Business Writing For Everyone Textbook PDF

Business Writing For Everyone Business Writing For Everyone ARLEY CRUTHERS KWANTLEN POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY SURREY, B.C Business Writing For Everyone by Arley Cruthers is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted. Contents Adaptation Statement xi About This Book 1 Thank Yous 2 Mockup Of Moodle Training 3 Chapter 1: Exploring Your Reading and Writing Beliefs Looking Back 5 What Do Experts Say About Reading and Writing? 7 How Do I Use This Book? 8 Why Doesn’t This Book Just Tell Me What To Do? 10 Key Takeaways 11 Activities For Further Reflection 12 Chapter 2: The Writing Process Questions For Reflection 14 Brenda Knights Narrative 15 What is the Writing Process? 16 What Role Do Emotions Play in Writing? 17 Ways the Switch Up Your Writing Process 19 The Writing Process in the Workplace 21 Joe’s Writing Process 22 Test Your Knowledge 24 Key Takeaways 25 Activities For Further Reflection 26 Chapter 3: Context, Audience, Purpose Questions For Reflection 28 Brenda Knights Narrative 29 Why Use Communication Models? 30 The Communication Process 31 Applying the Communication Process 35 Anmol’s Story 42 Key Takeaways 43 Activities For Further Reflection 44 Chapter 4: Style and Tone Questions for Reflection 47 Brenda Knights Narrative 48 Why Pay Attention to Style and Tone 49 Sailing the 7 C’s 50 Plain Language 51 Inclusive Language 57 Practice What You Learned 58 What is Voice? 59 Key Takeaways 65 Activities For Further Reflection 66 Chapter 5: Organizing Your Ideas Questions For Reflection 70 Brenda Knights Narrative 71 Philip's Story 72 Organizing Your Ideas 73 Headings, Subheading and Lists 74 Writing Effective Paragraphs 75 Reverse Outlining 80 Test Your Knowledge 83 Key Takeaways 84 Activities For Further Reflection 85 Chapter 6: Writing Emails, Memos, Letters and Instant Messages Questions For Reflection 87 Brenda Knights Narrative 88 Reviewing CMAPP 90 Meet The Genres 91 Writing Memos 92 Writing Letters 96 Writing Emails 99 Writing Instant Messages 104 Netiquette 107 Test Your Knowledge 108 Key Takeaways 109 Activities For Further Reflection 110 Chapter 7: Communicating Good, Neutral and Negative Messages Questions For Reflection 115 Brenda Knights Narrative 116 Delivering Good or Neutral News 118 Delivering Positive and Neutral Messages to Multiple Audiences 120 Bad News Messages 122 Delivering a Bad News Message 126 Breaking Bad News on Social Media 129 Practice What You Learned 130 Key Takeaways 131 Activities For Further Reflection 132 Chapter 8: Persuading Your Reader Questions For Reflection 135 Brenda Knights Narrative 136 Persuasion: It's Everywhere 137 Two Hierarchies of Needs 138 The Rhetorical Triangle: Ethos, Pathos and Logos 140 The Spectrum of Allies 143 Key Takeaways 148 Activities For Further Reflection 149 Chapter 9: The Research Process Questions For Reflection 152 Brenda Knights Narrative 153 Why Use Sources 154 Asking Research Questions 155 Narrowing Your Focus 156 Types of Sources 159 Conducting Interviews and Surveys 165 Fantastic Sources and Where to Find Them 167 Making a Source Plan 170 What If You Can't Find Sources For Your Topic? 172 Evaluating Sources 175 Key Takeaways 178 Activities For Further Reflection 179 Chapter 10a: Citing Sources Questions For Reflection 182 Karan's Story 183 Workplace vs. Academic Citation 184 What is Academic Integrity? 186 What is Citing? 188 How to Cite Sources 191 Creating In-Text Citations and References 196 Test Your Knowledge 198 Key Takeaways 199 Activities For Further Reflection 200 Chapter 10b: Making An Argument Using Sources Questions For Reflection 202 Brenda Knights Narrative 203 Making an Argument 204 Synthesizing Sources 208 Key Takeaways 210 Activities For Further Reflection 211 Chapter 11: Writing Reports Questions For Reflection 213 Brenda Knights Narrative 214 Audience Analysis in Reports 215 Types of Reports 217 Organizing Reports 220 Writing Formal Reports 223 Key Takeaways 232 Activities For Reflection 233 Chapter 12: Visual Communication Strategies Questions For Reflection 235 Brenda Knights Narrative 236 Audience Analysis in Document Design 237 Types of Graphics 238 Gestalt Theory 239 Working With Graphics 246 Revising Graphics 249 Key Takeaways 251 Activities For Further Reflection 252 Chapter 13: Oral Presentations Questions For Reflection 254 Brenda Knights Narrative 255 Importance of Oral Presentations 256 What's Public Speaking? 257 Public Speaking As Advocacy 258 Communicating Ethically 260 Communication is Constitutive, Contextual and Cultural 261 Public Speaking Anxiety 266 Verbal Communication Strategies 269 Key Takeaways 275 Activities For Further Reflection 276 Chapter 14: Revision and Remixing Questions For Reflection 278 Brenda Knights Narrative 279 Revising, Editing, Proofreading 280 What is Remixing? 283 Remixing Gritty 285 Test Your Revision Skills 288 Key Takeaways 289 Activities For Further Reflection 290 Chapter 15: Social Media Communication Questions for Reflection 292 Brenda Knights Narrative 293 Social Media Communication in the Workplace 294 Social Media Communication in Action: Special K Cereal 298 Key Takeaways 300 Activities For Further Reflection 301 Chapter 16: Peer Review Questions For Reflection 303 Brenda Knights Narrative 304 Peer Review in the Workplace 305 Peer Review in Class 306 Key Takeaways 309 Chapter 17: Communicating For Employment Questions For Reflection 311 Brenda Knights Narrative 312 Audience Analysis and Algorithms 313 Audience Analysis: Customization is Key 316 Writing an Effective Resume 319 Writing an Effective Cover Letter 323 Key Takeaways 325 Activities For Further Reflection 326 Chapter 18: Getting Along With Other People Questions For Reflection 328 Brenda Knights Narrative 329 Intrapersonal Communication 330 Interpersonal Communication 334 Rituals of Conversation 337 Conflict in the Work Environment 339 Check Your Knowledge 344 Intercultural Communication 346 Understanding Team Dynamics 357 Activities For Further Reflection 365 Adaptation Statement Business Communication For Everyone was created by Arley Cruthers. Several chapters were written from scratch, while others were adapted and remixed from other open textbooks, as indicated at the end of each chapter. Unless stated otherwise, Business Communication For Everyone (c) 2019 by Arley Cruthers and is licensed under a Creative Commons- Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International license. In Business Communication For Everyone, examples have been changed to Canadian references, and information throughout the book, as applicable, has been revised to reflect Canadian content and language. The author has also changed names to reflect her classroom composition and has added examples that reflect her students’ diverse experiences. Gender neutral language (they/their) has been used intentionally. In addition, while general ideas and content may remain unchanged from the sources from which this adapted version is based, word choice, phrasing, and organization of content within each chapter may have changed to reflect this author’s stylistic preferences. The author also collaborated with Brenda Fernie, who is the president of Seyem, the economic development branch of the Kwantlen Nation, to produce a series of narratives that connect to the topic explored in the book. This book was composed on unceded Coast Salish territory. The following additions or changes have been made to these chapters. Chapter 1 Wrote from scratch Chapter 2 Wrote from scratch Chapter 3 Added Brenda Fernie’s narrative. Added questions for reflection. Added activities for further reflection. Added Context of Production/ Context of Use model. Revised material to reflect the CMAPP communication model. Revised table of communications mediums to reflect changes in how businesses use faxes and emails. (Added reference to email management systems like MailChimp and services like Dropbox to send larger files). Combined two open sources (Ashman & McMurrey) into one document. Changed hockey example to cricket and changed some names. Adaptation Statement | xi Added key takeaways. Added H5P content. Chapter 4 Added Brenda Fernie’s narrative. Added section on inclusive language. Added extra examples of active vs. passive voice. Rewrote and condensed sections. Added information of the 7 C’s. Added Canadian spellings to Stedman piece. Added references to business communication to Stedman piece. Removed paragraph about teachers gossiping about students. Added questions for reflection. Added activities for further reflection. Added key takeaways Added H5P content. Added intro to Stedman piece. Chapter 5 Added Brenda Fernie’s narrative. Added a sample email that shows the purpose of each paragraph. Added an example of a paragraph organized by topic sentence, then used this example throughout. Changed the names in examples. Added key takeaways. Added questions for reflection. Added activities for further reflection. Added Philip’s story Added H5P content. Added information about headings/ bullet points. Changed the example about paragraph transitions. Chapter 6 Added Brenda Fernie’s narrative. Added discussion of the shift in workplace communication thanks to instant messaging and social media. Added reference to First Nations Land Acknowledgements in email signatures and gave an example from Kwantlen. Added idea of one purpose per email. Changed the letter example. xii | Adaptation Statement Added questions for reflection. Added activities for further reflection. Added reference to CMAPP. Added piece about using instant messaging. Added “meet the genres” section and created short infographics for each form, which I embedded in a slideshow and them used again in each section. Added section on communicating via instant messaging. Created H5P content. Added email frame. Added sample letter. Added key takeaways. Chapter 7 Added Brenda Fernie’s narrative. Added discussion of number of emails workers receive per day, and the importance of not wasting the reader’s time. Added more information on sending good and neutral messages. Added examples of neutral messages. Added questions for reflection. Added activities for further reflection. Added H5P content. Edited on a sentence level. Added key takeaways. Chapter 8 Added Brenda Fernie’s narrative. Added video examples. Added discussion of ethos as a way to build sources. Added a discussion of Jeannie Wills’ “Making Them an Offer They Can’t Refuse” and created diagrams. Added questions for reflection. Added activities for further reflection. Added intro Added Spectrum of Allies material. Added key takeaways. Added reference to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and the Blackfoot model. Added “Wrapping it Up” section. Added H5P content. Adaptation Statement | xiii Chapter 9 Added Brenda Fernie’s narrative. Adapted material from “Choosing and Using Sources: A Guide To Academic Research by the Ohio State University Libraries,” to be more appropriate for the workplace. Added discussion of the CRAAP test. Added discussion of messiness of research process, including link to Reply All podcast. Changed American examples to Canadian ones. Added questions for reflection. Added activities for further reflection. Added H5P content. Added key takeaways Added Mina’s story. Condensed some of the discussion around finding sources. Rewrote some of the content to use less academic language. Chapter 10 Added Brenda Fernie’s narrative. Adapted material from “Choosing and Using Sources: A Guide To Academic Research by the Ohio State University Libraries,” to be more appropriate for the workplace. Added KPU’s definition of academic integrity and a link to the plagiarism policy. Added discussion of differences in citation practices in different cultures. Changed American examples to Canadian ones. Changed names in examples. Added example of argument in the workplace. Added questions for reflection. Added activities for further reflection. Added Karan’s story. Added discussion of Alicia Elliot source. Added XKCD comic. Added discussion of citation as generosity. Added graphic about when to cite. Added H5P content. Added key takeaways. Removed Woody Allen example and replaced with a more workplace appropriate example. Added example of synthesis in the workplace. Chapter 11 Added Brenda Fernie’s narrative. Added discussion of the persuasive strategy for each report type. xiv | Adaptation Statement Added example of a short report. Added questions for reflection. Added activities for further reflection. Added H5P functionality. Condensed some material and rewrote to be in plainer language. Added key takeaways. Added mention of Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Chapter 12 Added Brenda Fernie’s narrative. Added questions for reflection. Added activities for further reflection. Moved information on headings/subheadings/bullet points/lists in the Organization chapter. Edited for concision and rewrote some intros/out-ros when combining different sources. Added H5P content Rewrote Gestalt Theory section to reflect a business communication framework. Chapter 13 Added Brenda Fernie’s narrative. Added questions for reflection. Added activities for further reflection. Changed examples to be Canadian Condensed some information. Added mention of neurodiverse and intercultural audiences struggling with idioms and metaphors. Changed spelling to be Canadian. Combined chapters. Chapter 14 Added Brenda Fernie’s narrative. Added discussion of remixing. Edited the section on higher-level concerns to reinforce messages discussed in previous chapters. Added discussion of recording yourself as part of the revision process. Added Questions For Reflection. Added Key Takeaways. Adaptation Statement | xv Chapter 15 Wrote from scratch. Chapter 16 Added Brenda Fernie’s narrative. Added discussion of how peer workshopping can help students succeed in the workplace. Added questions for reflection. Added activities for further reflection Chapter 17 Wrote from scratch Chapter 18 Added questions for reflection. Added Brenda Fernie’s narrative. Added key takeaways. Added exercises. Did some light editing, removing references to other chapters. xvi | Adaptation Statement About This Book This book takes an inductive, inclusive approach to business communication. It has the following goals: To meet the needs of a diverse student population, including English language learners, students from diverse cultural backgrounds, mature students, and students who are LGBTQ+, neurodiverse and/or disabled. The author has taken care to include activities, examples and reflection exercises tailored to a wide range of students, and to collaborate with communicators from diverse backgrounds. To offer an inductive, iterative approach to business communication that focuses less on genre and more on the decisions communicators make. To encourage students to reflect on their own attitudes, beliefs and assumptions about communication, and to connect their learning to other courses and/or their workplace experience. Each chapter begins with a ‘Questions for Reflection’ section so that students can reflect individually or in a learning journal and ends with suggested reflection activities that an instructor can assign. To prepare students for a diverse workforce by including the voices of communicators from many different backgrounds. This book also contains narratives by Brenda Fernie, who is the President of Seyem, the economic development branch of the Kwantlen First Nation. Students are invited to read her narrative then reflect on it as they read the rest of the chapter. Instructors may choose to have students freewrite about the connection between the narrative and the chapter in order to deepen their understanding of both. Thank You This book was made better by the many students who analyzed previous versions of this textbook. Thank you for your insight. I’m also grateful to KPU Open for a grant that allowed me to compensate collaborators. About This Book | 1 Thank Yous Business Writing For Everyone would not be possible without a huge amount of support. First, thank you to Brenda Knights for sharing her business communication knowledge. Brenda was extremely generous with her time, and the insights she shared will help our students be more effective, thoughtful and ethical communicators. Thank you to the entire open education community at Kwantlen Polytechnic University, especially Dr. Rajiv Jhangiani. This book benefitted from a KPU OER Creation Grant. Also thank you to Karen Meijer-Kline and Lana Radomsky for their help with Pressbooks and much more. I’m also grateful to Cana Uluak Itchuaqiyaq, whose list of Multiply Marginalized and Underrepresented scholars in technical communication was incredibly useful in my research for this book. Several students reviewed early drafts of Business Writing For Everyone and I’m grateful for their thoughtful feedback. (If you’re a student who reviewed the textbook and don’t see your name here, please email me at [email protected] and I will make sure to include you. A few textbook reviews didn’t have names on them). Thank you to: Karn Bagri Khushi Baghla Sukhjeev Dhaliwal Manraj Gill Karan Hundal Bhawanpreet Kaur Jashandeep Kaur Japreet Kaur Jaspreet Kaur Jaspreet Kaur Manpreet Kaur Ovanpreet Kaur Taranpreet Kaur Prabhdeep Kaur Kaajalpreet Khangura Rashpal Khosa Harmanjot Kooner Christopher Latecki Alex Luu Jasmine Marahar Abishek Ram Asher Sacks Harleen Sahans Kamal Saini Arshdeep Singh Jaskirat Singh Seeret Sooch Adam Sum Jaspreet Kaur Tiwana Simrandeep Toor 2 | Thank Yous Welcome to the KPU Open training session. The purpose of this training session is to give you a brief overview of OER, Creative Commons licensing and more, so that you can more easily achieve a KPU Open Adoption, Adaptation or Creation grant. Taking a few moments to learn the basics of “open” will save you a lot of time in the application process. Module #1: What is Open? Reading time: 10 minutes. In this module, you’ll receive a short overview of what “open” is, learn why instructors create and use Open Educational Resources, and explore the difference between something that’s open and something that’s free. Move through the slides at your own pace. You can use the quiz questions to test your knowledge. After you’re done, you’ll be invited to reflect on what you learned. An interactive H5P element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://kpu.pressbooks.pub/businesswriting/?p=1322#h5p-38 An interactive H5P element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://kpu.pressbooks.pub/businesswriting/?p=1322#h5p-39 Mockup Of Moodle Training | 3 CHAPTER 1: EXPLORING YOUR READING AND WRITING BELIEFS Photo by Nick Morrison on Unsplash In this section, you’ll: Reflect on your reading and writing beliefs. Learn what experts say about reading and writing beliefs. Learn how to use this book. Meet Brenda Knights, whose narratives around business communication will be central to this textbook. 4 | Chapter 1: Exploring Your Reading and Writing Beliefs Before you can learn to write in a new context, it’s helpful to explore how you got to this point. Every one of us arrives in the workplace (and the classroom) with our own beliefs and assumptions about communication. Sometimes, these beliefs are helpful. Sometimes, however, our beliefs can hold us back. So, before we dive in, let’s take a moment to reflect. Read the following questions and think them over. It may be helpful for you to write some notes in a journal. Questions for Reflection 1. How did you learn to read and write? Who influenced you? 2. What do people in your culture and/or your family believe about reading, writing and telling stories? 3. What are some of your most positive reading and writing memories? 4. Describe some moments when you struggled with reading or writing. How did you react? 5. Have you ever changed a belief around reading and writing? 6. Do you believe that you are a good writer? Why or why not? 7. What is the most frustrating part of reading or writing for you? 8. Describe your writing process. How do you tackle writing tasks? 9. What do you think the role of your writing teacher should be? Now, reflect on your answers. Do you notice any patterns? Can you identify any beliefs that might hold you back? Let’s take a look at how other students answered. Simran’s Story Simran’s earliest memories of reading involve being snuggled up with her grandma, siblings and cousins. She loved being read to. Before she was old enough to go to school, she often sat with her older siblings as they did their homework and pretended to write. Unfortunately, when Simran was in Grade 4, she had a teacher who Looking Back | 5 criticized her writing. She began to believe that she was a bad writer. By the time she reached Grade 12, English was Simran’s worst subject. Today, Simran likes to read for fun, but hates to read for school. When she gets a writing assignment, she often starts and stops and procrastinates. She writes a sentence then gets caught up in grammar details, deletes it, starts over, then checks social media. In the end, she pulls an all-nighter and hands in her assignment with just minutes to spare. Simran likes to write fan fiction based on her favourite T.V. show, and she doesn’t understand why the words come so easily when she’s writing for fun, but so painfully when she’s writing for school. She isn’t looking forward to taking a business communication course because she thinks completing the assignments will be stressful. Jian Yi’s Story Jian Yi began his education in China. He was an excellent student and enjoyed writing. His teachers often praised his beautiful cursive. When Jian Yi was 12, his family moved to Canada. He was placed for a short time in an EAL class, but quickly was integrated into a Grade 7 classroom. He understood very little and felt embarrassed whenever he was asked to speak in class. Though Jian Yi’s English skills improved dramatically, he never again enjoyed school. Jian Yi doesn’t enjoy reading or writing. He majored in Accounting because he believed there wouldn’t be much reading and writing, and he’s disappointed that he has to take a communications class. He is taking a full course load and he wants to get through this course as quickly as possible. Both Simran and Jian Yi are good writers; Simran can write short stories and Jian Yi can write in multiple languages. Neither, however, expects to do well in this course. That’s the power of unhelpful beliefs. They can set us up for failure before we’ve even started. By talking about our reading and writing beliefs and figuring our where they came from, we can challenge unhelpful beliefs and be more successful. Thinking about our reading and writing beliefs is also a great way to celebrate the communication strengths you already have. For example, if you’ve learned Traditional Stories from elders in your community, you already know a story can be used as a powerful teaching tool when tailored to the right audience at the right time. Your ability to play music or sing will help you write sentences that people will enjoy reading. If you can shift between multiple languages or dialects, you can adapt to a new workplace environment. Our goal is not to erase what’s unique about your writing voice to make it “appropriate” for the workplace, but to build on your existing skills so that you can be successful in whatever workplace you enter. 6 | Looking Back What Do Experts Say About Reading and Writing? The question of how to become a better writer has been studied extensively for decades. We actually know a lot about how people learn to read and write, and how to help students improve. Here are just a few writing beliefs that 1 researchers, writing teachers and scholars believe to be true.. How many of these points do you agree with? 2 1. “Everyone can become a better writer.” 3 2. “People learn to write by writing.” 4 3. “Writing is a process.” 4. Writing helps us think and figure out what we have to say. 5. There is no one way to write well. Different writers have different processes and may even change their process depending on what type of writing they’re doing. 6. Editing, revising and rethinking are important to help writers reach their potential. 5 7. “Writing and reading are related.” Reading will improve your writing. It doesn’t even matter what genre you read. Read what you enjoy. 8. Talking about your writing with your peers and your teacher can make you a better writer. In short, you can become a better writer. In fact, some studies have found that students who believe that they can 6 become good writers improve faster than those who don’t. I believe that you are a good writer. I believe that you can become a better writer. I believe that you use your writing skills every day. It’s hard to change a belief overnight, so perhaps you don’t yet agree with me. That’s okay. Over the course of the semester, we’ll build on what you already know and apply it to the workplace. We’ll figure out a writing process that works for you. And hopefully, by the end of the semester, you’ll have created writing that you’re proud of. 1. http://www2.ncte.org/blog/2015/05/beliefs-about-the-teaching-of-writing/ 2. http://www2.ncte.org/blog/2015/05/beliefs-about-the-teaching-of-writing 3. http://www2.ncte.org/blog/2015/05/beliefs-about-the-teaching-of-writing 4. http://www2.ncte.org/blog/2015/05/beliefs-about-the-teaching-of-writing 5. http://www2.ncte.org/blog/2015/05/beliefs-about-the-teaching-of-writing 6. https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/0370/1e3c57c3bca04881b7f7716f111250d6ce39.pdf What Do Experts Say About Reading and Writing? | 7 How Do I Use This Book? Your instructor will tell you how to use this book. For example, if you’re in a flipped classroom, each chapter will prepare you for the activities and discussions you’ll have in class. Still, you’re a busy student with a lot to do. You might not have time to read every word. So how can you still benefit from the book? Ideal Scenario: The ideal way to use this book is to do a few reflection questions by freewriting, thinking about the questions or discussing them with a friend or partner. You’d then read each chapter, including the stories and examples. You can also do the interactive content. Short on Time: If you’re short, just skim the reflection questions and activities and skip the interactive content. You might also skim the student stories, but make sure to read Brenda Knights’ narratives, since these are important to the learning. Very Short on Time: If you’re very short on time, read the headings and anything in bold or bullet points. You won’t get the full benefit, but at least you’ll be aware of the general principles. Meet Brenda Knights At the beginning of each chapter, you’ll find a short narrative by Brenda Knights. Ms. Knights is the President of Səýeḿ, the economic development branch of the Kwantlen Nation. Səýeḿ has 11 companies in a wide range of industries, including a gift shop, a security services company, a marketing and design company, an IT company, land development and a restaurant. In addition, Ms. Knights is a member of the Indigenous Business and Investment Council and a Member at Large of Tourism Langley, and she’s pursuing an MA in Leadership through Trinity Western University. This means that Ms. Knights has extensive workplace communication experience and uses her communication skills every day. Səýeḿ is guided by the seven traditional laws of the Kwantlen Nation: health, happiness, generations, generosity, humbleness, forgiveness and understanding. You will see these principles throughout the narratives. These narratives have been included in the book to help you explore the nuances of workplace communication and to see how some of the issues Figure 1.1 Brenda Knights we’re discussing in theory play out in reality. The goal is not to give you an easy answer, but to help you understand the material in a deeper way and encourage you to reflect on your own communication values. When you read the narratives, ask yourself: What parallels can I draw between the story and the rest of the chapter? Are there places where the narrative seems to oppose the material in the rest of the chapter? How can I 8 | How Do I Use This Book? make sense of this apparent contradiction? Can I find connections between the narratives and my own life experience? How Do I Use This Book? | 9 Why Doesn’t This Book Just Tell Me What To Do? Especially if you went to school in an education system that emphasizes memorization and repetition, you might be frustrated by parts of this book. That’s because this book resists telling you the “right” way to do things. It will give you strategies for success, show you examples of successful workplace documents, and introduce you to people who doing workplace communication well, but you won’t find many templates. That’s because business communication is all about making decisions. If your instructor tells you that there’s just one way to write a memo, you will struggle when you get hired in a workplace that does memos differently, or that doesn’t use memos at all. Already, social media, Slack/Discourse and other new communication platforms are changing the way we communicate in the workplace. If you can make good communication decisions and use the habits of a successful writer, you can be successful anywhere. 10 | Why Doesn’t This Book Just Tell Me What To Do? Key Takeaways Reflecting on your reading and writing beliefs will help you identify places where your beliefs aren’t helpful. Negative feelings about writing can lead to procrastination and an inability to try new things. Recognizing negative feelings can reduce their power. Everyone can become a better writer. Writing doesn’t just help you express yourself. It’s also a great way to figure out what you think about something. The goal of this book is to help you make strong decisions about communication. At the beginning of each piece, you will read a narrative by Brenda Knights. Reflect on it as you read the rest of the chapter, then connect it to the rest of the material that you’ve learned and your own experience. Key Takeaways | 11 Activities For Further Reflection Activities and Exercises Your instructor may ask you to do one or more of these activities. 1. Draw a short comic strip that illustrates how you learned to read and write. (You won’t be judged on your artistic ability). You can focus on one incident in the story of how you learned to read and write or try to illustrate the main parts.Then, write a short email to your instructor that describes ◦ How you decided what to include in your comic and what to leave out. ◦ What this comic says about your reading and writing beliefs. 2. Write a letter to your instructor that tells them what you believe about reading and writing. Be sure to include: ◦ Whether or not you think your beliefs are helpful. ◦ Whether you would like to change any of your beliefs. 3. Ask some friends, elders or your parents about their reading and writing beliefs. What trends do you notice about the beliefs of the people around you? How do you think these views have influenced you? Write a few paragraphs about your findings. 4. If you speak a different language or have lived in different cultures, write about how the reading and writing beliefs compare to the reading/writing beliefs in Canada. Do you have different reading and writing beliefs for each language you speak? Write a few paragraphs about your findings. 12 | Activities For Further Reflection CHAPTER 2: THE WRITING PROCESS Photo by UX Indonesia on Unsplash In this section you will: Explore the writing process. Reflect on the role that emotions play in your writing process. Evaluate your own writing process and find ways to remove barriers you encounter. See examples of the writing process in the workplace. Chapter 2: The Writing Process | 13 Questions For Reflection Before we begin, consider the following questions. Your instructor may ask you to freewrite about one or more of these questions in your learning journal. Describe a time when you wrote something you’re proud of. How did you get started? What conditions did you write under? Did you revise? What is your ideal writing process? Do you currently use your ideal writing process? How do you normally complete an assignment? Do you feel that this method is successful? If you write in different genres (music, creative writing, videos, etc), do you use the same writing process for each? For example, would you write an essay the same way you would write a short story? If you write in more than one language, do you use the same writing process for each language you write? How are your writing processes the same and different? 14 | Questions For Reflection Brenda Knights Narrative When I’m writing a grant or a tender, I find that doing the project plan first with timelines helps me to think things through. Before I jump into the writing, I map it out in Microsoft Projects. I think about who’s involved, what’s involved, what’s the budget. Going through that process in advance helps me refine. If you write first, your ideas could grow and get out of scope. If you do a quick project plan and a budget, you keep it really focused. When you do the scope and budget in advance, a couple of things become revealing. You think about the people who need to be involved. Do they have the availability? That might influence your timeline. If this has to be completed in six months, but the right person isn’t available, then you have to look for another person or ask yourself if it’s something we can even do. In general, there are a lot of people with great ideas, and not a lot of people who are good at executing and following through and completing the tasks. That’s the hard part. It’s not the idea. It’s the execution. Organizing and planning before you start to write gives you the ability to execute and know that what you’re doing is realistic. I also talk to other employees and ask their thoughts before I start to write. If you start the writing process first, you’re often scramble later to adjust your timeline or track down people and suddenly someone’s gone on vacation and the project is due. That’s why you need to talk to people right up front. The writing’s the easiest part. Once you’ve talked to people, it will come out in your writing. You’ll feel confident that you’ve got a good plan in place. Brenda Knights Narrative | 15 What is the Writing Process? Writing is not one thing. To write successfully, you also need to pre-write, think, research, plan, organize, draft, revise, rethink, analyze and brainstorm. Why is it important to think of writing as more than just the act of physically writing out words? Because often when people say that they’re “bad at writing,” they actually just need to make a few adjustments to just one of the phases of the writing process. The more you understand your writing process, the more control you have over it. The writing process is made up of three main parts: Pre-writing: In the pre-writing stage, you might read an assignment prompt, research, make an outline, sketch some ideas, brainstorm, doodle, jot down notes or even just think about your writing topic while you’re on the bus or driving home. Writing: In the writing or drafting stage, you write down words. Your writing task will determine how you write. Some people write long or important documents by composing them in a notebook and then typing out the final product. Some write in one long paragraph and then break it up in the revision stage. Technology Tip: Speech-to-text software was originally created for people whose disability impacts their hand function or fatigue levels, but it has a wide range of applications. For example, artist and parasport athlete John Loeppky, who has cerebral palsy, uses it in the pre-writing stage when he is writing something creative that has a strong voice. He gets his thoughts down, then edits them. Many people use speech-to- text apps to brainstorm, to write down a great idea when they’re away from home or to look at their writing in a new way. You can try out a free speech-to-text program SpeechNotes. Revision: After you’ve finished writing, it’s time to rethink your piece. Many students think that revising is just making grammatical changes, but it’s a lot more than that. Expert writers often spend most of their composition time on revision. They may rethink their strategy, try a new outline, show their work to a colleague to get feedback, read their work out loud to see where it sounds choppy or simply put the work away for a few hours so that they can come back to it with a fresh perspective. It’s important to note that your writing process won’t be a straight line. Expert writers switch between different modes. For example, you might realize that you need more research and go back to the pre-writing process. You might revise and write as you go. You might show a draft to a colleague or friend and decide to reorganize the entire work based on their feedback. Sometimes, this back-and-forth feels frustrating to new writers, but it’s a normal part of the writing process. 16 | What is the Writing Process? What Role Do Emotions Play in Writing? Because this is a business writing class, it might seem weird to talk about feelings. But how you feel about a writing task often determines how effectively you can complete it. For example, have you ever struggled to write an apology to someone you upset? Have you ever found yourself procrastinating to write an assignment you don’t really understand? Have you ever found that it’s easier for you to seem to write better in some classes more than others? Emotions are the reason that sometimes you can write without thinking and sometimes you find yourself procrastinating, then staring at a blank screen, typing and deleting the same words over and over, feeling your writing becoming more awkward rather than less. That’s why simply acknowledging how you feel can help you avoid procrastination. The first step is acknowledging how you feel, and the second step is figuring out why you feel that way. For example, some students have negative feelings about a writing assignment because they don’t like the teacher (or a teacher they had years ago), or they’ve had past struggles in a subject, or they don’t understand the point of the assignment, or they’re overwhelmed with other classes. Being able to identify why you’re feeling an emotion takes the power out of it. Sometimes you can even find a solution to make the writing task easier. Here are some stories about how student writers changed their writing processes. Raveena’s Story Whenever Raveena writes, she feels a little editor on her shoulder who’s always chiming in correcting her grammar and telling her that her sentences are awkward and sloppy. She spends so much time editing while she writes that she loses her train of thought and has trouble just letting her thoughts flow. Writing a single page takes her hours. Raveena’s instructor asked if she had always written this way. Raveena said she used to write easily, but during her first semester of university she had a couple of instructors who were tough graders. Whenever she would write, she would imagine her instructors criticizing her. Raveena’s instructor suggested two solutions: 1) She should pretend to write to someone she likes. It’s easier to write to a friendly reader than a hostile one. Raveena imagined writing to her favourite cousin and writing got a little easier. 2) She asked Raveena to put a piece of paper over her laptop screen or turn the screen’s brightness to the lowest setting, then type out her thoughts. At first, Raveena found this very uncomfortable. When she turned her screen back on, she saw a jumble of text. But Raveena soon discovered that she had quickly written 500 words, which would have taken her hours under her old method. Raveena then used her excellent editing skills to shape what she had written. What Role Do Emotions Play in Writing? | 17 Kai’s Story Kai prided themself on being able to write their essays the night before. They would drink some energy drinks and buy their favourite snacks and write for hours. They rarely revised their work. This technique worked well in high school, but when they got to university their grades started slipping. Their instructors noted that they had great ideas, but many were not well-organized or were incomplete. Kai’s instructor asked the class to bring a draft for a peer workshop. Kai told their instructor that they wouldn’t be able to write a draft, since they could only write well the night before the assignment was due. Kai’s instructor asked them what they liked about writing at night. Kai said that they liked how quiet it was in the house at 3 a.m. and how the pressure made them focus. Kai’s instructor asked them to try to replicate the same environment (dark room, snacks, drinks etc.), set a timer for 2 hours and see how much they could write. Kai was able to write a rough draft of their assignment, though they didn’t feel the “writing magic” in the same way. During the workshop, Kai’s classmates offered several useful suggestions for improvement, but they were worried about overthinking things and ruining them by doing too much revision. Kai’s instructor told them to save the rough draft as a different file. If they didn’t like the revisions, they could go back to the previous draft. Kai tried a number of revision techniques and ended up with a much stronger assignment. Slowly, they used more and more revision techniques in their other assignments. The result: higher grades and more sleep. If your writing process is working for you, then there’s no need to change it. But if the way you write frustrates you, consider making some changes. You might also consider changing your writing process for certain writing tasks, such as important assignments. 18 | What Role Do Emotions Play in Writing? Ways the Switch Up Your Writing Process Here are some simple ways to change your writing process. Pick a few and try them. Pre-Writing 1. Read the assignment prompt, then quickly write down 5 things you’ll need to do to be successful in the assignment. Using this list and the assignment prompt, create a timeline for finishing the assignment. For example, if you’re being graded on using primary and secondary research, you’ll want to make time to research, analyze your sources and add your citations. 2. Go for a walk (or do some exercise) and think about your writing task. Sometimes moving your body helps you do brainstorming. 3. Create an outline for your work. 4. Use brainstorming (mind mapping, bubble maps, etc). 5. Try illustrating your project visually. Connect ideas and thoughts with lines. 6. Read a similar document to get ideas. 7. Talk about your writing task with a friend. 8. Represent your writing task visually. Sometimes creating a comic strip or series of doodles helps you to figure out where to start. Writing 1. Turn off the screen of your computer and try writing your document. This will help you get your thoughts down without worrying about editing. 2. Use the voice recorder in your phone to record yourself describing what you want to write about as if to a friend. 3. Write an imaginary conversation between your sources. How would they respond to each other? 4. Try free-writing. Write the phrase “What I want my reader to know is…” or “The most surprising thing about my research is…” Then, set a timer for 5 minutes and write about this topic. Don’t stop writing. Ignore all grammar and spelling errors. See how much you can write. 5. Schedule a time each day to write and put it in your calendar. 6. Try to Pomodoro Technique, where you work intensely for 25 minutes then take a 5 minute break. 7. Use website blocking software like Freedom, FocusBooster or StayFocusd to block your internet use for a few hours so you can concentrate. Revising 1. Read your work out loud. The ear is a better editor than the eye. 2. Leave your work overnight so that you can come back to it with fresh eyes. 3. Describe your work to a trusted friend or family member and encourage them to ask you questions. 4. Compare your work to the assignment prompt or rubric. Read a criteria/rubric point then go to your work and underline where in the work you met the criteria. Ways the Switch Up Your Writing Process | 19 5. Print your work out and cut it up so that each paragraph is on its own piece of paper. Try reorganizing your paragraphs. Does another order work better? 6. If your writing uses sources, print your work out and highlight every time you use a source. If your writing has no highlighted parts, you might want to add sources. If your writing is mostly highlighted, you might want to do more analysis of the sources. 7. Underline the main point of each paragraph. If you can’t point out what the point of the paragraph is, you may need to rethink it. If your paragraph has multiple points, you may need to break it up. 8. Show your work to your teacher, a colleague or friend and ask them what they think the goal of the assignment is. 20 | Ways the Switch Up Your Writing Process The Writing Process in the Workplace Students are often surprised to learn how much time professional writers devote to pre-writing and editing. In fact, a study conducted by a Toronto consulting firm found that writers in the workplace spend 40% of their time pre-writing 1 or planning, 30% of their time revising and only 20% of their time writing. In contrast, some studies have found that students only spend 3-5% of their composition time revising. In the workplace, you will vary your writing process depending on several factors, including: The importance of the writing task. Your deadline. The deliverable. Your own writing process. The culture of your workplace. How much collaboration is required. A Note on Collaboration Much of the writing that you’ll be doing in the workplace will involve collaborating with others. To do so effectively, you will have to respect other people’s writing processes and listen carefully to your collaborators. Different cultures also have different collaboration practices. For example, if your project impacts Indigenous People, you would want to involve many different people from the impacted community, especially Elders. If you’re not Indigenous, you might begin the project by taking time to listen, ask questions, and build trust. When done well, collaboration will make your work stronger. This quote from settler scholar Sophie McCall shows that collaboration doesn’t just have to be about ensuring that everyone agrees: “Collaboration does not have to aim for a seamless platform of agreement; indeed, collaboration can embrace differences and acknowledge conflict. We came to think of our process as one of working across differences of experience, profession, background and interest.” – Sophie McCall on working with Metis artist Gabrielle L’Hirondelle (as quoted in Elements of Indigenous Style: A Guide for Writing by And About Indigenous Peoples by Gregory Younging. 1. https://www.mdctraining.com/ The Writing Process in the Workplace | 21 Joe’s Writing Process Joe is a communications and marketing manager for a non-profit. Because his organization is small, he has a very broad job description. Over the course of a single day, he might write emails to partner organizations, clients and coworkers, do research for a grant, plan a social media campaign and take minutes in a meeting. To be effective, Joe has to balance producing quality work with using his time effectively. For this reason, his writing process often changes depending on his task. Figure 2.1 Joe’s writing process for his donation letter. [Image Description] Every year, Joe’s non-profit organization sends out a letter to previous donors asking for donations. The letter tells a story about someone who has benefitted from the organization’s services. The organization expects to raise between $20,000 and $25,000 from the letter, so it’s very important. Pre-writing: Joe begins by researching what kind of stories other organizations have told to donors. He is especially interested in what larger organizations with larger budgets are doing. Next, he has a meeting with his boss and several program coordinators to identify a client whose story should be highlighted in the letter. Joe does some research on the client, then works with a program coordinator who knows the client to come up with interview questions. Joe conducts the interview, then immediately goes to a coffee shop to sketch out his ideas for the letter while the interview is still fresh in his mind. When he gets home, he transcribes his interview notes. Writing: Joe drafts two different versions of the letter. Pre-Writing: Joe’s coworkers provide feedback on the two letters. Joe’s boss also shows the letters to a few former donors who now sit on the Board of Directors. They all agree on one version of the letter. Joe’s boss asks him to contact the client again to ask some follow-up questions that will make the letter more specific. Joe contacts the client again and does more research. Revision: Joe revises his letter based on the feedback. When his boss is satisfied, he sends it to a company that specializes in designing and mailing out donations letters. He includes photos of the client to be included in the letter. Joe and his boss go back and forth with the company to come up with a final design that everyone is happy with. Figure 2.2 Joe’s writing process for an email. [Image Description] 22 | Joe’s Writing Process Joe sends hundreds of emails in a week. Usually, he hardly has to think about them. Today, however, he receives an email from the Executive Director of another organization asking for Joe’s thoughts on an upcoming social media campaign her organization is planning. Joe is happy to help the Executive Director, but he is busy and can only spare an hour. Pre-writing: Joe takes a look at the Executive Director’s campaign. He’s unsure about one aspect of the campaign, so he does a little bit of research. He compares the campaign to the final report from a similar campaign that he ran. Writing: Joe has a few criticisms of the Executive Director’s campaign idea, so he chooses his words carefully. The email is long, so he includes a few headings and some bullet points to make it easier to read. Revision: So that he can catch any mistakes, he leaves the email for a few hours. When he comes back to it, he finds a few grammar mistakes. He also rewrites the first few lines to make sure that they achieve the correct tone. Image Description Figure 2.1 image description: This bar graph shows Joe’s writing process. He moves from pre-writing (presented in red), then spends a short amount of time writing (in yellow) then moves back to pre-writing and spends a large chunk of time revising (in green). [Return to Figure 2.1] Figure 2.2 image description: This graph shows Joe’s writing process for an email. He spends a short amount of time pre-writing (in red), then the bulk of his time is spent writing (in yellow) and then spends a short amount of time revising (in green). [Return to Figure 2.2] Joe’s Writing Process | 23 Test Your Knowledge How well can you identify the parts of the writing process? An interactive H5P element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://kpu.pressbooks.pub/businesswriting/?p=377#h5p-8 24 | Test Your Knowledge Key Takeaways By understanding your own writing process, you can have more control over your writing. The writing process consists of pre-writing, writing and revising. Though students spend most of their time on the writing stage, in the workplace, most of the time is spent on pre-writing and revising. Simple changes to your writing process can save you time and lead to an improved final product. To improve your writing, you must think both about what you do when you write, but also how you feel when you write. Figuring out why you feel something about a particular writing task can reduce procrastination. Key Takeaways | 25 Activities For Further Reflection Your instructor may ask you to complete one or more of the following exercises. 1. Write a paragraph connecting Brenda Knights’ narrative to the rest of the chapter or to your own experience. 2. Review Raveena and Kai’s stories. Now, write one about yourself. If you’re happy with your writing process, write about how you developed it. If you’d like to make some changes, imagine what advice your instructor would give you. If you’re not sure, ask! 3. Think of two different writing tasks that you’ve accomplished. Using Joe’s story as a model, create a diagram that shows your writing process for each task, then tell the story of that writing process. 4. Re-read the “Ways to Switch Up Your Writing Process,” and pick a few methods that are interesting to you. Try them over the next few weeks, then write a memo to your instructor reporting on how the experience went. 5. Ask a friend about their writing process. Then, write a short email giving them advice on how to make their writing process more enjoyable or efficient. (Note: you don’t actually have to send the email to your friend. You can just send it to your instructor). 26 | Activities For Further Reflection CHAPTER 3: CONTEXT, AUDIENCE, PURPOSE Photo by Samuel Pereira on Unsplash In this section, you will: Learn how communication models can be practical. Explore how our context impacts how well our messages are received. Learn two different communication models. See how these communication models can be applied to workplace communication. Chapter 3: Context, Audience, Purpose | 27 Questions For Reflection Before you start, consider the following questions. Your instructor may ask you to freewrite about one or more of these questions in your learning journal. 1. Think about a time when a miscommunication occurred in your life. Why do you think it happened? 2. Think about a time when you had to write to a new audience or in a new context. For example, perhaps you had to write an email to an instructor when you were new to university. How did you tackle the task? Is there anything you wish you did differently? 3. Pretend that you woke up this morning and are sick. Write 1-2 sentences to the following audiences: ◦ Your best friend or partner, complaining about being sick. ◦ Your instructor, because you’re supposed to write a midterm today. ◦ Your followers on Facebook or Twitter. Now, reflect on the differences between those messages. Which was the easiest to write? Which was the hardest? Would you post such a message on social media? Why or why not? 28 | Questions For Reflection Brenda Knights Narrative I used to work in a business where I wore suits. I can recall going into my first elder’s meeting wearing a suit, and I probably came across as intimidating, as not one of them, not part of the group. I have learned that even my business attire needs to adapt to my audience’s expectations. If I’m going to meet with government officials, I’ll dress up more. If I’m going to meet with elders and have a meal with them, I don’t go in a suit. I want to open doors and make them feel that I’m one of them, I’m not different from them. My style of dress allows the conversation to take place. If I have to speak on Indigenous issues, I’ll wear my cedar hat or my jewelry. For me, that shares my culture and helps me promote my community. I can tell them where the necklace is from and promote people in my community. So, it’s catering to what the audience is expecting, but it doesn’t have to be tokenistic. I’m not showing up in regalia, for example, since that’s not the place for regalia. You want to meet the audience’s expectations in a sincere and authentic way. I see it as an opportunity to teach that person. An example is that someone will call me for an event and say that they want drummers and singers to come. They want to participate in reconciliation and the first thing they think is: drummers and singers. But, I’ll ask, “What are you actually doing to put reconciliation into action? If drummers and singers come, what actions are going to come out of that? What’s next?” It starts the dialogue that there are other ways we can participate and put that into action. We’ll talk about the event and brainstorm how we can make it a sincere event. For me, that’s through business and partnering and working together to extend it beyond one speaking engagement. We’ve had some discussions about authenticity in our community. We’ve been going through some business planning in our restaurant and thinking about how we represent ourselves as an Indigenous business while still being authentic. We came to the conclusion that it wasn’t necessarily about the pictures on the wall or what’s on the menu, but the overall values you incorporate. If we have a value for sustainability, our menu should reflect that. If we have a value for family, then how we treat our employees should reflect that. It’s how we carry ourselves day in and day out that make us authentic, not because we’re selling salmon or bannock, or that there’s art on the wall. We believe that when it comes to meeting people’s expectations, we have to start with our own values or we’re going to be disappointed. Even in the case of tourism, most of us have travelled to a place where we’ve experienced something that feels inauthentic, like you’re being sold something. So, we start with our values. In business in general, those businesses who are going to last are those who are authentic and have strong values. That should come across in everything you do. Brenda Knights Narrative | 29 Why Use Communication Models? Think back to the last time you had a miscommunication with someone. Maybe a friend misinterpreted the tone of your chat message. Maybe an email you sent wound up in a spam filter and so it wasn’t even seen. Maybe you tried to argue your position but couldn’t think of the right evidence. Every day, you communicate in thousands of ways: some successful, some less so. There are many current models and theories that help us to plan successful communication and explain why some communication decisions work better than others. In the workplace, we might be more concerned about practical knowledge and skills than theory. However, understanding communication models allows you to make better decisions, which allow you to be a more successful communicator. Defining Communication The word communication is derived from a Latin word meaning “to share.” Communication can be defined as “purposefully and actively exchanging information between two or more people to convey or receive the intended meanings through a shared system of signs and (symbols)” (“Communication,” 2015, para. 1). Let us break this definition down with an example. Imagine you are in a coffee shop with a friend, and they are telling you a story about a cricket match they won over the weekend. What images come to mind as you hear their story? Is your friend using words you understand to describe the situation? Are they speaking in long, complicated sentences or short, descriptive sentences? Are they leaning back in their chair and speaking calmly, or can you tell they are excited? Are they using words to describe how the match played out, or did they draw a diagram on a napkin? Did your friend pause and wait for you to to comment throughout their story or just blast right through? Did you have trouble hearing your friend at any point in the story because other people were talking or because the milk steamer in the coffee shop was whistling? All of these questions directly relate to the considerations for communication in this course, including analyzing the audience, choosing a communications medium, using plain language, and using visual aids. Before we examine each of these considerations in more detail, we should explore the elements of the communication process. 30 | Why Use Communication Models? The Communication Process When communication scholars first started studying communication, they saw it as a straightforward process: a sender sends a message to a receiver. The receiver receives it. This model makes the receiver very passive. If this model was true, miscommunications would rarely occur. Today, communication scholars know that what’s happening is more complicated. 1 In 1948, C.E. Shannon proposed a more complicated theory, which I’ve simplified below.. The main point, however, is that a lot of factors influence and interfere with communication. Fig. 3.1: Context of Use and Context of Production Figure 3.1 The Context of Product/ Context of Use Model. [Image Description] According to this model, there are four steps in the communication process. 1) Production: In this model, the person in yellow is the sender. They create a message. But, when they create the message, they don’t do it in isolation. Instead, they encode the message with their own beliefs, attitudes, experiences, feelings, background, environment and much more. This is called the Context of Production, or the context in which the message was created. 2) Circulation: How the message is circulated impacts how the audience receives it. For example, you would react differently if someone broke up with you face-to-face than you would if they broke up with you by text message. The sender circulates the message using the medium that they think will be most effective. 3) Use: The audience (in red) doesn’t just passively receive the message. Instead, they decode the message based on their 1. http://math.harvard.edu/~ctm/home/text/others/shannon/entropy/entropy.pdf The Communication Process | 31 own Context of Use. They draw on their own beliefs, attitudes, experiences, feelings, background, etc. to understand the message. The more these two circles overlap, the more meaning is created. 4) Reproduction: Again, the audience isn’t passive. In the final stage, the audience takes action (or doesn’t) after receiving the message. They may alter it, share it with others, or even ignore it. If the Context of Production circle overlaps with the Context of Use circle, then then the audience understands the message. The more overlap, the more understanding. So, if your friend telling the story about the cricket match is talking quickly, if the coffee shop gets noisy or if you get distracted by an argument going on across the room, then the circles would overlap less. If you don’t understand cricket, you might appreciate your friend’s enthusiasm but not how the match actually went. If you’re listening to everything your friend says and you understand because of your shared experiences just how much the cricket match meant to him, then the circles would overlap a lot. One of the reasons the Context of Use/ Context of Production model is useful is that it helps us think of context as something that changes and that can be individual. The scholar Godwin Agboka says that when we think of 2 intercultural communication, we often think about “large culture” models. This can lead to stereotypical thinking and making too big of a distinction between “us” and “them,” which can actually make it harder to communicate across cultures. For example, a textbook might tell you that people from India behave one way, and people from Japan behave a different way. But not everyone within a culture has the same beliefs and experiences, and many of us go between cultures. For example, an international student from India might behave one way with friends in India, another way when socializing with other international students from India while in Canada, and a third way when interacting with domestic students who have South Asian heritage. To understand this model better, let’s take a look at this vintage ad for ketchup: 2. Agboka, G. (2012). Liberating Intercultural Technical Communication from “Large Culture” Ideologies: Constructing Culture Discursively. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication, 42(2), 159–181. https://doi.org/10.2190/TW.42.2.e 32 | The Communication Process Figure 3.2 How have things changed since this ad was created? Sometimes it’s easiest to see the Context of Production when we look at a context that’s very different from our own. This ad was created in the 1950s, almost 70 years ago. It was created in a very different context. What kind of values, beliefs and assumptions led to the creation of this ad? Who do you think created it? Who was it marketed to? When you look at the ad, think about what’s in it and what’s not in it. Judging by the caption, we can probably make some assumptions about how North American society in the 1950s viewed women. To put this ad in perspective, women in Canada weren’t allowed to own a credit card until the 1970s; the first woman officially ran a marathon in the late 1960s. We can assume that this message was produced at a time when the dominant cultural view was that women are weak. In fact, this ad is actually marketed to women (who did the majority of the grocery shopping), so many women saw themselves this way too. We can also think about what’s not in it. The woman in the ad looks very stereotypically feminine (red fingers and nails, dress, etc.) and we can assume that she’s maybe middle class or upper class by her jewelry. She’s also white; it’s likely that this ad was created by white people with the intended audience of white people. That’s not surprising. Around the time this ad was created, Canada had just allowed people of Japanese, Chinese and South Asian descent to vote and when these groups were depicted in advertisements, they were racist caricatures. (In fact, Indigenous people were not allowed to vote in Canada until 1960). That ad is encoded with a Context of Production that saw women as weak, that valued a particular type of femininity, and that ignored or discriminated against BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Colour), and the ad reflects that. This ad was probably circulated in magazines at the time. Imagine seeing this ad in a magazine. The bright yellow would likely stand out in contrast to the red ketchup bottle, fingernails and lips and catch your attention. Sometimes, ads like this one were accompanied by recipes that used ketchup. People (mostly women) could cut out the recipes and add them to their recipe box. This ad is therefore designed to be circulated in a particular way. The Communication Process | 33 Today, however, the Context of Use is very different. How do you think a modern North American audience would react to this ad? They might be insulted. That’s because they’re decoding the ad in a society where women do Crossfit and lift weights, and would not see themselves as being too weak to open a ketchup bottle. You’re also seeing this ad in a textbook or on a computer screen or mobile phone, which is something that the creators of this ad couldn’t have even dreamed of. Maybe you’re new to Canada and you don’t know much about Canadian politics or history. Still, your individual Context of Use (what people in your family and culture think about women, your own experiences, etc.) will determine how you reacted to the ad. When this ad was created, the creators hoped that it would make people go out and buy ketchup. They obviously weren’t thinking that their ad would be reproduced in this textbook. By including this ad as an example, I’m using it for my own purposes: to teach you about a communication model. You might further reproduce it by remixing it for a project or showing it to a friend. Because the Context of Use is so different from the Context of Production, there’s not a lot of overlap between the two circles. We can read the message, but it probably doesn’t make us want to buy ketchup. In the 1950s, there would have been much more overlap. The benefit of studying this communication model is that it helps us to see how our own worldview influences how we communicate. Often, communicators do a lot of work analyzing their audience, but they forget to think about how their own assumptions and values influence how they communicate. A lack of self-reflection can lead to miscommunication and even cause harm to your audience. This is especially important when you are communicating with people of other cultures. As intercultural communication scholar E.T. Hall said, “Years of study have convinced me that the real job is not to understand other cultures, but to understand our own.” (Hall, 1973) This model helps us understand how our own culture influences how we judge other people. To test your understanding of the model, explore it by clicking on hotspots on the image. An interactive H5P element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://kpu.pressbooks.pub/businesswriting/?p=389#h5p-7 Image Description Figure 3.1 image description: This model describes the context of use and context of production. There are two overlapping circles: one yellow and one red. The first circle represents the speaker’s context of production. The second represents the context of use that the audience decodes the message in. Because there’s overlap, there’s understanding. [Return to Figure 3.1] 34 | The Communication Process Applying the Communication Process Our goal as communicators is to use our understanding of the communication process to make sure that when we send a message, the circle of our Context of Production overlaps as much as possible with the audience’s Context of Use. Another way to look at the communications process is to think of CMAPP, which stands for Context, Message, Audience and Purpose. Figure 3.3 CMAPP Diagram. [Image Description] Sometimes, new communicators will want to start the writing process by deciding what product they want to create. For example, they might want to create an Instagram account to promote the company. If you don’t analyze your context, audience, message and purpose, however, then you could end up choosing the wrong product.To communicate effectively, you should undertake the following steps. 1) Determine the Message’s Purpose In their book The Essentials of Technical Communication, Elizabeth Tebeaux and Sam Dragga note that in the workplace, you “write to create change.” (2014) By this, they mean that every piece of communication done in the workplace has some sort of purpose. You don’t send an email or write a proposal just for fun. You write to change something. Maybe you want to change something small, like having your coworker send you a file, or maybe you want to make a big change, like convincing another company to buy goods or services from you. But every piece of writing in the workplace should exist for a reason. Before you can start communicating, you need to know the purpose of the message. What do you want your audience Applying the Communication Process | 35 to do? Sometimes, the purpose is obvious. If you’re applying for a grant, for example, the purpose is to win the grant and earn the money. Sometimes, however, the purpose is not so clear. Let’s say that you receive an angry email from a customer. Depending on your relationship to the customer and the nature of their complaint, you may respond with the purpose of keeping the customer’s business, you may respond to break bad news in a way that the audience will at least respect, or you may not respond at all. 2) Analyze your Audience The audience any piece of writing is the intended or potential reader or readers. This should be the most important consideration in planning, writing, and reviewing a document. You “adapt” your writing to meet the needs, interests, and background of the readers who will be reading your writing. The principle seems absurdly simple and obvious. It’s much the same as telling someone, “Talk so the person in front of you can understand what you’re saying.” It’s like saying, “Don’t talk rocket science to your six-year-old.” Do we need a course in that? Doesn’t seem like it. But, in fact, lack of audience analysis and adaptation is one of the root causes of most of the problems you find in business documents. Audiences, regardless of category, must also be analyzed in terms of characteristics such as the following: Background—knowledge, experience, training:One of your most important concerns is just how much knowledge, experience, or training you can expect in your readers. Often, business communicators are asked to be clear, but what’s clear to you might not be clear to someone else. For example, imagine that you’re a software developer who’s developing an app for a client. Unfortunately, your code had a number of bugs, which put you behind schedule. If you give a highly technical explanation of why the bugs occurred, you will likely confuse your client. If you simply say “we ran into some bugs,” your client might not be satisfied with the explanation. Your job would be to figure out how much technical knowledge your audience has, then find a way to communicate the problem clearly. Needs and interests:To plan your document, you need to know what your audience is going to expect from that document. Imagine how readers will want to use your document and what will they demand from it. For example, imagine you are writing a manual on how to use a new smart phone—what are your readers going to expect to find in it? Will they expect it to be in print or will they look for the information online? Would they rather watch a series of Youtube videos? Different cultures:If you write for an international audience, be aware that formats for indicating time and dates, monetary amounts, and numerical amounts vary across the globe. Also be aware that humour and figurative language (as in “hit a home run”) are not likely to be understood outside of your own culture. Ideally, your company should employ someone from within that culture to ensure that the message is appropriate, especially if it’s an important message. Other demographic characteristics: There are many other characteristics about your readers that might have an influence on how you should design and write your document—for example, age groups, type of residence, area of residence, gender, political preferences, and so on. Audience analysis can get complicated by other factors, such as mixed audience types for one document and wide variability within the audience. More than one audience.You may often find that your business message is for more than one audience. For example, it may be seen by technical people (experts and technicians) and administrative people (executives). What 36 | Applying the Communication Process to do? You can either write all the sections so that all the audiences of your document can understand them (good luck!), or you can write each section strictly for the audience that would be interested in it, then use headings and section introductions to alert your audience about where to go and what to avoid in your report. Wide variability in an audience.You may realize that, although you have an audience that fits into only one category, there is a wide variability in its background. This is a tough one—if you write to the lowest common denominator of reader, you’re likely to end up with a cumbersome, tedious book-like thing that will turn off the majority of readers. But if you don’t write to that lowest level, you lose that segment of your readers. What to do? Most writers go for the majority of readers and sacrifice that minority that needs more help. Others put the supplemental information in appendices or insert cross-references to beginners’ books. In the workplace, communicators analyze their audience in a number of ways. If your audience is specific (for example, if you’re writing a report to a particular person), you may draw on past experience, ask a colleague, Google the person or even contact them to ask how they would best like the information. If you’re communicating to a large group, you might use analytics, do user testing or run a focus group. Unless your project is important, you may not have time to undertake sophisticated audience analysis. In this case, you should follow the most important maxim of workplace communication: don’t waste people’s time. In general, clear, plain language that is clearly arranged will please most audiences. We’ll talk more about Plain Language in the next chapter. 3) Craft Your Message Let’s say you’ve analyzed your audience until you know them better than you know yourself. What good is it? How do you use this information? How do you keep from writing something that will still be incomprehensible or useless to your readers? The business of writing to your audience takes a lot of practice. The more you work at it, the more you’ll develop an intuition about how most effectively to reach your audience. But there are some controls you can use to have a better chance to connect with your readers. The following “controls” mostly have to do with making information more understandable for your specific audience: Add information readers need to understand your document. Check to see whether certain key information is missing—for example, a critical series of steps from a set of instructions, important background that helps beginners understand the main discussion, or definitions of key terms. Omit information your readers do not need. Unnecessary information can also confuse and frustrate readers—after all, it’s there so they feel obligated to read it. For example, you can probably chop theoretical discussion from basic instructions. Change the level of the information you currently have. You may have the right information but it may be “pitched” at too high or too low a technical level. It may be pitched at the wrong kind of audience—for example, at an expert audience rather than a technician audience. This happens most often when product-design notes are passed off as instructions. Add examples to help readers understand. Examples are one of the most powerful ways to connect with audiences, particularly in instructions. Even in non-instructional text, for example, when you are trying to explain a technical concept, examples are a major help—analogies in particular. Change the level of your examples. You may be using examples, but the technical content or level may not be appropriate to your readers. Change the organization of your information. Sometimes, you can have all the right information but arrange it in Applying the Communication Process | 37 the wrong way. For example, there can be too much background information up front (or too little) such that certain readers get lost. Sometimes, background information needs to be consolidated into the main information—for example, in instructions it’s sometimes better to feed in chunks of background at the points where they are immediately needed. Strengthen transitions. It may be difficult for readers, particularly non-specialists, to see the connections between the main sections of your report, between individual paragraphs, and sometimes even between individual sentences. You can make these connections much clearer by adding transition words and by echoing key words more accurately. Words like “therefore,” “for example,” “however” are transition words—they indicate the logic connecting the previous thought to the upcoming thought. Write stronger introductions—both for the whole document and for major sections. People seem to read with more confidence and understanding when they have the “big picture”—a view of what’s coming, and how it relates to what they’ve just read. Therefore, make sure you have a strong introduction to the entire document—one that makes clear the topic, purpose, audience, and contents of that document. And for each major section within your document, use mini-introductions that indicate at least the topic of the section and give an overview of the subtopics to be covered in that section. Create topic sentences for paragraphs and paragraph groups. It can help readers immensely to give them an idea of the topic and purpose of a section (a group of paragraphs) and in particular to give them an overview of the subtopics about to be covered. Change sentence style and length. How you write—down at the individual sentence level—can make a big difference too. In instructions, for example, using imperative voice and “you” phrasing is vastly more understandable than the passive voice or third-personal phrasing. Passive, person-less writing is harder to read—put people and action in your writing. Similarly, go for active verbs as opposed to be verb phrasing. All of this makes your writing more direct and immediate—readers don’t have to dig for it. Sentence length matters as well. An average of somewhere between 15 and 25 words per sentence is about right; sentences over 30 words are often mistrusted. Work on sentence clarity and economy. This is closely related to the previous “control” but deserves its own spot. Often, writing style can be so wordy that it is hard or frustrating to read. When you revise your rough drafts, put them on a diet—go through a draft line by line trying to reduce the overall word, page or line count by 20 percent. Try it as an experiment and see how you do. You’ll find a lot of fussy, unnecessary detail and inflated phrasing you can chop out. Use more or different graphics. For non-specialist audiences, you may want to use more graphics—and simpler ones at that. Graphics for specialists are more detailed and more technical. Break text up or consolidate text into meaningful, usable chunks. For non-specialist readers, you may need to have shorter paragraphs. Add cross-references to important information. In technical information, you can help non-specialist readers by pointing them to background sources. If you can’t fully explain a topic on the spot, point to a section or chapter where it is. Use headings and lists. Readers can be intimidated by big dense paragraphs of writing, uncut by anything other than a blank line now and then. Search your rough drafts for ways to incorporate headings—look for changes in topic or subtopic. Search your writing for listings of things—these can be made into vertical lists. Look for paired listings such as terms and their definitions—these can be made into two-column lists. Of course, be careful not to force this special formatting—don’t overdo it. Use special typography, and work with margins, line length, line spacing, type size, and type style. You can do things like making the lines shorter (bringing in the margins), using larger type sizes, and other such tactics. Certain type styles are believed to be friendlier and more readable than others. 38 | Applying the Communication Process 4) Choose Your Medium/Product Analyzing your purpose, audience and message will lead you to your medium, which is how the message is communicated. Should your message be a letter? A memo? An email? A text? A GIF? For example, we have discussed a simple and traditional channel of written communication: the hard-copy letter mailed in a standard business envelope and sent by postal mail. But in today’s business environment, this channel is becoming increasingly rare as electronic channels become more widely available and accepted. When is it appropriate to send an instant message or text message versus a conventional e-mail? What is the difference between a letter and a memo? Between a report and a proposal? Writing itself is the communication medium, but each of these specific channels has its own strengths, weaknesses, and understood expectations that are summarized in Table 2.5.1. Table 2.5 Written communication channels. Applying the Communication Process | 39 Channel Strengths Weaknesses Expectations When to choose Informal use among peers at similar levels within an Informal Instant Very fast organization Not suitable for large message Good for rapid exchanges You need a fast, inexpensive amounts of information Quick response or text of small amounts of connection with a colleague Abbreviations lead to message informationInexpensive over a small issue and misunderstandings limited amount of information Channel Strengths Weaknesses Expectations When to choose Fast May be overlooked or Good for relatively fast deleted without being read. exchanges of You need to communicate information“Subject” line Large attachments may Normally a response is but time is not the most allows compilation of cause the e-mail to be expected within 24 hours, important consideration Email many messages on one caught in recipient’s spam although norms vary by subject or project filter (though this can be situation and organizational You need to send remedied by using Dropbox) culture attachments (provided their Easy to distribute to file size is not too big) multiple recipients Tone may be lost, causing miscommunications. Inexpensive Channel Strengths Weaknesses Expectations When to choose

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