CHAPTER 1

Fundamentals of
Professional Writing
Whether you are a student about to step into the world of work or a
more seasoned employee with years of experience, you must be able to
­communicate effectively to advance your career. Employers ­consistently
rank good communication skills—speaking with customers and
­colleagues, presenting information, and writing—in the top tier of desired
skills for both new hires and current employees. The ability to concisely
and accurately convey meaning to different people is a prerequisite in
today’s fast-paced world.
Writing like a professional—whether the document is printed or on
the screen—is best taken on as a process, with careful attention paid to
detail. This chapter will describe how to break down all writing tasks into
a series of steps to streamline the process as well as describe the character-
istics that all professional writing should embody.

Writing as a Process
Many people think that good writing flows out of the brain, into the fi ­ ngers,
and onto the page or screen. Nothing could be further from the  truth.
­Professional writers know that writing, like any acquired skill, requires
patience and persistence. Whatever we are composing—whether an e-mail
message or a proposal for a new business—the key to writing well is to con-
sider writing a process rather than a one shot deal. Your prose will be better
and will take you less time to compose if you look at writing as a series
of tasks. For those who suffer from writer’s block or who shudder at the
thought of writing, I can promise that if you break down writing into several
component parts, the result will be better and you will feel less anxious.
The task of writing can be broken down to three separate steps, for
which I’ve developed an acronym: AWE, short for assess, write, and edit.
4 WRITING FOR THE WORKPLACE

These three steps should be completed for every piece of writing that
will be seen by another person. The only writing that doesn’t require this
­process is personal writing.

Step 1: Assess

Before you ever put your fingers on the keyboard or put pen to paper,
begin by assessing the writing situation and define your audience and
purpose. I advise making this step formal: Write down your answers.
Knowing the audience—your reader—is imperative for successful
writing. Writers need to be very clear about the end user because the
language and style we use depends upon who will read what we write.
In  essence, we have to psych out the reader to accomplish our writing
goal. We cannot do that unless we analyze the reader accurately.
Define the characteristics of your reader as is shown in Table 1.1:
Begin the audience analysis portion of the first stage of the writing
process (assessing) by completing an audience profile template, using the
criteria mentioned in Table 1.1.
The next part of assessing the writing situation is defining your ­purpose.
The reason or purpose for writing in the professional world falls into
three basic categories: informing, persuading, or requesting. Informative
­writing is a large category that includes generalized information, instruc-
tions, n
­ otifications, warnings, or clarifications. Persuasive writing makes an
impression, influences decisions, gains acceptance, sells, or recommends.
Requests are written to gain information or rights and to stimulate action.
Unless you define the desired outcome of the written task, you ­cannot
possibly achieve that task’s objective. Are you writing an e-mail in response
to a customer complaint? Are you using social media to generate traffic to
a website selling nutritional supplements? You must be clear about what
you want your words to accomplish before you write.
Sometimes you do not have all the information on hand that you
need to write your document. Once you have defined for whom you
are writing and what you want to accomplish, continue your analysis of
the writing situation by gathering the information to produce the doc-
ument. Sometimes that will entail conducting research. Sometimes you
may just need to download information from your experience. Either
way, have your information on hand before you begin to write. Nothing is
 Fundamentals of Professional Writing 5

Table 1.1  Audience profile template

Audience
characteristic Rationale
Age Writing for children differs from writing for adults or teens.
Your tone, word choice, and medium may differ greatly
depending on the age of the reader.
Gender Writing for an all-male audience will differ from writing for
an all-female audience. Likewise, if the audience is mixed,
you may make different language choices than you do for a
homogeneous group.
Language The reader’s knowledge of English will affect your word
proficiency choice, sentence length, and other stylistic elements.
Education level You may be writing for an audience with a 10th grade
reading level or one comprised of college graduates. Each
audience will have different expectations and needs, both of
which you as the writer must be aware.
Attitude You must know if the audience is skeptical, frightened,
toward writer pleased, or hostile toward you, the topic, or the
or organization organization. Anticipate your audience’s reaction so you can
write in a way that will support the document’s purpose.
Knowledge of A document may be geared to people who are experts
the topic in a field or who know nothing about it. Even within an
organization, several different audiences will exist. You may
emphasize different aspects of a topic depending upon the
readers’ knowledge level.
Audience What do you want your audience to do after reading? Click
action a link for more information? Call to take advantage now?
You must have a clear vision of your goal in communicating
for your writing to be effective.

more frustrating than being on a deadline to compose a writing job and

­realizing that you do not have the information you need.
Once you have the information, organize it. For shorter pieces, think
about the organizational structure you need to follow to attain your
­writing purpose. We will discuss these writing strategies in greater detail in
Section 2. For longer pieces, begin by creating categories of i­nformation.
From these sections, draft an outline with headings.
This assessing portion of the writing process will make the actual
­writing much easier. Why? It is always easier to begin writing if you have
something on the page rather than nothing.
6 WRITING FOR THE WORKPLACE

Step 2: Write

Enter the second step of the writing process—writing a draft—knowing

that it is not the last step. A draft by definition is not final. Its purpose is
to transfer the information you have gathered onto the page. For short
documents such as routine e-mails, consider composing offline. (It’s too
tempting to write and hit send without carefully going over your draft!)
Begin by including the information you’ve gathered, making sure you
include each point. For longer documents, use your outline. Write section
by section, point by point. If you have trouble with one section, move to
another.
Your goal at this stage of the writing process for both short and
­longer documents is to put something down on paper (or the screen) that
you will revise later. It’s a waste of your valuable time to labor over any
­individual word or sentence as you write your draft; the word or s­ entence
may be eliminated by the final version. If you cannot think of the p ­ recise
word you need, leave a blank and return later to fill it in. If you are
­having difficulty wording a sentence smoothly, leave a bracketed space or
­perhaps type a few words as a reminder of the gist of what you want to
say. The important point to remember is that a first draft is one of several
stabs you’ll take at this work.
If you write using information you have taken from other sources,
avoid using someone else’s words or ideas without attributing them.
­Plagiarism occurs when you use or closely imitate the ideas or language
of another author without permission. Even if you paraphrase through
rewording, you should still cite the source to avoid plagiarizing. With
the abundance of material available to us with a few keystrokes, it’s
­tempting to cut and paste and call it a day. But you leave yourself and
your ­organization open to criminal liability for copyright infringement
laws if you use words, images, or any other copyrighted material. Besides,
you will never learn to express yourself if you use others’ words.
Before you move to the next step, I advise printing your draft.
But don’t read it immediately. Let it marinate. It’s too hard to edit our
own copy immediately after we’ve written it. We need to let some time
pass before we return to a draft so that we can be more objective when
we edit.
 Fundamentals of Professional Writing 7

Step 3: Edit

I saw a great T-shirt at a meeting for the Society for Technical Writers.
On the front was the word write in bold type. Following that was line
after line of the word edit. The final boldface word at the end of the last
line was publish. Of course, the idea is that writing requires more editing
than writing.
Editing is a multistepped process and begins by looking at the overall
effectiveness of the piece. As you read your draft, return to your audience
and purpose analysis and ask yourself if the content meets the needs of the
audience while it accomplishes your purpose in writing. Does the docu-
ment provide all the information readers will need to do what you want?
Does it make sense? Is it well organized? If not, go back and make changes.
Once you are certain that the content is correct and complete, it’s
time for paragraph and sentence level editing. This is where you’ll
need a good style guide (see discussion of Writing Tools), unless you are
one of the few who have perfect recall of all grammatical rules. Begin by
­examining the effectiveness of each paragraph. By definition, a paragraph
is a group of sentences about one topic; the topic is generally stated in
the first sentence of a paragraph and is called a topic sentence. Good
­paragraphs have unity, which means they stay on topic, so first check
each paragraph for unity. Make sure your paragraphs aren’t too long.
Long paragraphs scare readers off.
Next check your paragraphs for cohesion, meaning that each sentence
leads logically to the next. A common writing error is to jump from one
idea to the next without providing a logical connection between those
two ideas. Unless each idea expressed in a sentence logically segues to the
next, your reader will not be able to follow. Writers link ideas several ways:

1. Using transitional words and phrases. Transitions are broken down

into types: adding information, contrasting information, comparing
information, illustrating a point, and showing time.
2. Using pronouns that refer back to a specific noun.
3. Repeating keywords to remind a reader of a central idea.

Table 1.2 illustrates the types of transitions writers use to compose

cohesive sentences and paragraphs.
8 WRITING FOR THE WORKPLACE

Table 1.2  Types of transitions

Type of transition Words or phrases used
Additive—used to augment an additionally, again, also, and, in addition,
idea moreover, thus
Contrast—used to show how although, but, conversely, however,
ideas differ instead, on the other hand, yet
Comparison—used to link similar likewise, similarly
ideas
Time—used to show a sequence after, finally, first, in the meantime, later,
next, second, soon

Once all paragraphs are edited, examine each sentence. Now is the
time to nitpick grammar and stylistic elements. Pay special attention to
egregious errors such as:

1. Subject and verb agreement

2. Comma splices
3. Sentence fragments
4. Run-on sentences
5. Dangling modifiers

Find every pronoun to make sure it agrees with its antecedent and
that the noun to which it refers is clear. Make sure you have written
numbers in the correct way, using numerals and spelling out numbers
appropriately. Stay in the same verb tense.
Also beware of dangling modifiers, phrases that confuse readers by
saying something other than what is meant. They often appear in an
introductory phrase at the beginning of a sentence but omit a word that
would clarify meaning in the second part of the sentence. Look at the
following sentence:
After finishing the copy, the website was difficult to understand.
The website did not finish the copy; therefore the meaning is obscure.
Perhaps the sentence should have read:
After finishing the copy, the writer found that the website was difficult to
understand.
As you edit, take some time to read your document aloud and make
marks next to areas that require editing. This is the single best way to
 Fundamentals of Professional Writing 9

improve your writing. Professional writing should sound natural. If you

find yourself stumbling as you read your copy, the chances are good that
you have a problem; your ears will not allow you to pass over stylistic
elements that your eye will just ignore. Listen for frequent repetition
of the same word, for short, choppy sentences, and for sentences that
begin with the same word or phrase. Make sure your sentences have
variety in length, aiming for a good mix of short, medium, and longer
sentences. Note whether you have started too many sentences with there
is, there are, this is, or it is. Overuse of this wordy construction is a red
alert for any professional writer to rewrite. Finally, make sure you have
used words according to their actual definition, called the denotation.
(Use the Avoiding Wordiness Checklist at the end of this chapter to help
you edit for conciseness.)
The final element of the editing portion of the writing process is
proofreading. Proofreading includes editing your copy for spelling,
capitalization, punctuation, and typos. Begin by double-checking the
correct spelling of names. Then make sure you’ve correctly used words
that are commonly mistaken (i.e., affect and effect, complimentary
and complementary). If you have included a phone number or a URL
in the content, determine both are correct by phoning or checking
the link.
A warning about using your word processor’s spell check function:
Spell check is far from fail proof. Just the omission of one letter (say the
last s in possess) can change the word’s meaning, and the program won’t
pick that up. Posses is a word (the plural of posse) but it isn’t the word
you meant to use. Additionally, a spellchecker won’t find names spelled
incorrectly or words not in its dictionary.
Proofreading for punctuation is critical. Proper use of commas
makes a huge difference in a document’s readability. Be especially on the
­lookout for inserting commas after introductory phrases and between two
­independent clauses joined by a coordinate conjunction. Likewise, ­tossing
in a comma or semicolon haphazardly or omitting a comma or semicolon
are common writing errors that affect readability. Both can affect flow and
meaning. Consider how the comma alters these two sentences:

That, I’m afraid, has not been the case.

That I’m afraid has not been the case.
10 WRITING FOR THE WORKPLACE

The first sentence refers to a previous statement and conveys the

meaning that an earlier statement is untrue. The second means that the
individual claims to be unafraid.
Capitalization is another part of the proofreading stage. Use your
style guide to know when to capitalize nouns and titles and be ­consistent.
Next examine the appearance of what you’ve written. Remember that
copy must not only be well written; it must look attractive on the page or
screen to maximize readability. You may find the Editing and P­ roofreading
Checklist at the end of this chapter a helpful tool to guide you through
this portion of the writing process.
You will find a list of common writing errors to avoid in Appendix A.

Professional Writing Characteristics

Writing for the world of work has certain characteristics that form the
underpinning of anything you write, from an e-mail to your boss, to
a resume for a new job, to a proposal for new business. Integrate the
­following elements into your work.

Accuracy

One of the best ways we can illustrate to our readers that we are
professionals and experts is through accuracy. Inaccuracies show a
­
carelessness that few professionals or organizations can afford in a
­
competitive, global ­
­ marketplace. Attention to accuracy is therefore
­paramount to professionals.

Active Voice

To enliven your prose, avoid using passive voice construction when you
can. Passive voice makes the object of an action the subject of a sentence,
as the following example illustrates:

Passive voice The e-mail was written by me.

Active voice I wrote the website.
 Fundamentals of Professional Writing 11

However, if you wish to obscure the person committing an action,

you should use passive voice. You do so by avoiding naming the actor, as
is illustrated below:

Passive voice The students were given poor grades.

Active voice The professor gave the students poor grades.

If you have trouble identifying your own use of passive voice, you
can adjust the Grammar Tools in Microsoft Word’s Preferences, which
when activated, will point out passive voice construction. If you are using
­passive voice purposefully because you want to sound objective, great.
But if you have used passive voice unintentionally, change it.

Avoiding Gender, Racial, or Age Bias

English doesn’t make biases easy to avoid. The best way to stay away from
the he or she conundrum is to use the plural of a word. To avoid racial
or age biases, beware of stereotypes when composing. Even if you feel
the reference is complimentary, those to whom you refer may find that
reference offensive.

Clarity

If a reader has to reread to understand anything you write, you have not
done your job. Every sentence you write that another person will see
should be easy to read. Clarity comes from using words the audience will
recognize and using them correctly. Stay away from jargon or SAT-prep
vocabulary. One way to check your work for clarity is to give your draft
to someone who knows nothing about what you are writing. If that reader
can understand the document, it is probably clear.

Conciseness

Busy professionals are impatient and expect brevity. No one wants to

wade through wordy prose to get to a point. As mentioned earlier, the
12 WRITING FOR THE WORKPLACE

Avoiding Wordiness Checklist at the end of this chapter contains some

tips to make your writing more concise.

Conversational Prose with Smooth Flow

The rhythm of any prose needs to be conversational and natural. The

best way to achieve good flow is to read your document aloud and keep
amending until you are able to read without hesitation. Use simple, plain
language in sentences that are not complex or convoluted. Make sure
your punctuation does not impede your reader by adding unnecessary
halts or by avoiding pauses that will aid understanding.
To make your prose more conversational, you can also use contractions
when appropriate. Instead of they will, use they’ll. You can also begin your
sentences with and or but, which many English teachers taught as an invio-
lable rule. Sometimes beginning a sentence with a conjunction gives prose
just the right rhythm to create that highly desired conversational tone.

Correctness

Poor grammar and words used incorrectly make both the writer and the
organization appear ignorant and sloppy. To hone your grammatical skills,
work with a grammar guide next to you. (The use of writing tools is ­discussed
later in this chapter.) Consult the guide when you are unsure about any
writing issue. Make use of your word processor’s grammar and spell check,
but do not rely on them solely. Another way to work on grammar issues is
to create a never again table (see Table 1.3). This is a t­ hree-­column table (see
the following sample) that lists a grammatical error, the rule that governs
the problem, and a mnemonic device to remember the solution. When you

Table 1.3  Never again table

Grammar problem Rule Mnemonic device
Its versus It’s It’s always = it is The dog bites its tail because
it’s plagued with fleas.
Effect versus affect Effect = noun Ibuprofen adversely affects my
Affect = verb stomach, but the medicine’s
effect cures my headache.
 Fundamentals of Professional Writing 13

keep a list of grammatical errors and refer to it as you compose, you will
eventually learn to correct the problem. Keep adding and erasing errors
until you no longer need to consult the chart.

Parallelism

Good writing often uses a device called parallelism, or parallel structure.

Writers use parallelism instinctually because it appeals to our natural
desire for symmetry. Parallelism matches nouns with nouns, verbs with
verbs, and phrases with phrases: “For faster action, less stomach upset, and
more for your money, use XX.” Readers expect parallelism, especially in
sets of two or three items, and in bulleted and enumerated lists. Using
parallel phrasing correctly is key to writing in the workplace.

Positive Voice

Positive voice uses affirmative words to make a point. For example, instead
of saying, “We are out of green T-shirts,” we would emphasize the positive
and say, “Order any size of our orange and gray T-shirts.” Avoid downbeat
words or words than can convey a negative connotation and rephrase in
a positive way. Instead of, “No coupons will be honored after April 30,”
say, “Coupons will be honored through April 30.”

Reliance on Strong Nouns and Verbs

Good writing uses nouns and verbs to do the heavy work and saves adverbs
and adjectives for rare occasions. Instead of “Our brightly-­ colored,
­twinkling lights will be reminders of the happiest, most m ­ emorable
times you and your family will ever enjoy,” say, “Our d ­ azzling lights
will ­twinkle their way into your family’s memories.” Replace “Our auto
­policies are competitive,” with “Our auto policies beat the ­competition’s.”
Avoid using the most boring and overused verb in the English language:
to be. Check for overuse of is, are, were, and was and see if you can
eliminate them by using a stronger, more specific verb. We can’t entirely
avoid adverbs or adjectives or to be, but we can be mindful of how often
we use them.
14 WRITING FOR THE WORKPLACE

Sentence Variety

Sentence variety is linked to conversational prose and has two elements.

The first is sentence beginnings. As you edit, look at the way your
­sentences begin. Do three in a row begin with The? Do two sentences
within two paragraphs begin with There are? Avoid writing sentences that
begin with the same word or phrase. The second way to attain sentence
variety is to vary sentence length. Short, choppy sentences make prose
annoyingly staccato. Natural-sounding prose combines short, medium,
and longer sentences.
One way to check your sentence length is to look at how the periods
line up. If you see a vertical or slanted line of periods, you need to alter
some of the sentence lengths. This can be accomplished in several ways.
Join two sentences whose content is closely linked by embedding the gist
of one sentence into another. Combine two sentences with a coordinate
conjunction to create a complex sentence. Or try an alternate sentence
beginning such as an introductory phrase, which will add sentence variety.

Simple Words

Avoid jargon. Always, always, always choose the simpler, more recogniz-
able word over the longer, more showy one. Instead of rhinovirus say a
cold. Opt for e-mail over electronic message. In utilize versus use, use wins!
(Also notice how the number of words your reader has to wade through
goes down with simpler words.)

Shorter Paragraphs

Long paragraphs are appropriate for essays, but they have no place in
­professional documents. Big blocks of type scare readers away. The l­ ongest
paragraph should be no more than six to eight lines. Always be aware of
how a paragraph appears on a page (or a screen) and take pity on your
audience—don’t make your reader slog through dense prose.

Style: Formal versus Informal

Writers must wear different hats and adjust their writing style—­sometimes
called voice or tone—to the task at hand. In professional writing, we
 Fundamentals of Professional Writing 15

always aim for a natural style, as mentioned earlier. However, we must

sometimes be even more specific about the style we choose.
Choosing to use an informal or formal writing style depends on the
audience and the document’s purpose. There is no clear-cut way to deter-
mine when to use each style; sometimes, an e-mail may require formality.
Most of the time, however, e-mails are informal. To determine which style
fits your needs, understand that informal writing allows the writer and
reader to connect on a more personal level. It can convey warmth. Formal
writing, on the other hand, produces the impression of objectivity and
professionalism.
Some genres, however, have generally accepted styles. Use Table 1.4 to
help guide you in choosing which style best suits your task.

Table 1.4  Formal and informal writing styles

Formal style Informal style
Letters Most communication
Long reports within the organization
Research including e-mail, IM,
Types of
Proposals memos, text messages
documents
Routine messages to out-
side audiences
Informal reports
No personal pronouns (I, we) Use of personal pronouns
No contractions Use of contractions
Objective voice or use of Shorter sentences, easily
passive voice recognizable words
No figurative language or Limited use of warm,
Characteristics clichés ­inoffensive humor
No editorializing
Limited use of adjectives
No exclamation points
Longer sentences
Some technical language

Writing Tools
Just as a doctor wouldn’t enter an examination room without a stetho-
scope or a carpenter wouldn’t pull up to a job site without a hammer, no
writer can be without the tools of the trade: a good dictionary, thesaurus,
and style guide.
16 WRITING FOR THE WORKPLACE

Many excellent writing reference books are on the market, both in

electronic and print format. I use both. Although I often visit www.
dictionary.com when I compose, I also rely on my hard copy dictionary.
Dictionaries in book format allow us to browse, and sometimes the writer
will happen upon a word or meaning, which doesn’t happen when you
use Dictionary.com. The same goes for the thesaurus. I find the thesaurus
built into Microsoft Word to be very weak. As a writer, I need to make
the most out of the bounteous English language. A hard cover thesaurus is
worth its weight in gold as far as I’m concerned. I use Roget’s 21st Century
Thesaurus edited by Barbara Ann Kipfer, PhD. I particularly like that it’s
organized like a dictionary.
Many good style guides are likewise available. For a grammar guide,
I use Diana Hacker’s A Writer’s Reference, 7th edition, but many excellent
grammar reference books are available.
Many good grammar websites can also be useful. The Grammar Book
(http://www.grammarbook.com/) and the Purdue Online Writing Lab
(https://owl.english.purdue.edu/) are handy and reliable websites to look
up any grammar issues you may have.
The important thing to remember is to keep your tools nearby as you
compose. The more you use these references, the less you’ll need them.
You will internalize the rules of writing as you use them.

Conclusion
Writing well on the job is key to career success. By breaking down writing
into stages called the writing process, your end product is more likely to
accomplish its ultimate purpose. When composing on the job, effective
writers integrate many elements that will distinguish their work as profes-
sional, well-edited, and clear. Whether you choose hard copy or digital,
use writing tools including a dictionary, thesaurus, and grammar guide
to create professional documents. Doing so will help you excel in the
workplace.
 Fundamentals of Professional Writing 17

Avoiding Wordiness Checklist

Wordy phrase and example Solution 
Avoid beginning a sentence with Begin sentences with the true subject.
There are or It is.
There are four points that should be Consider these four points or Four points
considered. should be considered.
It is clear that cashmere is warmer. Cashmere is clearly warmer.
Avoid beginning sentences with Connect to previous sentence.
That or This.
Choosing teams should be done Choosing teams should be done carefully
carefully. This is because a good mix because a good mix will generate better
will generate better results. results.
Use active voice rather than Passive voice depletes prose of vitality
passive. and can almost always be rewritten in
active voice.
Rain forests are being destroyed by Uncontrolled logging is destroying rain
uncontrolled logging. forests.
Omit that or which whenever Unless that or which is required for
possible. clarity, omit it.
The water heater that you install The water heater you install will last
will last 15–20 years. 15–20 years.
Avoid prepositional phrase Replace with one-word modifiers.
modifiers.
The committee of financial leaders The financial leaders committee meets
meets every Tuesday. every Tuesday.
Avoid be verbs. Replace with a strong verb.
New Orleans is one of the most New Orleans vibrates with activity like
vibrant cities in the United States. no other U.S. city.
Tighten closely related sentences Join closely related sentences of
of explanation. explanation with a colon to avoid
repetitions.
When hanging wallpaper, three When hanging wallpaper, consider three
factors need to be considered. The factors: X, X, and X.
factors are X, X, and X.
Tighten closely related sentences. Omit repetitious phrasing in second
sentence.
MRIs are used to diagnose many MRIs diagnose many ailments by
ailments. MRIs create an image of creating images of organs and soft
organs and soft tissues to diagnose. tissues.
(Continued )
18 WRITING FOR THE WORKPLACE

Avoiding Wordiness Checklist (Continued)

Wordy phrase and example Solution 
Tighten verb phrases with Replace is/are/was/were/have + verb
auxiliary + ing verbs with a one-word verb.
Management was holding a staff Management held a staff meeting.
meeting.
Avoid using there is/are within a Find an active verb to replace there
sentence. is/are.
When creating a mail list, there are When creating a mail list, many pitfalls
many pitfalls. exist.
Remove redundancies. Know the true meaning of a word.

An anonymous stranger may be Strangers may be dangerous.

dangerous.

Editing and Proofreading Checklist

Check your draft for the following 
Document content is tailored to meet the needs of the audience and
attains writing purpose
Copy is edited for conciseness
Body paragraphs have unity and cohesion and are shortened for visual
appeal
Transitions in and between paragraphs adequately link ideas
Grammar is correct
Punctuation is used correctly
Copy has good rhythm and flow; uses a natural and conversational tone
Sentences show variety in beginning and length
Names are spelled correctly; phone numbers and URLs are accurate
Words are used correctly
Capitalization is consistent and adheres to specific stylebook guidelines
Document adheres to specific genre formatting guidelines
Document shows professionalism
 CHAPTER 2

Basics of Document Design

One of the most important elements of workplace writing is a document’s
appearance. Writing in professional contexts requires as much attention
to the way a document appears on the page or the screen as its content.
The reason is that as writers, we must make the task of reading easy for
our audience. If you have ever waded through dense pages of text with
long paragraphs or tried to follow a single line of type that goes across an
18-inch computer screen, you know that reading can become tedious if
good design is not factored into what your eyes must look at.
In this chapter, we’ll cover the basics of document design for print
and screen. We will discuss the conventions of document design as they
pertain to specific genres in the remaining chapters.

Print Document Design

Writing for a printed page differs from writing for a screen not just in the
words we write but in the way the words look on the page. This is called
page layout. You are probably aware of certain elements of page layout
without knowing it. For example, use of columns and choice of landscape
or portrait view are part of page layout.
When composing a document that will be printed, first consider page
size. Is your document for standard sized paper (8.5 × 11 in.) or smaller?
If you are creating a trifold brochure, for example, you will be laying out
the words very differently than if you are writing a report. In both cases,
however, consider the z pattern. The z pattern (see Figure 2.1) is the way
readers of English approach a page. Our eye begins at the top left of the
page and scans to the right, going back and forth, left to right, until we
reach the bottom. This pattern is significant because words or images that
fall along the z hold the eye’s attention more than the areas surrounding
20 WRITING FOR THE WORKPLACE

Reader begins

Reader ends

Figure 2.1  Z pattern of reading

the z. Savvy writers will put words and images they want the reader to
focus on along this path.

Elements of Page Layout

Each page contains design elements you will want to consider as follows.

Color

Although black is always the preferred color for body type, some color
can add visual interest to print pages. Color can be used for document
headings, in charts and graphs, or as ways to highlight information. Avoid
using bright colors for type and understand that the way a color appears on
the screen will likely differ from its reproduction on the printed page. Also
remember that you will need a color printer for your color scheme to show!

Graphical Elements

Adding graphical elements to your documents such as boldface, bullets,

enumeration, italics, or underlining serve varied functions. Boldface calls
attention to words and phrases. It is commonly used for headings and
sparingly used to highlight words or phrases. Bulleted points are used
to list items and to attract the reader’s eye. Bulleted points break up text,
too. Enumeration (listing items 1., 2., 3., etc.) is used to indicate a series
in order. Italics are used for emphasis, to indicate a word in a different
language, for proper names, and for titles. Underlining can indicate a
title or emphasis.
 Basics of Document Design 21

A quick word on the use of CAPS. Beware that the reader will inter-
pret type in all caps as a scream. The only time I use all caps is in a context
in which I must conform to a text-only design. In that case, I use caps
for headings. I never use all caps and boldface, however. It is not only
redundant but also truly a signal for translating the words into a scream.
No graphical elements should be overused, and writers should avoid
including too many on any one page. Doing so clutters the page and ends
up having the opposite effect from what was intended.

Headings and Subheadings

Headings name categories of information. They summarize the content

that follows and are organized by levels: first level heading, second level
heading, and so forth. Headings can be viewed as the points of an outline,
and their use is a primary way writers organize content. For the reader,
headings serve as graphic markers that signal a new topic. They help the
reader easily focus on specific areas of interest. Headings break up text,
making material more visually attractive and easier on the eye.
Subheadings are mini-headings, or subsections of a heading. They,
too, break up long text and enhance visual appeal.
In a print document, headings are indicated by use of a graphical
device such as centering, boldface, or caps. Headings often use a con-
trasting type font. For example, if the body of a report were Times New
Roman, you might want to use Arial for headings.

Header and Footer

Using a header and footer is a way to unify a document. Headers and

footers also provide a location of page numbers or add graphic design
features such as a company logo.

Margins

Most business documents have page margins all around of 1 to 1.5 in.
Page margins are important because they create white space to make a
page look uncluttered. Another aspect of margins is justification. Word
22 WRITING FOR THE WORKPLACE

processing programs give you four options for your margins: left justified
with a ragged right edge, centered, right justified with ragged left, and
fully justified. Table 2.1 illustrates the types of margin justification and
when each should be used.

Table 2.1  Type justification

Type justification Functionality
This margin is left justified, Notice how the left margin forms a straight
ragged right type. This margin line, while the right edge is jagged. This is
is left justified, ragged right. considered the easiest alignment to read
This margin is left justified, and should be used in nearly every writing
ragged right. situation.
Centered type is inappropriate for most
This is centered type. This is
reading tasks but is a good choice for
centered type. This is centered
headings, such as the headings in this table.
This is right justified type Readers’ eyes would quickly tire if having to
with a ragged left margin this readjust to locate the beginning of each line
is right justified type with a of type. Use right justified type to align short
ragged left margin phrases only.
This line is considered fully Notice the awkward spaces between the
justified. This line is consid- words when using fully justified text. This
ered fully justified. This line is occurs because the word processor does not
considered fully justified. This hyphenate words so it has to create spaces
line is considered fully justified. to fit the type into a rectangle. Those spaces
slow down reading. When full justification
is needed for particular documents, you
will need to use your own appropriate word
hyphenations to reduce the space gaps that
otherwise occur.

Paragraph Length

In college papers, it is not unusual for a paragraph to take up an entire

typed page. However, that this is unacceptable in all business documents.
To aid our readers, business writers limit paragraph length to no more
than eight lines (not eight sentences.) This is a rule of thumb that should
be taken very seriously. Long, dense paragraphs scare readers away.
 Basics of Document Design 23

Spacing

Again, in college, papers are usually double spaced and new paragraphs
are indented. However, in business documents, single spacing is the
norm; new paragraphs are signaled by adding an extra space. Because the
extra space is clearly a marker of a new paragraph, it would be redundant
and unnecessary to also use a tab.

Typeface

Type fonts are divided into two basic families: serif and sans serif. Serif fonts
such as Times, Garamond, or Palatino have feet and tails under the letters
that form a line to help the eye track the words and sentences, which is why
graphic artists choose serif fonts for long documents such as books. Serif fonts
have an old fashioned feel. For business documents that will be printed, using
a serif font will help your reader move through the content faster.
Sans serif fonts like Helvetica, Arial, and Verdana have a cleaner,
simple line that translates better to the pixel-based display on screens.
Look at the following example to examine the difference between font
families:
This is 12-point Garamond, a serif font.
This is 12-point Arial, a sans serif font.
Notice the difference in the two 12-point fonts. Both are 12-point,
but Arial appears much larger than Garamond. When you choose your
font, you will want to take into consideration how large or small it appears
on the page.

White Space

Space on a page without any visual or type is called white space. White
space breaks up text and frames the words on the page. It also helps
­balance a page. It is helpful to view your page in the preview function of
the word processing tool you use to see how the white space is arranged
on the page. This is an excellent way to adjust pages that are off balance
or too densely packed with words.
24 WRITING FOR THE WORKPLACE

Word Processing Defaults and Templates

Word processing is no doubt a blessing for everyone who has to write. It’s
hard to imagine not being able to instantly rearrange paragraphs or delete
sentences. However, when using word processing, it’s a good idea to keep
its limitations in mind.
One point to examine is your application’s default document design.
You will find the newer default versions of Microsoft Word documents
use 1.10 or 1.15 line spacing instead of 1.0, as is the norm. They also
include sans serif fonts. These elements are easy enough to alter, but be
aware that you must manipulate the default.
Word processing templates are a mixed blessing. Sometimes learning
how to alter the preformatted document elements takes more time than
creating your own. Using easily recognizable templates can make a writer
appear lazy or unoriginal. In addition, I find that many templates ignore
the basics of good design. On the other hand, Word’s new newsletter
and brochure templates make creating these documents easier than ever.
Word also allows anyone to insert professional looking charts and other
graphics into documents. In all cases, it’s a good idea to be aware of the
plusses and minuses of using defaults and templates.

Design Considerations for Digital Formats

Writing for the screen differs measurably from writing for a printed page.
If you are writing anything from an e-mail you know will be read on a
screen to a report saved as a PDF that the reader can print or read on the
screen, you will need to understand the unique situation of composing
for the screen.
The first thing to consider is that reading on a screen slows readers
down. In fact, studies show that it takes readers 25 percent longer to
read something on the screen than on paper.1 The cause is likely due to
screen resolution, despite the headway new electronic devices have made
in this regard.
Another consideration is that people reading on screens scan and
scroll. They tend to not read in a linear fashion (starting at the begin-
ning and going to the end) and instead jump from heading to heading or
 Basics of Document Design 25

section to section. For this reason, we must be aware of creating scannable

text. Certain techniques make text more scannable. These include writing
paragraphs of six lines maximum and using headings and bulleted points.
The following design elements affect writing for the screen.

Color: Writers have much freedom in color choice when writing

words that readers will read on a screen. However, the best color
for readability remains black type on white background. Bright
colors like fuchsia or light colors such as yellow will be very hard
for ­readers to decipher, even in headings. Do, however, use color
selectively for your page design in reports designed to be read on
the screen or documents such as resumes.
Font style and size: Because sans serif fonts are crisper, many
­people consider them easier to read on the screen. Indeed, many
­copy-heavy websites such as newspapers and magazines use serif
fonts for their print editions and sans serif fonts for the online
­versions. ­However, some designers continue to use serif fonts for
the screen. If you choose to do so, make sure the font is large
enough for your intended reader and the spacing is adjusted.

It is also important to remember that the way you design your docu-
ment may be affected by the end user’s device and its settings. Unless you
are providing a PDF, the way you design a document to be read on an
electronic device may not be the way the receiver sees it.

Graphical elements: Much of the advice related to using graphical

elements in print also applies to their use in electronic documents.
But because we know readers have less patience when reading on
the screen, devices to break up text and highlight important ideas,
words, or phrases are even more important. Note that boldface can
indicate a link, so when using it, make sure your readers will not
be confused.
Headings: Headings in print and electronic documents serve the
same function, but they are even more important for reading on
the screen than reading on the page. The reason is that people
26 WRITING FOR THE WORKPLACE

tend to skip when reading on the screen. Headings, therefore, help

­readers find information quickly and make text more scannable.
Line length and spacing: Because screen reading is more taxing, keep
lines on the short side, no more than 70 characters. Consider using
two columns for reports that will be read on the screen.
Paragraph length: When writing for the screen, keep paragraphs
short—about six lines—to avoid dense blocks of text.
White space: Lack of visual clutter will make any document more
appealing for the reader. White space helps readers focus on words

Conclusion
Taking the time to consider how our words look on a page or a screen
is imperative for writing in the workplace. Our job, after all, is to make
the task of reading less of a chore. Considerations of type font, spacing,
page layout, and graphical elements are as important to writing as are
­well-drafted sentences and paragraphs. A well designed document will
make your writing more effective.