This assignment is intended to provide practice writing persuasively.

Scenario
You work in the UC Admissions Office and are responsible for writing some of the many messages the office sends out through the year. In this case you are to write a letter (on paper, mailed) to the parents of juniors attending Cincinnati Public High Schools. Your ultimate goal is to get as many of these juniors to apply to and attend UC. However, your immediate goal for this message is to get prospective students’ parents interested and involved by making an appeal to them. Make sure your appeal pertains to the parents by using the “you-viewpoint” and by choosing appropriate benefits. You may use a combination of appeals (logic, emotion, character), but only one of them (for example, cost considerations) should be emphasized in the message.
The “extrinsic” benefit separate from the others you should offer is half off the admissions fee when applying next year. This is a discount to be used in the future, upon application. However, in order to qualify now for the discount, parents have to register for the newsletter with a valid email or street address. This is what you are actually trying to persuade the parents to do in this message – to sign up for the newsletter to receive promotional material from UC. You are NOT trying to get their child/student to apply at this moment of contact.
You will need to describe how the parents can comply with your message, and you must make that as easy as possible. Because you cannot be certain that 100% of the parents have access to email (though of course most would), you must describe a regular mail option for those parents who require or request it, as well as a web-based method for signing up. Remember to make both options as easy as possible to comply with.

Assignment
Write a persuasive request in the form of a direct mail letter. Format the letter with all the appropriate elements including a generic name and address. At the top of your letter, where the UC logo and address would otherwise go, write the brief phrase that would appear on the envelope – the words or phrase that would make someone want to open a direct mail letter.
For the rest of the letter, which should be four paragraphs, follow the plan as described in the text:
1. Begin by gaining the reader’s attention and setting up the central appeal.
2. Create desire on the part of the reader by developing a central appeal, emphasizing the reader’s viewpoint. This is accomplished by stringing together sentences of related detail on the theme of the appeal (again, for example, the different cost considerations of attending UC).
3. Briefly develop a secondary appeal (different theme) and include a couple or a few sentences along that line. Then, make the transition to the newsletter. Include all necessary information related to complying with the discount offer and newsletter agreement. Remember to include both online and mail-in options. Make it as easy as possible to comply.
4. Encourage the reader to act immediately and briefly recall the main appeal. That is, include one or two more details along the line of your appeal from paragraph two. This is how you leave the reader feeling positive about UC. (You may also want to add a postscript.)