The document provides guidelines for writing effective messages and documents. It recommends having a clear purpose for the intended reader, who should be viewed as intelligent but uninformed. Language used should be familiar, specific, and concrete rather than abstract. Specific details involving numbers, proper nouns, and descriptions that engage the five senses help make meaning clear for the reader.

2. HAVE A PURPOSE--EACH MESSAGE IS SENT TO
A SPECIFIC READER FOR A SPECIFIC PURPOSE
a. To inform,
b. To reply,
c. To placate,
d. To please.

3. VIEW READER AS INTELLIGENT, BUT UNINFORMED:
CAN READ & INTERPRET YOUR “INFORMATION”
a. Except for "cold calling," the reader is someone already known to you (or your company) and is
represented by whatever written message you are responding to.
a. The letter/memo then provides information--place or origin, status of person writing, person's lexical
control and emotional involvement (sometimes called "tone”)
b. One NEVER is in a position to deliberately CREATE An ENEMY in business:
The Rainmaker by John Gresham: "stupid, stupid, stupid" on the 8th claim denial!
d. Multiple Readers--in today's business world, a writer must remember that the written instrument is a
potential legal document--either in subsequent court case or as a "file" component for employment or
"potential" unemployment.
 1). Supervisor(s)
 2). Lawyer(s)
 3). Potential customers and employer(s)

4. USE LANGUAGE THAT IS FAMILIAR,
SPECIFIC, AND
CONCRETE
FAMILIAR--means simplicity and appropriateness
Winston Churchill: "Little men us big words; big men use little words.”
If you do have to use “technical terms, “ be sure to interpret the term for
the general audience:
Nolo Contendere, or “no contest”

5. ABSTRACT
A significant loss
A large dog
Good attendance record
The leading company
Light in weight
Substantial amount
A large meeting place
In the near future
SPECIFIC
A 53 percent loss
A Rottweiler
100 percent attendance
1st among 3,212 competitors
Laptop weight is only 2 lbs.
$3,517,000.00
The Crown Center
By Thursday, Oct. 12, 2015,
noon
SPECIFIC
HAS TO DO WITH ARABIC NUMBERS AND PROPER NOUNS

6. ABSTRACT
Catastrophic failure
Sleepy
soft fabric
excellent dinner
sweet
CONCRETE
TWA Flt. 800 crash
awake for 26 hours
penne velvet
Thanksgiving dinner
essence of roses
CONCRETE
HAS TO DO WITH THE FIVE SENSES, WHAT THE READER
CAN SEE, FEEL, HEAR, TASTE, OR SMELL.