course materials

1. This assignment is your chance to improve the world—or at least one
small corner
This assignment is your chance to improve the world—or at least one small corner of it. You
are to write a letter of 400 to 800 words in which you make an unsolicited recommendation
for improving the operation of some organization with which you have personal contact—
perhaps the company that employed you last summer, a club you belong to, or your sorority
or fraternity.There are four important restrictions on the recommendation you make:Your
recommendation must concern a real situation in which your letter could really bring about
change. As you consider possible topics, focus on situations that can be improved by the
modest measures that you can argue for effectively in a relatively brief letter. It is not
necessary, however, that your letter aims to bring about a complete solution. In your letter,
you might aim to persuade one of the key people in the organization that your
recommendation will serve the organization’s best interests.Your recommendation must be
unsolicited—that is, it must be addressed to someone who has not asked for your
advice.Your recommendation must concern the way an organization operates, not just the
way one or more individuals think or behave.Your recommendation may not involve a
problem that would be decided in an essentially political manner. Thus, you are not to write
on a problem that would be decided by elected officials (such as members of Congress or
the city council), and you may not address a problem that would be raised in a political
campaign.Of course, you will have to write to an actual person, someone who, in fact, has
the power to help make the change you recommend. You may have to investigate to learn
who that person is. Try to learn how that person feels about the situation you hope to
improve. Keep in mind that most people are inclined to reject advice they haven’t asked for;
that’s part of the challenge of this assignment. From time to time throughout your career,
you will find that you want to make recommendations that your reader hasn’t requested.In
the past, students have completed this assignment by writing on such matters as the
following:A no-cost way that the student’s summer employer could more efficiently handle
merchandise on the loading dock.A detailed strategy for increasing attendance at the
meetings of a student organization to which the student belongedA proposal that the Office
of the Dean of Students establish a self-supporting legal-aid service for studentsBear in
mind that one essential feature of a recommendation is that it compares two alternatives:
keeping things the way they are now and changing them to the way you think they should
be. You will have to make the change seem to be the better alternative from your reader’s

2. point of view. To do this, you will find it helpful to understand why the organization does
things in the present way. By understanding the goals of the present method, you will
probably gain insight into the criteria that your reader will apply when comparing the
present method with the method you recommend.Directions:Write a letter of 400 to 800
words in which you make an unsolicited recommendation for improving the operation of
some organization with which you have personal contact—perhaps the company that
employed you last summer, a club you belong to, or your sorority or fraternity.You can find
a letter template on Blackboard by going to the “Major Assignments & Rubrics” area and
then clicking on “Directions for Unsolicited Letter.”