CHAPTER 6

The Writing Process

In writing, the final product is what counts. You may find that you are not satisfied I with the
final product but might not know how to improve it. This dilemma is like the golfer who
consistently slices or hooks the ball but does not know why. Often, the solution is found by
reviewing and practicing the basics. In this chapter, we review the basic elements of the writing
process that can help you generate a better-written product. The elements of the writing process
are planning,1.writing,
Planning 2. Writing
revising, and proofreading (see Figure 6.1).

PLANNING• form ideas • brainstorm

The planning• step

analyze
of theyour audience
writing process includes •forming
outlineideas, analyzing the audience,
specifying the purpose, and selecting style and tone.
• specify your purpose • draft
Form Ideas • select a style and tone
Begin writing by forming the ideas that you wish to write about. These ideas may be dictated by
the situation,3.such as a request for information, or4.they
Revising may be created by
Proofreading

• organization • format

• content • mechanics

• style and tone

FIGURE 6.1 The Writing Proems

you for, say, an internal proposal. Some ideas will not be born without time given to stimulation
and incubation. Learn how others in similar circumstances approached the topic. Opening
yourself to ideas through reading and discussions, as well as pondering or “sleeping on it,” can
help you develop ideas.

Analyze Your Audience

Who will be in the audience, and how do you want to influence them? Will you address a large,
general audience, just a few individuals within your organization, or a single customer? What are
their interests? How much information will they need? What are their attitudes toward you and
the topic? What kind of relationship do you now have, and what kind of relationship do you
desire? Answers to these questions will help you form appropriate ideas and shape them to
address the concerns developed by your analysis.

Specify Your Purpose

When your ideas are formed and your audience defined, you are ready to specify your purpose.
Your purpose is what you want the audience to know or do upon reading your document. One
way to specify the purpose is to complete this formula: “Upon reading this document, my readers
will know or will be inclined to do.... “ Once defined, the purpose should influence every other
decision you make about the document.

Think about your reason for communicating. Doing so will help you narrow your purpose
so you're not simply throwing information at your reader. If you don't take the time to narrow
your focus, then your reader must cull through the document to determine a purpose and separate
the important information from the superfluous. Your reader may not only give up in frustration,
but the interpretive nature of communication means that your reader may not receive the
information that you deem most important.

Select a Style and Tone

Selecting a style and tone means planning how you will express yourself in writing. In general,
business writing should be simple, direct, and conversational. However, in light of your audience
and purpose, you should consider a number of issues. First, you want your writing to establish or
maintain an appropriate relationship with your reader. If you are writing to your superiors, you
might acknowledge the relationship by saying, “We suggest a new policy.” For subordinates,
you may want to be more directive: “All employees will comply with the new policy.” When-the
relationship is not important, you might eliminate reference to relationship: “This is the new
policy.”

Second, when you think about the audience, should the writing be formal or informal? Official
business documents normally use formal language: “The terms of the contract shall be executed
in accordance with the provisions outlined herein.” Letters and memos to acquaintances are more
informal: “Charlene, I can't imagine why you are interested in this contract.”

Third, do you want to imply a friendly or distant relationship? For acquaintances, you want a
friendly tone: “Jack, I missed you on the 18th green Friday.” When stating policies or
reprimanding, you probably want distance: “The organization's progressive discipline procedures
require a three-day suspension.”

Fourth, consider what is culturally and legally acceptable in an organization. Sexist and racist
language must be avoided. Some topics may be taboo. Also, match the climate of the
organization, whether it is formal or informal.

WRITING

After the initial planning, get your ideas down on paper. Brainstorming, outlining, and writing a
rough draft are all possible elements of this process. For shorter documents, such as letters and
short memos, certain steps may not be necessary or may be combined with others. For example,
if you're writing a simple, direct letter, such as an inquiry, you may not need to brainstorm or
outline. However, after creating a rough draft, you would still want to edit for content, tone,
organization, punctuation, and grammar.

Brainstorming

Sometimes ideas are easier to work with when they are written out. Simply write ideas down
without criticizing them—brainstorm! Don't worry about word choice, content,

or organization. Just write out the major concepts you want presented in the document. This step
is important for longer documents, such as proposals and recommendation reports. You may be
able to combine brainstorming with outlining if your ideas flow logically. However, you may
wish to get all your ideas down on paper before eliminating any of them. In this instance,
brainstorming and outlining are separate, distinct steps. Whatever process you adopt as a writer,
you should recognize that there is no single “right” or “best” way to create a successful
document. You should do what works best for you.

Outlining

Now arrange your ideas in a patterned, logical order. In this stage, you may want to take
advantage of computer programs designed to help writers organize ideas in an outline form. You
might also use the layout of other documents that have been created for similar purposes in your
organization as guides. Organize the main ideas logically to make the outline easy to follow.
Main headings (introduction, body headings, and conclusion) will go under Roman numerals (in
formal outline format), while sub-headings and paragraph topics will be preceded by capital
letters and Arabic numerals, respectively. If you've never outlined a document before, try it. You
may be surprised at how easily your rough draft will flow once the outline is completed. The
following is an example of a correct outline format.

THE INTERVIEW PROCESS

I. Introduction

II. Research the Company

A. Company websites

B. Company publications

C. Company employees

III. Dress for Success

A. Business suit

B. Minimal jewelry and make-up

IV. Be Prepared

A. Categories of interview questions

B. Questions for the interviewer

C. Extra resumes and copies of references

V. Conclusion

Drafting

The next step is writing a rough draft to flesh out the outline. The goal of this draft is to provide
clear explanations for each idea and to support claims. Because this is only a rough draft, be
more concerned about getting ideas down on paper than writing them perfectly. At this stage in
the process, don't agonize over whether your spelling, grammar, and punctuation are correct.
Concentrate on larger issues, such as organization (helped in large part by your outline), content
(ask yourself whether assertions are supported by facts), and writing style (determined by the
relationship you have or wish to establish with your reader).

REVISING

Some professional writers believe that more time should be spent on revision than on any other
element of the writing process. As one business professor said when asked how he managed to
write so well, “Oh, I don't know. After the 20th revision, it just sort of flows.” Even very skilled
writers revise their writing numerous times before they're satisfied. However, other writers revise
very little on paper because most of their revision takes place in their heads before they write it
down. Either way, revision must take place in some form, or you will always submit rough drafts
as final copies.

Although shorter documents like memos might not require revisions as extensive as longer
documents, all first drafts will improve with revision. For both long and short documents, revise
for organization, content, style, format, punctuation, and grammar.

Organization

First, ensure that the main point is clear: Have you told the reader what he or she needs to know
or do? The big point should be placed in a prominent position, preferably at the beginning or end
of the document. Examine how you've arranged your ideas. The overall organization of the
document should make sense to the reader. Review for the following:

• Are the main points easy to identify? Do headings and topic sentences make it easy for the
reader to follow your principal ideas?

• Are all points that are relevant to the purpose covered? Are irrelevant points eliminated?

• Is the overall organization of main ideas sequential and easy to follow? Do you use the
appropriate organizational pattern, such as a chronological, spatial, or alphabetical sequence? Do
you have enough headings to guide the reader?

• Are paragraphs logical, well organized, and easy to follow? Are paragraphs organized to
support topic sentences? Are relevant concepts included and irrelevant concepts deleted? Are
paragraphs short and easy to read?

Content

Second, consider the content: Is the material in the document up-to-date and accurate? Review
the document for the following:

• Are ideas clearly explained and claims adequately supported?

• Are sentences logical, simple, clear, and complete?

• Does the content clarify what the reader is supposed to know or do?

Without adequate and appropriate content, all other considerations become pointless, so be sure
that your document says what it needs to say.
Style and Tone

Third, carefully review the style and tone of the document: Is it appropriate for your relationship
with the audience?

• Is the writing conversational? Are sentences simple and easy to read?

• Is the tone appropriate for the nature of the message and the relationship with the
audience?

Remember to use a conversational style for all your business documents, even more formal ones
like long reports. If you find that your sentences are confusing or somewhat vague and abstract,
but you're unsure about how to sound more conversational, try this trick. Simply say out loud
whatever it is you're trying to convey the way you would say it if your reader were sitting across
from you. Then delete any colloquialisms or slang, and write it down.

PROOFREADING

All other considerations in the writing process that we've discussed so far will be for naught if
you fail to proofread your document. Nothing will destroy your credibility faster than a sloppy,
error-ridden document. And don't forget that you need to proofread after each revision your
document goes through because you may have created new errors. Delay proofreading until
larger revisions are complete. To successfully proofread a document, you should be familiar with
rules of punctuation and grammar. Many word processing programs can aid your proofing with
built-in spell-checkers, as well as grammar, punctuation, and style-checkers. By all means, use
these programs; however, keep in mind that computer programs are not foolproof. Even the
spelling programs miss words that are spelled correctly but used incorrectly. Hence, after using
these word processing aids, you should visually proof for overall format and mechanics.

Format

Why is format so important if your content is good? When documents are presented to
readers in the correct format, they appear more credible. Your use of correct format shows that
you are aware of cultural norms in business, you respect those norms, and your respect extends
to your reader. Using the incorrect format slows your reader down as he or she tries to decipher
just exactly what your document is. Make sure you've used the correct format for your intended
audience (memos for internal audiences and letters for external audiences, for example).

When writing longer documents, be sure to break up the text for your reader by supplying
main headings and subheadings, if necessary. Be sure the headings are grammatically parallel
and useful to your reader by providing an accurate description of the content within each section.
Visually, your document should be easily scannable, with headings and subheadings consistently
placed and sized. Making an effort to fulfill your reader's expectations about document format
will reflect well on you as a writer and on your company as a whole.

Proof for the organization's preferred layout first. Ask yourself the following questions:

• Do I have all the elements of the expected format for the document in question?
• Are my headings and titles accurate and descriptive? Are they parallel? Are page numbers
included? If references are included, are they correctly formatted?

• Is the document visually appealing? Have I used the right amount of white space?

Mechanics

Next, proof for mechanical writing errors by checking the following:

• Punctuation. Review your use of commas and your punctuation of compound sentences.
Sophisticated punctuation-checkers on some word processors can identify various common
errors; some of these programs may even be customized.

• Spelling. If possible, use a spell-checker on a computer. In addition, check your word usage
and the spelling of names.

• Sentence structure. Ensure that you have complete sentences; avoid run-on sentences. Some
style-checkers may have special subroutines to help you detect these problems.

• Subject-verb and noun-pronoun agreement. Avoiding linking plural forms with singular
forms and vice versa. Most grammar-checkers have become particularly good at picking up these
errors.

• Numbers and word usage. Be aware of the style guidelines for.your organization. Some
style-checkers will allow you to customize the computer program for checking numbers. Most
style programs allow you to modify (or create) a list of troublesome words that they will then
highlight in your document.

Many writers miss errors in their own documents. When possible, have someone else read
your documents for errors. When that is not possible, you might try a number of methods to
catch typos and other errors. Some people like to read hard copy. Others catch errors more
effectively on computer screens. Reading the content out loud is effective for many people. You
might even try reading the document backwards. After making corrections, reread the sentence
or section to ensure that it reads correctly. In the final analysis, you must find a system that
works best for you to eliminate errors.

SUMMARY

The writing process, when systematically approached, can result in an improved business
document. First, a writer should think about what sorts of ideas belong in the document.
Thinking about the audience, having a clear purpose, and aiming for an appropriate style and
tone are important considerations during the planning stage. The writing stage consists of
brainstorming, outlining, and drafting. Next (and often most importantly), revising for
organization, content, style, and tone is sure to improve the document. The final step in creating
a sound business document is to proofread for format and mechanics.

For some documents, such as proposals or audits, you may find more success if you follow
each of these steps in succession. Other documents may require a less formal process, allowing
you to combine steps or perform some of them simultaneously. However, if you concede the
necessity of the writing process and give proper attention to it, you should be capable of creating
a document that is complete, logical, and visually appealing.