing exercise that allows you to examine purpose, audience,
information, (reader) benefits, objections, and context (a.k.a. PAIBOC) before
you begin drafting your letter. This PAIBOC strategy memo should be addressed
to me, not the mayor, and should contain six headings in bold font. See the
handout entitled negative messages, p. 208-209 for more information
regarding PAIBOC as a technical writing tool. Its always a good idea to analyze
any writing situation before you begin writing a formal draft. We will discuss
PAIBOC in more depth during class. Note: when you are writing your bad news
letter, you may need to create certain details depending on the focus of your
letter. For example, if you wish to provide Mayor Okura with the name of an
alternative location for his event, feel free to create an original venue name if
need be.
Criteria for Your PAIBOC Strategy Memorandum
Again, you should write your PAIBOC strategy memo before you draft your letter.
Your document should follow the conventions of a standard memorandum (see
this assignment sheet as an example of how to format your memo). Also, be sure
to adhere to the following seven guidelines:
12 point Times or Times New Roman font (or another professional font like
Garamond)
Do not to exceed 1-2 pages in length
One inch margins on all sides (left, right, top, and bottom)
Address the To: field to Lauren OConnor
Your Subject Line should read PAIBOC Strategy Memo
Include a statement of purpose before you begin your first heading. A
statement of purpose is usually rather concise and it explains the purpose
of the memo itself.
Include the following 6 bolded headings: Purpose, Audience, Information,
Benefits, Objections, Context

Value of Assignment
FA #1 is worth up to 50 points; see below for a breakdown of the grading
system:
35 points for your formal letter
10 points for your PAIBOC strategy memorandum addressed to your
instructor
5 points for attendance and active participation during peer review
Dates and Deadlines
Below are important due dates for FA#1:
3 copies of your rough draft of FA#1 (your letter and your PAIBOC strategy
memo) due at the beginning of class (Monday, September 10)
1 revised copy of FA#1 (your letter and your PAIBOC strategy memo) +
your peer review sheet(s) due at the beginning of class (Friday,
September 14)

MEMORANDUM
To: English 102 Students
From: Lauren OConnor
Subject: Formal Assignment (FA) #1- Grading Criteria
Date: Fall Semester 2007
The purpose of this memo is to outline the grading criteria for FA#1. Please review the criteria prior to
submitting your finalized FA#1. Let me know if you have any questions.

Recommendation Memo Point Breakdown

Tone and Content (10 points)
Audience Awareness & Audience-Centered Language (10 points)
Organization of Ideas (5 points)
Grammar, Punctuation, Style, and Clarity (5 points)
Format: Margins, Spacing, Block Format etc. (5 points)

_________
_________
_________
_________
_________

PAIBOC strategy memo submitted by deadline (10)

_________

Peer review participation and attendance (5)

_________

Overall Point Total (out of 50 possible)

_________