2.6 End of Chapter Activities
2a. Thinking About the Content
What are your key takeaways from this chapter? What is something you have learned or something you would like to add from your experience?
2b. Discussion Questions
Discussion Questions
- How much time do you send on prewriting, writing and revising your work?
- Make a list of the written communication that you read, skim, or produce in one day.
- Which communication channel do you most use and why?
2c. Applying chapter concepts to a situation
Choosing the right channel
Anita is in the final year of her post-graduate degree program and needs to make a decision about her internship. For the last year, she has been working in a cafe in her neighbourhood. She hopes that she will be able to do her internship at the cafe. Recently the shift supervisor quit and moved to another city, and the cafe owner told Anita that she would be perfect for the position because of her great work ethic.
Anita meets with her internship supervisor to discuss her plans. Her supervisor is unwilling to sign off on her internship at the cafe because even though it would be a supervisory position, it would not be in her field. He suggests that she finds another job for her internship. Anita is disappointed. She will have to quit her current job and start the job search process again.
She needs to let her manager know that she will not be able to accept the supervisor position, and it is very likely that she will have to quit. Her manager prefers to communicate through text messages, but Anita wonders if a text message would be appropriate in this situation. She learned about choosing the correct medium in her business communication class.
Which medium should Anita choose to convey this message and why?
2d. Summary Writing
Watch this TED Talk on How to Have Better Conversations. Write a summary and evaluate how the speaker presented her topic. What do you think of her topic?