COMPLETING BUSINESS Angela Teressia

MESSAGES
UNDERSTANDING THE THREE-STEP
WRITING PROCESS

PLAN
WRITE WRITE
WRITE COMPLETE
 REVISING YOUR MESSAGE:
EVALUATING THE FIRST DRAFT
EVALUATING YOUR CONTENT, ORGANIZATION, STYLE, AND TONE
To evaluate the content of your message, answer these questions:
1. Is the information accurate?
2. Is the information relevant to the audience?
3. Is there enough information to satisfy the readers’ needs?
4. Is there a good balance between general information (giving readers
enough background information to appreciate the message) and specific
information (giving readers the details they need to understand the
message)?
EVALUATING, EDITING, AND REVISING THE WORK OF OTHERS
answer the following questions as you evaluate someone else’s writing:
1. What is the purpose of this document or message?
2. Who is the target audience?
3. What information does the audience need?
4. Does the document provide this information in a well-organized way?
5. Does the writing demonstrate the “you” attitude toward the audience?
6. Is the tone of the writing appropriate for the audience?
7. Can the readability be improved?
8. Is the writing clear? If not, how can it be improved?
9. Is the writing as concise as it could be?
10. Does the design support the intended message?
EXAMPLE
contoh
REVISING TO IMPROVE READABILITY

VARYING YOUR SENTENCE LENGTH

KEEPING YOUR PARAGRAPHS SHORT

USING LISTS TO CLARIFY AND EMPHASIZE

ADDING HEADINGS AND SUBHEADINGS

Readability indexes offer a
useful reference point, but they
are all limited by what they are
able to measure: word length,
number of syllables, sentence
length, and paragraph length.
They can’t measure any of the
other factors that affect
readability, from “you”
orientation to writing clarity to
document design
Readability indexes can help.
But they don’t measure
everything. They don’t measure
whether your clarity is good.
They don’t measure whether
your document design is good
or not. Reading indexes are
based on word length,
syllables, sentences, and
paragraphs
USING LISTS TO CLARIFY AND EMPHASIZE
NARRATIVE LIST

Owning your own business has many Owning your own business
potential advantages. One is the has three advantages:
opportunity to pursue your own
personal passion. Another advantage • Opportunity to pursue
is the satisfaction of working for personal passion
yourself. As a sole proprietor, you also • Satisfaction of working for
have the advantage of privacy because yourself
you do not have to reveal your • Financial privacy
financial information or plans to
anyone.
EDITING FOR CLARITY AND CONCISENESS

EDITING FOR EDITING FOR

CLARITY CONCISENESS

USING
TECHNOLOGY
TO REVISE YOUR
MESSAGE
ISSUES TO REVIEW
Overly Long • The magazine will be published January 1, and I’d better meet the
Sentences deadline if I want my article included because we want the article to
Taking compound appear before the trade show.
sentences too far • The magazine will be published January 1. I’d better meet the deadline
because we want the article to appear before the trade show.

Hedging Sentences • I believe that Mr. Johnson’s employment record seems to show that he
may be capable of handling the position.
Overqualifying
sentences • Mr. Johnson’s employment record shows that he is capable of handling
the position.

Unparallel Mr. Simms had been drenched with rain, bombarded with telephone calls,
Sentences and his boss shouted at him.
To waste time and missing deadlines are bad habits.
Using dissimilar
construction for Mr. Sims had been drenched with rain, bombarded with telephone calls,
similar ideas and shouted at by his boss.
Wasting time and missing deadlines are bad habits.
Dangling Modifiers • Walking to the office, a red sports car passed
her. [suggests that the car was walking to the
Placing modifiers office]
close to the wrong • A red sports car passed her while she was
nouns and verbs walking to the office.

Long Noun • The window sash installation company will

Sequences give us an estimate on Friday.
Stringing too many • The company that installs window sashes
nouns together will give us an estimate on Friday.
EDITING FOR CLARITY
AND CONCISENESS

1. Unnecessary Words and

EDITING FOR EDITING FOR Phrases
CLARITY CONCISENESS
2. Long Words and Phrases
USING
TECHNOLOGY 3. Redundancies: (contoh)
TO REVISE YOUR
MESSAGE amat sangat
EDITING FOR CLARITY
AND CONCISENESS

Microsoft Word, the most commonly used word

processor in business offices, offers handy tools for
reviewing draft documents. In this example, text to
EDITING FOR EDITING FOR
CLARITY CONCISENESS be added is shown in red, and text to be deleted is
shown in balloons in the right margin. The writer can
then choose to accept or reject each suggested
USING change.
TECHNOLOGY
TO REVISE YOUR
MESSAGE
 To achieve an effective design, pay careful
attention to the following design elements:
PRODUCING üConsistency. through out each message, be
YOUR MESSAGE consistent in your use of margins, typeface,
type size, and space.
üBalance. One document may have a formal,
Z
DESIGNING rigid design in which the various elements
DESIGNING FOR MULTIMEDIA
READABILITY
DOCUMENTS
are placed in a grid pattern, whereas another
may have a less formal design in which
USING elements flow more freely across the page—
TECHNOLOGY FORMATTING
FORMAL LETTERS and both could be in balance.
TO PRODUCE AND MEMOS
YOUR MESSAGE üRestraint. Strive for simplicity in design
üDetail. Pay attention to details that aspect
your design and thus your message.
 To design and create multimedia documents, you need to
consider the following factors:

PRODUCING YOUR ü Creative and technical skills. Depending on what you need
to accomplish, creating and integrating multimedia elements
MESSAGE can require some creative and technical skills.
ü Tools. the hardware and so ware tools needed to create and
integrate media elements are now widely available and
generally affordable.
Z
DESIGNING ü Time and cost. the time and cost of creating multimedia
DESIGNING FOR MULTIMEDIA
READABILITY documents has dropped dramatically in recent years.
DOCUMENTS
ü Content. To include various media elements in a document,
you obviously need to create them if you have the time, tools,
USING FORMATTING and skills or acquire them if you don’t.
TECHNOLOGY FORMAL LETTERS
TO PRODUCE ü Message structure. Multimedia documents often lack a rigid
YOUR MESSAGE AND MEMOS
linear structure from beginning to end, which means you
need to plan for readers to take multiple, individualized paths
through the material.
ü Compatibility. Some multimedia elements require specific so
ware to be installed on the recipient’s viewing device.
 Depending on the types of messages you’re creating, you’ll
bene t from being proficient with the following features:

PRODUCING YOUR ü Templates, themes, and stylesheets. Many companies

provide these tools to their employees to ensure a
MESSAGE consistent look and feel for all print and on-line
documents.
ü Page setup. Use page setup to control margins, orientation,
and the location of headers and footers.
Z
DESIGNING ü Paragraph formatting. Take advantage of paragraph
DESIGNING FOR MULTIMEDIA formatting controls to enhance the look of your documents.
READABILITY
DOCUMENTS ü Numbered and bulleted lists. Let your so ware do the
busywork of formatting numbered and bulleted lists.
USING FORMATTING ü Tables. Tables are great for displaying any information that
TECHNOLOGY FORMAL LETTERS lends itself to rows and columns, including calendars,
TO PRODUCE AND MEMOS
YOUR MESSAGE numeric data, comparisons, and multicolumn lists.
ü Pictures, text boxes, and objects. Print and online
publishing so ware lets you insert a wide variety of
elements.
 PRODUCING YOUR
MESSAGE

Z
DESIGNING FOR DESIGNING
READABILITY MULTIMEDIA
DOCUMENTS

USING FORMATTING
TECHNOLOGY FORMAL LETTERS
TO PRODUCE AND MEMOS
YOUR MESSAGE
Business letters typically have the following elements:
• Preprinted letterhead • Date • Inside address • Salutation
• Complimentary close • Signature block
PROOFREADING YOUR
MESSAGE
Proofreading is the quality inspection stage for your
documents, your last chance to make sure that your
document is ready to carry your message—and your
reputation—to the intended audience.
At this stages look for two types of problems:
1. undetected mistakes from the writing, design, and
layout stages and
2. mistakes that crept in during production.
 DISTRIBUTING YOUR MESSAGE
Cost Convenience Time Security and privacy

• Cost isn’t a major • How much work is • How soon does the • the convenience offered
concern for most involved for you and message need to reach by electronic
messages, but for your audience? the audience? communication needs
lengthy reports or • For instance, if you use • Don’t waste money on to be weighed against
multimedia a file compression overnight delivery if the security and privacy
productions, it may well utility to shrink the size recipient won’t read the concerns.
be. of email attachments, report for a week.
• Printing, binding, and make sure your
delivering reports can recipients have the
be expensive, so weigh means to expand the
the cost versus the les on arrival.
benefits before you
decide.
THANK YOU