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Part 2: Applying the Three-Step Writing Process
Chapters 4, 5, and 6 introduce the three-step writing process, giving students three full chapters of
practice. These chapters deal with the fundamentals of crafting messages, including audience analysis,
organization, style, tone, and basic document design. Your students can learn the skills required to write
messages that are clear, interesting, concise, diplomatic, and convincing.
To reinforce the learning process, give your students plenty of practice in planning, writing, and
completing messages. Call attention to the proofreading symbols and correction marks in Appendix C. If
your class needs to work on the basic principles of grammar and punctuation, you might also include in
this unit one of the Diagnostic Tests of English Skills (earlier in this manual) and the Handbook of
Grammar, Mechanics, and Usage (found at the end of the textbook).
Chapter 4: Planning Business Messages
Chapter 4 introduces the three-step writing process and covers the tasks in the writing step: analyzing the
situation, gathering the information needed to craft an effective message, choosing the best combination
of media and communication channels, and organizing the information. Note that we now divide media
choices into oral, written, and visual media delivered via digital or nondigital channels, for a total of six
basic combinations.
CHAPTER OUTLINE
Understanding the Three-Step Writing Process
Optimizing Your Writing Time
Planning Effectively
Analyzing the Situation
Defining Your Purpose
Developing an Audience Profile
Gathering Information
Uncovering Audience Needs
Finding Your Focus
Providing Required Information
Be Sure the Information Is Accurate
Be Sure the Information Is Ethical
Be Sure the Information Is Pertinent
Selecting the Best Combination of Media and Channels
The Most Common Media and Channel Options
Oral Medium, In-Person Channel
Oral Medium, Digital Channel
Written Medium, Print Channel
Written Medium, Digital Channel
Visual Medium, Print Channel
Visual Medium, Digital Channel
The Unique Challenges of Communication on Mobile Devices
Factors to Consider When Choosing Media
Organizing Your Information
Defining Your Main Idea
Limiting Your Scope
Choosing Between Direct and Indirect Approaches
Outlining Your Content
Start with the Main Idea
State the Major Points
Provide Examples and Evidence
Building Reader Interest with Storytelling Techniques
Learning Catalytics is a “bring your own device” student engagement, assessment, and classroom
intelligence system. It allows instructors to engage students in class with real-time diagnostics. Students
can use any modern, web-enabled device (smartphone, tablet, or laptop) to access it. For more
information on using Learning Catalytics in your course, contact your Pearson Representative.
LECTURE NOTES
Section 1: Understanding the Three-Step Writing Process
Learning Objective 1: Describe the three-step writing process.
The three-step writing process helps ensure that your messages are
Effective (meeting your audience’s needs and getting your points across)
Efficient (making the best use of your time and your audience’s time)
The writing process can be divided into three phases, each with specific tasks:
Step 1. Planning business messages
Analyzing the situation
Gathering information
Selecting the right medium
Organizing the information
Step 2. Writing business messages
Adapting to your audience
Composing your message
Step 3. Completing business messages
Revising your message
Producing your message
Proofreading your message
Distributing your message
Optimizing Your Writing Time
When writing business messages, try scheduling your time as follows:
Planning: About one-half of your time
Writing: About one-quarter of your time
Completing: About one-quarter of your time
Devoting half your time to planning might sound odd, but doing so can save time overall.
Start with the 50–25–25 split as a guideline and use your best judgment for each project.
Planning Effectively
Careful planning helps in three significant ways:
It helps you *nd and assemble the facts your readers are looking for and to deliver that
information in a concise and compelling way.
Good planning reduces indecision and stress as you write, and it reduces rework during the
completing step.
It can save you from embarrassing blunders, such as failing to cover key issues.
Section 2: Analyzing Your Situation
Learning Objective 2: Explain why it’s important to analyze a communication situation in order to define
your purpose and profile your audience before writing a message.
Every communication effort takes place in a particular situation, meaning you have a specific message to
send a specific audience under a specific set of circumstances.
A successful message starts with a clear purpose that connects the sender’s needs with the audience’s needs.
Defining Your Purpose
All business messages have a general purpose:
To inform
To persuade
To collaborate
Within your general purpose, each message also has a specific purpose, which identifies
What you hope to accomplish with your message
What your audience should do or think after receiving your message
To decide whether to proceed with your message, ask yourself four questions:
Will anything change as a result of your message?
Is your purpose realistic?
Is the time right?
Is your purpose acceptable to your organization?
Developing an Audience Profile
Develop an audience profile by
Identifying the primary audience
Determining audience size and geographic distribution
Determining audience composition
Gauging your audience members’ level of understanding
Understanding audience expectations and preferences
Forecasting probable audience reaction
Section 3: Gathering information
Learning Objective 3: Discuss information-gathering options for simple messages, and identify three
attributes of quality information.
For simple messages, you may already have all the information at hand, but for more complex messages,
you may need to do considerable research and analysis before you’re ready to begin writing.
For many messages, you can informally gather the information you need by
Considering the audience’s perspective
Reading reports and other company documents
Talking with supervisors, colleagues, or customers
Asking your audience for input
Uncovering Audience Needs
Find out what your audience members want to know:
Listen to their requests.
Clarify vague or broad requests by asking questions to narrow the focus.
Try to think of information needs that audience members may not have expressed.
Finding Your Focus
If an assignment or objective is so vague that you have no idea how to get started in determining what
the audience needs to know, try these discovery techniques:
Free writing—write whatever comes to mind without stopping to make any corrections for a
set time period.
Sketching—if you’re unable to come up with words, grab a sketchpad and start drawing.
Providing Required Information
Provide all the information your audience requires.
One good test is the journalistic approach (answering who, what, when, where, why, and how).
Be sure the information you provide is accurate:
Quality is as important as quantity.
Double-check every piece of information you get, particularly from unknown online sources.
Be sure your information is ethical (as honest and complete as you can make it).
Be sure the information you provide is pertinent, as in tailored to your audience’s interests and needs.
Section 4: Selecting the Best Combination of Media and Channels
Learning Objective 4: List the factors to consider when choosing the most appropriate medium for a
message.
You can think of medium as the form a message takes and channel as the system used to deliver the
message.
Most media can be distributed through multiple channels, and the choices continue to become more
complex as more options are made available to business communicators.
The Most Common Media and Channel Options
The simplest way to categorize media choices is to divide them into oral, written, and visual.
Each of these media can be delivered through digital and nondigital channels, which creates six basic
combinations:
Oral medium, in-person channel: talking with people who are in the same location, from
one-on-one conversations to formal speeches
The same physical space is a key distinction because it enables the nuances of nonverbal
communication more than any other media-channel combo.
In-person communication is useful for encouraging people to ask questions, make
comments, and work together to reach a consensus or decision.
It is particularly helpful in complex, emotionally charged situations in which establishing
or fostering a business relationship is important.
Oral medium, digital channel: any transmission of voice via electronic means, both live and
recorded, including telephone calls, podcasts, and voicemail messages
Live phone conversations offer the give-and-take of in-person conversations, although
they lack the nuances of nonverbal communication.
Podcasts can be a good way to share lectures, commentary, and other spoken content.
Written medium, print channel: the classic format of business communication, including
memos, letters, and reports
Memos are brief printed documents traditionally used for the routine, day-to-day
exchange of information within an organization.
Letters are brief written messages sent to customers and other recipients outside the
organization.
Reports and proposals are usually longer than memos and letters, although both can be
created in memo or letter format.
While still a useful format, printed documents have been replaced by digital alternatives
in many instances.
Several situations in which you should consider a printed message over electronic
alternatives
When you want to make a formal impression
When you are legally required to provide information in printed form
When you want to stand out from the flood of electronic messages
When you need a permanent, unchangeable, or secure record
When you can’t reach a particular audience through digital channels
Written medium, digital channel: covers everything from tweets to website content to ebooks
This is now the primary choice for most written messages in many companies.
Business uses of written digital messages keep evolving as companies look for ways to
communicate more effectively.
Visual medium, print channel: includes printed photographs, diagrams, and infographics
These can be effective for conveying emotional content, spatial relationships, technical
processes, and other content than can be difficult to describe using words alone.
Though occasionally created as standalone items, these are most frequently used as
supporting material in printed documents.
Visual medium, digital channel: includes online infographics, interactive diagrams, animation,
and digital video
Traditional business messages rely primarily on text, with occasional support from
graphics.
Many business communicators are discovering the power of messages in which the visual
element is dominant and supported by small amounts of text.
Visuals messages (without or without supporting text) can be effective for a number of
reasons:
Today’s audiences value messages that can be consumed quickly.
Visuals are often more effective at describing complex ideas and processes.
In a multilingual business world, diagrams, symbols, and other images can lower
communication barriers by requiring less language processing.
Visual images can be easier to remember than purely textual descriptions or
explanations.
Communication on mobile devices presents a number of unique challenges:
Screen size and resolution
Cumbersome input technologies
Bandwidth, speed, and connectivity limitations
Data usage and operational costs
Class discussion question: Ask students to discuss their likes and dislikes regarding communication
media. Do some despise voicemail, for example, or prefer texting to live phone conversations? Why do
they make the media choices they make?
Factors to Consider When Choosing Media
When deciding which media to use, consider:
Media richness (a medium’s ability to convey a message through more than one
informational cue [visual, verbal, vocal], facilitate feedback, and establish personal focus)
Message formality
Media and channel limitations
Urgency
Cost
Audience preferences
Security and privacy
Section 5: Organizing Your Information
Learning Objective 5: Explain why good organization is important to both you and your audience, and
list the tasks involved in organizing a message.
Organization can make the difference between success and failure.
Good organization helps your audience:
Understand your message
Accept your message
Save time
Good organization helps you:
Consume less of your creative energy
Spend less time rewriting
Develop a reputation as a clear thinker who cares about your readers
Defining Your Main Idea
Your topic is the overall subject of the message; your main idea is a specific statement about your
topic.
For straightforward, informational messages, your main idea is simple.
For more complicated persuasive messages or negative messages, try to define a main idea that will
establish a good relationship between you and your audience.
When unsure about your main idea, consider a variety of techniques for generating creative ideas:
Brainstorming
Journalistic approach
Question-and-answer chain
Storyteller’s tour
Mind mapping
Limiting Your Scope
The scope of a message matches your main idea in every aspect, including the
Range of information you present
Overall length
Level of detail
Limit the number of major supporting points to a half dozen or so.
A smaller number of stronger points is more powerful than a mass of minor points.
Scope depends on
The nature of your subject
Your audience members’ familiarity with the topic
Your audience’s receptivity to your conclusions
Your credibility
Choosing Between Direct and Indirect Approaches
When deciding on the sequence of your points, you have two basic options to choose from:
The direct approach: The main idea comes first and is followed by the evidence; use when
you know your audience will be receptive to your message.
The indirect approach: The evidence comes first and is followed by the main idea; use when your
audience will be skeptical about or even resistant to your message.
Your approach may differ depending on likely audience reaction and the purpose of your message.
Here are the most common choices:
Routine and positive messages: Direct approach
Negative messages: Indirect approach for most non-routine messages
Persuasive messages: Indirect approach that captures attention before trying to persuade
Outlining Your Content
Creating an outline
Saves you time
Helps you create beCer results
Helps you do a beCer job of navigating through complicated business situations
Helps you visualize how the parts of a complex message fit together
Types of outlines include
The basic outline format (numbers or leCers identify each point and are indented to show
which items are of equal status)
The organization chart format (showing thoughts as boxes organized into divisions, similar to the charts
that show an organization’s management structure)
To develop an outline, you usually
Start with the main idea
State the major supporting points
Illustrate with evidence
The main idea summarizes two things:
What you want your audience to do or think
Why they should do so
Your major support points will be suggested by one of the following:
The natural order of your subject (based on something physical, the steps in a process, the
description of an object, or a chronological chain of events)
The major elements of your argument (based on a line of reasoning)
Specific evidence helps audience members
Understand the more abstract concepts you’re presenting
Accept those concepts
Remember those concepts
Provide enough evidence to be convincing without becoming boring or inefficient.
To maintain audience interest, vary the type of detail:
Facts and figure
Example or illustration
Description
Narration
Reference to authority
Visual aids
If your schedule permits, try to put aside your outline for a day or two before you begin composing
your draft.
Building Reader Interest with Storytelling Techniques
Narrative techniques can be an effective way to organize messages in many business communication
situations, from recruiting and training employees to enticing investors and customers.
You’ve been telling stories all your life; now it’s just a matter of adapting those techniques to business
situations.
Examples:
Television commercials and other advertisements
Career-related stories to entice talented people to join a firm
Stories to help investors see how an entrepreneur’s new ideas have the potential to affect
people’s lives (and therefore generate lots of sales)
Cautionary tales
Stories can
Help readers and listeners imagine themselves living through the experience of the person in
the story
“Put knowledge into a framework that is more lifelike, more true to our day-to-day
existence” (Chip Heath and Dan Heath)
Demonstrate cause-and-effect relationships in a compelling fashion
A classic story has three basic parts:
The beginning of the story presents someone with whom the audience can identify in some
way, and this person has a dream to pursue or a problem to solve.
The middle of the story shows this character taking action and making decisions as he or she
pursues the goal or tries to solve the problem.
The end of the story resolves the “hero’s” quest and usually offers a lesson to be learned about the
outcome as well.
By the way, even though these are “stories,” these must not be made-up tales.
Consider adding an element of storytelling whenever your main idea involves the opportunity to
Inspire
Persuade
Teach
Warn
In addition to its important communication function, storytelling can also serve as a means of
strategic business analysis.
Class discussion question: Discuss recent television commercials, promotional videos, or other
marketing and sales messages that used storytelling to frame a persuasive message. Was each message
structured with a distinct beginning, middle, and end? How was the “hero” presented in each case? How
persuasive was each message likely to be, given what you can surmise about the target audience?
HIGHLIGHT BOX: ETHICS DETECTIVE
Solving the Case of the Missing Safety Warning
The wholesaler was guilty of an ethical lapse because the information given to your company omitted
very serious steps that must be followed (e.g., fill the metal containers with water to avoid spontaneous
combustion). By directing you to merely follow “local regulations” the wholesaler put you and your
company at risk.
HIGHLIGHT BOX: THE ART OF PROFESSIONALISM
Maintaining a Confident, Positive Outlook
1. Yes, employees do have an ethical obligation to maintain a positive outlook on the job, because doing
so helps ensure that they perform to expectations—which is what they are being paid for. In addition,
their behavior and attitude on the job affects the performance of other employees. However, they also
have an ethical obligation to keep the company’s best interests in mind, and there are times when
doing so can mean sharing negative news, raising legitimate concerns, confronting problems, and
even whistleblowing if need be.
2. Students should be able to suggest a variety of ways to lift their spirits, including reminding
themselves that a positive frame of mind makes the workday easier and faster, refocusing their minds
on near- or far-term objectives (e.g., simply completing an unwelcome task to get it off their plates or
thinking how completing that task is a step in the direction they want to go), or interacting with
colleagues or customers in a positive way that momentarily takes the focus off work and reminds one
of the human value in business interaction.
COMMUNICATION CHALLENGES AT WOLFF OLINS
Individual Challenge
Student answers will depend on their individual experiences, but look for a coherent story arc with a
distinct beginning, middle, and end. The end, of course, is probably in the future, but it should follow the
beginning and middle with some sense of predictability and internal logic.
Team Challenge
This activity should help students understand that many elements of business and life in general follow story
arcs from beginning to middle to end.
