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

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

3. Chapter 3 Agenda 1. Business Style 2. Writing Structure

4. Writing Styles Academic Writing Creative Writing Scholarly Writing Business Writing

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

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

7. 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

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

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

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

11. OABC Ways to develop main ideas Explanations Illustrations EvaluationsApplications

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

13. 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

14. Paragraph Standards Coherence Length Organization Unity Development CLOUD

15. OABC Closing a.Summary b.Conclusions c.Recommendations