Bài giảng Business Communication - Chapter Six: Improving Readability with Style and Design

Chapter SixImproving Readabilitywith Style and DesignMcGraw-Hill/IrwinCopyright © 2014 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.Learning ObjectivesLO6.1 Describe and apply the following principles of writing style that improve ease of reading: completeness, conciseness, and natural processingLO6.2 Explain and use navigational design to improve ease of reading.LO6.3 Describe and apply the components of the reviewing stage, including a FAIR test, proofreading, and feedback.Improving Ease of Reading with CompletenessYou can achieve completeness with three basic strategies: providing all relevant information;being accuratebeing specificProvide All Relevant InformationThe key to providing all but only relevant information is to plan, write, and review your message strategically Repeatedly asking yourself what information is necessary for the purpose of your message will help you accomplish this.Be AccurateAccuracy, like specificity, strongly impacts your readers’ perceptions of your credibility Just one inaccurate statement can lead readers to dismiss your entire message and lower their trust in your future communications as well.Be SpecificThe more specific you are, the more likely your readers are to have their questions answered If you are not specific, your readers may become impatient and begin scanning and skimming for the information they wantImproving Ease of Reading with ConcisenessConciseness implies omitting needless words so that readers can rapidly process your main ideasComprehension Rate andSentence LengthFigure 6.2Avoid Wordy Prepositional PhrasesEliminating extra words allows you to get your ideas across as efficiently as possible.You will often find that you can reduce word count by 30 to 40 percent simply by converting many of your prepositional phrases into single-word verbs.Use Action Verbs When PossibleFirst, find nouns that you can convert to action verbsSecond, find forms of the verb to be (e.g., be verbs such as is, are, am) and convert them into action verbsUse Active VoiceUse Active VoiceThe doer-action-object allows for faster processing because most people’s natural thinking occurs in this wayIt also emphasizes the business orientation of action Most important, it specifies the doerUse Short and Familiar Words and PhrasesWhenever possible, choose short, conversational, and familiar wordsUsing longer, less common ones slows processing and can distract from your message.Use Parallel LanguageUsing parallel language means that you apply a consistent grammatical pattern across a sentence or paragraph.Parallelism is most important when you use series or lists.Using Highlight Key Words and PhrasesWhen you want to highlight ideas or phrases, consider using bold, italics, or underlining to draw and keep your readers’ attentionIf you use too much special formatting, your main ideas will not stand out