This assignment asks you to demonstrate your awareness of GRACE principles by writing a letter or memo in response to a difficult writing situation, such as delivering bad news, making a complaint, or engaging in negotiations.  You will work from a case study that specifies the particular writing task you must undertake.

WORK DUE:

1. A memo or letter (1-2 pages), as appropriate, that responds to the particular writing situation and task specified in the case.
2. A GRACE analysis memo (1-2 pages), in which you analyze the writing situation and explain the choices you have made.

Your instructor will supply a case to work from.  This case will describe a business or organizational context, specify your position as a writer within that context, and will set a particular writing task.  This task will be a letter or memo (depending on the situation) in which you must either deliver bad news, make a complaint, or engage in some kind of challenging negotiation.

Part one: The first part of the assignment calls for you to demonstrate your awareness of GRACE principles, especially as they are applied in Chapter 6, in the letter or memo you will write.

Part two: The second part of the assignment asks you to write a 1-2 page memo to me explaining the choices you made in the letter or memo in part one.  This explanation is important because there will be many different ways to respond to the case, depending on the decisions and assumptions you are making about the writing situation.  Your instructor will want to be sure to see the situation as you are seeing it.  Use GRACE principles to guide your explanation.  You will need to state what information from the case you will include (or exclude) in the letter or memo, and any additional assumptions you are making.  Other aspects to consider are:

• How did you organize the letter or memo?  Direct approach, indirect approach, AIDA, balanced format (see Chapter 6), etc.?
• What arguments did you decide would be most effective and why?
• How did you express those arguments?
• What style or tone did you think most effective in this situation and what are some examples of this?
• How did you decide on specific format features such as headings, paragraphing, bullet lists, graphics, etc.?

An effective bad news letter

• mitigates the reader's discomfort, risk, or inconvenience.
• makes it clear to the reader that the writer has understood even though the reply isn't the one he or she was hoping for.
• effectively uses the balanced organizational convention in which the main point, the bad news, is sandwiched in the middle of the letter and stated only once.
• provides alternative solutions to the reader's problem if possible and assures the reader of the writer's good will.
• (if possible) closes with a buffer that affirms a friendly, professional relationship and looks forward to future collaboration. However, if the writer needs to bring an association to a close, the closing doesn't raise false hopes or make statements that could be construed as commitments to ongoing association.
• follows appropriate format conventions--e.g., uses full-block, modified-block, or AMS style correctly.

• narrates and amplifies, as simply and specifically as possible, what happened and why it was problematic.
• explains what would be a satisfactory resolution of this problem and who specifically needs to be involved in this resolution.
• makes a plausible claim embodying the writer's needs and goals.
• cites necessary supporting data and takes into account the legal and ethical principles and assumptions warranting the claim.
• addresses the problem strategically and rhetorically, not emotionally.
• (when appropriate), harnesses the writer's emotion effectively, using the "when you . . ." convention for framing the complaint.
• follows appropriate format conventions--e.g., uses full-block, modified-block, or AMS style correctly.

• starts with a firm position based on careful, principled analysis of the writer's real needs.
• achieves its primary goal of keeping negotiations moving forward.
• moves the conflict in the direction of a debate or, preferably, a mutual problem-solving negotiation.
• follows appropriate format conventions--e.g., uses full-block, modified-block, or AMS style correctly.
• bases its expression appropriately on relationship and action goals, insight into readers, arguments, and the conventions of the situation.