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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 are Individual Contexts
Four keys to effective writing
Represent writer and topic formally to recipient. Correspondence with People Outside the your organization.
Recursive
Organizational - Professional - Personal

2. Provide practical info - give facts - not impressions - provide visuals to clarify - give accurate measurements - stating responsibility precisely - persuading and offering recommendations
Characteristics of job-related writing
Proper Conversation - Personal Pronouns/Contractions - Sentences are Short - Organized - Well Structured;
It is integral in how your audience will receive and accept the information.
Position

3. Using words like 'most - much - very' with caution - wthout overdoing it.
Intensifiers
Short report
Conciseness
Affectation

4. Varying sentences by using a compound sentence - a complex sentence - or a simple sentence
Ethics in Business Writing
Sentence Type
Active Voice
Purpose - Format - Composition

5. What is Indirect Order?
Tone
Direct Statements
Put it Last - using the opening to prepare the audience
Mechanical Devices

6. How is formatting important?
Attractive and Readable Format
It is integral in how your audience will receive and accept the information.
Strategy and Humanness
Your audience is the best guide for What and How

7. What is Direct Order?
Casual - Informal - or Formal
Information the reader will want - put it first.
Proper Conversation - Personal Pronouns/Contractions - Sentences are Short - Organized - Well Structured;
Euphemismss

8. An imaginative expression that often compares two things that are basically not alike but have at least one thing in common.
Things to think through when planning a website
Ethics in Business Writing
Revision of content - Organization - Formatting
Figures of Speech

9. 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
similar
Characteristics of job-related writing
Define the Problem - Consider the Audience and their Individual Contexts - Consider your own Contexts - Best Way to Achieve message;
Cliches

10. Am I giving the reader too much or too little info? - does this point belong here? - is this point relevant? - am I repeating or contradicting myself? - have I ended appropriately?
Key draft questions
Characteristics of job-related writing
Procedures
Main parts of internal proposals

11. Condenses writing by omitting articles - pronouns - conjunctions - and transitions - e.g. ' Per 5/21 email 12 copies of instruction needed asap'
Telegraphic Style
Coherent writing
Cut out nonessentials - Minimize references to Previous Communications
Main parts of a set of instructions

12. General considerations with Email Messages
Wordiness
similar
Main parts of instructions
Conciseness - Clarity - Etiquette - Correctness

13. How do you know what to include in your message?
Strategy and Humanness
Proper Conversation - Personal Pronouns/Contractions - Sentences are Short - Organized - Well Structured;
Your audience is the best guide for What and How
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

14. Understand and agree on the important goals - organization - and deadlines for the report - Establish group rules early on and stick to them - Put the good of the group ahead of individual egos - Agree on the group's organization - Identify each mem
Connotation
Direct Statements
Guidelines for successful group writing
Strive for Concreteness - Vigor - Precision - Short sentences and paragraphs

15. 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
Emphasis
Figures of Speech
Slang; Colloquialisms - Contractions - Short Sentences - for close friends only
Use Direct Pattern if positive - Use Indirect Pattern if neutral or negative; State Objective - ALWAYS Consider Audience and Purpose

16. What are Pros of Email?
Eliminates phone tag - saves time - facilitates fast decisions - cheap - provides written record
Guidelines for successful group writing
Three P's for success in writing a memo
Climatic Order

17. What are the activities in the planning stage?
Coherent writing
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
What do you want to say - Say It - Say it Better

18. Casual
Slang; Colloquialisms - Contractions - Short Sentences - for close friends only
Conciseness
Subordination
Represent writer and topic formally to recipient. Correspondence with People Outside the your organization.

19. What are Cons of Email?

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20. Goal and audience
Things to think through when planning a website
Concrete Words
Connotation
Helps include all important information; Makes you more willing to revise

21. Introduction - list of materials - actual steps - warnings - cautions - and notes - conclusion when necessary
Main parts of instructions
Cautiously i.e. BTW: by the way
Figures of Speech
Purpose - Format - Composition

22. General ideas - qualities - conditions - acts or relationships-intangible things that cannot be detected by the five senses
Denotaion
Intensifiers
Abstract words
Define the Problem - Consider the Audience and their Individual Contexts - Consider your own Contexts - Best Way to Achieve message;

23. How do you present information in long messages?
Repetition
Strive for Concreteness - Vigor - Precision - Short sentences and paragraphs
Use Direct Pattern if positive - Use Indirect Pattern if neutral or negative; State Objective - ALWAYS Consider Audience and Purpose
Biased Language

24. Etiquette
Subordination
Define the Problem - Consider the Audience and their Individual Contexts - Consider your own Contexts - Best Way to Achieve message;
NO offensive or abusive emails should be sent - and no upper case - as that is considered SCREAMING
Main parts of internal proposals

25. Informal
Put it Last - using the opening to prepare the audience
Things to think through when planning a website
Get Feedback From Others!
Proper Conversation - Personal Pronouns/Contractions - Sentences are Short - Organized - Well Structured;

26. What is the best advice for Drafting?
Figures of Speech
Preparation - Research - Organization - Writing - Revision
Be Flexible - Avoid Perfectionism - Keep Going - Keep making progress
Proper Conversation - Personal Pronouns/Contractions - Sentences are Short - Organized - Well Structured;

27. To emphasize the performer of an action: make the performer the subject of the verb
Main parts of internal proposals
Sentence Type
Active Voice
Casual - Informal - or Formal

28. Words and expressions that offend because they make inappropriate assumptions or stereotypes about gender - ethnicity - physical or mental disability - age or sexual orientation.
Not Confidential - Doesn't Communicate Emotions - Tone of Voice - or Unspoken Communications - Can be Ignored or Delayed
Connotation
Information the reader will want - put it first.
Biased Language

29. Used to show - by the structure of a sentence - the appropriate relationship between ideas of unequal importance.
Subordination
Main parts of a set of instructions
Direct Statements
Most Important Information First - and then Descending Order

30. How much time should a student spend in each writing stage?
Subordination
Wordiness
Ethics in Business Writing
One-third

31. The ___________ of a word are its meanings and associations beyond its literal definitions - words often have particular connotations for audiences within professional groups and organizations
Connotation
Represent writer and topic formally to recipient. Correspondence with People Outside the your organization.
It is integral in how your audience will receive and accept the information.
Information the reader will want - put it first.

32. The relationships among ideas are clear to readers. A logical sequence of related ideas and clear transitions between these ideas.
Helps include all important information; Makes you more willing to revise
Examples of medium s of business communication
Recipient's Name and Introduce Yourself
Coherent writing

33. Means that extraneous words - phrases - clauses - and sentences have been removed from writing without sacrificing clarity or appropriate detail.
Conciseness
Active Voice
Helps include all important information; Makes you more willing to revise
It is integral in how your audience will receive and accept the information.

34. Use Initialisms
Cautiously i.e. BTW: by the way
Tone
Key draft questions
Conciseness

35. How to end an email
Purpose - Format - Composition
Date - To - From - Subject Headings
Goal of a letter of application
Your Name - Closing Statement such as Thanks - Regards in more formal messages

36. What types of research is done in gathering information?
Climatic Order
Past Correspondence - Employees - Records - Warranties - Product Descriptions - Survey - Interviews
Organizational - Professional - Personal
Main parts of instructions

37. 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
Guidelines for successful group writing
Ethics in Business Writing
Cautiously i.e. BTW: by the way
Guidelines for effective business e-mail messages

38. Letters - memos - email - instant messages - telephone calls - Faxes - Face-to-face meetings - video conferences - web sites
Examples of medium s of business communication
Abstract words
Eliminates phone tag - saves time - facilitates fast decisions - cheap - provides written record
Attractive and Readable Format

39. 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
Define the Problem - Consider the Audience and their Individual Contexts - Consider your own Contexts - Best Way to Achieve message;
Affectation
Helps include all important information; Makes you more willing to revise
Buzz Words

40. How do you begin the message?

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41. Clairty
Organizational - Professional - Personal
Date - To - From - Subject Headings
Revision - Editing - Proofreading
Strive for Concreteness - Vigor - Precision - Short sentences and paragraphs

42. When to use Instant Messaging?
Active Voice
Stress Brevity - uses abbreviations - Convey ideas completely - minimal need for response - Telephone message - but in writing.
Telegraphic Style
Main parts of internal proposals

43. Provide practical information - give facts not impressions - provide visuals to clarify and condense information - give accurate measurements - state responsibilities precisely - persuade and offer recommendations -
Telegraphic Style
Characteristics of job-related writing
Represent writer and topic formally to recipient. Correspondence with People Outside the your organization.
'You Viewpoint'

44. Tell and show how to do something
Main parts of internal proposals
Strive for Concreteness - Vigor - Precision - Short sentences and paragraphs
Repetition
Instructions

45. 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.
Garbled Sentences
Procedures
Telegraphic Style
Key draft questions

46. Are these stages recursive or linear?
Euphemismss
Denotaion
Preparation - Research - Organization - Writing - Revision
Recursive

47. Iitalics - bold type - underlining etc.
Recipient's Name and Introduce Yourself
Mechanical Devices
Key draft questions
Three P's for success in writing a memo

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

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49. How do you present information in message?
Preparation - Research - Organization - Writing - Revision
Most Important Information First - and then Descending Order
Casual - Informal - or Formal
Wordiness

50. The ____________ of a word are its literal meanings - as defined in a dictionary.
Denotaion
Cautiously i.e. BTW: by the way
Climatic Order
Revision of content - Organization - Formatting