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

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2. How much time should a student spend in each writing stage?
Main parts of instructions
Stress Brevity - uses abbreviations - Convey ideas completely - minimal need for response - Telephone message - but in writing.
Cut out nonessentials - Minimize references to Previous Communications
One-third

3. What is important in the Revising stage?
Purpose - Format - Composition
Internal Letters. Sometimes classified as Reports
Get Feedback From Others!
Euphemismss

4. Purpose - problem - plan/solution - conclusion
Information the reader will want - put it first.
Rules for writing instructions
Main parts of internal proposals
Emphasis

5. The attitude a writer expresses toward the subject and his or her readers. May range depending on purpose etc.
Proper Conversation - Personal Pronouns/Contractions - Sentences are Short - Organized - Well Structured;
Tone
Cautiously i.e. BTW: by the way
Euphemismss

6. 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.
Abstract words
Information needed for short report
Recursive
Garbled Sentences

7. How do you present information in long messages?
Main parts of instructions
Use Direct Pattern if positive - Use Indirect Pattern if neutral or negative; State Objective - ALWAYS Consider Audience and Purpose
Gathering and Collecting Information - Analyzing and Organizing Information - Choosing the Form - Channel - and Format of the Message
Information needed for short report

8. Tell and show how to do something
Connotation
Strive for Concreteness - Vigor - Precision - Short sentences and paragraphs
Your audience is the best guide for What and How
Instructions

9. Why Avoid Perfectionism in Drafting?
Telegraphic Style
Helps include all important information; Makes you more willing to revise
Outlining
Sentence Length

10. When should email NOT be used?
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
Characteristics do employers like to see in a resume
Date - To - From - Subject Headings
Biased Language

11. How to end an email
Your Name - Closing Statement such as Thanks - Regards in more formal messages
Visualize Readers - Keep their interests in mind - List Pertinent Facts - Brainstorming - Diagrams
Attractive and Readable Format
Climatic Order

12. Use to call attention to a particular word or statement --
Long Dashes
Information the reader will want - put it first.
Slang; Colloquialisms - Contractions - Short Sentences - for close friends only
Characteristics of job-related writing

13. How is formatting important?
Telegraphic Style
Buzz Words
Four keys to effective writing
It is integral in how your audience will receive and accept the information.

14. 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
Direct Statements
Buzz Words
Recursive
Attractive and Readable Format

15. What is current emphasis on for a Letter?
Organizational - Professional - Personal
Procedures
Concrete Words
Strategy and Humanness

16. A group of words that has a special meaning apart from its literal meaning. Someone who 'runs for office'
Get Feedback From Others!
It is integral in how your audience will receive and accept the information.
Repetition
Idioms

17. How do you present information in message?
Emphasis
Casual - Informal - or Formal
Rules for writing instructions
Most Important Information First - and then Descending Order

18. To emphasize the performer of an action: make the performer the subject of the verb
Your Name - Closing Statement such as Thanks - Regards in more formal messages
Main parts of a set of instructions
Preparation - Research - Organization - Writing - Revision
Active Voice

19. An organized presentation of relevant data on any topic that a company or agency tracks in its day-to-day operations
Recursive
Short report
Characteristics of job-related writing
Concrete Words

20. How do you begin the message?

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21. 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
Figures of Speech
Concrete Words
Emphasis

22. What are Pros of Email?
Things to think through when planning a website
Proper Conversation - Personal Pronouns/Contractions - Sentences are Short - Organized - Well Structured;
Revision - Editing - Proofreading
Eliminates phone tag - saves time - facilitates fast decisions - cheap - provides written record

23. Conciseness
Procedures
Cut out nonessentials - Minimize references to Previous Communications
Things to think through when planning a website
Affectation

24. Avoid language that attempts to evade responsibility - Avoid deceptive language - Do not deemphasize or suppress important information - Do not emphasize misleading or incorrect information - Avoid using language that is biased - racist - or sexist o
Use Direct Pattern if positive - Use Indirect Pattern if neutral or negative; State Objective - ALWAYS Consider Audience and Purpose
Key draft questions
Ethics in Business Writing
It is integral in how your audience will receive and accept the information.

25. Clairty
Climatic Order
Buzz Words
Gathering and Collecting Information - Analyzing and Organizing Information - Choosing the Form - Channel - and Format of the Message
Strive for Concreteness - Vigor - Precision - Short sentences and paragraphs

26. Used to show - by the structure of a sentence - the appropriate relationship between ideas of unequal importance.
Subordination
Strategy and Humanness
Sentence Type
Buzz Words

27. Words and expressions that offend because they make inappropriate assumptions or stereotypes about gender - ethnicity - physical or mental disability - age or sexual orientation.
Biased Language
Main parts of a set of instructions
Preparation - Research - Organization - Writing - Revision
Visualize Readers - Keep their interests in mind - List Pertinent Facts - Brainstorming - Diagrams

28. General considerations with Email Messages
Rules for writing instructions
Conciseness - Clarity - Etiquette - Correctness
Buzz Words
Climatic Order

29. How do you Plan the message?
Stress Brevity - uses abbreviations - Convey ideas completely - minimal need for response - Telephone message - but in writing.
Define the Problem - Consider the Audience and their Individual Contexts - Consider your own Contexts - Best Way to Achieve message;
Organizational - Professional - Personal
Outlining

30. Correctness
Represent writer and topic formally to recipient. Correspondence with People Outside the your organization.
Attractive and Readable Format
Write Correctly so others will not think you are stupid or lack credibility
Recipient's Name and Introduce Yourself

31. What is Indirect Order?
Be Flexible - Avoid Perfectionism - Keep Going - Keep making progress
Examples of medium s of business communication
Short report
Put it Last - using the opening to prepare the audience

32. Letters - memos - email - instant messages - telephone calls - Faxes - Face-to-face meetings - video conferences - web sites
Tone
Internal Letters. Sometimes classified as Reports
Examples of medium s of business communication
Revision of content - Organization - Formatting

33. What are Individual Contexts
Define the Problem - Consider the Audience and their Individual Contexts - Consider your own Contexts - Best Way to Achieve message;
Intensifiers
Sentence Variety
Organizational - Professional - Personal

34. What are the activities in the planning stage?
Put it Last - using the opening to prepare the audience
Gathering and Collecting Information - Analyzing and Organizing Information - Choosing the Form - Channel - and Format of the Message
Internal Letters. Sometimes classified as Reports
Recursive

35. 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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36. Where you put the idea - The first & last words of a sentence - paragraph - doc - stand out in readers' minds.
Not Confidential - Doesn't Communicate Emotions - Tone of Voice - or Unspoken Communications - Can be Ignored or Delayed
Position
Strive for Concreteness - Vigor - Precision - Short sentences and paragraphs
Attractive and Readable Format

37. Are these stages recursive or linear?
NO offensive or abusive emails should be sent - and no upper case - as that is considered SCREAMING
Mechanical Devices
Recursive
Stress Brevity - uses abbreviations - Convey ideas completely - minimal need for response - Telephone message - but in writing.

38. What are three levels of Editing?
Write Correctly so others will not think you are stupid or lack credibility
Goal of a letter of application
Eliminates phone tag - saves time - facilitates fast decisions - cheap - provides written record
Revision - Editing - Proofreading

39. What techniques can be used for gathering information?
Recipient's Name and Introduce Yourself
Purpose - Format - Composition
Visualize Readers - Keep their interests in mind - List Pertinent Facts - Brainstorming - Diagrams
Characteristics of job-related writing

40. An imaginative expression that often compares two things that are basically not alike but have at least one thing in common.
Idioms
Subordination
Preparation - Research - Organization - Writing - Revision
Figures of Speech

41. When to use Instant Messaging?
Conciseness
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
Stress Brevity - uses abbreviations - Convey ideas completely - minimal need for response - Telephone message - but in writing.
Connotation

42. Honesty - attractive - carefully organized - concise accurate - current information - relevance
Get Feedback From Others!
Characteristics do employers like to see in a resume
Conciseness - Clarity - Etiquette - Correctness
Three P's for success in writing a memo

43. Steps to Successful Writing
Cliches
Preparation - Research - Organization - Writing - Revision
Characteristics of job-related writing
Sentence Variety

44. Etiquette
Strategy and Humanness
Most Important Information First - and then Descending Order
NO offensive or abusive emails should be sent - and no upper case - as that is considered SCREAMING
Key draft questions

45. Using short and long sentences strategically
Proper Conversation - Personal Pronouns/Contractions - Sentences are Short - Organized - Well Structured;
Cliches
Sentence Length
It is integral in how your audience will receive and accept the information.

46. Repeating keywords and key phrases
Biased Language
Repetition
Organizational - Professional - Personal
Sentence Length

47. 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.
Characteristics do employers like to see in a resume
Outlining
Procedures
Intensifiers

48. What are three levels of Revision?
Biased Language
What do you want to say - Say It - Say it Better
Revision of content - Organization - Formatting
Business Writing Style

49. Provide practical info - give facts - not impressions - provide visuals to clarify - give accurate measurements - stating responsibility precisely - persuading and offering recommendations
Proper Conversation - Personal Pronouns/Contractions - Sentences are Short - Organized - Well Structured;
Characteristics of job-related writing
Internal Letters. Sometimes classified as Reports
Conciseness

50. Stages can also be summarized as...
Write Correctly so others will not think you are stupid or lack credibility
What do you want to say - Say It - Say it Better
Ethics in Business Writing
Preparation - Research - Organization - Writing - Revision