Business Writing Skills
10 Commandments Of Business Writing
by Mary Ward Menke
1. Thou Shalt Be Brief
People are over-communicated. At work and at home, we receive more information than we can possibly (or even want to) read and use. Make sure your document gets read by being brief, concise and to the point.
Make your document reader-friendly by leaving plenty of white space (top, bottom, left and right margins). Indent paragraphs, use ragged (as opposed to justified) right margin and consider using bullet points to draw the reader’s attention and increase readability.
Resist the urge to pad a brief message to fill up space. You can limit most letters and memos to one page. Aim for three paragraphs.
* The first paragraph is the introduction—tell the reader what you’re going to tell them.
* The second paragraph is the body—tell them.
* The third paragraph is the conclusion—tell them what you told them. In the last paragraph, tie everything together. Make a final significant point, or repeat a key point from the body. The conclusion is also where your call to action (what you want the reader to do) will appear, if there is one.
2. Thou Shalt Know Thy Purpose
Why are you writing? What do you want to happen as a result of your document being read? Along with knowing your purpose, ask yourself: Does this have to be in writing? Is there a better way to deliver this message: i.e., can I meet with the reader face-to-face? Can I call him or her?
3. Thou Shalt Honor Thy I’s
Except for more formal business documents (some reports and proposals, etc.) don’t refer to yourself as “this writer” or “one.” Use the personal pronouns “I” (when talking about yourself) or “We” (when referring to your department or company).
4. Thou Shalt Love Thy Reader More Than Thyself
Know your reader. Use language that the reader will understand. It’s okay to use jargon (industry-specific terminology) when you are writing to co-workers, but not when you’re writing to people who are unfamiliar with the industry. If you do use jargon and there is even the slightest chance that someone outside the industry will read the document, at the very least, define the jargon the first time you use it.
5. Thou Shalt Honor The Active Voice
All sentences have a subject (the one doing something) and a verb (the action or state of being). Some sentences will also have an object or receiver of the action. When you write in the active voice, the focus in on the subject. “John wrote the report” is the active voice—the focus in on John. When you write in the passive voice, the focus is on the receiver of the action. “The report was written by John” is the passive voice. Notice that the passive voice usually uses more words and is less direct than the active voice. Most of the time in business writing, you’ll want to use the active voice because it is clearer. However, there are times when the passive voice is acceptable.
6. Though Shalt Obey Punctuation And Grammar Rules
All languages are transitional; that is, they change over time. American English is based on common usage, so it changes faster than any other language in the world. Common usage means that even if something is done incorrectly according to the “rules,” if enough people do it that way for long enough, it soon becomes acceptable! Because of this “if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em’” philosophy, you will want to be sure you have the most recent edition grammar and style guide available. Some of the better ones are: SkillPath Business Communication Style Guide (available at www.ourbookstore.com/); Franklin Covey Style Guide (www.amazon.com); Gregg Reference Manual (www.ourbookstore.com/ and www.amazon.com). The SkillPath Business Communications Style Guide and Franklin Covey Style Guide are reader-friendly and easy to use. The Gregg Reference Manual is more academic. The important thing is to find the right manual for you and your organization.
7. Thou Shalt Be Conversational, Not Pretentious
Business writing today is much less formal than it used to be, mainly due to the influence of email. In the past, we used to believe that when we put information in writing, we need to use bigger, more business-like sounding works. In most cases, that’s no longer true. Today we want to write more like we talk. If you “don’t talk so good neither,” you’ll definitely want one of the grammar/style guides mentioned above!
The test is to ask yourself “How would I say it if the reader were sitting across the desk from me?”
8. Thou Shalt Avoid Double Negatives
Although two wrongs don’t make a right, two negatives do make a positive. “I don’t never want to go there again” literally means, “I do want to go there again,” because “don’t” (“do not) and “never” are both negatives. If you “can’t hardly wait,” then you don’t mind waiting! (“Can’t” and “hardly” are both negatives.)
9. Write Unto Others As You Would Want Them To Write Unto You
In the old days, if we were angry with someone, we might write that person a letter telling him exactly how we felt. Then, instead of mailing the letter, we would throw it away. The purpose of writing the letter was to vent, to get it off our chest, without damaging or destroying our relationship with the other person. Unfortunately, email has complicated things. It’s much too easy to inadvertently hit “send” instead of “save” or “delete”!
While it is tempting to respond immediately to an email that has upset you, it’s best to resist the urge. Even if the other person “deserves it,” you don’t want to respond in kind because you risk damaging your credibility. Some people advise not filling in the “to” line in your email until you’ve had a chance to read your message over. I suggest an extra precaution: write your message as a word processing document (not as an email), then wait at least 24 hours before reading it again. Chances are, you will decide not to send it at all, or at the very least, do some major editing.
10. Thou Shalt Always Proofread
Never let any document leave your desk until you have proofread it at least once. Here are some proofreading guidelines:
* Take a break between writing and proofreading. Proofread with “fresh eyes.”
* Always proofread a hard copy. Never try to proofread on your computer screen—when you proofread on the screen, you see what you meant to write.
* Proofread away from your office. When you proofread in the same place you have written the document, you are inclined to make the correction as soon as you find the mistake.
* Always proofread aloud. When you read aloud, you will see mistakes you might overlook while reading silently.
* Get a second pair of eyes to proofread, especially complex documents or documents that will be sent to people outside your company. It’s easier to find others’ mistakes than our own.
Personal Growth Carnival 3 has chosen this article as one of its “best of the week” (March 29) picks. You can see it and many other wonderful, inspiring and informational articles at Bryan C Fleming: Home of the Million Dollar Savings Club.
on March 30th, 2007 at 9:03 am
[…] in the Process Raymond David Salas presents How to Get Into the Flow Editor - Dave Prouhet presents Business Writing Skills The Positivity Blog presents Why some people almost always are successful Scott Schwertly presents […]