Lorenzo's Oil RAFT Letter assignment

Remember, RAFT stands for Role, Audience, Format and Topic.

Your Lorenzo's Oil RAFT assignment should be set up as follows:

ROLE: Lorenzo's Parents
Audience: The doctors who are working on ALD
Format: A business letter
Topic: Why ALD boys should go off the proscribed diet and start taking "Lorenzo's Oil"

A business letter is written in "block style," so rather than indenting for paragraphs, you need to skip a line between paragraphs. Be sure to include the date, the salutation (Dear Fred,) and the signature at the end.

A good example of a business letter can be found on Purdue University's web site.

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/653/2/

Here is a sample letter to the ALD doctors to get you started:

02/09/10


Dear Doctors,


We are the parents of a boy named Lorenzo. He has a rare disorder called adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD). As many of you know, this disorder leaves the body unable to break down big fat molecules, either ones the body makes itself or ones that enter the body through food. The diet that many of you are prescribing is not working. We want to tell you why ALD boys need to go off the diet and start taking “Lorenzo’s Oil.”

We think the diet you are prescribing is not working because…. (explain how removing fats from the ALD boys’ diets is causing their bodies to create more of the harmful long chain fatty acids like C24 and C26)

Lorenzo’s Oil is made of Oleic Acid (C18) and Erucic Acid (C22)….(explain that Lorenzo’s oil prevents the body from creating extra long chain fatty acids like C24 and C26)

We know that you are trying to help ALD children, but we believe the diet is harmful and that the oil we have developed... (Thank the doctors for taking the time to read the letter and ask them to take action.)


Sincerely,




Agosto and Michaela Odone
Washington, D.C.