Chapter 5 – Completing Business Messages

Learning Objectives After studying this chapter, you will be able to: Discuss the value of careful revision and describe the tasks involved in evaluating your first drafts and the work of other writers List some techniques you can use to improve the readability of your messages Describe the steps you can take to improve the clarity of your writing and give several tips on making your writing more concise Identify software tools that can help you revise messages and explain the risks of using them List some principles of effective design and explain the role of major design elements in document readability Explain the importance of proofreading and give some tips for successful proofreading 5-2

Revising Different Types of Messages Revising Informal Messages Revising Digital Messages Revising Important Messages 5-3

Revising Your Message: Evaluating the First Draft Good writers recognize that their first draft is rarely as: Tight Clear Compelling as it should be.

Evaluating Your Content, Organization, and Tone Clear and Accurate Relevant and Complete Organization Order and Emphasis Repetition and Grouping Tone Is It Too Formal? Is It Too Casual? 5-5

Evaluating, Editing, and Revising the Work of Other Writers Purpose Target audience Information needed Special circumstances Well-organized “You” Attitude Tone Readability Clear writing Concise Page/screen design support intended message

Revising to Improve Readability

See the difference? Confirm Content/Organization/Tone After reviewing your message, make a second pass to improve readability. Most professionals are inundated with more reading material than they can ever hope to consume, and they’ll appreciate your efforts to make your documents easier to read—and easier to skim for the high-lights when they don’t have time to read in depth. You’ll benefit from this effort. If you earn a reputation for creating well-crafted documents that respect the audience’s time, people will pay more attention to your work now and in the future. Improving Readability Four powerful techniques for improving readability are : varying sentence length, using shorter paragraphs, replacing narrative with lists, and adding effective headings and subheadings. After confirming the content, organization, and tone of your message, make a second pass to improve readability. Most professionals are inundated with more reading material than they can ever hope to consume, and they’ll appreciate your efforts to make your documents easier to read—and easier to skim for the highlights when they don’t have time to read in depth. You’ll benefit from this effort, too: If you earn a reputation for creating well-crafted documents that respect the audience’s time, people will pay more attention to your work now and in the future. Four powerful techniques for improving readability are varying sentence length, using shorter paragraphs, replacing narrative with lists, and adding effective headings and subheadings. 5-7

Tips for Improving Readability Varying Your Sentence Length Keeping Your Paragraphs Short

More tips for Improving Readability Using Lists and Bullets to Clarify and Emphasize Adding Headings and Subheadings

Editing for Clarity and Conciseness Look closely at: Paragraph organization Sentence structure Word choices Have a goal of removing unnecessary words in order to reduce word count.

Using Technology to Revise Your Message on the spell checker alone! But . . . DO NOT count on the spell checker alone! Track changes and Comments Set the autocorrect for specific mistakes you tend to always make Thesaurus – offers alternative words Spell checker – but only unrecognized words and incorrectly spelled words Electronic dictionary Grammar checker – highlights incorrect phrases and suggests revisions

Designing for Readability Consistency Balance Restraint Detail

White Space, Margins and Justification

Typefaces and Type Styles NOT OK for business use Jokerman Juice Gigi Magneto Edwardian Script Goudy Stout OK for business use Times New Roman Calibri (default) Cambria Arial Garamond Lucida Handwriting

Using Technology to Produce Your Message Templates, themes, style sheets Page setup Column formatting Paragraph formatting Numbered and bulleted lists Tables Images, text boxes and objects

Designing for Mobile Devices Think in Small Chunks Use Plenty of White Space Keep the Format Simple Experiment with Layouts

Proofreading Your Message Proofreading differs from editing, in that you are mainly looking for errors or omissions rather than improving writing style or tone. Proofread: Out loud In reverse For one error at a time A hard copy instead of on the screen “The difference between the almost-right word and the right word is really a large matter – it’s the difference between the lightning-bug and the lightning.” ~ Mark Twain “Mark Twain’s well-known observation appeared at the top of the ‘Language/Writing’ page of a university’s continuing education website – just above a blurb for ‘Mistake-Free Grammar & Proofreading.’ Except that Twain’s line was misquoted, and the word lightning was twice misspelled as lightening.” Nordquist, R. “Top 10 Proofreading Tips,” Retrieved from http://grammar.about.com/od/improveyourwriting/a/tipsproofreading.htm

Learning Objectives: Check Your Progress Discuss the value of careful revision and describe the tasks involved in evaluating your first drafts and the work of other writers. List some techniques you can use to improve the readability of your messages. Describe the steps you can take to improve the clarity of your writing and give some tips on making your writing more concise. Identify some software tools that can help you revise messages and explain the risks of using them. List some principles of effective design and explain the role of major design elements in document readability. Explain the importance of proofreading and give several tips for successful proofreading.