Iowa State University:
Business and Technical Communication

Essay Assignment
This assignment asks you to write an essay suitable for publication in a professional journal or newsletter. You will identify an issue that's interesting to teachers and/or workplace professionals in business and technical communication and then pose a question you want to explore about that issue. Your essay will be an argument for a clearly stated position and should be presented in a logical, understandable, and engaging manner. Your essay should be targeted to a particular journal, which means that you need to read enough articles and essays in that journal to identify their general features.

Consider the following questions:
• What are the conventions of essays in the journal or newsletter you are targeting?
• What is the question you are addressing?
• What is the argument you are making?

Cover Memo
When you submit your essay, please include a cover sheet in which you identify the features of essay conventions that you consciously employed to make the essay appropriate for the intended journal or newsletter. This is the meta-cognitive element – you knowing not only what you've done but why you did it. Please indicate the journal or newsletter to which you plan to submit your revised essay.