1. Business Letters

2. Sender’s Address Date Inside Address Salutation Body Closing

3. Writing for a North American Business Audience 1. Getting to the point 2. Keeping it simple 3. Using passive and active voice 4. Using nondiscriminatory language

4. Questions Focus and Purpose 1. What is your purpose in writing the document? 2. What purpose should the document serve for your reader? 3. Is your main point stated early in the document? 4. What do you want your reader to do when s/he finishes reading the document?

5. Questions Audience Is your document tailored to the needs of a specific audience (user-centered)? Are your tone and language appropriate for your audience? Will you have persuaded your reader by the end of the document?

6. Questions Organization 1. Does your document begin by explaining your point and forecasting the communication's main ideas? 2. Your introduction should answer these three questions from the perspective of the reader: What is this? Why am I getting it? What do you want me to do?

7. Questions Organization 3. Is information arranged in order of importance to your audience? 4. Is similar information kept together? 5. Is each section organized around only one main idea? 6. Do topic sentences begin each paragraph?

8. Questions Document Design 1. Can your readers find information where s/he expects to see it? 2. Is there any place where you can improve the readability of the document by using indentation or bullets?

9. Questions Development 1. Do you provide enough background information for the message? 2. Have you eliminated unnecessary and/or obvious information to your audience?

10. Accentuating the Positives When you need to present negative information, soften its effects by superimposing a positive picture on a negative one. Stress what something is rather than what it is not. Emphasize what the firm or product can and will do rather than what it cannot. Open with action rather than apology or explanation. Avoid words which convey unpleasant facts.

11. Embedded Position Place good news in positions of high emphasis: at the beginnings and endings of paragraphs, letters, and even sentences. Place bad news in secondary positions: in the center of paragraphs, letters, and, if possible, sentences.

12. Effective Use Of Space Give more space to good news and less to bad news. Evaluate the following examples to determine whether or not they present negative information favorably.