Business Writing Notes

 Business Writing

Basics of Good Writing

-Good writing is a windowpane

Writing should be transparent.

Clarity above all

-Waste no time

Keep reader’s schedule in mind

Efficiency

Shorted

Well organised documents

Clear and direct writing

Get ideas across quickly

Make you and your ideas look good

-Don’t sound smart, be smart

Say what you mean simply and directly

-Own your ideas

-Be the authority

Avoid wishy-washy words

Like-

Should

Maybe

Could

Might

Think

-Everyone needs an editor

Accept value of feedback to get better

Design well to write well

-Who are you

Self presentation

-Appearance matters

First impression

How your document looks

Clarity, brevity, message

-Looking your best

White space

Short paragraph

Organisational tags

The formula for writing success

Why is organisation important

-Organise or die

-Scaffold well to write well

-Great writers are great revisers 

Part of revision is how my audience is going to see it

-Organisational scaffold you need for everything

-Scaffold well to write well

Structure of Business Document-

-Say what you are going to say: The Roadmap

First sentence should be purpose of document.

Then provide one or two sentences that summarise your primary argument.

-Say it: The signposted body paragraphs

Body paragraphs

Elaborate your points.

Write in points in order

First sentence most important

-Say what you just said:Conclusion as a reminder 

Restatement of first paragraph with different language

Scaffold for the paragraph

-One idea per paragraph

-Every idea begins with a strong  topic sentence that tells topic. It should be so clear that you can put it in a document outline.