ENGLISH 221: INTRODUCTION TO BUSINESS WRITING
KING'S COLLEGE
WILKES-BARRE, PA 18711

READING: Chapter 1

WRITING:EXERCISE 1: AUDIENCE

The writing portion of this assignment has three parts. Be sure to complete all three, but limit your responses to a few sentences or examples. You do not have to write a lot for this exercise.

A.Suppose that you were hired to write a newsletter for the local chapter of Big Brothers/Big Sisters. The newsletter will be sent to all administrators, benefactors, volunteers and children involved in the organization. What kinds of articles, reports, notices, activities and so forth would you include in a newsletter aimed at such a diverse audience? Give three examples of the kinds of items you would include for each audience. An example is given below.

B. Trucking Along Transportation Corporation has been hired by the state to transport toxic waste from one of the state's chemical plants to a disposal site 100 miles away. Most of the journey will be through sparsely populated areas, but ten miles of the trip runs through the small town of Hopeless, with a population of 2,451. The state and the trucking firm would like to have routed the trucks around Hopeless, but doing so would add about twenty miles over treacherous roadways and up steep inclines. What do you think would be the primary concerns of the following audiences?

1. The President of the company.

2. The truck drivers.

3. The citizens of the town.

C. Suppose you had to give a description of your job to a personnel officer who needs to place on file an accurate list of your responsibilities. What would be the tone and style of your memo to the personnel officer? Now suppose that a local newspaper writer wanted to know something about what you do for a living and how you feel about it? What style and tone would you use for your letter to the newspaper writer?