Lecture Business and administrative communication: Chapter 5 - Kitty O. Locker, Donna S. Kienzler

Chapter 5 - Planning, composing, and revising. After studying this chapter, you will know: Activities involved in the composing process, and how to use these activities to your advantage; guidelines for effective word choice, sentence constructions, and paragraph organization; techniques to revise, edit, and proofread your communications.

Chapter 5

Planning, Composing,

and Revising

 LO 5-1 Activities involved in the composing

process, and how to use these activities to

your advantage

 LO 5-2 Guidelines for effective word choice,

sentence constructions, and paragraph

organization

 LO 5-3 Techniques to revise, edit, and

proofread your communications

 Revise first drafts

 Write regularly

 Break big jobs into small chunks

 Focus on purpose, audience

 Choose from several different strategies

 Use rules flexibly

 Finish a draft before editing text

1 Plan – analyze, gather

2 Write – transform ideas

into words

3 Revise – evaluate, get

feedback, change

4 Edit – correct grammar,

typos

 Don’t have to do in 1-2-3 order

 Don’t have to finish one to start another

 Don’t have to use all activities for every

message

 When content isn’t obvious—

 Brainstorm

 Free write

 Cluster

 Talk to audiences

Administrative Documents

 Closer to conversation

 Varies by audience

 Contains easy-to-read words,

sentences, and paragraphs

 Attention to visual impact

 Less formal than academic writing

(except reports)

1 Write as you talk

2 Never use I

3 Never use You

4 Never begin sentence with And or But

5 Never end sentence with preposition

6 Never use sentences with more than 20 words

or paragraphs with more than 8 lines

Big words impress people

1/2

Easy to Read

As you choose words—

1. Use accurate, appropriate, and familiar

words

2. Avoid technical jargon; eliminate

business jargon

Easy to Read, continued…

As you write and revise sentences—

3. Use active voice most of the time

4. Use verbs—not nouns—to carry weight

of sentence

5. Eliminate wordiness

6. Vary sentence length and structure

7. Use parallel structure

Easy to Read, continued…

As you write and revise paragraphs—

9.Begin most with topic sentence

10.Use transitions to link ideas

Writing Style

 Good writing varies by organization

 Preferred style should be used

 When preferred style is bad

 Ask about poor examples you find

 Recognize that a style may serve a purpose

 Revise – change content, organization,

and tone to satisfy purposes and

audiences

 Edit – change mechanical flaws,

grammar errors

 Proofread – correct typing errors

 Ask for feedback you want

 Approach  Benefits  Tone  Grammar

 Heed comments, even if you disagree

 Rephrase

 Give more details

 Document sources