Writing for Business

Business writing ranges from formal memos and proposals, to casual email messages, to catchy Web pages and presentations. In general, business communication deals with establishing and maintaining guidelines for policies and practices, with facilitating project work and with delivering convincing arguments about a product or proposal.

Allyn and Bacon (1999). Resources>Writing>Workplace>Business Communication

Writing for Technical and Business Decision-Maker Audiences  

The impact of any technical writing depends on the ability of the writer to understand and address the readers' concern, and to deliver highly usable documents that are relevant to the audience. Especially when readers make business decisions about technology, based on technical communication, writers need to develop best practices for conducting their own audience analysis and writing with audience needs in mind. This paper introduces several likely audiences a technical writer is likely to encounter and makes a few practical recommendations for communicating to them with the intended impact.

Lemoine, Chris. STC Proceedings (2005). Articles>Business Communication>Writing>Technical Writing

Writing for the World of Work

This course focuses on media, techniques, and formats of writing that are used in professional environments. Students explore the assumptions that govern writing in their fields and practice the writing skills and styles applicable to communicating effectively.

Carter, Kellie Rae. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (2003). Academic>Courses>Writing>Business Communication

Writing Government Policies and Procedures in Plain Language    

Ask ordinary citizens for an example of unreadable prose, and half of them will show you a government document; the other half will point to something written by a lawyer. As a government lawyer for more than 30 years, I wrote and reviewed safety regulations and technical policies and procedures for a major federal agency and eventually supervised other lawyers who did the same. Although I never met a technical document I didn't have the urge to rewrite, I always thought that what my fellow lawyers wrote was pretty clear. Then the plain-language movement came along, and I found I had a lot of room for improvement.

Byrne, Don. Business Communication Quarterly (2008). Articles>Business Communication>Policies and Procedures>Minimalism

Writing in the Business Environment

Organisational writing is specialised. To be an effective writer in the business environment, you need to have excellent general writing skills and to understand the complex communication choices involved. Knowing how writing is structured in an organisation and what is acceptable helps you to shape your writing so that it communicates successfully.

Petelin, Roslyn and Marsha Durham. Allen and Unwin (1992). Articles>Writing>Business Communication

Review: Writing in the Business Professions

Writing in the Business Professions should interest teachers of advanced composition. I encourage them to peruse the volume for themselves since I can’t analyze its contents at length here. I do, however, feel that I need to warn potential readers about several things that perplexed me when I read the book especially since this book may help determine the future of business communication instruction in the 1990s.

Hagge, John. JAC (1990). Articles>Reviews>Business Communication

Writing in the Corporate Workplace: How to Keep Your Writing Healthy at Work

Make sure you know what you're talking about. This means understanding the big picture as well as sweating the small stuff. When interviewing subject matter experts, don't accept high-level answers to questions. Drill down to the details.

Harper, Judith. Between the Lines (2007). Articles>Business Communication>Writing>Technical Writing

Writing in the Presence of Disaster: A Case Study of an Aviation Investigation Report  

The investigation of fatal aircraft incidents has gained in importance and in the attention of the public. This paper presents the experience of one documentation company in working on a major aircraft accident investigation report. The paper covers the general approach the company took, the challenges it encountered, the standards it applied, the strategies it developed, and the lessons it learned.

Thurston, John. STC Proceedings (2004). Articles>Business Communication>Reports

Writing in the Professional World

This is the homepage for Steven D. Krause's Winter 2005 section of English 323: Writing in the Professional World.

Krause, Steven D. Eastern Michigan University (2005). Academic>Courses>Business Communication

Writing in the Professions

This course is designed to familiarize you with the type of writing you'll encounter and produce as a college-educated professional. You'll learn how to write clearly, confidently, and effectively for an international audience. You'll also learn how to compose great resumes, emails, proposals, and Power Point presentations. You'll learn productive strategies for working in groups. Finally, you'll get to work with powerful, yet easy-to-use software.

Barton, Matt. MattBarton.net (2008). Academic>Courses>Business Communication>Writing

Writing Killer eCommerce/IT Proposals that Win New Business  

Winning new eCommerce/IT business depends on many factors, not the least of which is a requirements-focused, bloat-free proposal that prospects and customers will read. But to get to that point, proposal development must be tied to a business development process that will guide a qualified opportunity toward becoming a business proposal, and ultimately, a sustainable or repeatable business deal. Before committing resources to proposal development, a Needs Analysis/Return on Investment (ROI) study (billable service) for the prospect or customer should be necessary. Such a study not only shows the prospect how well your organization knows its business, it helps steer a prospect to your organization’s process. The Needs Analysis/ROI study results provide a head start on proposal development, where the proposal turnaround time can be as short as one day.

Le Vie, Donald S., Jr. STC Proceedings (2000). Presentations>Business Communication>Proposals

The Writing of Marketing Materials as Technical Communication  

Writers of marketing materials seem to be stepchildren at best in the family of technical communication. Yet one cannot engage in writing effective marketing materials about technical products or services without being a technical communicator. And the more "typical" technical writer--such as an author of documentation--will perform better when she understand-s the marketing component of her work. We will serve the marketing communicator and his technical writer counterpart well by breaking down the barrier that seems to exist between the disciplines.

Baker, Dina. STC Proceedings (1993). Articles>Business Communication>Marketing>Writing

Writing Policies and Procedures    

Over the years, I have had several enlightening and eventful encounters as I helped to develop organization policies and procedures. Most recently, when we voted to approve the revised mission statement for our business school, faculty members cheered and uttered sighs of relief. For months, we had debated every word, phrase, sentence, and paragraph in the many drafts we created. We were often reminded that the statement should conform to the mission of the larger university and that it should be readily understood by the average reader. The most contentious issue was how we could articulate the historical legacy of the minority-serving institution yet focus on its future as a full-fledged member of a highly regarded university system. We sought the advice of the chancellor, provost, advisory board, students, community members, and business owners, among others.

Muir, Clive. Business Communication Quarterly (2008). Articles>Business Communication>Policies and Procedures

Writing Press Releases

A press release is a (candidate) news story written by a firm for distribution to the media. The purpose of a press release varies from announcing new products, services, and business activities, to introducing the hiring of a new employee. It is not advertising in the classic sense, i.e., there is no hard sell involved although there is a more subtle intent to reach the prospective buyers.

Tech-Writer. Articles>Business Communication>Writing>Press Releases

Writing Technical Press Releases  

Explains how technical communicators with no public relations experience can take charge of their companies' media plans and press releases.

Greiling, Dunrie A. Intercom (2001). Articles>Business Communication>Writing>Press Releases

Writing that Works

Writing That Works is a monthly how-to newsletter on practical business writing, editing and communications.

Writing that Works. Journals>Writing>Business Communication

Writing When You Are NOT the Expert

Have you ever been asked to write a white paper about a topic that is completely foreign to you? If not, you most certainly will. This article will help you set your foot down the right path.

Stelzner, Michael A. WhitePaperSource (2006). Articles>Writing>Business Communication>White Papers

XBRL: The Language of Finance and Accounting

The eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) is a language for capturing financial information throughout a business' information processes that will eventually be reported to shareholders, banks, regulators, and other parties. The goal of XBRL is to make the analysis and exchange of corporate information more reliable and easier to facilitate.

Waldt, Dale. XML.com (2004). Articles>Business Communication>Financial>XBRL

"You're a Guaranteed Winner": Composing "You" in a Consumer Culture    

This article explores the functional elegance of direct mail as it constructs its target audience. More specifically, it examines direct mailings included in a nationally publicized court case involving Publishers' Clearing House and articulates how the use of particular genre-based, rhetorical and linguistic strategies in these mailings construct reader identity. It argues that the documents use you-attitude to construct the identity of the reader as winner, implied reader devices to reinforce the reader's identity as winner and to establish the reader's identity as the writer's friend, and linguistic politeness strategies to build feelings of solidarity of the reader toward the writer. It concludes with the observation that the direct mail in our study, rather than being "junk," is really a skillfully written set of documents, successfully interweaving various discourse strategies and raising both ethical and professional issues in the process.

Ewald, Helen Rothschild and Roberta Vann. JBC (2003). Articles>Business Communication>Marketing>Rhetoric

Your Seven-Step Online Reputation Crisis Plan

When you first discover an attack on your online reputation, it can be an unnerving event. If you’ve previously been oblivious to the online discussions about your brand, it can feel like a kick to the ribs to see someone wage an attack on your good name. When it happens, it’s important not to hit the panic button. If great companies such as Target and JetBlue can come under fire, then it can happen to anyone.

Beal, Andy. Communication World Bulletin (2008). Articles>Business Communication>Public Relations>Online

Your Winning Attitude

Why is attitude important? Because how you feel about your job affects how well you do it—and how coworkers feel about working with you!

Laurent, J. Suzanna. STC Central Iowa (2000). Careers>Business Communication

The Zen of Craigslist  

During a recent move, the author not only acquired and sold many items via Craigslist (www.craigslist.com), but gained insights about herself as well as running her business.

Frick, Elizabeth G. 'Bette'. Intercom (2006). Articles>Business Communication>Marketing>Online