Business Correspondence

One thing many TPC courses have in common is their focus on teaching specific genres of writing. The business correspondence or professional document series assignment aims to accomplish this goal by presenting students with a problem-based scenario, one that can be solved with well-crafted documents attuned to the rhetorical exigency or problem, audience needs, and genre constraints. By asking students to choose between a letter, email, or memo, they have to think through the strengths and limitations of each document type in the given situation instead of simply learning how to write these genres through rote memorization.

The links below are versions of this assignment used in a course of primarily business majors, healthcare majors, and majors within specialized fields (such as engineering).

• This version of the assignment is used in a course for primarily business majors or those interested in professional writing.
• This version of the assignment features scenarios more appropriate for technical communicators in field of healthcare.
• This version of the assignment are more appropriate for technical writers in specialized fields like engineering.
• This version features scenarios geared toward addressing implicant bias, diversity and inclusion in the workplace.
• Sample Rubric for Professional Document Series

See the “Genres” page under classroom exercises for more instructional material pertaining to business correspondence.