1. Oh, no! Something has gone terribly wrong with one of the products or services your company provides. Write up an investigative report about the incident and send it to your stockholders (your classmates).

2. You've identified and corrected the problem. Now it's time to win back your customers. Write a press release explaining how the situation has been resolved.

3. Write a one sentence summary of one of the following well-known fairy tales: "Little Red Riding Hood," "Cinderella," "Glodilocks and the Three Bears," or "The Three Little Pigs."

4. The statements listed in items a-j will go into a progress report. Identify each statement as Work Completed, Work Scheduled, or Problems/Projections.

a. We have purchased a site license from NetBright for our network.
b. The CD-ROM, which was delivered last Friday, was damaged in shipping so that it is inoperable.
c. We installed screen savers on all computers.
d. If all work scheduled is completed as we expect, the network will be ready for the team orientation on September 23.
e. This week the system director will order the serial cable we need.
f. The hardware security system we requested was $300 over budget.
g. Each computer will be named so that users can easily identify it.
h. A system administrator must be trained before we can operate fully.
i. We connected the laser printer to the network and tested it.
j. We forgot to order a surge protector for the computer attached to the LCD projection panel, so we cannot use this equipment until the order arrives next week.

3. Some of the following sentences are vague, and some include the writer's opinions. Revise each sentence to make it specific and factual. Invent details as needed.

a. The calibrator is several minutes off schedule.
b. The phenomenal response to our new computer safety education program shows that this new program will benefit employees.
c. To get to the warehouse, go down the hall a bit and turn left.
d. The line was down for a while last Friday because of a lecture on safety.
e. We can assemble the original air purifier in 45 minutes, but the fancy case of the new model results in a much longer assembly time than we planned.

4. Evaluate your progress on a hobby or collection. For instance, if you build sound systems, explain the pieces of equipment (for example, speakers and receivers) you have acquired and describe the equipment you will add. If you collect baseball cards or comic books, note the cards or books you own and the items you want to trade or buy. Make notes about your progress.

5. List five mechanisms you know well. These may mechanisms you use at work, at home, or at school. Consider using simple devices or a single mechanism within a larger, more complex machine. Write a mechanism description for one of the items. In you report, include a diagram of the mechanism.

6. Write a periodic report using the following information.

As the Drafting Club chair, you receive organization funds from the Student Government Association (SGA). You report to the SGA twice a semester to tell them what the club is doing. Your next report is due January 6, 2012. In this report, you will discuss Professional Pursuits, Service, and Membership. The club is more active than ever. Over the holidays, five members attended the American Institute of Building Design meeting in Pensacola and brought back information to share with other members. The club began the school year with 21 members, and two students joined during the second semester. This years' service project is to plan the city's first Habitat for Humanity house. Club members have completed the exterior drawings and submitted them for approval. They will finish the interior drawings before the school year ends. All 23 members of the club have participated in this service project.

7. Think of groups to which you belong: family, a club, a neighborhood, a school. With one group and a particular time period in mind, plan and write a periodic report for a specific audience. Describe the ongoing activities for your group or for your unit of the larger organization.

8. Write a news release for your school or another organization with which you are affiliated to announce an upcoming event, an accomplishment, or other newsworthy information.

9. Are these statements subjective or objective? Explain.

a. This is the best English class I have ever taken.
b. This class covers the basic style and formatting of technical writing.
c. The patient seemed angry, probably because of something that happened on the way to the office.
d. The temperature is in the mid-80s with little chance of rain.

10. Some of the sentences below are vague, and some include the writer's opinions. Revise each sentence to make it specific and factual. Invent details as needed.

a. The calibrator is several minutes off schedule.
b. The phenomenal response to our new computer safety education program shows that this new program will benefit employees.
c. To get to the warehouse, go down the hall a bit and turn left.
d. The line was down for a while on Friday because of some lecture on safety.

11. Are the statements listed below observable results? Respond yes or no.

a. The manager plans to review safety standards with all employees.
b. The olive trees have lost 80 percent of their leaves.
c. Mr. Domingues regrets his decision to close the recapping unit.
d. After the robbery, the Gallery Movie Theater closed.
e. The front line operator failed to read the Caution statement.

12. What type of graphics do these statements call for? Consider calculations, figures, and tables.

a. The experiments were designed to demonstrate the properties of inverse functions. We experimented with several types of functions, including transcendental functions and polynomial expressions.
b. The area of the platinum disk was found using simple algebra.
c. An energy flow diagram (see Figure 2) was developed illustrating the energy flow and the student's position on the food web.
d. The circuit in Figure 3 uses an op-amp as a multiplier.

13. Which part of the following statements could be more precise?

a. The bear drank from the water hole several times in the afternoon.
b. The decibels were tested at levels too low for human ears.
c. The robin sat on a few eggs in its nest for a couple of weeks.
d. The CPU costs around $500, the monitor costs about $350, and the printer costs $398.99 plus shipping and handling.

14. Where do these sentences belong in a lab report-under Introduction, Materials and Method, Results, Discussion, or Conclusions?

a. For this activity, four potatoes, four pieces of wood, four cans, and a flame were used to determine evidence of carbon.
b. The larger the food supply, the larger the guppy population.
c. The data for absorbencies in Table 1 show excellent correlation and a strong linear relationship (R= 1.00) for Plot 1.

15. To practice explaining complex information to a lay audience, find a way to explain these laws of physics to a 6-year-old.

a. Conservation of Matter: Matter is neither created nor destroyed.
b. Third Law of Motion: For every action, there is an equal and oppositereaction.
c. First Law of Motion: A body persists in its state of rest or of uniform motion unless acted upon by an external unbalanced force.

16. Think of ways to explain these complex processes so that a lay reader can easily understand the process. Look for a common occurrence or description to use as an analogy:

a. How the subconscious affects a person's behavior
b. How the human eye sees
c. How lightning is formed

17. Think of a time when something went wrong-perhaps a problem atschool or work. After identifying and analyzing your audience, write an incident report describing the incident and what you learned.