Business Writing:

Business Writing: Content and Organization

The Writing Process • Analyze, anticipate, and adapt • Research, organize, and compose • Revise, proofread, and evaluate

Analyze, Anticipate, and Adapt • Analyze • What is my purpose? • Do I really need to write? (Channel) • Anticipate • Who is the intended reader? • How will the reader react? • Adapt • What’s in it for the reader? • Did I use the best choice of words?

Adapt to your Reader • Spotlight receiver benefits • Cultivate the “you” view • Use sensitive language avoiding gender, race, age, and disability biases • Express thoughts positively • Use familiar words • Use precise, vigorous words

Beware of Hidden Negatives • You failed to . . . . • (You are careless.) • You claim that . . . . • (It’s probably untrue.) • You are wrong . . . . • (I am right.) • You forgot to . . . . • (You are not only inefficient but also stupid and careless.)

Your Turn TO: All Employees using the HP 5000 We have a serious security problem involving your failure to take appropriate measures to safeguard your log-in ID. Per company policy, you are not allowed to give your password out to anybody else. In addition, many of you are saving your log-in access so that the computer automatically logs you in when you boot up your computer. Don’t do that. You are exposing the entire organization to possible intrusion and malicious manipulation of company files. A violator wouldn’t even have to know your password to gain entry to the entire system!!! Consequently, I have developed a new computer security policy. Sign it and return it to me ASAP to indicate your understanding of the above two very serious issues and your promise to never do them in the future. Attachment

Research, Organize, and Compose • Research • Formal: electronic, manual secondary, primary, tests • Informal: visit, files, informal survey • Organize • Direct for receptive • Indirect for unreceptive • Compose • Complete sentences • Effective paragraphs

Write Complete Sentences • Use short sentences • Emphasize important ideas • Use the active voice for most sentences • Use the passive voice to deemphasize the performer and/or to be tactful

Write Effective Paragraphs • One topic per paragraph • Arrange sentences directly/indirectly • Use transitional expressions for coherence • Emphasize key idea via repeating and rephrasing it • Use pronouns to refer clearly to antecedents

Revise, Proofread, and Evaluate • Revise • For clarity • For conciseness (KISS) • For readability • Proofread • for correctness • Evaluate • for feedback

Why Accuracy in Proofreading is Important • If you believe that 99.9 percent accuracy is acceptable, then • Every hour: • 18,322 pieces of mail would be mishandled • 22,000 checks would be deducted from the wrong bank account • Every day: • 12 newborn babies would be given to wrong parents • 55 incorrect drug prescriptions would be written

Why Accuracy in Proofreading is Important • If you believe that 99.9 percent accuracy is acceptable, then • Every week: • 500 incorrect surgical procedures would be performed • 48,000 books would be shipped with the wrong cover • Every year: • 81,000 faulty rolls of 35mm film would be loaded • 2 million documents would be lost by the IRS

Why Accuracy in Proofreading is Important • If you believe that 99.9 percent accuracy is acceptable, then • In addition • 320 entries in Webster’s Third New International Dictionary of the English Language would be misspelled

Your Turn! To: Professor Smith From: Jane Student Subject: Nuclear Fission Credit Research I’ve thought a lot about what I want to do for my research project in your CS 589 class and I’ve decided that it might be kinda interesting to figure out who really deserves the credit for discovering nuclear fission: Hahn or Meitner and Strassman—who I think really should have won the Nobel Prize. But anyway, this topic should also meet a couple of your criteria…..it’s interesting to me (after all, I am a woman studying nuclear research!) and I think I can find some research sources on it. You also said that you wanted our research topics to be technical and provide depth. It does. Well, just let me know if this topic is okay so I can get started on it.

To: Professor Smith From: Jane Student Subject: Request for Research Topic for CS 589 For my CS 589 project, please permit me to study the way in which credit has been awarded for the discovery of nuclear fission. Although Otto Hahn received the 1946 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the discovery, several people assert that Lise Meitner and Fritz Strassman should have also received credit. In my research, I will attempt to discern if credit was given appropriately. Research to determine the proper credit for the discovery of nuclear fission meets the following three CS 589 project criteria: (a) the research topic is of interest, (b) the research topic can be researched quickly, and (c) the research topic is technical and provides depth. Research Topic is of Interest I am interested in the topic. As a nuclear engineering student, I realize that the discovery of nuclear fission was perhaps the single most important discovery this century in my field. As a woman scientist, I am also deeply interested in the successes and challenges faced by other women scientists. Research Topic Can be Researched Quickly The discovery of nuclear fission can be quickly researched. A computer search in the library has revealed many sources available on this topic. Attached to this memo is a summary of one such source, Lise Meitner: A Life in Physics by Ruth Sime. Research Topic is Technical and In-depth The fission of a uranium nuclear is clearly technical in that it involves an understanding of both chemistry and physics principles. Additionally, by focusing on this single discovery, I believe that I can provide the required depth of subject. If you have any suggestions for modifying this topic, please let me know. With your permission, I will continue researching. Attachment

Go Forth and Communicate Clearly

Business Writing: