THE BUSINESS WRITING PROCESS

FOR BUSINESS MESSAGE, YOUR WRITING SHOULD BE…

PURPOSEFUL EFFECTIVE AUDIENCE-

Which are the problems that Ideas must be presented ORIENTED
you want to solve? clearly and concisely. Look at the problems
Which are the purposes that LENGTH IS NOT from the perspective of
you want to fulfill? REWARDED. the audience
What are the strategies that
you have?
THE WRITING PROCESS

1. PRE- 2. DRAFTING 3. REVISING

WRITING

• Analyzing • Researching • Editing

• Anticipating • Organizing • Proofreading
• Adapting • Drafting • Evaluating

25% 25% 50%

STAGE 1: PRE-WRITING - ANALYZING

Analyzing your PURPOSE

COMMON BUSINESS PURPOSES

- Inform – Informative messages:
Procedures, meeting, address
questions, transfer information
- Persuade – Persuasive message:
Selling products, motivate employees,
convince managers

- Why am I sending this message?

- What do I hope to achieve?
- Primary purposes? Secondary purposes?
STAGE 1: PRE-WRITING - ANTICIPATING

Anticipating and profiling your AUDIENCE

- Who is your audience?

- What is the reader or listener like?
- How will that person react to the message?

Remember: Always begin your writing with the notion that your audience is thinking
“What is in it for me?” (WIIFM)
STAGE 1: PRE-WRITING - ANTICIPATING

Asking the right question about your AUDIENCE

STAGE 1: PRE-WRITING - ANTICIPATING

Selecting the suitable CHANNEL

Consider
• Importance of the message
• Amount and speed of feedback and interactivity required
• Necessity of a permanent record
• Cost of the channel
• Degree of formality desired
• Confidentiality and sensitivity of the message
Face to face Richest medium. Persuasive, bad news, personal message
Telephone Best choice when two people cannot meet in person

Video chat Group interaction, building consensus when members are dispersed

Email Routine message, do not require immediate feedback

Instant message Short online message that needs quick response

Letter External message that requires formal, sensitivity, or written record

Memo Interoffice information, especially when email is not available

Blog Share ideas with a wide internet audience, encourage responses

Report Deliver considerable data internally and externally

Wiki Repository for digital information that can be easily changed

TOP 10 RICHEST CHANNELS – FROM RICHEST TO LEANEST

STAGE 1: PRE-WRITING - ADAPTING

Message’s “tone”: Affects how a receiver feels upon reading or hearing a message

“To be good, it ought to have a tendency to benefit the reader.”

- Benjamin Franklin

- Putting yourself in the readers’ shoes

- Be EMPATHIC: Think about how the receivers are going to decode your
message
- Be AUDIENCE-FOCUSED: Think about their benefits. Is your message
going to give something to the receiver? Solve their problems? Save
their resources? Understand their feelings and position?
STAGE 1: PRE-WRITING - ADAPTING

Cultivating the “YOU” view

Many of the audience-focused messages include the word you
→ analyzes and emphasizes the reader’s interests and perspectives

We understand the
We have not received
importance of processing
your signed invoice, so
we cannot process your payment and will
your payment. process it as soon as we
receive your signed invoice.
STAGE 1: PRE-WRITING - ADAPTING

Be conversational but professional

Your message
- Should convey informal, conversational, educated and mature tone.
- Should not be too casual → sound low-level and unprofessional

Hey guys, Good afternoon class,

The grades for ur latest The grades for your latest assignment are
asm are out now! Some uploaded on Blackboard. It was a pleasure for
of your rlly slayed– I’m me to see that most of you did really well on
shook! Those don’t get a
vs. this assignment. For those who have not yet
high score this time – achieved a high score this time, you still have a
don’t be too salty ☺ lot of rooms for improvement. Make sure to
better luck next time. read and take note of all my feedback so you
can do a better job next time.
STAGE 1: PRE-WRITING - ADAPTING

• Use positive and encouraging

words
• Be courteous
• Use inclusive language (bias-free)
• Use plain language and familiar
words
• Be clear and precise
STAGE 1: PRE-WRITING - ADAPTING

ORIGINAL: At the present time, the Agency will in accordance with

new regulations on a monthly basis conduct random security
checks in the event that there is a yellow threat level.

REVISED: Under the new regulations, if the threat level is yellow,

the Agency will conduct monthly random security checks.
STAGE 2: DRAFTING - RESEARCHING

Before collecting the information, ask yourself

• What does the receiver need to know about this topic?

• What is the receiver to do?
• How is the receiver to do it and when?
• What will happen if the receiver doesn’t do it?
STAGE 2: DRAFTING - RESEARCHING

FORMAL METHODS INFORMAL METHODS

- Search manually - Investigate files

- Access electronically - Talk with people
- Go to the source - Interview target audience
- Conduct scientific - Conduct an informal
experiments survey
- Brainstorm for ideas
STAGE 2: DRAFTING - ORGANIZING

Title: Major Idea or Purpose

1. GROUPING
I. First major component
- Similar items → go together
A. First subpoint
1. Detail, illustration, evidence
2. ORGANIZING
2. Detail, illustration, evidence
- Outline → logical sequence of ideas
B. Second subpoint
1. Detail, illustration, evidence
2. Detail, illustration, evidence
 STAGE 2: DRAFTING - ORGANIZING

✓ Respect the feeling

✓ Save the reader’s of the audience
time ✓ Encourage a fair
✓ Set a proper frame hearing
of mind ✓ Minimize negative
✓ Prevent frustration reactions
 STAGE 2: DRAFTING – WRITING YOUR SENTENCES

• Complete all necessary research.

• Find a quiet place to concentrate and
work.
• Prohibit calls, visitors, and interruptions.
• Organize information using an outline.
• Decide whether to sprint write (get your
thoughts down quickly and revise later) or
revise as you go.
• Imagine you are talking to a reader or
listener.
FRAGMENT SENTENCES

A sentence that is broken-off

As it is known that inequality rises around the world in many aspects.

Therefore, it is extremely important to exactly figure out the problems in each
field to find the satisfactory solutions.

→ As it is known that inequality rises around the world in many aspects, it is

extremely important to exactly figure out the problems in each field to find the
satisfactory solutions.

→ It is known that inequality rises around the world in many aspects.

Therefore, it is extremely important to exactly figure out the problems in each
field to find the satisfactory solutions.
RUN-ON SENTENCES & COMMA SPLICES

Run-on: A sentence that doesn’t have necessary conjunctions.

Wrong: They weren't dangerous criminals they were detectives in disguise.

Comma splice: Joining two independent clauses with a comma.

Wrong: They weren't dangerous criminals, they were detectives in disguise.

→ They weren't dangerous criminals. They were detectives in disguise.

→ They weren’t dangerous criminals, but detective in disguise.
SHORT OR LONG SENTENCES?

Sentence length Comprehension rate

8 words 100%
15 words 90%
19 words 80%
28 words 50%
PARAGRAPH LENGTH

Should be with eight or fewer printed lines

STAGE 2: DRAFTING – EFFECTIVE WRITING

Active or Passive voice?

• Most business writing should be in the ACTIVE voice

ACTIVE PASSIVE
Focus on the actor Focus on the action
More direct, easier to understand Emphasize the action than the
actor
De-emphasize negative news
E.g. We can’t make the cash
refund vs
Cash refund can’t be made
STAGE 2: DRAFTING – EFFECTIVE WRITING

Dangling modifiers
• For clarity, modifiers must be close to the words they describe or limit.
• A modifier dangles when the word or phrase it describes is missing from its
sentence

After working overtime, the report was finally finished

→ Indicate that the “report” was working overtime → doesn’t make sense

After working overtime, we finally finished the report

→ Same actor “we” for both “working overtime” and “finished the report”
STAGE 2: DRAFTING – EFFECTIVE WRITING

Effective business paragraphs

• Good business writers develop well-organized paragraphs by focusing on a single
main idea.
Topic sentence: Express the main Flexible work scheduling could immediately increase
idea of the paragraph, usually productivity and enhance employee satisfaction in our
placed first in the paragraph. organization.

Support sentence: Illustrate, For many employees, flexible scheduling provides extra
explain, or strengthen the topic time to manage family responsibilities. Feeling less stress,
sentence. Support sentences employees are able to focus their attention better at
provide specific details, work; therefore, they become more relaxed and more
explanations, and evidence productive.
STAGE 2: DRAFTING – EFFECTIVE WRITING

Effective business paragraphs

• Paragraphs are coherent when ideas are linked—that is, when one idea leads
logically to the next, allowing the reader to follow a logical sequence of ideas/steps
STAGE 2: DRAFTING – WRITING YOUR SENTENCES

Self-reading:
• Part 3-3 Composing the first draft with effective sentences
• Part 3-4 Developing business writing techniques

Make sure you get the idea of

- Developing emphasis using English writing techniques
- Using active and passive voice
- Parallelism
- Dangling and misplaced modifiers
- Drafting well-organized, effective paragraphs
STAGE 3: REVISING – EDITING YOUR MESSAGE

What a business message should look like

1.Concise – to make it easy to read and understand, and save the time of the reader
• Eliminating flabby expressions
Eg: due to the fact that = because
• Drop unnecessary words and lead-in
Eg: We are sending this announcement to let everyone know that… → go
straight to the point
• Get rid of redundancies
Eg: “please kindly” or “please feel free to” = please OR kindly OR feel free to
• Purge empty words
Eg: We are aware of the fact that ….
STAGE 3: REVISING – EDITING YOUR MESSAGE

2. Clear and simple – your goal is to express, not to impress

• Don’t try to be “over” businesslike
Eg: in accordance to your wish = as you wish
• Dropping clichés
Eg: first and foremost
• Avoid slang and buzzwords
• Rescuing buried verbs
Eg: After the meeting, we have reached the conclusion that = we have
concluded that
• Controlling exuberance
• Choosing clear, precise words
Eg: The event attracted a huge crowd = The event attracted 518 people
STAGE 3: REVISING – DESIGNING YOUR MESSAGE

1. Using white space to improve readability through long message

(not like this)

2. Using margins and text alignments effectively

3. Choosing appropriate fonts and sizes

AND REMEMBER NEVER WRITE A SENTENCE WITH ALL CAPITALIZED LETTERS LIKE THIS. It gives a feeling that you are
shouting because your house is burning.

4. Numbering and bulleting

• Like this
1. Or this

5. Adding headings to highlight information

STAGE 3: REVISING – DESIGNING YOUR MESSAGE

Mechanics for emphasis

STAGE 3: REVISING - PROOFREADING

Important proofreading areas:

- Spelling
- Grammar
- Punctuation
- Names and numbers
- Format

REMEMBER: You often don’t recognize

the errors of the message as you have
looked at in many times. Be prepared to
find your errors, and be careful when
proofreading
FREE ONLINE PROOFREADING TOOL: GRAMMARLY.COM
STAGE 3: REVISING – EVALUATING

Ask yourself
• Is the message polished and clear enough to convince the reader
that you are worth listening to?
• How successful will this message be?
• Does it say what you want it to?
• Will it achieve its purpose?
• How will you know whether it succeeds?

Encourage the reader to respond to your message

 PRE-WRITING
Analyzing – Anticipating – Adapting

DRAFTING
Researching – Organizing – Drafting

REVISING
Editing – Proofreading - Evaluating