1、writing techniques for cover letters, adverts, brochures, sales literature, reportswebsite searchSearchWriting letters, reports, notes and other communications are important skills for business and personal life. Good letters help to get results, where poor letters fail. People judge others on the q
2、uality of their writing, so its helpful to write well. Here are some simple tips for writing letters and communications of all sorts.Generally, whatever you are writing, get to the main point, quickly and simply. Avoid lengthy preambles. Dont spend ages setting the scene or explaining the background
3、, etc. If you are selling, promoting, proposing something you must identify the main issue (if selling, the strongest unique perceived benefit) and make that the sole focus. Introducing other points distracts and confuses the reader.Use language that your reader uses. If you want clues as to what th
4、is might be imagine the newspaper they read, and limit your vocabulary to that found in the newspaper. Using the readers language ideally extends to spelling for US-English or UK-English. Its difficult on this webpage, or other communications designed for mixed audiences, but when possible in your o
5、wn work acknowledge that US and UK English are slightly different. Notably words which end in IZE in US English can quite properly be spelled ISE in English, for example: organise/organize, specialise/specialize, etc. Similarly many words ending in OUR in UK English are spelled OR in US English, for
6、 example favour/favor, humour/humor, colour/color, etc.Avoid obvious grammatical errors, especially inserting single apostrophes where incorrect, which irritates many people and which is seen by some to indicate a poor education.Probably the best rule for safe use of apostrophes is to restrict their
7、 use simply to possessive (e.g., girls book, groups aims) and missing letters in words (e.g., Im, youre, weve). The following three paragraphs attempt to explain some of the more complex rules for apostrophes, and Im grateful to David Looker for helping me to bring better clarity to this confusing s
8、ituation. Language is not a precise science and certain aspects, notably rules governing the use of apostrophes, are open to interpretation.By way of introduction to apostrophes, here are some examples of common mistakes: the team played its part (should be: the team played its part - its, although
9、possessive, is like his, my, hers, theirs, etc., and does not use the possessive apostrophe) its been a long day (should be: its been a long day - its is an abbreviation of it has) your correct (should be: youre correct - youre is an abbreviation of you are) one months notice (should be: one months
10、notice - the notice is governed by the month, hence the possessive apostrophe) the groups task (should be: the groups task - group is a collective noun and treated as singular not plural) the womens decisions (should be the womens decisions - same as above - women is treated as singular, irrespectiv
11、e of the plural decisions) The purpose of a single apostrophe is to indicate missing letters, as in Im happy, or youre correct, and word constructions like dont, wont, wouldnt, cant, weve, etc. Apostrophes are also used to indicate when something belongs to the word (possessive), as in the girls boo
12、k. This extends to expressions like a days work, or a months delay. The possessive apostrophe moves after the S when there is more than one subject in possession, for example the girls fathers, or the footballers wives, or three weeks notice, but not for collective nouns like the childrens toys, the
13、 womens husbands, or the groups aims. And take care with the word its, as in the dog wagged its tail, where (as with his and hers) the apostrophe is not used, and should not be confused with its, meaning it is, which does use the apostrophe according to the missing letters rule. Apostrophes are gene
14、rally considered optional but are not preferred (which basically means that fewer people will regard the usage as correct) in pluralised abbreviations such as OAPs, and tend not to be used at all in well known abbreviations such as CDs and MPs. Increasingly, apostrophes in common abbreviations such
15、as CDs and MPs are considered by many to be incorrect, and so on balance are best avoided. The use of apostrophes is more likely to be preferred and seen as correct where the abbreviation contains periods, such as M.P.s or Ph.D.s, although in general the use of periods and apostrophes in abbreviatio
16、ns is becoming less popular and therefore again is probably best avoided. In single-case communications (all capitals, or no capitals - which is increasingly popular in emails and texts) omitting apostrophes in pluralised abbreviations can cause confusion, so forms such cds or CDS should be avoided
17、if possible, although the correct punctuation in this context is anyones guess. Grammatical rules change much slower than real life. Other plural abbreviations or shortened words such as photos (photographs), mics (microphones), could technically still be shown as photos and mics, reflecting older t
18、raditional use of the apostrophe in abbreviated words, but these days this is generally considered to be incorrect. The use of apostrophes in numbers, such as 1980s or over-50s, is also less popular than a generation ago, and whilst optional, apostrophes in numbers are increasingly regarded as incor
19、rect, so the safer preferred forms for the examples shown are 1980s and over-50s. The use of apostrophes is still preferred for pluralising short words which do not generally have a plural form, such as in the statement: there are more xs than ys, or dos and donts. The last example makes for a parti
20、cularly confusing form and is another common spoken term thats probably best avoided putting in print or in any sort of formal communication (because even if you get it right theres a good chance that the reader will think it wrong anyway.)Aside from the safe recommendation above to generally restri
21、ct apostrophes to missing letters and possessive words, if in doubt, try to see what rules the reader or the audience uses for such things - in brochures, on websites, etc., and then, unless they are patently daft, match their grammatical preferences accordingly. Use short sentences. More than fifte
22、en words in a sentence reduces the clarity of the meaning. After drafting your communication, seek out commas and ands, and replace with full-stops.Write as you would speak - but ensure its grammatically correct. Dont try to be formal. Dont use old-fashioned figures of speech. Avoid the undersigned,
23、 aforementioned, ourselves, your goodselves, and similar nonsense. You should show that youre living in the same century as the reader.As to how informal to be, for example writing much like normal every day speech (for example Id, youd, weve) bear in mind that some older people, and younger people
24、who have inherited traditional views, could react less favourably to a writing style which they consider to be the product of laziness or poor education. Above all it is important to write in a style that the reader is likely to find agreeable. Avoid jargon, acronyms, technical terms unless essentia
25、l.Dont use capital letters - even for headings. Words formed of capital letters are difficult to read because there are no word-shapes, just blocks of text. (We read quickly by seeing word shapes, not the individual letters.)Sans serif fonts (like Arial, Helvetica and this one, Tahoma) are modern, a
26、nd will give a modern image. Serif fonts (like Garamond, Goudy and this one, Times), are older, and will tend to give a less modern image.Sans serif fonts take longer to read, so theres a price to pay for being modern. This is because weve all grown up learning to read serif fonts. Serif fonts also
27、have a horizontal flow, which helps readability and reading comfort. (Serif fonts developed before the days of print, when the engraver needed to create a neat exit from each letter.)Avoid fancy fonts. They may look clever or innovative, but they are more difficult to read, and some are nearly impos
28、sible.Use 10-12 point size for body copy (text). 14-20 point is fine for main headings, bold or normal. Sub-headings 10-12 bold.Any printed material looks very untidy if you use more than two different fonts and two different point sizes. Generally the fewer the better. If your organisation stipulat
29、es a house font then use it.If your organisation doesnt then it should do.Black text on a white background is the easiest colour combination to read. Definitely avoid coloured backgrounds, and black.Avoid background graphics or pictures behind the text.Italics are less easy to read. So is heavy bold
30、 type.If you must break any of these font rules, do so only for the heading.Limit main attention-grabbing headings to no more than fifteen words.In letters, position your main heading between two-thirds and three-quarters up the page. This is where the eye is naturally drawn first.Use left-justified
31、 text as its easiest to read.Avoid fully justified text as it creates uneven word spaces and is more difficult to read.Remember that effective written communication is enabling the reader to understand your meaning in as few words as possible.writing lettersGenerally if you cant fit it all onto one
32、side of a standard business sheet of paper, start again.Whether writing a letter of complaint, introduction, or proposition - you must keep it brief.If your letter cant be read and understood in less than 20 seconds it has limited chances of success. It used to be 30 - this time limit gets shorter e
33、very year.Think about the purpose of your letter. It will rarely be to resolve something completely. It will more often be to establish a step along the way. So concentrate just on that step.For example - letters of introduction should not try to sell a product. They should sell the appointment.writ
34、ing reports - template structure Typical structure template for writing a report: Title, author, date. Contents. Introduction and Terms of Reference (or aims/scope for report). Executive Summary (1-2 pages maximum) containing main points of evidence, recommendations and outcomes. Background/history/
35、situation. Implications/issues/opportunities/threats, with source-referenced facts and figures evidence. Solution/action/decision options with implications/effects/results, including financials and parameters inputs and outputs. Recommendations and actions with input and outcomes values and costs, a
36、nd if necessary return on investment. Appendices. Optional Bibliography and Acknowledgements. Map out your structure before you begin researching and writing your report.Ensure the purpose, aims and scope of the report are clearly explained in your terms of reference.The executive summary should be
37、be very concise, summarising the main recommendations and findings. Provide interpretation of situations and options. Show the important hard facts and figures. Your recommendations should include implications, with values and costs where applicable. Unless yours is a highly complex study, limit the
38、 executive summary to less than two sides of standard business paper.The body of the report should be divided into logical sections. The content must be very concise. Use hard facts and figures, evidence and justification. Use efficient language - big reports with too many words are not impressive.
39、The best reports are simple and quick to read because the writer has properly interpreted the data and developed viable recommendations.Do not cram lots of detail, diagrams, figures, evidence, references etc., into the main body of the report. Index and attach these references as appendices at the e
40、nd of the report.Where you state figures or evidence you must always identify the source.Show figures in columns. Try to support important figures with a graph.If its appropriate to acknowledge contributors then do so in the introduction or a separate section at the end.writing reports when youre no
41、t sure whats requiredIf ever you are confronted with the task of writing a report and you are unsure of how to go about it, here are some tips.Its common to be asked to write reports in business and organisations, for all kinds of reasons. Sometimes reports are required for good reasons - sometimes
42、they are simply a waste of time. Sometimes reports are requested with clear terms of reference and criteria, but mostly they are not. Its common for reports to be requested with only a vague idea given as to what is actually needed - commonly there is no written brief or specification.The writer the
43、n spends days agonizing over what the report should include and look like, how long it should be, whether to include recommendations, whether to attach detailed information, etc. All this confusion is unnecessary and can be avoided by asking some simple questions. Many people new to report-writing t
44、hink that its not the done thing to ask what the report should look like, often for fear of appearing unsure or incapable. But the fact is that before writing reports or business plans of any sort the writer should always first seek clarification of exactly whats required. Dont assume that the reque
45、st is reasonable and properly thought-through - in many cases it will not be. If the request for a written report is not perfectly clear, ask for clarification. Experienced people ask and seek clarification all the time - its perfectly sensible and logical to do so.Seeing sample reports from other i
46、ndustries and organisations is not always very helpful. Sample reports from completely different situations can be very misleading, aside from which, good sample reports are actually quite difficult to find anyway because most are subject to commercial or other confidentiality. In any event, there a
47、re so many different types of reports and report formats that theres no guarantee that an example from elsewhere would be right for your particular situation. You are often better simply to follow the guidelines above, and avoid wasting time looking for elusive report examples. Trust your own judgem
48、ent. Creating a sensible structure and building your own report is generally quicker and better than seeking inspiration elsewhere. Importantly ask your employer or boss or client (whoever has requested the report) for their ideal format and if appropriate ask for examples of what they consider a su
49、itable format for them. Its perfectly reasonable to seek clarification in this - you are not a mind-reader. Theres a whole load of mystique around reports and business plans which is rarely dispelled because folk are afraid to ask - so break the cycle of doubt and assumption - ask. As already explained, when writing anything - especially reports - the shorter the better is normally the case, especially when the audience is senior and strategic management or directors
