March 11, 2010

Making Work "Work": Resources for Busy Professionals

Expressing your written message clearly

Even in these days of e-mail and digital media, effective communication is as important as it’s ever been. Ensure your written messages come across clearly by following these guidelines:

Step 1: Define your goal. State your goal in one sentence. You should be able to define the purpose of your communication as a positive, constructive action.

Step 2: Identify your central emotion. Usually, we write to convey a certain emotion—whether we’re disappointed or happy about a situation, for instance. Keep your emotions positive. You may be writing to express disappointment, but center the writing on your hopes for change.

Step 3: Identify your audience. This will help you determine your reader's expectations and perspectives and guide your writing.

Step 4: Gather supporting information. Include statistics, anecdotes and other data that support the point of your communication.

Step 5: Draft. Write freely without thought of length or mistakes. Don’t stop to edit yourself until you’ve finished writing.

Step 6: Rewrite. In rewriting, you’ll be able to trim your message and rearrange all the elements into their most effective structure.