Activity: Can you identify the elements of RAFT in this email from a student to their tutor?
Practice identifying the separate elements of RAFT in a real world situation.
Activity: Can you identify the elements of RAFT in this email from a student to their tutor?
Re: UCOL25002 Digital Society – Assessment 2
Dear Professor Quagga
I hope that you had a nice Easter vacation
I’m a third year undergraduate, and I’m taking your UCOL25002 Digital Society course unit this semester.
I am interested in writing about the ethics of how personal information is used by companies. I can’t see an essay title that would easily allow me to write about this. However, I wondered if it would be OK if I incorporated this by completing the assignment which is focused on the “Internet of Things”. I’m planning to write about how in the future “smart cities” will have the ability to collect people’s data without them actually knowing, and talk about the ethics of this.
I asked about this on our Blackboard discussion board and the other students on my course told me that you had helped them with clarifying their research topic, and suggested I email you.
Please could you let me know if this would be suitable as a research topic for this assignment?
Thanks very much for your time
Answers:
Role
In this situation the role of the writer is to question and find out whether the topic they have chosen is suitable to meet the requirements of the assignment.
Audience
The audience here is the tutor, so the writer adopts a formal tone which is appropriate; they have clearly stated who they are and what they want to know.
Format
Email has been chosen as the best format to communicate with the tutor in order to receive a timely and specific response. Although the writer did consult other students, they were advised to contact their tutor directly.
Topic
The subject heading of the email provides an indication of the subject matter (topic) so that the tutor knows what to expect and this is confirmed by the content of the email. Providing clear indication of what you want to know or say ensures that your reader knows how best to respond.