Dear Mary Tavanner

Dear Mary Tavanner,

Hillsboro Public Library is the best place for Mesa Elementary School’s students to gain computer skills.

I do agree with you that your MES students are our county’s smartest. It is very understandable that due to economic reasons, your association’s budget is limited and that purchasing needed technologies becomes a serious challenge. Indeed, in today’s ever-upgrading society, computer literacy is extremely vital to almost everyone especially students. I myself grew up in a financially-challenged family & I know how it’s like not to have the necessary tools for educational purposes.

In the Philippines, there are two competing professional basketball leagues, the Philippine Basketball Association & the Metropolitan Basketball Association. The old-fashioned PBA has faithfully adapted the NBA rules & regulations. The emerging MBA on its inaugural season, decided to alter several basketball rules which include decreasing the shot clock from 24 to 23 seconds to accelerate the phase of each the game. This and some other reasons made the new league unexpectedly popular & in its 1^st year became the passion of the nation. During the season break, rumors arise that fans wants the PBA shot clock at 22 seconds to stay popular. The following season started with the original PBA rules intact. One convincing reason the PBA commissioner offered was in a form of a question, “What if the MBA brought theirs down to 21 seconds, Should we makes ours 20?”

Just like the above situation, as the ACC manager, I have to consider the consequences of every action I take. I have made a decision considering all factors including the benefits it will provide your students & the good image it will give us. Personally, I would gladly let your students learn using our showroom computers. However, if I grant your legitimate request, we would have to let other needy party’s do the same thing since consistency is one of our company’s core values. Unfortunately, we can’t afford succeeding occurrence of this to happen.

As a concerned individual, I did a quick research on how your school may provide computer education to its students. I found out that Hillsboro Public Library accommodate group sessions provided that prior arrangements be agreed upon. I do expect most of your students are residents of Hillsboro which makes them eligible for a library card. The library card entitles them to use the public computers & other library services which will further enhance their learning. Not only that these services are free of charge, they also have 30 powerful computers available for public use. Furthermore, HPL hours of operation is very flexible. I advise you to visit their website or personally ask their office on how to arrange group sessions.

I am aware that HPL is not that close to MES but that shouldn’t bother you so much. It is very likely that your school principal, Miss Marshall will allow you to use your school’s mini bus once a week for a good cause.

Before I end, I would like to take this opportunity to let you know that once a year, we replace our office computers that we use. We reformat the hard drives & reinstall the existing operating systems back to each computer & sell them at less that half the original price. Basically, these are computers we have used for only one year. Our employees are professionals & I can assure you that these computers are in good working condition. This option is something you or the future PTA president may consider in the next year or so. We don’t advertise these sales so I can inform your principal ahead of time when we do, usually November or December.

I hope that you will understand why I cannot grant your request. I greatly appreciate how you have recognized our company’s showroom activities. It is very inspiring that someone out there actually knows that we opened a showroom last month & knows when it is less busy. I hope my recommendation will work out for you and your students.

Sincerely,

Ernest Ventura

Store Manager
Acme Computer Center

Template for Solving Problems

I. Introduction
Introduce your solution to the problem.

II. Define the Problem
Give background information.

III. Define the Solution
Discuss its advantages.
Anticipate and refute objections to it.
Tell how to implement it.
Justify its costs.

IV. Conclusion
Invite further communication.

After establishing the context for understanding the solution, you can detail features of the solution. All successful persuasive documents that recommend solutions contain the six features identified in the problem solving template. They

1. define a problem
2. define a solution
3. discuss the advantages of the solution
4. anticipate and refute objections to the solution
5. tell how to implement the solution
6. justify the costs of the solution

Tone and Attitude

Persuasive problem solvers choose words carefully. Problems are by nature negative. It's easy to slip into unnecessarily negative language when discussing them. The strategy of emphasizing solutions implies choosing positive language instead of negative language.

Imagine the image of a water glass.

How much water is in the glass? As the adage goes, pessimists will say it's half empty while optimists will say it's half full. The amount of water is the same whether you choose to say it's half full or half empty. As a technical writer, you should choose positive language. A positive tone suggests a positive attitude, which is appropriate for solving problems.

Consider the difference in tone between two versions of this advice:

Don't use negative words.
Use positive words.

Bad News Rubric

The following rubric provides guidelines that describe performance completing bad news cases.

The basic goals of the bad news response follow:

1. Break the bad news clearly.
2. Minimize the reader's negative reaction.
3. Maintain the reader's good will.

Remember the CLASS system when reviewing the following descriptions: C=completeness, L=literacy, A=attitude, S=strategy, S=style.

THE 5 BAD NEWS RESPONSE

C: Satisfies the basic goals.
L: Commits no serious or chronic errors in grammar and usage.
A: Places the reader's needs over the author's. Maintains a positive, sincere tone.
S: Solves the reader's problem in an imaginative or interesting way.
S: Writes fluently and remains in control; varies sentences to reveal appreciation for rhythm; demonstrates a rich vocabulary.