Are you confident in the area of Report Writing and Business Correspondence or could you do better? Make a distinct effort to:

• Use your writing time well;
  
• Edit to make the point clearer;
  
• Business letters are not personal letters;
  
• When to write it down and when not.
  

The only purpose of business writing is to convey information to someone else or to request information from them. To be effective writing for business, you must be complete, concise, and accurate. Your text should be written in such a way that the reader will be able to easily understand what you are telling or asking them. You should read this section on writing help to be sure your communication actually works.

A lot of writing for business is sloppy, poorly written, disorganized, littered with jargon, and incomplete. Often it is either too long or too short. All these attributes contribute to ineffective business writing. Whether you are writing a sales proposal, an email to your department, or an instruction manual for a new product, there are certain steps you need to follow for effective business communication in writing. You need to:

1. Organize your material;


2. Consider your audience;


3. Write it down;


4. Proofread carefully or get someone else to
;

5. Then edit your text.

The emphasis on each step may vary, depending on what you are writing, but the steps will be the same.

When writing an email announcing a staff meeting, this may be as simple as collecting your thoughts. On the other hand, you may need to write out a multi-level outline of the material when writing up the results of a performance trial. Without an appropriate level of organization, you can't be sure you will include everything or that you will give prominence to the most important topics. Omissions or incorrect focus can make your business writing almost worthless.

Before you start to write, think about who is going to read or see it. For example, a report about your company's new capital investment programme may have the same shape when given to your Finance Director or to all employees, but the level of detail in various areas will differ. A quick note to your team, reminding them of the company's security procedures, won't have the same tone as your department's section of the company's annual report. Also remember that you will be more effective writing to your audience if you focus on what you want them to hear rather than on what you are going to say.

Obviously there are many different styles of writing whether writing reports or any other business correspondence. Some people prefer to write everything out and then go back and edit. Others say they prefer to edit as they work on the piece they are writing.

As you write, or when you edit, be aware of length. Use enough words to make your meaning clear, but don't use unnecessary words just to make it flowery. Business writing needs to be clear and concise so don't use overlong words or complex language unnecessarily. No one in business has time to read any more than necessary. Equally don't try to shorten a piece by using jargon or abbreviations. These often mean different things to different readers. Regardless of the style you use when writing, you need to proofread and edit what you have written.

4 Proof-read

After you write anything, you need to proof-read it. You may then need to edit it. Proof-reading is re-reading what you wrote to make sure all the words are what you intended. Proofreading catches these errors so you can fix them. And don't just rely on your spellchecker (look at the differences between UK and US English).

5 Edit

Obviously, proofreading a one-line email is pretty easy. Just glancing over it as you type may be enough. However, if you are writing an instruction manual, your proofreading will be more complicated and take longer. After you have proofread your material, you need to edit it. Sometimes these can be done together, but it is usually more effective if done sequentially.

Manage This Issue

You are writing for business, not the book you know you have inside!

Remember the rules for effective business writing to:

Without too many changes to the way you work, you can become adept at report writing and business correspondence soon comes naturally to you.

If you still need some help why not make use of this professional Editing Service - helps you to improve your scientific paper, technical article, thesis, dissertation, or other technical writing or business document. http://www.englishwritingservices.com

Back to Presentation Skills

Back to Home page from Report Writing and Business Correspondence