Your Task The assignment for Unit 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. Part 1: Professional Writing Fundraising Letter: For this assignment you will continue working with the nonprofit organization from unit 3 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. 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: November 10: Unit 4 Lecture November 15: Guest Speaker/lab day November 17: No class/optional meet with instructor for portfolio assignment November 29: lab day December 1: peer editing assignment (fundraising letter) December 6: AP style quiz (class will not meet)/turn in website early for 2 bonus points This assignment is due December 6 at 12:30 p.m. Part 2: Personal Branding Part 2 of this module assignment includes writing a resume and work story (in place of the LinkedIn bio) 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 should 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 Tuesday, November 29 at 12:30 p.m. This is optional. Reminder, the portfolio project (your final assignment for this class) is due December 13 at 12:05 p.m. You may submit it early (December 6 at 12:30 p.m.) for two bonus points.