Preparing Written Messages: Lehman/ Dufrene

LEHMAN/ DUFRENE
BCOM 7
4
Preparing Written
Messages
Copyright ©2016 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
LEARNING OUTCOMES
1 Apply techniques for developing effective sentences

and unified and coherent paragraphs
2 Prepare visually appealing documents that grab the
audience’s attention and increase comprehension
3 Identify factors affecting readability and revise
messages to improve readability
4 Revise and proofread a message for content,
organization, style, and tone; and mechanics format,
and layout
Copyright ©2016 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. BCOM7|CH4 2
Craft Powerful Sentences
• Rely on active voice

• Active voice: Subject of a sentence is the doer
of an action
• Passive voice: Subject of a sentence is the
receiver of an action
• Conceals the doer
• Emphasizes what was done and who or what
it was done to
• Subordinates an unpleasant thought
Craft Powerful Sentences
• Emphasize important ideas

• Pleasant and important ideas should be
emphasized
• Techniques
• Sentence structure
• Repetition
• Words that label, position, and space and
format
Requirements of Developing Coherent
Paragraphs
• Position the topic sentence appropriately

• Topic sentence: Identifies the portion of the
topic being discussed
• Presents the central idea of the paragraph
• Deductive paragraph: Topic sentence
precedes the details
• Inductive paragraph: Topic sentence follows
the details
• Link ideas to achieve coherence
Requirements of Developing Coherent
Paragraphs
• Coherence: Cohesion
• Each sentence is linked to the preceding
sentences in some way
• Keep paragraphs unified
• Vary sentence and paragraph length
Figure 4.2 Contrast the Readability and
Appeal of Bulky versus Broken Text
Suggestions for Developing Business
Documents
• View things from audience’s perspective

• Revise the documents until all additional
ways to improve them are applied
• Welcome suggestions for improvement in
writing
Visual Enhancements to Improve Readability
Figure 4.3 Improving Readability Through
Cautious Use of a Grammar and
Style Checker
Revise for Style and Tone
• Eliminate outdated expressions

• Curb clichés
• Clichés: Overused expressions that cause
users to be perceived as:
• Unoriginal, unimaginative, lazy, and
disrespectful
• Eliminate profanity
• Use simple, informal words
• Jargon: Used when communicating with
colleagues in the same field
• Communicate concisely
• Techniques to produce concise messages
• Eliminate redundancies
• Redundancy: Word unnecessarily repeating
an idea in an accompanying word
• Use active voice
• Review the main purpose of writing and
identify relevant details
• Avoid restating of ideas
• Shorten sentences
• Use a compound adjective
• Suggestions to project a positive, tactful

tone
• Tone: Conveys the writer’s or speaker’s
attitude toward the message and the receiver
• State ideas using positive language
• Avoid using second person when stating
negative ideas
• Use passive voice to convey negative ideas
• Use active voice to promote positive ideas
• Use the subjunctive sentences
• Subjunctive sentences: Speak of a wish,

necessity, doubt, or condition contrary to
fact
• Include a pleasant statement in the same
sentence
• Use euphemisms cautiously
• Euphemism: Kind word to substitute for a
offending word
• Double speak: Euphemisms that deliberately
mislead, hide, or evade the truth
• Avoid condescending or demeaning
expressions
• Damages efforts to build and protect

goodwill
• Goodwill: Arises when a business is worth
more than its tangible assets
• Use connotative tone cautiously
• Denotative meaning: Literal meaning of a
word that most people assign to it
• Connotative meaning: Literal meaning of a
word plus an extra message
• Reveals the speaker’s or writer’s qualitative
judgment
• Use specific language appropriately

• Guidelines to use bias-free language
• Use occupational titles that reflect genuine
sensitivity to gender
• Avoid:
• Referring to men and women in stereotyped
roles and occupations
• Designating an occupation by gender
• Using expressions that may be perceived to
be gender-biased
• Racial, ethnic, age, and disability bias
Procedures to Produce an Error-Free Product
• Use spell-check to locate keying errors

and repeated words
• Proofread the document, concentrating
on:
• Errors in content, organization, and style
• Mechanical errors
• Display the document, in print preview
mode, and edit for format and layout
• Print a draft copy and proofread again if
the document is non-routine and complex
• Print written documents on high-quality
KEY TERMS
• Passive voice • Euphemism

• Active voice • Doublespeak
• Topic sentence • Goodwill
• Deductive paragraphs • Denotative meaning
• Inductive paragraphs • Connotative meaning
• Coherence
• Clichés
• Jargon
• Redundancy
• Tone
• Subjunctive sentences
SUMMARY
• Crafting written messages

• Focus on getting down ideas coherently and
as quickly as possible to ensure effectiveness
• Apply visual enhancements to improve
readability and enhance appeal for audiences
• Revise message tone and style
• Eliminate errors in writing and mechanics by
proofreading the message

Preparing Written Messages: Lehman/ Dufrene

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LEHMAN/ DUFRENE

1 Apply techniques for developing effective sentences

• Rely on active voice

• Emphasize important ideas

• Position the topic sentence appropriately

• View things from audience’s perspective

• Eliminate outdated expressions

• Suggestions to project a positive, tactful

• Subjunctive sentences: Speak of a wish,

• Damages efforts to build and protect

• Use specific language appropriately

• Use spell-check to locate keying errors

• Passive voice • Euphemism

• Crafting written messages

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