Writing & Speaking at Work: Pearson New International Edition

228 Pages·2013·3.817 MB·English

by  Edward Bailey

Pearson New International Edition

Writing and Speaking at Work

Edward P. Bailey
Fifth Edition
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ISBN 10: 1-292-04037-8
ISBN 13: 978-1-292-04037-0
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ISBN 10: 1-292-04037-8
ISBN 10: 1-269-37450-8
ISBN 13: 978-1-292-04037-0
ISBN 13: 978-1-269-37450-7
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P E A R S O N C U S T O M L I B R AR Y
Table of Contents
1. What Is Good Writing?
Edward P. Bailey 1
2. Developing a Good Style
Edward P. Bailey 5
3. Using Examples and Comparisons
Edward P. Bailey 25
4. Making Your Page Look Inviting
Edward P. Bailey 35
5. Making Your Main Point Easy to Find
Edward P. Bailey 49
6. Preparing Executive Summaries
Edward P. Bailey 61
7. Illustrating Your Ideas
Edward P. Bailey 69
8. Getting Beyond Periods and Commas
Edward P. Bailey 79
9. Learning Commonsense Rules
Edward P. Bailey 93
10. Making the Most of E-mail
Edward P. Bailey 105
11. Writing for the Web
Edward P. Bailey 113
12. Preparing a Résumé and Cover Letter
Edward P. Bailey 121
13. Documenting Your Sources
Edward P. Bailey 133
I
111112224457901237755511
14. What Is Business Speaking?
Edward P. Bailey 143
15. Using Good Techniques of Delivery
Edward P. Bailey 147
16. Developing a Clear Structure
Edward P. Bailey 157
17. Designing Visual Aids
Edward P. Bailey 175
18. Giving a Presentation Using a Computer
Edward P. Bailey 195
19. Rehearsing, Setting Up the Room, and Overcoming Nervousness
Edward P. Bailey 205
20. Preparing an Annotated Presentation
Edward P. Bailey 211
Index 221
II
■ ■ ■ ■ ■
What Is Good Writing?
Key Point in the Chapter:Good writing is. . . Plain English!
Brief Story: Here’s my favorite critique (by a grad student in one of my courses):
“What I learn in Dr. Bailey’s class on Wednesday night I can apply at work on Thursday
morning!” And that’s my goal for you, too: Practical, real-world advice you can use
right away!
Anumber of years ago,there was a standard for business writing that most people accepted but
few liked—a formal style with a stiff tone. Writers sounded as distant and impersonal as the
buildings they worked in. Worse, their writing was hard to read—using big words, long
sentences,and huge paragraphs.
The name for that kind of writing? Bureaucratese.
Believe me, bureaucratese still exists in too many places even today. But in most places, Plain
English is now the standard. Who has time to struggle with a piece of writing just to figure out
what it says?
Boiled down to its essentials,Plain English means the following:
• Make your main point easy to find. And the best way to make your main point easy to
find is. . .to begin with it! For example,suppose you’re a reader,and you have to read a
big, important report. Wouldn’t you want to know—in the first few seconds—what the
report looks into? And what it finds? That’s what your readers want,too. Don’t make them
struggle to find the very reason you wrote something.
• Write the way you talk. Most of you are probably articulate when talking face-to-face
with someone. You probably feel you can manage your tone well when talking and capture
nuances of meaning. Why not use those words when you write? Writing the way you talk
won’t make you sound stupid. It will help your writing be clear and understandable.
• Use good layout. Headings and bullets help readers seethe underlying structure of your
writing. And graphics—such as tables, flow charts, and decision trees—turn paragraphs
full of words into what you wanted your readers to picture in the first place!
So Plain English doesn’t mean dumbing things down. It just means getting to your point,being
comfortable with everyday language,and using good layout to show the structure and content of
your writing.
This text shows you how to write Plain English.
From Chapter 1 of Writing & Speaking at Work: A Practical Guide for Business Communication,5/e.
Edward P. Bailey. Copyright ©2011 by Pearson Education. Published by Prentice Hall.
All rights reserved.
1
What Is Good Writing?
The Web site for the book is www.professorbailey.com. It quickly teaches a key point
from each chapter (including this one). Be sure to look at it!
AN EXAMPLE OF PLAIN ENGLISH
Let’s look at an example. Suppose you make computers and want to sell some to the government.
You send in a bid and then wonder what the competition has proposed. Here’s an excerpt from a
government regulation that tells you when you can look at a competitor’s bid:
Examination of bids by interested persons shall be permitted if it does not interfere
unduly with the conduct of Government business. Original bids shall not be allowed
to pass out of the hands of Government officials unless a duplicate bid is not avail-
able for public inspection. The original bid may be examined by the public only
under the immediate supervision of a Government official and under conditions that
preclude possibility of substitution,addition,deletion,or alteration in the bid.
Unfortunately,that example isn’t unusual at all. It’s typical writing B.P.E. (Before Plain English).
Now let’s translate it into ordinary language:
Can you look at a copy of another company’s bid? Yes—if there’s no undue interfer-
ence with government business.
If a copy isn’t available,you can look at an original bid. In that case,a government
official must be present to make sure no one tampers with it.
Which version would you rather read? (The second version,I hope!)
Plain English is a straightforward way of writing. It sounds more like talking. It looks more invit-
ing. And it’s much easier to understand.
SO . . . WHAT IS GOOD WRITING?
Good writing was easy to define under the old standard. It was terribly correct. In fact,the rules
were so involved,I’m not sure any one person knew them all.
So to decide whether Plain English is appropriate (don’t worry—it is!),let’s consider the defini-
tion of good writing. Here are some possibilities:
• Is good writing something that simply follows all the rules? In other words, if you could
actually memorize a grammar handbook and apply everything in it, would your writing
necessarily be good?
I don’t think so. We’ve all seen writing that’s correct—semicolons in the right places and
no misspelled words—but nearly impossible to read. Also,there’s considerable disagree-
ment as to what the rules actually are. Is it all right to begin sentences with andor but?Are
dashes all right in formal writing? (Yes and yes.)
2
What Is Good Writing?
A key goal is to help you “unlearn” old-fashioned rules and learn commonsense ones.
Once you learn a good set of rules,however,you’re still only part way to good writing.
• Is good writing something that’s easy to read?Yes—clarity is a key part of good business
writing. Clarity doesn’t mean being simple-minded. Business people often deal with com-
plex matters. Many of my students, for example, work with computers, telecommunica-
tions,accounting,auditing,physics,medicine,law,or operations research. Plain English is
especiallyimportant for complex content.
• Finally, is good writing something people actually pick up to read?Again, yes! Lots of
people think that what’s in their in-box or e-mail is optional reading. The memo you wrote
is halfway to the trash can as your reader skims it for anything of value. Or her index fin-
ger hovers impatiently over the delete key as she reads the e-mail you sent her. One more
goal is to show you how to get people to pick up your writing in the first place.
There you have it. In my opinion,good writing
• follows commonsense rules,
• is easy to read,
• attracts the reader in the first place.
That’s a lot to demand of today’s business writing. But there’s some good news: Plain English
does all those things.
Writing Plain English is not that hard. It’s an eminently learnable skill. And once you learn how
to write Plain English,you should feel as though a burden has lifted from your shoulders.
3
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Developing a Good Style
From Chapter 2 of Writing & Speaking at Work: A Practical Guide for Business Communication,5/e.
Edward P. Bailey. Copyright ©2011 by Pearson Education. Published by Prentice Hall.
All rights reserved.
5