Free Online Information Sources (Revised Edition)
Compiled by Dr. Gerald Siegel, York College of PA, York, PA, U.S.A.
(Visiting Professor, FON University, Skopje, MK, Spring 2010)
Wikipedia (limited usefulness for research, but can be a handy personal first stop)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
ERIC (includes not only articles, but papers from professional conferences)
http://www.eric.ed.gov/
Refdesk.com
http://www.refdesk.com/
Bartleby.com free books (public domain materials)
http://www.bartleby.com/
Online Books Page of the University of Pennsylvania (public domain mainly primary materials)
http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/
University of North Carolina Library of Southern Literature
http://docsouth.unc.edu/southlit/
Project Gutenberg (public domain mainly primary materials)
http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page
University of Adelaide Library “E-book” collection (public domain mainly primary materials)
http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/
Wikisource (public domain mainly primary materials)
http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Main_Page
University of Virginia Library e-text center (public domain mainly primary materials)
http://www2.lib.virginia.edu/etext/index.html
Most free access materials will be at the library’s “Digital Collections” page. http://lib.virginia.edu/digital/collections/finding_digital.html
FrontPage: University of Florida Free Online Reference Sources
http://www.libsuccess.org/index.php?title=Free_Online_Reference_Resources
American Literary History (online Oxford UP journal with free subscription for developing country ISPs)
http://alh.oxfordjournals.org/
Purdue Writing Lab Resources (includes MLA and APA guidelines)
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/
Paradigm Online Writing Assistant (offers help with writing skills; online free; charge for downloads)
http://www.powa.org/
Carnegie Mellon University Resources in Composition and Rhetoric
http://rhetoric.eserver.org/
York College of Pennsylvania Schmidt Library (some limited resources available to guests; go to ycp.edu; click on academics; click on library; click on subject guides; click on English..
A direct link is http://ycp.edu/library/7208.htm ; the college main page is http://ycp.edu.
A variety of useful American Literature resources is listed on the web pages of Prof. Donna M. Campbell of Washington State University.
http://www.wsu.edu/~campbelld/amlit/sites.htm has links to specific groups of sources;
http://www.wsu.edu/~campbelld/ is her home page. See the “about” tab for Prof. Campbell’s explanation about the use of these materials.
The Oxford Companion to American Literature (lists a variety of miscellaneous sources, although some are quite brief)
http://www.encyclopedia.com/The+Oxford+Companion+to+American+Literature/publications.aspx?pageNumber=1
Central Michigan University Library English Language and Literature Resources (not all available to guest users)
http://library.cmich.edu/subjectguides/humanities/literature.htm
Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis Quick Reference Sources (a variety of links)
http://www.ulib.iupui.edu/genref/ebooks
British Literature and Anglophile Resources (a listing from the Wade Edwards Learning Lab in Raleigh, NC; intended for high school level, so some links may be a bit elementary; other links were no longer working when checked)
http://www.wade.org/BritishLit.htm
Free E-Books (Contains a warning about opening pop-ups; Australian site with an extensive list of links)
http://www.e-book.com.au/freebooks.htm
Academy of American Poets site—poetry and criticism, audio clips, teaching materials
http://www.poets.org/index.php
American Memory provides access to items from the collections of the U.S. Library of Congress, one of the world’s top research libraries
. http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/index.html.
Internet Archives. Film, media, texts and more. Describes itself as “a digital library of Internet sites and other cultural artifacts in digital form.” http://www.archive.org/
History Matters. “History Matters serves as a gateway to web resources and offers
other useful materials for teaching U.S. history,” according to the site description. http://historymatters.gmu.edu/
American history materials and items from the works of author Studs Terkel. Presented by Chicago History Museum. http://www.studsterkel.org/
Poets.org. Academy of American Poets. Texts, audio, video and more about and by U.S. poets. http://www.poets.org/
One location for media items is NPR (National Public Radio) site. Useful source of American studies items, current events, and links to broadcasts. http://www.npr.org/
The Atlantic home page is a source of information related to the magazine and its coverage.. http://www.npr.org/.
U. S. newspapers provide a wealth of cultural information as well as news stories. Many have sites with free access or free registration. The Washington Post is one such source. http://www.washingtonpost.com/?nid=top_news.
Documentary radio programs are available at another media information source, http://americanradioworks.publicradio.org/
Information of many types about different aspects of America and American culture. http://www.america.gov/
PAL: Perspectives in American Literature: A Research and Reference Guide by Paul P. Reuben, who describes this site as “a research and reference tool” for “international readers” and “Americans who have no or limited access to university libraries and academic databases….” American literature links and information. http://www.csustan.edu/english/reuben/home.htm
The Virtual Learning Resource Center has many useful links, including biographies and even a Cliffsnotes for 20th century poetry. The index is set up by author birthdates; to get information about William Carlos Williams, for example, you need to know that he was born between 1880 and 1890 (actually, 1883). You may need to install plug-ins to access all of the media at this site. http://www.virtuallrc.com/ is the general site; you’ll find literature sources at http://www.virtuallrc.com/literature.html.
Antigonish Review (a Canadian literary review): http://www.antigonishreview.com/index.html
Dr. Charles Phillips Links to English Courses and Resources. Dr. Phillips makes the following statement about his personal site: “I retired from teaching English at Southside Viriginia Community College in May 2007. However, I am leaving some of my course materials posted as they may be of help to students elsewhere.” http://luna.moonstar.com/~acpjr/Blackboard/Common/Webdocs/LINKS.htm
EasyBib: The Automatic Bibliography & Citation Maker. My U.S. students like this for documentation help. http://www.easybib.com/
Directory of Open Access Journals: http://www.doaj.org/
BNet (emphasizes items in mamagement): http://findarticles.com/
Wikipedia’s list of free online journals
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_journals_available_free_online
Open Access Journals in Education: http://aera-cr.asu.edu/ejournals/
Google Scholar (beta version)—specialized search engine: http://scholar.google.com/
You’ll find addtitional materials from my classes at my Blogger web site
http://www.jerrysiegel.net/
The following sites can be of special interest for teaching and for future teachers:
Linguistic Funland http://www.tesol.net/
MERLOT (Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching). An exchange site.
http://www.merlot.org/merlot/index.htm
MLA Handbook. (Free access for MLA members only)
http://www.mlahandbook.org/private/fragment/private_index
Open Educational Resources Center for California (open access to texts). This seems good and gets an OK from the Yahoo safety check, but some of the links produce yahoo warnings, so be alert with this site.
http://grou.ps/oercenter/
Penguin/Signet—free teacher’s guides to selected works
http://us.penguingroup.com/static/pages/signetclassics/teachersguides.html
Pearson Instructor and Student Pages—a number of publishers have such site, mainly for students and teachers using or ordering their texts, but sometimes with free materials too. This is Pearson’s higher education home page
http://www.pearsonhighered.com/
And this is the Pearson instructor page.
http://www.pearsonhighered.com/educator/profile/ircHomeTab.page
Here’s the page for the Fulbright Scholar program.
http://www.cies.org/
Last updated 26 May 2010
Showing posts with label Business Writing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Business Writing. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Common Message Formats
Common Message Formats
[Note: in the print version, the various letters appear on separate pages. Figure 4 goes to a second page where the page 2 notation is shown. In some cases, spacing and indents have been altered from the original in this web version. The original has been e-mailed to students in Business Writing classes.]
Formats for letters, memos, reports, and other written messages may vary from one organization to another although certain characteristics do recur. A memo, for example, generally includes date/to/from/topic information in a heading and presents a message (usually an internal one) next. Letters contain such traditional elements as return and inside addresses, salutations, complimentary closes, and signature blocks. Both letters and memos are normally typed single spaced, with double spacing between paragraphs. (Figures 1 through 5 provide examples of some typical memo and letter formats, but in some cases spacing is compressed. Word processing programs also contain sample templates.)
Reports tend to vary in format more than do letters or memos. Some consist simply of brief forms to be completed, while others, especially long, formal reports, start to resemble books, having title pages, contents pages, abstracts, headings, graphics, and other specialized elements. A range of report formats exists between these extremes; memos with enumeration and/or headings and multiple page reports with headings and subheadings are two common variations. Organizational style guides and standard handbooks can provide other useful examples.
If you work for a particular organization for any length of time, you'll probably find yourself using correct formats almost automatically in familiar situations. Otherwise, format should be one of your last concerns in the "shaping" process. Until you know the final content and structure of your message (down to the exact wording), you could be wasting time by worrying about correct format for material you may never use. Perhaps more important, concern about format at the start of your writing process can lure you into viewing as final text what may really be preparing materials--free writing, potential subject matter, or random jottings.
Of course, format does matter. By creating a favorable appearance through appropriate formats, you can produce writing that displays professionalism and creates a favorable impression upon its readers.
Figure 1. Memo Format.
_____________________________________________________________
DATE: March 2, 20xx
TO: Mike Motta
FROM: Professor Rita Rhodes
SUBJECT: Writing the Memorandum
This message illustrates a typical memorandum, probably the most common variety of administrative communication. Most memorandums are relatively brief and intended for use within an organization. However, memorandums can vary widely in length and purpose, sometimes extending to multi-page reports.
1. This example uses a customary format, but different organizations will have their own modifications. Some formats, for example, eliminate such heading labels as "date" or "subject." Here, the date is in U.S. format. Often, memos will be written upon pre-printed forms. Most memos do contain at least the information shown in the headings above. Few contain salutations or complimentary closes.
2. Don't feel you must slavishly imitate this sample or any sample or model used in this class (unless, of course, you're asked to use a particular format for a specific assignment). For example, not all memos will contain a numbered list.You should use recognized formats of some sort. Handbooks and your other textbooks may contain additional useful examples of some.
3. Memorandums may or may not include lists, enumerations, headings, tables, and other guides to readability. The communication situation usually determines whether you should use such aids.
4. The style of a memorandum should be conversational, yet professional. Since you'll often be sending memorandums to people you know well, you have greater flexibility in adapting style to audience when you write memos than you would for many other communication contexts.
5. If your instructor asks you to do so, use correct memorandum format to write the message he or she assigns.
Figure 2. Letter in Full Block Format.
____________________________________________________________
4510 Winston Road
Portland, OR 97205-4321
8 July 8 20xx
Ms. Felicia Dushane
3422 Christopher Lane
Terra Haute, IN 47818-1234
Dear Ms. Dushane:
Here are the sample formats you requested when we spoke at the American Communication Association meeting last Friday. This series of letters illustrates some frequently used methods.
This letter is written in full block format, a simple format to remember and to type. All parts of the letter start at the left margin. Instead of a letterhead (which would also be acceptable), this version begins with your return address/date block. Your name would not appear here; it does, of course, appear below. Located four lines below is the inside address,the address of the person to whom you're writing. An alternate date format would be "20 March 20xx": because usage in some countries varies, avoid "3/2/xx" or 3.2.xx." This letter also illustrates use of the full nine-digit zip code.
A courtesy title (here Ms., although, of course, you could use Mr., Miss, Mrs., Dr., Doctor, Professor, Lieutenant, etc.) precedes your addressee's name. Letters usually include a courtesy title if the appropriate one is known to the writer. Sometimes names indicate the gender of the addressee and thus often suggest the appropriate courtesy title. In the case of names, like "Leslie" or "Chris," that could refer to either men or women, you may choose simply to use the full name without a courtesy title (for example, "Chris Kramer").
The salutation appears two line below the inside address. While the exact salutation may vary, the pattern shown here--"Dear" + a courtesy title + the addressee's last name--is the form most commonly used for business correspondence in the United States.
The text of the letter begins two lines below the salutation. Most letters (except for very short ones) are typed single-spaced with double spacing between paragraphs. Paragraph length varies, but four to sixteen lines is workable and easily readable.
The letter ends with a complimentary close, followed by four lines (for the signature) and a typed signature, often followed by the writer's job title. Frequently used complimentary closes include "Sincerely," "Yours truly," and "Cordially."
Sincerely,
Anthony Garcia
Communications Specialist
Figure 3. Letter in Semi-block Format.
____________________________________________________________
CCI [This letterhead is pre-printed and centered in the print version.]
Communications Consultants, Inc.
4510 Winston Rd., Portland, OR 97205
July 8, 19xx
Ms. Felicia Dushane
3422 Christopher Lane
Terra Haute, IN 47818
Dear Ms. Dushane:
This sample letter uses "semi-block" or "modified block" format and letterhead stationery. As in many variations of full block form, the main differences are in the placement of the date (or, if letterhead is not used, of the entire date/return address block) and of the complimentary close/signature block. Here, these sections begin at the center of the page. The result is a letter that is more balanced in appearance than that produced using the full block format.
If one of these "center line" elements (for example, a long address if no letterhead is used or a long job title) will not fit on the page using this format, all the elements can be started a few spaces to the left of the center line. Another approach locates the longest line in any of these elements, counts back this number of spaces from the right margin, and begins all lines in these elements at that indent setting.
The first two letters use "mixed punctuation" for the salutation and the complimentary close: a colon follows the salutation, and a comma follows the complimentary close. (The next letter in this series will illustrate "open punctuation," a practice which uses no punctuation in these positions.) Although so-called "friendly" personal letters may use a comma after the salutation as well as after the complimentary close, business letters generally do not, except for some sales and promotional messages.
Sincerely,
Anthony Garcia
Communications Specialist
Figure 4. Letter in Indented Semi-block Format.
____________________________________________________________
CCI
Communications Consultants, Inc.
4510 Winston Rd., Portland, OR 97205
(503) 555-6789
July 8, 19xx
Ms. Ingrid Weill
Director of Publications
Media Production Associates
8841 Eastwood Avenue
Scranton, PA 18547
Dear Ms. Weill
SUBJECT: SEMI-BLOCK FORMAT WITH INDENTED PARAGRAPHS
Here is an example of a semi-block letter with indented paragraphs, another step toward more attractive page make-up. This sample also illustrates use of "open" punctuation, a practice which eliminates the punctuation after the salutation and the complimentary close. If the name of the addressee were unavailable for this message, the position title ("Dear Director") could be used instead. If the writer and reader knew each other, in some cases "Dear Ingrid" might be acceptable.
In this form, each paragraph is indented 4-8 spaces (in the case of this sample, five spaces). The margins in these sample letters, 1" on all sides, are the default settings of several word processing programs and work well for most situations; some authorities suggest 1 1/4" for right and left margins and 1" for top and bottom. With letterhead stationary, the first line (usually the date) begins 2 to 2 1/2" from the top of the page.For A4 paper, the margins are metric and will differ. For short letters, the space between date line and inside address and that between complimentary close and typed signature may be adjusted; the margins may also be widened.
An optional "subject line" like that used here can be incorporated into most standard formats; it provides an easy way of indicating a message's topic without slowing the letter's opening. The actual word "subject" needn't always appear.
In practice, many organizations will have their own margin requirements, often contained in the organization's style manual. The margins suggested here apply to the standard 8 1/2" x 11" stationary used by U.S. private firms. The United States government and foreign organizations may use different paper sizes (such as A4) and margins. In any case, the most attractive letters result from having an appropriately wide "picture frame" of white space around the "picture" of the letter text itself.
Sometimes letters will extend beyond a single page. In such cases, the second (and subsequent) pages should be written on plain paper, not letterhead. While various
Ms. Ingrid Weill, July 8, 20xx, page 2 [A new page starts here in print version.]
heading formats are used, pages beyond the first, most include certain elements: the name of the addressee, the date, and the page number.
If you would like more information about possible formats or if you have any further questions, call me at the number above any day between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.
Sincerely
Anthony Garcia
Communications Specialist
Figure 5. Letter in AMS Simplified Format.
____________________________________________________________
CCI [This letterhead is pre-printed and centered in the print version.]
Communications Consultants, Inc.
4510 Winston Rd., Portland, OR 97205
(503) 555-6789
July 8, 20xx
Ms. Ingrid Weill
Media Production Associates
8841 Eastwood Avenue
Scranton, PA 18547
U. S. A.
AMS SIMPLIFIED FORMAT
Here, Ms. Weill, is another in the series of letter formats you requested.
Some years ago, the Administrative Management Society developed this style. Although this format has been used in only limited situations, it can be quite useful, especially for routine situations where salutations and complimentary closes (both of which this format eliminates in favor of a topic line and a typed signature) are inappropriate. For example, a request for a catalog or for reservations, especially when not addressed to any particular individual, lends itself well to this format.
Notice that the word "SUBJECT" does not actually appear in the subject line. The format uses open punctuation and capital letters in both the topic and signature lines. If the letter goes to an individual, that person's name can be mentioned early in the message, possibly in the opening sentence.
The letters following the typed signature indicate that Anthony Garcia dictated the letter and that it was typed by someone else with the initials "D.S." The letter "c" (for "copy"; "cc" is sometimes used to indicate a "carbon copy" or "courtesy copy") shows where copies of the letter were sent.
ANTHONY GARCIA, COMMUNICATIONS SPECIALIST
AG/ds
c: Scott N. Willard
[Note: in the print version, the various letters appear on separate pages. Figure 4 goes to a second page where the page 2 notation is shown. In some cases, spacing and indents have been altered from the original in this web version. The original has been e-mailed to students in Business Writing classes.]
Formats for letters, memos, reports, and other written messages may vary from one organization to another although certain characteristics do recur. A memo, for example, generally includes date/to/from/topic information in a heading and presents a message (usually an internal one) next. Letters contain such traditional elements as return and inside addresses, salutations, complimentary closes, and signature blocks. Both letters and memos are normally typed single spaced, with double spacing between paragraphs. (Figures 1 through 5 provide examples of some typical memo and letter formats, but in some cases spacing is compressed. Word processing programs also contain sample templates.)
Reports tend to vary in format more than do letters or memos. Some consist simply of brief forms to be completed, while others, especially long, formal reports, start to resemble books, having title pages, contents pages, abstracts, headings, graphics, and other specialized elements. A range of report formats exists between these extremes; memos with enumeration and/or headings and multiple page reports with headings and subheadings are two common variations. Organizational style guides and standard handbooks can provide other useful examples.
If you work for a particular organization for any length of time, you'll probably find yourself using correct formats almost automatically in familiar situations. Otherwise, format should be one of your last concerns in the "shaping" process. Until you know the final content and structure of your message (down to the exact wording), you could be wasting time by worrying about correct format for material you may never use. Perhaps more important, concern about format at the start of your writing process can lure you into viewing as final text what may really be preparing materials--free writing, potential subject matter, or random jottings.
Of course, format does matter. By creating a favorable appearance through appropriate formats, you can produce writing that displays professionalism and creates a favorable impression upon its readers.
Figure 1. Memo Format.
_____________________________________________________________
DATE: March 2, 20xx
TO: Mike Motta
FROM: Professor Rita Rhodes
SUBJECT: Writing the Memorandum
This message illustrates a typical memorandum, probably the most common variety of administrative communication. Most memorandums are relatively brief and intended for use within an organization. However, memorandums can vary widely in length and purpose, sometimes extending to multi-page reports.
1. This example uses a customary format, but different organizations will have their own modifications. Some formats, for example, eliminate such heading labels as "date" or "subject." Here, the date is in U.S. format. Often, memos will be written upon pre-printed forms. Most memos do contain at least the information shown in the headings above. Few contain salutations or complimentary closes.
2. Don't feel you must slavishly imitate this sample or any sample or model used in this class (unless, of course, you're asked to use a particular format for a specific assignment). For example, not all memos will contain a numbered list.You should use recognized formats of some sort. Handbooks and your other textbooks may contain additional useful examples of some.
3. Memorandums may or may not include lists, enumerations, headings, tables, and other guides to readability. The communication situation usually determines whether you should use such aids.
4. The style of a memorandum should be conversational, yet professional. Since you'll often be sending memorandums to people you know well, you have greater flexibility in adapting style to audience when you write memos than you would for many other communication contexts.
5. If your instructor asks you to do so, use correct memorandum format to write the message he or she assigns.
Figure 2. Letter in Full Block Format.
____________________________________________________________
4510 Winston Road
Portland, OR 97205-4321
8 July 8 20xx
Ms. Felicia Dushane
3422 Christopher Lane
Terra Haute, IN 47818-1234
Dear Ms. Dushane:
Here are the sample formats you requested when we spoke at the American Communication Association meeting last Friday. This series of letters illustrates some frequently used methods.
This letter is written in full block format, a simple format to remember and to type. All parts of the letter start at the left margin. Instead of a letterhead (which would also be acceptable), this version begins with your return address/date block. Your name would not appear here; it does, of course, appear below. Located four lines below is the inside address,the address of the person to whom you're writing. An alternate date format would be "20 March 20xx": because usage in some countries varies, avoid "3/2/xx" or 3.2.xx." This letter also illustrates use of the full nine-digit zip code.
A courtesy title (here Ms., although, of course, you could use Mr., Miss, Mrs., Dr., Doctor, Professor, Lieutenant, etc.) precedes your addressee's name. Letters usually include a courtesy title if the appropriate one is known to the writer. Sometimes names indicate the gender of the addressee and thus often suggest the appropriate courtesy title. In the case of names, like "Leslie" or "Chris," that could refer to either men or women, you may choose simply to use the full name without a courtesy title (for example, "Chris Kramer").
The salutation appears two line below the inside address. While the exact salutation may vary, the pattern shown here--"Dear" + a courtesy title + the addressee's last name--is the form most commonly used for business correspondence in the United States.
The text of the letter begins two lines below the salutation. Most letters (except for very short ones) are typed single-spaced with double spacing between paragraphs. Paragraph length varies, but four to sixteen lines is workable and easily readable.
The letter ends with a complimentary close, followed by four lines (for the signature) and a typed signature, often followed by the writer's job title. Frequently used complimentary closes include "Sincerely," "Yours truly," and "Cordially."
Sincerely,
Anthony Garcia
Communications Specialist
Figure 3. Letter in Semi-block Format.
____________________________________________________________
CCI [This letterhead is pre-printed and centered in the print version.]
Communications Consultants, Inc.
4510 Winston Rd., Portland, OR 97205
July 8, 19xx
Ms. Felicia Dushane
3422 Christopher Lane
Terra Haute, IN 47818
Dear Ms. Dushane:
This sample letter uses "semi-block" or "modified block" format and letterhead stationery. As in many variations of full block form, the main differences are in the placement of the date (or, if letterhead is not used, of the entire date/return address block) and of the complimentary close/signature block. Here, these sections begin at the center of the page. The result is a letter that is more balanced in appearance than that produced using the full block format.
If one of these "center line" elements (for example, a long address if no letterhead is used or a long job title) will not fit on the page using this format, all the elements can be started a few spaces to the left of the center line. Another approach locates the longest line in any of these elements, counts back this number of spaces from the right margin, and begins all lines in these elements at that indent setting.
The first two letters use "mixed punctuation" for the salutation and the complimentary close: a colon follows the salutation, and a comma follows the complimentary close. (The next letter in this series will illustrate "open punctuation," a practice which uses no punctuation in these positions.) Although so-called "friendly" personal letters may use a comma after the salutation as well as after the complimentary close, business letters generally do not, except for some sales and promotional messages.
Sincerely,
Anthony Garcia
Communications Specialist
Figure 4. Letter in Indented Semi-block Format.
____________________________________________________________
CCI
Communications Consultants, Inc.
4510 Winston Rd., Portland, OR 97205
(503) 555-6789
July 8, 19xx
Ms. Ingrid Weill
Director of Publications
Media Production Associates
8841 Eastwood Avenue
Scranton, PA 18547
Dear Ms. Weill
SUBJECT: SEMI-BLOCK FORMAT WITH INDENTED PARAGRAPHS
Here is an example of a semi-block letter with indented paragraphs, another step toward more attractive page make-up. This sample also illustrates use of "open" punctuation, a practice which eliminates the punctuation after the salutation and the complimentary close. If the name of the addressee were unavailable for this message, the position title ("Dear Director") could be used instead. If the writer and reader knew each other, in some cases "Dear Ingrid" might be acceptable.
In this form, each paragraph is indented 4-8 spaces (in the case of this sample, five spaces). The margins in these sample letters, 1" on all sides, are the default settings of several word processing programs and work well for most situations; some authorities suggest 1 1/4" for right and left margins and 1" for top and bottom. With letterhead stationary, the first line (usually the date) begins 2 to 2 1/2" from the top of the page.For A4 paper, the margins are metric and will differ. For short letters, the space between date line and inside address and that between complimentary close and typed signature may be adjusted; the margins may also be widened.
An optional "subject line" like that used here can be incorporated into most standard formats; it provides an easy way of indicating a message's topic without slowing the letter's opening. The actual word "subject" needn't always appear.
In practice, many organizations will have their own margin requirements, often contained in the organization's style manual. The margins suggested here apply to the standard 8 1/2" x 11" stationary used by U.S. private firms. The United States government and foreign organizations may use different paper sizes (such as A4) and margins. In any case, the most attractive letters result from having an appropriately wide "picture frame" of white space around the "picture" of the letter text itself.
Sometimes letters will extend beyond a single page. In such cases, the second (and subsequent) pages should be written on plain paper, not letterhead. While various
Ms. Ingrid Weill, July 8, 20xx, page 2 [A new page starts here in print version.]
heading formats are used, pages beyond the first, most include certain elements: the name of the addressee, the date, and the page number.
If you would like more information about possible formats or if you have any further questions, call me at the number above any day between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.
Sincerely
Anthony Garcia
Communications Specialist
Figure 5. Letter in AMS Simplified Format.
____________________________________________________________
CCI [This letterhead is pre-printed and centered in the print version.]
Communications Consultants, Inc.
4510 Winston Rd., Portland, OR 97205
(503) 555-6789
July 8, 20xx
Ms. Ingrid Weill
Media Production Associates
8841 Eastwood Avenue
Scranton, PA 18547
U. S. A.
AMS SIMPLIFIED FORMAT
Here, Ms. Weill, is another in the series of letter formats you requested.
Some years ago, the Administrative Management Society developed this style. Although this format has been used in only limited situations, it can be quite useful, especially for routine situations where salutations and complimentary closes (both of which this format eliminates in favor of a topic line and a typed signature) are inappropriate. For example, a request for a catalog or for reservations, especially when not addressed to any particular individual, lends itself well to this format.
Notice that the word "SUBJECT" does not actually appear in the subject line. The format uses open punctuation and capital letters in both the topic and signature lines. If the letter goes to an individual, that person's name can be mentioned early in the message, possibly in the opening sentence.
The letters following the typed signature indicate that Anthony Garcia dictated the letter and that it was typed by someone else with the initials "D.S." The letter "c" (for "copy"; "cc" is sometimes used to indicate a "carbon copy" or "courtesy copy") shows where copies of the letter were sent.
ANTHONY GARCIA, COMMUNICATIONS SPECIALIST
AG/ds
c: Scott N. Willard
Message Patterns
MESSAGE PATTERNS: MEMOS, LETTERS, REPORTS, PROPOSALS
Using a process approach to writing (conscious steps of preparing, arranging, saying, and shaping) can help you make more efficient use of your time in a wide range of business and professional communication situations. Among the most common message types you may be writing will be the memorandum, the letter, the report, and the proposal. While all these kinds of documents should be marked by effective writing, each type also has certain characteristics of its own. This description looks briefly at traditional versions of these structural and stylistic attributes.
Memorandums and Letters
Preparing memorandums (or memoranda) will probably be one of the most frequent on-the-job tasks you will face. Memos are usually brief documents dealing with routine matters, and they normally remain within an organization. Most often informal documents, memorandums can be as simple as a completed form or as extensive as a policy statement on how to appeal personnel actions. Frequently a memorandum will get read by several audiences, a point to consider in deciding what to say and how to say it. A brief memorandum like that shown in figure 1 may begin as a message (sent either in writing or as e-mail) from one individual to another, but soon become widely disseminated. This particular memo, for example, may be copied by its immediate audience (here, Willa Clarke), attached to a cover memo (here, possibly one saying that this week's caseworker meeting date is changed), and either sent to every person in an entire division or posted on the division's bulletin board. Other types of memorandums may be placed in a file and used weeks or months later by individuals unknown to either the original sender or addressee. (This memo uses an American format for the date; other examples in the chapter will use the international format of date/month/year, Sometimes memos will use a briefer format, but that can confuse: the date in the example could be shown as 6/16/10 in an American document, but 16.6.10 in an international format. Common sense can clarify this entry, but a date such as April 6 or 6 April is obviously clearer when written out.)
Figure 1. Routine Memorandum.
Date: June 16, 20xx
To: Willa Clarke, Social Services Supervisor
From: Mike Corelli
Subject: Change in Caseworker Meeting Date
This week's caseworker meeting has been changed from Tuesday to Thursday afternoon at 2:00 in room 381. Ms. Imperiale, the district director, will describe the state's new records retention policy.
Yet memorandums can also be used for a variety of other reasons, such as reports or messages of transmittal. Although usually internal communications, they sometimes do get sent to customers and clients outside of the organization when the matter being discussed is a commonplace one. Memorandums for external audiences and those dealing with other than everyday concerns can pose special problems in structure.
Business letters, of course, differ from memos in format. Because they are generally perceived as more formal than memorandums, letters are sometimes used within organizations for significant situations, such as commendations, promotions, reprimands, hirings, and firings. But, more importantly, they most often are external communication. You are less likely to know the reader as well as you would someone within your own organization, so concern about persona and audience becomes more conscious. Letters also serve more frequently than memos to handle situations that are not routine. Like memos, they can also confirm in writing arrangements and relationships originally established by personal meetings, telephone or e-mail.
Contexts themselves may vary widely; you'll need to consider both your own objectives and, when you can determine it, your reader's likely reaction. Ideally, these will be the same. If, for example, your message complains about a product or service, conveying your dissatisfaction to your reader could result in several outcomes. Simply stating your case may lead your reader to note the information, but do nothing further; his/her response may be neutral. Possibly, if several complaints like yours arrive, she/he may then act to remedy the problem you and the others mentioned.
You could, of course, choose other approaches. If instead your message conveys your anger or attacks the reader, sarcastically or otherwise, the result may be either defensiveness or anger on the part of the reader. "Telling them off" may make you feel better, but is unlikely to remedy the situation and may even cut off communication entirely. On the other hand, you could seek a specific remedy, such as a refund, repair, or a replacement--remedies which, if the product or service were defective, your reader might interpret as routine matters to be dealt with in the normal course of business. Thus, your choice of persona and sense of context can help you to determine reader behavior and to obtain the feedback you want.
For these reasons, different structures have developed to handle many of the common letter and memorandum writing situations. These structures use familiar arranging strategies (deductive, inductive, and persuasive sequences) to deal with varying message contexts.
Routine and Positive Situations
A deductive (or direct) pattern, which begins with the message's main idea, is effective for situations in which you expect a positive reader response, either because you are conducting routine business or telling the reader something he or she wishes to hear. The deductive pattern works well, for example, when you are ordering something, asking for information, providing information, congratulating someone, or giving someone a positive response to a request or suggestion.
Since the business side of the message is your main concern in such writing, get to the point early--in the first paragraph. After you've stated your main idea, add any explanation or support needed to clarify that main idea. Then go on to further details, questions, or secondary concerns. Figure 2 illustrates an opening paragraph of a request organized in the direct pattern. {Some examples shown here will use the American date format of month/date/year.)
Figure 2. Routine Request.
Please cancel my subscription to Human Services Quarterly as of July 1. I would appreciate your sending the refund check to my home address, 2430 Center Street, Pine Hill, TX 75118.
Positive replies, like inquiries, should generally be organized by direct structure. Incidentally, although the opening of a reply may allude indirectly to the message being answered, starting out with comments such as "we have received your letter of June 7" tends to waste the impact of the potentially emphatic opening position. Such openings make sense only if you are unable to actually answer the request for some time and wish to at least assure your reader that he/she is not simply being ignored. Letters of this type should, if possible, go on to indicate approximately when the reader can expect an answer. Figure 3 illustrates a typical opening for a positive reply.
Figure 3. Positive Reply.
As you requested, your subscription to Human Services Quarterly has been canceled as of July 1. Your refund check for $36.00 will be sent to you by our subscription center within two weeks. [The letter might go on with promotional or good-will material.]
A variety of other situations can also be handled as routine or positive. An apology for an error, for example, because it is intended to make the reader feel better about whatever has happened, may be perceived in this way. Obviously, if the problem can be fixed, that’s the thing to do. But if there’s no solution (for example, a missed appointment), sometimes it’s best simply to first apologize, then explain what happened, and finally take steps to restore a normal business relationship. Above all, having apologized at the start, don’t repeat the apology at the end; once the message becomes positive, it should stay positive. A letter of resignation, if it is expected and follows earlier discussions of your intentions, may also be viewed as routine, but if unexpected, may generate a negative context. Thus, your awareness of context can affect the way you choose to structure your messages.
Negative Situations
When you expect resistance from your reader or have bad news to tell him or her, use an inductive (also called indirect or delayed) structure to prepare your reader for the negative information. The overall pacing of disappointing or negative messages tends to be more gradual than that of messages in direct structure; in this way, they can better manage emotional as well as business or intellectual responses. You might, for example, have to announce something the reader will dislike, such as a rent increase or a coming layoff. You may have to refuse a request or an adjustment. Or you may be able to offer only part of what the reader wants. Figure 4 illustrates typical opening material for a negative reply.
Figure 4. Negative Reply.
As you requested, the balance of your subscription has been canceled as of July 1. Refunds for unused portions of subscriptions are pro-rated based upon the number of issues remaining. Because you have already received four issues, you will be receiving a check within the next two weeks from our subscription service center for $24.00, the unused balance. [The letter would then go on to a good will closing, possibly including promotional or resale material.]
In this structure, you do not get to the main business point immediately. Instead, you first attempt to create an open communication climate and prepare your reader for the message's emotional impact by building a brief "buffer" of neutral or positive elements that will eventually lead to the main idea. The buffer, because it prepares your reader for that business point, should have some relation to the eventual topic, or the device will simply waste your reader's time, but the buffer should not signal either a "yes" or a "no."
Follow the buffer with an explanation in language that again does not signal an immediate "no." Avoid tell-tale signs of bad news such as beginning the second paragraph with "however" or "but." Be sure that this explanation precedes the refusal or the bad news; you owe the courtesy of such an explanation to your reader, who might ignore it if the negative material came first. Sometimes, in fact, an appropriate explanation can suggest or pave the way for discussion of alternatives that might accomplish much of what the reader originally wanted.
If you do a good job of explaining, in some situations you may not actually need to come right out and say "no." So long as you are clear about it and avoid misleading your reader, an implicit refusal may be all that you need include. For example, telling readers what they may do sometimes makes quite apparent what they may not do. Under most circumstances, a statement that all accountants will be needed for special audits 7-12 June, but that all other days in June remain available for vacations removes the need explicitly to deny a request for vacation days on 8-10 . Then you can go on with the task of reestablishing a cooperative spirit of "business as usual" and concern for your reader by message's end.
Effective negative messages, in short, downplay the negative. They provide a clear explanation for the bad news and avoid hiding behind "company policy." They use positive, not negative, language where possible. Instead of saying "I can't speak at your meeting on March 3," for example, a letter might explain, "I will be in Buffalo on March 3." Finally, effective negative messages de-emphasize the negative by putting the main idea in the middle of the message, by placing the negative information in a subordinate clause, and by ending on a positive note.
Of course, negative or disappointing news can be presented in a direct pattern; certain readers in certain circumstances will perceive this apparently negative information routine. Thus, not having an order arrive because the original order request contained insufficient information can easily become a routine request for that information; a second notice for a monthly payment may be simply a duplicate bill with "second notice" or "reminder" stamped at the top of the page. Be careful, however, that your reader, not simply you yourself, will react routinely. You may prefer getting bad news before you get an explanation, but letting this preference guide message construction can result in your sending a message that is writer, not reader, oriented.
Persuasive Situations
Messages that attempt to convince someone are another kind of communication often best served by inductive organizational patterns. Sales letters, memos trying to convince someone to adopt a policy or point of view, reports calling for action by the reader, and letters of application for employment are a few examples of such messages. Figure 5 illustrates the opening of a persuasive sales message.
Figure 5. Persuasive Message.
As a concerned professional, you realize the importance of staying current with the latest developments in the rapidly changing human services field. And you probably know that reading Human Services Quarterly enables over 10,000 of your colleagues to maintain that "up-to-date" edge as leaders in their profession.
Now you can join this well-informed group and enjoy a 20% saving over Human Services Quarterly's usual rates. [The rest of the message might show benefits of subscribing and then ask the reader to act be signing and returning a subscription card. Although the letter could ask for a check, it might simply call for a commitment thus: "No need to pay now. Just sign and return the card. We'll bill you later."]
Persuasive messages pose a special problem because very often your reader won't expect them and may therefore have no particular interest in what you have to say. In other cases, you will need to overcome different kinds of resistance to get the reader to act as you want or to change his or her mind. A special kind of delayed approach can sometimes succeed in such situations.
To remember this approach, think of the words "AIDA" (for "attention-interest-desire-action") or "AICA" (for "attention- interest-conviction-action). Begin by getting the reader's attention; very often, all you need to do is picture a reader benefit. Then, build your reader's interest in reading what you have to say by using details. Next, create a desire in the reader to buy what you're selling, do what you're requesting, or accept the idea you're suggesting. Last, ask for the action you want on the part of the reader. As with negative situations, moving readers through persuasive messages may require more deliberate pacing than that of the usual direct structure message. Take your reader through these stages gradually, and you improve your chances of getting the response you want.
Obviously, these patterns represent only general strategies, and exceptions will always exist. For instance, the writer of a fifth notice for an unpaid bill will probably spend little time on maintaining customer good will through a buffer, and promotional material sent to someone who has requested the information in the first place will not need to use an extended "attention" opening. Further, some messages will involve more than a single type of situation. For such messages, you will need to decide on your primary purpose (perhaps, for example, a persuasive approach to a combined persuasive-negative message) and emphasize that goal.
Reports
Reports vary widely in content, formality, function, length, and methods of preparation, but all have a common goal: the transmission of information, often information which specifically has been requested. Sometimes, but not always, that information may be accompanied by commentary or informed opinion.
Characteristics of Reports
Some reports, called "periodic reports," appear at regular intervals. The weekly progress report on a research project and the monthly admissions report for a college are typical examples. Other reports are generated in response to a situation; each time the particular situation occurs (for example, an accident or an arrest), a report follows. A third kind of report, the "special report," is usually a one-time job. A report to a manager comparing three possible microcomputers the company might consider purchasing would be one type of special report.
Reports also differ according to what they do with the information they contain. An "informational" report simply presents data or facts without further comment. The college admissions report that lists numbers of representatives' visits to different states and the number of applications from those states would be an informational report. "Interpretive" reports add explanatory remarks, but not opinion. An interpretive admissions report might point out that "15% of the representatives' visits are to schools in the Middle Atlantic region, but 40% of our applicants come from this area." An analytic report (or recommendation) adds opinion to interpretation: "I suggest that we cut representatives' time in the Midwest and Southeast so that they can spend more time in the Middle Atlantic area."
The tone of reports tends to be objective. Some reports, indeed, are simply entered into standard forms. Reports are sometimes done as memos and letters, but frequently, unlike letters and memos, reports do follow certain specified patterns often required by employers. Many reports, for reasons of readability and clarity, are divided into sections and use different levels of headings for the different portions. When reports are presented in a letter or memorandum format, headings are sometimes not used, but the topic sentences of different sections can provide a function similar to that of the headings.
Some long formal reports appear in formats that resemble those of books, complete with covers, title pages, and tables of contents. But, regardless of their complexity or simplicity, reports seek to present information in a clear, efficient manner; the various characteristics of reports are simply means to this end.
Graphics and Other Aids to Report Clarity
Lists and enumerations are common organizing devices used to present parts of reports. Charts, graphs, tables, and other graphic aids can clarify abstract and numerical concepts in reports; they can be prepared by hand, using compasses, protractors, rulers, and other simple tools, or they can be constructed through various photocopying and computer applications.
Most graphic aids share certain characteristics. Graphics used within a report typically have titles which clearly announce their topics, are identified by figure numbers, and frequently indicate the sources of their information. Tables simply put lists of figures into readable formats. Pie charts work well to show how an entire quantity is divided into its various parts (e.g., a breakdown of where a tax dollar goes). Bar graphs are effective for comparing quantities (for example, the number of clients served last year by five different groups of caseworkers), and line graphs are most effective for displaying numbers (such as interest rates) that change over a period time. Flow charts, maps, photographs, and cutaway diagrams are just a few other types of graphic aids that can help clarify reports and proposals.
Presentation programs, such as PowerPoint, can provide an effective means of showing graphics and key ideas for oral reports, and programs of this sort also allow you to incorporate video and sound into your report. However, some presenters tend to simply put an entire presentation into the program and then read aloud, word-for-word, what’s already printed on the slide—a sure way to weaken the presentation and bore the audience.
One simple and relatively low-tech tool in giving oral presentations, the overhead projector, allows you to put graphics (or, for that matter, some key ideas from your notes) onto transparencies and then to project the images from those transparencies onto a screen. It’s also possible to make transparencies of PowerPoint slides as a back-up in case computer problems arise. The transparencies guide you in your presentation, distract less than note cards, and help your audience. The overhead projector is easy to use. Simply place each transparency on a glass plate located over a light source, position the transparency so that you can read it just as if you were reading from a sheet of paper, focus the image (being careful not to block your readers' view of the screen), and speak (resisting the urge to read the transparencies word by word to your audience). You can also, with special equipment, use the overhead projector to project video and computer screen images if computer projection equipment is unavailable.
Proposals and Special Message Types
Proposals are a special kind of persuasive writing. They suggest changes and actions and attempt to convince their readers to follow these suggestions. The characteristics of effect tive persuasive writing are thus important considerations for the writer of a proposal. They often appear in a report format, but can also be presented as letters or memorandums. Typically, proposals suggest ways to solve a problem which exists, to improve a policy or procedure, to answer a question, or to present a benefit from a particular product or service.
They may have been requested, as in the case of a supervisor asking an expert on his staff to propose a new method of accounting for petty cash or a company replying to a "request for proposal" (RFP) from a government agency in hopes of obtaining a contract. Proposals of this sort are termed "solicited proposals." Other proposals (called "unsolicited proposals") are developed at the writer's own initiative in hopes of persuading the reader to act or to accept the proposal's ideas. A sales proposal or a proposal to a university dean advocating changes in campus parking regulations are examples of unsolicited proposals.
While the specific content of proposals will vary, they almost all discuss something happening over a period of time. In other words, most proposals include narration as well as persuasion. For this reason, much of the content of a proposal can be developed in a preparing stage based on the journalistic "5 W's and H" approach. Typical concerns might include the following:
Why should changes be made?
Why is the change an improvement over what exists now?
What problem needs solving?
What needs to be done to solve it?
What specific changes are involved?
What equipment and personnel will be needed?
Who will be in charge of making these changes?
When will work begin and end?
Where will the changes happen?
How, exactly, do you plan to make these changes?
How much will the changes cost?
How will the changes be financed?
Organization of proposals varies with the specific circumstances and with the arranging strategy you wish to use. But most effective proposals move quickly at the beginning, giving an overview of the problem and the solution without providing specific technical details. This opening is then followed by a more detailed discussion in which you may consider the nature of the problem more precisely, explain what you plan to do to solve the problem, and specify exactly how you plan to accomplish the work you propose to do. A concluding section might establish your qualifications to do the work (if this information seems appropriate), point out the reader benefits that will follow, and encourage action, which may simply mean approval of the proposed project. Headings, subheadings, enumerations, and graphics can help guide readers through proposals as they do for reports, and, like reports, proposals can appear in a variety of formats.
Many other types of professional messages share some of these characteristics with reports and proposals; adaptability and effective use of aids to readability make such documents accessible to multiple audiences with widely diverse backgrounds. Policies and procedures, for example, spell out what to do and how to do it in a variety of workplace situations; sick leave policies, chains of command, equal opportunity statements, safety bulletins, and grievance procedures are just a few examples of such documents. Bulletins and announcements are internal documents that, like many reports, are primarily informational; even more than reports, however, these messages reach audiences with disparate backgrounds within the organization. In contrast, press releases and news bulletins convey information to the general public; not only must they be clear to a wide range of readers, but they need to convey the most important information (the "5 W's and H" again) early. While these community and public information documents frequently disseminate information that is routine or persuasive (in sales situations), they can also be the primary means of defusing corporate crises. Clear reporting can make the difference.
Regardless of how letters, memos, reports, and proposals are developed and organized, take time to go through the steps of the PASS method in writing such messages. While formats and structures matter, the quality of your writing makes the biggest difference in the impact that writing will have upon its readers. The writing you do on the job can accomplish its goals more effectively as a result of your concern about and work with those skills.
This material is adapted from Gerald Siegel, Business and Professional Writing: A Guide to the Process, 2nd ed. Dubuque, IA: Kendall-Hunt, 1994.
Using a process approach to writing (conscious steps of preparing, arranging, saying, and shaping) can help you make more efficient use of your time in a wide range of business and professional communication situations. Among the most common message types you may be writing will be the memorandum, the letter, the report, and the proposal. While all these kinds of documents should be marked by effective writing, each type also has certain characteristics of its own. This description looks briefly at traditional versions of these structural and stylistic attributes.
Memorandums and Letters
Preparing memorandums (or memoranda) will probably be one of the most frequent on-the-job tasks you will face. Memos are usually brief documents dealing with routine matters, and they normally remain within an organization. Most often informal documents, memorandums can be as simple as a completed form or as extensive as a policy statement on how to appeal personnel actions. Frequently a memorandum will get read by several audiences, a point to consider in deciding what to say and how to say it. A brief memorandum like that shown in figure 1 may begin as a message (sent either in writing or as e-mail) from one individual to another, but soon become widely disseminated. This particular memo, for example, may be copied by its immediate audience (here, Willa Clarke), attached to a cover memo (here, possibly one saying that this week's caseworker meeting date is changed), and either sent to every person in an entire division or posted on the division's bulletin board. Other types of memorandums may be placed in a file and used weeks or months later by individuals unknown to either the original sender or addressee. (This memo uses an American format for the date; other examples in the chapter will use the international format of date/month/year, Sometimes memos will use a briefer format, but that can confuse: the date in the example could be shown as 6/16/10 in an American document, but 16.6.10 in an international format. Common sense can clarify this entry, but a date such as April 6 or 6 April is obviously clearer when written out.)
Figure 1. Routine Memorandum.
Date: June 16, 20xx
To: Willa Clarke, Social Services Supervisor
From: Mike Corelli
Subject: Change in Caseworker Meeting Date
This week's caseworker meeting has been changed from Tuesday to Thursday afternoon at 2:00 in room 381. Ms. Imperiale, the district director, will describe the state's new records retention policy.
Yet memorandums can also be used for a variety of other reasons, such as reports or messages of transmittal. Although usually internal communications, they sometimes do get sent to customers and clients outside of the organization when the matter being discussed is a commonplace one. Memorandums for external audiences and those dealing with other than everyday concerns can pose special problems in structure.
Business letters, of course, differ from memos in format. Because they are generally perceived as more formal than memorandums, letters are sometimes used within organizations for significant situations, such as commendations, promotions, reprimands, hirings, and firings. But, more importantly, they most often are external communication. You are less likely to know the reader as well as you would someone within your own organization, so concern about persona and audience becomes more conscious. Letters also serve more frequently than memos to handle situations that are not routine. Like memos, they can also confirm in writing arrangements and relationships originally established by personal meetings, telephone or e-mail.
Contexts themselves may vary widely; you'll need to consider both your own objectives and, when you can determine it, your reader's likely reaction. Ideally, these will be the same. If, for example, your message complains about a product or service, conveying your dissatisfaction to your reader could result in several outcomes. Simply stating your case may lead your reader to note the information, but do nothing further; his/her response may be neutral. Possibly, if several complaints like yours arrive, she/he may then act to remedy the problem you and the others mentioned.
You could, of course, choose other approaches. If instead your message conveys your anger or attacks the reader, sarcastically or otherwise, the result may be either defensiveness or anger on the part of the reader. "Telling them off" may make you feel better, but is unlikely to remedy the situation and may even cut off communication entirely. On the other hand, you could seek a specific remedy, such as a refund, repair, or a replacement--remedies which, if the product or service were defective, your reader might interpret as routine matters to be dealt with in the normal course of business. Thus, your choice of persona and sense of context can help you to determine reader behavior and to obtain the feedback you want.
For these reasons, different structures have developed to handle many of the common letter and memorandum writing situations. These structures use familiar arranging strategies (deductive, inductive, and persuasive sequences) to deal with varying message contexts.
Routine and Positive Situations
A deductive (or direct) pattern, which begins with the message's main idea, is effective for situations in which you expect a positive reader response, either because you are conducting routine business or telling the reader something he or she wishes to hear. The deductive pattern works well, for example, when you are ordering something, asking for information, providing information, congratulating someone, or giving someone a positive response to a request or suggestion.
Since the business side of the message is your main concern in such writing, get to the point early--in the first paragraph. After you've stated your main idea, add any explanation or support needed to clarify that main idea. Then go on to further details, questions, or secondary concerns. Figure 2 illustrates an opening paragraph of a request organized in the direct pattern. {Some examples shown here will use the American date format of month/date/year.)
Figure 2. Routine Request.
Please cancel my subscription to Human Services Quarterly as of July 1. I would appreciate your sending the refund check to my home address, 2430 Center Street, Pine Hill, TX 75118.
Positive replies, like inquiries, should generally be organized by direct structure. Incidentally, although the opening of a reply may allude indirectly to the message being answered, starting out with comments such as "we have received your letter of June 7" tends to waste the impact of the potentially emphatic opening position. Such openings make sense only if you are unable to actually answer the request for some time and wish to at least assure your reader that he/she is not simply being ignored. Letters of this type should, if possible, go on to indicate approximately when the reader can expect an answer. Figure 3 illustrates a typical opening for a positive reply.
Figure 3. Positive Reply.
As you requested, your subscription to Human Services Quarterly has been canceled as of July 1. Your refund check for $36.00 will be sent to you by our subscription center within two weeks. [The letter might go on with promotional or good-will material.]
A variety of other situations can also be handled as routine or positive. An apology for an error, for example, because it is intended to make the reader feel better about whatever has happened, may be perceived in this way. Obviously, if the problem can be fixed, that’s the thing to do. But if there’s no solution (for example, a missed appointment), sometimes it’s best simply to first apologize, then explain what happened, and finally take steps to restore a normal business relationship. Above all, having apologized at the start, don’t repeat the apology at the end; once the message becomes positive, it should stay positive. A letter of resignation, if it is expected and follows earlier discussions of your intentions, may also be viewed as routine, but if unexpected, may generate a negative context. Thus, your awareness of context can affect the way you choose to structure your messages.
Negative Situations
When you expect resistance from your reader or have bad news to tell him or her, use an inductive (also called indirect or delayed) structure to prepare your reader for the negative information. The overall pacing of disappointing or negative messages tends to be more gradual than that of messages in direct structure; in this way, they can better manage emotional as well as business or intellectual responses. You might, for example, have to announce something the reader will dislike, such as a rent increase or a coming layoff. You may have to refuse a request or an adjustment. Or you may be able to offer only part of what the reader wants. Figure 4 illustrates typical opening material for a negative reply.
Figure 4. Negative Reply.
As you requested, the balance of your subscription has been canceled as of July 1. Refunds for unused portions of subscriptions are pro-rated based upon the number of issues remaining. Because you have already received four issues, you will be receiving a check within the next two weeks from our subscription service center for $24.00, the unused balance. [The letter would then go on to a good will closing, possibly including promotional or resale material.]
In this structure, you do not get to the main business point immediately. Instead, you first attempt to create an open communication climate and prepare your reader for the message's emotional impact by building a brief "buffer" of neutral or positive elements that will eventually lead to the main idea. The buffer, because it prepares your reader for that business point, should have some relation to the eventual topic, or the device will simply waste your reader's time, but the buffer should not signal either a "yes" or a "no."
Follow the buffer with an explanation in language that again does not signal an immediate "no." Avoid tell-tale signs of bad news such as beginning the second paragraph with "however" or "but." Be sure that this explanation precedes the refusal or the bad news; you owe the courtesy of such an explanation to your reader, who might ignore it if the negative material came first. Sometimes, in fact, an appropriate explanation can suggest or pave the way for discussion of alternatives that might accomplish much of what the reader originally wanted.
If you do a good job of explaining, in some situations you may not actually need to come right out and say "no." So long as you are clear about it and avoid misleading your reader, an implicit refusal may be all that you need include. For example, telling readers what they may do sometimes makes quite apparent what they may not do. Under most circumstances, a statement that all accountants will be needed for special audits 7-12 June, but that all other days in June remain available for vacations removes the need explicitly to deny a request for vacation days on 8-10 . Then you can go on with the task of reestablishing a cooperative spirit of "business as usual" and concern for your reader by message's end.
Effective negative messages, in short, downplay the negative. They provide a clear explanation for the bad news and avoid hiding behind "company policy." They use positive, not negative, language where possible. Instead of saying "I can't speak at your meeting on March 3," for example, a letter might explain, "I will be in Buffalo on March 3." Finally, effective negative messages de-emphasize the negative by putting the main idea in the middle of the message, by placing the negative information in a subordinate clause, and by ending on a positive note.
Of course, negative or disappointing news can be presented in a direct pattern; certain readers in certain circumstances will perceive this apparently negative information routine. Thus, not having an order arrive because the original order request contained insufficient information can easily become a routine request for that information; a second notice for a monthly payment may be simply a duplicate bill with "second notice" or "reminder" stamped at the top of the page. Be careful, however, that your reader, not simply you yourself, will react routinely. You may prefer getting bad news before you get an explanation, but letting this preference guide message construction can result in your sending a message that is writer, not reader, oriented.
Persuasive Situations
Messages that attempt to convince someone are another kind of communication often best served by inductive organizational patterns. Sales letters, memos trying to convince someone to adopt a policy or point of view, reports calling for action by the reader, and letters of application for employment are a few examples of such messages. Figure 5 illustrates the opening of a persuasive sales message.
Figure 5. Persuasive Message.
As a concerned professional, you realize the importance of staying current with the latest developments in the rapidly changing human services field. And you probably know that reading Human Services Quarterly enables over 10,000 of your colleagues to maintain that "up-to-date" edge as leaders in their profession.
Now you can join this well-informed group and enjoy a 20% saving over Human Services Quarterly's usual rates. [The rest of the message might show benefits of subscribing and then ask the reader to act be signing and returning a subscription card. Although the letter could ask for a check, it might simply call for a commitment thus: "No need to pay now. Just sign and return the card. We'll bill you later."]
Persuasive messages pose a special problem because very often your reader won't expect them and may therefore have no particular interest in what you have to say. In other cases, you will need to overcome different kinds of resistance to get the reader to act as you want or to change his or her mind. A special kind of delayed approach can sometimes succeed in such situations.
To remember this approach, think of the words "AIDA" (for "attention-interest-desire-action") or "AICA" (for "attention- interest-conviction-action). Begin by getting the reader's attention; very often, all you need to do is picture a reader benefit. Then, build your reader's interest in reading what you have to say by using details. Next, create a desire in the reader to buy what you're selling, do what you're requesting, or accept the idea you're suggesting. Last, ask for the action you want on the part of the reader. As with negative situations, moving readers through persuasive messages may require more deliberate pacing than that of the usual direct structure message. Take your reader through these stages gradually, and you improve your chances of getting the response you want.
Obviously, these patterns represent only general strategies, and exceptions will always exist. For instance, the writer of a fifth notice for an unpaid bill will probably spend little time on maintaining customer good will through a buffer, and promotional material sent to someone who has requested the information in the first place will not need to use an extended "attention" opening. Further, some messages will involve more than a single type of situation. For such messages, you will need to decide on your primary purpose (perhaps, for example, a persuasive approach to a combined persuasive-negative message) and emphasize that goal.
Reports
Reports vary widely in content, formality, function, length, and methods of preparation, but all have a common goal: the transmission of information, often information which specifically has been requested. Sometimes, but not always, that information may be accompanied by commentary or informed opinion.
Characteristics of Reports
Some reports, called "periodic reports," appear at regular intervals. The weekly progress report on a research project and the monthly admissions report for a college are typical examples. Other reports are generated in response to a situation; each time the particular situation occurs (for example, an accident or an arrest), a report follows. A third kind of report, the "special report," is usually a one-time job. A report to a manager comparing three possible microcomputers the company might consider purchasing would be one type of special report.
Reports also differ according to what they do with the information they contain. An "informational" report simply presents data or facts without further comment. The college admissions report that lists numbers of representatives' visits to different states and the number of applications from those states would be an informational report. "Interpretive" reports add explanatory remarks, but not opinion. An interpretive admissions report might point out that "15% of the representatives' visits are to schools in the Middle Atlantic region, but 40% of our applicants come from this area." An analytic report (or recommendation) adds opinion to interpretation: "I suggest that we cut representatives' time in the Midwest and Southeast so that they can spend more time in the Middle Atlantic area."
The tone of reports tends to be objective. Some reports, indeed, are simply entered into standard forms. Reports are sometimes done as memos and letters, but frequently, unlike letters and memos, reports do follow certain specified patterns often required by employers. Many reports, for reasons of readability and clarity, are divided into sections and use different levels of headings for the different portions. When reports are presented in a letter or memorandum format, headings are sometimes not used, but the topic sentences of different sections can provide a function similar to that of the headings.
Some long formal reports appear in formats that resemble those of books, complete with covers, title pages, and tables of contents. But, regardless of their complexity or simplicity, reports seek to present information in a clear, efficient manner; the various characteristics of reports are simply means to this end.
Graphics and Other Aids to Report Clarity
Lists and enumerations are common organizing devices used to present parts of reports. Charts, graphs, tables, and other graphic aids can clarify abstract and numerical concepts in reports; they can be prepared by hand, using compasses, protractors, rulers, and other simple tools, or they can be constructed through various photocopying and computer applications.
Most graphic aids share certain characteristics. Graphics used within a report typically have titles which clearly announce their topics, are identified by figure numbers, and frequently indicate the sources of their information. Tables simply put lists of figures into readable formats. Pie charts work well to show how an entire quantity is divided into its various parts (e.g., a breakdown of where a tax dollar goes). Bar graphs are effective for comparing quantities (for example, the number of clients served last year by five different groups of caseworkers), and line graphs are most effective for displaying numbers (such as interest rates) that change over a period time. Flow charts, maps, photographs, and cutaway diagrams are just a few other types of graphic aids that can help clarify reports and proposals.
Presentation programs, such as PowerPoint, can provide an effective means of showing graphics and key ideas for oral reports, and programs of this sort also allow you to incorporate video and sound into your report. However, some presenters tend to simply put an entire presentation into the program and then read aloud, word-for-word, what’s already printed on the slide—a sure way to weaken the presentation and bore the audience.
One simple and relatively low-tech tool in giving oral presentations, the overhead projector, allows you to put graphics (or, for that matter, some key ideas from your notes) onto transparencies and then to project the images from those transparencies onto a screen. It’s also possible to make transparencies of PowerPoint slides as a back-up in case computer problems arise. The transparencies guide you in your presentation, distract less than note cards, and help your audience. The overhead projector is easy to use. Simply place each transparency on a glass plate located over a light source, position the transparency so that you can read it just as if you were reading from a sheet of paper, focus the image (being careful not to block your readers' view of the screen), and speak (resisting the urge to read the transparencies word by word to your audience). You can also, with special equipment, use the overhead projector to project video and computer screen images if computer projection equipment is unavailable.
Proposals and Special Message Types
Proposals are a special kind of persuasive writing. They suggest changes and actions and attempt to convince their readers to follow these suggestions. The characteristics of effect tive persuasive writing are thus important considerations for the writer of a proposal. They often appear in a report format, but can also be presented as letters or memorandums. Typically, proposals suggest ways to solve a problem which exists, to improve a policy or procedure, to answer a question, or to present a benefit from a particular product or service.
They may have been requested, as in the case of a supervisor asking an expert on his staff to propose a new method of accounting for petty cash or a company replying to a "request for proposal" (RFP) from a government agency in hopes of obtaining a contract. Proposals of this sort are termed "solicited proposals." Other proposals (called "unsolicited proposals") are developed at the writer's own initiative in hopes of persuading the reader to act or to accept the proposal's ideas. A sales proposal or a proposal to a university dean advocating changes in campus parking regulations are examples of unsolicited proposals.
While the specific content of proposals will vary, they almost all discuss something happening over a period of time. In other words, most proposals include narration as well as persuasion. For this reason, much of the content of a proposal can be developed in a preparing stage based on the journalistic "5 W's and H" approach. Typical concerns might include the following:
Why should changes be made?
Why is the change an improvement over what exists now?
What problem needs solving?
What needs to be done to solve it?
What specific changes are involved?
What equipment and personnel will be needed?
Who will be in charge of making these changes?
When will work begin and end?
Where will the changes happen?
How, exactly, do you plan to make these changes?
How much will the changes cost?
How will the changes be financed?
Organization of proposals varies with the specific circumstances and with the arranging strategy you wish to use. But most effective proposals move quickly at the beginning, giving an overview of the problem and the solution without providing specific technical details. This opening is then followed by a more detailed discussion in which you may consider the nature of the problem more precisely, explain what you plan to do to solve the problem, and specify exactly how you plan to accomplish the work you propose to do. A concluding section might establish your qualifications to do the work (if this information seems appropriate), point out the reader benefits that will follow, and encourage action, which may simply mean approval of the proposed project. Headings, subheadings, enumerations, and graphics can help guide readers through proposals as they do for reports, and, like reports, proposals can appear in a variety of formats.
Many other types of professional messages share some of these characteristics with reports and proposals; adaptability and effective use of aids to readability make such documents accessible to multiple audiences with widely diverse backgrounds. Policies and procedures, for example, spell out what to do and how to do it in a variety of workplace situations; sick leave policies, chains of command, equal opportunity statements, safety bulletins, and grievance procedures are just a few examples of such documents. Bulletins and announcements are internal documents that, like many reports, are primarily informational; even more than reports, however, these messages reach audiences with disparate backgrounds within the organization. In contrast, press releases and news bulletins convey information to the general public; not only must they be clear to a wide range of readers, but they need to convey the most important information (the "5 W's and H" again) early. While these community and public information documents frequently disseminate information that is routine or persuasive (in sales situations), they can also be the primary means of defusing corporate crises. Clear reporting can make the difference.
Regardless of how letters, memos, reports, and proposals are developed and organized, take time to go through the steps of the PASS method in writing such messages. While formats and structures matter, the quality of your writing makes the biggest difference in the impact that writing will have upon its readers. The writing you do on the job can accomplish its goals more effectively as a result of your concern about and work with those skills.
This material is adapted from Gerald Siegel, Business and Professional Writing: A Guide to the Process, 2nd ed. Dubuque, IA: Kendall-Hunt, 1994.
Friday, April 30, 2010
American Literature Critical Essay #2 Updated
American Literature Critical Essay 2 (Updated 1 May 2010)
This assignment sheet contains added information about the second critical essay and the seminar paper. It has been updated as a result of discussion with students at the week 8 classes. Add this sheet to the original instructions or view the new combined version on the web site.
Special note on seminar papers: as I’ve mentioned elsewhere, either of these topic choices could also be turned into a possible seminar paper by expanding the topics (maybe more works, authors, or depth, such as a study of multiple Hughes or cummings poems—or those of another appropriate poet with whom you are familiar--as social criticism or a study of domestic and family conflict in multiple works by Hemingway and/or Faulkner or other writers of fiction). Unlike simple project papers, seminar papers do require use of the primary texts and at least 2-3 reputable research sources to support your generalization. You don’t have to do this topic if you choose to do a seminar paper; this is only a possible suggestion. Also, you don’t have to do your seminar paper with me. If you turn in a seminar paper, it will also be graded and scored as critical paper #2—you’re not required to do an added paper. Many other seminar topics are possible, of course.
Clearly label the paper you submit as to how you want it counted: Paper #2, Seminar Paper, or Both. Put this note right under your name. If you don’t label the paper, I will assume it is a paper #2 submission.
Deadlines: Paper #2 as shown on schedule (for printout) or 21 May (electronic submission). For Both or Seminar Paper, 11 May (printout) or 27 May (electronic submission). Any forms you need completed by me should be given to me at the American Literature colloquium or by appointment during earlier times when I am on campus. E-mail me to set up appointments, but remember that I am not on campus on an every day basis. I do expect to be on campus in Skopje on 3-4 and 10-11 May. I will be at Struga 13 May.
Specific situations:
3. If you plan to turn in project #2, but NOT a seminar paper.
• Just turn in the essay as shown on the schedule, in either print-out or electronic form.
• No research is required.
• The % average of your two papers will determine your project/assignment points.
4. If you plan to do a seminar paper AND project #2.
• Just turn in the seminar paper as explained above; it will count for both assignments. As a project, it gets graded; as a seminar paper, it’s evaluated pass/fail. (Warning: plagiarized papers fail.)
• Research as explained on the seminar paper handout is required. See section 4, below, for added topic choice information.
• Seminar papers must demonstrate at least limited command of the following skills: literary analysis; use of primary and secondary research; writing ability; English language use; producing a document of appropriate development and length (about 5-10 pages).
5. If you plan to do a seminar paper, but NOT project #2.
• Follow the instructions shown above in section 4.
• Research is required; must demonstrate the four skills; pass/fail (no grade).
6. Topic Information for seminar papers (See special note above.) Choose from four options.
• Develop your own expanded version of the topics of either critical essay, as described above.
• Begin with a study guide question from those I’ve provided— one that can be developed further into a seminar paper that demonstrates the skills listed in section 4, above.
• Choose any of the topic suggestions on the seminar paper guide sheet, and develop the paper from that starting point.
• If you wish, propose an alternative topic to me in a short written proposal that tells me the topic, explains exactly what you plan to do with that topic [for example, “the paper will show that ….”], and give citations for any primary sources and 3 or more of the specific secondary sources you have examined that you plan to use.
This assignment sheet contains added information about the second critical essay and the seminar paper. It has been updated as a result of discussion with students at the week 8 classes. Add this sheet to the original instructions or view the new combined version on the web site.
Special note on seminar papers: as I’ve mentioned elsewhere, either of these topic choices could also be turned into a possible seminar paper by expanding the topics (maybe more works, authors, or depth, such as a study of multiple Hughes or cummings poems—or those of another appropriate poet with whom you are familiar--as social criticism or a study of domestic and family conflict in multiple works by Hemingway and/or Faulkner or other writers of fiction). Unlike simple project papers, seminar papers do require use of the primary texts and at least 2-3 reputable research sources to support your generalization. You don’t have to do this topic if you choose to do a seminar paper; this is only a possible suggestion. Also, you don’t have to do your seminar paper with me. If you turn in a seminar paper, it will also be graded and scored as critical paper #2—you’re not required to do an added paper. Many other seminar topics are possible, of course.
Clearly label the paper you submit as to how you want it counted: Paper #2, Seminar Paper, or Both. Put this note right under your name. If you don’t label the paper, I will assume it is a paper #2 submission.
Deadlines: Paper #2 as shown on schedule (for printout) or 21 May (electronic submission). For Both or Seminar Paper, 11 May (printout) or 27 May (electronic submission). Any forms you need completed by me should be given to me at the American Literature colloquium or by appointment during earlier times when I am on campus. E-mail me to set up appointments, but remember that I am not on campus on an every day basis. I do expect to be on campus in Skopje on 3-4 and 10-11 May. I will be at Struga 13 May.
Specific situations:
3. If you plan to turn in project #2, but NOT a seminar paper.
• Just turn in the essay as shown on the schedule, in either print-out or electronic form.
• No research is required.
• The % average of your two papers will determine your project/assignment points.
4. If you plan to do a seminar paper AND project #2.
• Just turn in the seminar paper as explained above; it will count for both assignments. As a project, it gets graded; as a seminar paper, it’s evaluated pass/fail. (Warning: plagiarized papers fail.)
• Research as explained on the seminar paper handout is required. See section 4, below, for added topic choice information.
• Seminar papers must demonstrate at least limited command of the following skills: literary analysis; use of primary and secondary research; writing ability; English language use; producing a document of appropriate development and length (about 5-10 pages).
5. If you plan to do a seminar paper, but NOT project #2.
• Follow the instructions shown above in section 4.
• Research is required; must demonstrate the four skills; pass/fail (no grade).
6. Topic Information for seminar papers (See special note above.) Choose from four options.
• Develop your own expanded version of the topics of either critical essay, as described above.
• Begin with a study guide question from those I’ve provided— one that can be developed further into a seminar paper that demonstrates the skills listed in section 4, above.
• Choose any of the topic suggestions on the seminar paper guide sheet, and develop the paper from that starting point.
• If you wish, propose an alternative topic to me in a short written proposal that tells me the topic, explains exactly what you plan to do with that topic [for example, “the paper will show that ….”], and give citations for any primary sources and 3 or more of the specific secondary sources you have examined that you plan to use.
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Writing Process Overview
Writing Process Overview
Approaching writing as a process can avoid many of these problems, and many introductory writing courses have taken such an approach to writing. In them, students invent, organize, and write over an extended period, moving back and forth through different stages of the process. Eventually, after a series of revisions, a final draft emerges. While this approach to writing may take time, certain elements can work for writers in business, education, human services, literary studies, and many other professions.
The notion of writing as process can work for many writing contexts. Although these comments are intended for use with the English language and American and Western European cultures, the principles can be applied for written tasks in other languages as well.
Much workplace and academic writing involves completing some sort of communication transaction, often within a limited time span. The job to be completed may be routine—interpreting a literary text, examining the impact of a writer’s life with that writer’s fiction, completing a pre-sentencing investigation, bidding for a contract, describing the diagnoses of patients in a hospital, answering a customer inquiry about an order. Often, even if the specific situation isn't one you've encountered before, simple literary analysis , using information gained in class and lectures, or on-the-job experience will provide all the necessary background.
Evidence suggests that, faced with the realities of such academic or workplace communication, effective writers move through a linear sequence rather than through the series of communication "loops" often associated with the writing process. But these writers do go through a clear writing process, and they characteristically spend more time on the other stages of that writing process than they spend generating the actual draft that others will see.
Most writers may go through the same operations. But the successful ones control that sequence. As a result, written communication becomes less threatening, and the messages produced do the job the first time. Awareness of what happens during the process of writing can help lead to that control.
The PASS System for Writing
The characteristic stages of writing involve four major activities:
Preparing to convey information
Arranging your ideas so that a reader can follow them
Saying what you wish in conventional written prose
Shaping that prose for clarity, correctness, and effect
The acronym PASS provides a convenient reminder of these stages of the writing process (described in table 1). Remembering the four stages and consciously working with each separately can make writing easier and more productive than trying to generate a completed written product in a single (often overwhelming) operation.
TABLE 1: STAGES OF THE PASS SYSTEM
PREPARING
Think through situation read texts carefully
Respond/react to message received or the writing task; read texts carefully
Review previous similar situations on file
Decide upon purpose/goals
Decide on persona/audience
Assess difficulty of communication situation
Match preparation to time available
Use formal invention strategies
Decide if you need to do research; if necessary, do that research (primary/secondary)
ARRANGING
Sequence
Consider familiar strategies (including files)
Group/cluster ideas
Organize from lists; try informal strategies like numbering the order of the ideas in the lists
Develop trees, grids, organizing diagrams, etc.
Outline
Develop subtopics, support
Select/delete the information you’ll use.
SAYING
Produce drafts
Refine/revise drafts
Add/delete material
Check content against goals
Develop graphics, documentation
SHAPING
Revise paragraphs
Revise sentences
Revise for appropriate style
Revise for appropriate tone
Revise for suitable diction and syntax
Edit for correctness, grammar, mechanics, and usage, and correct translation aspects
Edit for conciseness
Proofread
Adopt appropriate formats
Meet any special requirements (e.g., seminar paper policies and research practices)
Movement back and forth between the different stages--especially adjacent ones--characterizes much writing. Still, evidence suggests that writers in business and the professions tend to complete one stage at a time. If a piece of writing involves several sections, of course, each section can go through the stages of the process separately. During the final shaping, the entire message or report emerges. At this point, various features of word processing programs (such as the red and green underlines of Microsoft Word) can alert you to possible problems.
Each stage also involves a variety of specific operations. A controlled composing process includes using these operations in any number of sequences within a given stage of the writing process. Different people use different operations within each stage. As you become a more confident writer, you may decide to modify the approaches suggested in table 1 to reflect your own writing habits. If you encounter a problem as you go through the writing process, very often you can move back to the previous stage and find a step that will solve the problem without your having to rewrite the entire document.
Since the specific concerns are smaller with a process approach, writing becomes less formidable. Separating invention and thinking about the writing task, then organizing those ideas, next writing a draft, and then finally revising the draft and doing needed proofreading allows you to control the writing process. In some cases, you may find that adding headings can clarify organization or that analysis and careful reading may make research unnecessary. For all but the simplest tasks, approaching writing as a process can save needless work and generate a document—the product of this process—that does its job effectively.
Approaching writing as a process can avoid many of these problems, and many introductory writing courses have taken such an approach to writing. In them, students invent, organize, and write over an extended period, moving back and forth through different stages of the process. Eventually, after a series of revisions, a final draft emerges. While this approach to writing may take time, certain elements can work for writers in business, education, human services, literary studies, and many other professions.
The notion of writing as process can work for many writing contexts. Although these comments are intended for use with the English language and American and Western European cultures, the principles can be applied for written tasks in other languages as well.
Much workplace and academic writing involves completing some sort of communication transaction, often within a limited time span. The job to be completed may be routine—interpreting a literary text, examining the impact of a writer’s life with that writer’s fiction, completing a pre-sentencing investigation, bidding for a contract, describing the diagnoses of patients in a hospital, answering a customer inquiry about an order. Often, even if the specific situation isn't one you've encountered before, simple literary analysis , using information gained in class and lectures, or on-the-job experience will provide all the necessary background.
Evidence suggests that, faced with the realities of such academic or workplace communication, effective writers move through a linear sequence rather than through the series of communication "loops" often associated with the writing process. But these writers do go through a clear writing process, and they characteristically spend more time on the other stages of that writing process than they spend generating the actual draft that others will see.
Most writers may go through the same operations. But the successful ones control that sequence. As a result, written communication becomes less threatening, and the messages produced do the job the first time. Awareness of what happens during the process of writing can help lead to that control.
The PASS System for Writing
The characteristic stages of writing involve four major activities:
Preparing to convey information
Arranging your ideas so that a reader can follow them
Saying what you wish in conventional written prose
Shaping that prose for clarity, correctness, and effect
The acronym PASS provides a convenient reminder of these stages of the writing process (described in table 1). Remembering the four stages and consciously working with each separately can make writing easier and more productive than trying to generate a completed written product in a single (often overwhelming) operation.
TABLE 1: STAGES OF THE PASS SYSTEM
PREPARING
Think through situation read texts carefully
Respond/react to message received or the writing task; read texts carefully
Review previous similar situations on file
Decide upon purpose/goals
Decide on persona/audience
Assess difficulty of communication situation
Match preparation to time available
Use formal invention strategies
Decide if you need to do research; if necessary, do that research (primary/secondary)
ARRANGING
Sequence
Consider familiar strategies (including files)
Group/cluster ideas
Organize from lists; try informal strategies like numbering the order of the ideas in the lists
Develop trees, grids, organizing diagrams, etc.
Outline
Develop subtopics, support
Select/delete the information you’ll use.
SAYING
Produce drafts
Refine/revise drafts
Add/delete material
Check content against goals
Develop graphics, documentation
SHAPING
Revise paragraphs
Revise sentences
Revise for appropriate style
Revise for appropriate tone
Revise for suitable diction and syntax
Edit for correctness, grammar, mechanics, and usage, and correct translation aspects
Edit for conciseness
Proofread
Adopt appropriate formats
Meet any special requirements (e.g., seminar paper policies and research practices)
Movement back and forth between the different stages--especially adjacent ones--characterizes much writing. Still, evidence suggests that writers in business and the professions tend to complete one stage at a time. If a piece of writing involves several sections, of course, each section can go through the stages of the process separately. During the final shaping, the entire message or report emerges. At this point, various features of word processing programs (such as the red and green underlines of Microsoft Word) can alert you to possible problems.
Each stage also involves a variety of specific operations. A controlled composing process includes using these operations in any number of sequences within a given stage of the writing process. Different people use different operations within each stage. As you become a more confident writer, you may decide to modify the approaches suggested in table 1 to reflect your own writing habits. If you encounter a problem as you go through the writing process, very often you can move back to the previous stage and find a step that will solve the problem without your having to rewrite the entire document.
Since the specific concerns are smaller with a process approach, writing becomes less formidable. Separating invention and thinking about the writing task, then organizing those ideas, next writing a draft, and then finally revising the draft and doing needed proofreading allows you to control the writing process. In some cases, you may find that adding headings can clarify organization or that analysis and careful reading may make research unnecessary. For all but the simplest tasks, approaching writing as a process can save needless work and generate a document—the product of this process—that does its job effectively.
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Peer Review of Reports and Proposals
Business Writing Short Report/ Proposal Draft Basic Peer Review
Draft written by (print): ____________________________________________________
Reviewed by (print): _____________________________________________ Date________
_____1. Format, appearance, and related elements: effective document design that is appropriate for the task; correctness, spacing, margins, documentation, headings [or topic sentences serving same function]; paragraphing; visual aids; parts of report; format appropriate to purpose.
_____2. Diction/syntax: correct use of idiomatic English and specialized business vocabulary; word choice; correct, effective sentences; coherence within paragraphs, appropriate to audience, suitable level of formality/register.
_____3. Correctness: editing and proofreading: grammar, mechanics, punctuation, spelling, usage.
_____4. Style: coherence between paragraphs and overall; conciseness; conversational yet professional style; reader sensitivity/appropriate tone; consistent tone; sense of audience; sense of context; courtesy; avoids belaboring the obvious; aids to readability (such as transitions).
_____5. Clarity: clear, effective organization that recognizes, but does not slavishly follow, organization of samples in task; unity--stresses relevant information and avoids irrelevancy; structure; completeness; contains all necessary parts/ documents; logical, thorough development of ideas; adapts general report and proposal concepts to the specific situation; support of generalizations.
_____6. General impression upon reader and overall response to draft: correct content--relevance to assigned task/topic; realistic, defensible handling of task problem; professionalism; maturity and originality of approach; value of content; appropriate level of development and length overall.
Additional suggestions and critique information should go below or on reverse side.
For each area, weight the skills thus: 5=Mastery of writing skills; outstanding and no problems; 4=Sound command of writing skills; very good; acceptable business quality; may have limited or minor problems that don’t affect meaning; 3=adequate writing skills; for teaching purposes, but not business quality; one or two major problems or a group of minor problems need further attention; 2=limited writing skills and competency, multiple problems and/or frequent minor problems; 1=minimal writing skills and competency, but attempts the skills listed; 0=weak writing skills; lacks competency in this area.
Last updated March 2010
Draft written by (print): ____________________________________________________
Reviewed by (print): _____________________________________________ Date________
_____1. Format, appearance, and related elements: effective document design that is appropriate for the task; correctness, spacing, margins, documentation, headings [or topic sentences serving same function]; paragraphing; visual aids; parts of report; format appropriate to purpose.
_____2. Diction/syntax: correct use of idiomatic English and specialized business vocabulary; word choice; correct, effective sentences; coherence within paragraphs, appropriate to audience, suitable level of formality/register.
_____3. Correctness: editing and proofreading: grammar, mechanics, punctuation, spelling, usage.
_____4. Style: coherence between paragraphs and overall; conciseness; conversational yet professional style; reader sensitivity/appropriate tone; consistent tone; sense of audience; sense of context; courtesy; avoids belaboring the obvious; aids to readability (such as transitions).
_____5. Clarity: clear, effective organization that recognizes, but does not slavishly follow, organization of samples in task; unity--stresses relevant information and avoids irrelevancy; structure; completeness; contains all necessary parts/ documents; logical, thorough development of ideas; adapts general report and proposal concepts to the specific situation; support of generalizations.
_____6. General impression upon reader and overall response to draft: correct content--relevance to assigned task/topic; realistic, defensible handling of task problem; professionalism; maturity and originality of approach; value of content; appropriate level of development and length overall.
Additional suggestions and critique information should go below or on reverse side.
For each area, weight the skills thus: 5=Mastery of writing skills; outstanding and no problems; 4=Sound command of writing skills; very good; acceptable business quality; may have limited or minor problems that don’t affect meaning; 3=adequate writing skills; for teaching purposes, but not business quality; one or two major problems or a group of minor problems need further attention; 2=limited writing skills and competency, multiple problems and/or frequent minor problems; 1=minimal writing skills and competency, but attempts the skills listed; 0=weak writing skills; lacks competency in this area.
Last updated March 2010
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Proposals
Proposals
Proposals are a special kind of persuasive writing. They suggest changes and actions and attempt to convince their readers to follow these suggestions. The characteristics of effect tive persuasive writing are thus important considerations for the writer of a proposal. They often appear in a report format, but can also be presented as letters or memorandums. Typically, proposals suggest ways to solve a problem which exists, to improve a policy or procedure, to answer a question, or to present a benefit from a particular product or service.
They may have been requested, as in the case of a supervisor asking an expert on his staff to propose a new method of accounting for petty cash or a company replying to a "request for proposal" (RFP) from a government agency in hopes of obtaining a contract. Proposals of this sort are termed "solicited proposals." Other proposals (called "unsolicited proposals") are developed at the writer's own initiative in hopes of persuading the reader to act or to accept the proposal's ideas. A sales proposal or a proposal to a university dean advocating changes in campus parking regulations are examples of unsolicited proposals.
While the specific content of proposals will vary, they almost all discuss something happening over a period of time. In other words, most proposals include narration as well as persuasion. For this reason, much of the content of a proposal can be developed in a preparing stage based on the journalistic "5 W's and H" approach.
Typical concerns might include the following:
Why should changes be made?
Why is the change an improvement over what exists now?
What problem needs solving?
What needs to be done to solve it?
What specific changes are involved?
What equipment and personnel will be needed?
Who will be in charge of making these changes?
When will work begin and end?
Where will the changes happen?
How, exactly, do you plan to make these changes?
How much will the changes cost?
How will the changes be financed?
Organization of proposals varies with the specific circumstances and with the arranging strategy you wish to use. But most effective proposals move quickly at the beginning, giving an overview of the problem and the solution without providing specific technical details. This opening is then followed by a more detailed discussion in which you may consider the nature of the problem more precisely, explain what you plan to do to solve the problem, and specify exactly how you plan to accomplish the work you propose to do. A concluding section might establish your qualifications to do the work (if this information seems appropriate), point out the reader benefits that will follow, and encourage action, which may simply mean approval of the proposed project. Headings, subheadings, enumerations, and graphics can help guide readers through proposals as they do for reports, and, like reports, proposals can appear in a variety of formats.
Proposals are a special kind of persuasive writing. They suggest changes and actions and attempt to convince their readers to follow these suggestions. The characteristics of effect tive persuasive writing are thus important considerations for the writer of a proposal. They often appear in a report format, but can also be presented as letters or memorandums. Typically, proposals suggest ways to solve a problem which exists, to improve a policy or procedure, to answer a question, or to present a benefit from a particular product or service.
They may have been requested, as in the case of a supervisor asking an expert on his staff to propose a new method of accounting for petty cash or a company replying to a "request for proposal" (RFP) from a government agency in hopes of obtaining a contract. Proposals of this sort are termed "solicited proposals." Other proposals (called "unsolicited proposals") are developed at the writer's own initiative in hopes of persuading the reader to act or to accept the proposal's ideas. A sales proposal or a proposal to a university dean advocating changes in campus parking regulations are examples of unsolicited proposals.
While the specific content of proposals will vary, they almost all discuss something happening over a period of time. In other words, most proposals include narration as well as persuasion. For this reason, much of the content of a proposal can be developed in a preparing stage based on the journalistic "5 W's and H" approach.
Typical concerns might include the following:
Why should changes be made?
Why is the change an improvement over what exists now?
What problem needs solving?
What needs to be done to solve it?
What specific changes are involved?
What equipment and personnel will be needed?
Who will be in charge of making these changes?
When will work begin and end?
Where will the changes happen?
How, exactly, do you plan to make these changes?
How much will the changes cost?
How will the changes be financed?
Organization of proposals varies with the specific circumstances and with the arranging strategy you wish to use. But most effective proposals move quickly at the beginning, giving an overview of the problem and the solution without providing specific technical details. This opening is then followed by a more detailed discussion in which you may consider the nature of the problem more precisely, explain what you plan to do to solve the problem, and specify exactly how you plan to accomplish the work you propose to do. A concluding section might establish your qualifications to do the work (if this information seems appropriate), point out the reader benefits that will follow, and encourage action, which may simply mean approval of the proposed project. Headings, subheadings, enumerations, and graphics can help guide readers through proposals as they do for reports, and, like reports, proposals can appear in a variety of formats.
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Data Form
Student Data and Contact Information Sheet
Please circle the appropriate response or PRINT answers in English, depending on the item.
Name___________________________________________ Date________________________
How to reach you: E-mail_______________________________________________
Circle course English Language A6 Business English A6 Business English A8
1. For how many years (including 2010) have you studied English?
2. What other countries have you lived in or visited for 5-29 days (less than a month)?
3. What other countries have you lived in or visited for 30 days or more (one month or longer)?
4. Have you formally studied English in an English-speaking country for 30 days or more? Yes No
5. Does any member of your household (including you) use English as a native speaker? Yes No
6 What computer and internet skills do you have? Circle all that apply.)
E-mail Web Browsing Blogging Social Networking Website Development
I have my own website (List URL below): None, but I know what a computer looks like
7. Do you have regular access to a computer for word processing? Yes No
8. Do you have regular access to a computer with broadband internet access? Yes No
9. List THREE things that you think I, as your teacher and as a visiting professor, should know about you.
Answer the following writing sample on a separate sheet of paper. BE SURE to put your name on the paper: (I won’t evaluate this for points, although I will note if you have done it in my class participation records.)
We talked at the first class session about what we might be able to accomplish by the end of this class, and I’ll consider your comments as a class when I plan my portion of this course for the rest of the semester. But I’d also like to know what you think as an individual. In a paragraph or so, tell me 1-3 things you would like to gain from this course by the end of the semester and explain your answer.
Please circle the appropriate response or PRINT answers in English, depending on the item.
Name___________________________________________ Date________________________
How to reach you: E-mail_______________________________________________
Circle course English Language A6 Business English A6 Business English A8
1. For how many years (including 2010) have you studied English?
2. What other countries have you lived in or visited for 5-29 days (less than a month)?
3. What other countries have you lived in or visited for 30 days or more (one month or longer)?
4. Have you formally studied English in an English-speaking country for 30 days or more? Yes No
5. Does any member of your household (including you) use English as a native speaker? Yes No
6 What computer and internet skills do you have? Circle all that apply.)
E-mail Web Browsing Blogging Social Networking Website Development
I have my own website (List URL below): None, but I know what a computer looks like
7. Do you have regular access to a computer for word processing? Yes No
8. Do you have regular access to a computer with broadband internet access? Yes No
9. List THREE things that you think I, as your teacher and as a visiting professor, should know about you.
Answer the following writing sample on a separate sheet of paper. BE SURE to put your name on the paper: (I won’t evaluate this for points, although I will note if you have done it in my class participation records.)
We talked at the first class session about what we might be able to accomplish by the end of this class, and I’ll consider your comments as a class when I plan my portion of this course for the rest of the semester. But I’d also like to know what you think as an individual. In a paragraph or so, tell me 1-3 things you would like to gain from this course by the end of the semester and explain your answer.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Business Writing Chapter
CHAPTER 6: APPLYING THE PROCESS: MEMOS, LETTERS, REPORTS, PROPOSALS*
The PASS approach to writing (preparing, arranging, saying, shaping) can help you make more efficient use of your time in a wide range of business and professional communication situations. Among the most common messages you will be writing using this system will be the memorandum, the letter, the report, and the proposal. While all these kinds of documents should be marked by effective writing, each type also has certain characteristics of its own. This chapter looks briefly at these structural and stylistic attributes.
Memorandums and Letters
Preparing memorandums (or memoranda) will probably be one of the most frequent on-the-job tasks you will face. Memos are usually brief documents dealing with routine matters, and they normally remain within an organization. Most often informal documents, memorandums can be as simple as a completed form or as extensive as a policy statement on how to appeal personnel actions. Frequently a memorandum will get read by several audiences, a point to consider in deciding what to say and how to say it. A brief memorandum like that shown in figure 6.1 may begin as a message (sent either in writing or as e-mail) from one individual to another, but soon become widely disseminated. This particular memo, for example, may be copied by its immediate audience (here, Willa Clarke), attached to a cover memo (here, possibly one saying that this week's caseworker meeting date is changed), and either sent to every person in an entire division or posted on the division's bulletin board. Other types of memorandums may be placed in a file and used weeks or months later by individuals unknown to either the original sender or addressee. (This memo uses an American format for the date; other examples in the chapter will use the international format of date/month/year, Sometimes memos will use a briefer format, but that can confuse: the date in the example could be shown as 6/16/10 in an American document, but 16.6.10 in an international format. Common sense can clarify this entry, but a date such as April 6 or 6 April is obviously clearer when written out.)
Figure 6.1. Routine Memorandum.
Date: June 16, 20xx
To: Willa Clarke, Social Services Supervisor
From: Mike Corelli
Subject: Change in Caseworker Meeting Date
This week's caseworker meeting has been changed from Tuesday to Thursday afternoon at 2:00 in room 381. Ms. Imperiale, the district director, will describe the state's new records retention policy.
Yet memorandums can also be used for a variety of other reasons, such as reports or messages of transmittal. Although usually internal communications, they sometimes do get sent to customers and clients outside of the organization when the matter being discussed is a commonplace one. Memorandums for external audiences and those dealing with other than everyday concerns can pose special problems in structure.
Business letters, of course, differ from memos in format. Because they are generally perceived as more formal than memorandums, letters are sometimes used within organizations for significant situations, such as commendations, promotions, reprimands, hirings, and firings. But, more importantly, they most often are external communication. You are less likely to know the reader as well as you would someone within your own organization, so concern about persona and audience becomes more conscious. Letters also serve more frequently than memos to handle situations that are not routine. Like memos, they can also confirm in writing arrangements and relationships originally established by personal meetings, telephone or e-mail.
Contexts themselves may vary widely; you'll need to consider both your own objectives and, when you can determine it, your reader's likely reaction. Ideally, these will be the same. If, for example, your message complains about a product or service, conveying your dissatisfaction to your reader could result in several outcomes. Simply stating your case may lead your reader to note the information, but do nothing further; his/her response may be neutral. Possibly, if several complaints like yours arrive, she/he may then act to remedy the problem you and the others mentioned.
You could, of course, choose other approaches. If instead your message conveys your anger or attacks the reader, sarcastically or otherwise, the result may be either defensiveness or anger on the part of the reader. "Telling them off" may make you feel better, but is unlikely to remedy the situation and may even cut off communication entirely. On the other hand, you could seek a specific remedy, such as a refund, repair, or a replacement--remedies which, if the product or service were defective, your reader might interpret as routine matters to be dealt with in the normal course of business. Thus, your choice of persona and sense of context can help you to determine reader behavior and to obtain the feedback you want.
For these reasons, different structures have developed to handle many of the common letter and memorandum writing situations. These structures use familiar arranging strategies (deductive, inductive, and persuasive sequences) to deal with varying message contexts.
Routine and Positive Situations
A deductive (or direct) pattern, which begins with the message's main idea, is effective for situations in which you expect a positive reader response, either because you are conducting routine business or telling the reader something he or she wishes to hear. The deductive pattern works well, for example, when you are ordering something, asking for information, providing information, congratulating someone, or giving someone a positive response to a request or suggestion.
Since the business side of the message is your main concern in such writing, get to the point early--in the first paragraph. After you've stated your main idea, add any explanation or support needed to clarify that main idea. Then go on to further details, questions, or secondary concerns. Figure 6.2 illustrates an opening paragraph of a request organized in the direct pattern. [Some examples will use the American date format of month/date/year.]
Figure 6.2. Routine Request.
Please cancel my subscription to Human Services Quarterly as of July 1. I would appreciate your sending the refund check to my home address, 2430 Center Street, Pine Hill, TX 75118.
Positive replies, like inquiries, should generally be organized by direct structure. Incidentally, although the opening of a reply may allude indirectly to the message being answered, starting out with comments such as "we have received your letter of June 7" tends to waste the impact of the potentially emphatic opening position. Such openings make sense only if you are unable to actually answer the request for some time and wish to at least assure your reader that he/she is not simply being ignored. Letters of this type should, if possible, go on to indicate approximately when the reader can expect an answer. Figure 6.3 illustrates a typical opening for a positive reply.
Figure 6.3. Positive Reply.
As you requested, your subscription to Human Services Quarterly has been canceled as of July 1. Your refund check for $36.00 will be sent to you by our subscription center within two weeks. [The letter might go on with promotional or good-will material.]
A variety of other situations can also be handled as routine or positive. An apology for an error, for example, because it is intended to make the reader feel better about whatever has happened, may be perceived in this way. A letter of resignation, if it is expected and follows earlier discussions of your intentions, may also be viewed as routine, but if unexpected, may generate a negative context. Thus, your awareness of context can affect the way you choose to structure your messages.
Negative Situations
When you expect resistance from your reader or have bad news to tell him or her, use an inductive (also called indirect or delayed) structure to prepare your reader for the negative information. The overall pacing of disappointing or negative messages tends to be more gradual than that of messages in direct structure; in this way, they can better manage emotional as well as business or intellectual responses. You might, for example, have to announce something the reader will dislike, such as a rent increase or a coming layoff. You may have to refuse a request or an adjustment. Or you may be able to offer only part of what the reader wants. Figure 6.4 illustrates typical opening material for a negative reply.
Figure 6.4. Negative Reply.
As you requested, the balance of your subscription has been canceled as of July 1. Refunds for unused portions of subscriptions are pro-rated based upon the number of issues remaining. Because you have already received four issues, you will be receiving a check within the next two weeks from our subscription service center for $24.00, the unused balance. [The letter would then go on to a good will closing, possibly including promotional or resale material.]
In this structure, you do not get to the main business point immediately. Instead, you first attempt to create an open communication climate and prepare your reader for the message's emotional impact by building a brief "buffer" of neutral or positive elements that will eventually lead to the main idea. The buffer, because it prepares your reader for that business point, should have some relation to the eventual topic, or the device will simply waste your reader's time, but the buffer should not signal either a "yes" or a "no."
Follow the buffer with an explanation in language that again does not signal an immediate "no." Avoid tell-tale signs of bad news such as beginning the second paragraph with "however" or "but." Be sure that this explanation precedes the refusal or the bad news; you owe the courtesy of such an explanation to your reader, who might ignore it if the negative material came first. Sometimes, in fact, an appropriate explanation can suggest or pave the way for discussion of alternatives that might accomplish much of what the reader originally wanted.
If you do a good job of explaining, in some situations you may not actually need to come right out and say "no." So long as you are clear about it and avoid misleading your reader, an implicit refusal may be all that you need include. For example, telling readers what they may do sometimes makes quite apparent what they may not do. Under most circumstances, a statement that all accountants will be needed for special audits 7-12 June, but that all other days in June remain available for vacations removes the need explicitly to deny a request for vacation days on 8-10 . Then you can go on with the task of reestablishing a cooperative spirit of "business as usual" and concern for your reader by message's end.
Effective negative messages, in short, downplay the negative. They provide a clear explanation for the bad news and avoid hiding behind "company policy." They use positive, not negative, language where possible. Instead of saying "I can't speak at your meeting on March 3," for example, a letter might explain, "I will be in Buffalo on March 3." Finally, effective negative messages de-emphasize the negative by putting the main idea in the middle of the message, by placing the negative information in a subordinate clause, and by ending on a positive note.
Of course, negative or disappointing news can be presented in a direct pattern; certain readers in certain circumstances will perceive this apparently negative information routine. Thus, not having an order arrive because the original order request contained insufficient information can easily become a routine request for that information; a second notice for a monthly payment may be simply a duplicate bill with "second notice" or "reminder" stamped at the top of the page. Be careful, however, that your reader, not simply you yourself, will react routinely. You may prefer getting bad news before you get an explanation, but letting this preference guide message construction can result in your sending a message that is writer, not reader, oriented.
Persuasive Situations
Messages that attempt to convince someone are another kind of communication often best served by inductive organizational patterns. Sales letters, memos trying to convince someone to adopt a policy or point of view, reports calling for action by the reader, and letters of application for employment are a few examples of such messages. Figure 6.5 illustrates the opening of a persuasive sales message.
Figure 6.5. Persuasive Message.
As a concerned professional, you realize the importance of staying current with the latest developments in the rapidly changing human services field. And you probably know that reading Human Services Quarterly enables over 10,000 of your colleagues to maintain that "up-to-date" edge as leaders in their profession.
Now you can join this well-informed group and enjoy a 20% saving over Human Services Quarterly's usual rates. [The rest of the message might show benefits of subscribing and then ask the reader to act be signing and returning a subscription card. Although the letter could ask for a check, it might simply call for a commitment thus: "No need to pay now. Just sign and return the card. We'll bill you later."]
Persuasive messages pose a special problem because very often your reader won't expect them and may therefore have no particular interest in what you have to say. In other cases, you will need to overcome different kinds of resistance to get the reader to act as you want or to change his or her mind. A special kind of delayed approach can sometimes succeed in such situations.
To remember this approach, think of the words "AIDA" (for "attention-interest-desire-action") or "AICA" (for "attention- interest-conviction-action). Begin by getting the reader's attention; very often, all you need to do is picture a reader benefit. Then, build your reader's interest in reading what you have to say by using details. Next, create a desire in the reader to buy what you're selling, do what you're requesting, or accept the idea you're suggesting. Last, ask for the action you want on the part of the reader. As with negative situations, moving readers through persuasive messages may require more deliberate pacing than that of the usual direct structure message. Take your reader through these stages gradually, and you improve your chances of getting the response you want.
Obviously, these patterns represent only general strategies, and exceptions will always exist. For instance, the writer of a fifth notice for an unpaid bill will probably spend little time on maintaining customer good will through a buffer, and promotional material sent to someone who has requested the information in the first place will not need to use an extended "attention" opening. Further, some messages will involve more than a single type of situation. For such messages, you will need to decide on your primary purpose (perhaps, for example, a persuasive approach to a combined persuasive-negative message) and emphasize that goal.
Reports
Reports vary widely in content, formality, function, length, and methods of preparation, but all have a common goal: the transmission of information, often information which specifically has been requested. Sometimes, but not always, that information may be accompanied by commentary or informed opinion.
Characteristics of Reports
Some reports, called "periodic reports," appear at regular intervals. The weekly progress report on a research project and the monthly admissions report for a college are typical examples. Other reports are generated in response to a situation; each time the particular situation occurs (for example, an accident or an arrest), a report follows. A third kind of report, the "special report," is usually a one-time job. A report to a manager comparing three possible microcomputers the company might consider purchasing would be one type of special report.
Reports also differ according to what they do with the information they contain. An "informational" report simply presents data or facts without further comment. The college admissions report that lists numbers of representatives' visits to different states and the number of applications from those states would be an informational report. "Interpretive" reports add explanatory remarks, but not opinion. An interpretive admissions report might point out that "15% of the representatives' visits are to schools in the Middle Atlantic region, but 40% of our applicants come from this area." An analytic report (or recommendation) adds opinion to interpretation: "I suggest that we cut representatives' time in the Midwest and Southeast so that they can spend more time in the Middle Atlantic area."
The tone of reports tends to be objective. Some reports, indeed, are simply entered into standard forms. Reports are sometimes done as memos and letters, but frequently, unlike letters and memos, reports do follow certain specified patterns often required by employers. Many reports, for reasons of readability and clarity, are divided into sections and use different levels of headings for the different portions. When reports are presented in a letter or memorandum format, headings are sometimes not used, but the topic sentences of different sections can provide a function similar to that of the headings.
Some long formal reports appear in formats that resemble those of books, complete with covers, title pages,and tables of contents. But, regardless of their complexity or simplicity, reports seek to present information in a clear, efficient manner; the various characteristics of reports are simply means to this end.
Graphics and Other Aids to Report Clarity
Lists and enumerations are common organizing devices used to present parts of reports. Charts, graphs, tables, and other graphic aids can clarify abstract and numerical concepts in reports; they can be prepared by hand, using compasses, protractors, rulers, and other simple tools, or they can be constructed through various photocopying and computer applications.
Most graphic aids share certain characteristics. Graphics used within a report typically have titles which clearly announce their topics, are identified by figure numbers, and frequently indicate the sources of their information. Tables simply put lists of figures into readable formats. Pie charts work well to show how an entire quantity is divided into its various parts (e.g., a breakdown of where a tax dollar goes). Bar graphs are effective for comparing quantities (for example, the number of clients served last year by five different groups of caseworkers), and line graphs are most effective for displaying numbers (such as interest rates) that change over a period time. Flow charts, maps, photographs, and cutaway diagrams are just a few other types of graphic aids that can help clarify reports and proposals.
Presentation programs, such as PowerPoint, can provide an effective means of showing graphics and key ideas for oral reports, and programs of this sort also allow you to incorporate video and sound into your report. However, some presenters tend to simply put an entire presentation into the program and then read aloud, word-for-word, what’s already printed on the slide—a sure way to weaken the presentation and bore the audience.
One simple and relatively low-tech tool in giving oral presentations, the overhead projector, allows you to put graphics (or, for that matter, some key ideas from your notes) onto transparencies and then to project the images from those transparencies onto a screen. It’s also possible to make transparencies of PowerPoint slides as a back-up in case computer problems arise. The transparencies guide you in your presentation, distract less than note cards, and help your audience. The overhead projector is easy to use. Simply place each transparency on a glass plate located over a light source, position the transparency so that you can read it just as if you were reading from a sheet of paper, focus the image (being careful not to block your readers' view of the screen), and speak (resisting the urge to read the transparencies word by word to your audience). You can also, with special equipment, use the overhead projector to project video and computer screen images if computer projection equipment is unavailable.
Proposals and Special Message Types
Proposals are a special kind of persuasive writing. They suggest changes and actions and attempt to convince their readers to follow these suggestions. The characteristics of effect tive persuasive writing are thus important considerations for the writer of a proposal. They often appear in a report format, but can also be presented as letters or memorandums. Typically, proposals suggest ways to solve a problem which exists, to improve a policy or procedure, to answer a question, or to present a benefit from a particular product or service.
They may have been requested, as in the case of a supervisor asking an expert on his staff to propose a new method of accounting for petty cash or a company replying to a "request for proposal" (RFP) from a government agency in hopes of obtaining a contract. Proposals of this sort are termed "solicited proposals." Other proposals (called "unsolicited proposals") are developed at the writer's own initiative in hopes of persuading the reader to act or to accept the proposal's ideas. A sales proposal or a proposal to a university dean advocating changes in campus parking regulations are examples of unsolicited proposals.
While the specific content of proposals will vary, they almost all discuss something happening over a period of time. In other words, most proposals include narration as well as persuasion. For this reason, much of the content of a proposal can be developed in a preparing stage based on the journalistic "5 W's and H" approach. Typical concerns might include the following:
Why should changes be made?
Why is the change an improvement over what exists now?
What problem needs solving?
What needs to be done to solve it?
What specific changes are involved?
What equipment and personnel will be needed?
Who will be in charge of making these changes?
When will work begin and end?
Where will the changes happen?
How, exactly, do you plan to make these changes?
How much will the changes cost?
How will the changes be financed?
Organization of proposals varies with the specific circumstances and with the arranging strategy you wish to use. But most effective proposals move quickly at the beginning, giving an overview of the problem and the solution without providing specific technical details. This opening is then followed by a more detailed discussion in which you may consider the nature of the problem more precisely, explain what you plan to do to solve the problem, and specify exactly how you plan to accomplish the work you propose to do. A concluding section might establish your qualifications to do the work (if this information seems appropriate), point out the reader benefits that will follow, and encourage action, which may simply mean approval of the proposed project. Headings, subheadings, enumerations, and graphics can help guide readers through proposals as they do for reports, and, like reports, proposals can appear in a variety of formats.
Many other types of professional messages share some of these characteristics with reports and proposals; adaptability and effective use of aids to readability make such documents accessible to multiple audiences with widely diverse backgrounds. Policies and procedures, for example, spell out what to do and how to do it in a variety of workplace situations; sick leave policies, chains of command, equal opportunity statements, safety bulletins, and grievance procedures are just a few examples of such documents. Bulletins and announcements are internal documents that, like many reports, are primarily informational; even more than reports, however, these messages reach audiences with disparate backgrounds within the organization. In contrast, press releases and news bulletins convey information to the general public; not only must they be clear to a wide range of readers, but they need to convey the most important information (the "5 W's and H" again) early. While these community and public information documents frequently disseminate information that is routine or persuasive (in sales situations), they can also be the primary means of defusing corporate crises. Clear reporting can make the difference.
Regardless of how letters, memos, reports, and proposals are developed and organized, take time to go through the steps of the PASS method in writing such messages. While formats and structures matter, the quality of your writing makes the biggest difference in the impact that writing will have upon its readers. The cases in Appendix 1 will provide opportunities to apply these writing skills in a variety of simulated contexts. The writing you do on the job can accomplish its goals more effectively as a result of your concern about and work with those skills.
*This chapter is adapted from Gerald Siegel, Business and Professional Writing: A Guide to the Process, 2nd ed. Dubuque, IA: Kendall-Hunt, 1994.
[Note to FON students: the appendix 1 mentioned in the above chapter is part of the original book from which this chapter was taken, but is not included in this posting.]
The PASS approach to writing (preparing, arranging, saying, shaping) can help you make more efficient use of your time in a wide range of business and professional communication situations. Among the most common messages you will be writing using this system will be the memorandum, the letter, the report, and the proposal. While all these kinds of documents should be marked by effective writing, each type also has certain characteristics of its own. This chapter looks briefly at these structural and stylistic attributes.
Memorandums and Letters
Preparing memorandums (or memoranda) will probably be one of the most frequent on-the-job tasks you will face. Memos are usually brief documents dealing with routine matters, and they normally remain within an organization. Most often informal documents, memorandums can be as simple as a completed form or as extensive as a policy statement on how to appeal personnel actions. Frequently a memorandum will get read by several audiences, a point to consider in deciding what to say and how to say it. A brief memorandum like that shown in figure 6.1 may begin as a message (sent either in writing or as e-mail) from one individual to another, but soon become widely disseminated. This particular memo, for example, may be copied by its immediate audience (here, Willa Clarke), attached to a cover memo (here, possibly one saying that this week's caseworker meeting date is changed), and either sent to every person in an entire division or posted on the division's bulletin board. Other types of memorandums may be placed in a file and used weeks or months later by individuals unknown to either the original sender or addressee. (This memo uses an American format for the date; other examples in the chapter will use the international format of date/month/year, Sometimes memos will use a briefer format, but that can confuse: the date in the example could be shown as 6/16/10 in an American document, but 16.6.10 in an international format. Common sense can clarify this entry, but a date such as April 6 or 6 April is obviously clearer when written out.)
Figure 6.1. Routine Memorandum.
Date: June 16, 20xx
To: Willa Clarke, Social Services Supervisor
From: Mike Corelli
Subject: Change in Caseworker Meeting Date
This week's caseworker meeting has been changed from Tuesday to Thursday afternoon at 2:00 in room 381. Ms. Imperiale, the district director, will describe the state's new records retention policy.
Yet memorandums can also be used for a variety of other reasons, such as reports or messages of transmittal. Although usually internal communications, they sometimes do get sent to customers and clients outside of the organization when the matter being discussed is a commonplace one. Memorandums for external audiences and those dealing with other than everyday concerns can pose special problems in structure.
Business letters, of course, differ from memos in format. Because they are generally perceived as more formal than memorandums, letters are sometimes used within organizations for significant situations, such as commendations, promotions, reprimands, hirings, and firings. But, more importantly, they most often are external communication. You are less likely to know the reader as well as you would someone within your own organization, so concern about persona and audience becomes more conscious. Letters also serve more frequently than memos to handle situations that are not routine. Like memos, they can also confirm in writing arrangements and relationships originally established by personal meetings, telephone or e-mail.
Contexts themselves may vary widely; you'll need to consider both your own objectives and, when you can determine it, your reader's likely reaction. Ideally, these will be the same. If, for example, your message complains about a product or service, conveying your dissatisfaction to your reader could result in several outcomes. Simply stating your case may lead your reader to note the information, but do nothing further; his/her response may be neutral. Possibly, if several complaints like yours arrive, she/he may then act to remedy the problem you and the others mentioned.
You could, of course, choose other approaches. If instead your message conveys your anger or attacks the reader, sarcastically or otherwise, the result may be either defensiveness or anger on the part of the reader. "Telling them off" may make you feel better, but is unlikely to remedy the situation and may even cut off communication entirely. On the other hand, you could seek a specific remedy, such as a refund, repair, or a replacement--remedies which, if the product or service were defective, your reader might interpret as routine matters to be dealt with in the normal course of business. Thus, your choice of persona and sense of context can help you to determine reader behavior and to obtain the feedback you want.
For these reasons, different structures have developed to handle many of the common letter and memorandum writing situations. These structures use familiar arranging strategies (deductive, inductive, and persuasive sequences) to deal with varying message contexts.
Routine and Positive Situations
A deductive (or direct) pattern, which begins with the message's main idea, is effective for situations in which you expect a positive reader response, either because you are conducting routine business or telling the reader something he or she wishes to hear. The deductive pattern works well, for example, when you are ordering something, asking for information, providing information, congratulating someone, or giving someone a positive response to a request or suggestion.
Since the business side of the message is your main concern in such writing, get to the point early--in the first paragraph. After you've stated your main idea, add any explanation or support needed to clarify that main idea. Then go on to further details, questions, or secondary concerns. Figure 6.2 illustrates an opening paragraph of a request organized in the direct pattern. [Some examples will use the American date format of month/date/year.]
Figure 6.2. Routine Request.
Please cancel my subscription to Human Services Quarterly as of July 1. I would appreciate your sending the refund check to my home address, 2430 Center Street, Pine Hill, TX 75118.
Positive replies, like inquiries, should generally be organized by direct structure. Incidentally, although the opening of a reply may allude indirectly to the message being answered, starting out with comments such as "we have received your letter of June 7" tends to waste the impact of the potentially emphatic opening position. Such openings make sense only if you are unable to actually answer the request for some time and wish to at least assure your reader that he/she is not simply being ignored. Letters of this type should, if possible, go on to indicate approximately when the reader can expect an answer. Figure 6.3 illustrates a typical opening for a positive reply.
Figure 6.3. Positive Reply.
As you requested, your subscription to Human Services Quarterly has been canceled as of July 1. Your refund check for $36.00 will be sent to you by our subscription center within two weeks. [The letter might go on with promotional or good-will material.]
A variety of other situations can also be handled as routine or positive. An apology for an error, for example, because it is intended to make the reader feel better about whatever has happened, may be perceived in this way. A letter of resignation, if it is expected and follows earlier discussions of your intentions, may also be viewed as routine, but if unexpected, may generate a negative context. Thus, your awareness of context can affect the way you choose to structure your messages.
Negative Situations
When you expect resistance from your reader or have bad news to tell him or her, use an inductive (also called indirect or delayed) structure to prepare your reader for the negative information. The overall pacing of disappointing or negative messages tends to be more gradual than that of messages in direct structure; in this way, they can better manage emotional as well as business or intellectual responses. You might, for example, have to announce something the reader will dislike, such as a rent increase or a coming layoff. You may have to refuse a request or an adjustment. Or you may be able to offer only part of what the reader wants. Figure 6.4 illustrates typical opening material for a negative reply.
Figure 6.4. Negative Reply.
As you requested, the balance of your subscription has been canceled as of July 1. Refunds for unused portions of subscriptions are pro-rated based upon the number of issues remaining. Because you have already received four issues, you will be receiving a check within the next two weeks from our subscription service center for $24.00, the unused balance. [The letter would then go on to a good will closing, possibly including promotional or resale material.]
In this structure, you do not get to the main business point immediately. Instead, you first attempt to create an open communication climate and prepare your reader for the message's emotional impact by building a brief "buffer" of neutral or positive elements that will eventually lead to the main idea. The buffer, because it prepares your reader for that business point, should have some relation to the eventual topic, or the device will simply waste your reader's time, but the buffer should not signal either a "yes" or a "no."
Follow the buffer with an explanation in language that again does not signal an immediate "no." Avoid tell-tale signs of bad news such as beginning the second paragraph with "however" or "but." Be sure that this explanation precedes the refusal or the bad news; you owe the courtesy of such an explanation to your reader, who might ignore it if the negative material came first. Sometimes, in fact, an appropriate explanation can suggest or pave the way for discussion of alternatives that might accomplish much of what the reader originally wanted.
If you do a good job of explaining, in some situations you may not actually need to come right out and say "no." So long as you are clear about it and avoid misleading your reader, an implicit refusal may be all that you need include. For example, telling readers what they may do sometimes makes quite apparent what they may not do. Under most circumstances, a statement that all accountants will be needed for special audits 7-12 June, but that all other days in June remain available for vacations removes the need explicitly to deny a request for vacation days on 8-10 . Then you can go on with the task of reestablishing a cooperative spirit of "business as usual" and concern for your reader by message's end.
Effective negative messages, in short, downplay the negative. They provide a clear explanation for the bad news and avoid hiding behind "company policy." They use positive, not negative, language where possible. Instead of saying "I can't speak at your meeting on March 3," for example, a letter might explain, "I will be in Buffalo on March 3." Finally, effective negative messages de-emphasize the negative by putting the main idea in the middle of the message, by placing the negative information in a subordinate clause, and by ending on a positive note.
Of course, negative or disappointing news can be presented in a direct pattern; certain readers in certain circumstances will perceive this apparently negative information routine. Thus, not having an order arrive because the original order request contained insufficient information can easily become a routine request for that information; a second notice for a monthly payment may be simply a duplicate bill with "second notice" or "reminder" stamped at the top of the page. Be careful, however, that your reader, not simply you yourself, will react routinely. You may prefer getting bad news before you get an explanation, but letting this preference guide message construction can result in your sending a message that is writer, not reader, oriented.
Persuasive Situations
Messages that attempt to convince someone are another kind of communication often best served by inductive organizational patterns. Sales letters, memos trying to convince someone to adopt a policy or point of view, reports calling for action by the reader, and letters of application for employment are a few examples of such messages. Figure 6.5 illustrates the opening of a persuasive sales message.
Figure 6.5. Persuasive Message.
As a concerned professional, you realize the importance of staying current with the latest developments in the rapidly changing human services field. And you probably know that reading Human Services Quarterly enables over 10,000 of your colleagues to maintain that "up-to-date" edge as leaders in their profession.
Now you can join this well-informed group and enjoy a 20% saving over Human Services Quarterly's usual rates. [The rest of the message might show benefits of subscribing and then ask the reader to act be signing and returning a subscription card. Although the letter could ask for a check, it might simply call for a commitment thus: "No need to pay now. Just sign and return the card. We'll bill you later."]
Persuasive messages pose a special problem because very often your reader won't expect them and may therefore have no particular interest in what you have to say. In other cases, you will need to overcome different kinds of resistance to get the reader to act as you want or to change his or her mind. A special kind of delayed approach can sometimes succeed in such situations.
To remember this approach, think of the words "AIDA" (for "attention-interest-desire-action") or "AICA" (for "attention- interest-conviction-action). Begin by getting the reader's attention; very often, all you need to do is picture a reader benefit. Then, build your reader's interest in reading what you have to say by using details. Next, create a desire in the reader to buy what you're selling, do what you're requesting, or accept the idea you're suggesting. Last, ask for the action you want on the part of the reader. As with negative situations, moving readers through persuasive messages may require more deliberate pacing than that of the usual direct structure message. Take your reader through these stages gradually, and you improve your chances of getting the response you want.
Obviously, these patterns represent only general strategies, and exceptions will always exist. For instance, the writer of a fifth notice for an unpaid bill will probably spend little time on maintaining customer good will through a buffer, and promotional material sent to someone who has requested the information in the first place will not need to use an extended "attention" opening. Further, some messages will involve more than a single type of situation. For such messages, you will need to decide on your primary purpose (perhaps, for example, a persuasive approach to a combined persuasive-negative message) and emphasize that goal.
Reports
Reports vary widely in content, formality, function, length, and methods of preparation, but all have a common goal: the transmission of information, often information which specifically has been requested. Sometimes, but not always, that information may be accompanied by commentary or informed opinion.
Characteristics of Reports
Some reports, called "periodic reports," appear at regular intervals. The weekly progress report on a research project and the monthly admissions report for a college are typical examples. Other reports are generated in response to a situation; each time the particular situation occurs (for example, an accident or an arrest), a report follows. A third kind of report, the "special report," is usually a one-time job. A report to a manager comparing three possible microcomputers the company might consider purchasing would be one type of special report.
Reports also differ according to what they do with the information they contain. An "informational" report simply presents data or facts without further comment. The college admissions report that lists numbers of representatives' visits to different states and the number of applications from those states would be an informational report. "Interpretive" reports add explanatory remarks, but not opinion. An interpretive admissions report might point out that "15% of the representatives' visits are to schools in the Middle Atlantic region, but 40% of our applicants come from this area." An analytic report (or recommendation) adds opinion to interpretation: "I suggest that we cut representatives' time in the Midwest and Southeast so that they can spend more time in the Middle Atlantic area."
The tone of reports tends to be objective. Some reports, indeed, are simply entered into standard forms. Reports are sometimes done as memos and letters, but frequently, unlike letters and memos, reports do follow certain specified patterns often required by employers. Many reports, for reasons of readability and clarity, are divided into sections and use different levels of headings for the different portions. When reports are presented in a letter or memorandum format, headings are sometimes not used, but the topic sentences of different sections can provide a function similar to that of the headings.
Some long formal reports appear in formats that resemble those of books, complete with covers, title pages,and tables of contents. But, regardless of their complexity or simplicity, reports seek to present information in a clear, efficient manner; the various characteristics of reports are simply means to this end.
Graphics and Other Aids to Report Clarity
Lists and enumerations are common organizing devices used to present parts of reports. Charts, graphs, tables, and other graphic aids can clarify abstract and numerical concepts in reports; they can be prepared by hand, using compasses, protractors, rulers, and other simple tools, or they can be constructed through various photocopying and computer applications.
Most graphic aids share certain characteristics. Graphics used within a report typically have titles which clearly announce their topics, are identified by figure numbers, and frequently indicate the sources of their information. Tables simply put lists of figures into readable formats. Pie charts work well to show how an entire quantity is divided into its various parts (e.g., a breakdown of where a tax dollar goes). Bar graphs are effective for comparing quantities (for example, the number of clients served last year by five different groups of caseworkers), and line graphs are most effective for displaying numbers (such as interest rates) that change over a period time. Flow charts, maps, photographs, and cutaway diagrams are just a few other types of graphic aids that can help clarify reports and proposals.
Presentation programs, such as PowerPoint, can provide an effective means of showing graphics and key ideas for oral reports, and programs of this sort also allow you to incorporate video and sound into your report. However, some presenters tend to simply put an entire presentation into the program and then read aloud, word-for-word, what’s already printed on the slide—a sure way to weaken the presentation and bore the audience.
One simple and relatively low-tech tool in giving oral presentations, the overhead projector, allows you to put graphics (or, for that matter, some key ideas from your notes) onto transparencies and then to project the images from those transparencies onto a screen. It’s also possible to make transparencies of PowerPoint slides as a back-up in case computer problems arise. The transparencies guide you in your presentation, distract less than note cards, and help your audience. The overhead projector is easy to use. Simply place each transparency on a glass plate located over a light source, position the transparency so that you can read it just as if you were reading from a sheet of paper, focus the image (being careful not to block your readers' view of the screen), and speak (resisting the urge to read the transparencies word by word to your audience). You can also, with special equipment, use the overhead projector to project video and computer screen images if computer projection equipment is unavailable.
Proposals and Special Message Types
Proposals are a special kind of persuasive writing. They suggest changes and actions and attempt to convince their readers to follow these suggestions. The characteristics of effect tive persuasive writing are thus important considerations for the writer of a proposal. They often appear in a report format, but can also be presented as letters or memorandums. Typically, proposals suggest ways to solve a problem which exists, to improve a policy or procedure, to answer a question, or to present a benefit from a particular product or service.
They may have been requested, as in the case of a supervisor asking an expert on his staff to propose a new method of accounting for petty cash or a company replying to a "request for proposal" (RFP) from a government agency in hopes of obtaining a contract. Proposals of this sort are termed "solicited proposals." Other proposals (called "unsolicited proposals") are developed at the writer's own initiative in hopes of persuading the reader to act or to accept the proposal's ideas. A sales proposal or a proposal to a university dean advocating changes in campus parking regulations are examples of unsolicited proposals.
While the specific content of proposals will vary, they almost all discuss something happening over a period of time. In other words, most proposals include narration as well as persuasion. For this reason, much of the content of a proposal can be developed in a preparing stage based on the journalistic "5 W's and H" approach. Typical concerns might include the following:
Why should changes be made?
Why is the change an improvement over what exists now?
What problem needs solving?
What needs to be done to solve it?
What specific changes are involved?
What equipment and personnel will be needed?
Who will be in charge of making these changes?
When will work begin and end?
Where will the changes happen?
How, exactly, do you plan to make these changes?
How much will the changes cost?
How will the changes be financed?
Organization of proposals varies with the specific circumstances and with the arranging strategy you wish to use. But most effective proposals move quickly at the beginning, giving an overview of the problem and the solution without providing specific technical details. This opening is then followed by a more detailed discussion in which you may consider the nature of the problem more precisely, explain what you plan to do to solve the problem, and specify exactly how you plan to accomplish the work you propose to do. A concluding section might establish your qualifications to do the work (if this information seems appropriate), point out the reader benefits that will follow, and encourage action, which may simply mean approval of the proposed project. Headings, subheadings, enumerations, and graphics can help guide readers through proposals as they do for reports, and, like reports, proposals can appear in a variety of formats.
Many other types of professional messages share some of these characteristics with reports and proposals; adaptability and effective use of aids to readability make such documents accessible to multiple audiences with widely diverse backgrounds. Policies and procedures, for example, spell out what to do and how to do it in a variety of workplace situations; sick leave policies, chains of command, equal opportunity statements, safety bulletins, and grievance procedures are just a few examples of such documents. Bulletins and announcements are internal documents that, like many reports, are primarily informational; even more than reports, however, these messages reach audiences with disparate backgrounds within the organization. In contrast, press releases and news bulletins convey information to the general public; not only must they be clear to a wide range of readers, but they need to convey the most important information (the "5 W's and H" again) early. While these community and public information documents frequently disseminate information that is routine or persuasive (in sales situations), they can also be the primary means of defusing corporate crises. Clear reporting can make the difference.
Regardless of how letters, memos, reports, and proposals are developed and organized, take time to go through the steps of the PASS method in writing such messages. While formats and structures matter, the quality of your writing makes the biggest difference in the impact that writing will have upon its readers. The cases in Appendix 1 will provide opportunities to apply these writing skills in a variety of simulated contexts. The writing you do on the job can accomplish its goals more effectively as a result of your concern about and work with those skills.
*This chapter is adapted from Gerald Siegel, Business and Professional Writing: A Guide to the Process, 2nd ed. Dubuque, IA: Kendall-Hunt, 1994.
[Note to FON students: the appendix 1 mentioned in the above chapter is part of the original book from which this chapter was taken, but is not included in this posting.]
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