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Prentice Hall , 2008
Business Communicat ion Today, 9e
Chapter 6 - 1
Completing
Completing
Business Messages
©
Prentice Hall , 2008
Business Communicat ion Today, 9e
Chapter 6 - 2
Three-Step Writing
Three-Step Writing
Process
Process
•
Planning
•
Writing
©
Prentice Hall , 2008
Business Communicat ion Today, 9e
Chapter 6 - 3
Moving Beyond the First
Moving Beyond the First
Draft
Draft
•
Evaluating content, organization,
style and tone
•
Reviewing for readability
©
Prentice Hall , 2008
Business Communicat ion Today, 9e
Chapter 6 - 4
Evaluating Content
Evaluating Content
•
Is the information accurate?
•
Is the information relevant?
•
Is there enough information?
•
Are generalities balanced with
©
Prentice Hall , 2008
Business Communicat ion Today, 9e
Chapter 6 - 5
Evaluating Organization
Evaluating Organization
•
Are all points covered logically?
•
Do important ideas receive sufficient
space and are they placed properly?
•
Could the message be arranged in a more
convincing sequence?
©
Prentice Hall , 2008
Business Communicat ion Today, 9e
Chapter 6 - 6
Evaluating Style and
Evaluating Style and
Tone
Tone
•
Does the writing meet the audience’s
expectations?
•
Is the writing too formal or
academic?
•
Is the writing too casual?
©
Prentice Hall , 2008
Business Communicat ion Today, 9e
Chapter 6 - 7
Reviewing for
Reviewing for
Readability
Readability
©
Prentice Hall , 2008
Business Communicat ion Today, 9e
Chapter 6 - 8
Increasing “Skim” Value
Increasing “Skim” Value
•
Sentence length
•
Short paragraphs
•
Lists and bullets
©
Prentice Hall , 2008
Business Communicat ion Today, 9e
Chapter 6 - 9
Editing for Clarity
Editing for Clarity
•
Break up overly long sentences
•
Rewrite hedging sentences
•
Impose parallelism
©
Prentice Hall , 2008
Business Communicat ion Today, 9e
Chapter 6 - 10
Editing for Clarity
Editing for Clarity
©
Prentice Hall , 2008
Business Communicat ion Today, 9e
Chapter 6 - 11
Editing for Conciseness
Editing for Conciseness
•
Delete unnecessary words and phrases
•
Shorten long words and phrases
•
Eliminate redundancies
©
Prentice Hall , 2008
Business Communicat ion Today, 9e
Chapter 6 - 12
Revising with Technology
Revising with Technology
•
Revision tools
•
Spell checker
•
Grammar checker
•
Thesaurus
©
Prentice Hall , 2008
Business Communicat ion Today, 9e
Chapter 6 - 13
Producing the Message
Producing the Message
©
Prentice Hall , 2008
Business Communicat ion Today, 9e
Chapter 6 - 14
Multimedia Elements
Multimedia Elements
•
Presentation software
•
Graphics software
©
Prentice Hall , 2008
Business Communicat ion Today, 9e
Chapter 6 - 15
Designing for Readability
Designing for Readability
•
Improve the effectiveness of your
message
©
Prentice Hall , 2008
Business Communicat ion Today, 9e
Chapter 6 - 16
Design Elements
Design Elements
•
Consistency
•
Balance
©
Prentice Hall , 2008
Business Communicat ion Today, 9e
Chapter 6 - 17
Design Techniques
Design Techniques
•
White space
•
Margins
•
Justification
•
Typefaces
©
Prentice Hall , 2008
Business Communicat ion Today, 9e
Chapter 6 - 18
Using Technology
Using Technology
•
Templates and style sheets
•
Page setup
•
Column formatting
•
Paragraph formatting
•
Numbered and bulleted lists
•
Tables and textboxes
©
Prentice Hall , 2008
Business Communicat ion Today, 9e
Chapter 6 - 19
Business Letter Format
Business Letter Format
•
Letterhead stationery
•
Date
•
Inside address
•
Salutation
•
The message
©
Prentice Hall , 2008
Business Communicat ion Today, 9e
Chapter 6 - 20
Memo Format
Memo Format
•
Memo title
•
Headings
©
Prentice Hall , 2008
Business Communicat ion Today, 9e
Chapter 6 - 21
Proofreading Your
Proofreading Your
Message
Message
•
Quality assurance
–
Undetected mistakes from the writing,
design, and layout stages
©
Prentice Hall , 2008
Business Communicat ion Today, 9e
Chapter 6 - 22
Proofreading Advice
Proofreading Advice
•
Make multiple passes
•
Use perceptual tricks
•
Double-check high-priority items
•
Get some distance
•
Stay focused and vigilant
•
Review complex electronic documents on
paper
©
Prentice Hall , 2008
Business Communicat ion Today, 9e
Chapter 6 - 23
Distributing Your
Distributing Your
Message
Message
•
Cost concerns
•
Convenience
•
Time constraints
