COM100

Effective Business CommunicationSession 3, Paragraph development and Academic writing conventions

© Study Group Australia Pty Ltd trading as Martin College, Martin Higher Education 2

Click to edit Master title styleLearning Outcomes

The learning outcomes to be achieved in this session are:

o understanding writing models

o understanding and explaining writing actions and methods

o effectively using writing tools and resources

o design and implement a writing strategy

o identify and explain the various steps in effectively writing and editing written communications.

© Study Group Australia Pty Ltd trading as Martin College, Martin Higher Education 3

Click to edit Master title style

Think before writing.

Edit and revise before printing.

Read all about it!

The Macon County Humane Society offers a free spay or neutering to senior citizens if they adopt an

animal out of the animal shelter.

Stolen Painting

Found By Tree

Trump Wins on Jobs, But More Lies Ahead

Squad Helps Dog Bite Victim

March

Planned

For Next

August

Two Sisters Reunited after 18 Years in

Checkout Counter

Why not have the kids shot for Easter, or have a family portrait taken? What have you got to lose?

What’s wrong with this?

Look for any ambiguous terms,

inappropriate and unnecessary

words, examples of poor phrasing

and structure or errors in the

examples of text.

Rewrite the example in so that the

message is clear and easy to

understand.

What’s wrong with this?

The Company may require an audit of the business comprising and

examination of such business records and financial records as necessary to

ascertain financial results for the period in questions

or

We might need to audit your business's records to confirm the financial

results for the period.

SOURCE: Plain English Foundationwww.plainenglishfoundation.com

‘PEF before and after examples’

What’s wrong with this?

The pedestrian link may not be fully operational at the time of opening of the

commercial towers which may result in significent pedestrian travel issues for

people using the retail precinct

or

If the pedestrian link is not ready when the commercial towers open, people

will not be able to walk to the shopping area.

SOURCE: Plain English Foundationwww.plainenglishfoundation.com

‘PEF before and after examples’

What’s wrong with this?

During the preparation of any proposals I would encourage dialogue between

yourself and the finance manager to ensure that there is a shared

understanding of the budgetery issues effecting your team

or

As you prepare proposals, please talk to the Finance Manager so you both

understand any issues with the team’s budget.

SOURCE: Plain English Foundationwww.plainenglishfoundation.com

‘PEF before and after examples’

What’s wrong with this?

Until such a time as the resource requirements associated with the

perfromance needs of the the essential basic functions of the position

are fully understood it is difficult to make predictions as to the capacity

of the officer to engage in policy development activities

or

We do not yet fully understand what resources the position needs for

its main functions, so we cannot predict whether the officer can also

develop policy.SOURCE: Plain English Foundationwww.plainenglishfoundation.com

‘PEF before and after examples’

Know Your Reader

A Model of the interaction between readers and documents

User Characteristics

• Intelligence

• Reading level

• Demographics

• Experience

User Behaviour

• Performs tasks with document

Document characteristics

• Content

• Style guide

• Language/jargon

• Layout

Styles of workplace writing

• Narrative – a descriptive story composed of facts, following a chronological order

• Argument – building a case on logical statements, assembling facts one after another until a conclusion is reached

• Definition – supported with evidence which may include illustrations, examples, statistics or expert testimony

• Description – often follows a definition and provides a more extensive description of what something looks like and what it does

• Instructions – technical documents, manuals, procedures and processes

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Team Writing

Collaborative writing is a feature in a lot of work places and at Tertiary institutions.

Tips for Team Writing

• Good teamwork is essential

• Agreement on goals and style

• Collaborative Editing

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Starting to Write

Techniques include:

• Audience Analysis

• Thinking Hats (for idea generation during creative or problem solving writing)

• 4Ps Strategy

• 5Ws and 1H Strategy

• Mind Mapping

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Audience Analysis

• Who is going to want to read your document?

• Who will need the information?

• What will they do with your information?

• Will they want detail or a general coverage?

• What aspects of your topic will be important and useful to them?

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Appropriate Tone

Example

There was chaos during the meeting so no decision was reached

What does this imply occurred in the meeting?

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Appropriate Tone

Example

Without a leader the team became hopelessly lost.

What does this convey about the team?

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Punctuation

• The main function of punctuation is to aid the communicator in presenting ideas clearly

• It provides the traffic signals and road signs for writing

• Incorrect use of punctuation can completely change the meaning of a statement.

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Impact of Poor Punctuation

Example:

Woman without her man is nothing

(emphasises the importance of man)

Or

Woman: without her, man is nothing

(emphasises the importance of women)

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Punctuation

Example

King Charles walked and talked half an hour after his head was cut off

OR

King Charles walked and talked; half an hour after, his head was cut off

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Effective Writing

Keys to effective writing include:

• Clarity

• Accuracy

• Spelling

• Conciseness (also known as Brevity)

• Coherence

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Clarity

Three ingredients:

• Simplicity: get straight to the point

• Familiarity: using words and ideas the reader will recognise

• Visibility: creating mental pictures for the reader

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Ambiguity

Examples – Newspaper Headlines

• Dealers will hear car talk at noon

• Miners refuse to work after death

• Kids make nutritious snacks

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Examples – Statements

• She gave her cat food

• I saw her duck

• I love hunting dogs

Vagueness

Examples

• John went to the bank.

• Put the box on the table in the kitchen.

What are the different meanings for each of these sentences?

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Accuracy

Relates to the accuracy of:

the information included in the document

the spelling used

the version of the word

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Accuracy: Spelling

Examples: Which one is correct?

• definitaly or definitely

• argument or arguement

• occurence or occurrence

• heros or heroes

• cemetary or cemetery

• irresistible or irresitable

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Accuracy: Correct Word

Which is the correct version of the word:

• Its/It’s not fair that Sally gets to go to the party and I don’t.

• As a child he was affected/effected by his parents.

• First I did push-ups than/then I did sit-ups.

• I have more assignments to finish then/than you do.

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Conciseness / Brevity

General rules of sentence and paragraph structure:

• Sentences should comprise no more than 15-20 words

• One idea per paragraph

• No more than 3 – 4 sentences in a paragraph

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Too Many Words

Examples:

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Heavy phrases Simple words

for the purpose of for

provide an introduction introduce

on a daily basis daily

the majority of most

Flesch Reading Ease

• The readability score formula rates text on a 100-point scale based on the average number of syllables per word and words per sentence.

• The higher the Flesch Reading Ease score, the easier it is to understand the document. For most standard documents, aim for a Flesch Reading Ease score of approximately 60 to 70.

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Microsoft’s version of FleschReadability Score

• On the Tools menu, click Options, and then click the Spelling & Grammartab.

• Select the Check grammar with spelling check box.

• Select the Show readability statistics check box, and then click OK.

• Click Spelling and Grammar on the Standard toolbar.It is only when Word finishes checking spelling and grammar that it will display information about the reading level of the document.

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Editing and Reviewing Guidelines

• Make a point form outline of your draft

• Analyse the introduction

• Review the conclusion

• Work through the body and check for clarity and accuracy

• Check references

• Thorough review of spelling, grammar etc

• Review the visual impact

• Review the style including font, colours

• Have one last ruthless look

• Keep a back up copy

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The End

Tutorial

• Using a résumé template, create your own résumé in accordance with the standards discussed in Mohan et al pp323-327.

• Note – students will need to have access to a computer with Microsoft Word and must have downloaded the résumé template from the LMS

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