A Folllow on prespective -Writing does matter

There can be no doubt that the ability to develop your ideas in clear and compelling written form is crucial to success as a business professional:

"In virtually all areas of business, it is essential to communicate in ways that clients, employees, and the public can understand. Advertising appeals must be intelligible, product warranties must be comprehensible, and job instructions must be stated clearly enough to be followed. It is in the interest of the merchant, the advertising writer, and the lawyer to make sure that their writing is clear. Fortunately for those who must read and interpret communication in business and the professions, there have been concerted efforts to improve that communication in recent years."

Abstract from: ED343136 92, "Clear Writing in the Professions," ERIC Digest,, Stephen S. Gottlieb (ERIC Clearinghouse on Reading and Communication Skills, Bloomington, IN.)


Creative Art ... Systematic Science
Effective business writing is partly a creative art. Choosing and arranging words to accurately portray a series of ideas requires creativity. The creative art of writing is developed through exposure to good writing and through hard work. Effective business writing is also a "science." There are systematic processes and known principles for effective writing.

In both the art and science of writing the single most important driver of success is rooted the writer's ATTITUDE. Take a good look at yourself and ask, "What am I trying to achieve:

…am I trying to just get by or do I want to really get better?"

…do I see learning to write more effectively as a cost or an investment?"

… am I targeting excellence or expediency?"

The Differences between Writing and Speaking-by DR.Johnson
The building blocks of effective oral communication are relationships, interactive feedback and non-verbal expressions. These three elements provide a robust context for communicating. That is, we are able to use casual language (slang), incomplete sentences, and poor grammar and still achieve our goal: sharing meaning. In speaking we often do end sentences with prepositions, we speak in sentence fragments, and we use casual words and cliches'. This is because in speaking we are usually in a two-way dialogue. The other person usually knows us (and therefore understands the context of our words). Also, the other person can seek clarification and can amplify our own expressions with their feedback.

Writing is a much less robust communication environment - usually (except in personal letters) there is less relationship, no opportunity for immediate interaction, and no way to share non-verbal "messages." Writing is a one-way form of communication. We cannot assume the other person understands what we meant to say ― all they know is what the words do say. So, writing demands exquisite clarity. "Flaws" in writing (like poor grammar or slang words) are magnified as barriers to sharing meaning.

So, writing must be very carefully done. To share meaning we must pay much closer attention to the words we use, the sentences we construct and the paragraphs we design. Whereas speaking usually occurs in a very warm and forgiving environment, writing occurs in a very cool and unforgiving environment

KNOWING THE ELEMENTS-
The building blocks of effective writing are words, sentences, paragraphs, page layout and paper composition.

Each building block has its own effectiveness guidelines. We can, however, begin with four generic "prescriptions" that apply to all of the elements of effective writing.

Less is better than more. Readers have limited time and a limited attention span. Accommodate the reader's time and attention by getting to your point quickly. Business writing is not story telling; rather, you want to move the reader to a conclusion. Get to the point quickly.

Simple is better than complex. A college education can do strange things to people in terms of writing. They begin to think that eight-letter words are better than four-letter words, that long sentences are more "sophisticated" than short sentences, and that page- long paragraphs are a sign of "deep" thinking. In fact, brevity is the heartbeat of wise writing. Truly effective writers use words sparingly. Most people process words at about 10-15 words per "bite." Long sentences and paragraphs force the reader to work much harder to mentally "chew" chunks of information that cannot be mentally digested easily. The best guideline is this old maxim: KISS - "Keep it Simple, Students(or stupid)!"

Concrete is better than abstract. Use specific, compelling examples in workplace settings to illustrate your points. The old adage is that "a picture is worth a thousand words." In business writing an illustration helps the reader to visualize the concept you are describing in real workplace terms.

Begin with the end in mind. Clear writing can only occur when it rests on a foundation of clear thinking. All business writing is aimed toward leading the reader to understand the "who, what, when, why, and how much" of some workplace issue. This means that each word, sentence, paragraph and page must be directed at achieving a singular goal: helping the reader to understand (and, often, act on) what you are saying. Focus all the elements of your writing on leading the reader to reach the conclusion you have in mind.

Word Choice
Effective writing begins with selecting words that best represent the idea we are trying to communicate. Every word matters, so choose words deliberately. Recall the previous general guidelines : less is better than more, simple is better than complex, concrete is better than abstract and begin with the end in mind. Then, carefully consider each of the guidelines that follow regarding word choices that will amplify and clarify your reader's understanding.

Do not use contractions ("don't, can't, isn't) or abbreviations (etc., LBO, dept.).
Avoid casual words/phrases and cliches'. Some examples of this undesirable business writing practice are: "I think this principle is a really big deal." "The only way to succeed is to keep your nose to the grindstone." "I mean, gee whiz, how can you achieve balance in your life?" "It is hard to make a buck and stay honest."
Use adjectives and adverbs sparingly. They tend to cloud rather than clarify your point. For instance, what does the writer really mean when she says, "The company made a huge profit" ? How big is huge? Huge compared to what? Or, what does the writer mean when he says "The company operated smoothly"? Does he mean "operated without any problems ..." or "without customer complaints ..." or "with only minor problems or complaints?"
Some words do have a particular meaning. Saying that some assertion is a "fact" means that we have supplied the evidence or documentation that established it as a "fact." If we say that something is "always true" or "never so" we obligate ourselves to prove these assertions.
Avoid words like "clearly" or "obviously." These words place the reader who finds a point neither clear nor obvious in a difficult position. They either must conclude that they (the reader) are too ignorant to see what the writer found clear and obvious (an unlikely conclusion for most readers), or they will conclude that the writer has made a poor judgment (a more likely conclusion for a reader to make).
Choose active verbs over passive verbs ("The person seemed to be expressing the opinion that ..." would be better expressed, "The person said ..." ) and concrete nouns over abstract nouns ("Her job seemed boring ..." might be better expressed "Her position as substitute teacher often left her with little to plan ..." ).

Sentence Structure
We tend to write sentences in a "stream of consciousness" mode. That is, we write sentences in just the form that the ideas occur to us in our head. We forget that thinking and writing are two very different forms of communicating. Thinking is "verbal" communication with ourselves. It occurs in spontaneous, unstructured ways linking hundreds of images and impressions and ideas. Our minds are marvelous multi-tasking instruments of which even the most powerful computer is but a pale imitation.

By comparison to the nuanced complexity of thinking, writing is far more sparse, difficult and "primitive." Effective writers know that they can never totally close the gap between mental images and written words. Therefore, effective writers choose their words and craft their sentences carefully in order to bridge that gap as masterfully as possible.

Some guidelines that can help you develop as a "sentence craftsperson" follow.

Keep sentences short (10-15 words). We tend to think in small batches of ideas. A written sentence can be much longer than we can take in or "swallow" at one time. So, try to keep your sentences to "bite size" proportions.
Keep sentences simple in structure. Thinking tends to be complex. Writing a sentence needs to be done with a conscious commitment to simplicity: nouns first; verbs second; use adjectives and adverbs sparingly; and, avoid prepositional phrases.
Do not end sentences with prepositions ("This is the store I want to go to," is incorrect business writing. We should, rather, write "This is the store to which I want to go.").
Use highlighting, italics, underlining and font changes appropriately but carefully to help the reader identify important concepts.
Keep verb tenses parallel. ("One idea I wanted to follow occurred today," should be written, "One idea I want to follow occurred today ..." ) and keep nouns-pronouns consistent ("The company was profitable until they lowered quality," is incorrect: company is singular, and they is plural).
Utilize the electronic spell checking capabilities of WordPerfect to supplement your own close visual inspection of your paper. Remember, ewe can knot count on Ur spell checker two ketch the wrong word used in the wrong place but spelled correctly! I no this from sum grate experience.


NOW, I have read some articles about Paragraph Construction and just to paraphrase it:
All writing seeks to inform and persuade. Effective writing is user (reader) friendly. It is both persuasive (the writer knows what he/she wants the reader to understand) and informative (the writer provides the reader with all the support necessary to help him/her understand).

The paragraph is the fundamental unit of information and persuasion in writing. The business reader is informed and persuaded by

the clarity of the paragraph's discussion,

the strength of the paragraph's logic,

the force of the paragraph's evidence,

he reasonableness of the paragraph's conclusions,

the creativity of the paragraph's approach,

and the quality of the paragraph's mechanics.

The following guidelines will help you write more effective paragraphs:

Avoid unguardedly extreme conclusions. For instance, to say "There is almost no integrity in the way the world practices business," is a sweeping allegation that is impossible to sustain. Effective writers state only that which they can reasonably support. For instance, one could reasonably state that "Of the five managers for whom I worked, only one never lied to me about matters related to work."
Use concrete illustrations (even if they are hypothetical) to help clarify abstract concepts. For example, to say that "my manager was unapproachable," provides little help to the reader trying to understand what "unapproachable" means to the writer. However, an example that demonstrates how the manager turned down a very good suggestion for changing a store's layout helps the reader better visualize the writer's meaning.
Keep paragraphs short (4-5 sentences) and simple (topic sentence first, supporting sentences next, concluding sentence last).
Cite all quotes and paraphrases (including Bible passages) in the paragraph and include a list of references at the end of the paper. Citations strengthen a paper, assuming that they are used to help support your own ideas. Utilize the MLA (Modern Language Association) citation guidelines.
Make sure all verbs in a paragraph are the same tense. Changing verb tenses (past, present, future)in a paragraph confuses the reader.
Utilize the electronic grammar checking capabilities of WordPerfect to supplement your own close visual inspection of your paper.
Paper Composition
Developing a convincingly cohesive and comprehensive paper is a challenging task. Remember that reading is a chore. So, help the reader minimize their work by leading them through the paper so clearly that the reader always knows where they are, where they have been, and where they are going.

Some guidelines that will be of great help to the reader follow.

Provide the reader with a detailed (at least a three-level) outline, and supply the reader with that outline annotated with page numbers at the beginning of the paper (which implies that you have numbered all the pages in your paper).
Provide the reader with an Executive Summary. An Executive Summary is a one page condensation of the paper that provides the reader with all the essential conclusions of the paper. Simply put, the reader should be able to read only this one-page summary to grasp all the key conclusions in your report.
Use subheadings frequently (every 2 - 3 paragraphs). The subheadings should clearly reflect the paper's outline.
Use "bullet" lists to summarize key information both before and after key sections in the paper.
Avoid Appendices. Do not force the reader to thumb back and forth through the paper seeking to match some chart or diagram in the back of the paper to the discussion of that material in the front of the paper. If a chart or diagram matters, place it within the text of the paper.
Page Layout
The advent of sophisticated word processors and graphics programs enable all students to prepare very professional presentations.

The "written page" has become a "space" where we can arrange charts, pictures, word art (words done in fancy curved patterns) along with paragraphs to communicate our ideas with greater precision and force.

Some guidelines that will help your page layout efforts follow.

Utilize graphics to help the reader visualize key ideas in the paper. But, make sure all graphics used amplify the content of your writing. Do not use graphics as merely as decoration - this wastes your space and the reader's time.
Caption all charts and diagrams and refer to those graphics within the body of the paper.

NOW PPL, FOR YOUR FINAL THOUGHTS
Do not forget to edit your work
Be a very critical editor of your own work. Enlist the help of your friends (not in the class) to review and critique your work. Demand more from yourself than others expect of you!

Thorough editing is primarily a matter of

reducing sentence/paragraph length and complexity

removing passive language ("He seemingly yet hesitantly wanted to approach the store" would be better written "He approached the store hesitantly")

ridding the paper of "empty" adjectives and adverbs (like "a huge profit," "a neat idea," or a "super deal")

repositioning sentences and paragraphs to achieve a more logical and unified flow of ideas

reinforcing key ideas through summary (bullet) lists, concrete illustrations, and well chosen graphics

Your final draft should be 1/3 to 1/2 as long as your first draft (which means that for a 20-page paper, the first draft should be 30-40 pages). Effective writing does not mean to say everything you think - it means to say the "best" of what you have thought.

you wrote all of this or you copy this from somewhere? i must print this out and read it carefully so that i can digest every sentence.

you tell us what is good business writing with this excellent writing! learning is infinite ha?

It might be excertps from a lecture note that he gives to the business class he teaches. Just a guess.

it's a good reading material~

No, just to confirm this is not anything from lecture notes rather bits and pieces which I have put together, and gathered over the years, some excertps are somewhat from different professors which as shown.
Well I hope it's useful.

you are great! now i think it is a part of your thesis, right? No matter where it comes from, i appreciate it very much.