Evaluating the Competitive Landscape

Institutional Assignments

A local business leader is considering starting a business in your area and has hired you to conduct a market analysis and deliver a formal report of your findings. Consider a market segment with which you are familiar. Write a brief report to be delivered to your sponsor in which you describe the status of competition within this market and recommend a course of action for the start-up.

Develop a response that includes examples and evidence to support your ideas, and which clearly communicates the required message to your audience. Organize your response in a clear and logical manner as appropriate for the genre of writing. Use well-structured sentences, audience-appropriate language, and correct conventions of standard American English.

Focus & Meaning

• I have read the writing topic and identified my audience and purpose.
• I have established and maintained an insightful controlling idea or bottom line and focused on a specific subject clearly expressed in a thesis statement.
• I have read my essay to make certain I clearly adapted the message to the audience.

Content & Development

• I have developed my ideas fully and memorably, using appropriate business concepts and terms.
• I have included at least three or four details to support each main idea. Details include facts, statistics, examples, or personal experiences.

Organization

• I have developed a cohesive and unified structure with effective use of paragraphing or grouping of information, logical connections, and transitional devices throughout.
• I have presented my ideas in a clear order with my strongest argument last.
• I included a strong statement in my conclusion that tells readers what to do-a call to action.

Language Use, Voice & Style

• I have used precise, professional language to project a well-defined voice.
• I have used well-structured and varied sentences.
• I replaced general descriptive words with more specific descriptive words (specific nouns, vivid verbs, colorful modifiers, etc.).

Mechanics & Conventions

• I have read my essay out loud so that I can hear my mistakes and correct them.
• I have made few errors in grammar, mechanics, punctuation, and spelling that could interfere with the message.
• I have used MY Editor as a final check for possible errors in mechanics, style, punctuation, and spelling.