Thursday, March 5, 2009
Journal entry for week # 8
I am glad our mid-term is next week instead of this week. I've had a long day. The chapter was easy, I was just in a bad mood the whole day, because I woke up with a headache. I know I should go to sleep right now but an episode of King of Queens is about to start and I'm going to watch it. If you read this Naweed your gonig to be mad at me for staying up. Hehehe.
Chapter eight summary-Business Writing Design
In the business world excellent writing skills are highly desirable by prospective employers. Writing in business should be concise, precise, and clear. You should try to eliminate as much communication noise as possible; such as mistakes in grammar, spelling, punctuation, vagueness, and unfamiliar language. There is a process one should follow when designing a business message. Start by asking yourself questions such as, what is it that I am trying to communicate? Who is my audience? What is the purpose of my message? These questions will help you generate ideas and develop a starting point for your writing. Next, you can move on to Freewriting. Freewriting is the process of writing all the message ideas that come into your mind nonstop without lifting your pen or pausing at the computer. This step should be worked on for at least 15 minutes. After completion, you should go back and highlight all the useful and important ideas. During the listing step, compose a list of all the things that need to go into the document you plan to write. Clustering involves determining the relationships among the ideas of a message, such as the mind maps we make for every chapter of our book. When you have generated all the ideas needed for your message you can go on and gather information to support and explain the goal of your message. You can research, conduct surveys, and hold interviews. Presenting your audience with actual data will help them understand the message and receive it much clearer. Remember to consider the purpose of your message. Again here you would ask yourself questions such as, what am I trying to communicate? What does my audience want to know? Or what do they need to know? Business writers have two strategies they can utilize to complete the task of strategy consideration. In a direct strategy, writers state their message goal first. Or a writer can use an indirect strategy to warm up the audience with information and goodwill before delivering the message goal. Once you have decided on a strategy you can go on to the outlining and drafting step. An outline is a structured list of the information to be included in the message. Your outline will help you organize your ideas and incorporate them with your gathered information.
Now you can write the first draft of your message. Drafting is getting the text down on paper or a computer screen in its first version. Include your main points and details for message clarity. You will refine it later on. Once your first draft is complete, you then have to revise it. Look at the document as if you haven’t seen it before. Make sure you included your message goal, its explanation and development, and included enough details to make it clear to your audience. If you are not satisfied with your draft you can re-outline it. Re-outlining involves writing a new outline based on the original document you wrote. Or you can use the slash and burn method, which is a total revision strategy in which you select certain points of a document and then rewrite it using only those points from the original work. When you have finally written a draft that you are satisfied with you can go on to edit and proofread it to create your final draft. When I proofread, I have to read out loud to hear myself. Examine the language and style you have chosen. Eliminate unnecessary words and phrases. Replace negative words when possible with positive expressions. There are several styles when it comes to writing business messages or documents. The “You” view style is focused on the interests of the readers. This is a good strategy to use when trying to create good public relations, if the information in your message is negative then this probably isn’t the strategy you want to use. Make sure your message emphasizes what you can do instead of the things you can’t do. Keep your reader interested by using active sentence constructions and vivid language. Make sure your message is free of grammatical errors. Errors make it difficult for your audience to grasp the meaning of your message, and it’s a big turn off. I’ll be the first to admit I’m not the best speller. In grade school I was eliminated from a spelling B in the first round, so I always use spell check. Memos and letters usually have the same components. Memos are an internal written channel of communication. Letters are typically an external, written channel of communication. The introduction comes first; it should include any good news and your goals. The body of the message offers supporting data, and explains the reasons for the message. The closing of the document should include a call for action and a goodwill statement. An e-mail is an internal and external written channel of communication that transmits messages over the internet. E-mails are typically short. Use bias-free language in your messages. Bias language will offend your audience and show you in a bad light. It is very important to write clearly and use the tools and formats of business writing that are suitable for your audience. Sharpening your writing skills will significantly increase your chances of moving up in the business world.
Now you can write the first draft of your message. Drafting is getting the text down on paper or a computer screen in its first version. Include your main points and details for message clarity. You will refine it later on. Once your first draft is complete, you then have to revise it. Look at the document as if you haven’t seen it before. Make sure you included your message goal, its explanation and development, and included enough details to make it clear to your audience. If you are not satisfied with your draft you can re-outline it. Re-outlining involves writing a new outline based on the original document you wrote. Or you can use the slash and burn method, which is a total revision strategy in which you select certain points of a document and then rewrite it using only those points from the original work. When you have finally written a draft that you are satisfied with you can go on to edit and proofread it to create your final draft. When I proofread, I have to read out loud to hear myself. Examine the language and style you have chosen. Eliminate unnecessary words and phrases. Replace negative words when possible with positive expressions. There are several styles when it comes to writing business messages or documents. The “You” view style is focused on the interests of the readers. This is a good strategy to use when trying to create good public relations, if the information in your message is negative then this probably isn’t the strategy you want to use. Make sure your message emphasizes what you can do instead of the things you can’t do. Keep your reader interested by using active sentence constructions and vivid language. Make sure your message is free of grammatical errors. Errors make it difficult for your audience to grasp the meaning of your message, and it’s a big turn off. I’ll be the first to admit I’m not the best speller. In grade school I was eliminated from a spelling B in the first round, so I always use spell check. Memos and letters usually have the same components. Memos are an internal written channel of communication. Letters are typically an external, written channel of communication. The introduction comes first; it should include any good news and your goals. The body of the message offers supporting data, and explains the reasons for the message. The closing of the document should include a call for action and a goodwill statement. An e-mail is an internal and external written channel of communication that transmits messages over the internet. E-mails are typically short. Use bias-free language in your messages. Bias language will offend your audience and show you in a bad light. It is very important to write clearly and use the tools and formats of business writing that are suitable for your audience. Sharpening your writing skills will significantly increase your chances of moving up in the business world.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)