2.3: Writing Workplace Documents
- Page ID
- 74955
Learning to Write Workplace Documents
Learning Objectives
Introduction
Writing Paragraphs
Developing a Topic Sentence
Identifying Parts of a Paragraph
Implied Topic Sentences
Supporting Sentences
Concluding Sentences
Transitions
For Supporting Sentences | |||||
above all | but | for instance | in particular | moreover | subsequently |
also | conversely | furthermore | later on | nevertheless | therefore |
aside from | correspondingly | however | likewise | on one hand | to begin with |
at the same time | for example | in addition | meanwhile | on the contrary | |
For Concluding Sentences | |||||
after all | all things considered | in brief | in summary | on the whole | to sum up |
all in all | finally | in conclusion | on balance | thus | ultimately |
Preparing a Workplace Document
Tips for Effective Business Emails
Check Your Understanding
Query
Memos
Memo Purpose
Memo Format
Check Your Understanding
Query
A letter has five main areas:
- The heading, which establishes the sender, including address and date
- The introduction, which establishes the purpose
- The body, which articulates the message
- The conclusion, which restates the main point and may include a call-to-action
- The signature line, which sometimes includes the contact information
Tip
When formatting a full-block business letter, keep in mind the following guidelines:
- Apply single spacing throughout
- Use 1” – 1 ½” margins
- Left-justify all contents
A sample letter is shown below with guiding notations in bold. Rather than placing the return address at the top of your page, you could instead use company letterhead showing the logo and company address.
Example Letter (Guide)
Return Address (if not in letterhead logo):
123 Cockburn Road
Anytown, MB A1M 2P3
Date: September 14, 2015
Recipient Note (optional): CONFIDENTIAL
Inside Address:
Ms. Zoe Maeve
123 Arbuthnot Drive
Anytown, AB T1A 2B3
Salutation: Dear Ms. Maeve:
Subject Line (optional): The myth of the paperless office
Introduction: This letter is to inform you that the myth of the paperless office, where you will not be required to produce hard copy letters on company letterhead, is just that: a myth.
Body: While email has largely replaced letter writing for many applications, several reasons for producing a hard copy letter remain. The first is that many employers still produce letters as a normal part of business communication. Next, we must consider that papers sales in business have increased across the last decade, showing no signs of the decrease we would associate with the transition to the paperless office. Finally, business letters may serve many functions, and your proficiency in their production will contribute to our personal and professional success.
Conclusion: Letter writing is a skill that will continue to be required in the business environment of today and tomorrow.
Close: Sincerely,
Murray Moman
Signature: Murray Moman
Reference Initials (optional): ARJ
Enclosure Notation (optional, if needed)
Copy Notation (optional): cc: Beth Lloyd
Mailing Notation (optional)
Remember that letters represent you and your company in your absence. In order to communicate effectively and project a positive image, you’ll need to:
- be clear, concise, specific, and respectful
- ensure each word contributes to your purpose
- ensure each paragraph focuses on one idea only
- form a complete message
- keep your writing free of errors
Good News or Neutral Information in a Business Letter
Writing a letter that contains good or neutral news is fairly straightforward. Your intention is to get the news across quickly and clearly, while making sure the reader has a positive image of you and your company. You can do this by following these steps:
- State the news simply and directly.
- Give the reasons/details.
- Close with a goodwill statement.*
Bad News in a Business Letter
Saying no is more challenging than saying yes! This is true for all kinds of communication, but in a professional context, this can be challenging because you may not know the recipient of your message personally or be able to predict how they will react. When writing a letter that contains bad news, for example, when you need to tell a customer that they will not be receiving a refund, your challenge is to send a negative message while maintaining a positive relationship between your company and the receiver. Bad news can make the receiver feel a number of emotions, from disappointment to irritation, anger, and confusion. You can minimize these negative effects by structuring your letter in a specific way.
When you write a letter that contains bad news, your goals are to
- make the news easy to understand,
- let the receiver know that there will be no change in status (and avoid further communication),
- leave the receiver with a positive impression of your company.
Direct and Indirect Approaches to Writing Business Letters
There are two different ways to deliver bad news in a letter: the direct approach and the indirect approach. You’ll decide which approach to use based on the type of news you are delivering.
When using the direct approach, you’ll follow these steps:
- State the bad news simply and directly.
- Give the reasons.
- Give an alternative, if possible.
- Close with a goodwill statement.*
* What is a goodwill statement? It is an assertive but professional statement that demonstrates care about ongoing positive relationship.
The following letter uses the direct approach.
Example Letter (Direct Approach):
Dear Mr. Moore:
The reference you are looking for doesn’t seem to have originated with our company. While looking through our record of corporate speeches on the effect of free trade on agriculture, we haven’t come across anything similar to the remarks you mentioned. When I asked Mr. Lockhart, he had no recollection of anyone in the company having made that type of analogy.
We have conducted a quick Internet search and have found a number of sites that may well give you the information you are seeking. The Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada website at www.agr.gc.ca is probably a good starting point for your search.
We hope you find this information helpful.
When using the indirect approach, you’ll follow these steps:
- Begin with a buffer statement.*
- Discuss the circumstances leading to the bad news.
- State the bad news as positively as possible.
- Give a helpful suggestion or alternative.
- Close with a goodwill statement.
* What is a buffer statement? It is a gentle but professional statement that sets the tone of your letter.
Choosing an Approach
You would typically use the direct approach in all business letters, except when
- you are delivering bad news and it is unexpected;
- you don’t know the reader very well, and a negative emotional reaction is likely to occur.
In these situations, the indirect approach is a better choice.
In situations like these, the reasons you would give in the direct approach (in Step 2) could be viewed as excuses, so it is best not to present them. Instead, you should place the bad news in the middle portion of the letter, providing an explanation before it, and closing with positive or neutral language, as in the indirect approach. It is important to avoid a canned, insincere, inappropriate, or self-serving closing in any letter, but particularly so when you are using the indirect approach.
There are three key things to do in a letter that follows the indirect approach:
- Provide proof that persuades the reader to accept the bad news.
- Give the bad news.
- Give options for future success.
The following letter uses the indirect approach.
Example Letter (Indirect Approach):
Dear James:
Clerks in our office must be ready to serve customers by 9:00 a.m. According to company policy, arriving at work on time is a mandatory element of your employment here.
This month you have been late to work four times. Only two late arrivals are permitted before management must intervene. Since you have exceeded those limits, it is necessary for me to give you a written warning and put you on probation.
If you are on time each day within the next 90 days, I will remove this from your employment record. You will then be able to work towards a promotion and salary increase. I would be pleased to discuss this with you at your convenience.
Tip
When using the indirect approach, you should follow these guidelines:
- Don’t mislead the reader with an opening that is too positive.
- Do keep reasons as short as possible.
- Do make sure the reader is clear about the bad news.
- Do avoid negative words and phrasing.
- Don’t end with a statement that is artificial.
When you are writing a letter that contains good news or neutral information, you should use the direct approach.
Check Your Understanding
Instructions: Please review the business letter below and then answer the multiple- choice questions that follow.
Aspen Country Lodge
November 14, 2015
Dorothy Allen
12345 Stream Ave.
St. Augustine, FL 34567
Dear ________(#1):
As the holiday season approaches, we are reminded of the blessings that are bestowed on us throughout the year. At Aspen Country Lodge, the pleasures we share year after year with our Legacy clients are among our most cherished blessings.
And so, as our staff looks forward to spending time with friends and family, we are also thinking of special friends like you and hoping you are enjoying good health and good cheer. We take pride in being your home away from home and reserve a special place in our hearts for the memories we’ve shared with you.
Thank you for making Aspen Country Lodge part of your annual traditions. Have a blessed Christmas and a peaceful, joyous, and prosperous New Year.
______________(#2),
Theodore P. Hyde, Owner/Manager
Aspen Country Lodge • 402 Aspen Way • Cold Bluff, CA 98765 • (303) 346-7889
Query
Fax Cover Sheet
You might think that email has surely replaced fax by now, but that isn’t the case in the business world, at least not yet! You’ll notice that faxes are still commonplace when a signature is needed, or when a legally binding document (a contract, for example) is being transmitted. Some industries (such as medical and legal) still rely on faxes because their transmission cannot be intercepted. When confidentiality is important, a fax may be your go-to document format.
Your organization may have a fax cover sheet template that all employees use, so look for this before you send your first fax, as it will make the process much quicker. In general, fax cover sheets usually have some or all of the following contents:
- Company name or logo
- Date
- Name and fax number of receiver
- Name, fax, and phone number of sender
- Number of pages
- Subject*
- Message*
- Confidentiality Notice
*These are not always included. Use them if you have additional information not covered by the fax contents.
Example Fax Cover Sheet:
FAX Smith & Sons. Ltd.
To: James Milford From: Leonard Smith Fax: (555) 212-0988 Fax: (555) 313-0122 Date: 08/09/2015 Phone: (555) 401-9876
CONFIDENTIAL Pages: 5
Subject: Employment Contract
Message:
James,
Please sign and return the attached contract at your earliest convenience.
If you have any questions or concerns, please contact my office.
Best Regards,
Leonard.
Short Report
Reports are designed to record and convey information to the reader and can be used both internally and externally. Reports serve to document new information for specific audiences, goals, or functions. The type of report is often identified by its primary purpose, as in an accident report, a laboratory report, or a sales report. Reports are often analytical or involve the rational analysis of information. Sometimes they report the facts with no analysis at all. Other reports summarize past events, present current data, and forecast future trends. This section will introduce you to the basics of report writing.
Types of Reports
Reports come in all sizes but are typically longer than a page and somewhat shorter than a book. In this chapter we’re focusing on short reports that would typically be up to four pages in length. The type of report depends on its function, and different industries have reports specific to them. For example, science researchers write lab reports, while incident reports are common in health-and-safety environments.
Reports vary by function, style, and tradition. Within your organization, you may need to address specific expectations. This section discusses reports in general terms, focusing on common elements and points of distinction. Reference to similar documents at your workplace may serve you well as you prepare your own report. There are many types of reports, but this section will focus on three types common to the workplace. At times, these may be combined into one longer report.
Type | Function |
---|---|
Progress Report | Monitor and control production, sales, shipping, service, or related business process. |
Recommendation Report | Make recommendations to management and provide tools to solve problems or make decisions. |
Summary Report | Present summaries of the information available on a given subject. |
Progress Report
A progress report is used to give management an update on the status of a project. It is generated at timed intervals (for example, once a month) or on completion of key stages. It records accomplishments to date and identifies any challenges or concerns. It is usually written by the project lead and is one to two pages long.
When you write a progress report, begin by stating why you are writing the report:
- Identify what you’ve accomplished
- List any problems you have encountered
- Outline what work still remains
Conclude by providing an overview of the project’s status and what should be done next.
Recommendation Report
A recommendation report is used to help management make decisions. The goal of this report is to identify a solution to a problem or suggest a course of action. In it, the writer might suggest that a procedure be adopted or rejected, assess an unsatisfactory situation, or persuade decision makers to make a change that will benefit the organization. For example, the report might suggest ways to enhance the quality of a product, increase profit, reduce cost, or improve workplace conditions. The intention of a recommendation report is not to assign blame or be overly critical, but to suggest improvements in a positive manner. If you’re writing a recommendation report, it may be helpful to get input from your colleagues.
Summary Report
A summary report is used to give management information. For example, if you work in the marketing department, your boss might ask you to find out about your competitors’ online activities so that your company can effectively compete with them. To do this, you would research your competitors’ websites, social media profiles, digital advertising campaigns, and so on. You would then distill what you find down to the key points so that your boss can get the essential information in a short time, and then decide how to act on it. Unlike the recommendation report, the summary report focuses on the facts, leaving it to management to decide on a course of action.
How Are Reports Organized?
Reports vary by size, format, and function. You need to be flexible and adjust your report to the needs of the audience. Reports are typically organized around six key elements:
- Who the report is about and/or prepared for
- What was done, what problems were addressed, and the results, including conclusions and/or recommendations
- Where the subject studied occurred
- When the subject studied occurred
- Why the report was written (function), including under what authority, for what reason, or by whose request
- How the subject operated, functioned, or was used
Pay attention to these essential elements when you consider your stakeholders. That may include the person(s) the report is about, whom it is for, and the larger audience of the organization. Ask yourself who the key decision makers are, who the experts will be, and how your words and images may be interpreted. While there is no universal format for a report, there is a common order to the information. Each element supports the main purpose or function, playing an important role in the transmission of information.
Ten Common Elements of a Report
Page | Element | Function |
---|---|---|
1. Cover | Title and image | Like the cover of a book, sometimes a picture, image, or logo is featured to introduce the topic to the reader. |
2. Title Fly | Title only | Optional |
3. Title Page | Label, report, features title, author, affiliation, date, and sometimes for whom the report was prepared | |
4. Table of Contents | A list of the main sections and their respective page numbers | |
5. Abstract |
|
|
6. Introduction | Introduces the topic of the report | |
7. Body | Key elements of body include:
|
|
8. Conclusion | Concise presentation of findings | Indicates the main results and their relation to recommended action or outcome |
9. References | Bibliography or Works Cited | List of citations |
10. Appendix | Related supporting materials | May include maps, analysis of soil samples, field reports, etc. |
Here is a checklist for ensuring that a report fulfills its goals:
- Report considers the audience’s needs
- Form follows function of report
- Format reflects institutional norms and expectations
- Information is accurate, complete, and documented
- Information is easy to read
- Terms are clearly defined
- Figures, tables, and art support written content
- Figures, tables, and art are clear and correctly labelled
- Figures, tables, and art are easily understood without text support
- Words are easy to read (font, arrangement, organization)
- Results are clear and concise
- Recommendations are reasonable and well-supported
- Report represents your best effort
- Report speaks for itself without your clarification or explanation
Formatting a Report
Make it easier for your reader to comprehend the information in your report by formatting your document cleanly. Here are a few guidelines:
- Use 12pt type in a standard font
- Use 1 ½- to 2-inch margins
- Use headings and subheadings to divide the content into clear sections
- Separate paragraphs using white space
- Use visuals (charts, graphs, diagrams, etc.) where they will help in explaining numbers or other information that would be difficult to understand in text form
Check Your Understanding
FAST: Format, Audience, Style, Tone
Format
When composing your business documents, you will first have to decide which format best suits your purpose. In the foundations module we learned that the medium is the message. Similarly in this case, the format you choose for your business document should also align well with the purpose of your message. For example, an email might be considered semiformal depending on audience and purpose; a business letter is usually considered quite formal as are memos, faxes and short reports. Knowing what you’ve recently learned about the common types of business documents, you must remain mindful that the format you choose tells the audience something about the information they will receive and how important or serious it is for them to pay attention to it.
Once you have chosen the appropriate format for your message, it’s also important to ensure that the formatting is correct. For example, if you intend to send a memo, it should not look like an informal email or a business letter; it should contain all the appropriate elements of a memo that you learned about in the previous section. It needs to be clear to the reader what format you are using and you can make that apparent by ensuring the appropriate formatting of your document.
Audience
In the Foundations module you learned the importance of knowing your audience in order to craft effective communications. That is as true as ever when writing business documents. Who you are writing to may be one person or many. The format you choose may make it easy for your document to be accessed by other people (such as email) and include secondary and hidden audiences. But in business writing, of course, your primary audience remains central to your messaging. A helpful approach some communicators use is to try to put themselves in the primary audience’s shoes and ask, What’s in it for me? or Why should I care? or So what? Identifying the audience and being aware of their needs will help you draft a document that is more likely to get their interest.
Style
Style and tone are often considered interchangeable and there are some blurry distinctions between the two. But for our purposes style refers to elements such as active versus passive writing, varied sentence lengths, flow, variety of word use, and punctuation choices. Style gives your writing a type of personality when coupled together with tone. As with the audience and format, it’s important that the style you choose matches with the intended purpose of your message.
Tone
Similar in some ways to style, tone refers to the feeling your audience will get when they decode your document. Here you would ask yourself if your tone is formal, informal, positive, negative, polite, direct, or indirect. The purpose of asking yourself this question is to determine whether the tone suits or otherwise enhances the purpose of your intended message.
The acronym FAST not only helps as a guide to remembering the importance of selecting the right format, remembering your audience, and ensuring appropriate style and tone but also helps you remember that in business writing it’s important to get to the point—fast!
Here is a handy tool you can use as you write to remember to use and incorporate the principles of FAST.
Conclusion
This chapter on writing workplace documents began with a review of writing solid paragraphs that include elements like a good topic sentence, body, and conclusion. You then learned about how to prepare a workplace document beginning with an outline and deciding which workplace document to use. You learned about and saw examples of emails, memos, business letters, fax cover sheets, and short reports. Finally, you were introduced to the acronym FAST as a tool to stay mindful of your document and content choices around format, audience, style, and tone.
With this new knowledge you should be well on your way to honing your workplace writing skills, which will be further enhanced in the next section on revising workplace documents.
Learning Highlights
Elements of paragraphs
- topic sentence
- body
- conclusions
Workplace Documents
- Emails are an electronic medium often used to send letters, memos, or less formal written communication.
- Letters are typically quite formal, brief printed messages often used to inform or persuade customers, vendors, or the public
- Memos are brief documents used internally to inform or persuade employees about business decisions on policy, procedures, or actions.
- Fax cover sheets must always contain complete information about the contents, sender, receiver, and number of pages. Faxing is relevant as a secure way to transmit sensitive documents.
- Short reports can report progress, summarize information, or recommend. They consist of 10 common elements and are no longer than four pages.
Check Your Understanding
Query
References
Guffey, M. (2008). Essentials of Business Communication (7th ed.). Mason, OH: Thomson/Wadsworth.
Lewis, L. (2009, February 13). Panasonic orders staff to buy £1,000 in products. Retrieved from http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/markets/japan/article5723942.ece
Attribution Statement (Writing Workplace Documents)
This chapter is a remix containing content from a variety of sources published under a variety of open licenses, including the following:
Chapter Content
- Original content contributed by the Olds College OER Development Team, of Olds College to Professional Communications Open Curriculum under a CC-BY 4.0 license.
- Content created by Anonymous for Effective Means for Writing; in Successful Writing, published at http://2012books.lardbucket.org/books/successful-writing/s10-02-effective-means-for-writing-a-.html under a CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 license.
- Content created by Anonymous for Text, Email, and Netiquette; in English for Business Success, published at http://2012books.lardbucket.org/books/english-for-business-success/s17-01-text-e-mail-and-netiquette.html under a CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 license.
- Content created by Anonymous for Memorandums and Letters; in English for Business Success, published at http://2012books.lardbucket.org/books/english-for-business-success/s17-02-memorandums-and-letters.html under a CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 license.
- Content created by Anonymous for Report; in English for Business Success, published at http://2012books.lardbucket.org/books/english-for-business-success/s17-04-report.html under a CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 license.
Check Your Understandings
- Original content contributed by the Olds College OER Development Team, of Olds College to Professional Communications Open Curriculum under a CC-BY 4.0 license.
- Assessment items created by The Saylor Foundation for the Saylor.org course BUS210: Corporate Communication, published at https://www.oercommons.org/courses/business-administration-corporate-communication-unit-5-quiz/view under a CC BY 3.0 US license.
- Business Letter Assessment created by The Saylor Foundation for the Saylor.org course BUS210: Corporate Communication, published at http://www.saylor.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/BUS210-Business-Letter-Assessment-Fixed.pdf under a CC BY 3.0 US license.