student workbook writingskills

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customizable courseware

Student Workbook

Advanced Writing Skillsprint-on-demand courseware

fully customizable print-on-demand unlimited number of users no annual renewal fe

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Advanced Writing Skills

Student Workbook

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Copyright

All rights reserved world-wide under International and Pan-American copyrightagreements. No part of this document can be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or

transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,recording or otherwise without the prior written permission of Velsoft.

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Table of Contents

Session One: Course Overview ...................................................................................................................... 1Session Two: The Three Cs............................................................................................................................ 2

Writing Clearly ..................................................................................................................................... 2

Writing Concisely ................................................................................................................................. 5

Group Exercise ..................................................................................................................................... 7

Writing Correctly.................................................................................................................................. 8Choosing Your Sources ...................................................................................................................... 10

Session Three: Grammar and Writing Mechanics........................................................................................ 12Seven Ways to Simplify Your Writing ............................................................................................... 12Proper Paragraphs............................................................................................................................... 19More on Paragraphs............................................................................................................................ 20

Session Four: Readability............................................................................................................................. 23Session Five: Writing Letters ....................................................................................................................... 26

Parts of a Business Letter.................................................................................................................... 26Letter Styles ........................................................................................................................................ 29

Session Six: Dealing with Specific Requests ............................................................................................... 33Session Seven: E-mail Etiquette................................................................................................................... 36

Session Eight: Business Documents............................................................................................................. 37

Business Cases.................................................................................................................................... 37Requests for Proposals........................................................................................................................ 38Writing Reports................................................................................................................................... 39Documentation.................................................................................................................................... 41

A Personal Action Plan ................................................................................................................................ 44Recommended Reading List......................................................................................................................... 45

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2007, www.velsoft.com

1

Session One: Course Overview

Course Overview

This is a one-day workshop for those who already are good writers. Our time will bedevoted to writing letters of recommendation, of persuasion, of refusal or of action, thatreflect current word usage and up-to-date formats. You can also become more skilled atwriting business cases, proposals, and reports, and learn a bit more about e-mail etiquette.

Learning Objectives

Discuss your writing challenges.

Learn how to make your writing clear, concise, and correct.

Improve sentence construction and paragraph development.

Identify some ways to make your writer simpler and easier to read.

Learn about a tool that can determine how readable your work is.

Develop effective business letters for tough situations.

Discuss e-mail etiquette.

Develop an appropriate writing style and format for your letters, business cases,and reports.

Personal Objectives

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Session Two: The Three Cs

Writing Clearly

All writing should be clear, concise, and correct. Good writers use plain language toexpress clear meaning. They write in a simple style that uses every day words. They donot use showy words and ambiguous expressions in an effort to dazzle or confusereaders. They write to express ideas, not to impress others.

What do you think this manager meant in the following message?

Personnel assigned vehicular space in the adjacent areas are hereby advised thatutilization will be suspended temporarily Friday morning.

You would probably have to read that sentence several times before you understand thatyou are being advised not to park in the lot next door on Friday morning.

Clear messages contain words that are familiar and meaningful to the reader. Wheneverpossible, use short, common, simple words to say what you mean.

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3

Familiar Words

Look at the following list. What words could you use instead?

Instead of writing I could say

Ascertain

Conceptualize

Encompass

Hypothesize

Monitor

Operational

Option

Perpetuate

Perplexing

Reciprocate

Stipulate

Terminate

Utilize

However, dont give up a precise word if it says exactly what you mean.

Concrete Nouns

Concrete nouns help readers visualize the meaning of words. Concrete nouns nameobjects that are more easily imagined, such as desk, car, and earring. On the other hand,abstract nouns name concepts that are difficult to visualize, such as automation, justice,integrity, and environment. In business writing, help your reader see what you mean byusing concrete language whenever possible.

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4

Jargon

Every workplace has some words and some terms that are particular to that industry orthat business.

What are some examples of jargon you use in your workplace?

Why do we want to avoid using jargon in our writing?

When is it appropriate?

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5

Slang

This refers to the trendy use of certain words or in some cases, made-up words. This isdangerous as such words may not be understood by our audience or they may date us

since they quickly go out of fashion.

Can you give some common examples of current slang/out of date slang?

Writing Concisely

Writing concisely means saying exactly what you mean in the fewest words possible.Often, when you re-write a sentence to make it more concise, it will also make it clearer.

Here are some easy tips to remember that will help you make your writing more concise.

Use the active voice when possible.

Passive voice:The groceries had been carried away by the manager.Active voice:The manager carried away the groceries.

Notice how much shorter the second sentence is, even though it contains the sameinformation? Its also easier to read and understand.

Watch out for adverbs.

Adverbs can add unnecessary bulk to your sentences. In his writing treatise On Writing,Stephen King says, The road to hell is paved with adverbs.

Example:The dog moved much more quickly than the cat.The dog moved quicker than the cat.

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6

Dont be redundant.

Have you ever seen a sentence like, I watched the colorful sun set in the west, or, Itook off the purple colored shirt? Now, if the sun were setting in the east, that would besomething to comment on, but we all know that the sun sets in the west. Likewise, youcan safely assume that your readers know that purple is a color.

Similarly, watch out for words that mean the same: We drained and emptied the tank,could be replaced by, We emptied the tank.

Eliminate empty words.

The Writers Brief Handbook lists these words as the most common empty phrases.

By means of

Due to the fact that

For the purpose of

For the simple reason that In order to

In spite of the fact that

In this world today

It is important that

It is necessary that

On the occasion of

Prior to

In anticipation of

Until such time of

With regard to

In the neighborhood of

Had an effect on

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7

Group Exercise

Instead of Write

By means of

Due to the fact that

For the purpose of

For the simple reason that

In order to

In spite of the fact that

In this world today

It is important that

It is necessary that

On the occasion of

Prior to

In anticipation of

Until such time of

With regard to

In the neighborhood of

Had an effect on

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8

Writing Correctly

What sources have you used to ensure that your work is correct?

There are two components of correctness.

Style

The first component of correctness is style. If you are writing a document that mustconform to particular style specifications (such as Chicago or the AmericanPsychological Association, or a style guide created by your organization), you must alsoensure that your document meets those specifications. You will also ensure that yourdocument is free of spelling and grammar errors.

How can we ensure that our document is stylistically correct?

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Factual

The second component of correctness is factual correctness. Did the budget actuallycome in at $5,671? Was the temperature actually 67 degrees? Were the test results really

positive?

There are a few ways to ensure that your document is factually correct. When writing,make sure you list the source whenever you include a fact. These sources can be for yourown reference and not part of the final document, but they will help you when editing.These references will also help you answer any questions that readers may have later on.

If at all possible, make sure you go to the original source. If you find a newspaper articlethat quotes a particular study, for example, go back and find that study. In some cases,you may want to find multiple sources to confirm a particular fact. It depends on youraudience and what kind of document you are writing.

It can also be a good idea to include excerpts from your source. For example, rather thantry to explain a graph, it might be easier to include the graph itself. Make sure that youhave the appropriate permissions and that the source is quoted if you choose to do this.

What kinds of sources might we use to check for factual correctness?

If you are going to use the Internet as a reference source, remember these points.

Make sure you are using a reputable Web site. Companies like Encarta orEncyclopedia Britannica are well-known for their reference products. Other Websites, like Wikipedia, are user-created and not necessarily accurate.

If you are in doubt of the accuracy of the site, find another way of checking thefact.

If at all possible, go back to the original source and use it as a reference.

Always keep notes of the name of the site, the URL, and the date you visited it.You may even want to save a copy of the Web page to your local computer.

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Choosing Your Sources

What are some possible resources for each of these projects?

Brochure with time management tips

University paper on dinosaurs

Newspaper article on the emergence of Internet fraudNotF

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Internal company e-mail on budget items

Company memo recommending a product

Training presentation on goal setting

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Advanced Writing Skills 1

Session Three: Grammar and Writing Mechanics

Seven Ways to Simplify Your Writing

Parallelism

Parallelism is a writing technique that involves balanced writing, such as using similarstructures to express similar ideas. It is the writers word for consistency. Once you startdoing something one way, you should keep doing it that way. Use identical noun,adjective, or verb forms so that writing is easy to read and understand.

Change this sentence to preserve parallelism: We need more laboratory space,

additional personnel are required, and we also need a bigger slice of the budget.

Style/Tone

Style and tone are nearly the same thing, and the words really mean the emotional mood

of the writing. Style is famously described as the way of saying it. Style is what makesthe same song sound different when it is sung by Michael Jackson or by Aretha Franklin.

Tone isnt determined by topic, nor by the writers personality. Nor is tone alwaysdetermined by the audience. Tone is most often determined by purpose: what are youtrying to do?

Every piece of writing, like every person, has an emotional feel, an unstated message. Toappreciate the large part that tone plays in writing, become sensitive to it in everythingyou readparticularly everything you read from your director or the person for whomyou write letters and memos most often.

Most business letters, memos, and reports replace conversation. Thus they are mosteffective when they convey their message in an informal, conversational tone. Manywriters tend toward a formal or distant writing style, depersonalizing the message byusing third-person constructions such as the undersigned or the writer.

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