The document provides an overview of key concepts for professional writing, including document design, persuasive messaging, research, reports, and technology/social media. It discusses using white space and headings to make documents visually attractive and easy to read. It covers persuasive techniques like building credibility and tone. Research topics include finding, analyzing, and documenting information from primary and secondary sources. Short reports and proposals are outlined. Guidelines for professional email, web writing, and social media use are presented.

1. PROFESSIONAL WRITING
ENC 3250 CRN 80726
Joanne Weatherall

2. DESIGN
Messages in documents and presentation slides
should be easy to read and follow.
The following are used to ensure the message is
clearly understood and visually attractive:
• White space
• Headings
• Limit and use appropriate fonts

3. WHITE SPACE
White space is the empty space on a page.
Use white space to:
• Separate and emphasize points
• Create a visually attractive document
• Make material easier to read

4. HEADINGS
Headings are used to group points and divide your
letter or memo, or report into sections.
Headings should:
• Be specific
• Cover all material until next heading
• Be parallel at one level

5. APPROPRIATE FONTS
No more than two fonts should be used in a single
document.
• Serif fonts are easier to read (Courier, Times
Roman, Palatino, and Lucinda Calligraphy).
• Sans serif fonts are good for titles, tables, and
narrow columns (Helvetica, Geneva, and Arial).

6. PERSUASIVE MESSAGES
Purposes
• To have the reader act by providing enough information.
• To build a good image and form relationships.
• To reduce or eliminate future correspondence.

7. PERSUASIVE MESSAGES
Best Persuasive Strategy
• Use the direct request pattern when there is no resistance
and when a response is needed only from the people who
are willing to act.
• Use the problem-solving pattern when objection is likely
and action from everyone is needed.

8. PERSUASIVE MESSAGES
Other Persuasive Techniques
• Build credibility by being factual, specific, and reliable.
• Build emotional appeal by telling stories and using
psychological description.
• Use the right tone based on the situation and who the
message is directed to.

9. PROPOSALS AND PROGRESS
REPORTS
Reports are needed to make plans and solve problems.
Steps to writing a report include:
• Defining the problem.
• Gathering the necessary information.
• Analyze and organize the information.
• Write the report.

10. PROPOSALS AND PROGRESS
REPORTS
Proposals suggest a method for finding information or
solving a problem.
A good purpose statement must include:
• The problem or conflict.
• Questions that must be answered to solve the problem.
• The purpose the report is designed to achieve.

11. PROPOSALS AND PROGRESS
REPORTS
Progress reports are used to inform the funding agency or
employer of your progress.
You can also use progress reports to:
• Enhance your image
• Float trial balloons – Adding detail and requests.
• Minimize potential problems.

12. FINDING, ANALYZING, AND
DOCUMENTING INFORMATION
Finding information online or in published material
involves research.
Primary research gathers new information:
• Surveys, interviews, and observations.
Secondary research retrieves information that someone
else gathered:
• Library research and online searches.

13. FINDING, ANALYZING, AND
DOCUMENTING INFORMATION
Analyze collected information:
• Look for answers to research questions, patterns, and
interesting nuggets.
• Analyze numbers and words.
• Evaluate and verify online sources.

14. FINDING, ANALYZING, AND
DOCUMENTING INFORMATION
Document sources by using MLA or APA:
• Cite sources appropriately.
• Document the bibliography or resources of a cited source.
• Use quotation marks when using the sources exact words.
• Indent long quotations.
• Interrupt a quotation to analyze, clarify, or question it.
• Use brackets around added or changed words.

15. SHORT REPORTS
Patterns of Organization:
Informative or closure reports summarize completed work or
research that does not result in action or recommendation.
• Introductory paragraph.
• Chronological account.
• Concluding paragraph.

16. SHORT REPORTS
Patterns of Organization:
Feasibility reports evaluate several alternatives and
recommend one of them.
• Explain the decision to be made.
• List the alternatives.
• Explain the criteria.

17. SHORT REPORTS
Patterns of Organization:
Justification reports recommend or justify a purchase,
investment, hiring, or change in policy.
When choosing the headings and organization:
• Indicate what you’re asking for and why it’s needed.
• Briefly give the background of the problem or need.

18. SHORT REPORTS
• Explain each of the possible solutions.
• Summarize the action needed to implement your
recommendation.
• Ask for the action you want.

19. SHORT REPORTS
Basic strategies for organizing information:
• Comparison/contrast.
• Problem-solution.
• Elimination of alternatives.
• General to particular or particular to general.
• Geographic or spatial.
• Functional.
• Chronological.

20. TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIAL MEDIA
Technology and businesses:
• E-mail may seem informal but should be kept professional.
• E-mail is not private as employers can legally check it.
• Continue using you-attitude and positive emphasis.
• Re-read and proofread messages before sending it.

21. TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIAL MEDIA
Web writing and Blogging:
• Keep style simple.
• Be clear, concise, and complete.
• Use titles, headings, and bulleted lists.
• Keep it professional in a business setting.

22. TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIAL MEDIA
Keeping social networking professional:
• Know your online friends, as well as their friends.
• Set privacy controls appropriately.
• Read user agreements carefully.
• When in doubt, create two pages: personal and business.

23. WHAT DID I LEARN?
• The design of a document, website, or e-mail must
include enough white space to be visually attractive.
• Headings and subheadings are just as important.
• The reader interprets the message easier when using
appropriate fonts.

24. WHAT DID I LEARN?
• Knowing your audience and how they are likely to
react will help to create a persuasive message.
• When there is a problem or conflict, writing a proposal
can help to define the problem and offer solutions.
• Research is necessary when writing a proposal or
report.
• Researched material must be evaluated and verified.

25. WHAT DID I LEARN?
• When a long report is unnecessary, write a short report.
• A short report should contain the needed information to
make a decision.
• A short report is essentially a summary with
conclusions and recommendations.

26. WHAT DID I LEARN?
• Technology has become a priority for many businesses
today.
• E-mail, fax, instant message, blogs, social media…
• It is very important to keep a professional tone when
using social media for a business.
• Websites should be kept simple.
• Provide a user friendly site by providing titles,
headings, and bulleted lists.

27. ASSIGNMENTS LINKED TO CONTENT
• All of the writing assignments were very helpful in
learning the content of this class.
• The analysis assignments used outside resources aside
from the textbook that served as a useful learning tool.
• The writing assignments ensured the material in the
textbook was used as a hands-on learning experience.
• The Anything Else Café is a very useful tool that
provided the class with additional help and advise.

28. WHY DOES THIS LEARNING MATTER?
• Society today is surrounded with technology that is
changing every day.
• It is imperative to learn these necessary skills in order
to grasp society in today’s business world.
• Learning how to properly write a simple e-mail using
proper netiquette is very helpful considering many
social media users do not pay much attention to
grammar.

29. GOALS FOR IMPROVEMENT
• I have already begun utilizing the material learned in
this class by improving the way I write.
• The assignment that asked to write a letter to a business
that I was unhappy with their service was very eye
opening for me. Comparing my actual e-mail to my
rewritten letter was astonishing! The rewritten letter
submitted in this class was much neater, definitely more
white space was used, and it was a much better
professionally styled letter.

30. GOALS FOR IMPROVEMENT
• I will continue to improve my writing skills.
• Keep my writing professional in business situations.
• Create a personal account when not appropriate for
business.
• Reread and Proofread.