Backgrounder for Core Assessment
CA 235: Multicultural Communication
Introduction
The main purpose of Core Assessment is a personal self analysis
... [Show More] where you take the course material and apply it a new event you did or experienced while enrolled in this course.
The Core Assessment Project should be communicated as a substantive, formal paper. The paper is not a research paper, although it has a research element in the backgrounder section due in Unit 2 along with references cited in the backgrounder.
The Core Assessment has two assignments.
• Unit 2 Backgrounder
• Unit 6 Core Assessment Paper
Unit 2 Backgrounder
Backgrounders tend to be heavy on facts and light on opinion (give historical background).
Position papers--or White Papers--are heavy on opinion or interpretation, supported by only a few selected facts (e.g., the company's point of view).
Can you think of a way you could use a Backgrounder as a Communication Professional?
Background is similar to a historical research paper. Backgrounders can do the following:
• Can be critical in media relations, particularly in responding to reporters' inquiries.
• Help your company's executives must be able to respond quickly and knowledgeably.
• Provide in-depth information on the topic.
• Serve as an information base for company executives and employees.
• Provide source materials to copywriters preparing ads, news releases, brochures, speeches, articles for the company magazine, Web site, and intranet.
• Used as documents to hand out to reporters or members of the public who inquire about a certain topic.
• Used by company executives on the speakers' circuit, so they can bone up on a subject and field questions.
If you were working on a intercultural community event on behalf of your employer, for example, what might be a backgrounder you would need?
Directions
In this part of the assignment, you will focus on scholarly research-based facts. Skim your book to find an area of research you need to learn.
• In the communication field, sometimes backgrounders are written and filed away for later use.
• For communication professionals, preparing backgrounders and position papers is often the first stage in planning a new public relations program.
• Communication professionals routinely comb popular and specialized media and documents, searching for salient bits of information affecting their company or industry.
Write a backgrounder on a specific aspect of a topic relevant to intercultural communication, which is something you need to learn. Write in the format expected of communication professionals, and make sure you correct all errors and add appropriate header information and line spacing for the assignment.
Backgrounder Writing Format
• Opening Statement: Begin with a simple statement of the issue (why it is important).
• Background: History
• Current Situation: A thorough discussion of the present circumstances.
• Implications: Inferences for the future.
• Documentation: Carefully cite all the sources of information so they can be investigated and compared. Also include an APA reference list.
This section will be included in the Core Assessment Project paper as the introduction. [Show Less]