Business Writing is a Genre
As a genre it involves certain rules and
conventions
This means that there are basic rules that every
business writer should follow
It is essential to be clear and concise in one’s
communications
Precision, clarity and consistency are achieved
through—
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Thinking before you write
Knowing your audience
Using simple language
Proofreading your document
Proofreading again—be ruthless in making
sure there are no mistakes
Let’s now address the importance of thinking
before you write…here are some questions you
might ask yourself before sending an email…
Because email is a relatively immediate form of
communication thinking before pressing the send
button is really important. While proofreading your
email
• You need to take into account the perspective of
your reader/audience
• Part of doing this is thinking carefully about your
word choices
• It is always good to adopt a positive tone even if
the message is serious. This is because you want
to relieve stress. Rarely do people perform well
when stressed.
This brings me to the importance of tone (or
register) in your business writing
What people pick up on first even before reading the
content of your message/email is its sound
This is tied into tone. Work on the sound of your writing
as we read with both our eyes and ears.
In getting the tone right in your writing think
about the essence of your message
On other words, what is the point of it?
What do your want your reader to remember?
The best way to retain information is through sound
so work on the sound/tone/register of your message
The most memorable messages are simple. Below is a
very basic model of communication.
You’ll notice that there is a passage of time—even
a gap between the sender and receiver….
This ‘gap’ needs to come across to the receiver as
directly as possible without noise, confusion, or
interference…
Now you might wonder, what is noise?
Well it is connected to sound and how
sounds/words/messages are interpreted and
misinterpreted.
For example grammatical mistakes in your
communications can produce noise
And this noise, as grammatical errors, can
interfere with your message…
In one’s private life it may not be fair to judge people by
their grammar but in business this happens all the time.
Which is why proofreading your writing is essential not
only in doing well in your job but also in getting the job
you want!
Correct spelling and grammar reduces noise which
means that your message reaches your receiver without
interference.
Ways to overcome writer’s block….
The best way to address this is head-on
As you can see this problem of writer’s block is a part of
many narratives in popular culture texts…
The best way to address this problem is to
write…write anything. Just put some words and
characters down on the page and see what
happens…
The Nike ad campaign, ‘just do it’ may not seem helpful
but as an experienced writer myself the way to start
writing is just to do it.
Once you have words on a page then you have
something to work with and also to change.
A large part of writing is rewriting. The advice
below is wise.
Handy Tips:
• Do not burden yourself with the idea of perfection, but
you can come close to it through revision and
proofreading
• Believe in yourself even when you feel the least
confident
• Work at your writing
• Think of your reader
• And eradicate as much ‘noise’ from your writing by
being grammatically correct at all times
• Avoid waste words such as qualifying clauses that add
nothing to your communication
What to do in Electronic Writing
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Use simple words
Write in complete sentences
Respect your reader
Adopt a formal yet positive tone
Edit your email
Proofread your email
Think carefully before pressing the ‘send’
button
What not to do in Electronic Writing
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Talk down to your reader
Adopt a negative tone
Use vague language
Send before proofreading and editing
Use complex words and sentence constructions
Use incorrect grammar including spelling and
especially your recipient’s name and when
relevant, title.
Also know the nature of your communication tool. Famous
communication theorist Marshall McLuhan (1911-1980) once said:
‘The medium is the message’.
For most of you, the medium is your computer and
you communicate through email.
In the recent past email used to be treated lightly as an
informal mode of communication but now it is the most
common and arguably influential form of business
communication.
Also unlike the paper document, an email or any
other electronic form of communication cannot be
erased. So make sure you put your best foot
forward in keeping it simple.