© Prentice Hall, 2005 Business Communication Today 8e Chapter 6 - 1

Completing Completing Business MessagesBusiness Messages

© Prentice Hall, 2005 Business Communication Today 8e Chapter 6 - 2

Three-Step Writing Three-Step Writing ProcessProcess

• Planning

• Writing

• Completing

© Prentice Hall, 2005 Business Communication Today 8e Chapter 6 - 3

Moving Past the First Moving Past the First DraftDraft

• Content, style, tone, and organization

• Overall readability

• Mechanics and format

© Prentice Hall, 2005 Business Communication Today 8e Chapter 6 - 4

Completing Completing Business MessagesBusiness Messages

1. Revising

2. Producing

3. Proofreading

4. Distributing

© Prentice Hall, 2005 Business Communication Today 8e Chapter 6 - 5

Revising MessagesRevising Messages

• Content

• Organization

• Style and tone

© Prentice Hall, 2005 Business Communication Today 8e Chapter 6 - 6

Promoting ReadabilityPromoting Readability

• Sentences

• Paragraphs

• Listed items

• Headings

© Prentice Hall, 2005 Business Communication Today 8e Chapter 6 - 7

Editing for ClarityEditing for Clarity

• Sentence style

• Faulty parallelism

• Dangling modifiers

• Long noun sequences

© Prentice Hall, 2005 Business Communication Today 8e Chapter 6 - 8

Editing for ClarityEditing for Clarity

• Camouflaged verbs

• Sentence structure

• Awkward references

• Excess enthusiasm

© Prentice Hall, 2005 Business Communication Today 8e Chapter 6 - 9

Editing for ConcisenessEditing for Conciseness

• Wordy constructions

• Long words or phrases

• Redundant wording

• Recast “It is/There are” starters

© Prentice Hall, 2005 Business Communication Today 8e Chapter 6 - 10

Computer TechnologyComputer Technology

• Revision tools

• Spell checker

• Grammar checker

• Thesaurus

© Prentice Hall, 2005 Business Communication Today 8e Chapter 6 - 11

Producing MessagesProducing Messages

• Multimedia elements

• Page layout

© Prentice Hall, 2005 Business Communication Today 8e Chapter 6 - 12

Graphics, SoundGraphics, Soundand Hypertextand Hypertext

• Presentation software

– Overhead transparencies

– Computerized slide shows

• Graphics software

– Diagrams and charts

– Graphical designs

© Prentice Hall, 2005 Business Communication Today 8e Chapter 6 - 13

Document DesignDocument Design

• Consistency

• Balance

• Detail

• Restraint

© Prentice Hall, 2005 Business Communication Today 8e Chapter 6 - 14

Design ElementsDesign Elements

• White space

• Captions and headings

• Margins and justification

• Typefaces and type styles

© Prentice Hall, 2005 Business Communication Today 8e Chapter 6 - 15

Using Technology to Using Technology to Produce the MessageProduce the Message

• Templates and style sheets• Page design and setup• Column formatting• Paragraph formatting• Font formatting• Numbered or bulleted lists• Tables or figures• Pictures, textboxes, and objects

© Prentice Hall, 2005 Business Communication Today 8e Chapter 6 - 16

Proofreading the Proofreading the MessageMessage

• Grammar, usage, and punctuation

• Spelling errors and typos

• Punctuation

• Design errors

• Missing material

• Overall format

© Prentice Hall, 2005 Business Communication Today 8e Chapter 6 - 17

Distributing Your Distributing Your MessageMessage

• Cost

• Convenience

• Time

• Security and privacy