Topic: intro to actuarial memos

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MTHEL131 Winter 2016 Writing Project

This assignment provides you the opportunity to develop your writing abilities, a skill greatly valued by both co-op and permanent employers.

Your assignment involves writing two memos on separate topics. You will choose your two topics from the list below.

Throughout you’ll need to use plain language that can be easily understood by non-actuaries. Write using complete sentences and paragraphs. You may use bullet points sparingly to summarize key points. Your response to each of your topics should be no more than 800 words long and double spaced with a 12-point font. In total, your project should not exceed seven pages, not counting the title page.

Your first draft is due in the dropbox by 3:00pm on February 23 (Week 7) and is worth 10% of your final grade. You must also bring a hard copy of this assignment to submit in class that evening.

This draft will be returned to you on March 08 (Week 9) with a grade and comments to guide your revision.

The final draft of the assignment (the “revised” version addressing the feedback from your first draft) is due in the dropbox by 3:00pm on March 22 (Week 11), and is worth 15% of your final course grade. You must bring the graded copy of your draft version (returned to you on March 08) with you to submit in class that evening.

Penalty for late submission: Submission of your assignment on time is essential: late assignments will be penalized at the rate of 10 marks per hour. For example, for an assignment that is two hours late, the grade (out of 100) will be reduced by 20 marks. (TIP: To avoid the risk of penalty, submit your assignment to dropbox well before the due time)

Important Note: As with any professional writing assignment, it is critical that this project represent your own work with no collaboration from anyone else. As well, cutting and pasting material into your text from any textbook or web site is unacceptable and violates university rules on academic integrity. For you as a future actuary, such actions contravene the ethical conduct expected of individuals in your profession. To confirm your compliance with expectations, all versions of your work (both first draft and final draft) will be submitted electronically through Turnitin, an Internet-based plagiarism-identification service.

Resources to Help You:
o There will be three writing workshops to help you understand requirements and expectations. These sessions will run for 50 minutes from 5:30 – 6:20pm in a location to be announced.
o Tuesday January 19: Discover the difference between Business Writing and Academic Writing and the differing expectations of readers
o Monday February 22: Bring your first draft to this workshop and receive guidance in practising effective proofreading techniques.
o Tuesday March 15: Bring your graded first draft, and learn to troubleshoot style, grammar, and punctuation problems in written communications.

• If you have general questions, check the Assignment FAQ Discussion Board. Someone may well have answered your question there already. If you want an answer, please post the question here and you’ll get an answer in 48 hours.

• Waterloo’s Writing Centre offers drop-in sessions at the Dana Porter and Davis Centre libraries in addition to 50-minute one-to-one appointments. You should feel free to attend and get advice on either your first or your second draft.

Topics: Choose any two of these topics. Each memo should be no more than 800 words long and double spaced using a 12 point font.

1. As an actuary with Leading Life Insurance Company, you have just attended a conference at which you heard presentations on an innovative new insurance product called Long Term Care insurance. Prepare a memo to be sent to your boss, the VP of Product Development, explaining how this new product works and why it will be attractive to customers.

2. You are writing an essay exam in MTHEL 131. Here’s one of the questions you are asked to answer: “Outline the most important reasons individuals would want to purchase life insurance. Touch on reasons for (i) a spouse/parent, and (ii) a business owner.”

3. Non-Forfeiture options are important features of permanent insurance, yet they are often poorly understood by consumers. Prepare a description to be included in your company’s marketing material to explain clearly to customers how these important features work.

4. You are meeting a small business owner to sell her the idea of putting in place a Group Benefits insurance program. The company has expanded quite steadily over the past 10 years and has currently 40 employees. Growth is expected to continue in the future. Following your meeting with the business owner, you think it would be a good idea to write her a memo summarizing the benefits of establishing a group benefit plan.
MTHEL 131 Writing Assignment
Marking Rubric
First Draft Final Draft
(worth 10%) (worth 15%)
Content: Main points are stated and developed with depth and completeness, solid support, and adequate detail. 25% 10%
Organization: Writing follows a unified, coherent order so that the reader has no trouble seeing the connections. 25% 10%
Writing Style /Clarity: The tone and vocabulary are consistent and appropriate for the audience. Sentences are economical. 25% 15%
Grammar and Spelling: Conventions including punctuation and mechanics are followed. 25% 15%
Response to feedback*
- 50%
100% 100%

*This mark represents the degree to which you have incorporated the marker’s suggestions/feedback from your first draft into your final version.

How to Submit Your Written Projects
Prior to submitting your project each time, save it as a Microsoft Word file (.doc/.docx).
Submit the Week 7 Assessment (first draft) online using the First Draft Turnitin Dropbox. You can access the Dropboxes by clicking Assessments and then Dropbox on the course navigation bar.
Submit the Week 11 Assessment (final draft) online using the Final Draft Turnitin Dropbox. Dropboxes can be accessed by clicking Assessments and then Dropbox on the course navigation bar.
You may only submit one file for Week 7 and one file for Week 11 drafts (i.e., combine your two topics into one file. Be sure you submit the correct version of your file, as we cannot guarantee that incorrect versions of your submission will not be graded accordingly. If the file you submit is incorrect, please let the LEARN staff know via email [LearnHelp@uwaterloo.ca or PKates@uwaterloo.ca], and they may be able to reset the dropbox for you.
If either draft is late, you will need to use the Late Assignment Turnitin dropbox that opens at 3:00 pm and be assigned a 10 marks per hour deduction according to the submission time recorded for your project.
For instructions on how to submit to dropboxes, check here: https://uwaterloo.ca/learn-help/students/dropboxes
General Guidelines for Submitting Assignments in LEARN
• Review Preparing your Assignment to be Sent.
• Be sure to save your assignment in an appropriate folder or on your desktop for easy retrieval.
• Ensure that the name of your file does not include special characters such as symbols or punctuation. Such characters may cause problems uploading.
• Submit only one file (i.e., combine both memos into one file).
• Do not zip your files.
MTHEL131 Writing Assignment W2016.docx/U of W