(BC101) Business Communication (BC) - imm
Tutorial Letter: Guidelines for Assignment Business Communication 1 (BC101) Business Communication (BC) Semester One 2014 Dear Student The objective of this assignment is to test your understanding of some key course concepts. You will, however, also be challenged to apply some of the course concepts to the real-world examples you are asked to provide for some of the questions. Make sure you identify the ‘action words’ in every question and then progress from there. These words will highlight the extent to which the marker would expect you to provide detail. If you are asked to ‘list’ your answer will obviously be a lot shorter than when you are asked to ‘describe’ or ‘explain’. Each of these action words demand another approach to the content, length and style of the answer you have to provide, and it makes sense to be confident about what is expected of you before you start working on the answer. Question 1: This question is a real challenge and opportunity to display the extent to which you are able to use the guidelines provided for answering the questions. Take note of the four guidance parameters at the end of the questions. This is a challenge to be creative and to add your own take on and interpretation to the process of creating this article. It is definitely going to require that you analyse the given information contained in the example paragraph well and if you leave this to the last minute your marks will not be as a good as they could be if you had been more creative and under less pressure. In order for you to write an article which conforms to the four requirements listed at the end of the question, you are going to have to:
Be creative enough to add some additional information not contained in the paragraph you were given to make for a more interesting piece. Be careful about not adding ideas which are so wild and extreme that they take away from the essential message of the piece.
Page 2 of 3
Be aware of the need to be persuasive to the editorial staff of the paper to convince them that this is indeed a special event worth publishing as news, but you also need to persuade the readers to look forward to the opening of the bread shop (boulangerie) with much anticipation. Be aware of the need to conform to all the technical requirements for the article as set out in the question in terms of the heading, layout and so on. Be enthusiastic in making this sound like a really special event – think in terms of using words that convey enthusiasm and a call to action. Be sure to scan the completed article to ascertain if the additional information you added to make it more interesting does mesh with the information contained in the original paragraph given to you in the question and that the message is still cohesive with good, sensible flow that would make sense to the reader.
Even though this is quite a demanding question to answer, you will find that it is also a great deal of fun because it gives you a chance to be really creative with your writing and you may even find it helpful to try and find similar articles in the press which may contain some helpful hints on writing something like this. Keep an eye on the number of words you use and make sure that you do not go over the budget for the number of words available to answer this question. Did you notice that the requirement is for you to use about six paragraphs? Question 2: This question invites you to indulge in some pure creativity! Get out the coloured pens and start thinking colourful and exciting. See that the question invites you to use a full page (A4) and to make it colourful. Keep in mind that there is a balance required here between the creative use of colour and the essential idea of the advert: it requires you to attract the attention of the people passing by the shop window and also needs to be constructed in a way that will make it easy for busy and easily distracted people to get the message about the available positions. Did you see that the written message in your advertisement needs to contain specific information? Are you sure that all of the required information is clearly visible and easy to understand? Question 3: A picture is often credited with being worth a thousand words. Here is your chance to prove it. The challenge is to rearrange the clutch of statistics in a way which will make sense to the reader. You are given some clues on how to achieve this; you need to use a full (A4) page to draw a graph with multi-coloured content.
© IMM Graduate School of Marketing Assignment Tutorial Letter
BC101/BC
Page 3 of 3
Different people may have different concepts of what constitutes a graph and it may be worthwhile to research the word before you start, to ensure that you are on the right track. Keep in mind that different types of graphs are used for the display of different types of information, and make sure that you choose the type of graph which will be best suited to making the information clearly available and understandable. The order in which you present the different producing countries also has a role to play in your construction of the graph – make sure that you inject this with logic and an eye for practical flow that will make sense to the reader. On completion of this answer, you should be able to look at it and ask yourself if it is shown to another person, will they be able to draw some conclusions from your presentation which will enable them to understand the available information fully and easily without having to ask additional questions or spend an unreasonably long time analysing the information. Question 4: The challenge is to correct and improve the sentences. It is unlikely that all the answers will come to you at first glance. It would therefore be good if you could look at the sentences over a period of some days and to rewrite them several times. Some of the examples given demand that you remove or add a word. You may have to switch some words around or completely change the order in which the words are presented. Keep in mind that the final product needs to illustrate the effective use of good English in a formal business context.
Kind regards IMM GSM Team
© IMM Graduate School of Marketing Assignment Tutorial Letter
BC101/BC
Be creative enough to add some additional information not contained in the paragraph you were given to make for a more interesting piece. Be careful about not adding ideas which are so wild and extreme that they take away from the essential message of the piece.
Page 2 of 3
Be aware of the need to be persuasive to the editorial staff of the paper to convince them that this is indeed a special event worth publishing as news, but you also need to persuade the readers to look forward to the opening of the bread shop (boulangerie) with much anticipation. Be aware of the need to conform to all the technical requirements for the article as set out in the question in terms of the heading, layout and so on. Be enthusiastic in making this sound like a really special event – think in terms of using words that convey enthusiasm and a call to action. Be sure to scan the completed article to ascertain if the additional information you added to make it more interesting does mesh with the information contained in the original paragraph given to you in the question and that the message is still cohesive with good, sensible flow that would make sense to the reader.
Even though this is quite a demanding question to answer, you will find that it is also a great deal of fun because it gives you a chance to be really creative with your writing and you may even find it helpful to try and find similar articles in the press which may contain some helpful hints on writing something like this. Keep an eye on the number of words you use and make sure that you do not go over the budget for the number of words available to answer this question. Did you notice that the requirement is for you to use about six paragraphs? Question 2: This question invites you to indulge in some pure creativity! Get out the coloured pens and start thinking colourful and exciting. See that the question invites you to use a full page (A4) and to make it colourful. Keep in mind that there is a balance required here between the creative use of colour and the essential idea of the advert: it requires you to attract the attention of the people passing by the shop window and also needs to be constructed in a way that will make it easy for busy and easily distracted people to get the message about the available positions. Did you see that the written message in your advertisement needs to contain specific information? Are you sure that all of the required information is clearly visible and easy to understand? Question 3: A picture is often credited with being worth a thousand words. Here is your chance to prove it. The challenge is to rearrange the clutch of statistics in a way which will make sense to the reader. You are given some clues on how to achieve this; you need to use a full (A4) page to draw a graph with multi-coloured content.
© IMM Graduate School of Marketing Assignment Tutorial Letter
BC101/BC
Page 3 of 3
Different people may have different concepts of what constitutes a graph and it may be worthwhile to research the word before you start, to ensure that you are on the right track. Keep in mind that different types of graphs are used for the display of different types of information, and make sure that you choose the type of graph which will be best suited to making the information clearly available and understandable. The order in which you present the different producing countries also has a role to play in your construction of the graph – make sure that you inject this with logic and an eye for practical flow that will make sense to the reader. On completion of this answer, you should be able to look at it and ask yourself if it is shown to another person, will they be able to draw some conclusions from your presentation which will enable them to understand the available information fully and easily without having to ask additional questions or spend an unreasonably long time analysing the information. Question 4: The challenge is to correct and improve the sentences. It is unlikely that all the answers will come to you at first glance. It would therefore be good if you could look at the sentences over a period of some days and to rewrite them several times. Some of the examples given demand that you remove or add a word. You may have to switch some words around or completely change the order in which the words are presented. Keep in mind that the final product needs to illustrate the effective use of good English in a formal business context.
Kind regards IMM GSM Team
© IMM Graduate School of Marketing Assignment Tutorial Letter
BC101/BC
