Complete this Assignment:
This assignment is due Wednesday, March 20, 2024 by 12
Complete this Assignment:
This assignment is due Wednesday, March 20, 2024 by 12:30 p.m. (Week 9).
This assignment is worth 50 points (10% of your grade).
While your generation might not use email with the same frequency as my generation does, it remains an incredibly important genre where writing, action, and consequence merge. An email — composed and sent by you — will quite likely be the first step towards securing an ideal internship or a full-time job following graduation. This writing assignment is an opportunity to practice your skills in this area.
Your Task: While this assignment may be the shortest one you’ll write this term, it might also be the most challenging. Your email should adhere to the conventions of a real professional email. It should be informative yet concise, no more than 2-3 paragraphs, and written in a clear and respectful tone. The content of the email should accomplish a variety of functions: (1) it should state the purpose of your message (that you are hoping your recipient will provide academic or occupational advice and/or information); (2) it should show that you’ve done some research on your contact person, or, that you’ve made some personal connection with them; and (3) it should indicate some form of expected action as a result of your inquiry.
Genre:
The genre of the professional email is quite standardized; there is not a lot of room for creativity here. Generally, the purpose of a professional email is to inform or request; your job is to do some of both. The email should have approximately 3 part/paragraphs: (1) a salutation following by a brief acknowledgement of your purpose and/or connection to that person, (2) what you hope to accomplish (I.e., your request for information); and finally, (3) your closing, which should indicate what should happen next, followed by your signature line.
Language:
Professional emails are meant to be formal, concise, and polite. Additionally, because you are contacting someone that might be a total stranger to you, it should also be somewhat introductory. On the other hand, if you already know that person, you might include a brief greeting or personal note. In sum, the language of this email should be clear and free of any grammatical errors (remember, this genre is meant to be very short, so grammar and/or spelling errors stand out much more so in email than in many other writing situations).
Audience:
While I will be reading your email, your audience is ultimately the individual that you have been asked to identify above. The trick here is to sound courteous and curious, yet also somewhat informed about them and their background
Tips: there are many keys to writing a successful professional email. First and foremost, your email should have a meaningful subject line; it should provoke the recipient’s curiosity without being overly brash (i.e., NO CAPS). Avoid certain moves that might undermine your credibility (no inappropriate humor, informality, emoticons, abbreviations, rambling, etc.). You should have a respectful greeting followed by a brief introduction of yourself and/or the point of your email: that you are interested in learning something from them. Make sure you include an appropriate and effective subject line. You should sound somewhat complimentary without sounding like you are brown-nosing. Obviously, be courteous and grateful; this person owes you nothing at this point, and your email is meant to persuade them otherwise In other words, show this person that YOU warrant their attention
Also Include the following: Include a brief biographical summary (~2-3 sentences) describing who your recipient is and where they work. Please see the scoring rubric for the evaluation criteria.