Chapter 3

Chapter 3
Organizing and Drafting

Business Messages
Guffey and Loewy, Essentials of Business Communication, 12th Edition. © 2023 Cengage. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or
posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. 1
Learning Objectives
By the end of this chapter you should be able to:

3-1 Compare two forms of research that begin Phase 2 of the 3-x-3 writing
process.
3-2 Demonstrate methods for organizing ideas to show relationships.
3-3 Write effective sentences that avoid fragments, run-ons, and comma
splices.
3-4 Demonstrate methods for emphasizing ideas, using active and passive
voice, developing parallelism, and placing modifiers correctly.
3-5 Explain how to create well-organized, coherent paragraphs.
3-1
Drafting Workplace Messages Begins With
Research
3-1 Drafting Workplace Messages Begins With
Research (1 of 9)
• The faster you can articulate your ideas and the more efficiently you can explain
what needs to be said, the more successful and content you will be in your
career.
• Being able to write efficiently and clearly is also critical to promotions.
• The 3-x-3 writing process guides you through the steps necessary to write
confidently, but more important, clearly.
Research (2 of 9)
The 3-x-3 Writing Process

Prewriting Drafting Revising
• Analyze: Decide on the • Research: Gather • Edit: Strive for
message purpose. background data by parallelism, clarity,
searching files and the conciseness, and
• Anticipate: How will the Internet. readability.
audience receive this
message? • Organize: Arrange • Proofread: Check
direct messages with carefully for errors.
• Adapt: Think about the big idea first.
techniques to present • Evaluate: Will this
this message most • Draft: Prepare the first message achieve your
effectively. draft. purpose?
Research (3 of 9)
The Writing Process Begins With Background Information

• No savvy businessperson would begin drafting a message before gathering
background information or conducting research.
• Research simply means collecting information about a topic.
• Information collected through research helps you shape your the sender’s
message.
Research (4 of 9)
• Thoughtful writers collect information that answers several questions:
− What does the receiver need to know about this topic?
− What is the receiver to do?
− How is the receiver to do it?
− When must the receiver do it?
− What will happen if the receiver doesn’t do it?
Research (5 of 9)
Informal Research
• Many routine tasks—such as drafting e-mails, memos, letters, informational reports,

and oral presentations—require information that you can collect informally.
• The following techniques are useful in informal research:

− Search your company’s files.
− Talk with the boss.
− Interview the target audience.
− Create an informal survey.
− Brainstorm for ideas.
Research (6 of 9)
Formal Research
• Information for long reports and proposals may be obtained through formal
research using primary or secondary sources.
• Primary sources:
− Primary data come from firsthand experience.
− This information might be generated from surveys, interviews, observation,
and experimentation.
Research (7 of 9)
• Secondary sources:
− Secondary data come from reading what others have experienced or
observed and written about.
− Books, magazines, journals, and online resources are all considered
secondary sources.
− Most writers conducting research begin with secondary sources.
Research (8 of 9)
• Traditionally, teams have generated ideas by brainstorming, the spontaneous
contribution of ideas by team members.
− A facilitator records these ideas.
− The emphasis is on quantity, not quality.
− Judgment is discouraged because the goal is to think freely.
− Critics charge that the practice may enable one noisy extrovert to dominate
the conversation.
Research (9 of 9)
• Mind mapping is a process for generating and sorting ideas.
− Mind mapping emphasizes visual concepts, beginning with a single concept
drawn as an image in the center of a blank page.
− Associated words and images branch out treelike showing the relationship
between the ideas and the central concept.
• What idea-generating method works for you?
3-2
Organizing Ideas to Show Relationships
3-2 Organizing Ideas to Show Relationships (1 of 7)
• Business communicators must find a way to organize their information.

− Skilled writers group similar items together by placing ideas in a strategic
sequence that helps the reader understand relationships and accept the
writer’s views.
− Unorganized messages fail to emphasize important points and confuse
readers.
− Puzzled readers can’t see how the pieces fit together, and they become
frustrated and irritated.
− Many communication experts regard poor organization as the greatest failing
of business writers.
Creating Lists and Outlines

• To develop simple messages, some writers make a quick scratch list of the
topics they wish to cover.
• Next they compose a message directly from the scratch list.
• Most writers, though, need to organize their ideas—especially if the project is
complex—into a hierarchy, such as an outline.
• An outline gives writers a chance to organize their thoughts before becoming
bogged down in word choice and sentence structure.
Typical Document Components
• Business documents contain typical components arranged in traditional strategies.

− An e-mail, memo, or letter is generally organized with an opening, body, and
closing.
− A procedure would contain a sequence of steps for the receiver to follow.
− An informational report usually includes an introduction, facts, and a summary.
− An analytical report includes an introduction or problem statement, followed by facts
and findings, conclusions, and recommendations (if requested).
− A proposal includes an introduction, a proposed solution, staffing considerations, a
schedule and/or associated costs, and an authorization request.
Structuring Ideas Into Strategies

• Two organizational strategies provide plans of action for typical business
messages: the direct strategy and the indirect strategy.
− In the direct strategy, the main idea comes first, followed by details,
explanation, or evidence.
− In the indirect strategy, the main idea follows the details, explanation, and
evidence.
• The strategy you select is determined by how you expect the audience to react
to the message.
• The direct method, also called frontloading, offers at least three advantages:
− Saves the reader’s time.
− Sets a proper frame of mind.
− Reduces frustration.
• Typical business messages that follow the direct strategy include routine
requests and responses, orders and acknowledgments, nonsensitive memos, e-
mails, informational reports, and informational oral presentations.
• When you expect the audience to be uninterested, unwilling, displeased, or

perhaps even hostile, the indirect strategy is more appropriate.
• In this strategy, you reveal the main idea only after you have offered an
explanation and evidence.
• This approach works well with three kinds of messages:
− Bad news.
− Ideas that require persuasion.
− Sensitive news.
• The indirect strategy has these benefits:

− Respects the feelings of the audience.
− Facilitates a fair hearing.
− Minimizes a negative reaction.
• Business messages that could be developed indirectly include e-mails, memos,
and letters that refuse requests, deny claims, and disapprove credit.
• Persuasive requests, sales letters, sensitive messages, and some reports and
oral presentations may also benefit from the indirect strategy.
Knowledge Check 1
True or False:
1. Many communication experts regard poor organization as the greatest failing

of business writers.
2. Most writers do not need to organize their ideas. Their writing flows naturally.
3. In the direct strategy, the main idea comes first.
4. You should use the direct strategy to deliver bad news.
3-3
Writing a First Draft With Powerful Sentences
3-3 Writing a First Draft With Powerful Sentences
(1 of 8)
• To overcome writers block:

− Organize your ideas and work from an outline.
− Create a quiet environment in which to concentrate.
− Think about what writing style fits you best.
• Freewriting is a writing technique that involves getting your thoughts down
quickly and refining them in later versions.
(2 of 8)
Adding Interest and Variety With Four Sentence Types

• To avoid monotony and to add spark to your writing, use a variety of sentence
types: simple, compound, complex, and compound-complex.
− A simple sentence contains one complete thought (an independent clause)
with a subject and predicate verb:
§ "Our company lacked a social media presence."
(3 of 8)
− A Compound Sentence contains two complete but related thoughts.

− They may be joined by (a) a conjunction such as "and," "but," or "or"; (b) a
semicolon; or (c) a conjunctive adverb such as "however,"
"consequently," and "therefore":
§ "Our company lacked a social media presence, and it hired a specialist."
§ "Our company lacked a social media presence; it hired a specialist."
§ "Our company lacked a social media presence; therefore, it hired a
specialist."
(4 of 8)
− A complex sentence contains an independent clause (a complete thought)

and a dependent clause (a thought that cannot stand by itself).
− Dependent clauses are often introduced by words such as "although,"
"since," "because," "when," and "if."
− When dependent clauses precede independent clauses, they always are
followed by a comma:
§ "Because our company lacked a social media presence, it hired a
specialist."
(5 of 8)
− A compound-complex sentence contains at least two independent clauses

and one dependent clause.
§ "Because our company lacked a social media presence, it hired a
specialist; however, our brand required time to build."
(6 of 8)
Avoiding Three Common Sentence Faults

• As you craft your sentences, beware of three common traps: fragments, run-on
(fused) sentences, and comma-splice sentences.
− A fragment is usually a broken-off part of a complex sentence.
− Fragments often can be identified by the words that introduce them—words
such as "although," "as," "because," "even," "except," "for example," "if,"
"instead of," "since," "such as," "that," "which," and "when."
(7 of 8)
− A run-on sentence, also called a fused sentence, is a sentence error that

results when two independent clauses are incorrectly joined (fused) together
without a conjunction or a semicolon.
− A comma splice is a sentence error that results when a writer joins two
independent clauses with a comma.
(8 of 8)
• Form sentences that average 20 words.

• The American Press Institute established that reader comprehension drops off
markedly as sentences become longer.Therefore, in crafting your sentences,
think about the relationship between sentence length and comprehension.
Sentence Length Comprehension Rate
8 words 100%
15 words 90%
19 words 80%
28 words 50%
3-4
Mastering Four Helpful Writing Techniques
3-4 Mastering Four Helpful Writing Techniques (1 of 9)
Creating Emphasis
• Without verbal and nonverbal clues, when writing you must rely on other ways
to inform readers about which ideas are more important than others.
• Emphasis in writing can be achieved in two ways: mechanically and stylistically.
• To achieve emphasis through mechanics:

− Underlining
− Italics and boldface
− Font changes
− All caps
− Dashes
− Tabulation
• Other means of achieving mechanical emphasis include the arrangement of
space, color, lines, boxes, columns, titles, headings, and subheadings.
• To achieve emphasis stylistically:

− Use vivid, not general, words.
− Label the main idea.
− Place the important idea first or last.
− Place the main idea in a simple sentence or in an independent clause.
• De-Emphasizing When Necessary.

− Use general words.
− Subordinate the bad news.
§ Place the bad news in a dependent clause connected to an independent
clause that contains something positive.
Using the Active and Passive Voice Effectively

• In the active voice, the subject (also called the actor) performs the action.
• In the passive voice, the subject receives the action.
• Active-voice sentences are usually shorter, easier to understand and more
direct because they reveal the performer immediately.
• Passive voice can be useful to (a) emphasize an action rather than a person, (b)
de-emphasize negative news, and (c) conceal the doer of an action.
3-4 Mastering Four Helpful Writing Techniques
(6 of 9)
Active Voice Passive Voice
• Madison must submit a tax return. • The tax return was submitted [by
Madison].
• Officials reviewed all tax returns.
• All tax returns were reviewed [by
• We cannot make cash refunds. officials].
• Our CPA made a big error in the • Cash refunds cannot be made.
budget.
• A big error was made in the budget.
Creating Parallelism
• Parallelism is a writing technique that produces balanced writing.
• Sentences written so that their parts are balanced, or parallel, are easy to read
and understand.
• To achieve parallel construction:
− Use similar structures to express similar ideas.
− Try to match nouns with nouns, verbs with verbs, and clauses with clauses.
− Avoid mixing active-voice verbs with passive-voice verbs.
Dodging Dangling and Misplaced Modifiers

• A dangling modifier occurs when the word or phrase it describes is missing
from its sentence.
− "Driving through Malibu Canyon, the ocean came into view."
• A misplaced modifier occurs when the word or phrase it describes is not close
enough to be clear.
− "Firefighters rescued a dog from a burning car that had a broken leg."
• Be sure to follow introductory verbal phrases immediately with the words they
logically describe or modify.
• Try this trick for detecting and remedying many dangling modifiers.
− Ask the question "Who?" or "What?" after any introductory phrase.
− The words immediately following should tell the reader who or what is
performing the action.
Knowledge Check 2
Fill in the Blank:
1. In ________________ , the subject (also called the actor) performs the

action.
2. In ________________ , the subject receives the action.
3. __________________ is a writing technique that produces balanced writing.
4. A ________________ occurs when the word or phrase it describes is missing
from its sentence.
3-5
Building Well-Organized Paragraphs
3-5 Building Well-Organized Paragraphs (1 of 6)
• A paragraph is a group of sentences about one idea.

• The following types of sentences may be organized to express ideas in a well-
organized paragraph:
− Topic sentence: Expresses the primary idea of the paragraph; often, but not
always, comes first in a paragraph.
− Supporting sentences: Illustrate, explain, or strengthen the primary idea.
Crafting Topic Sentences

• A paragraph is unified when it develops a single main idea.
− The main idea is usually expressed in a topic sentence, which may appear
at the beginning, in the middle, or at the end of the paragraph.
− Business writers generally place the topic sentence first in the paragraph.
− It tells readers what to expect and helps them understand the paragraph’s
central thought immediately.
Developing Supporting Sentences

• Supporting sentences illustrate, explain, or strengthen the topic sentence.
• All support sentences in the paragraph must relate to the topic sentence.
• Supporting sentences provide specific details, explanations, and evidence.
Creating Paragraph Coherence

• Paragraphs are coherent when ideas stick together, and one idea leads
logically to the next.
• The following techniques will help you keep the reader in step with your ideas:
− Sustaining the Key Idea. Repeating a key expression or using a similar one
throughout a paragraph helps sustain a key idea.
− Dovetailing Sentences. Sentences are dovetailed when an idea at the end of
one connects with an idea at the beginning of the next.
− Including Pronouns. Familiar pronouns, such as "we," "they," "he," "she," and
"it," help build continuity, as do demonstrative pronouns, such as "this,"
"that," "these," and "those."
− Employing Transitional Expressions. Transitional expressions are another
device for showing connections and achieving paragraph coherence.
§ Transitional expressions enable the receiver to anticipate what’s
coming, reduce uncertainty, and speed comprehension. They signal that
a train of thought is moving forward, being developed, possibly detouring,
or ending.
Controlling Paragraph Length

• Short paragraphs are less intimidating and more readable than long ones.
• Paragraphs with eight or fewer printed lines look inviting.
• Long, solid chunks of print appear formidable.
• If a topic can’t be covered in eight or fewer printed lines (not sentences),
consider breaking it into smaller segments.

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Chapter 3

Organizing and Drafting

By the end of this chapter you should be able to:

The 3-x-3 Writing Process

The Writing Process Begins With Background Information

• Many routine tasks—such as drafting e-mails, memos, letters, informational reports,

• The following techniques are useful in informal research:

• Business communicators must find a way to organize their information.

Creating Lists and Outlines

Typical Document Components

• Business documents contain typical components arranged in traditional strategies.

Structuring Ideas Into Strategies

• When you expect the audience to be uninterested, unwilling, displeased, or

• The indirect strategy has these benefits:

1. Many communication experts regard poor organization as the greatest failing

• To overcome writers block:

Adding Interest and Variety With Four Sentence Types

− A Compound Sentence contains two complete but related thoughts.

− A complex sentence contains an independent clause (a complete thought)

− A compound-complex sentence contains at least two independent clauses

Avoiding Three Common Sentence Faults

− A run-on sentence, also called a fused sentence, is a sentence error that

• Form sentences that average 20 words.

Sentence Length Comprehension Rate

• To achieve emphasis through mechanics:

• To achieve emphasis stylistically:

• De-Emphasizing When Necessary.

Using the Active and Passive Voice Effectively

Dodging Dangling and Misplaced Modifiers

Fill in the Blank:

1. In ________________ , the subject (also called the actor) performs the

• A paragraph is a group of sentences about one idea.

Crafting Topic Sentences

Developing Supporting Sentences

Creating Paragraph Coherence

Controlling Paragraph Length

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