Document Series Scoring Rubric
1. Identifying Purpose
The writer has explicitly identified the purpose of the document at the beginning and has
consistently maintained that aim throughout the document.
Very Strongly Agree
6
Strongly
Agree
Agree
5
Disagree
4
Strongly
Disagree
3
2
Very Strongly
Disagree
1
Notes:
2. Identifying Audience
The writer has identified the target audience of the document in the beginning and addressed the
target audience consistently throughout the document.
Very Strongly
Agree
6
Strongly
Agree
5
Agree
4
Disagree
3
2
Strongly
Very Strongly
Disagree
Disagree
1
Notes:
3. Selection of Genre
The writer has selected a correspondence genre (email, letter, or memo) that is appropriate,
persuasive, and rhetorically effective given the intended purpose and audience the document.
Very Strongly Agree
Strongly Agree
6
5
Agree
4
Disagree
3
Strongly Disagree Very Strongly
Disagree
2
1
Notes:
4. Maintaining Professional Writing Style
The writer utilizes concise diction, logical paragraph construction, and appropriate professional
tone throughout the document.
Very Strongly Agree
Strongly Agree
6
5
Agree
4
Disagree
3
Strongly Disagree Very Strongly
Disagree
2
1
Notes:
5. Document Design
The writer has effectively applied principles of document design to create professional
documents that are visually appealing and easily readable by the target audience.
Very Strongly Strongly Agree
Agree
6
5
Agree
4
Disagree
3
Strongly Disagree Very Strongly
Disagree
2
1
Notes:
6. Holistic Score
Overall, the writer effectively constructed multiple forms of business correspondence (email,
letter, memo) to respond effectively to a specific audience for a particular purpose. The writer’s
attention to elements of style, genre expectations, and rhetorical principles led to the production
of appropriate, persuasive documents.
Very Strongly Strongly Agree
Agree
6
5
Notes:
Agree
4
Disagree
3
Strongly Disagree Very Strongly
Disagree
2
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COMMUNICATION FOR ENGINEERS
PROJECT INSTRUCTIONS
DOCUMENT SERIES PROJECT
Percentage Weight of Final Grade: 10-20%
LEARNING OBJECTIVE
• Write for a specific purpose and audience
• Create various forms of business correspondence and documents
• Develop effective business correspondence writing style, paying particular attention to
concision (i.e., avoiding wordiness), paragraph construction, and tone
ASSIGNMENT
Choose one of the following scenarios, and produce the requested documents for one scenario only.
Each scenario asks you to prepare a range of documents. Students are responsible for determining
the appropriate genre (email, memo, business letter, etc.) as well as the content of those documents.
SCENARIO 1
You are the technical manager of a large Internet design firm (100+ employees). One of your
primary responsibilities is to manage a team of developers. Your unit’s primary goal is to build and
deliver custom web applications and to update client websites. Due to the increase of information
delivery via company intranets, your company has grown has grown considerably. About 8 months
ago you hired a small start-up company, MaintainU, to perform routine maintenance for clients’
websites because you needed to focus more attention on the custom applications. MaintainU does
not interact with your clients and they work as sub-contractors through your company. Your clients
are not aware of this move and for now, you and Nathan Elder, your company president, want to
keep it this way.
The last several months you have had problems with MaintainU not paying attention to version
dates. They have, on several occasions, made changes requested by clients, but they also uploaded
old pages to the site. Having dealt with a number of complaints, the most recent two weeks ago,
you had a long conversation with Jason Hughes, the president of MaintainU, that mistakes are not
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acceptable.
Now, this morning, you receive an angry call from a client, Sheila Links at Gateway Industries,
because an executive that was fired two months ago has been added back to the executive page.
Gateway Industries was one of the first clients your firm ever signed. While the client is on the
phone, the mistake is corrected, and you end up setting up a meeting for lunch next week.
For the first 6 months or so, the relationship with MaintainU was great. At this point, you’re
uncertain if you want to continue the relationship, but at the same time, you cannot afford to
bring maintenance work back in-house. Apparently, the phone call to Jason wasn’t enough.
DELIVERABLES
Based on the scenario above, your deliverables will be the following documents:
• document to the client, Gateway Industries
• document to MaintainU
• document to the president, who is a micro-manager and likes to know everything that is
going on
Please put all documents in ONE file.
SCENARIO 2
You are the project manager of a civil engineering company. Your current project is a large-scale
(100 miles) construction project that is restoring a portion of the wetlands in coastal Louisiana
and SE Texas.
Currently, you are building a series of temporary access roads so that you can get equipment
to one of the low-lying areas. This project involves a literal convoy of heavy trucks. Your firm
has received numerous complaints from local residents about the noise and dust. In particular,
you’ve received three letters from the same woman, Winnifred Doucette Lejeune. The last letter
contained 10 additional signatures. If residents’ complaints continue to escalate, they could slow
down the project and put you behind schedule.
You make a trip from the office headquarters in Lafayette, LA to the Calcasieu/Sabine Coastal
Wetlands Planning, Protection, and Restoration Area to see what’s going on. On site, you see
everything seems to progressing fine. Workers are on the job by 7:00am and running until
almost sundown, but in the local bar and grill, all the talk is about “the darn government
project to nowhere.”
When you get back to the office you decide you need to take action.
2
DELIVERABLES
Based on the scenario above, your deliverables will be the following:
• document to Winnifred Doucette Lejeune, who after further investigation, is a local resident
that seems to spearhead any effort the town needs
• document to the company vice-president, Richard Smith, who asked to be told of any
problem, or in his words, “anything that even remotely smells like a problem” with the
project.
• document to sub-contractor supervisor at the construction site. Your firm has used this
sub-contractor for almost five years, but this is the first project you’ve worked on with this
particular supervisor.
Please put all documents in ONE file.
SCENARIO 3
You’re the compliance coordinator for a biomedical company, Hadley Services, which provides
field service technicians to local hospitals and medical offices. Hadley’s specialty is radiological
equipment, particularly open MRIs. Your primary job is to coordinate the schedules for repair,
calibration and preventive maintenance for all of your clients. You are also responsible for
writing the reports that keep the company in compliance with local and federal guidelines.
Since many medical facilities are starting to replace their outdated MRI machines with the
new open MRIs, Hadley has grown considerably in the last 2 years. Hadley has a long standing
relationship with the folks at Hitachi Medical, who manufacture the AIRIS Elite, the most
commonly used machine in your market.
In the early afternoon, you get an email from one of Hadley’s newest clients, St. Francis Clinic,
which is a brand new clinic of the Alliance Medical Group. When St. Francis opened two
months ago, they signed on with Hadley. The St. Francis account meant a lot to Hadley since
they had been wooing the Alliance Medical Group for years.
The email is from St. Francis’s clinic administrator, Pat Williams. The technician, Allen Franks,
just left after completing a safety check, and now the machine is no longer recording data. You
immediately dispatch another, more experienced technician (Marcus Ramirez) to address the
problem, and call Ms. Williams. While you’re on the phone with her, Marcus texts you to tell you
that problem is solved. You relay the information to Ms. Williams and hang up.
After chatting with both technicians, the problem was a simple. Allen Franks had failed to
connect the data port snuggly, which is a rookie technician mistake. Now that everything has
settled down, you know you have some additional work to do.
3
DELIVERABLES
Based on the scenario above, your deliverables will be the following:
• document to Pat Williams, the client
• document to Hadley’s client rep, Ronni Simms, who is responsible for the St. Francis
account letting her know of the developments with her clinic
• document to Allen Franks
Please put all documents in ONE file.
SCENARIO 4
As the quality control supervisor at Aero Coast, you make sure that the structural repairs
on wide body passenger and freight aircraft are completed in compliance with all federal
regulations. Aero Coast specializes in re-fitting aircraft and they have developed quite a
reputation for innovative structural designs. In addition, Aero Coast is known for their attention
to detail and finishing projects on time.
You and the team have just completed a structural re-design to the interior of a plane that will
be used to ship mini-widgets overseas. The re-design focused on customized racking systems
to hold the sensitive mini-widgets in place on the long flight. About four hours after the plane
has left, you get a text from the pilot. The plane has been grounded in the northeast because
of “improper aircraft configuration.” The lens covers on the emergency lighting system are not
FAA specified.
After a few calls, you find a line mechanic that can make the necessary repairs, but he can’t get
there for about 24 hours. You call the client and deliver the bad news--the flight will be delayed
by a day. The client, Global Widget Freight, has been with Aero Coast for about three years, and
you have a solid business relationship. They account for about 17% of your annual revenue, but
they’ve just been bought out.
You have some work to do to keep people happy and to make sure this type of problem does not
happen again.
DELIVERABLES
Based on the scenario above, your deliverables will be the following documents:
• document to Carter Buchanan, VP at Global Widget Freight
• document to Bob Gunney, Aero Coast’s inspector who signed off on the completed job
• document to Ned Masters VP of Aero Coast
Please put all documents in ONE file.
SCENARIO 5
You are the manager of the Graphics Department at Heartline, Inc., a medium-sized
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company with three offices and 300 employees that sells a mobile app that monitors
customers’ heart function. Your department has recently begun hiring to fill up to eight
positions from entry-level to middle-manager. As a department manager, you have been
sitting in on the second round of interviews. The first round of interviews, consisting of
phone interviews, is solely completed by the HR department. The second round of
interviews consists of Zoom or Teams online meetings with several members of your
organization, including yourself, your boss, an employee specialized in the position, and
someone from HR.
A few weeks into interviewing, you receive a letter from someone named Xaviare
Roberts. She is connecting with you from a non-profit organization called Diversity Hiring
Help. Ms. Roberts informs you that they have had more than a dozen qualified applicants
apply to available positions, but not a single person has been contacted by your HR
department. Ms. Roberts explains that each applicant has worked closely with a hiring
consultant to perfect their resume and cover letter for your firm’s specific job
listing. Additionally, each applicant meets, or exceeds, the required qualifications in your
online job posting. Yet, still, not a single person from her organization was contacted for
an interview.
Ms. Roberts explains her company’s mission is to help people of color find jobs. She
suggests that none of her applicants were contacted because they do not possess
Caucasian-sounding names.
While the first round of interviews is determined by HR, you know that Heartline values
diversity in the workplace. As a manager, it is your responsibility to encourage equitable
hiring practices. Ms. Roberts’ allegation merits investigation and revision of hiring
practices.
DELIVERABLES
Based on the scenario above, your deliverables will be the following:
• document to Ms. Roberts at Diversity Hiring Help
• document to the Board of Directors at Heartline
• document to Heartline’s HR department
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