Business Writing

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Contents 1 PREFACE 2 INTRODUCTION 3 SUMMARY 3.1 Give Yourself a Frame of Reference 3.2 Research and Select the Content 3.3 Select the Medium 3.4 Prepare the Message 4 GIVE YOURSELF A FRAME OF REFERENCE 4.1 Objective 4.2 Audience 4.3 Authority 4.4 Barriers and Competition 4.5 Time Lines 5 RESEARCH AND SELECT THE CONTENT 5.1 Relevance 5.2 Abstract vs. Concrete 5.3 Substance vs. Froth 5.4 Fact vs. Opinion vs. Argument 5.5 Positive vs. Negative 6 SELECT THE MEDIUM 6.1 Oral Media 6.2 Written Media 6.3 Both Oral and Written Media 7 PREPARE THE MESSAGE 7.1 Organization and First Draft 7.2 Format 7.3 Style 7.4 Grammar 7.5 Final Touches 8 External links

[edit] PREFACE

Much of the initial content of this entry was drawn from http://WritingForResults.net. The original author of this entry is also the author of WritingForResults.net. That Web site provides much more detail on each of the steps outlined in this Wikibook.

[edit] INTRODUCTION

Some people write to put their thoughts on paper. Others write to discover what their thoughts are. Most people do both to varying degrees, depending on what they’re writing about. Whatever your approach, this book provides tools that will streamline the process and enhance its effectiveness.

Many people find business writing to be a challenge. It's not surprising. Business writing requires making decisions about a surprising number of factors, consciously or unconsciously. For routine messages, it is often not a problem if you make those decisions unconsciously. For more complex messages, however, it can become an overwhelming problem.

Henry Ford said, "Nothing is particularly hard if you divide it into small tasks." The purpose of this book is do just that for business writing. The premise of this book is that writing can be broken down into a series of manageable tasks in a step-by-step model. Clear writing requires clear thinking, and clear thinking requires directing your mind at the right task at the right time. The step-by-step model provides the tools needed to do this for any type of writing in an office setting. It will help you to focus on the right task at the right time. It will also help to avoid the futility of trying to solve a problem with one approach when in fact the real problem lies elsewhere.

[edit] SUMMARY

The following summarizes the steps of the writing process. The balance of this book elaborates on them.

[edit] Give Yourself a Frame of Reference

The first step is to give yourself a frame of reference, comprising:

• your objective
• the audience of your message
• the authority required to sign off on your message
• the barriers and competition that your message must overcome
• the timelines required in order to deliver your message to the audience in time to achieve your objective.

[edit] Research and Select the Content

The next step is to research and select the content of your message, without worrying too much about format or style. In selecting content, you will be taking account of:

• relevance to your frame of reference
• abstract concepts vs. concrete details
• substance vs. froth
• fact vs. opinion vs. argument
• positive vs. negative

[edit] Select the Medium

Once you have determined the content of your message, you will be able to select the best medium or media to convey it. Here, you will be making a choice between:

• oral media
• written media
• combinations of oral and written media

[edit] Prepare the Message

If you have selected a written medium, the final step is to prepare the message itself. This involves:

• organizing the content and writing initial drafts
• designing or applying a format that makes the organization structure clear to the reader;
• refining the style
• refining the grammar
• applying finishing touches

[edit] GIVE YOURSELF A FRAME OF REFERENCE

The process starts by defining a frame of reference. It will guide you in everything else that follows. The elements of a frame of reference are:

• objective
• audience
• authority
• barriers and competition
• time lines

The elements of your frame of reference are closely related and must be mutually compatible. Changes to one element may require changes to others as well.

[edit] Objective

The objective of your message is its most important element. If you cannot define an objective for your message, there is no point in taking up your time and your audience's time with it. Think of the objective as something that you need to achieve.

[edit] Audience

The best audience for a given message may not always be the first audience that comes to mind. For example, sometimes the best audience might be someone who influences your ultimate audience. Thus, your message might have both an intermediate audience and an ultimate audience.

[edit] Authority

The authority required to send your message is the flip side of choosing the audience. If you do not have the authority to address your ultimate audience directly, you may need to address an intermediate audience that does have the authority to address your ultimate audience.

[edit] Barriers and Competition

Make a list of the barriers and competition that your message must overcome to succeed. These could include views of the audience, information overload (time pressures), financial constraints, human resource constraints, equipment constraints, political constraints or competing messages from other sources.

[edit] Time Lines

The time lines that will guide your message are:

• the deadline by which your message must be received by your audience
• a production schedule covering all steps in preparing the message, including consultations and approvals
• a personal time budget (i.e., the number of hours of your time that will be required).

[edit] RESEARCH AND SELECT THE CONTENT

The following are factors that guide the development of the content of your message. In developing the content, keep your frame of reference firmly in mind.

[edit] Relevance

First and foremost, the content must be relevant to the frame of reference. A great deal of information might be relevant to your subject but not your frame of reference. Including material that is not relevant to the frame of reference risks burying the points that really matter.

In considering relevance, give careful thought to your audience: What does the audience know already? What does it need to know? What are its views on the matter? What are the audience's goals and priorities? What benefits are there for the audience in this matter? Who else is influencing the audience? When does the audience need to receive this message? Where is the audience located?

In addition, keep your timelines firmly in mind. You can write a paper that is perfect in every way, but if you deliver it a week after it is needed, all that work is in vain.

[edit] Abstract vs. Concrete

Language is, by its nature, abstract. For example, the black squiggles that you see here as "my canoe" are not actually my canoe. They are a symbol for my canoe -- an abstraction. If you are familiar with my canoe, that symbol might be sufficient for you to understand all I want you to know about my canoe. If you are not familiar with it, however, I might need to give you concrete details for you to know what I want you to know. I might have to tell you what the canoe is made of, what colour it is, how old it is, how long it is, how heavy it is and whether it has any holes in it.

In your own writing, you will often need to make decisions about whether the words you use are sufficiently concrete for your audience to understand them the way you want them to. Note that the more abstract the terms you use the shorter the message will be in many cases. However, more abstract terms can also risk misunderstanding on the part of the audience.

The choice of abstract vs. concrete arises again in another form. In some cases, you will need to decide not how much detail to provide but whether to use the most specific term applicable to your subject. Note the progression from the abstract to the concrete in the following terms:

            object > living thing > animal > mammal > cow > heifer > Holstein

In this case, the choice between abstract and concrete has little impact on length. It does, however, have a great deal of impact on the impression conveyed to the reader. In cases such as this, it is usually safe to assume that the more concrete the term the greater will be the impact on the reader.

An exception is found with highly technical terms. For example, with a technical audience you might use the term "piezoelectric material". With a non-technical audience, something like "material that creates electricity when compressed or bent" would probably be preferable. In the latter case, you would sacrifice some scientific precision for the sake of ensuring audience understanding. In this case, however, we are also back to the original issue of how much detail to provide.

[edit] Substance vs. Froth

Sometimes, if you use a lot of important-sounding words and phrases, you can deceive yourself into thinking that your are adding substance to your message when in fact you are only adding froth. Be wary of this, for you only defeat yourself when you use froth rather than substance.

[edit] Fact vs. Opinion vs. Argument

In developing content, it is important to distinguish between facts, opinions and arguments. Facts should be independently verifiable without dispute. For example, if I say that it is 98 degrees farenheit outside, anyone with a thermometer should be able to go outside and agree that the temperature is 98 degrees. If, in contrast, I say, "It is too hot outside", that is an opinion. Different people might find cause to disagree with that opinion. It is only through arguments that I can bring them around to my point of view.

In the case of the weather outside, the argument might run something like this: "It is 98 degrees farenheit outside. We have scheduled a marathon to take place today. At that temperature, however, some runners will die of heat stroke. Therefore it is too hot today."

The argument turns the opinion "It's too hot today" into a conclusion that others can accept or dispute on its merits.

[edit] Positive vs. Negative

Just about anything can be expressed in either positive or negative terms. For example, you could say, "You can't get your refund before March 15." Or you could say, "Your refund will be ready for you on March 15." Another example is "We are closed on Sundays" vs. "We are open Monday to Saturday." Another example is "We are not ignoring that problem" vs. "We have adopted a new policy to address that problem." Expressing something in negative terms is not necessarily bad. However, it is important to be aware of the option of expressing it in positive terms and to assess the consequences of each option.

[edit] SELECT THE MEDIUM

Once you have gathered the content for your message, it is time to consider which medium to use to deliver it. You could deliver it orally in, say, a meeting. You could deliver it in writing in a memo, a letter or a report. Or you could deliver it with both oral and written media.

As with the content, keep your frame of reference firmly in mind when selecting the medium or media.

[edit] Oral Media

Oral media offer opportunities to:

• reach a small audience quickly and inexpensively;
• gain instant feedback on whether your message is getting through
• change your strategy mid-stream if your audience raises unexpected points
• convey enthusiasm or other emotions that cannot or should not be conveyed on paper
• build on the personal relationships that are so important to our day-to-day work

[edit] Written Media

Written media offer:

• access to readers whom you might not be able to address orally
• a relatively inexpensive way to reach a large audience
• a permanent, indisputable record of what you’ve said — for both you and your audience
• a chance to consider your message carefully and double-check it before you deliver it

[edit] Both Oral and Written Media

Using both oral and written media can offer you all the advantages of the two options together. An example of the latter would be a meeting at which a slide deck is used and handouts are given to participants.

If you use a slide deck, give some thought to the role the deck will play. It should do more than simply provide a script for the presenter.

[edit] PREPARE THE MESSAGE

If you have selected a written medium, the final phase is to prepare the material itself. Again, keep your frame of reference in mind as you are doing so.

The following are the tasks involved in the ideal order in which they should be pursued.

[edit] Organization and First Draft

Some people are able to develop an organization structure before they write a first draft. If that's you, you are fortunate. You probably save yourself a lot of time that way. Others are not so fortunate, and have to write a first draft before they work on the organization structure. It takes more work, but sometimes it's the only way.

In developing an organization structure, you will need to consider three factors:

• grouping scheme
• comprehension span
• sequencing

The grouping scheme is the system you use for assembling material on similar subjects together. However, don't be deceived into thinking that the first grouping scheme that comes to mind is the only one. Often, there are several ways of grouping the same material, and it's part of your job to decide which way will best suit your objective and your audience's needs.

Any audience has a limit to the number of items in a list it can comprehend at once. That limit is called "comprehension span." If you exceed that span, you risk losing your audience. For most people, the comprehension span is seven or eight items. That means that a document should be divided into no more than seven or eight parts. Each part should be separated into no more than seven or eight sections. Each section should be separated into no more than seven or eight sub-sections. And so on.

Finally comes sequencing. At any given level of your organization structure, what should come first? What should come next? What should come last? As with grouping schemes, there are often options available to you in sequencing your material. For example, you might put what is most important first and what is least important last. You might sequence material by geographic location, moving, say, from north to south or east to west. You might sequence it alphabetically, as in a phone book. You could also sequence things numerically, as by weight, distance or cost. Once you set your mind to it, you will problably find any number of different ways to sequence things. As with your grouping scheme, it is part of your job to select a sequencing scheme that best suits your objective and your audience.

As you proceed with your organization structure, you will find a great deal of interaction between your grouping scheme, the comprehension span and the sequencing scheme. Be prepared to modify different elements of your organization structure as you proceed.

[edit] Format

Once you have an organization structure, your next challenge is to apply or design a format that makes the organization visible to the reader.

Any format that you use or develop should strive for simplicity and ease of reading. That is easier said than done, however. WikiBooks is not really amenable to illustrating formats very well. Instead, you might find it useful to follow this link: http://writingforresults.net/Acro_3/4_msg/2_format/0_frmt.pdf It provides you with detailed guidance and examples that will help you to develop formats that range from the very basic to the very complex while still achieving the goals of simplicity and ease of reading.

[edit] Style

Once you have organized and formatted your message, you can start to refine the style. Many volumes have been written on style, some of them very good. However, the most important points of style can be reduced to the following:

• Use short, simple words.
• Use active verbs ("I will sign the letter" not "The letter will be signed").
• Use short, simple sentences and sub-paragraphs.

[edit] Grammar

Grammar involves using the conventions most people follow to ensure that the words you put on paper are understood by others the way you want them to be understood. The conventions of grammar evolve over time, sometimes rapidly. However, it is not a good idea in business writing to test new conventions. Instead, it is best to be conservative and stick with the tried-and-true. The last thing you need is to have an audience distracted by thoughts that your grammar is poor. That can bring disrespect to your whole message.

[edit] Final Touches

The following are the final touches to add to the message:

• cooling off and review (preferably by someone who has never seen the material before)
• integration with your organization's electronic document tracking system (if applicable)
• follow-up to ensure that your message has been received, understood, and acted upon as you intended
• evaluation of effectiveness and deciding what you might do to improve in the future.

[edit] External links

• Writing for Results Provides much more detail on the steps above
• Library of business letters Download sample business letters
• All-in-One Writing Tool for business letters All-in-One Writing Tool