letters and memorandum

November 4, 2013

Dear Students:

Your midterm examination is being sent to you in a separate Blackboard message. There are three separate versions of the examination, and the one mailed to you will have been chosen at random. Attached to this letter of transmittal, you will receive the following documents for the exam:

· Your examination questions

· Autumn Midterm Makeover (Problem #5)

· Transitions (Problem #6)

Each problem should be separated by a hard page break (control + enter). I will not accept six separate document downloads–the entire exam comes in at one time as one distinct document. Use control + enter to separate one problem from the next. The subject of your message should be Midterm Exam. If you wish, you may also send another copy of the exam in Blackboard. However, remember that you can send only one file as the attachment. I will not accept six downloads of the exercises.

Be sure to budget your time properly. This exam should take you from three to five hours to complete if you are preparing it correctly! Remember, formats do count. I am expecting your letters and memoranda to have proper spacing as detailed in the sample documents and format guides I have made available to you. You may want to consult these tools before you begin the exam. Be sure to start your letter dates between 2 to 2.5 inches from the top of the page. Also make sure you have set your spacing at single and the before and after at 0. Be sure to use 12-point pitch. Please do not create your own letterheads; it is total waste of time; I will deduct credit if you do.

All Students

Page 2

November 4, 2013

Pay attention to the following concepts as you complete the exam.

· Specificity (avoid vague terms and dates)

· Timeliness of responses

· Use of bullets for more effective presentation of lists of items

· Courtesy and “You” Attitude

· Buffering bad news

· Proper punctuation after salutations and complimentary closings

· Parallel structure

Enclosures: exam sheet and problems in separate Blackboard attachments

Business Communications Midterm Examination #1

Fall, 2013

Professor Ruth Levy

1. You are the administrative assistant to Professor Charles W. Hughes, Chairperson of the Music Department at Oberlin College. Last week, Professor Hughes received a request from one of the instructors in his Department, Emily Slattery, asking for a $3,800 stipend to provide tuition for three students to attend a piano/organ workshop during the summer session from July 14 to 18, 2014 at Westminster College in Princeton, NJ. Last year, Professor Hughes was able to provide funding for students to attend summer workshops. However, this year, the general funding to the Music Department was cut by 70 percent, and there are no funds available for student travel. Write a memorandum from Professor Hughes that denies Dr. Slattery’ request for financial support. Indicate that the Music Department has no available funds, but Professor Hughes has just learned that the Oberlin College Faculty Student Association (OCFSA) has set aside some extra funding for students to attend summer workshops at accredited universities, of which Westminster is one, and the OCFSA sent Professor Hughes an application form. Explain to Dr. Slattery that in order to qualify for the funds, she must submit a detailed plan of exactly which students are planning to attend, as well as the specific piano pieces they wish to study. The transcripts of the students must also be enclosed with the application. In addition, Dr. Slattery must submit a recommendation for Associate Dean Evan Carmichael. Enclose the application form the OCFSA already sent to Professor Hughes. Remind Dr. Slattery that the deadline for the requests submitted to the OCFSA is November 20. Also gently remind her that since she needs the recommendation for Dean Carmichael, she needs to give him enough time to provide it. Professor Hughes is expecting you to create a memorandum in proper format and a message that uses bullets to highlight the steps Dr. Slattery must take to receive the OCFSA funds. Use your own reference initials and supply all other necessary details.

2. Last week, your friend, Jonathan Royce, who attends college in Maryland, sent you an e-mail with a Word attachment. He has asked you to review a letter he is about to send to one of his professors. Apparently, he received a grade of C in his accounting course for the Summer, 2013 semester and believes the grade is an error. The contents of the letter can be found as the Fifth Document Makeover in Blackboard. Retrieve this letter and improve it to the best of your ability so that you would be ready to send an e-mail attachment of it to your friend with your suggestions.

3. Professor Hughes placed an order on the fifteenth of last month with Edison Office Furniture, 1057 Norwood Road, Oberlin, OH 46781 for 12 ergonomic office chairs for the faculty offices. The sales representative, Esther Zambito, quoted you in writing a price of $440.50 per chair, including delivery and set-up. The chairs were delivered one week ago, and the faculty members are very pleased with how comfortable they are. However, the invoice you received in yesterday’s mail lists a price of $585.50 per chair. Write a letter to Ms. Zambito asking for an adjustment of the discrepancy—be sure to provide an exact calculation of the overcharge.

4. Professor Hughes has been complimented by Associate Dean Evan Carmichael on the quality of the documents you have been preparing. Since several new interns will be hired in January, the Associate Dean has asked you to write a memorandum to these new interns explaining the rules concerning the use of reference initials. Compose this memorandum and supply all necessary details. Be sure to use bullets to explain the various rules.

5. Revise the attached document called Autumn Midterm Makeover. Professor Charles Hughes, national coordinator of Kappa Phi Lambda, two-year national music honor society for community college students, is compiling his annual report to be sent to the National Association of Honor Societies, due at the end of December. Kappa Phi Lambda has more than 100 chapters nationwide, each with its own faculty adviser. The student who drafted this letter worked for Professor Hughes until last week, when it became apparent that her communication skills were so poor that he needed to find a replacement who had taken Business Communications. Luckily, you have these skills. Professor Hughes has asked you to revise the letter to the best of your ability, based on what you have learned in Business Communications. The questions do not need revision, but the questionnaire does not include the respondent’s name. Also, add vital contact information to the questionnaire, just in case pages 1 and 2 become detached. Use Professor Hughes’ contact information from the Passport Music assignment to indicate to whom and where the respondent should return the questionnaire.

6. Revise the attached document, The Dangers of Student Loans. Add the necessary transitions to this document to improve the clarity of the message. Be sure to punctuate the sentences correctly. You may use any transitions you wish, but the following transitions should be included at least once: if, although, however, and obviously. Other transitions are necessary, but you may choose your own wording. Keep double-spaced paragraphs.

(Problem #5, Autumn Midterm Makeover: Erase this line before you send the final version)

November 1, 2013

{Title} {First} {Last}

{Chapter}

{College}

{Address}

{City}, {ST} {ZIP}

Dear {Title} {Last}:

Subject: Annual Report

My name is Charles Hughes, and I am writing to all of you because in order for me to complete my report to th National Association of Honor Societies, due November 31, 2013, I must have vital information from each of you concerning your chapter activities, including guest speakers, newsletters, fund-raising activities, and honors courses in music.

You must send this information called for on the questionaire on the next page swiftly and quickly so that I can meet my deadline. Remember, send this information speedily, and use the enclosed envelope.

Sincerely,

Charles W. Hughes

National Faculty Coordinator

urs

PHI KAPPA LAMBDA QUESTIONAIRE

Please fill out the following:

Initiation Ceremony Activities

Music Honors Courses

Guest Performances

Field Trips

Recitals

Fund Raising Activities

Please return to me by November 15.

(Problem #6, Transitions. Erase this line before you send the final version)

THE DANGERS OF STUDENT LOANS

For many high school students, the cost of a college education remains a major obstacle for those who wish to earn a college diploma. Guidance counselors are not giving students the proper information. Student loans can be a source of help. They are dangerous. They can never be discharged in bankruptcy.

Suze Orman has warned parents not to cosign a student loan application. Parents should not borrow the equity in their homes to finance a child’s education. Parents will need that money in their own retirement.

Retirement accounts should always be funded before any money is allocated to children’s college funds. Parents do not have sufficient funds for their old age. Their children will be forced to take care of them. No parent wants to be a burden to his or her children.

A student loan should never be taken out. The borrower knows for certain that his or her future salary will be able to pay for the loan. A medical doctor or lawyer often has a starting salary of between $100,000 and $200,000. The loan may make sense in that case. Most of the time student loans encourage attendance at fancy high-priced undergraduate institutions. A better idea would be to attend a local community college for two years and then continue at a four-year public institution. The money saved could better be spent as a down payment on a home or to fund a Roth IRA.

Fifth Document Makeover

Professor Anne Brewer

Department of Economics

Wellington University

Wellington, MD 21047

Dear Professor Brewer:

I think that I was unfairly awarded a C in your accounting class last term, and I am asking you to change the grade to a B. It was a difficult term. I don’t get any money from home, and I have to work mornings at the Pancake House (as a cook), so I had to rush to make your class, and those two times that I missed class were because they wouldn’t let me off work because of special events at the Pancake House (unlike some other students who just take off when they choose). On the midterm examination, I originally got a 75 percent, but you said in class that there were two different ways to answer the third question and that you would change the grades of students who used the “optimal cost” method and had been counted off 6 points for doing this. I don’t think that you took this into account, because I got 80 percent on the final, which is clearly a B. Anyway, whatever you decide, I just want to tell you that I really enjoyed this class, and I thank you for making accounting so interesting.

Sincerely,

Jonathan Royce

121 Palmer Road

Owings Mills, MD 21053