Copyright © Shaun R. Fawcett
During my 30-yr profession in a ramification of expert positions in both the private and public sectors I even have written actually lots of letters and memos and loads of news. If I had to boil–down the entirety I’ve learned approximately sensible day-to-day writing for both private and enterprise functions into 10 key points, this will be my “Top 10 List".
1. Preparation Is the Key
Do all your studies first, before you begin to write. Even a letter typically calls for some minor studies inclusive of making a few smartphone calls or reviewing a record. It’s additionally very critical to put together yourself mentally before writing. So, don’t sit right down to write too soon. Mull it over for a while, every so often an afternoon or two, sometimes an hour or two, depending at the complexity of the process to hand. It’s extremely good how the sub-aware thoughts will work on the problem “behind the scenes” and when you ultimately do begin writing, it’s going to go with the flow.
2. Always Use a Sample
For me, that is essential. No matter what I write, it enables relatively if I actually have a few visual stimulation. If I’m writing a letter I publish a duplicate of a comparable letter, or the only I’m responding to, someplace in my direct line-of-sight. It allows me recognition and continues my mind at the concern at hand, minimizing the tendency for my mind to wander. No be counted what it’s far, I continually make a factor to discover a few preceding work or a sample of labor just like what I’m doing. It without a doubt stimulates the creative writing procedure and will increase productiveness appreciably.
Three. Shorter Is Always Better
Whether you’re writing a record or a letter, look for approaches to reduce it down in period. Concentrate on conveying the critical message. If some thing you’ve written does no longer enhance the core message, or doesn’t add fee, consider cutting it. These days, you need to be “quick and to the factor” to get your message read.
Four. Use Concise and Appropriate Language
Your letter or report must use easy truthful language, for clarity and precision. Use quick sentences and do not allow paragraphs exceed three or 4 sentences. As a great deal as feasible, use language and terminology acquainted to the intended recipient. Do not use technical phrases and acronyms with out explaining them, until you are certain that the addressee is acquainted with them.
5. “Be” Your Addressee
A key approach to use while writing something is to clearly “visualize” your target market. As you write, attempt to imagine on your thoughts’s eye the particular man or woman(s) to whom your written product is directed. I frequently believe that I am sitting across the boardroom table from my addressee, trying to give an explanation for my points in person. Make an attempt to see the scenario from the alternative person’s angle. What might you be trying to see in case you had been the recipient of the letter or document?
6. Do the Outline First
Even if it’s a one-page letter, it doesn’t hurt to put in writing some quick notes on the main points that you want to cover. This method forces you to think logically approximately exactly what you want to cover and it allows making a decision in which order you’ll method your subject. For a letter this is useful. For a document, that is genuinely important. In truth, I accept as true with that you must pressure yourself to go through the entire thinking method that is required to broaden a whole draft Table of Contents, earlier than you begin to write any file.
7. Write and Then Rewrite
No depend how much training I do, I usually locate that I can enhance on the primary draft. That’s partly because once I’m writing that first version, my main awareness is to get the essence of my thoughts down on paper. At that degree I don’t worry approximately best phrasing, grammar or logic. My primary undertaking the first time through is to make sure that I seize the crucial words and phrases that shape the middle meaning of what I want to speak. Then I can do the quality-tuning inside the ultimate bypass.
8. Format Is Important
Whatever you’re writing, ensure it looks professional. This is where right formatting is available in. Your credibility, and/or that of your employer, is on the road; along with your file or letter serving as your consultant. If it is not professionally formatted, it will reflect negatively on you, despite the fact that the content is ideal and it’s miles well-written. Rightly or wrongly, the price of your work will lessen in humans’s eyes if the formatting of your record is shoddy or amateurish searching. On the alternative hand, weak research and/or writing will seem better than it actually is if the formatting is ideal.
9. Read It Out Loud
Some those who haven’t tried it could laugh after they read this, but it truly works. At any point all through the drafting process, however truly on the draft very last level, study your report or letter to your self “out loud”. It’s brilliant what one selections up after they sincerely “hear” their words as if they were being spoken to them because the addressee. I discover this allows me the maximum in picking up awkward phrasing and needless repetition of words or phrases.
10. Check Spelling and Grammar
Last, however a ways from least, make sure you double take a look at the spelling and grammar to your file. These days, with spell-checkers constructed into word processing applications there’s clearly no excuse not to try this. Once once more your file is an instantaneous mirrored image of you and/or your organization. If it’s miles riddled with spelling errors and obvious grammatical errors, it’ll appear unprofessional and your credibility will go through. Watch out for the phrases that sound the equal but have absolutely one of a kind meanings that a spell-checker won’t pick out up. Words consisting of “4” and “fore”, as an example. Your final study-via out loud should seize any of these.
Whether you are writing a letter, a memorandum, a report or an essay, comply with the above guidelines and also you won’t move wrong.