Online Business Writing Class

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ClassesYouValue- Online Business Writing Class
September 30, 2013

• ClassesYouValue
• 702-446-0285
• Website
• http//www.classesyouvalue.com/Kymberly-Williams-E
  vans/Write-To-Be-Read.html

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I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do
and I understand. -Confucius
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Learning Objectives

• The participant will be able to
• Plan an effective business document.
• Organize business documents for maximum impact.
• Describe common grammar errors and how to fix
  them.
• Identify tools to help edit and proofread
  documents.
• Review the dos and donts of email writing.

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The Business Writing Process

• Planning Stage
• Organizing Stage
• Writing Stage
• Re-writing Stage
• Celebration Stage

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Planning

• Step One Know your audience
• Step Two Know your subject

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Organization

• Organize your clutter
• Mind map
• Outline
• Order of importance
• Pro vs. Con
• Cause and effect
• Chronologically
• Dont lose your organization when you write your
  document.

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Mind Mapping
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Style

• Clear language
• Example in handout
• Be Brief
• Example in handout
• Sentence length
• Example in PowerPoint

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Sentence Length

• Now if nature should intermit her course and
  leave altogether, though it were but for awhile,
  the observation of her own laws if those
  principal and mother elements of the world,
  whereof all things in this lower world are made,
  should lose the qalities which now they have if
  the frame of that heavenly arch erected over our
  heads should loosen and dissolve itself if
  celestial spheres should forget their wonted
  motions, and by irregular volubility turn
  themselves any way as it might happen if the
  prince of the lights of heaven which now as a
  giant doth run his unwearied course, should, as
  it were through a languishing faintness, begin to
  stand and to rest himself if the moon should
  wander from her beaten way, the times and seasons
  of the year blend themselves by disordered and
  confused mixture, the winds breathe out their
  last gasp, the clouds yield no rain, the earth be
  defeated of heavenly influence, the fruits of the
  earth pine away as children at the withered
  breasts of their mother no longer able to yield
  them relief what would become of man himself,
  whom these things now do all serve?
• from Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity
  Thomas Hooker, father of American democracy and
  founder of Hartford, Connecticut

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Style

• Clear language
• Example in handout
• Be Brief
• Example in handout
• Sentence length
• Example in PowerPoint
• Formatting
• Example in PowerPoint

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Style Practice

• Seek to improve
• Clarity
• Brevity
• Sentence Length

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Grammar

• Parallel Structure
• Passive vs. Active voice
• Examine your own writing for your common grammar
  errors

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Parallel structure

• Definition writing expressions similar in
  content and function in similar forms.

Not Parallel The article will discuss 1.
How to deal with corporate politics. 2.
Coping with stressful situations. 3. What
the role of the manager should be in the
community.
Parallel The article will tell managers how to
1. Deal with corporate politics. 2. Cope
with stressful situation. 3. Function in the
community.
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Passive vs. Active Voice

• Examples
• About a dozen people reviewed the report in draft
  form.
• (subject) (verb)
  (object)
• (actor) (action)
  (thing acted upon)
• The report was reviewed in draft form by about a
  dozen people.
• (subject) (verb)
• (thing acted (action)
  (actor)
• upon)

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Passive vs. Active Voice

• Passive Our research has been supported by the
  previous data. (9)
• Active The previous data supports our
  research. (6)
• Passive The exam was failed by half of the
  accounting majors in the room. (13)
• Active Half of the accounting majors in the
  room failed the exam. (11)

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Passive vs. Active Voice

• The accident injured her
• You will be replaced
• Someone was following me
• They could have been told

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Editing

• Using the rules of the English language
• Use the Gregg manual, Strunk and White as
  resources for grammar and style problems.
• Find the errors you make most frequently and the
  questions on this and page 11 in your handout to
  create your own editing checklist
• For content
• Is the document what was requested?
• Is the document logically organized?
• Is there anything missing?
• Is the document clear and concise?
• Have all potential objections (by the reader)
  been addressed?

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Proofreading

• To make sure things look right
• Backwards read
• Against the original (form letter)
• Forward- line by line
• Trouble spots
• Read aloud

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Whats Wrong Here?
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ClassesYouValue- Online Business Writing
Class Phone [phone] Website
http//www.classesyouvalue.com/Kymberly-Williams-
Evans/Write-To-Be-Read.html