Unlock document.
This document is partially blurred.
Unlock all pages and 1 million more documents.
Get Access
Text Summary, Lecture Outline
Slides 2-1, 2-2, 2-3
You can point out that this chapter will cover advice that applies to wring all kinds of
documents, as well as specic advice on the shorter forms of business communicaon, or
“messages”: le#ers, memos, email, text messages, and instant messaging.
The Process of Writing
Slide 2-4
You might ask students, before discussing this secon, to re'ect on (write about) their usual
process of wring. (If they have trouble doing so, ask them to think about/describe how they
tackled a recent wring task.) This exercise can help them see that this chapter contains helpful
advice for them—advice that will make their wring more e/ecve and the process itself less
stressful.
The wring process diagram helps students see that the process of wring falls roughly into
three stages:
Planning,
Dra2ing, and
Revising.
But the arrows in the model also show that writers should allow themselves to revisit earlier
stages as necessary (that is, allow the process to be recursive). To try to make the process rigidly
linear is o2en counterproducve, especially for inexperienced writers.
As the text says, a good rule of thumb is to spend roughly a third of one’s wring me on
planning, a third on dra2ing, and a third on revising.
Slide 2-5
You can point out that the planning stage corresponds to the rst three quesons in the
problem-solving approach represented in Chapter 1: What is the situaon? What are some
possible communicaon strategies? Which is the best course of acon? To be able to answer
these quesons, the writer will perform these acvies:
Determining goals
Analyzing the audience
Gathering informaon
Analyzing and organizing the informaon
Choosing a form, channel, and format
Determining Goals: In determining goals, writers should ask themselves what a reader should
think, feel, do, or believe as a result of reading a message. The writer’s communicaon goals are
very much connected, then, to the writer’s business goals.
Audience Analysis: Analyzing the audience is key to any successful business message. Writers
need to break down their audience by the audience’s characteriscs and then tailor a message
to meet that audience’s need. Writers will ask several quesons: Who is my audience? Who will
be a/ected by what I write? What organizaonal, professional, and personal issues or qualies
will a/ect the audience’s response to my message? What organizaonal, professional, and
personal issues or qualies do I have that a/ect how I will write my message? What is my
relaonship with my reader? Am I wring to my superior? My colleagues? My subordinates?
Clients?
Gathering informaon: Solving a communicaon problem can be viewed as part of solving a
larger business problem. In other words, guring out what to say o2en involves, as well, guring
out what to do. For example, in addion to going over the sample scenario provided in the text,
you can ask your students the following: If, as a manager, you wanted to write an e/ecve
message to employees about leaving the parking spaces near the company’s front door
available for the customers, what things would you have to gure out before you could write
this message? Students should come up with such topics as why the employees should do this,
when they should start doing it, where they should park, any special incenve (or implied
threat?!) that might encourage them to comply, and so forth. The point is that communicators
usually cannot simply go with the informaon at the tops of their heads. They need to plan
what goals they want to accomplish and then gather the ideas and informaon they will need in
order to write the messages that will help them accomplish their goals.
Some acvies that can help writers gather informaon include the following:
Formal research (e.g., surveys, experiments, library research)
Informal research (such as consulng with others, looking at previous messages for
similar circumstances, and so forth)
Lisng pernent ideas/informaon
Brainstorming
“Clustering” (drawing a diagram of your ideas)
Analyzing and organizing informaon. Once writers have collected what looks like suCcient
informaon (though they may nd later in the process that they need more), they need to
analyze it and organize it.
Interpretaon and logic help the writer determine what to say and in what order. Clearly, the
message’s main points need to be based upon the gathered informaon, and they need to be
arranged logically.
Adaptaon is crical as well. Which comments in which order will be likely to have the best
e/ect on the reader? The reader’s likely reacon will determine whether the message is wri#en
in the direct or indirect order and will also a/ect the order of the rest of the contents.
Choosing a form, channel, and format: In many textbooks, discussions of form, channel, and
format are separate from the discussion about the wring process. But in reality, it is virtually
impossible to plan a message without giving at least some preliminary thought to these
elements. The medium is not just a container for the message; whether one ancipates wring
a le#er, email, brochure, Web page, or some combinaon of these, and how one ancipates
they should look, will signicantly a/ect the planning of the message.
Slide 2-6
As they dra2, writers work out the content, stylisc, organizaonal, and formaGng details.
As the text notes, writers should
Avoid perfeconism when dra2ing
Keep going (write things that suCce; come back later to improve them)
Use any other helpful strategies (write during your most producve me; write in
chunks, start with the part you most want to write, etc.)
You may want to share the following points with your students:
It is very important that you are 'exible when preparing your dra2s. Dra2s are the rst
stages of a long wring process. They are not nal documents, so do not distract or slow
yourself down too much by trying to make the rst dra2 perfect.
Instead, use strategies that will enable you to pull your material together fairly easily and
quickly into a reasonably well-organized, complete dra2.
Avoid spending too much energy perfecng the early parts of the dra2. It can make you
forget important pieces and purposes of the later parts.
Keep moving with your dra2; have an understanding that you will dra2 relavely quickly,
you can always go back and revise.
You may want to try the strategy discussed by writer Natalie Goldberg in Wring Down the
Bones. It’s called Keep Your Hand Moving and is good for breaking through perfeconism. You
could give students a quick in-class business wring assignment, set a mer, and tell them that
they cannot put down their pens or stop wring for 15 minutes. Even if they can think of
nothing to say, tell them to write down “I
have nothing to say.” The idea here is to break through writer’s block and keep the hand
moving, regardless of the thoughts that arise.
Slide 2-7
It is probably safe to say that the most common 'aw in students’ wring processes is that they
do not revise enough. Impress upon them the importance of devong me to this stage. Even
very experienced writers take a good bit of me to review and polish important documents.
Taking a “levels of edit” approach can help students revise in a systemac way. With this
approach, the writer divides the revision stage into three acvies:
Revising (making any necessary major changes in the document, such as adding more
contents, improving the organizaon, or changing the format)
Eding (perfecng the style and 'ow of the message)
Proofreading (catching any spelling/typing/grammacal errors)
Slide 2-8
Readable formaGng is hugely important in business wring. Business readers are almost always
very busy and are therefore impaent. And modern media has trained us in general to expect
and prefer quick access to informaon. Any documents that come close to looking like the bad
example on page 121 will run a risk of being misunderstood or, more likely, ignored.
Use the good example on page 122 to help students see how white space, headings,
typographical emphasis (boldface and italics), and bulleted lists can enhance readability.
Slide 2-9
There are many di/erent types of business messages and each has its own unique traits and
purpose. As you’ll see, every business communicaon situaon requires analysis to determine
which type of message will be used.
Letters
Slides 2-10, 2-11
These are the oldest form dang from the earliest civilizaons—Greek, Egypan, Chinese.
The genre implies a certain formality, and certainly, le#ers are the most formal of the business
wring forms we discuss. Therefore, le#ers are usually wri#en to external audiences—but not
always. Formal internal communicaon is also frequently wri#en in le#er format.
Students may already be familiar with some kind of le#er format. If not, students should see
Appendix B to see the possibilies available. Many mes students will ask which format is the
“right” one. It’s important for students to realize that any could be correct but that their
companies may dictate format.
Early emphasis was on a slted word choice (the “old language of business”). Now the emphasis
is on selecng an e/ecve structure and strategy and on using wording that will build rapport
between the writer and the reader. You may want to ask students to bring in direct mail le#ers
or another type of le#er for analysis during this class or the next.
Memorandums
Slides 2-12, 2-13
Memorandums are internal le#ers. Email has taken over much of their funcon; however, even
though students may think that everyone in a workplace has access to an email, this may not
necessarily be the case. For example, in one local hospital, housekeepers, custodial sta/, nursing
assistants, and some nurses do not have access to email other than in a lounge with a general
access computer. In some manufacturing rms, line workers may not have the need for email.
These employees are not likely to check their email as they work throughout the day or even
regularly before or a2er work or on breaks.
A memo posted in a highly visible locaon would be a be#er communicaon channel for these
employees than email. In addion, some memos are actually reports.
Also, some companies will consider more serious informaon, such as that concerning changes
in company policies or recent layo/s, more appropriate for memo than email form.
Typically they are arranged in this form:
“Memorandum” or “InteroCce Memo” at the top.
Date, To, From, Subject headings
(Somemes) Department, Territory, Store Number, Copies to
They vary widely in terms of formality, but because they are internal messages, they are
generally less formal than le#ers.
Email
Slide 2-14
The growth of email has been phenomenal. It has several advantages:
Eliminates telephone tag
Saves me
Speeds up decision making
Is cheap
Provides a wri#en record
But there are disadvantages:
Not condenal
No authenc signature
Doesn’t show emoons
May be ignored
Slide 2-15
The prefatory elements and beginnings are somewhat standardized:
To, Cc, Bcc, Subject, A#achments
Subject lines: These are very important in emails. If a subject line is missing or if it is
incomplete, a reader may disregard the message or delay a response.
Name of recipient, perhaps a greeng, statement of purpose
Idenfying informaon: Idenfy yourself early when communicang with someone you
don’t know well.
Slide 2-16
Content should be organized carefully.
Short, simple messages usually are best in a top-down order (most important to least
important). This way, if the reader is scanning for informaon, he or she does not need to scroll
to nd your most important informaon.
The longer, more complex messages use more strategic organizaon plans such as the direct or
indirect order discussed in Chapters 6 and 7.
Slide 2-17
As for closing the message, most emails end with the writer’s name alone (if the parties know each other).
Many writers create an email signature that includes not only of their name but also the company name
and contact information. Such a signature really is appropriate only for external audiences or unfamiliar
internal audiences.
Sometimes one may find it appropriate to include a complimentary close (“Sincerely,” “Thanks”).
The formality of the closing depends on the formality of the message and the relaonship
between the reader and the writer.
Slide 2-18
The formality of email language depends on the relaonship between writer and reader.
Casual language is acceptable between friends. It uses contracons, slang, mechanical emphasis
devices, and everyday conversaonal talk.
Informal language is right for most messages. It uses short sentences, some contracons and
personal pronouns, and good conversaonal tone.
Slide 2-19
Formal language maintains a distance between writer and reader—no personal references.
Slide 2-20
The wring of email messages involves following the instrucons given in previous chapters.
These can be summarized under four consideraons:
Conciseness
Make the messages short, leaving out unnecessary informaon and wring economically.
Clarity
Pracce the techniques of readable wring—short and familiar words, concrete language, word
precision, short sentences, etc.
Courtesy
Pracce courtesy, build goodwill (use the techniques in Chapter 4: you-viewpoint, posive
language, conversaonal tone, etc.).
Especially avoid “'aming.”
Correctness
How one communicates is a part of the message. Even if the writer uses poor grammar and
spelling and succeeds in communicang his/her message, the writer compromises his/her
professional image when a message contains grammar, spelling, and mechanical errors.
Further, errors in grammar, mechanics, and spelling can make a message unclear, which means
that the reader will have to contact the writer for claricaon. This means that the writer will
have to send the message again, which wastes both the writer’s and the reader’s me.
Slides 2-21 and 2-22
Email is a sensive medium and its quick execuon and delivery me leave it open to errors.
Because it’s informal and sll being de!ned as a genre, it’s vulnerable to eque#e errors. These
slides illustrate how to avoid such errors.
Texts and IM
Slides 2-23, 2-24, 2-25, 2-26 and 2-27
Many individuals use text and instant messaging in the workplace as a quick and eCcient means
of communicaon. When using such short messages, writers must be especially careful to
ensure messages are not only concise but clear. A helpful acvity may be to have students write
one message in two ways: once as an email and once as an instant message.
Text and instant messaging are sll used much more for non-business rather than business
purposes.
But it is seeing growing use in business use—for quick “emails” to co-workers, promoons,
brand awareness, customer relaons, and such. Clearly, as the so-called “millennials” join the
workforce, use of text messaging will increase.
Slide 2-28, 2-29 and 2-30
Social networking (which is, of course, popular for personal use) is also becoming more popular
for business use. Companies use social networking for both internal and external purposes.
Students must know that companies can monitor their social networking use in the workplace.
Companies may seek out students’ pages even before employing them just to see what their
(the students) pages reveal about their (the students’) personalies.
Slide 2-31
There are signicant di/erences between print and online wring. Jakob Nielsen, noted usability
expert, has discovered these disncons:
Web readers read an average of 20 percent of the words on a page.
Print text can be disnguished from Web text in that print text tends to be linear, while
Web text is nonlinear. When people read print documents, they o2en start at the
beginning and connue reading unl they reach the end.
Online readers scan for relevant informaon and may be diverted by links or other
features of the display in their search.
In addion, he says that when people look for informaon they do so not necessarily to
read what an author has to say about an issue but to accomplish a specic task (e.g.,
locate a stasc, ll out a form). Online text, then, needs to facilitate the reader’s ability
to nd and use informaon.
Slide 2-32
Web writing expert Janice Redish advocates organizing Web pages in the inverted pyramid style, where
the main point is presented first, followed by supporting information and then by any historical or
background information.
