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Life at RMIT - a meme

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COMM2495
Professional Writing

Week 8
Advertorial (pt 3): Tone in writing
Company introduction, Recaps & How-tos

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Part 1
Advertorials (pt 3): Tone in writing

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How are these different?

1. Heyy love, just want to let you know that we're very sorry about your
experience :'( If there's anything we can do to make it up to you, shoot us a
message and we'll come back to you right away! Tysm.

2. Dear X, we'd like to offer our sincere apologies to you regarding the
experience you had with us. If you need further help, please inform us and
we'll respond to you as soon as we can. Best.

3. An apology note to X was posted in response to an earlier complaint logged by

X. An offer for further assistance has been communicated to X, with an
assurance of swift response. - End - .

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TONE IN WRITING
Tones refer to the choices you made in
your writing to evoke certain feelings in
readers.

(Parade)
Your tone is reflected through:

Vocabulary Grammar
Sentence structure Punctuation & spelling
Figures of speech Use of personal pronouns

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How can you decide?

(DC Copy Pro)

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Factors that impact your writing tone

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Activity
(1) Who read these publications?

What are their common topics?

What is their writing tone?

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(2) What's the difference between these 3 tones? (Vocab/ Sentence structure/
grammar, punctuation)

(3) Match the publication & the tone. Why?

1 14 new books you've got to read ASAP

From a new Han Kang movie to a delightful lesbian romance!

2 Why reading books is good for society, well-being and your career
Our research shows reading is as strongly associated with curiosity as
interest in science, and more strongly than mathematical ability.

3 Woman Who Travel Book Club: 15 books to add to your reading list
this spring

Keep scrolling for 15 books written by women authors that

will transport around the world.
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Group activity Vocabulary Grammar

Sentence structure Punctuation & spelling
Use 2 words to describe the tone that you'll
choose in these scenarios Figures of speech Use of personal
pronouns
Write 2 sentences as an example

1 An apology to customers via the McDonald's website, following a food

poisoning case of a 3-year-old child.
2 A post on McDonald's Facebook to introduce the new menu with Cardi B

3 A profile article of McDonald's CEO for Forbes magazine

4 An invitation email to McDonald's shareholders to the annual meeting

5 A recap of McDonald's 2023 year-end party, sent in a newsletter to employees

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Recap

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Part 2
Company introduction/ About Us

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Company Introduction/ 'About Us' page

Company websites always have an 'About Us' page to provide
information about their business.

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Why have an 'About Us' page?

• To tell the history of the business

• To describe the mission & values of the business

• To explain the business model & products/ services

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Why have an 'About Us' page?

• To introduce the leaders (put a face to a firm)

• To showcase achievements/ certifications

• To provide contact details

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Activity

(1) What types of information is included in the 'Company Info'

section of Meta's official website?

(2) What is the writing tone like?

(3) Besides text, what multimedia elements can you see?

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Writing tone for company introduction/

'About Us'
• Concise
• Accurate
• Inspirational
• Grammatically correct, no typos
Together with lots of visuals and eye-catching layout

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Which tone for Prudential's official website?

1 Prudential is the most amazing choice when it comes to all things insurance and finance -
19 million of people in 23 countries are satisfied with their healthcare plans thanks to
Prudential. Try it today!
2 Prudential provides life and health insurance and asset management to around 19 million
customers in Asia and Africa.

Our purpose is to help people get the most out of life, by the most out of life, by making
healthcare accessible and by promoting financial inclusion.
3 HAVE A GUESS - WHERE DOES PRUDENTIAL COME FROM?

Big Ben, Premier League & Buckingham Palace - Yes, the UK is the birthplace of Prudential.

In 1848, a group of gentlemen met in London to form the Prudential Mutual Assurance,
Investment and Loan Association. The Prudence was used for representing our core
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Part 3
How-tos

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HOW-TOS

How-to articles are

instructional content
with a step-by-step
guide on how to how to
do something.

Related types:
• Strings advertorial
• Infographics

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Why write how-tos?

• Help customers understand

and use your product

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Why write how-tos?

• Provide helpful information

that relates to customers'
lives

• Promote your services/

products

• To associate your company

with that specific need of the
customer
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Writing how-tos: Tips

• Provide accurate & relevant info

• Choose a suitable topic for your target reader/ company

• Include fewer than 10 steps in the article

• The tone depends, but your writing should be clear, concise &
friendly with no typos and grammar mistakes

Together with lots of visuals, eye-catching layout & videos

https://www.northbridgeinsurance.ca/blog/5-steps-insurance-claims-process/
https://business.instagram.com/shopping
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Activity
Duolingo is running a campaign to promote language
learning towards Vietnamese Gen Z who recently started working
(aged 22 - 25).

Think of one how-to, step-by-step guide to provide your target public

1 An easy 5-step guide to start learning a language

2 Easy as ABC - Steps to learn a new skill even after a long day at work

3 Free lessons! A full-proof strategy to convince your boss to pay for your
language classes
4 How to slay the Duolingo owl in 6 steps
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Part 4
Recaps

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A RECAP

A recap is a summary of an event/ an announcement/ an incident.

https://edition.cnn.com/2023/03/23/tech/tiktok-ceo-hearing/index.html

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/04/21/googles-80-acre-san-jose-mega-campus-on-hold-amid-
economic-slowdown-.html

https://www.ibm.com/blog/partner-plus-takeaways/

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Why write recaps?

• To provide a quick summary of a

long and/ or complicated topic

• To make things easier to

understand

• To gain publicity for the event

• To provide multimedia elements

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How to write recaps

Apply everything you learned about news writing!

Proximity Timeliness

Conflict Impact

Human
Prominence
interest

Headline writing
Lead writing 28
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How to write recaps

Apply everything you learned about news writing!

What kind of information for a recap?

• Quotes from people involved in the article
• Quotes from authoritative figures (specialists, industry experts, researchers,
government officials)
• Facts (must be verified)
• Figures / data/ numbers (must be verified)
• Multimedia (videos, photos, audio...)

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Activity
(1) What would you include in the recap (text + multimedia)?

(2) Write the headline & lead paragraph for your recap

Client Duolingo
Launch Duolingo Max now uses GPT-4 to help with
language learning (14/3/2023)

Content type Recap - blog post

Publication Duolingo official website
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Part 5
Assignment 2

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