C716: Business Communication

C716 Business Communication is a Western Governors University survey course on the everyday writing and speaking that business runs on: messages, reports, résumés and presentations.

WGU's program guide for the B.S. Accounting lists it at three competency units, and it also appears across other WGU business degrees. The guide describes a course on communication processes, writing skills, message types and the presentation of data, with every skill tied to the use of technology.

Students who write good essays are often surprised by C716. Academic writing builds an argument slowly; business writing puts the point first, keeps it short and is judged by whether the reader can act on it.

What C716 Covers

The program guide lists six competencies. In plain language they cover:

Key Concepts Explained

Direct and Indirect Structure

Routine and good-news messages use the direct pattern: main point first, details next, a courteous close. Bad news and requests that may meet resistance often use the indirect pattern: a neutral buffer, the reasons, the decision, then a constructive next step.

Audience Analysis

Before drafting, ask who the reader is, what they already know, what they need to do and how they are likely to react. A message to a manager, a customer and a new colleague about the same delay will differ in length, detail and tone.

Presenting Data

Data belongs in the form that answers the reader's question fastest. Use a table when readers need exact figures, a line chart for trends and a bar chart for comparisons, and always state the takeaway in a sentence so the visual is never left to speak for itself.

Typical Assignments and How to Approach Them

WGU assesses competency through performance assessments (written tasks scored against a rubric) or objective assessments (exams). Check your course page for the current format. Work in this subject typically looks like this:

Writing the Résumé and Cover Letter

The career documents competency is easy to underestimate. Evaluators look for documents that target a role, not a general life history. Start from one real job advertisement and pick out the three or four skills it stresses most.

On the résumé, turn duties into achievements: an action verb, what you did and the result. "Reconciled 40 vendor accounts monthly, reducing late payments" says more than "responsible for accounts payable". Keep formatting consistent and easy to scan.

The cover letter should not repeat the résumé. Use it to connect two or three of your strongest achievements to the employer's needs, and close with a clear, polite request for an interview.

Where Students Get Stuck

• Burying the point. If the reader must reach paragraph three to learn what you want, move it to the first line.
• Using one tone everywhere. A customer apology and an internal status update need different wording.
• Bad news delivered too bluntly, or too vaguely. Be kind in the buffer, but state the decision clearly.
• Generic résumés. Lists of duties earn less than achievements with results attached.
• Charts without a message. Every visual needs a sentence that says what it shows.

Study Tips for C716

• Keep a short template for each message type and practice writing one of each from the same scenario.
• Read every draft aloud; anything you would not say to a colleague should be rewritten.
• Cut each first draft by a quarter. Business readers reward brevity.
• Use the rubric's wording as headings or labels so an evaluator can find each element.
• Proofread names, dates and figures last and separately; these errors damage credibility fastest.

How We Help with C716

Send the task instructions, the rubric, any scenario documents and evaluator feedback. A business writer prepares model messages that show the structure and tone each situation needs, explains the choices, or reviews your own drafts for clarity and professionalism.

For research-based report tasks, our business research paper guide covers sourcing and structure.

GradeEssays is independent of Western Governors University. Our work is tutoring and reference material: use it to learn the approach, then write and submit your own work under WGU's academic integrity rules. We never log in to student portals. Every order is written from scratch and includes free revisions within the scope of your original request.