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by Robin L. Simmons.
All Rights Reserved.
ENC 1101
From School Essay to
Business Letter

Requirements for the Last Essay
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Your last essay must convert to a formal
business letter.
You will also compose a résumé.
You will do 100 points of prewriting for
the essay.
The final draft of the business letter will
be worth 100 points.
The final draft of the résumé will be
worth another 100 points.
Unit 4 is worth 300 total points.
As this semester draws to a
close, remember this
important point:
To write a successful personal essay,
you must approach the topic in the
right manner.
What’s the right
manner again?
You should …
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Keep the topic singular.
Narrow the topic so that your essay
will not sound like everyone else’s.
Incorporate personal experience
so that your details will be unique.
We’ve heard
all of these
strategies
before!
Directions: Write a thesis statement for
each topic below. One of these will be your
choice for the last essay.
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The best restaurant I have visited on a
special occasion
A cleaning product that I discovered
does/does not perform as advertised
A high school or college course that taught
me far more than I expected
A reason that an employer should hire me
A requirement that has caused me difficulty
in college
Start Your Prewriting
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Compose 5 different thesis statements
in class. Bring them to me.
For homework, choose one of the two
thesis statements I circled.
Write a phrase outline for the paper.
Begin the outline with the thesis
statement you plan to use.
Write detailed phrases of what you
plan to cover in the paper. One or twoword items on the outline will be
unacceptable.
Use this sample as your guide.
Write Your Rough Draft

Your first draft should look like a regular essay.
Use first person: I, me, my, mine. Tell stories
about the restaurant, product, class, or college
problem that you yourself have experienced.
Do not use you.
To get full credit, do the following:

Rough drafts can be rough, so don’t worry about
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• Include a correct heading in the top left.
• Give the essay an original and interesting title.
• Reach the conclusion, with at least 500 words.
spacing or neatness.
Bring me the draft and your prewriting sheet
for points.
Type the draft as homework.
Convert Your Essay to a
Formal Business Letter, Part 1
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Create a letterhead at the top of your
document. Center your full name, address, and
phone number.
Skip four lines and add today’s date at the
left margin.
Jessica Rodriguez
5608 Swallowtail Court
Orlando, FL 32811
(407) 555-3723
Letterhead
identifies the
writer of the letter.
4 lines separate the
letterhead from the date.
December 2, 2013
Convert Your Essay to a
Formal Business Letter, Part 2
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After the date, skip another four lines and
add the inside address. This is the name
and title [if you know them] and the address
of the person/people receiving your letter.
• For the restaurant topic, find the address of
the specific location you visit.
• For the cleaning product topic, find the
corporate address
• For the course topic, find the address of the
school/campus where you took that class
• For the politician topic, find his/her
government office address
• For the college requirement topic, use the
address for Valencia’s West Campus.
Jessica Rodriguez
5608 Swallowtail Court
Orlando, FL 32811
(407) 555-3723
December 2, 2013
4 lines separate the date
from the inside address.
Stacy Harrison
General Manager, Colonial Plaza Starbucks
1451 E. Colonial Drive
Orlando, FL 32806
Convert Your Essay to a
Formal Business Letter, Part 3
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Skip two lines and include a
salutation.
• Best: Use the person’s name and title—
Dear Professor Grayson:
• Good: If you do not have a person’s
name, use as specific a greeting as
possible—Dear Olive Garden Staff:
• Worst: Avoid the generic To Whom It
May Concern: or Dear Sir/Madam:
• Use a colon after the salutation.
Jessica Rodriguez
5608 Swallowtail Court
Orlando, FL 32811
(407) 555-3723
December 2, 2013
Stacy Harrison
General Manager, Colonial Plaza Starbucks
1451 E. Colonial Drive
Orlando, FL 32806
Dear Ms. Harrison:
2 lines separate the inside
address from the salutation.
Convert Your Essay to a
Formal Business Letter, Part 4
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The body of your letter should be single
spaced with double space between
paragraphs.
Use full block style; this means that you
should not indent paragraphs. Start each new
paragraph at the left margin.
When necessary, use second-person
pronouns [you, etc.] to address the reader
of the letter directly.
Dear Ms. Harrison:
2 lines separate the salutation
from the opening paragraph.
My family and I came to your excellent establishment this past weekend
for Grandma’s eightieth birthday, and I just want to say that you really
made this special occasion memorable for all of us. Lorem ipsum dolor sit
amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Vivamus erat tellus, dictum at, semper ac,
congue at, nibh. Praesent non magna sit amet lectus rhoncus laoreet. Ut
mollis elit. Donec sed nunc quis ligula posuere pulvinar. Etiam eleifend
quam a nulla. Nulla magna ipsum, consectetur vitae, sollicitudin at,
scelerisque at, quam. We were especially pleased with the food, special
attention, and friendly atmosphere.
Single space with double space
between paragraphs.
First let me compliment your food. Vestibulum hendrerit lobortis erat. Ut
mauris lacus, adipiscing in, ultrices quis, pharetra sit amet, nunc. Morbi sed
ligula. Pellentesque eu erat. Ut ullamcorper consequat urna. Ut malesuada
elit eu nisl. Vivamus blandit sagittis nisl. Pellentesque vel sem. Sed
hendrerit leo eu metus. In hac habitasse platea dictumst. Phasellus
vehicula, metus nec condimentum malesuada, nisl magna sollicitudin eros,
a sagittis metus urna non nisi. Pellentesque laoreet fringilla neque.
Quisque fermentum commodo purus.
Effective Changes to Second Person
First ofFirst
all, ofyou
Ms.
Thuson
were
very
was
nice.
very
You
nice.
would
let
would
letininus
all, Ms.
Thuson
was
very
nice.
SheShe
would
letus
us eat
eat
her
eat inroom
your
her room
at lunch
at lunch
and sometimes
and sometimes
during
during
class.class.
You
room
lunch
and
sometimes
during
She
would
talknot
to us
as her
if we
She atwould
would
talk to
talk
us
toasusif as
we
ifwere
weclass.
were
your
her
friends,
friends,
not
your
students,
which
I really
appreciated.
During these
were her friends,
not her
students,
which I really appreciated.
During these
conversations, I learned not only about the ocean but
conversations,
I learned
only about
the ocean
also
about
lifeknow
and
also about life
and not
being
an adult.
You
Ms.but
Thuson
did
know
did
your
her
subject,
marine
marine
biology,
biology,
really
really
well
well
and
and
shared
shared
books,
beingsubject,
an adult.
Ms.
Thuson
did know
her
subject,
marine
biology,
really
books, PowerPoints,
PowerPoints,
and videos.
and videos.
Whenever
Whenever
I missedI missed
class, I
well
andIIshared
PowerPoints,
and
videos.
Whenever
I missed
class,
knew
could
knewbooks,
count
I could
oncount
your on
generosity
her
generosity
to get myself
to
get
myself
caught
caught
up.I could
In class,
up.
Inyou
class,
shejust
didn’t
lecture.
We
would
WeIn
class, I knew
count
on
herdidn’t
generosity
tolecture.
getjust
myself
caught
up.
would
talk
and
talk
ask
and
questions;
ask questions;
we could
we tell
could
thattell
you
that
genuinely
she
class,
she us
didn’t
lecture.
We
would the
talk and
ask questions; we could
genuinely
wanted
wanted
tojust
learn
us
theto
material.
learn
material.
tell that she genuinely wanted us to learn the material.
Convert Your Essay to a
Formal Business Letter, Part 5
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Include a closing.
• Sincerely yours,
• Best,
• Yours truly,
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Use a comma after the closing.
Skip four lines and type your name.
Sign your name in pen in the space
between the closing and your typed name.
posuere, nisl at porttitor pharetra, elit libero rutrum sem, scelerisque
commodo dolor est nec dolor. Sed fermentum condimentum eros.
Vestibulum nec eros eu sapien pharetra venenatis. Etiam molestie
malesuada lacus. Sed et augue. Cras lorem diam, convallis vitae, lacinia
non, auctor eget, augue. Nam quis est.
Pellentesque rhoncus pharetra justo. Maecenas ut nisi vel ante vestibulum
blandit. Aenean ultricies. Pellentesque habitant morbi tristique senectus et
netus et malesuada fames ac turpis egestas. Praesent eleifend adipiscing
lacus. Phasellus non dolor in lacus sollicitudin ultricies. Integer nibh. Duis
dictum tristique massa. Etiam aliquam, justo sed gravida consequat, dolor
mi accumsan purus, vitae consequat enim purus ut nunc.
Thanks again,
2 lines separate the concluding
paragraph from the closing.
Jessica Rodriguez
Jessica Rodriguez
4 lines separate the closing from
the typed name. Sign with pen
between the two.
The End.