Freedom

In Communications Writing
Guide
This is an informal guide on composing any kind of writing in the workplace, from e-mails to memos
to outside communication. There are three steps to this process: Planning, Writing,
and Completing. Remember to optimize your time during this process. About half of your time
should be committed to planning, as time spent there can significantly lessen the amount of time
necessary for the other two steps.

Planning
The most important step in workplace writing. Time spent here will save you from wasting time in
the other steps. Again, this is 50% of your time.

What is your purpose? Who is your audience?

Begin by defining the general purpose of what you're writing, and what the audience you're writing
for is. What does that audience need to know in order to serve this purpose?
Gather information on your audience. Focus on matters like size, demographic composition, and
expectations. Pay attention to what the audience will already understand, and to what level, so you
know to what extent you will need to explain concepts used in your writing. Forecast the possible
audience reaction. If you expect them to favorable, you can state conclusions quickly and may not
need as much supporting evidence. If you expect skepticism, provide overwhelming evidence and
introduce conclusions slowly.
When you gather information to support the claims of your writing, take care to make sure it is
accurate, ethical, and relevant.

The medium is the message

When choosing a medium for your message, consider factors such as media richness, formality,
urgency, costs, audience expectations, and the limitations of each approach. Media rich, visual, and
interactive mediums like web pages and online video are great for complex and non-routine
messages. Your medium is a non verbal message about the formality of a message. A printed memo
will be taken as more formal than an e-mail, for instance. Different mediums are used when there are
different levels of urgency. A phone call or instant message is for when something needs to be
handled now, while e-mail can be taken at the receiver's convenience. Costs shouldn't be taken into
account just for budget purposes, but as a nonverbal message. In some contexts, certain mediums are
seen as extravagant.
Messages should be in a format that the expected audience expects or prefers. Take in account the
limitations of a medium: longer messages can't be placed in tweets, and written memos are too
formal for some communication.

Making the document plan

Begin the process of organizing a message by reducing the general purpose of the message to a topic,
or overall message, and a main idea, meaning a specific statement of the topic. Decide if it should be
organized with a direct approach, where you get quickly to the point because you know that the
audience will be receptive, or an indirect one where you only make claims after providing
overwhelming evidence.
With these decisions made you may outline your writing piece, putting the evidence and claims you
have in the best order for serving your purpose. Perhaps you should employ three part storytelling
techniques in order to keep reader interest, such treating your audience or presenting a story of
some kind of a "hero" character, who goes through problems, before reaching some kind of goal.

Writing
Now that you have a plan in place. begin writing the actual words of your piece. Keep the decisions
that you made in the planning phase in mind, so you don't have to go back and redo sections of
writing because it doesn't fill this purpose. Plans are not absolute, but if you do change tracks be sure
to reflect that in your plan.

Keep good writing practices in mind

As always, remember to constantly apply a "you" perspective, adapting your message so it appeals to
the audience's thoughts and goals. Sometimes just writing things that use "you" instead of "I" or "we"
will be enough to get you this perspective.
Emphasize the positive. Practice taking on a positive tone even beyond what you planned for by
anticipating the worst possible reaction. Don't hide bad news, and be very clear about what the bad
news is, but don't dwell on it. Avoid biased language that subtly stigmatize minorities, such as words
that assign stereotypes or place roles based on gender.
Keep track of style and tone. Take on a conversational tone that is neither too laid back (like you
would find in texting) or too formal. Use plain language that expresses ideas clearly, and when you
can a direct voice that is easy to understand. There are times where a passive voice is useful, such as
when you need to be diplomatic and keep from shifting blame, when you're adopting a "you" attitude.

Using the right words, sentences, and paragraphs

There are a few things to consider when choosing the right words. Words have two type of meanings
to consider: denotative (literal) and connotative (associations and feelings). Make sure that you
aren't just getting the right denotative message across, but that you're using the right connotations.
Blend abstract words that express a quality or characteristic with direct words that you can visualize.
There are four basic styles of sentence, and you should vary your use of each one. A simple sentence
has one clause (a single subject and single predicate). A compound sentence is has two clauses, and
those clauses are usually separated by 'and', 'but', or 'or'. A complex sentence expresses one main
thought and as one or more subordinate, related thoughts. The last type is a complex-compound

sentence, a type that contains two clauses where at least one has a subordinate clause, creating a
combination between the two. Create texture to your writing by varying the types of sentences you
use.
Remember the basic elements of a paragraph: a topic sentence, followed by supporting evidence,
linked together by transitions that show how ideas are related.

One final tip: copy and paste.

Take advantage of time saving technology when writing. Learn how to develop templates for writing,
and keep track of boilerplate components you can use in multiple documents do you don't end up
writing the same thing over and over.

Revising
With good planning this step doesn't have to take long, but it can be hugely important in creating
good work.

Checking the basics

Once you're finished your first draft, check your document to make sure it meets your original goals.
In terms of general content is it accurate, ethical, relevant, and complete (meaning, does it satisfy the
reader's needs)? Is it balanced between specific information relevant to understanding the message
and general or background information necessary to understanding the wider picture? Next look at
organization: are things in the most logical order, or would it be more convincing some other way?
Are similar ideas grouped together? Are the most important ideas given the most prominent
positions and the most space? And is anything repeated unnecessarily? Keep in mind the tone you
use. Are you as formal or casual as you originally decided to be?
When revising give special attention to the beginning and end of the piece, as those will leave the
biggest impression. In longer pieces make sure that the ending is still talking about the same thing
that you were in the beginning.

Improving your document through readability

There are a few things you can do at this stage to make your writing more readable. Vary sentence
length to give your paragraphs the right texture, as too many short or too many long sentences in a
row can be either too choppy to read or too difficult to scan. In general keep paragraphs short, as
readers find larger blocks of text more intimidating to read. Use lists to emphasize key points, and
make sure they are grammatically parallel. For example, if one point starts with a verb, all should
start with a verb.
Use headings to guide your reader through the document. Descriptive headings only identify a topic,
while informative headings encapsulate the content of each section. Well-written headers are self
contained, and make it so a document can be broadly understood just by looking at the headings.

Production, proofreading, then release!

Pay attention to the design and look of documents, producing something that is above all readable,
and also communicates a part of your message. Add multimedia, such as video and pictures, where it
serves your greater purpose.
Proofread your message, checking for both human error in the writing as well as problems that may
have come up during production, such as broken web links. How much time you should spend on this
varies greatly with context: a typo in an email message to a team member is not a big deal, but as a
part of a financial report or medical file it could be serious. Pay extra attention to errors that affect
the accuracy of a document.
The final step is distribution. Pay attention to urgency and distribute messages in the form most
appropriate for how soon you need to hear back from someone. Is your distribution convenient for
your audience? Keep in mind security and privacy, making sure documents with sensitive
information are only accessible to those who should be able to access it.

Last Words
Attached is a checklist version of this document of all the steps you should go through while writing
something.
I hope this gives you a good start in improving your writing!

Checklist
Planning

Define a general purpose

Define an audience
Research your audience
o Decide what your audience
needs to know in order to
serve your purpose.
Research your document and compile
your evidence together.
o Is is accurate?
o Is it ethical?
o Is is relevant?
Decide on a medium
Decide on the right tone for audience
and medium.
Reduce a purpose to a topic
Reduce a topic to a main idea
Outline

Writing

Are there templates and boilerplate

components you can use? Gather
them and put them in as is useful.
While you're writing, did you keep
these in mind?
o A "you" perspective
o Positivity
o Avoiding biased language
o The style and tone planned
upon
o Direct voice, except where
passive is applicable
o Denotative and connotative
meanings of words
o Blending abstract and direct
words
o Varying sentence styles
o Properly structured
paragraphs

Revising

Check content
o Is it accurate?
o Is it ethical?
o Is it relevant?
o Is it complete?
o Is it balanced between
general and specific
information?
Check organization
o Is the order logical?
o Are similar ideas grouped
together?
o Are the most important ideas
prominent and given the
most space?
o Is anything repeated
unnecessarily?

Check tone, does it match what you

originally decided upon?
Double check the beginning and the
ending. Is the ending still talking
about the same thing as the
beginning?
Improve the style for readability
Create informative headings
Produce your document
Proofread
o No mistakes that you made
o No mistakes that the
production process made
o No mistakes that cause the
document to be inaccurate
Make distribution decisions, and then
send it off!
Feel sense of completion