Fundamentals of

professional writing
An overview

Lecture-2

Contents
 Find ideas
 Critical thinking
 Elements of effective writing
 Choosing appropriate document framework

Sources:
1. Roslyn & Marsha, The professional writing guide
2. Meenakshi & Sangeeta, Technical communication – principles
and practice.
Idea generation
 Brainstorming
 Mind map
 Force field generator
 Fish bone

Mind map
 A thinking tool to capture your ideas about any topic

Adobe Acrobat
Document
Force field
 A thinking tool to discuss both sides / pros & cons

Source: Mindtools.com

Fish bone
 Thinking tool for root cause analysis / problem solving

Source: Mindtools.com
Critical thinking
 Process of evaluating information
 What’s the process?
 Gather all information (pros & cons)
 Evaluate the information
 Is the information sufficient?
 Is the information relevant?
 Is the information accurate?
 Is the information up-to-date?
 Is the information unbiased?

Developing a goal centered message

 Give facts
 Suggest actions
 Analyze all possibilities / options / choices
 Propose your choice / action plan
 Discuss / present argument why your choice is best
 Evaluate your writing
 Is the main message clear?
 Is it stated early in the document?
 Have I given opposing view and raised relevant questions?
 Have I chosen convincing reasons?
 Have I provided evidence?
 Have I made realistic assumptions?
Elements of effective writing
 Using right words in the right context
 Use familiar words – use words keeping the reader in
mind
 Eg. The conclusion ascertained from a perusal of pertinent data is
that the project could be potentially lucrative.
 Eg. The data studied shows that the project is profitable.
 Eg. This policy entails humongous positive externalities for the
societal ecosystem.
 Eg. This policy offers large benefits to the society.
 Use concrete and specific words – concrete words with
clear meaning are preferred to abstract words.
 Eg. Rigid pavements are more capital intensive compared to
flexible pavements.
 Eg. Concrete roads cost 50% more than the bitumen roads.

Elements of effective writing

 Use acronyms and abbreviations judiciously
 Expand them at their first occurrence in your report and use the
short form subsequently.
 Have a glossary in the beginning of the report.
 Avoid clichés
 Eg. This reports discusses threadbare all the benefits of
prefabricated structures.
 Eg. This report discusses the benefits of prefabricated structures.
 Eg. Our project team has burnt their midnight oil to put up this
report for today’s review.
 Eg. Our project team worked all night to make this report for
today’s review
 Use jargon judiciously
 Use foreign words and phrases judiciously
 Avoid redundancy and Circumlocution
 Avoid discriminatory writing
Elements of effective writing
 Sentences
 Prefer short sentences
 Eg. From the above, it is abundantly clear that M/s ABC Ltd.
through its representatives, willfully suppressed vital & material
facts related to the project; made false commitments & false
statements and manipulated M/s XYZ Ltd. to enter into a contract
that was never tenable from the beginning violating the basic
tenets of contract law.
 Eg. From the above, it is clear that M/s ABC Ltd. willfully
suppressed vital & material facts related to the project. Also M/s
ABC Ltd. made false commitments & false statements making the
contract with M/s XYZ Ltd. untenable.
 Prefer simpler sentences
 Eg. It is essential that there be no construction of houses in the
area designated as the sanctuary for wildlife.
 Eg. New houses should not be constructed in the area designated
for wildlife sanctuary.

Elements of effective writing

 Sentences
 Give right emphasis
 Eg. Such statements and arbitrary application of weight loss
correction by M/s ABC indicates that the ship lift had inherent
issues, and that it has never travelled to 16.5m.
 Eg. Such statements and arbitrary application of weight loss
correction by M/s ABC demonstrates that the ship lift had
inherent issues and that the ship lift never travelled to 16.5m right
from the time of commissioning.
 Avoid ambiguous sentences
 Ambiguity is caused by faulty sentence construction and
misplaced words.
 Eg. All the project management team members were told to stop
demonstration at site.
 Eg. All the project management team members at site were told to
stop demonstration.
Elements of effective writing
 Sentences
 Active versus passive voice
 Prefer active to passive voice, because it is direct & economical in
words.
 Eg. The Board requires us to implement this new procedure.
 Eg. Our implementation of this new procedure is required by Board.
 Passive voice is preferred when we want to avoid personal pronouns or
agent is unknown
 Eg. The operator has damaged the equipment
 Eg. The equipment got damaged while in operation
 Minutes of meeting are written in passive voice
 Eg. The following points were discussed and resolved as mentioned below.
 Use passive voice when you want to soften an unpleasant message
 Eg. We have not approved your application for project loan
 Eg. Your application for project loan could not be approved

Elements of effective writing

 Punctuation
 Punctuation builds relationship between words and groups
of words and conveys intended meaning to reader, without
reader interpreting his or her own.
 Punctuation marks : ‘ ( ) , … . - ? “ ” ; /
 Apostrophe ‘
 Its vs It’s: Its means belonging to it. It’s is contraction for it is.
 Parentheses ()
 Eg. Executive summary (not exceeding 2 pages) is an important
part of any report
 Colon :
 Correct use Eg. The following project management tools are
available with us: MSP; Primavera.
 Incorrect use eg. Make a list of : construction equipment
Elements of effective writing
 Punctuation
 Comma ,
 Separate introductory information from main part of the
sentence
 Eg. To register for this course, please fill online form.
 To insert information
 Eg. We have prepared the report, however, it is awaiting approval
of competent authority
 Comma problems
 Eg. After they graduated the students registered for alumni
membership. Vs
 After they graduated, the students registered for alumni
membership
 Eg. Taxes, which are reasonable, shall be paid . Vs
 Taxes which are reasonable, shall be paid
 Taxes that are reasonable shall be paid.

Elements of effective writing

 Punctuation
 Ellipsis …
 Use to remove a word or words from a quote
 Eg. The contract clause no. 23.5.2 of Section-V mentions that, “Client shall
provide office space for …”
 Full stop .
 Do you use full stop with brackets and Quotes?
 When you use short forms, eg. XYZ Ltd. in their communication …
 The Govt. of Maharashtra decided to award this project to M/s XYZ Ltd.
 Hyphen -
 Man-eating tiger Vs Man eating tiger
 Little-used equipment Vs Little, used equipment
 Well-trained employees
 Semicolon
 Use semicolon to tie together two independent clauses
 Eg. The current CEO demonstrated outstanding leadership qualities; no
wonder, she is on Times cover page.
Choosing appropriate document
framework
 Why a framework?
 A clear framework helps save time
 Helps to check that the document communicates
 Helps to highlight the main message
 Helps you aware of the material required to support main
message
 Its a blueprint to discuss your document with others
 Use business formats or prescribed patterns

Some common document frameworks

 Letters
 Writers address and date
 Addressee’s name, position, company, and address
 Salutation
 Subject
 Reference
 Body
 Close
 Signature
 Name and title
 Enclosures
 CC
Some common document
frameworks
 Memos (intra-company communication)
 Addressee’s name, position
 Subject
 Body
 Signature
 Name and title
 Enclosures
 CC

Some common document

frameworks
 Proposals
 Situation / Background / Rationale
 Objectives
 Method / procedures / approach
 Qualifications
 Costs
 Benefits / significance / justification
Some common document frameworks
 Report
 Cover
 Title page – name of author, reviewer, approver, document
number, date and revision number etc.
 Executive summary
 Table of contents / index
 List of figures
 List of appendices
 Glossary
 Introduction
 Body
 Conclusions
 Recommendations
 Bibliography / References
 Appendices

Next session
 Report writing