Evaluation Criteria for Bad News Letters
07/15/2008Following are the criteria I will be using to grade your bad news letters. You should also use these criteria when critiquing assingments during group and peer evaluations.
- Is the bad news and the reasoning behind it clear?
- Does the writer offer alternatives to the bad news, or are there no possible alternatives?
- Is the tone overly negative or angry, causing the reader to tune out the bad news?
- Is the tone overly solicitous, causing the reader to believe the bad news is really good news, or to miss the bad news entirely?
- Does the writer seem untrustworthy because s/he uses a buffer rather than a more direct approach to delivering the bad news?
- Does the writer seem rude and insensitive because s/he gives the bad news directly rather than easing into it with a buffer?
- Is the document free of errors in grammar and spelling?
- Is the document free of awkward and wordy phrasing?
- Does the writer adhere to standard letter format?