The goal of this exercise is to help you learn some ways you can apply Chapter 10's guidelines for ending a workplace communication.

The Exercise

The conclusion below was taken from a report on the need to restructure a forest ranger training program at a state park. The writer was commissioned by the park to study the existing training program and to write a report outlining its problems and suggesting solutions. In this conclusion, the writer has used several of the strategies described in Chapter 9.

• Ask yourself how well the passage follows the guidelines presented in Chapter 10:

Guideline 1: After you've made your last point, stop. (Not relevant to this exercise).
Guideline 2: Repeat your main point.
Guideline 3: Summarize your key points.
Guideline 4: Refer to a goal stated earlier in your communication.
Guideline 5: Focus on a key feeling.
Guideline 6: Tell your readers how to get assistance or more information.
Guideline 7: Tell your readers what to do next.
Guideline 8: Identify any further study that is needed.
Guideline 9: Follow applicable social conventions.

Your Assignment

• Locate specific passages where the document follows the above guidelines. Underline these passages and write the corresponding guideline number next to them.
• If there are any guidelines that the communication does not follow, mark those areas, perhaps with a question mark and the guideline number, where you think information could be inserted in order to fulfill the guidelines.
• Optional Task. If time permits, and as an optional activity, you could have students rewrite the conclusion or portions of the conclusion so that it follows all the guidelines or so that it follows some of them more closely.

The Ending of the Report

This report has analyzed the benefits and consequences of initiating a new training program for our rangers at Farnsworth State Park, which needs to restructure its current program in order to make it more effective. As discussed in Section 3 of this report, problems associated with the current training program include the following:

1. Lack of valid evaluation criteria to determine success or failure of rangers.
2. Lack of necessary equipment needed to imitate "real life" problems and situations at Farnsworth State Park.
3. Lack of supervisors to monitor subjects in the field during extended weekend testing portion of the training program.

Initiating a new, restructured ranger training program would solve these three key problems as well improve the program in other, subtler ways, as discussed in Section 3. Although costs would be initially high, the long-term benefits are certainly in the best interests of the park.

Thus, I believe that Farnsworth State Park should adopt our proposed plan in order to solve their problems associated with the current training system. Please do not hesitate to write or call me at (814) 555-6450 should you have any questions about our findings or recommendations.