A communication project in a technical writing course demonstrated the importance of communication skills in a profession as it developed the students' own speech and writing skills. After listing what they believed were the major problems in business communication, students compared their responses with instances submitted by local business people and prepared their own solutions to the problems. They then chose a local firm hiring graduates in their major field and arranged to interview a firm member on two topics: the place of business communications in that firm and the skills students in that field should strive to achieve in college. Prior to their interviews, students received instruction in interviewing techniques, questionnaire writing, and note taking. Afterward, they created a coherent report of their findings. Results of this class project were quite positive. (MM)