Presentation on chapter 4.

1. Business Communication
Revising Your Message
Adapted from NETA PowerPoint for Essentials of Business Communication by Lisa
Jamieson

2. Editing Versus Proofreading
Editing: Deep changes
Proofreading: Surface
changes

3. Proofreading
Matters!
Image source

4. General
Strategies
Have someone read
your draft
U of S Writing
Centre (Murray 142)
Use a printed copy
One area of improvement per revision
Give yourself time

5. Editing
Strategies

6. Topic
Sentence
Paragraph
Add/clarify
Add/clarify topic sentences or add/modify
the transitions as needed.
From Howe Centre for Writing Excellence’s “Revision Strategies: Organization”
Read
Read those sentences one after another to
see if you can follow the essay’s flow.
Copy and
paste
Copy and paste (or underline or highlight)
the first sentence of each paragraph and
the last sentence of each paragraph.

7. Paragraph
Balance
LOOK: Are some paragraphs much longer
or shorter than others?
LONG: Is there more than one idea in the
paragraph? If so, divide into two or more
paragraphs.
SHORT: does the info belong in another
paragraph? Or if it’s an important point of
its own, how can you expand on it?
Adapted from Howe Centre for Writing Excellence’s “Revision Strategies: Organization”

8. Reverse Outline

9. Proofreading
Strategies

10. Focus on
Individual
Sentences
1. Press the return key after every
period so every line is a new
sentence.
2. Read each sentence separately,
looking for errors.
Adapted from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Writing Centre’s “Editing and Proofreading”

11. Circle every
punctuation
mark.
Image Source

12. Read backwards,
sentence by
sentence.

13. Use the Find function

15. NAMES
&
NUMBERS

18. Evaluating the Effectiveness of Your Message
Encourage receiver to
respond to message.
Image source
Good feedback is:
• Specific
• Timely
• Focused
• Constructive

19. Summary
• Learned how to proofread and apply effective techniques to
find mistakes in routine and complex documents.
• Learned how to evaluate messages to judge overall
effectiveness.

20. References
Guffrey, M. E., Loewy, D., & Almonte, R. (2019). Essentials of business communication (9th Canadian Edition). Nelson.
Jamieson, L. (2019). Chapter 1: Communicating in the digital-age workplace [PowerPoint slides]. Nelson.
Microsoft 365. (2018, July 17). Track changes and show markup in Microsoft Word [Video]. YouTube.
https://youtu.be/ymBMonYehFA
Reedsy. (2017, December 22). 12 common proofreading marks and what they mean [Video]. YouTube.
https://youtu.be/-oMx3Z5bvOw
UNC Writing Center. (2018, September 6). Reverse outlining - UNC writing center [Video]. YouTube.
https://youtu.be/SZxphibAqb4

21. Image Sources
[Pen and paper with proofreading marks] [Photograph]. [n.d.] Essay Tigers. https://www.essaytigers.com/how-
do-i-edit-my-essay
[Paper with red circles around punctuation] [Photograph]. [n.d.] Clarity Editorial. https://clarityglobal.net/
Sceptre. [Billboard with typo] [Photograph] [n.d.] The Guardian.
https://www.theguardian.com/books/gallery/2012/oct/25/worst-typos-pictures
[Woman speaking into megaphone] [Illustration]. [n.d.] steemit.
https://steemit.com/steemiteducation/@teachblogger/reading-out-loud-learning-english