Chapter 5

1. Chapter 5 Writing Business Messages

2. Chapter 5 Objectives • Explain why organization is important to both audience and communicator. • Summarize the process for organizing business messages effectively. • Discuss ways of achieving a clear, concise, and businesslike tone. • Describe how to select words that are not only correct but also effective. • Explain four guidelines that help you achieve clarity and efficiency in sentences. • List five ways to develop a paragraph.

3. Common Problems in Organizing Messages • Taking too long to get to the point Make the subject and purpose clear • Including irrelevant material Include only information that is related to the purpose. • Getting ideas mixed up Group ideas in a logical, linear way. • Leaving out necessary information Include all the necessary information.

4. Why Good Organization Is Important • Misinterpreted messages lead to wasted time, poor decision-making, and damaged relationships. • Benefits of well-organized messages: • Saves your audience’s time • Helps audience understand your message • Helps your audience accept the message

5. Organization:Define the Main Idea • The main idea is the central point that sums up everything. • Your topic is the broad subject of your message. • Your main idea makes a statement about your topic.

6. Organization:Limit the Scope • The scope must match your main idea. • Test idea against time, space, and length restrictions. • The context will determine length. • Stick to three or four major points. • Amount of detail will depend on length of message.

7. Organization: Group Your Points • Group details in the most logical way. • Visualize how all points fit together. • Construct an outline. • Start with the main idea. • State the major points. • Illustrate with evidence.

8. Alphanumeric I. First major point A. First subpoint B. Second subpoint 1. Evidence 2. Evidence II. Second major point A. First subpoint B. Second subpoint Decimal 1.0 First major point 1.1 First subpoint 1.2 Second subpoint 1.2.1 Evidence 1.2.2 Evidence 2.0 Second major point 2.1 First subpoint 2.2 Second subpoint Two CommonOutline Forms

9. Outlines • In any format, outlines move from the abstract to the concrete, from the general to the specific. • The lowest level contains facts and figures to tie generalizations to the real world. • The higher levels contain the concepts that reveal why those facts are significant.

10. Organizing:Direct or Indirect Approach Direct approach • The main idea comes first. (Deductive) • Use it when your audience will accept, feel neutral about, or be pleased with your message. Indirect approach • Inductive approach is when evidence comes first and main idea comes later. • Use it when your audience will be displeased or will not be likely to accept your message.

11. Direct or Indirect? • Your choice of direct or indirect approach depends on: • Audience reaction (direct is best when audience members will be receptive; indirect may be better when audience members are likely to resist) • Message length (direct is best for short memos and letters; indirect may be better for longer reports, proposals, and presentations) • Message type (direct is best for routine, good-news, and goodwill messages; indirect may be better for bad-news and persuasive messages)

12. Routine, Good-News, and Goodwill Messages • Opening – States main idea directly • Body – Provides necessary details • Close – Uses a cordial tone that emphasizes good news or states a desired action

13. Bad-News Messages • Use the indirect approach to soften a blow. • Take a little extra care with wording, tone, timing, and style. • Open with a neutral point or explanation. • Put negative information after the explanation. • Close on a positive note.

14. Persuasive Messages • Indirect approach is used when your audience resists the message. • You must capture your audience’s attention before you can persuade them. • The opening tells the reader of possible benefits. • The body builds interest in the subject, creates a desire to comply, and introduces the main idea. • The cordial closing requests action.

15. Style and Tone • Style refers to the way you use words to create a certain tone in your messages. Use vocabulary, sentence structure, and a personal or impersonal approach to affect the style of a message. • Tone refers to the overall impression your message makes on the audience. Use the “you” attitude, positive emphasis, politeness, and formality to affect the tone of a message.

16. Achieving a Conversational Tone Avoid obsolete, pompous language Avoid intimacy Avoid humor Avoid preaching and bragging

17. Achieving a Conversational Tone Use plain English Select the best words Use functional and content words correctly Know when and how to use connotative and denotative words and phrases Know when and how to use abstract and concrete words and phrases

18. Thinking Like a Wordsmith • Choose strong words. • Choose familiar words. • Avoid clichés. • Use jargon carefully.

19. Creating Effective Sentences • Use the four types of sentences (simple, compound, complex, compound-complex). • Choose active or passive voice. • Emphasize key thoughts. • Vary sentence length. • Use bullets and lists.

20. Active & Passive Voice • Even though active voice yields shorter, stronger sentences, passive voice is best in some cases: • When you need to be diplomatic • When you want to avoid taking or attributing the credit or the blame • When you want to avoid personal pronouns to create an objective tone

21. Bulleted or Numbered Lists • By using bulleted or numbered lists, you can • Show the sequence of your ideas • Heighten the impact of list items • Ease the skimming process for busy readers • Simplify complex subjects • Highlight the main point • Visually break up the page • Give the readers a breather

22. Developing Paragraphs • A paragraph is a group of sentences all related to the same general topic. • A paragraph is made up of: • A topic sentence that introduces the topic. • Related sentences that explain the topic. • Transitional elements that show the relationship among sentences and between paragraphs.

23. Transitional Elements • You can establish coherence by using transitions in the following ways: • Use connecting words such as and, but, or, nor, for, so, nevertheless, and however. • Restate a word or phrase from a previous sentence or paragraph to cue the reader to the transition. • Use pronouns that refer to previously used nouns. • Use words that are frequently paired.

24. Developing Paragraphs • Develop a paragraph in one of five ways: • Comparison • Contrast • Cause and effect • Classification • Problem and solution

25. Paragraph Readability To increase readability, consider these elements: • Length (8 or fewer printed lines) • Effective headings • Occasional questions

26. E-mail Messages • How formal you make your e-mail messages depends on your audience and purpose. • To grab your audience’s attention in an e-mail message, try to • Make your subject line informative • Personalize your e-mail message • Make your e-mail easy to follow

27. Web Content Create effective web content by • Cutting for-print text by 50% • Adding headings and highlighting for scannability • Using hyperlinks to chunk information

28. Let’s Discuss Test Your Knowledge • What are the four steps in the process for organizing messages? • How does the denotative meaning of a a word differ from its connotative meaning? • What three elements do you consider when choosing between a direct and an indirect approach?

29. Let’s Discuss Test Your Knowledge continued • How does the audience benefit from a well-organized message? • What is style, and how do you decide on the appropriate style for a message? • How does an abstract word differ from a concrete word? • In what three situations is passive voice appropriate?

30. Let’s Discuss Test Your Knowledge continued • What is the purpose of the topic sentence? • How do you use the subject line in an email? • How can you increase the readability of your paragraphs?