Exploring the New Basics of Business Writing

Overview/Description
 How do your colleagues react to your business writing? Do they think it's informative, remembering what your main messages were? Or, do they tend to forget your latest e-mail, memo, or letter even if you just sent it yesterday? If your answer to the last question is a resounding "Yes," you need Exploring the New Basics of Business Writing. Stuffy-sounding words and long, tedious sentences have gone the way of the typewriter. In today's fast-paced business environment, people expect quick, decisive messages that express the purpose upfront, give the details, and ask for action. You'll learn how business needs have changed business writing and how to create a writing style full of pizzazz. Finally, you'll learn how to design and produce high-impact documents using a foolproof, three-step method; these will be documents your readers will remember.

Target Audience
 Managers at all levels, administrative staff, anyone writing business documents

Expected Duration
3.0 hours

Lesson Objectives:

The Changing Face of Business Writing

  • recognize the value of accepting the fact that business writing has changed.
  • identify the myths that some business writers currently believe.
  • select examples that illustrate desirable characteristics of business writing.
  • select the ways to use the computer as an effective tool for modern business writing.

    • A Recipe for Business Writing

  • recognize the value of adapting sentence structure and phrase and word choice to current business writing expectations.
  • select preferred sentence structures for clarity given a specific scenario.
  • choose sentences that contain phrases that clarify the meaning.
  • identify the factors to consider in selecting correct and effective words for business writing.

    • Designing for High Reader Impact

  • recognize the benefits of carefully planning written business messages.
  • match three common purposes of business writing to appropriate types of messages.
  • select four elements to consider when analyzing the targeted readers of a business document.
  • match each channel of communication to its appropriate uses.

    • Producing High-impact Documents

  • recognize the benefits of methodically planning, drafting, and rewriting effective business documents.
  • match three ways of overcoming writer's block with their definitions.
  • select three ways to shorten the time spent in the message drafting process.
  • choose important questions business writers should ask about what they have written.

    • Course Number: COMM0221