1. Principles of Professional Communication 1
The process of good writing – what’s a cliché anyway?

2. What do writers have to think about? - purpose
Why do I want to write about this? What do I expect to learn/achieve as a result?
Different writing purposes include – Information, Persuasion, Entertainment
WHAT DO WRITERS HAVE TO THINK ABOUT?
Most of the difficulties that writers experience arise due to a lack of preparation and planning for what they are about to do. Many of you will have had the experience of sitting down at your desk and being unable to begin – that is experiencing “writers block”. How do we overcome this?
Think of the process of writing in a similar way to planning a traveling holiday. To get in your car and drive without considering where you want to get to in the end and the sights you want to see would be quite a waste of time. There are always many different ways to reach a destination and you don’t necessarily have to stop at every town along the way especially if you have been there before. Planning a trip requires consideration of the needs of the travelers (older people and children will have different needs for example), what they want to see, whether they have been to the various destinations before and what they expect to get out of the trip- to get there and get home again as quickly as possible or to stay and leisurely enjoy the experience.
Planning your writing has many similarities to this analogy. Answering these questions first helps to get to your planned destination and achieve your objectives more effectively and efficiently. So what do writers have to think about?
Principles of Professional Communication 1

3. What do writers have to think about? - purpose
Consider how their readers will use or react to the information/document
Frame a purpose statement to clarify your aims in your own mind eg I am writing this letter to collect an overdue account but need to still ensure good customer relations
A purpose statement gives the writer a mental target to aim for
Purpose – why do I want to write about this? What do I want my readers to think, feel and do with the information that I am giving them? Making a purpose statement is a good way of clarifying in your own mind what you want the document to achieve – gives the writer a mental target to aim for (slides 9 & 10)
Principles of Professional Communication 1

4. What do writers have to think about? – audience
Who are my intended readers – age, experience, culture, education level etc?
How much will they know about the topic?
Why is it important to put your ideas in print?
Audience - an audience analysis in both speech and writing also is essential to clear thinking and efficient writing. Ask yourself: who are my intended readers- their age, gender, experience of the topic, cultural background, communication skills, interest in the subject? While you can’t always anticipate every possible thing about your reader, you should try to get a mental picture of who they may be and and what they are likely to want from us. We need work out how much knowledge they have about the topic and what their level of interest in it is. We should try to anticipate how they will react to our words- this may be influenced by how they feel about us (remember the halo effect?) Will they be in favour of our proposal or strongly opposed to any suggestions we make? Will we cause offense by using a colloquial expression or excessive technical jargon? Your answers to these questions will help you decide the type of words that you use, the type of written medium you choose- report, letter, instructions etc. Much written material aimed at younger readers for example, is developed in cartoon format. (slides 11 & 12)
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5. What do writers have to think about? – audience
What misconceptions do they have – how will I address their biases or mindset?
How will the document/piece of writing impact on their lives – how will I get their attention and emphasise its importance?
How does it fit in with what they are already familiar with – will they know how to read the form, fill it in?
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6. What do writers have to think about? – topic or content
What have I got to say?
Do I have all the necessary information?
Do I know both sides of the story or argument?
What level of detail is necessary?
Do readers need general background information?
Is my information accurate and verifiable?
Topic - what I have I got to say? do I have sufficient information to achieve my purpose? Have I got too much information for the needs of my audience and what is the best way of simplifying it and still retaining the message? Is my information accurate and verifiable? One way to overcome the initial writer’s block is to use the ‘4Ps’ formula (slides 13 & 14)
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7. What do writers have to think about? – topic or content: 4 Ps
Describe the present situation – what is happening around you that is prompting you to write?
Outline the problem that exists in the current situation
Present some possible solutions
Propose a solution or some action
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8. What do writers have to think about? – language
Which words will I use to make myself clear?
Will my readers be familiar with those words?
Can I use jargon?
Language: Words are obviously the building blocks of speech and writing and while I will talk a little more about language later, the important points to remember are that we must consider that word selection should aim at making yourself clear to the readers/listeners. We need to choose works or language with which the readers are familiar and to which they will relate. While many words have the same literal or denotative meaning, readers associate different emotions, or perceptions with certain words which may well give them a different effect in the reader’s mind than the writer intended. This includes the use of jargon or technical language. If readers are not familiar with its meaning, your message is lost. (slide 15)
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9. What do writers have to think about? – organisation
How will I present different parts or sections of the topic – headings, numbering, text, boxes, diagrams etc?
Which item will I put first?
Will the order of information impact on how the reader reads the document
In what order should the information go – general to specific or vice versa?
Good news or bad news first?
Organisation: When writing about any subject in what order we put the ideas will affect the message. One of the most difficult documents to write is a set of instructions because we have to consider the order of information and how much existing knowledge our readers have of the process we are instructing. Often important yet simple steps are left out because the writer assumes the reader already knows this and they may not. Graphics software that is available today allows us to aid the reader by highlighting, colorising, stipling, boxing, numbering etc various parts of the text. (slide 16)
Principles of Professional Communication 1

10. What do writers have to think about? – design
How will I set this document out to make myself clear?
Page numbering, font selection, white space, numbering systems, tables of contents etc
Will readers be able to find info easily?
Design is a form of written non verbal communication
Design: When I was talking about non-verbal communication, I noted that the way a document looked was considered a non-verbal message. Reading is a visual skill as much as a mental one and in this day and age of reliance on visual media for information, many of us have come to rely on visual aids to reinforce and help our understanding of a message. We are children of the television and cinema age and as was argued by Wendy Tuohy in The Runaway Brains, our brains have become “soggy” – less used to the mental discipline required to read a complex text effectively. We are used to short grabs of information such as those used to present advertising on TV and the nightly news. While we may decry this particular fact, as writers we have to take it into account when designing the layout of our documents. Shorter sentences and paragraphs, white space between paragraphs, use of listing strategies using bullet points or numbers all make the words seem more digestible while use of diagrams and pictures, use of color, fonts and size make our documents seem easier and more inviting to read. I bet most of you judge the readability of a textbook by the way it looks. Most novels are sold by the attractiveness of cover and the size of the font. If it is too small and too cramped, it will seem more difficult to read even if the text is the same. (slide 17)
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11. What do writers have to think about? – revision
Have I said what I really wanted to say?
Is my documents clear of errors – punctuation, grammar, layout?
THE SPELL CHECKER
I have a spelling checker
It came with my PC
It plainly marks for my revue
Mistakes I cannot sea
I’ve run this poem threw it
I’m shore your pleased to no
Its letter perfect in its weigh
My checker tolled me sew
Revision: The last point I wish to make here is on revision. Even the most experienced and skillful writers need to revise their texts. Don’t expect that you should be able to get down everything you want to say in a first draft. The aim should be to get as much information as possible on paper or screen and then go back over and revise for spelling, punctuation, grammar and layout. Read your text aloud and you will easily hear where the commas and full stops should go and if your sentences are too long. Most of you have a reasonable command of the language and so using this technique you should be able to hear where sentences are perhaps grammatically incorrect or where an inappropriate word or tone has been used. Run your document through a spell checker or have someone else check it for you. In this day and age there is no excuse for poor spelling even if you can’t spell. However remember that many spell check programs are American and will tell you to put “z’ where “s” is used and will spell certain words like “check” for the English “cheque” differently. Also be aware of a correctly spelt word which has been used in a different context- eg there, their and they’re as a spell checker won’t pick this up. All of this adds up to the ultimate impact made by the message. (slide 18)
Example and exercises related to all of the above are in your workbook and your tutor will be working through them with you over the next couple of weeks.
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12. Reminder … definition of good writing
Good writing narrows the communication gap between sender and receiver.
It does this because it is clear, accurate, concise and coherent.
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13. Why is clear writing important?
“Language tethers us to the world; without it we spin like atoms.” … Penelope Lively
“Language is a key issue of access for people from any non-English speaking culture. It affects the individual’s ability to access and use services and knowledge of services.” … Human Rights Commission (cited in Watson, 2003)
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14. What are the benefits of clear writing?
According to Eagleson (1990,6), in 1982 in the UK, 750,000 copies of an internal Ministry of Defence travelling allowance form were filled in every year. By rewriting and redesigning the form, the ministry was able to reduce:
The time taken to fill it in by 10%
The error rate by 15%
The processing time by 15%
This saved the British Government £900,000 per year
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15. Some examples of political gobbledegook …
“It’s very clear, I think, from the totality of the Opposition’s question and the totality of the Prime Minister’s answer, exactly what the context of the answer was.” … Tony Abbot MHR
Knowledge managers “ … use frameworks … based upon reflection in action, pragmatic real world systems implementations, as well as theory and practice defining research conducted over the past two decades.”
… cited in Watson (2003, 127)
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16. Principles of Professional Communication 1
And the winner is …
“As we know, there are no known knowns. There things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns. That to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns, the one ones we don’t know we don’t know.”
… U.S Secretary of Defence, Donald Rumsfeld
What the …?
Principles of Professional Communication 1

17. How do we achieve clear writing?
Simplicity
Objectivity
Clarity
Coherence
Conciseness
Familiarity
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18. Clarity can be achieved by using the following principles
Simplicity – getting to the heart of the matter and avoiding unnecessary complexity
Familiarity – means using words and pictures your reader will recognise
Visibility – means using word pictures and analogies to create mental pictures the reader will ‘see’ immediately
Principles of Professional Communication 1

19. An example of ‘visibility’ in language
Physicist Martin Gardner (1976) explains Einstein’s Theory of Relativity to a non-science readership …
Imagine a rubber sheet stretched out flat like a trampoline. A grapefruit placed on this sheet will make a depression. A marble placed near the grapefruit will roll toward it. The grapefruit is not ‘pulling’ the marble. Rather, it has created a field (the depression) of such a structure that the marble, taking the path of least resistance, rolls toward the grapefruit. In a roughly (very roughly) similar way, spacetime is curved or warped by the presence of large masses like the sun. This warping is the gravitational field. A planet moving around the sun is not moving in a ellipse because the sun pulls on it, but because the field is such that the ellipse is the ‘straightest’ possible path the planet can take in spacetime. (cited in Mohan et al, 1996, 173)
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20. Be aware of ambiguity … when a sentence has more than one meaning
The woman tickled the baby wearing crimson lipstick.
The camels were located using helicopters
When the building caught fire, the tenants sought safety in their pyjamas
Coming home, I drove into the wrong house and collided with a tree I don’t have
In accordance with your instructions, I have given birth to twins in the enclosed envelope
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21. Avoid idiomatic expressions
How clear are these sentences?
Jones is really on the ball.
He was head and shoulders above any of the other job candidates
The company is expanding by leaps and bounds.
Fig 1: The danger of using idioms according to Gary Larson
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22. A clearer and less vague version would be …
Jones is quick thinking and demonstrates a high level of initiative.
He had superior qualifications and more experience than any of the other job candidates
The company is expanding rapidly – production has increased by 20% in the last year and we have employed 30 new staff.
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23. Euphemism, PC, jargon & doublespeak
Euphemisms are designed to remove the “offence” or “unpleasantness” that can arise from certain words, notions or concepts eg
Die = passed away, life extinct
Go to the toilet = use the bathroom, spend a penny, see a man about a dog, visit the powder room
Sacked or dismissed = career change, downsized redeployed, selective separation, workforce imbalance correction
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24. Principles of Professional Communication 1
Doublespeak at work
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25. Euphemisms designed to deceive
Radiation enhancement weapon = nuclear bomb
Eliminate with extreme prejudice = kill
Pre-dawn vertical insertion = invasion
Friendly fire = kill your own soldiers
Engage the enemy on all sides = ambushed
Ballistically-induced aperture in the subcutaneous environment = bullet hole
Period of acclerated negative growth = recession
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26. Socially polite euphemisms
Follically challenged = bald
Non discretionary fragrance = body odour
Physically challenged = crippled
Achieved a course deficiency = failed
Alternative dentation = false teeth
Horizontally challenged = short
Chronologically gifted = old
Differently interesting = boring
Vertical transport corps = elevator operators
Automotive internists = mechanics
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27. Non discriminatory language
Language has the ability to subtly discriminate and influence the perceptions of readers and listeners by carrying “hidden” connotations.
Discrimination can occur on the basis of gender, age, race etc
Non-sexist language is language that is gender neutral or inclusive language that treats men and women equally
Principles of Professional Communication 1

28. Some major results of sexist language
Invisibility – due to the use of ‘generic’ masculine pronouns such as a ‘he’, ‘him’ and the use of ‘man’ as a noun eg ‘mankind’, ‘manmade’
Dependence – women often portrayed in language as subordinate or oddities in certain occupations eg female doctor
Trivialisation – ‘girls in the office’, ‘just a housewife’
Stereotyping – women described in terms of their roles or physical attributes when it is not appropriate in the context eg ‘mother of three’ when describing a company executive
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29. Some ways to combat sexism in writing
Each student must submit his essay by Friday.
My girl will answer the telephone.
You and your wife are invited to the party.
Foreman  Supervisor
Actress  Actor
Each student must submit their essay by Friday.
My assistant will answer the telephone.
You are your partner are invited to the party
Manpower  staff
Cleaning lady  cleaner
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30. Word confusion … a barrier to accuracy
In English, there is often confusion between words that have a similar function
In 1996 the (amount/number) of projects increased by 135 compared (with/to) the previous year.
This morning’s attempt to (elicit/illicit) a response was inhibited by a (deficient/defective) receiver switch.
The largest item in our (stationary/stationery) cupboard is a carton of paper.
The (principle/principal) need in this company is for a new administrative centre.
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31. Increase your vocabulary … the power of synonyms
Use a thesaurus or dictionary to select the most appropriate word to convey the intended meaning
The lawyer never stopped talking about trivial, irrelevant, and stupid subjects. His (glib/garrulous/loquacious/fluent) tongue eventually drove everyone from the room.
Garrulous = talkative and trivial
Loquacious = longwinded
Fluent = clever and clear
Glib = fluent in an insincere way
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32. The Sir Humphrey syndrome
From Lynn & Jay (1981) “Yes Minister” p133
Today I attempted to explain the new system to Sir Humphrey, who effectively refused to listen. Instead, he interrupted as I began, and told me he had something to say that I might not like to hear. He said it as if this were something new!
What he actually said to me was: “Minister, the traditional allocation of executive responsibilities has always been so determined as to liberate the Ministerial incumbent from the administrative minutiae by devolving the managerial functions to those whose experience and qualifications have better formed them for the performance of such humble offices, thereby releasing their political overlords
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33. Sir Humphrey syndrome continued …
for the more onerous duties and profound deliberations that are the inevitable concomitant of their exalted position.”
I couldn’t imagine why he thought I wouldn’t want to hear that. It was rivetting. Presumably he thought it would upset me – but how can you be upset by something you don’t understand a word of?
Yet again I asked him to express himself in plain English. This request always surprises him, as he is always under the extraordinary impression that he has done so.
Nevertheless, he thought hard for a moment and then, plainly opted for expressing himself in words of one syllable. “You are not here to run this department,” he said.
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34. Avoid (unnecessary) redundancy
With reference to = about
A considerable period of time = a long time
In the vicinity of = near
In some instances = sometimes
Make an attempt = try
Reach a decision = decide
On a daily basis = daily
Reverse backwards = reverse
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35. The ten commandments for more effective writing
Keep your writing clear, concise and simple
Choose your words carefully
Be natural
Avoid fad words, jargon and cliches
Use active verbs
Take a stand – avoid qualifiers and modifiers
Use familiar words – plain English
Be specific – avoid vagueness
Eliminate redundant expressions
Keep your audience in mind
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36. Some examples of the absurdity of language thanks to “The Far Side”
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37. Principles of Professional Communication 1
More Larson …
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38. Principles of Professional Communication 1
And some more …
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39. Principles of Professional Communication 1
Last ones
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