Chapter 9
Writing Proposal and Progress Report
How to write proposal!!!!!!!
Writing a good proposal is a critical skill in many occupations, from
school to business management to geology. The goal of a proposal is to gain
support for your plan by informing the appropriate people. If it captures their
attention, you'll get your project or suggestions approved. Knowing how to
write a persuasive, captivating proposal is essential for success in many fields.
Writing Proposal
- Proposals argue for the work that needs to be done and who will do
it.
- Provide clear view of the problem to be solved
Define your solution. This should be fairly straightforward. Once you set the
issue you're addressing, how would you like to solve it? Get it as narrow (and
doable) as possible.
Your proposal needs to define a problem and offer a solution that will
convince uninterested, skeptical readers to support it.[1] Your audience may
not be the easiest crowd to win over. Is the solution you're offering logical and
feasible? What's the timeline for your implementation?
- Suggest method to find information or solve problem
 Explain kind of research or actions needed to solve it
- Two goals
 Get the project accepted
 Get writer accepted to do job
 Competitive proposal
 compete for limited resources
 Noncompetitive proposals
 have no competition
Proposal offers to
- Assess whether change is a good idea
- Develop a plan to achieve desired goal
- Implement the plan with measureable outcome
Questions a Proposal Must Answer
- What problem are you going to solve?
- Why does the problem need to be solved now?
- How are you going to solve it?
- Can you do the work?
- Why should you be the one to do it
- When will you complete the work?
- How much will you charge?
- What exactly will you provide?
Proposal
1. Introductory paragraph
2. Problem
3. Feasibility
4. Audience
5. Topics to investigate
6. Methods and procedures
7. Qualifications—facilities and resources available
8. Work schedule
9. Call to action
Proposals for Class Research Projects
1. Introductory paragraph
•
No heading
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Summary of topic and purposes
Start with a firm introduction. This should start out with a hook. Ideally, you
want your readers enraptured from point one. Make your proposal as
purposeful and useful as possible. Use some background information to get
your readers in the zone. Then state the purpose of your proposal.
2. Problem
•
What organizational problem exists?
•
Why does it need to be solved?
•
What is relevant background or history?
State the problem. After the introduction, you'll get into the body, the meat of
your work. Here's where you should state your problem, giving a panoramic
perspective on the issue. If your readers don't know much about the
circumstance, fill them in.
Emphasize why your problem needs to be solved and needs to be solved now.
How will it affect your audience if left alone? What circumstances have led to
its existence? Make sure to answer all questions (begged or otherwise) and
cover them with research and facts. Use credible sources liberally
3. Feasibility
•
Are you sure that solution can be found in time available?
•
How do you know?
An evaluation and analysis of the potential of a proposed project. It is based
on extensive investigation and research to support the process of decision
making. A feasibility study is an analysis of the viability of an idea. The
feasibility study focuses on helping answer the essential question of “should
we proceed with the proposed project idea?” All activities of the study are
directed toward helping answer this question.
4. Audiences
Who in organization has power to implement recommendation?
What secondary audiences might evaluate report?
What audiences would be affected by recommendation?
Will anyone in organization serve as gatekeeper?
What watchdog audiences might read report?
Think about your audience. For starters, who are they? You need to make sure
that you think about your audience and what they might already know or not
know about your topic before you begin writing.


What do you want your audience to get from your proposal? Is there an overall
vibe to your proposal? How do you want them to emerge from it?
Refine your tone to meet your audience's expectations and desires. What do
they want to hear? What would be the most effective way of getting through
to them? How can you help them understand what you're trying to say?
5. Topic to Investigate
- List questions and sub-questions report will answer
- Say how deeply you will examine each factor you plan to cover
- Explain why you chose to discuss some aspects of problem, not others
6. Methods
How will you get answers to research questions?
Whom will you interview or survey?
Include draft of questionnaire
What published sources will you use?
Give complete bibliographic references
7.Qualifications/Facilities/Resource
- Do you have knowledge and skills needed to conduct this study?
- Do you have access to equipment you will need to conduct your
research?
- Where will you turn for help if you need it?
- Have highly qualified management team in place
8. Work Schedule
How long to you need for these activities (Timeline)?
-
Gathering information
Analyzing information
Organizing information
Preparing progress report
- Writing the draft
- Preparing the visuals
- Revising draft
- Editing draft
- Proofreading report
Make an outline. This will not be part of the final proposal, but it will help you
organize your thoughts. Make sure you know all of the relevant details before
you start. Your outline should consist of your problem, your solution, how
you'll solve it, why your solution is best, and a conclusion. If you're writing an
executive proposal, you'll need to include things like a budget analysis and
organizational details.
9.Call to Action
- Invite instructor to suggest ways to improve your plan
- Ask instructor to approve your project so you can begin your report
- Ask reader to approve your proposal; give reason for acting promptly
Be careful in writing, editing, and design of the proposal. Revise as
necessary to make it clear and concise, ask others to critique and edit it, and
make sure the presentation is attractive and engaging as well as well organized
and helpful.
Make sure to look for grammar, spelling, and punctuation errors, too! Any
mistakes on your end will make you look less educated and less credible,
reducing your likelihood of getting approved.
***TIP to write proposal***

Make sure that your ideas are not hidden between unnecessary words.

Use language that everyone can understand. Keep to short sentences that are
clear and to the point.

Any discussion of financial or other resources should be conducted carefully
and should present a realistic picture of the expense required.
Writing Progress Report
- Reassures funding agency or employer that you’re making progress
- Allows you and the agency or employer to resolve problems as they arise
- Use positive emphasis and you-attitude
- Don’t present every detail as equal
- Try to exceed audience’s expectations in at least some small ways
3 Types of Progress Report
 Chronological Progress Report
 Task Report
 Recommendation Progress Report
Chronological Progress Reports
- Summarize in terms of goals and original schedule
- Under “Work Completed” heading,
 describe what you have done
- Under “Work to Be Completed” heading,
 describe work that remains
- Express confidence in having report ready by due date
Task Progress Reports
- Use headings that
 describe major tasks your project entails
- Under each heading,
 discuss work completed
 what remains to be done
Recommendation Progress Reports
- When easy for audience to accept,
 use direct pattern
- When likely to meet strong resistance,
 use problem-solving pattern
Chapter 11
Sharing Informative and Positive Messages with Appropriate Technology
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Informative =Basic reaction is neutral
•
Positive = Basic reaction is positive
- Routine/Informative message - receiver’s reaction neutral
- Positive message - receiver’s reaction positive.
- Neither message immediately asks receiver to do anything.
- Persuasion is not needed
Purposes
Primary Purposes
- To give information or good news to audience
- To have receiver view information positively
Secondary Purposes
- To build good image of sender
- To build good image of sender’s organization
- To build good relationship between sender and receiver
- To deemphasize any negative elements
- To eliminate future messages on same subject
Communication Hardware
- These tools help improve productivity in the workplace
 Smartphones (iPhone, etc)
Mobile phone is a device that can make and receive telephone cell over the
radio link while moving around a wide geographic area. It does so by
connecting to a cellular network provided by a mobile phone operator.
 Portable media players (iPods, etc)
 Videoconferencing (replace face-to-face meeting)
Information Overload
- Employees are bombarded with junk mail, sales calls, spam, and other
ads
- Even routine communications are becoming overwhelming
Information overload is a term popularized, it refers to difficulty a person
can have understanding an issue making decisions that can be caused by the
presence of too much information.
WARNING: Protect your communication reputation!
Common Media:
Use face-to-face contact to
 Visit a colleague
 Build a business relationship
 Save multiple calls or e-mails
 Engage in dialogue or negotiation
 Acquire something immediately
 Avoid leaving a paper trail
 Increase visual and aural cues
Nothing can replace the value of face-to-face communication. However in a
growing business, traveling to meet with customers and team members is not
always feasible or economical. We communicate over email and phone, but
even then, messages get misinterpreted and a sense of personal connection is
never truly established or maintained. In fact, it’s said that over 90% of how we
communicate is through nonverbal cues like gestures and facial expressions.
With that said, one cannot underestimate the power of video conferencing to
enable businesses to maximize the effectiveness of their communications.
Here are just some of the many advantages of face-to-face communication.
Use phone calls to
 Convey appropriate tone
 Save multiple phone calls or e-mails
 Acquire something immediately
 Avoid leaving a paper trail
Mobile phone is a device that can make and receive telephone cell over
the radio link while moving around a wide geographic area. It does so by
connecting to a cellular network provided by a mobile phone operator.
Use IMs and TMs to
 Be less intrusive (than visit or phone call)
 Ask questions on tasks that fellow colleagues are working on
 Leave a communication trail
If the TMS cannot recover from a particular failure, IMS components are
informed of the failure and can continue to use the existing conversations
Use Wikis to
 Bookmark and summarize web pages
 Upload drafts of working documents
 Create new entries about workplace practices
Wiki is a website which allows its users to add, modify, or delete its
content via a web browser usually using a simplified markup language or a
rich-text editor. Wikis are powered by wiki software. Most are created
collaboratively.
Use social media to
 Connect with many users quickly
 Connect inexpensively
 Post profiles, updates, blogs, useful links
Four common types
 Facebook
 Twitter
 Blogs
 LinkedIn
Social media use to turn communication into interactive dialogue among
organizations, communities, and individual.
Use letters to
 Send messages to people outside your organization
Writing a letter can be a great way to reconnect with significant others
or anyone the writer wants to connect with. Letters are thoughtful and allow
the writer to get out all of her thoughts and feelings without interruption.
However, they take time and energy, which is not always fully recognized and
appreciated, and they could be a way for the writer to avoid difficult emotions.
Use memos to
 Send messages to people within your organization
Business memos are formal documents most businesses use to
communicate. They traditionally have been sent as hard copies, but also can be
delivered electronically. Used for more than a hundred years as of 2011, these
documents are significant to businesses for six major reasons and have
advantages as a communication tool.
Use e-mail to
 Accomplish routine business activities
 Save time
 Save money
 Allow readers to deal with
messages at their convenience
 Communicate accurately
 Provide details for reference (meeting)
 Create a paper trail
Sent and received messages and attachments can be stored safely,
logically and reliably. It's a lot easier to organize emails than paper.
Emails are easy to use. You can organize your daily correspondence, send
and receive electronic messages and save them on computers.
 Emails are fast. They are delivered at once around the world. No other form
of written communication is as fast as an email.
 The language used in emails is simple and informal.
 When you reply to an email you can attach the original message so that
when you answer the recipient knows what you are talking about. This is
important if you get hundreds of emails a day.
***Tips for designing effective email***

- Put important information in the first sentence
- Long email, use an overview, headings, and enumeration
- Contain only one topic
Informative and Positive Messages
1) Start with good news or the most important information
 summarize the main points
 respond clearly to the issue raised
2) Give details, clarification, background
 Answer all questions your audience is likely to have
 provide necessary information
 Present details in order of importance
3) Present any negative elements—as positively as possible
 Make the negatives clear, but present them positively
4) Explain any benefits
 Show that it helps your audience
 Make the benefit clear a convincing
5) Use a goodwill ending: positive, personal, and forward-looking
 Emphasize the serving audience is the real concern
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

A subject line is the title of a document. A good subject line meets three
criteria: it's specific; it's reasonably short; and it's adapted to the kind of
message (positive, negative, persuasive). If you can't make the subject
both specific and short, be specific.
The subject line for an informative or positive message should highlight
any good news and summarize the information concisely.
Informative and positive messages normally use the following pattern of
organization
1. Give any good news and summarize the main points.
2. Give details, clarification, background.
3. Present any negative elements as positively as possible.
4. Explain any reader benefits.
5. Use a goodwill ending: positive, personal, and forward-looking.
 Use reader benefits in informative and positive messages
when You are presenting policies.
 You want to shape readers' attitudes toward the information or
toward your organization.
 Stressing benefits presents readers' motives positively.
Subject Lines (= title of a document)
 Serves three purposes
- Aids in filing, retrieving
- Tells readers why they should read
- Sets up framework for message
Effective Subject Line
 Specific
 Differentiate message from others on same topic
 Broad enough to cover content
 Concise
 Usually less than 35 characters
 Appropriate for the pattern of message
 Must meet situation and purpose (positive, negative, persuasive)
 Good news = build goodwill by focusing it in subject line
 Neutral information = summarize subject line concisely
@ Your subject line is your first (and maybe your last) impression on
users. In many ways, your email subject line is more important than
your email body. After all, a great newsletter is worthless if it never
sees the light of day.
@ There are a few different schools of thought when it comes to creating
slam dunk subject lines. We’ll be covering 9 different types of effective
email subject lines and sprinkling examples throughout.
E-mail Subject lines
Create subject line that helps your email get read!!
 Use important information in the subject line
 help audience recognize the sender
Generic: “Hello”, “thank you”, “URGENT”, “Important message”
- Put good news in the subject line
- Make e-mail sound easy to deal with
Managing Information in Messages
- Give audience information they need
- Consider your purpose
- Develop a system that lets people know what is new if you send out
regular messages
- Use headings and bullets in long e-mails
- Put the most vital information in e-mails, even if you send an
attachment
- Check message for accuracy and completeness
- Remember e-mails are public documents
Audience Benefits
- Use audience benefits when
 Presenting policies
 Shaping audience’s attitudes
 Stressing benefits presents the audience’s motives positively
 Introducing benefits that may not be obvious
- Omit benefits when
 Presenting factual information ONLY
 Considering audience’s attitude toward information does not
matter
 Stressing benefits makes audience seem selfish
 Restating them may insult audience’s intelligence
Ending
- Not all messages end same way
- Goodwill ending – focuses on bond between reader, writer
 Treats reader as individual
 Contains you-attitude, positive emphasis
 Omits standard invitation
 Ex: If you have questions, please do not hesitate to call.
What are the traditional sentences for goodwill endings? What is the
standard for a goodwill ending?
Are the sentences below belonged to goodwill endings?
1. Look forward to your earliest reply.
2. Call me if you have any question.
3. I hope we will have opportunities to cooperate with each other in the near
future.
Varieties
Transmittals (= document explaining what you are sending)
- Tell reader what you're sending
- Summarize main points
- Give details to help reader grasp message
- Tell reader what will happen next
Conversation summary (internal use)
- Identify…
 People who were present
 Topic of discussion
 Decisions made
 Who does what next
- Document summary
o Start with main point
o Give supporting evidence or details
o Evaluate document if audience wants such advice
Umbrella paragraph: cover and foreshadow the points you will make in
the report
 Client / customer visit summary
- Put main point (in your company’s view) in first
- Use umbrella paragraph; name points
- Give details to support your conclusions; use lists, headings to make
structure clear
 Thank You Note
- Make people willing to help you later
- May be short; must be prompt
- Must be specific to seem sincere
The hardest part of writing a thank-you note, for many, is just starting it.
How do I begin? Does it sound forced? Can I say enough to fill the page? To
help you face your fears, use this simple thank-you letter
template: Who, What and When.
WHO
- Make a list of everyone you need to thank. If your thank-yous are the
result of a party in your honor, write down the names of those who sent
or brought a gift, whether it came by mail, email, carrier pigeon or in
person. Then add in the friends who did anything to help out with the
get-together—planning,
- decorating
- Running errands and so on.
WHAT
- Here’s the basic template for a good thank-you note along with a few
sample phrases to get you started.
WHEN
Try to send your thank-you notes out quickly. For events such as parties and
showers, a good rule of thumb is to send your cards out within a month after
the event. If it's later than that, start your note with a brief apology. “I’ve been
meaning to tell you...”
 Positive Responses to Complaints
Here are simple tips, templates and examples for writing good complaints
letters. This approach to complaints letter-writing is effective for private
consumers and for business-to-business customers who seek positive
outcomes from writing letters of complaint. The principles apply to complaints
emails and phone calls too, although letters remain generally the most reliable
and effective way to complain, especially for serious complaints.
-
Mention rectification in first sentence
Don’t talk about decision making process
Don’t say anything that sounds grudging
Give reasons for mistake only if it reflects responsibly on the company
Chapter 12: Delivering Negative Messages
Negative Messages
- Information conveyed is negative
- Audience’s reaction is negative
 Message does not benefit them
 Usually they experience disappointment or anger
- Varieties
A negative message is any message to which the reader will have an
unpleasant emotional reaction. Readers find negative messages disappointing
or threatening in some way. Such messages require special care to avoid
damaging the quality of the relationship because the negative message—the
bad news—will hurt the reader’s feelings or cause him or her to lose face.
Not all messages saying no are negative. For a message to be negative,
the reader’s ego must be involved in the outcome. If a reader requests
information you and others in your organization are not equipped to provide,
for example, the reader’s feelings will not be hurt when you direct him or her
elsewhere. Treat messages of this variety as you would a message conveying
positive information: state the most important information first, and use it to
help establish rapport with the reader.
Purposes
Primary Purposes
- To give audience bad news
- To have audience read, understand, and accept message
- To maintain as much goodwill as possible
Secondary Purposes
- To build good image of communicator
- To build good image of communicator’s organization
- To avoid future messages on same subject
Want audience to feel
- They have been taken seriously
- The decision is fair and reasonable
- If they were in your situation, they would make the same decision
Parts of Negative Messages
-
Subject lines
Buffers
Reasons
Refusals
Alternatives
Endings
Subject Lines
- Include the topic, not the specific negative
- Use negative subject lines when the audience
 May ignore message
 Needs information to act
- Keep in mind not everyone reads all their messages
 Be cautious of neutral subject lines
Buffers
- Buffer : neutral or positive statement that delays the negative
- Use a buffer when :
 Audience values harmony
 You can write good buffer
 Buffer serves another purpose
A buffer is a solution that can resist pH change upon the addition of an acidic
or basic components.

Use a buffer when the reader values harmony or when the buffer serves
a purpose in addition to simply delaying the negative. A buffer is a
neutral or positive statement that allows you to bury the negative
message. Buffers must put the reader in a good frame of mind, not give
the bad news but not imply a positive answer either, and provide a
natural transition to the body of the letter.
- Common types of buffers:
 Start with any positives
 State fact or give history of events
 Refer to enclosures
 Thank reader for something he or she did
 State a general principle
Reasons
- Clear, convincing reasons precede refusal
 Prepare audience for refusal
 Help audience accept refusal
- Don’t hide behind company policy
 Show how policy benefits audience
 If no benefit, omit policy from message
Refusals
-
Put refusal in with reason to deemphasize
Imply refusal if you can
Make it crystal clear
Finalize message on subject
 Don’t write 2nd message to say no
A letter refusing credit is more of a persuasive message than a negative
message because its objective is not so much to refuse credit as it is to obtain
the customer’s business on a cash basis. The purpose of the refusal is to show
the reader that while a credit purchase might look attractive at the moment, it
is in his or her long-term best interest to avoid risky credit obligations.
When refusing credit, make your reasons clear, and suggest ways the
reader can improve credit eligibility. Emphasize your requirements for credit
rather than the ways in which the reader has failed to establish a good credit
rating, and invite the reader to apply for credit again when he or she meets
those requirements. Be careful to avoid promising to extend credit in the
future.
Alternatives
-
Offers way to get what audience wants
Shows you care about audience’s needs
Returns audience’s psychological freedom (freedom of choice)
Allows you to end on positive note
Giving the reader an alternative or a compromise
o Offers the reader another way to get what he or she wants.
o Suggests that you really care about the reader and about helping
to meet his or her needs.
o Enables the reader to reestablish the psychological freedom you
limited when you said no.
o Allows you to end on a positive note and to present yourself and
your organization as positive, friendly, and helpful.
Endings
- Refer to a good alternative at end
- Best endings look to future
- Avoid insincere endings:
 Please let us know if we can be of further help.
Apologies
- Don’t apologize
 If correcting only small error
 When not at fault
- Do apologize
 Only once
 Early in message
 Briefly
 Sincerely
 By focusing on how to correct situation
- Sometimes you must apologize for a negative announcement. If you
have to postpone or cancel an engagement at the last minute or
otherwise renege on a commitment to a reader, an apology may be
necessary and appropriate.
- Unlike most apologies (see “Apologies” in Conveying Good News),
apologies for negative announcements should be delayed until you have
presented the reason. Unless you must return a check or some other
obvious indicator of the bad news, beginning such a message with I’m
sorry would reveal the negative content before the reader is prepared to
receive it. In such cases, pace the reader’s expectation by beginning with
something with which the reader will agree, but keep it brief, and focus
on the actual reason you are writing:
Not this: It certainly has been hot this summer. [The reader may agree but
will wonder why you are writing.]
Say this: The Sales and Marketing convention you are planning for September
appears to be shaping up nicely. [The reader will know what the letter is about
and will wonder what you will say next, so introduce your reason(s) quickly.]
Tone in Negative Messages
- Tone—implied attitude of the author toward the audience and subject
- Show you took request seriously
- Use positive emphasis and you-attitude
- Think about visual appearance
- Consider timing of message
Alternative Strategies
- Recast the situation
 As positive message
 As persuasive message
Varieties
Claims and Complaints
-
Needed when something has gone wrong
Use direct organization pattern
Give supporting facts and identifiers
Avoid anger and sarcasm or threats that you will never use company
again
Disciplinary Notices and Performance Appraisals
- Present directly—no buffer
- Cite specific observations of behavior
 Not inferences
 Include dates, quantities
- State when employee may return to work, if disciplinary action is taken
Rejections and Refusals
- Requests from external audience
 Try to use a buffer
 Give specific reasons
 Give alternative, if any
- Requests from internal audience
 Use knowledge of culture, individual to craft reply
Layoffs and Firings
- If company likely to fold, tell early
- Give honest reasons for firing
 Unrelated face-saving reason may create legal liability
 Avoid broadcasting reasons to avoid defamation lawsuit
- Deliver orally; backup in writing
Strategies & Patterns of Negative Messages
1. Negative Message to Customers
2. Negative Message to Superiors
3. Negative Message to Peers
Organizing Negative Messages: Clients & Customers
1. When you have a reason that the audience will understand and accept,
give the reason before the refusal
2. Give the negative information, just once
3. Present an alternative or compromise
4. End with positive forward-looking statement
Organizing Negative Messages: Superiors
1. Describe problem clearly
2. Tell how it happened
3. Describe the options for fixing it
4. Recommend a solution and ask for action
Organizing Negative Messages: Peers & Subordinates
1. Describe problem objectively, clearly
2. Present an alternative or compromise, if available
3. Ask for input or action, if possible
 May suggest helpful solutions
 Audience may accept outcomes better
Checklist for Negative Messages
- Is the subject line appropriate?
- Does the buffer avoid suggesting positive or negative response?
- Is the reason given before refusal? Is the reason watertight, with no
loopholes?
- Is negative information clear?
- Is an alternative given if available? Does message provide information
needed to act on alternative but leave choice to audience?
- Does the last paragraph avoid repeating the negative information?
- Is tone acceptable--not defensive, but not cold, preachy, or arrogant
either?
Originality in a negative message may come from;
-
An effective buffer, if one is appropriate
A clear, complete statement of reason for refusal
A good alternative, clearly presented
Details that show writer thought about specific organization and specific
people in it
Chapter 10: Using Visuals
Due to the impact of visuals on our memory, on our emotions, on our
motivations, and priorities, students can become very engaged with what they
are learning through visuals. We can stimulate both critical thinking and
creative thinking through images and other visual aids.
Visuals can impact your presentation dramatically.These images, photos,
objects, charts, diagrams, tables, graphs or illustrations have the potential to
make or break your presentation. Used sloppily, they can damage your
credibility and reputation. Designed wisely, they can strengthen your verbal
message and enable you to achieve your objective. Why? Because a picture
really is worth a thousand words.
- In the rough draft to
 See that ideas are presented completely. Ex. table
 Find relationships. Ex. Charting sales on a map
- In the final draft to
 Make points vivid
 Emphasize material.
 Present material more compactly and with less repetition.
 To focus on information that decision makers need.
Components of Visuals
- A title that tells the visual’s story.
- A clear indication of what the data are.
- Clearly labeled units.
- Labels or legends.
- The data’s source, if it’s reproduced.
- The visual’s source, if it’s reproduced.
Types of Visuals
- Tables
- Pie Chart
- Bar Chart
- Line Graph
Choose the Right Visual for the Story
•
Use table when reader needs exact values
•
Easy way to compare statistics
•
Use pie chart to show parts of a whole
A special chart that uses "pie slices" to show relative sizes of data
•
Use bar chart to compare items, show relationships
•
Grouped bar chart
•
Segmented, subdivided, or stacked bar chart
•
Deviation bar chart
•
Paired bar chart
•
Histograms/pictograms
A bar graph is a chart that uses either horizontal or vertical bars to
show comparisons among categories. One axis of the chart shows the
specific categories being compared, and the other axis represents a
discrete value.
•
Uses line charts to
•
Compare items over time
•
Show frequency or distribution
•
Show correlations
•
Compare change of several factors
A graph that shows information that is connected in some way (such as
change over time)
•
Use photographs to
• Show item in use
•
“Reference point”
•
Use drawings to
•
dimensions
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Emphasize detail
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Use maps to emphasize location
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Use Gantt charts to show timelines
Show
Visual Caveats
- Color
 Be aware of cultural meanings.
 Use no more than five when colors have meanings.
- Clip Art
 Avoid bias; check clip art for balance (e.g., age, race, ethnicity, or
gender).
- Chartjunk
 Avoid art that distorts data or sends incorrect messages.
Example
– Avoid perspective graphs—such as this one—which distort data
and are hard to read.
Integrating Visuals into Your Text
- Refer to every visual in your text
- Refer to the table or figure number, not the title
– Ex: Table 10 shows a detailed comparison…
– Ex: Data in Figure 6 reveals a marked trend of…
- Put visual as soon after reference as space and page design permit
– Ex: As Figure 3 shows (page 10), …
– Ex: (See Table 2 on page 14)
- Summarize main point of visual before the visual itself
– Amount of discussion depends on audience, complexity of visual,
and importance of point
- After visual, evaluate the data, discuss its implications
– Weak: Listed below are the results.
– Better: As Figure 4 shows, sales doubled in the last decade.
To Make Visuals More Accurate
- Differentiate between actual and estimated or projected values.
- When you must truncate a scale, do so clearly with a break in the bars of
in the background.
- Avoid perspective and 3D graphs.
- Avoid combining graphs with different scales.
- Use images of people carefully in histographs to avoid sexist, racist, or
other exclusionary visual statements.
Using the Same Visuals in Documents
- For presentations, simplify paper visuals.
- To simplify a complex table,
 divide it into several visuals,
 cut out some of the information, round off the data even more,
 present the material in a chart rather than a table.
- Visuals for presentations should have titles but don’t need figure
numbers.
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Chapter 13: Crafting persuasive Message
Persuasion is an attempt to change someone’s attitudes, beliefs, or actions. A
persuasive message takes the form of an argument which the writer hopes the
audience will agree with it.
There are three aspects of persuasion;
1) Argument (use logical) means persuading by the use of reasoning. This
will be the most important technique. Giving reasons is the heart of
argumentation, and cannot be emphasized enough.
2) Credibility means convincing by the character of the author. People
tend to believe people whom they respect. One of the central problems of
argumentation is to project an impression to the reader that you are someone
worth listening to, making yourself as author into an authority on the subject
of the paper, as well as someone who is likable and worthy of respect.
Credibility can build by being factual, specific that if say something is
better, the speaker has to explain how better and also the speaker has to be
reliable.
3) Emotional appeal means persuading by appealing to the reader's
emotions. This aspect affects the audience's emotional response, and
emotional appeal can effectively be used to enhance an argument.
Building emotional appeals through the use of anecdotes, metaphors
and similes, along with using descriptive language.
Anecdotes: Know the emotion you want to create in your reader, and tell a
brief anecdote (story) or describe a worst/best case scenario that illustrates it.
Metaphor and Simile: both call attention to how two different things are
similar, so people listening to you can apply the qualities of one thing to the
other.
Persuasive strategies:
1) Direct request pattern when
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The audience will do as you ask without any resistance.
You need a response only from the people who are willing to act.
The audience is busy and may not read all the messages received.
Your organization's culture prefers direct requests.
In a direct request, put the request, the topic of the request, or a question in
the subject line. Do not put the request in the subject line of a problem-solving
persuasive message. Instead, use a directed subject line that reveals your
position on the issue or a reader benefit. Use a positive or neutral subject line
even when the first paragraph will be negative.
In a direct request, consider asking in the first paragraph for the information or
service you want. Give readers all the information or details they will need to
act on your request. In the last paragraph, ask for the action you want.
2) Problem-solving pattern when
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The audience is likely to object to doing as you ask.
You need action from everyone.
You trust the audience to read the entire message.
You expect logic to be more important than emotion in the
decision.
Organize a problem-solving persuasive message in this way:
- Catch audience’s interest by mentioning common ground (mutual
interest to solve problem)
- Define problem you share with audience
- solution to problem
- Show that any negative elements (e.g., cost, time) are outweighed
by advantages.
- Summarize additional benefits of solution.
- Ask for action you want
3) The sales pattern when the audience may resist doing what you ask.
When you expect emotion to be more important than logic in the decision.
Don’t threaten: this is never a good way to win over another person’s opinion,
don’t produce permanent change, may not produce desired action, may make
people abandon action, produce tension, people dislike/avoid one who
threatens, can provoke violent behavior.
Dealing with objection:
Feeling objections are about fear and procrastination. The purpose of
some objections is to delay progress. This is the best trick of procrastinators,
who fear making the wrong choice and either getting blamed for it or feeling
responsible for it. Whenever you receive an objection that seems to serve only
to delay making a decision, that’s a signal not for more information, but for
some handholding, patience and questions.
This is some guideline to deal with objection:
- Specify how much time and/or money is required--it may not be
as much as the reader fears.
- Put the time and/or money in the context of the benefits they
bring.
- Show that money spent now will save money in the long run.
- -Show that doing as you ask will benefit some group or cause the
reader supports, even though the action may not help the reader
directly.
- Show the reader that the sacrifice is necessary to achieve a larger,
more important goal to which he or she is committed.
- Show that the advantages as a group outnumber or outweigh the
disadvantages as a group.
- Turn a disadvantage into an opportunity.
- Put time, money in context of benefits they bring.
- Show that money spent now will save money in long run.
- Show that doing as you ask will benefit something audience cares
about.
- Show audience need for sacrifice to achieve larger, more
important goal.
- Show that advantages outweigh the disadvantages.
Reason to act promptly:
- Show that time limit is real.
- Show that acting now will save time or money.
- Show the cost of delaying action.
Tone in persuasive message:
- Be courteous
- Give solid reasons for requests
- Make requests clear
- Give enough information for audience to act
- Tone down requests to superiors, for example, I expect you to
give me a new computer. If funds permit, I’d like a new computer.
Sending Sales and Fundraising Messages:
Both sales and fundraising messages
- Are often sent in direct-mail packages
- Are often written by specialized and highly skilled professionals
- for business and public attention, time, and dollars
- Try to persuade readers to spend their time or money on the
value being offered
- Require a few more steps than other types of persuasive
messages
The difference between sales messages and fundraising messages:
-Sales messages are usually sent by for-profit organizations trying to persuade
readers to spend money on products for themselves.
-Fundraising messages are usually sent by nonprofit organizations trying to
persuade readers to donate money or time to help others.
Organizing Sales and Fund-Raising Messages:
-Tells audience what to do
-Makes action sound easy
-Offers audience reason to act now the reason such as action seems easy, time
limits, price rise schedule, limited supply, premium, discount.
-Ends with positive picture.
-Recall central selling point.
Chapter 16: Building Resume
A resume is a written compilation of your education, work experience,
credentials, and accomplishments that is used to apply for jobs. It is one of the
most important pieces of any job application.
Guideline the length of resume:
Resume Length: Your resume should be as concise as possible; two pages is the
maximum length, but one page is preferable. Here's more about resume length
and how long your resume should be.
Font and Size: Do not use ornate fonts that are difficult to read. Your font size
should be between 10 and 12 points, although your name and the section
headings can be a little larger.
Guideline the detail and information that should be emphasize:
The information you provide in each description. Present what you think is of
greatest interest to your potential employer first. The information to Avoid is
including personal information such as birthday, height, weight, marital status,
children, etc., unless the position requires it.
Emphasize interest and achievement
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Keep this section short and to the point. As you grow older, your
employment record will take precedence and interests will typically
diminish greatly in length and importance.
Don't put many passive, solitary hobbies (reading, watching TV, stamp
collecting) you may be perceived as lacking people skills.
Hobbies that are a little out of the ordinary can help your resume
outstanding for example skydiving or mountaineering can show a sense
of wanting to stretch yourself and an ability to rely on yourself in
demanding situations.
Any interests relevant to the job are worth mentioning.
Any evidence of leadership is important to mention: captain or coach of
a sports team, course representative, chair of a student society, scout
leader.
Anything showing evidence of employability skills such as team working,
organizing, planning, persuading, negotiating etc.
Type of resume: there are two types of resume
1) Chronological - chronological resume starts by listing your work history, with
the most recent positions listed first. Because it focuses on most recent work
experiences, it is considered one of the most common resume structures. This
is the "conventional" approach and the easiest to prepare.
2) Skills-based: highly-focused CVs which relate your skills and abilities to a
specific job or career area by highlighting these skills and your major
achievements. The details of your education and work history are subordinate.
Skills-based CVs should be closely targeted to a specific job.
Make sure resume contains everything the employer needs to be convinced
that you are a good match for the position. A complete resume includes the
following sections.
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-Contact Information: should be placed on top of resume. It should be easy
and quick to read.
Name and address
E-mail address. Avoid using unprofessional e-mail address such as
banana_buns or hottie4u.
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Phone numbers. Remember to check outgoing voice mail message for loud
background music, slang, or improper language.
Include the address for your website or online portfolio.
-Objective Statement
An objective statement clearly states the purpose of resume. Not every
resume has this. Use it to let an employer know your specific job or career
goal. If you decide not to include it in your resume, be sure to state an
objective in your cover letter.
-Summary Statement
A summary statement grabs the employer's attention by highlighting your
qualifications. It is used in place of an objective statement. An employer may
not read your entire resume. A summary will give them a snapshot of your
work experiences, achievements, and skills. To be effective, it should be very
brief (4-5 lines of text). It should also be written for the position you are
applying for. Use keywords and resume verbs when creating your summary
statement.
-Employment History
You can present your work experience in a variety of ways. The most
straightforward way is the chronological format. List your current or most
recent job, and work backwards in time. Include your job title, your employer's
name, the city and state in which it is located. Also list the start and end dates
of your employment.
-Education
List your educational accomplishments, starting with your most recent or
highest degree. Include the name and location of the institution attended, your
degree, and field of study/major.
-Other Information
Include relevant information that relates to the job to which you are applying.
This may include memberships to organizations, volunteer work, military
experiences, computer skills, awards, and hobbies. Avoid mentioning religious,
political, or controversial affiliations unless they directly relate to the job you
want.
Electronic resume: an electronic resume is a plain text document that provides
an employer with information regarding a job candidate's professional
experience, education and job qualifications and is meant to be read by a
computer program instead of by a human being.
Chapter 17: Writing Job Application Letters
Job Application Letters, also called cover letters is a document letter that sent
with your resume to provide additional information on your skills and
experience. Employers use cover letters as a way to screen applicants for
available jobs and to determine which candidates they would like to interview.
If an employer requires a cover letter, it should be listed in the job posting.
Jobseekers create application letters or cover letters; send to employers in an
attempt to get an interview. If a job is advertised and available, the person
sends a solicited application letter. If the job was not announced, the person
sends an unsolicited letter hoping there might be an open position within the
company.
Therefore there are two kinds of job application letter:
1) Solicited Cover Letters
A solicited cover letter is used when you are applying for a posted job opening
or responding to an employment advertisement.
2) Unsolicited Cover Letters
An unsolicited cover letter is used when you are applying the job that was not
announced, either for an existing job opening, or as a way of introducing
yourself to a company you’d like to work with. It is used to let an employer
know who you are and what kind of job you're looking for. The letter should
introduce you, highlight your skills and credentials, and provide a brief
explanation of why you're writing.
The followings are an overview of what is included in each section of a job
listing:
Job Title
A job title is a brief description of a job. The title of the job posting may be the
job title or it may include additional information like the company name and
location.
Job Requirements
Job requirements are the qualifications that are considered as essential to
satisfactory performance in the job by the employer.
Experience Requirements
Experience requirements may include the specific skills required for the job
and/or the years of experience on the job.
Equivalant Experience
When a job posting says equivalent experience in a job posting, it can mean
non-paid experience like an internship or volunteer work in place of paid work
experience.
Education Requirements
Employers typically list the educational requirements for a job in job postings
and in job descriptions.
Required Application Materials
Required application materials include the documentation you will need to
submit to the employer to apply for a job. Supporting documents for a job
application may include a resume, a cover letter, transcripts, a writing sample,
Veterans' Preference documents, portfolios, working papers and certifications.
References
Some employers require job applicants to provide references with their job
application rather than later on in the hiring process.
Salary Requirements
Many job postings ask you to include your salary history or your salary
requirements when applying for the position.
The hidden job market:
The hidden job market is a term used to describe jobs that aren't posted online
or advertised. Job seekers can tap the hidden job market by using networking
connections to help find unadvertised job openings.
Chapter 18: Job interview
Job interviews are usually preceded by the evaluation of CVs submitted by
candidates who have applied for a particular job role. The employers usually
invite the best of these candidates to interview. The job interview is
considered one of the most useful tools in evaluating potential employees.
Multiple rounds of job interviews may be used where there are many
candidates in competition or the job in question is particularly challenging or
desirable. Earlier interview rounds usually involve fewer and less important
interviewers and will typically last for much less time and go into far less detail
than final stage interviews.
There are three main types of interview:
1) Stress Job Interviews: The stress interviewing technique is typically used
only for positions in which the job-seeker will be facing stress on the job, and
the interviewer wants to see how well he or she can handle the pressure. The
key to surviving stress interviews is to remain calm, keep a sense of humor,
and avoid getting angry or defensive.
2) Situational Job Interviews: In situational interviewing, job-seekers are asked
to respond to a specific situation they may face on the job. These types of
questions are designed to draw out more of your analytical and problemsolving skills, as well as how you handle problems with short notice and
minimal preparation.
3) Behavior interview or called Competency interview, this type of interview is
increasingly popular and usually follow a strict set of questions. This type of
interview focuses on work-related skills and abilities rather than questions
about your personality, and they can be trickier to answer as the candidates
have to use examples to demonstrate their answers.
Chapter 14: Conflict Management
Conflict situations are an important aspect of the workplace. A conflict is
a situation when the interests, needs, goals or values of involved parties
interfere with one another. A conflict is a common situation in the workplace.
Conflicts may involve team members, departments, projects, organization and
client, boss and subordinate, organization needs vs. personal needs. But
conflict does not mean bad all the time because often that a conflict presents
opportunities for improvement. Therefore, it is important to understand (and
apply) various conflict resolving techniques.
Conflicts in Communication: most people know that in order to resolve
conflicts, we need to communicate about the issue; but negative patterns of
communication can often lead to greater frustration and conflict.
Communication conflict occur when two people talk in such a way that neither
one feels understood. There are four particularly negative styles of
communication;
• Criticism attacks the character or personality of another. While it is normal to
have complaints about another’s specific actions, it is very different to put
them down as a person because of those actions.
• a lack of respect for the other person through body language, such as eye
rolling or sneering, or by name calling, sarcasm and cutting remarks.
• Defensiveness is when we are defensive, we tend to stop listening to the
other’s viewpoint and communication is shut down.
• Stonewalling is withdrawing from communication and refusing to engage in
discussion. In other words, it is the adult version of the “silent treatment” that
young children utilize when they are upset. Conflict resolution is impossible
without communication.
Four axioms of communication and conflict:
1. Conflict involves at least two parties: Conflicts can be generated or
resolved only through communication
2. Conflict develops from perceived mutually exclusive goals
3. Conflict involves parties with different values or perceptions
-Share value and more friendly
-Accurate communication helps reducing conflicts
4. Conflict ends when each side feels it has won or lost.
Conflict resolution strategies:
-Accommodating manager is one who cooperates to a high degree. This may
be at the manager's own expense and actually work against that manager's
own goals, objectives, and desired outcomes. This approach is effective when
the other person is the expert or has a better solution.
-Avoiding an issue is one way a manager might attempt to resolve conflict. This
type of conflict style does not help the other staff members reach their goals
and does not help the manager who is avoiding the issue. However, this works
well when the manager has no chance of winning.
-Collaborating also known as problem solving. Collaboration involves an
attempt to work with the other person to find a win-win solution to the
problem in hand. The one that most satisfies the concerns of both parties. The
win-win approach sees conflict resolution as an opportunity to come to a
mutually beneficial result.
-Competing or forcing: This is the win-lose approach. A manager is acting in a
very certain way to achieve his or her own goals without seeking to cooperate
with other employees, and it may be at the expense of those other employees.
This approach may be appropriate for emergencies when time is of the
essence.
-Compromising: This is the lose-lose scenario where neither person nor
manager really achieves what they want. It may be appropriate for scenarios
where you need a temporary solution or where both sides have equally
important goals.
The Problem-Solving Process
Dewey’s Problem Solving Strategy is one of the most effective methods of
problem solving. This reflective thinking process which is a structured
organized series of questions is best described by the questions listed below.
Every member of the group must come prepared to answer each of the
questions in each step.
Step One: Define the Problem
Step Two: Analyze the Problem: look at history of the problem, causes of the
problem, the symptoms of the problem, the methods currently exist for
dealing with the problem, the limitations of these methods.
Step Three: Determine Criteria for optimal Solution: the guidelines for a
workable solution (Sample criteria may include cost, ability to be implemented,
band uniforms-comfortable, eye catching, weather resistant).
Step Four: Propose Solutions: after the group has analyzed the problem and
suggested criteria for a solution, it should begin to suggest possible solutions.
Many suggest a variety of possible solutions without evaluating them.
(Brainstorming).
Step Five: Evaluate Proposed Solution: after the group has a list of possible
solutions, it should be ready to select the best possible solution in the criteria
that the group developed in step three.
Step Six: Select a Solution
** Credit: Lecture ajarn Phuwadon**