Table Of Content

DOCUMENT RESUME ED 368 981 CE 066 411 Burt, Lorna; Lewandowski, Carol AUTHOR Business Writing. TITLE Mercer County Community Coll., Trenton, N.J. INSTITUTION Office of Vocational and Adult Education (ED), SPONS AGENCY Washington, DC. National Workplace Literacy Program. PUB DATE 94 CONTRACT VA198A2090 142p.; For related documents, see ED 351 578-599 and NOTE CE 066 398-418. PUB TYPE Teachins Guides (For Classroom Use Guides Tests/Evaluation Instruments (160) Teacher) (052) EDRS PRICE MF01/PC06 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS Adult Basic Education; Adult Literacy; Basic Skills; *Business Correspondence; Business English; *Job Skills; Learning Activities; *Literacy Education; Skill Development; *Writing Instruction IDENTIFIERS *Workplace Literacy ABSTRACT This workbook, designed for workplace literacy courses, contains materials for a business writing course. The course presents the fundamentals of effective business letter writing, focusing on logical organization, word choice, style, tone, and clarity. The course uses students' own examples as well as practice exercises for reinforcement. Introductory materials include objectives and a topical outline. The 16 sessions of the course cover the f:Illowing topics: analyzing an author's purpose, the reader, the style, and the tone; prewriting--brainstorming, organizing, and freewriting; writing clearly and correctly; and editing. The lessons include information sheets and exercises, such as sentence completion, fill-in-the-blanks, and simulations. (KC) *********************************************************** 7 . Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. I 1 . .7 MERCER COUNTY I en COMMUNITY I BUSINESS COLLEGE I WRITING TRENTON NEW JERSEY ;vi 1 i- , . :.. %. .i.., , s .., s ..., N.,. EDUCATION U S DEPARTMENT OF ....1 ana improvement .r k Otf.ce Of Educational Resean h t:' A'' INFORMATION kl, N.,,,-,, ED y CATIONAL RESOURCES ... CENTER IERIC , 44t.t :,.... sT reproduced as This document has been or orgenizatron received from the Person originating it been made to improve r Minor Changes have , reproduction Quality I %5.'%, stated in tnis doCu Points of view Or opinions represent official men: do nol necessarily OERI positron Or Policy s, ' % \'S\ ° ' S Sk's1 1: "'51 S NA. S 5 s It s 'S. 4t1Sis Is Ns, sek+S ''sSk s SN. 4\ kSs \S .ZS , \;% BEST COPY AVAILABLE I I I I 1 Business Writing I I I I I I I I College Mercer County Community Programs Division of Corporate and Community 1200 Old Trenton Road I Trenton, NJ 08690 Elaine S. Weinberg I Director, Workplace Skills of Education I Prepared under a United States Department National Workplace Literacy Grant I 1994 3 1 ACKNOWLEDGMENT and Carol Lewandowski, Senior Mercer County Community College thanks Lorna Burt this manual. Through their Education Specialists/Curriculum Developers for creating service industries learned valuable contributions employees in manufacturing and strategies for learning other tasks if the concepts relevant to their existing jobs and opportunity should arise. 4 + BUSINESS WRITING COURSE OUTLINE In order to communicate effectively in the modern office, we need to be able to write clearly and persuasively. This course presents the fundamentals of effective business letter writing. We will focus on logical organization, word choice, style, tone and clarity, using students' own examples as well as practice exercises for reinforcement. OBJECTIVES Upon completion of this course, students will be able to: to get their analyze why complicated memos and letters fail message across identify the reason for writing analyze the reader and what his response should be choose appropriate styles and tones organize ideas into the most effective order apply the principles of good business writing, including grammar, punctuation and mechanics edit first drafts write clear, precise letters and memos TOPICAL OUTLINE analyzing the author's purpose, the reader, the style and tone brainstorming, organizing, freewriting prewriting writing clearly and correctly editing 0 Mercer County Community College BUSINESS WRITING SESSION I OBJECTIVES: In order to write a work related memo or letter, at the end of this session students will be able to understand the purpose of writing a memo understand the principles of good writing analyze why a complicated memo fails to get its message across apply the principles of good memo writing to simplify and reorganize a complicated memo know why they are writing a particular message analyze their reader and what his response should be identify and use complete sentences TOPICS: what is the purpose of a memo? why does a memo fail to get its message across? the principles of good writing questions to ask before writing purpose audience bottom line sentence types METHODS: guided discussion of principles group work practice situations for discussion and writing 6 © Mercer County Community College Page 1 # SESSION I WRITING 1 EVALUATION: pre-class exercise correction in class and self evaluation of class exercises Students will avoid writing complicated sentences and using large words do not enhance their writing. They will write for a specific purpose and be aware of the importance of their audience in order They will also be to make their communications more effective. able to identify and correct sentence problems. MATERIALS: Pre-class exercise Ice-breaker game for two-way communication Difficult memo Principles of Good Writing Tips for Effective Communication Sentence Types Complete Sentences Run-Ons 'T ©Mercer County Community College Page 2 I TEACHER TIPS SESSION 1 I I I Introductions Course overview and what we hope to achieve in the next 6 weeks. I Ice-breaker and pre-class exercise. what's the purpose of writing a memo/letter? Discussion I Discussion on why complicated memo fails to get its message across. I Handouts Difficult Memo Principles of Good writing. Tips for More Effective Communication I Groupwork rewrite memo. 1 Each week time will be spent on mechanics, punctuation and grammar. sentence structure. Session #1 1 I I 1 I I I I I ©Mercer County Community College Page 3 PRE AND POST CIASS EXERCISES Part 1 punctuation.) Fix any problems in the sentences below (gramma. and decided to The line supervisor, as well as other people on the line, have 1. attend the company picnic this year. send to pete In order to complete the job what kind of form do you need to 2. your supervisor its easy to walk the employees lounge is next to the supervisors lounge so 3. into the wrong one During the meeting the speaker was shrewd clever and controlled 4. consequently the boards decision was to accept his proposal I think that I made less mistakes in this report then I did last time. 5. ©Mercer County Community College Page 4 PRE AND POST CLASS EXERCISES Part 2 MEMO TO PROOFREAD Read it carefully, The memo below contains several grammatical mistakes. find the errors and rewrite it. TO: All Employees FROM: Mary Smith, Human Resources DATE: February 16, 1993 SUBJECT: Vacation Requests Each employee must Requests for vacation dates is now being accepted. complete the appropriate form and have it approved by their supervisor. These forms must be signed by both the employee and the supervisor, and be sure to submit two copies. Its important to get these in early, because it will effect whom will be given first priority in their requests. Thanking you for your cooperation. I J ) ©Mercer County Community College