1. Chapter 5 – Completing Business Messages

2. 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
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3. Revising Different Types of Messages
Revising Informal Messages
Revising Digital Messages
Revising Important Messages
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4. Revising Your Message: Evaluating the First Draft
Good writers recognize that their first draft is rarely as:
Tight
Clear
Compelling
as it should be.

5. 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?
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6. 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

7. Revising to Improve Readability

8. 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.
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9. Tips for Improving Readability
Varying Your
Sentence Length
Keeping Your Paragraphs Short

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

11. 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.

12. 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

13. Designing for Readability
Consistency
Balance
Restraint
Detail

14. White Space, Margins and Justification

15. 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

16. 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

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

18. 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

19. 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.