Improving Readability with Style and Design Chapter 6 © 2016 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part.

Provide All Relevant Information  The key to providing all but only relevant information is to plan, write, and review your message strategically  Repeatedly asking yourself what information is necessary for the purpose of your message will help you accomplish this. © 2016 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part. 6-2

Be Accurate  Accuracy, like specificity, strongly impacts your readers’ perceptions of your credibility  Just one inaccurate statement can lead readers to dismiss your entire message and lower their trust in your future communications as well. © 2016 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part. 6-3

Being Accurate © 2016 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part. 6-4

Be Specific  The more specific you are, the more likely your readers are to have their questions answered  If you are not specific, your readers may become impatient and begin scanning and skimming for the information they want © 2016 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part. 6-5

Being Specific © 2016 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part. 6-6

Improving Ease of Reading with Conciseness © 2016 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part. 6-7

Control Paragraph Length  Long paragraphs can signal disorganization and even disrespect for the reader’s time  Typically, paragraphs should contain 40 to 80 words.  For routine messages, paragraphs as short as 20 to 30 words are common and appropriate. © 2016 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part. 6-8

Controlling Paragraph Length © 2016 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part. 6-9

Use Short Sentences in Most Cases  Short sentences allow your readers to comprehend your ideas more easily  For routine messages, aim for average sentence length of 15 or fewer words © 2016 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part. 6-10

Using Short Sentences © 2016 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part. 6-11

Avoiding Redundancy © 2016 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part. 6-12

Avoiding Empty Phrases © 2016 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part. 6-13

Avoid Wordy Prepositional Phrases  Eliminating extra words allows you to get your ideas across as efficiently as possible.  You will often find that you can reduce word count by 30 to 40 percent simply by converting many of your prepositional phrases into single-word verbs. © 2016 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part. 6-14

Avoiding Wordy Prepositional Phrases © 2016 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part. 6-15

Improving Ease of Reading with Natural Style © 2016 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part. 6-16

Use Action Verbs When Possible  First, find nouns that you can convert to action verbs  Second, find forms of the verb to be (e.g., verbs such as is, are, am ) and convert them into action verbs © 2016 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part. 6-17

Using Action Verbs © 2016 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part. 6-18

Use Active Voice © 2016 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part. 6-19

Use Active Voice  The doer-action-object allows for faster processing because most people’s natural thinking occurs in this way  It also emphasizes the business orientation of action  Most important, it specifies the doer © 2016 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part. 6-20

Using Active Voice Appropriately © 2016 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part. 6-21

Using Passive Voice Appropriately © 2016 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part. 6-22

Use Short and Familiar Words and Phrases  Whenever possible, choose short, conversational, and familiar words  Using longer, less common ones slows processing and can distract from your message. © 2016 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part. 6-23

Use Parallel Language  Using parallel language means that you apply a consistent grammatical pattern across a sentence or paragraph.  Parallelism is most important when you use series or lists. © 2016 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part. 6-24

Using Parallel Language © 2016 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part. 6-25

Avoid Buzzwords and Figures of Speech  Don’t distract your readers with overused or out-of-place words or phrases.  Buzzwords Workplace terms that become trite because of overuse Can stir negative feelings among some readers © 2016 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part. 6-26

The Most Annoying Buzzwords © 2016 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part. 6-27

Avoid It Is/There Are  Readers naturally want to know precisely who or what the subject of a sentence is, particularly in business writing, where specificity is so important.  Most sentences that begin with it is or there are fail to provide a specific subject and generally contain more words than necessary © 2016 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part. 6-28

Avoiding It Is and There Is © 2016 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part. 6-29

Improving Ease of Reading with Navigational Design  Your primary goal for document design is making your message easy to navigate © 2016 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part. 6-30

Use Headings  In information-rich and complex messages, headings can help your readers identify key ideas and navigate the document to areas of interest.  As you create headings and subheadings, be consistent in font style and formatting throughout your document. © 2016 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part. 6-31

Add Headings for Visual Impact and Readability We need to discuss a number of topics at our next meeting: Budget. Come prepared to discuss our expense requests. Schedule. Who will be taking vacations or leaves? Hiring. Soon we must begin the hiring process to replace Matt. We need to discuss a number of topics at our next meeting: Budget. Come prepared to discuss our expense requests. Schedule. Who will be taking vacations or leaves? Hiring. Soon we must begin the hiring process to replace Matt.

Highlight Key Words and Phrases  When you want to highlight ideas or phrases, consider using bold, italics, or underlining to draw and keep your readers’ attention  If you use too much special formatting, your main ideas will not stand out © 2016 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part. 6-33

Apply Graphic Highlighting  Letters, such as (a) and (b) within the text.  Numerals, such as 1, 2, and 3, listed vertically.  Headings and bullets.  Font type and size CAPITAL LETTERS Underscores Boldface Italics

Applying Formatting to Key Words and Phrases © 2016 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part. 6-35

Using Bulleted and Numbered Lists © 2016 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part. 6-36

Use Numbered Lists for High “Skim Value” Follow these steps to archive a document: 1.Select the document. 2.Select a folder. 3.Provide a file name. 4.Click “Save.” Follow these steps to archive a document: 1.Select the document. 2.Select a folder. 3.Provide a file name. 4.Click “Save.”

Use Bulleted Lists for High “Skim Value” Consumers expect the following information at product Web sites: Price Quality Performance Availability Consumers expect the following information at product Web sites: Price Quality Performance Availability

Improving Ease of Reading with Navigational Design  Your primary goal for document design is making your message easy to navigate © 2016 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part. 6-39

Reviewing Your Message © 2016 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part. 6-40

Reviewing Your Message © 2016 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part. 6-41

Conduct a FAIR Test  Facts Are you confident in your facts? Are your assumptions clear?  Access Have you granted enough access to message recipients about decision making and information? Have you granted enough access to the message recipients to provide input? © 2016 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part. 6-42

Conduct a FAIR Test  Impacts Have you thought about how the message will impact various stakeholders?  Respect Have you demonstrated respect for the inherent worth of others: their aspirations, thoughts, feelings, and well-being? © 2016 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part. 6-43

How to Proofread Routine Documents  For computer messages, print a rough copy to read.  Look for typos, misspellings, and easily confused words.  Watch for inconsistencies and ambiguous expressions.  Check for factual errors.

How to Proofread Complex Documents  Print a copy, preferably double-spaced.  Set it aside and take a breather.  Allow adequate time for careful proofing.  Expect errors. Congratulate, not criticize, yourself each time you find a mistake!  Read the message at least twice—for meaning and for grammar/mechanics.  Reduce your reading speed. Focus on individual words.

Is Message Complete? The Six Journalists’ Questions Who? What? When? Where? Why? How? © 2016 by McGraw-Hill Education. This is proprietary material solely for authorized instructor use. Not authorized for sale or distribution in any manner. This document may not be copied, scanned, duplicated, forwarded, distributed, or posted on a website, in whole or part. 6-46