Transcript Document 7153805

Business Writing:
Content and Organization
The Writing Process
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Analyze, anticipate, and adapt
Research, organize, and compose
Revise, proofread, and evaluate
Analyze, Anticipate, and
Adapt
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Analyze
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Anticipate
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What is my purpose?
Do I really need to write? (Channel)
Who is the intended reader?
How will the reader react?
Adapt
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What’s in it for the reader?
Did I use the best choice of words?
Adapt to your Reader
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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
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You failed to . . . .
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You claim that . . . .
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(It’s probably untrue.)
You are wrong . . . .
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(You are careless.)
(I am right.)
You forgot to . . . .
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(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.
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The Writing Process
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Analyze, anticipate, and adapt
Research, organize, and compose
Revise, proofread, and evaluate
Research, Organize, and
Compose
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Research
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Organize
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Formal: electronic, manual secondary,
primary, tests
Informal: visit, files, informal survey
Direct for receptive
Indirect for unreceptive
Compose
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Complete sentences
Effective paragraphs
Write Complete Sentences
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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
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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
The Writing Process
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Analyze, anticipate, and adapt
Research, organize, and compose
Revise, proofread, and evaluate
Revise, Proofread, and
Evaluate
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Revise
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Proofread
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For clarity
For conciseness (KISS)
For readability
for correctness
Evaluate
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for feedback
Why Accuracy in Proofreading
is Important
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If you believe that 99.9 percent accuracy
is acceptable, then
Every hour:
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18,322 pieces of mail would be mishandled
22,000 checks would be deducted from the
wrong bank account
Every day:
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12 newborn babies would be given to wrong
parents
55 incorrect drug prescriptions would be
written
Why Accuracy in Proofreading
is Important
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If you believe that 99.9 percent accuracy
is acceptable, then
Every week:
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500 incorrect surgical procedures would be
performed
48,000 books would be shipped with the wrong
cover
Every year:
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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
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If you believe that 99.9 percent accuracy
is acceptable, then
In addition
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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.
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Go Forth
and Communicate Clearly