3x3 Writing Process For Business Communication

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THE 3x3 WRITING PROCESS

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THE 3x3 WRITING PROCESS

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THE 3x3 WRITING PROCESS 6 - 28
The Complete Process • 1. Prewriting • Analyze • Anticipate • Adapt 6 - 29
1. Prewriting • Analyze • Anticipate • Adapt • 2. Writing • Research • Organize • Compose The Complete Process 6 - 30
1. Prewriting • Analyze • Anticipate • Adapt • 2. Writing • Research • Organize • Compose • 3. Revising • Revise • Proofread • Evaluate The Complete Process 6 - 31
1. Prewriting • Analyze: Define your purpose. Select the most appropriate form (channel). Visualize the audience. • Anticipate: Put yourself in the reader's position and predict his or her reaction to this message. • Adapt: Consider ways to shape the message to benefit the reader, using his or her language. 6 - 32
2. Writing • Research: Collect data formally and informally. Generate ideas by brainstorming and clustering. • Organize: Group ideas into a list or an outline. Select the direct or indirect strategy. • Compose: Write first draft, preferably on a computer. 6 - 33
3. Revising • Revise: Revise for clarity, tone, conciseness, and vigor. Revise to improve readability. • Proofread: Proofread to verify spelling, grammar, punctuation, and format. Check for overall appearance. • Evaluate: Ask yourself whether the final product will achieve its purpose. 6 - 34
6 - 1 Business Communication: Process and Product, Mary Ellen Guffey, South-Western.
Activity 1: Revising for Clarity, Conciseness, Vigor and Readability Keep it simple. Keep it conversational. Remove opening fillers. Eliminate redundancies. Reduce compound prepositions.(减少复合介词） Purge empty words. Kick the noun habit. Dump trite "business" phrases. Develop parallelism (balanced construction). Apply graphic highlighting. Measure readability. 6 - 2
Revising for Clarity: Keep it simple. • Avoid foggy, indirect, pompous(华而不实) language. • Poor: • It would not be inadvisable for you to affix your signature at this point in time. • Improved: • You may sign now. 6 - 3
Revising for Clarity: Keep it conversational. • Avoid artificial or formal expression.Avoid legal terminology, technical words, and third-person constructions. • Formal: • Our Accounting Department takes this opportunity to inform you that we have credited your account for the aforementioned sum. • Conversational: • Your account has been credited for $100. 6 - 4
Revising for Conciseness: Remove the opening filler. • Wordy: • There are four new menu items we must promote. • Improved: • We must promote four new menu items. 6 - 5
Revising for Conciseness: Eliminate the redundancy • Redundancies mean unnecessary repetition. For example: • collect together • contributing factor • personal opinion • perfectly clear 6 - 6
• past memories • various differences • each individual • basic fundamentals • true facts • important essentials • future plans • terrible tragedy • end result • final outcome • free gift • past history • unexpected surprise • sudden crisis More examples for redundancies
Revising for Conciseness: Reduce Compound Prepositions. • A compound preposition is formed when two or more words are combined and considered a single prepositional unit. For example: • at such time, at which timewhen • due to the fact that, inasmuch asbecause 6 - 7
Revising for Conciseness: Purge empty words. • Empty words/phrases (虚词）are those convey no meaning. • As for the area of athletic shoes, the degree of profits sagged. • This is to inform you that we have a toll-free service line. • Not all students who are registered will attend. 6 - 8
As for the field of athletic shoes, the degree of profits sagged. • This is to inform you that we have a toll-free service line. • Not all students who are registered will attend. registered 6 - 9
Revising for Vigor : Kick the noun habit. • Wordy: • We must conduct an investigation of all parking violations before we can give consideration to your fine. • Improved: • We must investigate all parking violations before we can consider your fine. 6 - 10
Revising for Vigor: Dump trite Business phrases • Trite: • Pursuant to your request, enclosed please find a job application. • Improved: • As requested, we have enclosed a job application. 6 - 11
Revising for Readability: Develop Parallelism Not parallel: We can collect information, store it, and later it can be updated. Parallel:We can collect, store, and update information. 6 - 12
Revising for Readability: Apply graphic highlighting • Letters, such as (a)and (b)within the text. • Numerals, like 1, 2, and3, listed vertically. • Bullets, like * • Headings and print options • CAPITAL LETTERS • underscores • boldface • italics • font size 6 - 13
Measure readability. • Apply a readability test such as Gunning's Fog Index. 6 - 14
Applying the Fog Index to Determine Readability • Select the passage. • Count the total words. • Count the sentences. • Find the average sentence length. • Count the number of long words. • Find the percentage of long words. • Add the results. • Multiply. 6 - 15
Select the passage.* • Choose a continuous passage of between 100 and 130 words. 6 - 16 *See the Sample Letter, slides 6-25 to 6-27.
Count the total words. • Count numbers, dates, and abbreviations separately. • Our letter sample has 110 words. 6 - 17
Count the sentences. • Count all independent clauses separately. • For example, He applied and he was hiredcounts as two sentences. • Our sample has seven sentences, marked with superscript numbers. 6 - 18
Find the average sentence length. • Divide the total number of words by the number of sentences. • 110 ¸ 7 = 16 words 6 - 19
Count the number of long words. • A word is long if it has three or more syllables. • Exclude: • Capitalized words • Compound words formed from short words (nevertheless) • Verbs made into three syllables by the addition of -ed, or -es(located, finances) • In our sample sentences the long words are underlined. 6 - 20
Find the percentage of long words. • Divide the number of long words by the number of total words. • 10 ¸110 = .09 or 9 percent 6 - 21
Add the results. • Add the average sentence length (16) and the percentage of long words (9). • The result is 25. 6 - 22
Multiply. • Multiply by 0.4 • 25 x 0.4 = 10 • The reading level of this letter is 10. 6 - 23
Sample Letter 6 - 24
Sample Letter • Dear Mrs. Lawrence: • 1Yes, I can meet with you Thursday, April 3, at 10 a.m. to discuss possible ways to finance the purchase of a new home in San Diego. 2Before we meet, though, you might like to consider two possible plans. 6 - 25
Sample Letter • 3The first plan finances your purchase with a swing loan, which has a fixed interest rate for a short period of time. 4A second plan requires you to refinance your present residence. 5We have located five programs from three differentinstitutions that would do this. 6Enclosed is a summary of these five plans. 6 - 26
Sample Letter • 7I look forward to seeing you Thursday to find a way for you to own a home in San Diego. • Sincerely, 6 - 27
Activity 2:What to Watch for in Proofreading • Spelling • Grammar • Punctuation • Names and numbers • Format 6 - 35
How to Proofread Routine Documents • For computer messages, read on the screen in WYSIWYG mode (what you see is what you get) or, better, print a rough copy to read. • For handwritten or printed messages, read carefully and use proofreading marks to indicate changes. 6 - 40
How to Proofread Complex Documents • Print a copy, preferably double-spaced. • Set it aside for a breather. • Allow adequate time for careful proofreading. • Be prepared to find errors. Congratulate, not criticize, yourself each time you find an error! • Read the message at least twice – for meaning and for grammar/mechanics. • Reduce your reading speed. Focus on individual words. 6 - 41
Basic Proofreader's Marks • Delete • Capitalize • Lowercase (don't capitalize) • Transpose • Close up 6 - 36
Basic Proofreader's Marks • Insert • Insert space • Insert punctuation • Insert period • Start paragraph 6 - 37
Marked Copy • This is to inform you that beginning september 1 the doors leading to the Westside of the building will have alarms. Because of the fact that these exits also function as fire exits they can not actually be locked consequently we are instaling alrams. Please utilize the east side exists to avoid setting off the ear piercing alarms. 6 - 38
Marked Copy • This is to inform you that beginning september 1 the doors leading to the Westside of the building will have alarms. Because of the fact that these exits also function as fire exits they can not actually be locked consequently we are instaling alrams. Please utilize the east side exists to avoid setting off the ear piercing alarms. doors l use 6 - 38
Revised Copy • Beginning September 1 the doors leading to the west side of the building will have alarms. Because these doors also function as fire exits, they cannot be locked; consequently, we are installing alarms. Please use the east side exits to avoid setting off the ear-piercing alarms. 6 - 39
Activity 3:Evaluating the Outcome • How successful will this communication be? • Does the message say what you want it to say? • Will it achieve its purpose? • Did you encourage feedback so that you will know whether it succeeded? 6 - 42
Wordy Memo – PoorDocument for Analysis 6.1"Before" Version 6 - 43
Activity 6.1 "Before" To: All Management This memo is addressed to all members of management to advise you that once a year we like to remind management of our policy in relation to the matter of business attire. In this policy there is a recommendation that all employees should wear clothing that promotes a businesslike atmosphere and meets requirements of safety. Employees who work in offices and who, as part of their jobs, meet the public and other outsiders should dress in a professional manner, including coat, tie, suit, slacks, dress, and so forth. In areas of industrial applications, supervisors may prohibit loose clothing (shirt tails, ties, cuffs) that could become entangled in machinery that moves. 6 - 44
Activity 6.1 "Before" Where it is necessary, footwear should protect against heavy objects or sharp edges at the level of the floor. In the manufacturing and warehousing areas, prohibited footwear includes the following: shoes that are open toe, sandals, shoes made of canvas or nylon, tennis shoes, spiked heels higher than 1 1/2 inches. Each and every manager has the responsibility for the determination of suitable business attire, and employees should be informed of what is required. 6 - 45
Wordy Memo – ImprovedDocument for Analysis 6.1 "After" Version 6 - 46
Activity 6.1 "After" To: All Management Once a year we like to remind you of our policy regarding business attire. All employees should wear clothing that promotes a businesslike atmosphere and meets safety requirements. Office employees who meet the public should dress professionally, including coat, tie, suit, slacks, dress, and so forth. In industrial areas, supervisors may prohibit loose clothing (shirt tails, ties, cuffs) that could become entangled in moving machinery. 6 - 47
Activity6.1 "After" Where necessary, footwear should protect against heavy objects or sharp edges at floor level. In the manufacturing and warehousing areas, prohibited footwear includes the following: open-toe shoes, sandals, shoes made of canvas or nylon, tennis shoes, and heels higher than 1 1/2 inches. Every manager is responsible for determining suitable business attire and for informing employees of what is required. 6 - 48