Advocates the use of a portfolio approach to teaching business writing. Describes how a semester portfolio can be prepared by the student. Gives guidelines for the portfolio, suggestions for portfolio evaluation, and the benefits of such an approach. (HB)

Discusses a writing assignment in a business writing class in which students write business letters that meet legitimate needs and will be mailed to the addressee. (SR)

Describes a three-part assignment in which each student writes a complaint letter and an adjustment letter responding to another student's complaint letter. Discusses how the third part of the assignment--journal entries--allows students to formulate their own criteria for excellent letters based upon their reactions to the letters they receive.…

Describes a research assignment that enables students to recognize the context of a document, extract the document's message, and determine its usefulness. Suggests possible warm-up activities for this assignment. (MM)

Describes the first problem raised in an interactive case on communication taken from Dennis Moberg and David Caldwell's text "Interactive Cases in Organizational Behavior." Demonstrates a wrong and a right answer to this problem, and shows how the author developed writing assignments to supplement the solutions to the problems raised in…

Discusses microwriting activities, which focus on the problem, the process, and the product of typical communication assignments. Describes how microwriting is used in class, and types of microwriting activities. (SR)

Discusses the problem of asking students to write for the teacher, an authoritative, superior reader. Asserts that a better approach is to ask the students to first address their papers to a small group, and second to choose a specific value system to characterize the attitudes and beliefs of the group selected. (PRA)

Focuses on the collaborative writing done for a large report or proposal over a period of several weeks or months in a business writing course. Discusses short-term writing projects and nonwriting tasks for project administration, meeting management, student/instructor conference, project planning and time estimates, and oral presentations. (PRA)

Describes oral presentations and writing assignments for an upper-division course in management information systems. Presents students' reaction to these activities. (MM)

Describes a collaborative writing assignment which features a series of interconnected business messages arising out of a case study and including inhouse memos and an analytical report. Shows how the design of a collaborative writing assignment can foster creative rather than debilitative tension. (RS)

Describes several relevant library search assignments which stress the merits of secondary research in a business report writing course. Includes assignments on investment possibilities, employment opportunities, and group projects. (MM)

Describes a simple introductory in-class writing assignment that serves to clarify the multiple issues involve in effective letter writing of the persuasive type. Examines the diagnostic value, the lesson learned, and objectives served by such an assignment. (KEH)

Discusses the difficulties with anticipating reader needs and evaluating a text's effectiveness. Reviews current methods of evaluating audience needs such as peer review and audience testing. Describes a reader-focused assignment detailing the class preparation, peer review, reader testing, reader response, and student response to reader…

Describes an assignment using agenda memos and meetings designed to develop topics for research reports and project topics. Suggests ways of evaluating the students participation and repeating the assignment toward the end of the term. (KEH)

Offers a sequence of writing assignments that provide experience for managerial communication students who must learn to organize thoughts and data efficiently to present information in a professional manner. Focuses on understanding context, developing points, analyzing texts, and creating an authoritative, committed voice. (KEH)