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The Business Writing Process

Subjects : writing-skills, business-skills

Instructions:

Answer 50 questions in 15 minutes.
If you are not ready to take this test, you can study here.
Match each statement with the correct term.
Don't refresh. All questions and answers are randomly picked and ordered every time you load a test.

This is a study tool. The 3 wrong answers for each question are randomly chosen from answers to other questions. So, you might find at times the answers obvious, but you will see it re-enforces your understanding as you take the test each time.

1. What is the best advice for Drafting?
Position
Be Flexible - Avoid Perfectionism - Keep Going - Keep making progress
Main parts of internal proposals
Characteristics of job-related writing

2. Casual
Strategy and Humanness
Eliminates phone tag - saves time - facilitates fast decisions - cheap - provides written record
Slang; Colloquialisms - Contractions - Short Sentences - for close friends only
Past Correspondence - Employees - Records - Warranties - Product Descriptions - Survey - Interviews

3. General considerations with Email Messages
Keep Distance between Writer and Reader - Avoid Personal References/Contractions - Longer Sentences - for people of Higher Status
Conciseness - Clarity - Etiquette - Correctness
Abstract words
Instructions

4. Conciseness
Organizational - Professional - Personal
Purpose - Format - Composition
Cut out nonessentials - Minimize references to Previous Communications
One-third

5. What are three levels of Revision?
Rules for writing instructions
Subordination
Characteristics of job-related writing
Revision of content - Organization - Formatting

6. Provide practical information - give facts not impressions - provide visuals to clarify and condense information - give accurate measurements - state responsibilities precisely - persuade and offer recommendations -
Characteristics of job-related writing
Rules for writing instructions
Past Correspondence - Employees - Records - Warranties - Product Descriptions - Survey - Interviews
One-third

7. Used to show - by the structure of a sentence - the appropriate relationship between ideas of unequal importance.
Three P's for success in writing a memo
Cut out nonessentials - Minimize references to Previous Communications
Subordination
Main parts of internal proposals

8. A sentence that is so tangled with structural and grammatical problems that it cannot be repaired - often result from trying to include too many ideas in one sentence.
Sentence Type
Direct Statements
Subordination
Garbled Sentences

9. When should email NOT be used?
Telegraphic Style
Long - Complicated - Requires Negotiation - Questions/Info need clarification/discussion - Info Confidential/Sensitive - Requires Security - Could be Misinterpreted - Emotionally Charged - Requires Tone of Voice - Sent to Avoid - Contains Sensitive I
Casual - Informal - or Formal
Define the Problem - Consider the Audience and their Individual Contexts - Consider your own Contexts - Best Way to Achieve message;

10. What are the activities in the planning stage?
Four keys to effective writing
Gathering and Collecting Information - Analyzing and Organizing Information - Choosing the Form - Channel - and Format of the Message
Keep Distance between Writer and Reader - Avoid Personal References/Contractions - Longer Sentences - for people of Higher Status
Sentence Length

11. What are Individual Contexts
Organizational - Professional - Personal
Active Voice
Conciseness
Casual - Informal - or Formal

12. What is a Memorandum?
Your audience is the best guide for What and How
Internal Letters. Sometimes classified as Reports
Garbled Sentences
Helps include all important information; Makes you more willing to revise

13. The skeleton of the document you are going to write--structures your writing by ensuring that it has a beginning - middle - and end.Types: topic outlines - sentence outlines etc.
Outlining
similar
Abstract words
Conciseness

14. What is important in the Revising stage?
Repetition
Get Feedback From Others!
Sentence Variety
Internal Letters. Sometimes classified as Reports

15. Correctness
Use Direct Pattern if positive - Use Indirect Pattern if neutral or negative; State Objective - ALWAYS Consider Audience and Purpose
Revision of content - Organization - Formatting
Position
Write Correctly so others will not think you are stupid or lack credibility

16. Audience's preferences - personal work style - how widely info needs to be distributed etc.
Things to think through when planning a website
Selecting the proper medium
similar
Affectation

17. Put instructions is correct order - right amount of information only - group closely related items into 1 step - give reader hints on how to best accomplish task - state when 1 step affects another - insert graphics where needed
Long - Complicated - Requires Negotiation - Questions/Info need clarification/discussion - Info Confidential/Sensitive - Requires Security - Could be Misinterpreted - Emotionally Charged - Requires Tone of Voice - Sent to Avoid - Contains Sensitive I
NO offensive or abusive emails should be sent - and no upper case - as that is considered SCREAMING
Rules for writing instructions
Your Name - Closing Statement such as Thanks - Regards in more formal messages

18. Are these stages recursive or linear?
Recursive
Your audience is the best guide for What and How
similar
Revision of content - Organization - Formatting

19. Clairty
Figures of Speech
It is integral in how your audience will receive and accept the information.
Information the reader will want - put it first.
Strive for Concreteness - Vigor - Precision - Short sentences and paragraphs

20. Using words like 'most - much - very' with caution - wthout overdoing it.
Intensifiers
Date - To - From - Subject Headings
Strategy and Humanness
Purpose - Format - Composition

21. What types of research is done in gathering information?
Eliminates phone tag - saves time - facilitates fast decisions - cheap - provides written record
Organizational - Professional - Personal
Main parts of internal proposals
Past Correspondence - Employees - Records - Warranties - Product Descriptions - Survey - Interviews

22. Formality Considerations
Figures of Speech
Mechanical Devices
One-third
Casual - Informal - or Formal

23. Repeating keywords and key phrases
Repetition
Be Flexible - Avoid Perfectionism - Keep Going - Keep making progress
What do you want to say - Say It - Say it Better
Main parts of a set of instructions

24. The principle of of stressing the most important ieas in writing. You can achieve this with the careful use of: Position - Climatic Order - Sentence Type - Sentence Length - Sentence Length - Active Voice - Repetition - Intensifiers - Direct Stateme
Subordination
Emphasis
Not Confidential - Doesn't Communicate Emotions - Tone of Voice - or Unspoken Communications - Can be Ignored or Delayed
Long - Complicated - Requires Negotiation - Questions/Info need clarification/discussion - Info Confidential/Sensitive - Requires Security - Could be Misinterpreted - Emotionally Charged - Requires Tone of Voice - Sent to Avoid - Contains Sensitive I

25. Varying sentences by using a compound sentence - a complex sentence - or a simple sentence
Ethics in Business Writing
Active Voice
Subordination
Sentence Type

26. Techniques for writing memos and emails are...
similar
Outlining
Cut out nonessentials - Minimize references to Previous Communications
Sentence Type

27. Words or phrases that suddenly become popular and - because of an intense period of overuse - lose their freshness and precisness - E.g. interface (as a verb) - impact (as a verb) - skill sets - deliverables - slam dunk - bleeding edge - cash cow - 2
Buzz Words
Your audience is the best guide for What and How
Put it Last - using the opening to prepare the audience
Past Correspondence - Employees - Records - Warranties - Product Descriptions - Survey - Interviews

28. E.g. 'most important'
Telegraphic Style
Direct Statements
Subordination
Cut out nonessentials - Minimize references to Previous Communications

29. Expressions that have been used fro so long that they are no longer fresh but come to mind easily bc they are so familiar. Often wordy as well as vague and cab be confusing - especially to non-native English speakers - E.g. all over the map - run it
Conciseness - Clarity - Etiquette - Correctness
Cliches
Connotation
Short report

30. Goal and audience
Things to think through when planning a website
Internal Letters. Sometimes classified as Reports
Buzz Words
'You Viewpoint'

31. How do you begin the message?

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32. What are Cons of Email?

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33. An imaginative expression that often compares two things that are basically not alike but have at least one thing in common.
Mechanical Devices
Figures of Speech
Climatic Order
Eliminates phone tag - saves time - facilitates fast decisions - cheap - provides written record

34. Stages can also be summarized as...
Coherent writing
Active Voice
What do you want to say - Say It - Say it Better
Direct Statements

35. What is Indirect Order?
Put it Last - using the opening to prepare the audience
Sentence Variety
Three P's for success in writing a memo
Business Writing Style

36. Modifiers that repeat an idea implicit or present in the word being modified contribute to wordiness by being redundant (basic essentials - final outcome) - Coordinated synonyms (each and every - first and foremost.) - Expletives - relative pronouns
Wordiness
Sentence Type
Denotaion
Your Name - Closing Statement such as Thanks - Regards in more formal messages

37. The use of language that is more formal - technical - or showy than necessary to communicate information to the reader.
Put it Last - using the opening to prepare the audience
Write Correctly so others will not think you are stupid or lack credibility
Organizational - Professional - Personal
Affectation

38. Honesty - attractive - carefully organized - concise accurate - current information - relevance
Concrete Words
Characteristics do employers like to see in a resume
Three P's for success in writing a memo
Strategy and Humanness

39. Tell and show how to do something
Garbled Sentences
Goal of a letter of application
Things to think through when planning a website
Instructions

40. Identifying your audience - Establishing your purpose - Formulating your message - and Selecting your style (how something is written rather than what is written) and tone (expresses your attitude toward your topic and audience)
Slang; Colloquialisms - Contractions - Short Sentences - for close friends only
Repetition
Position
Four keys to effective writing

41. Means that extraneous words - phrases - clauses - and sentences have been removed from writing without sacrificing clarity or appropriate detail.
Put it Last - using the opening to prepare the audience
Active Voice
Emphasis
Conciseness

42. Places the reader's interest and perspective foremost. It is based on the principle that most readers are naturally more concerned about their own needs than they are about those of a writer or a writer's organization - often means using the words y

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43. General ideas - qualities - conditions - acts or relationships-intangible things that cannot be detected by the five senses
Guidelines for effective business e-mail messages
Ethics in Business Writing
Abstract words
Sentence Length

44. How do you Plan the message?
Repetition
Purpose - Format - Composition
Slang; Colloquialisms - Contractions - Short Sentences - for close friends only
Define the Problem - Consider the Audience and their Individual Contexts - Consider your own Contexts - Best Way to Achieve message;

45. Plan what you are going to say - polish what you wrote before you sent it - proofread everything

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46. What should you know about a Letter?
Purpose - Format - Composition
Characteristics of job-related writing
Cut out nonessentials - Minimize references to Previous Communications
Long Dashes

47. Condenses writing by omitting articles - pronouns - conjunctions - and transitions - e.g. ' Per 5/21 email 12 copies of instruction needed asap'
It is integral in how your audience will receive and accept the information.
Write Correctly so others will not think you are stupid or lack credibility
Telegraphic Style
Emphasis

48. What is format of most Memos?
Conciseness
Be Flexible - Avoid Perfectionism - Keep Going - Keep making progress
Telegraphic Style
Date - To - From - Subject Headings

49. Why Avoid Perfectionism in Drafting?
Helps include all important information; Makes you more willing to revise
Revision of content - Organization - Formatting
Biased Language
Gathering and Collecting Information - Analyzing and Organizing Information - Choosing the Form - Channel - and Format of the Message

50. Listing the ideas or facts within a sentence in sequence from least to most important
Ethics in Business Writing
Climatic Order
Guidelines for successful group writing
Active Voice