Writing & Speaking for Business By William H. Baker Chapter Three

Composing Written Messages Identify your Purpose Analyze your Audience Develop an Outline Decided on a Strategy

Chapter 3 Agenda 1. Business Style 2. Writing Structure

Writing Styles Academic Writing Creative Writing Scholarly Writing Business Writing

Important Style Factors Readability —Sentence length —Word difficulty Formality —More formal —Less formal Diction—Slang—Flowery—Preferred

Readability Rating Average Sentence Length Percentage of Difficult Words Very Easy<10 Average11-20 Difficult21-30 Very Difficult31+

OABC Opening a.The reason for the message b.The problem you will later address c.A major recommendation you are making d.An answer to the reader’s previous communication e.Other key information

OABC Agenda Types a.Quantify b.Identify c.Organize d.Symbolize

OABC Caution... Don’t make the agenda sound too wordy or mechanical

OABC Body Develop the key point(s) given in the opening or agenda

OABC Ways to develop main ideas Explanations Illustrations EvaluationsApplications

Persuasion Indirect OrderDirect Order 1 Fact 11 Conclusion or action 2 Fact 22 Fact 1 3 Conclusion or action3 Fact 2

Enemies of Logical Reasoning 1 Bandwagon evidence 2 Bifurcation3 Evaluation by association4 False analogy5 False causality6 Incomplete evidence7 Lack of evidence otherwise8 Recency persuasion9 Slippery slope 10 Tradition = Indefensible Conclusions

Paragraph Standards Coherence Length Organization Unity Development CLOUD

OABC Closing a.Summary b.Conclusions c.Recommendations