Copyright © 2015 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education. Chapter 5 Planning, Composing, and Revising

5-2 Chapter 5 Learning Objectives  LO 5-1 Activities involved in the composing process, and how to use these activities to your advantage  LO 5-2 Guidelines for effective word choice, sentence constructions, and paragraph organization  LO 5-3 Techniques to revise, edit, and proofread your communications

5-3 Ways Good Writers Write  Revise first drafts  Write regularly  Break big jobs into small chunks  Focus on purpose, audience  Choose from several different strategies  Use rules flexibly  Finish a draft before editing text

5-4 Four Basic Composing Activities 1.Plan – analyze, gather 2.Write – transform ideas into words 3.Revise – evaluate, get feedback, change 4.Edit – correct grammar, typos

5-5 More About Composing Activities  Don’t have to do in order  Don’t have to finish one to start another  Don’t have to use all activities for every message

5-6 Brainstorm, Plan, and Organize  When content isn’t obvious—  Brainstorm  Free write  Cluster  Talk to audiences

5-7 Writing Good Business and Administrative Documents  Closer to conversation  Varies by audience  Contains easy-to-read words, sentences, and paragraphs  Attention to visual impact  Less formal than academic writing (except reports)

5-8 Half-Truths about Style 1. Write as you talk 2. Never use I 3. Never use You 4. Never begin sentence with And or But 5. Never end sentence with preposition 6. Never use sentences with more than 20 words or paragraphs with more than 8 lines 7. Big words impress people 8. Business writing does not document sources 1/2

5-9 Ten Ways to Make Your Writing Easy to Read As you choose words— 1. Use accurate, appropriate, and familiar words 2. Avoid technical jargon; eliminate business jargon

5-10 Ten Ways to Make Your Writing Easy to Read, continued… As you write and revise sentences— 3. Use active voice most of the time 4. Use verbs—not nouns—to carry weight of sentence 5. Eliminate wordiness 6. Vary sentence length and structure 7. Use parallel structure 8. Put readers in your sentences

5-11 Ten Ways to Make Your Writing Easy to Read, continued… As you write and revise paragraphs— 9. Begin most with topic sentence 10. Use transitions to link ideas

5-12 Organizational Preferences in Writing Style  Good writing varies by organization  Preferred style should be used  When preferred style is bad  Ask about poor examples you find  Recognize that a style may serve a purpose

5-13 Revise, Edit, and Proofread  Revise – change content, organization, and tone to satisfy purposes and audiences  Edit – change mechanical flaws, grammar errors  Proofread – correct typing errors

5-14 Use Feedback  Ask for feedback you want  Approach  Benefits  Tone  Grammar  Heed comments, even if you disagree  Rephrase  Give more details  Document sources