In this activity, you will practice writing one common type of letter: a claim letter. Please review this chapter in order to familiarize yourself with claim letters: Complaints and Claims (Links to an external site.). Also, while you already reviewed a brief introduction to letters in the correspondence chapter, (Links to an external site.) you might look over this chapter on letters (Links to an external site.). You may also consider your tone in this assignment, and whether or not to use the direct or indirect pattern of organization. Familiarize yourself with what letters do, when they are appropriate, and what they look like. 

Scenario

You crashed your car and totaled it.  The insurance company has offered you a check to buy a new car.  The check is for $10,000.  However, when you go to buy a car, you realize that buying your car again–a car that’s the same model and year, and with the same amount of miles on it–will cost you $12,000.  

Task:

Write a letter to your insurance adjuster, Larry Lopez, asking for the $2,000 difference.  Remember to maintain an appropriate tone and to provide any evidence you need to back up your claim. Important: you can invent relevant, reasonable details to bolster your claim.  Generally, claim letters present evidence (reasoning) to persuade the reader to agree that something has been done incorrectly.  (Again, at least skim over the complaints and claims chapter linked above to get a sense of what these generally do.)

Step 1:

When you finish your letter, post it as text (not as an attachment; if you write it in Word, copy and paste it on to the discussion board).  Don’t forget to format the letter appropriately! It must look like a letter, not an email or memo, to receive full credit. That is why I’ve linked to the chapter above. 

Step 2:

Then, after your post, read over other letters that were posted. I’d like you to try to pick two letters that you think were particularly effective and comment on what makes them effective compared to others. Remember, if you do not comment on two other posts, you have not completed the assignment. 

Here’s how you’ll be graded:

• Discussion post is well-developed, thorough, and detailed. Responds to assigned text(s) or prompt. (8 points)
• Discussion responses to peers are detailed and thorough, showing thoughtful engagement with peers’ original posts. Two peer responses posted. (5 points)
• Both discussion posts and responses to peers show evidence of proofreading and editing. (2 points)