COMM 3144 Unit 4

Professional Writing & Personal Branding

Your Task
The assignment for Unit 4 is divided into two parts: professional writing and personal
branding. Part 1 of this assignment will focus on writing professional business letters,
specifically a request letter and a fundraising letter. Part 2 of this module will include
writing a resume and work story for your website.
Part 1: Professional Writing
Fundraising Letter: For this assignment you will continue working with the
nonprofit organization from unit 3 and write a fundraising letter to me asking for a
donation. The letter should include the four parts of the fundraising letter
discussed in class and follow standard business letter formatting.
You should approach this assignment as if you are working for the nonprofit. As
such, you should be familiar with the organization and its programs in order to
write a persuasive letter. A portion of your grade will reflect your ability to
persuade me to donate to your organization.
Header information should include your clients address, but you should sign the
letter as the representative. Address the letter to me as follows:
Dr. Brandi Watkins
Assistant Professor
Department of Communication
Shanks Hall, Room 110 (0311)
181 Turner St NW
Blacksburg, VA 24061
Request Letter: For this assignment you will write a request letter to Dr. Robert
Denton, Chair for the Department of Communication, on behalf of your client from
the fundraising letter. In this scenario, your organization wants to work with the
public relations campaigns class to develop a campaign that promotes your
clients work in the Blacksburg community. Your letter should ask Dr. Denton for
his assistance with arranging a meeting with faculty teaching this course.
As with the fundraising letter, you are writing as a representative of your
organization. Header information should include your clients address, but you
should sign the letter as the representative. Address the letter to Dr. Denton as
follows:
Dr. Robert Denton

Professor and Department Head

Department of Communication
Shanks Hall, 115 (0311)
181 Turner St NW
Blacksburg, VA 24061
Important Dates:
November 10: Unit 4 Lecture
November 15: Guest Speaker/lab day
November 17: No class/optional meet with instructor for portfolio assignment
November 29: lab day
December 1: peer editing assignment (fundraising letter)
December 6: AP style quiz (class will not meet)/turn in website early for 2 bonus
points
This assignment is due December 6 at 12:30 p.m.
Part 2: Personal Branding
Part 2 of this module assignment includes writing a resume and work story (in
place of the LinkedIn bio) for your portfolio project. The work story is a narrative
form of your resume. A work story allows you to provide additional details that are
not necessary on a traditional resume (i.e., what you learned from a job or
internships; or an experience that has led you to your current career path). A
work story should be accompanied by a graphic resume that further illustrates
your unique set of experiences and skills.
You can embed your resume as a separate page on your website or you can link
to it as a PDF document. Just be sure that you do not include any personal
information (i.e., home address and phone number).
You will submit both of these assignments as part of your portfolio project. If you
would like for me to review a draft of your work story, you should submit it as a
word document via Canvas. This is due Tuesday, November 29 at 12:30 p.m.
This is optional.
Reminder, the portfolio project (your final assignment for this class) is due
December 13 at 12:05 p.m. You may submit it early (December 6 at 12:30
p.m.) for two bonus points.