Completing Business Messages Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall

Revising Your Message Content Readability Clarity Conciseness Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall

The Three-Step Process Planning Writing Completing Analyze Situation Gather Information Select Medium Get Organized Revise Produce Message Proofread Message Distribute Message Adapt to the Audience Compose the Message Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall

The Revision Process Content Organization Style and tone Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall

Reviewing for Readability Vary sentence length Keep paragraphs short Use lists and bullets Add headings and subheadings Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall

Editing for Clarity Improve sentence style Impose parallelism Correct dangling modifiers Reword long noun sequences Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall

Editing for Clarity Replace camouflaged verbs Clarify sentence structure Clarify awkward references Moderate your enthusiasm Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall

Editing for Conciseness Delete unnecessary words and phrases Shorten long words and phrases Eliminate redundancies Recast “It is/There are” starters Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall

Evaluate, Edit, and Revise the Work of Others Help the writer succeed Understand the writer’s intent Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall

Revising with Technology Cut and paste Revision marks Spell checker Thesaurus Search and replace Commenting Grammar checker Style checker Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall

Producing the Message Production quality Professionalism Importance Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall

Multimedia Support Graphics Sound Video Hypertext Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall

Design for Readability Consistency Balance Restraint Detail Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall

Design Techniques White space Margins Justification Typefaces Type styles Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall

Production Technology Templates and style sheets Page setup features Column and paragraph formatting Numbered and bulleted lists Information in tables Photos, images, textboxes, and objects Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall

Proofreading Advice Making multiple passes Using perceptual tricks Focusing on high-priority items Getting some distance Staying focused and vigilant Exercising caution Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall

Distributing Messages Cost concerns Convenience Time constraints Security and privacy With the production finished, you're ready to distribute the message. As with every other aspect of business communication, your options for distribution multiply with every advance in technology. When planning for distribution, consider the following factors: Cost. This is not a concern for most messages, but for lengthy reports or multimedia production, it might well be. Printing, binding, and delivering reports can be an expensive proposition, so weigh the cost versus the benefits before you decide. Convenience. How much work is involved for you and your audience? Although it's easy to attach a document to an e-mail message, things might not be so simple for the people on the other end. Time. How soon does the message need to reach the audience? Don't waste money on overnight delivery if the recipient won't read the report for a week. Security and privacy. The convenience offered by IM, e-mail, and other technologies needs to be weighed against security and privacy concerns. Distribution technologies continue to advance, so be on the lookout for new ways to put your messages in the hands of your audience. Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall