Letter of Advice

For this assignment, you will write a letter of advice to either a newly engaged couple or a group of coworkers. Imagine that either the engaged couple or coworkers hear that you are taking a course in interpersonal communication and want advice regarding how to communicate in their personal or professional relationships. Based on what you have learned in this course, your personal experience, and the five learning objectives we have covered, what advice would you give them regarding how to communicate effectively? How can you use what you have learned in this class to offer a couple or group of co-workers advice to have more positive relationships? Write your paper in the form of a letter. Please review the Sample Final Paper.

Instructions
Use the list of learning outcomes to write your letter. The course learning outcomes you will need to cover are listed below:

• Explain the principles of and barriers to effective interpersonal communications.
• Analyze the role of communication in developing and maintaining one’s self-concept, self-image, and self-esteem.
• Differentiate appropriate levels of self-disclosure and emotional intelligence in various relationships.
• Describe strategies for using communication techniques to resolve interpersonal conflicts.
• Analyze the impact of gender and culture on interpersonal communications.

For each of the five learning outcomes, create a separate heading that states the learning outcome that you are addressing. Then, address the following for each segment:

• Explain the principles of and barriers to effective, competent interpersonal communications. Why do the principles matter? How can your couple or group of co-workers overcome the barriers you have listed?
• Analyze the role of communication in developing and maintaining one’s self-concept, self-image, and self-esteem. Begin by defining each term and then explain how these three notions of the self potentially impact the relationships of your couple or group of co-workers. What advice can you offer to help them develop a positive self-concept or build each other’s self-esteem?
• Illustrate the importance of self-disclosure and emotional intelligence in various relationships. What role does self-disclosure play in the relationships of your couple or co-workers? How can their relationships be improved by them becoming more emotionally intelligent? What connections can be made between emotional intelligence and self-disclosure?
• Evaluate strategies for using communication techniques to resolve interpersonal conflicts. Explain one or two potential conflicts and then present at least two strategies for addressing the dispute(s).
• Analyze the impact of gender and culture on interpersonal communications. First, define these two key terms. Then, explain the importance of gender and culture in relationships generally and for your couple or group of co-workers specifically. What advice can you give to become a better communicator based on the information you have presented?

Content Requirements
You must address all five of the learning outcomes and the questions listed with those objectives. For each objective, be sure to define key terms and relate those ideas directly to advice for your couple or co-workers. The point here is for you to demonstrate how these ideas can be utilized to help people in their relationships. Try to offer specific advice they can integrate into their lives.

Begin your paper with an introductory paragraph that has a succinct thesis statement and that previews what you plan to cover in your paper. End with a conclusion that reaffirms your thesis and restates your key points.

You must use at least five scholarly sources to help you make your points. At least three of these should be course readings and two should be academic articles you have found yourself by doing research in the Ashford University Library. If you need help doing research, visit the Ashford University Library, which can be accessed through the Library tab in the left-navigation menu, in your online course.
You must also draw on personal experience to offer advice or to illustrate points. It is acceptable to use hypothetical examples and/or your personal experiences for either your couple or group of co-workers. We simply want to see that you can apply what you have learned to some potential “real world” experience.

The Final Paper

• Must be 8 to 10 double-spaced pages in length (not including title and references pages) and formatted according to APA style. For assistance, visit the Ashford Writing Center’s Introduction to APA (Links to an external site.).
• Must include a title page with the following (for further assistance with the formatting and the title page, please refer to Ashford Writing Cetner’s APA Formatting for Word 2013 (Links to an external site.)):
  • Title of paper
  • Student’s name
  • Course name and number
  • Instructor’s name
  • Date submitted
• Must include an introduction and conclusion paragraph. Your introduction paragraph needs to end with a clear thesis statement that indicates the purpose of your paper. For assistance on writing introductions, conclusions, and thesis statements, please refer to the following web pages, housed within the Ashford Writing Center & Library resources tab:
  • Introductions & Conclusions (Links to an external site.)
  • Writing a Thesis Statement (Links to an external site.)
• Must use each learning objectives as a header dividing each section of the paper.
• Must use the textbook as a source. The Integrating Research (Links to an external site.) tutorial will offer further assistance on including supporting information and reasoning.
• Must use two additional course articles/videos and two academic articles the student has found independently. A total of five sources must be used in the paper and be on the reference list.
• Must document any information from a source in APA style, as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center’s Citing Within Your Paper (Links to an external site.).
• Must include a separate references page that is formatted according to APA style. See the Formatting Your References List (Links to an external site.) guide created by the Ashford Writing Center.

Before you submit your written assignment, you are encouraged to review The Grammarly Guide: How to Set Up & Use Grammarly (Links to an external site.) tutorial, set up a Grammarly account (if you have not already done so), and use Grammarly to review a rough draft of your assignment. Then carefully review all issues identified by Grammarly and revise your work as needed.

Final Notes
This is a formal paper and should utilize proper grammar, complete sentences, and paragraph transitions. However, you will write this paper in the format of a letter to the newly-engaged couple or group of co-workers. Feel free to address the people you select directly throughout the paper.