A Writer’s Responsibility: Discovering Your Readers’ Needs and Using it Successfully

The most important thing you can do if you’re going to be persuasive,

Is imagining your audience and the way that they live:

What do you know about their company, position, or responsibility?

Establishing your scope and organizing your thoughts are another way to write persuasively.

The most important tip to keep in your back pocket,

Is to write so clearly that what you say won’t be misinterpreted.

Don’t forget your audience is who you’re writing for:

If you keep these tips in mind you’re success rate will soar.

If you get too wrapped up in your own purposes,

The only responses you’ll get from your reader are questions and curses.

So, next time you’re sitting in front of your computer trying to persuade:

Allow these little tips to be your serenade.

For further tips on how to assess, please feel free to visit this web address.

Oliu, Walter E., Charles T. Brusaw, and Gerald J. Alred. Writing that Works Communicating Effectively on the Job. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2006.

"Alexander McCall Smith on Reader Needs and Demands «." Educating alice. 13 Apr. 2009 .

"Mike Savage - Savage Press: Meeting Reader's Needs." Savage Press - Michael Savage Publisher. 13 Apr. 2009 .

UThink: Blogs at the University of Minnesota. 12 Apr. 2009

TACT and SKILL in Writing Effective Meeting Minutes By: Ann-Marie Navidomskis

When it comes to writing effective meeting minutes it’s important to never forget TACT and SKILL.

Time. It may seem obvious, but meeting minutes document at what time the meeting began and ended and how (approximately) each minute of the meeting was spent.

Attendance. It should be noted who was at the meeting, what they were assigned and when it’s due and when each person arrived and left.

Clarification. Revisions may be necessary. After each person has reviewed the minutes it’s important to correct any discrepancies.

Topic. Meeting minutes state what type of meeting it was (emergency, planned…) and what the topics covered were.

Show & Share. Because everyone at the meeting (and those absent) are responsible for what occurred it’s important to show everyone what has been documented either by projecting it or by making or e-mailing copies.

Kinetics. Were there any motions made at the meeting? Meeting minutes document who made a motion, who seconded the motion and what the final decision was: carried, defeated, postponed, etc.

Important events. Meeting minutes document every official thing that went on during the meeting time. Often time they’re kept

Leaders of the meetings will assign who is to take meeting minutes. This can be a consistent person or a rotation job.

Legal Document. It’s important to remember that Meeting Minutes can be used in a court of law as evidence.

For more information and examples of meeting minutes please visit here or watch the video below for some helpful and user-friendly advice on taking effective meeting minutes.

Oliu, Walter E., Charles T. Brusaw, and Gerald J. Alred. Writing that Works Communicating Effectively on the Job. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2006.

"Basic Sample of Board of Directors Meeting Minutes." Free Management Library. 12 Apr. 2009 .

CartoonStock - Cartoon Pictures, Political Cartoons, Animations. 12 Apr. 2009 .

"YouTube - How to Take Quick Meeting Minutes." YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. 13 Apr. 2009 .

J.I.P. Writing (Jargon in Professional Writing) By: Ann-Marie Navidomskis

Jargon procures the potentiality to convolute and impede a lucid record and metamorphosize and mutate it into something far more confusing and intangible; this will bedevil your desired audience.

If you didn’t enjoy reading the preceding sentence, questioned reading further, and found yourself needing to read it multiple times to understand it don’t feel bad; that is the effect jargon, or “highly specialized slang that is unique to an occupational group[1]”, can have. For the majority of the population who didn’t receive a perfect score on the vocabulary section of the SAT sentences such as the first one you read in this document cause unpleasantness, confusion, are belittling, and don’t make sense. It is for these reasons that using jargon in your professional writing is an idea on the lesser end of the professional writing idea spectrum.

Jargon does not only have to be “unique to an occupational group.” Jargon can also be cultural idioms, acronyms, uncommon words or phrases, slang, and informal language. The use of jargon should be restricted only to those who are within the particular “field” and only utilized within informalities such as speech, informal memos, and e-mails within a company.

Avoiding jargon is especially important when it comes to intercultural communication. Because it’s impossible to know all of the world’s idioms and connotations great care is needed when writing personal and professional e-mails. Often times the reader of an intercultural exchange will not be a native speaker of your language and not only could misunderstand an idiom such as “give me a heads up” but could possibly take offense to it. Consider, also, limiting any acronyms you include in your documents; if the acronym isn’t likely to be present in the abbreviated English-language dictionary that they’ll be using then it should not be utilized.

Next time you feel the need to grab a thesaurus and include some lengthier synonyms for simple words consider this quote:

“Never fear to use little words. Big, long words name little things. All big things have little names, such as life and death, war and peace, dawn, day, night, hope, love, and home. Learn to use little words in a big way.” -Anonymous

Simply put: Jargon can make even the simplest documents and texts complicated; this will annoy your reader. Sometimes the simplest things mean the most. “The most important point about jargon that I want to make, though, is that much of it really is unnecessary and annoying.[2]

[1] "Professional Writing Style." Designsensory (Knoxville, Tennessee) creates web, brand and print design. 30 Mar. 2009 .

[2] "Professional Writing Style." Designsensory (Knoxville, Tennessee) creates web, brand and print design. 30 Mar. 2009 .

[3] Katrina Bishop Blogs. 30 Mar. 2009 .

[4] Write On! 30 Mar. 2009 .