Basic Purposes of Business Writing English Three, SY Sources: Lesikar, R.V., Pettit, J.D. Jr., & Flatley, M.E. (2000). Lesikar's basic business communication, 8th edition. Boston: McGraw-Hill Locker, K.O. & Kaczmarek, S.K. (2001). Business communicatio: Building critical skills. N.Y.: McGraw-Hill. Prepared by: Dianne Siriban, College Faculty, DLSC

Three Basic Purposes of Business Writing To INFORM To INFORM To REQUEST or PERSUADE To REQUEST or PERSUADE To BUILD GOODWILL To BUILD GOODWILL * Most organizational writing often have two or all of these purposes at the same time.

Differences between writing for school and writing documents for organizations: ASPECTSCHOOLBUSINESS Purpose To show that you have learned the course material and to demonstrate your intelligence. To meet an organizational need. What the writer already knows becomes secondary to the solutions the writer can give.

ASPECTSCHOOLBUSINESS Audience Limited to instructor and other students. Even if the instructor disagrees with your opinions, if they are well-supported your paper will earn a good grade. People both inside and outside the organization. They will read messages only if they seem important, relevant or interesting. Without instilling need or motivation, the document fails. Differences between writing for school and writing documents for organizations:

ASPECTSCHOOLBUSINESS Information Information may be new to you but not for your instructor. Usually new to your reader; need extra effort in making it sound interesting. Differences between writing for school and writing documents for organizations:

ASPECTSCHOOLBUSINESS Organization Follow traditional essay form, thesis statement, paragraphs of evidence and concluding paragraph. Organized to meet the psychological needs of the reader (ex. delivering bad and good news messages, etc.) Differences between writing for school and writing documents for organizations:

ASPECTSCHOOLBUSINESS Style Often formal; big words, long sentences and paragraphs are often rewarded. Should be friendly, not formal. Short, familiar words and a mix of sentence and paragraph lengths are best. Differences between writing for school and writing documents for organizations:

ASPECTSCHOOLBUSINESS Document Design Traditionally considerable in length, double- spaced, no particular attention to visual design. Allows readers to skim document elements such as headers, lists; single spaced paragraphs with double spacing between paragraphs, help the reader find information quickly. Differences between writing for school and writing documents for organizations:

ASPECTSCHOOLBUSINESS Visuals Except for math and engineering. Few classes expect writing to contain anything other than words. Writers are expected to choose the most effective way to convey information (tables, graphs, charts, maps, slides, etc.) Differences between writing for school and writing documents for organizations:

Five criteria for good business and administrative writing: It is clear. It is clear. It is complete. It is complete. It is correct. It is correct. It saves the reader time. It saves the reader time. It builds goodwill. It builds goodwill. These five criteria depend on the interactions among the writer, the audience, the purposes of the message, and the situation or context. No single set of words will work in all possible situations.