PURPOSE

This task helps you prepare for some group work in class. We opened the course by recognizing that we have gut reactions to business messages. Now that we've covered a good deal of theory that has explanatory power, let's go beyond merely recognizing those gut reactions by taking a stab and explaining what underlies them.

TASK

Please go through your inbox. (You can use your University inbox, a work inbox, or a personal inbox.) Identify two or three emails to which you have a gut reaction of some kind and that allow you to show off some of your new-found knowledge. Perhaps you see a poor strategy or a process barrier. Perhaps you see ambiguous intent? Perhaps you see poor choices in politeness cues (due to a misjudged or ignored understanding of status, social distance, or stakes). Perhaps you see poor practice in sentence-level stylistics. Alternatively, you may see an example of clear strategy, of clear intent, of good choices in politeness cues, or best practice in sentence-level stylistics. We can have gut reactions to GOOD practice, too. (It's just that gut reactions to BAD practice tend to be more memorable--and at times more interesting to analyze.)

 

Create a PowerPoint with each of the slides being a screenshot of an email you identified. You'll share this with members of a small group and possibly with the whole class. You don't need to provide any analysis here, but you ought to make a few notes to yourself about how you might use each email to show off your new-found knowledge. When we meet in class, members of your small group may also spot some things and contribute to your initial thoughts.