Letters Assignment Sheet

Overview:

For this unit, you will write two letters. For each, you will take on a hypothetical role in order to simulate the cycle of a fact-finding assignment in the workplace. You’ll write a letter asking for information (letter of inquiry) and a letter giving information (letter of response), each for a different audience. For the letter of response, you’ll start moving toward consideration of multiple audiences.

For each letter, you will rely on the attached writing case documents. You must rely on this data to create your assignments (See the bottom of this page for more details).

Assignment Criteria:

Length: 1-2 pages per letter
Genre(s): Business Letter

Letter of inquiry:

Purpose: To solicit information.
Audience: Someone in another company whose help you need
Use: The letter of inquiry will be used by the addressee to figure out whether and how to help you.
Power: The addressee has the power because he or she can choose not to help you.

Letter of response:

Purpose: In the letter of response, your purposes are to provide information, and give a dominant impression that your company is capable and ready to serve.
Audience: In the letter of response, your audience is someone in another company who needs your help.
Use: The letter of response will be used by its addressee to determine whether and how you can help their company.
Power: In the letter of response, the addressee has the power because he or she can choose not to recommend your company as the solution to his or her company’s problem.

• Page 2: Writing case for the letter of inquiry.
• Page 3 Writing case for the letter of response, and product specifications

Writing Case: Letter ofInquiry

The position that you are to take in this letter is that of a project engineer for theField Corporation which is located at 300 State St. in Salt Lake City, Utah. You are theproject engineer for the Tanglewood Housing Development in Park City,Utah.
You have read a brief advertisement in the industry magazine Civil Engineering (105)1:15, which advertises a new asphalt that resists cracking in conditions of freezing and thawing.This product is produced by the Dawson Corporation located at 724 Asp St. in Norman,Oklahoma. You will be writing to the sales manager of the corporation, Bob Coffman.
Because Park City experiences freezing and thawing continuously for two months in lateFall and one month in early Spring, you are interested in the new asphalt. You might use it aspaving material in the Tanglewood development which has 22 miles of residential streets and 13miles of collector streets. The residential streets will be 22 feet wide and the collector streets will be33 feet wide. The thickness of the road will be 12”. The temperatures during the critical periods range from 26 degrees F at night to52 degrees F during the day (these are average values you have determined by observingpast weather reports). The maximum change within 24 hours was 29 degrees to 78 degrees onApril 6, 1951.

Objective: Your task is to write a letter inquiring about the Dawson Corp. product. You need to know whether the product will meet your needs, so be clear and deliberate in your request and in the information you provide. Some things toconsider mightbe:
• cost
• whether the product is available in yourarea
• specific test results on the range of temperatures that the product can endure (if suchtests have beenperformed)
• durability in terms of time when the use is average by lightvehicles,
• discounts for largeorders
• whether special equipment or procedures are necessary for using theasphalt.

Note: The writing case above gives you all of the information about your situation, but not all information will be necessary in your letter of inquiry. You must identify which information is relevant to your inquiry, andorganize your content effectively. Also, you are expected to paraphrase the information in your own words; do not simply plug thesentencesfrom the writing case into yourletter.

Writing Case: Letter of Response

For this part of the assignment, you are taking on the role of Bob Coffman, sales manager at the Field Corporation (you will answer the letter of inquiry thatyou wrote for this assignment). More information than you will need to answer the letter isprovided below, so provide information based on the inquiry letter.

Specifications of Dura-Flexasphalt:

3 year life expectancy with average use by lightvehicles

Dawson Corporation develops asphalt compounds based on guidelines by AASHTO.The principal factors to be considered include traffic, soils characteristics, weather,construction considerations, recycling, and cost comparison. The secondary factors include performanceof similar pavements in the area, adjacent existing pavements, conservation of materialsand energy, and availability of local materials, among otherissues.
Duraflex was tested and held at a heat of 100 degrees F for 12 hours, then cooled and held at0 degrees F for another 12 hours. Constant cycle repearted for 30 days. Cycle resulted in asmall crack of 3 inches long and 1/16 of an inch wide. Regular asphalt under testing has shownto result in cracks 3 times as large (9 inches long and 3/16wide).

Asphalt currently covers more than 94% of paved roads in the UnitedStates. The word ‘asphalt’ comes from the Greek ‘asphaltos’ meaning‘secure’.
Product available locally from Construction Materials Co., 400 Ferry Road, Salt Lake City,Utah, 84112.

Asphalt occurs naturally in both asphalt lakes and in rock asphalt (a mixture of sand,limestone, andasphalt).

Standard application methods aresufficient

No special application techniques or machinery areneeded.
$24.95 percubic yard

Discount of 75¢ per cubic yard for each ton over 150cubic yards (first 150 standard rate; discount applies to each unit in excess of 150)

Delivery included in price for orders over 20cubic yards.

Letters Assignment Sheet Overview: For this unit, you will wr...