Transcript Action, Audience

Professional Writing
Communicating
Meaning
Professional Writing
Appendix C: Communicating
Meaning
• Communication theory = what
happens when we communicate
• Semantics = the way we perceive
and process information
Professional Writing
Appendix C: Communicating
Meaning
•
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Communication Process
Perception
Interpretation
Selection
Encoding
Transmission
Decoding
Feedback
Professional Writing
Appendix C: Communicating
Meaning
Semantics
1. Perception involves the perceiver as
well as what’s perceived.
2. Interpretation: Observations,
inferences, and judgments are different.
--No two things are exactly alike.
--Things change significantly with time.
--Most either/or classifications are not
relevant to real-life situations.
Professional Writing
Appendix C: Communicating
Meaning
Semantics
3. Choice: A statement is never the whole
story.
4. Encoding and Decoding: Words are not
identical to the things they represent.
--Symbols used in communication must
stand for the same things in the minds
of both sender and receiver.
Professional Writing
Appendix C: Communicating
Meaning
Semantics: The Reader’s Role
Perception:
1. Recognize everyone’s perceptions will be
somewhat biased.
2. Be aware that different positions cause us to
view reality differently and to make different
inferences based on our observations.
3. If a new idea fails to fit with your world view,
recognize that your world view, not the idea,
may need tweaking.
Professional Writing
Appendix C: Communicating
Meaning
Semantics: The Reader’s and Writer’s Roles
Observations, Inferences, Judgments
1. Check to see whether a statement is an
observation, inference, or judgment.
2. Estimate the accuracy of inferences by
comparing your experience with the source
and with this type of situation.
3. To persuade others, use quantifiable or
concrete examples, not generalized
statements.
4. Label your inferences so audiences can
distinguish between established fact and
inference. “We estimate…”
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Exercises: Observations,
Inferences, Judgments
• 1. A chair is in this room.
• The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed
above 7000 for the first time in February
1997.
• High stock prices are a sign that the
economy is healthy.
• Accounting majors get good jobs.
• All the people in this room will be
employed three years from today.
• It’s better to be 75% right and 100% on
time than 100% right and a week late.
• This statement is a complete sentence.
Professional Writing
Appendix C: Communicating
Meaning
Semantics: The Reader’s and Writer’s Roles
No Two Things Are Exactly Alike
1. Guard against stereotyping.
2. Recognize significant differences as well as
similarities.
3. Be sure that any analogies you use in
arguments are accurate at the point of
comparison.
Appendix C: Communicating
Meaning
Professional Writing
Semantics: The Reader’s and Writer’s Roles
A Statement Is Never the Whole Story
1. Assuming we know everything about a
subject is a fallacy called allness.
Example: In Cause-Related Marketing campaigns,
advertisers promise to make a donation to a particular
charity for each purchase. When asked what the donation
would represent, customers estimated from 4% to 8% of
sales prices.
2. Recognize reports you receive may be filtered and
you’re almost certainly getting inferences as well
as observations.
3. Check correspondence you send out to ensure
you provide readers with enough background for
them to interpret your message accurately.
Professional Writing
Appendix C: Communicating
Meaning
Semantics: The Reader’s and Writer’s Roles
Words ≠ Objects They Represent
1. Example: What’s the difference between an
economic slump, a slow-down, a recession, and
depression?
2. Example: Commercials advertising healthcare
coverage or healthcare benefits that lead consumers to
believe they’re purchasing insurance.
3. Support general statements with specific evidence
and examples.
4. Check your own responses to ensure your decisions
are based on valid arguments, not labels.
Making Your Writing Easy to
Read
Professional Writing
• Half-Truths about Style:
– Write the way you talk.
– Never use “I.”
– Never begin a sentence with “and” or
“but.”
– Never end a sentence with a
preposition.
– A hefty vocabulary is impressive.
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Before Plain Language
• John Hancock Sovereign Balanced
Fund:
– The fund utilizes a strategy of investing
in those common stocks which have a
record of having increased their
shareholder dividend in each of the
preceding ten years or more.
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After Plain Language
• John Hancock Sovereign Balanced
Fund:
– The fund’s stock investments are
exclusively in companies that have
increased their dividend payout in
each of the last ten years.
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Before Plain Language
• State Street Research Equity
Income Fund:
– The net asset value of the fund’s
shares will fluctuate as market
conditions change.
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After Plain Language
• State Street Research Equity
Income Fund:
– The fund’s shares will rise and fall in
value.
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Before Plain Language
• The applicability of the general
information and administrative
procedures set forth below accordingly
will vary depending on the investor and
the record-keeping system established
for a shareholder’s investment in the
Fund. Participants in 401(k) and other
plans should first consult with appropriate
persons at their employer or refer to the
plan materials before following any of the
procedures below.
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After Plain Language
• If you are investing through a large
retirement plan or other special program,
follow the instructions in your program
materials.
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What features did the “after”
versions share?
•
•
•
•
Appropriate, familiar words.
Limited technical jargon.
Active verbs.
Verbs carry the weight of the
sentence.
• Readers figure in the sentences.
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Familiar Words
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•
•
•
•
•
•
Formal
Ameliorate
Commence
Utilize
Enumerate
Finalize
Prioritize
Simple
improve
begin
use
list
finish, complete
rank
Spare the Jargon
Professional Writing
• Jargon comes in two varieties:
– Specialized terminology in a technical
field: bytes, gigs, ROM, RAM
– Use technical jargon sparingly when
addressing general audiences or
audiences who lack specialized
knowledge of technical terms.
– Businessese includes as per your
request, enclosed please find and
other totally unnecessary terms.
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Jargon = Trouble
• Research conducted by Deloitte
suggests that jargon-filled messages may
be a sign of business problems. A review
of the last three years of communication
from Enron showed an increase in the
use of jargon and difficulty of its
messages as company performance
declined.
• In fact, announcements of the factors that
led directly to the Enron collapse were
features of company reports as early as
1998 but were embedded in so much
jargon and information overload that they
went undetected.
Exercise: Eliminate Jargon
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•
Eliminate jargon and simplify language
in these sentences:
1. Computers can enumerate pages when
the appropriate keystroke is
implemented.
2. Any alterations must be approved
during the 30-day period commencing
60 days prior to the expiration date of
the announcement.
3. As per your request, the undersigned
has obtained estimates of upgrading
our computer system. A copy of the
estimated cost is attached hereto.
Professional Writing
Exercise: Eliminate Jargon
4. Please be advised that this writer is in
considerable need of a new computer.
5. Enclosed please find the proposed
schedule for the training session. In the
event that you have alterations which
you would like to suggest, forward
same to my office at your earliest
convenience.
Professional Writing
Put Readers in Sentences
• Use second-person pronouns (you),
rather than third-person to enroll readers
and provide you-attitude in sentences.
– Funds in a participating employee’s account
at the end of each six months will
automatically be used to buy more stock
unless a “Notice of Election Not to Exercise
Purchase Rights” form is received from the
employee.
– Once you begin to participate, funds in your
account at the end of each six months will
automatically be used to buy more stock
unless you turn in a Notice of Election Not to
Exercise Purchase Rights” form.
Professional Writing
Exercises: Putting Readers in
Sentences
1. Mutual funds can be purchased from banks,
brokers, financial planners for from the fund
itself.
2. I would like to take this opportunity to invite you
back to Global Wireless. As a previous
customer, we have outstanding new rate plans
to offer you and your family. We invite you to
review the rate plans on the attached page and
choose the one that best fits your needs. All our
customers are important to us.
3. Another aspect of the university is campus life,
with an assortment of activities and student
groups to participate in and lectures and sports
events to attend.
Professional Writing
Use Parallel Structure
• When you use pairs or lists of items in
sentences, be sure that the items are of
the same grammatical type.
– We included in the list of office activities
making sales calls, holding meetings, taking
inventory, and decisions.
– We included in the list of office activities
making sales calls, holding meetings, taking
inventory, and making decisions.
Professional Writing
Use Parallel Structure
• When you use pairs or lists of items in
sentences, be sure that the items are of
the same grammatical type.
– We included in the list of office activities
making sales calls, holding meetings, taking
inventory, and decisions.
– We included in the list of office activities
making sales calls, holding meetings, taking
inventory, and making decisions.
Professional Writing
Exercise: Parallel Structure
Revise this sentence to create parallel
structure:
When you leave a voice-mail message,
• summarize your main point in a
sentence
• the name and phone number should be
spelled slowly and distinctly,
• the speaker should give enough
information that the recipient can act on
the message.
• tell when you’ll be available to receive
the recipient’s return call.
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Businessese
• What are the alternatives to the businessese
below?
• At your earliest convenience
• As per your request
• Enclosed please find
• Forward same to this office
• Hereto, herewith
• Please do not hesitate
• Pursuant to
• Please be advised
• Said order
• This will acknowledge receipt of your letter
• Trusting this is satisfactory, we remain