Unit 9 Written 14pg
Unit 9 Written 14pg
Objectives
Structure
9.1 Introduction
9.2 Need for Written Communication
9.3 Features of Written Communication
9.4 Process of Writing
9.5 Summary
9.6 Keywords
9.7 Self-Assessment Questions
9.8 References and Further Readings
9.1 INTRODUCTION
No matter where we are or what we do, we engage with writing daily. We
text and write emails. We make lists when we must shop or plan a ‘to-do’
profile of our daily activities. We write assignments and exams if we are
students. At the workplace we write reports, project proposals and other
documents. And yet, we do not call ourselves writers and believe that only
people who write for a living, are writers.
The problem is with how we approach writing. Across schools and colleges,
we tend to approach writing as an activity that has to be completed as a single
task. However, writing is not just one task. It is made up of many smaller
tasks, happening both consciously and unconsciously. When we do not value
and recognise the smaller tasks, which go into the writing of a piece, we may
end up feeling overwhelmed. Instead, if we follow a step-by-step process, it
makes the act of writing more systematic and ensures we have enough time to
think about and assess the quality of our own writing.
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Wriitten Moreover, we may tend to think off writing as a ‘product’. When studeents are
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asked to wrrite an assignnment, they are thinkingg of the finall product thaat has to
be submitteed, not the ‘process’
‘ thrrough whichh one createes and develops the
piece of writing.
w As a result, manny resort to copying ann existing model or
template off writing raather than go oing on a ccreative jourrney to prodduce an
original piece of writting. This creates
c a deependence on o the tempplate or
formula thaat one has too follow, insstead of learrning to devvelop one’s original
o
thoughts annd argumentts. Writing is i essentiallyy a creative exercise. TThrough
the act of writing,
w we aim to creaate, develop, and refine our thinkinng. The
process appproach becomes a suitaable model for f this. Therrefore, to beecome a
good writerr, you may have
h to first ensure that you have yoour basics inn place.
So, it is neecessary to start with understandin
u ng the need and importaance of
writing.
9.2 N
NEED FO
OR WRIT
TTEN CO
OMMUN
NICATIO
ON
As human beings, we oobserve and process a vvast amount of informatiion that
we get froom the world around us. u We reacct to what we w see, andd these
reactions make
m us uniique individuuals. If we document these
t reactioons and
observationns regularly,, we create records
r of oour personal history. Wrriting is
thus an impportant tool for documeentation. In rrecent timess, however, writing
has expandded to becoome an im mportant professional skkill. Since we w are
connected by online nnetworks wh hich demandd constant communicati
c ion, we
are expecteed to write concise andd clear textss. All professional workkplaces
now demannd strong wrriting skills from
f their emmployees annd it is an im
mportant
ingredient for
f upward mobility.
m
Beyond theese obviouss and practiccal functionns, we writee for the folllowing
reasons:
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As you are probably aware, writing helps you develop many skills which are
helpful for your academic life as well as for your work life.Writing helps in
communicating one's ideas and thoughts.
● Writing helps you remember what you are reading, by helping you to
make coherent notes, analyse, synthesize and summarise information
from different sources.
● Writing as you read by taking notes, summarizing, responding to
assumptions/arguments in a text, makes you a better reader. This kind of
reflection enhances your understanding and helps you develop new
insights. It helps you become a critical thinker.
● Writing will also foster your personal development. When you write
about events in the organisation, it helps you understand the significance
of these events. In other words, you become a more reflective and
thinking person.
● At the workplace, you will need to write impressively to get jobs; while
in the job you will be expected to write effective and correctly worded
emails, memos, reports, proposals and so on. If your language is faulty or
your ideas are ill-organised, it will affect your career enhancement.
Many people believe that people who are good at writing do not need to
spend a lot of time learning to write – they are born writers. Writing comes
naturally to them. However, this is not true. Writing research shows that all
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Wriitten good writeers also keepp learning how h to writee and they constantly practice
p
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be an efffective com mmunicator one musst adhere to the folllowing
characteristtics of writinng:
Activity 2
Can you reecall your eaarliest experrience of wriiting at yourr workplace? What
did you wriite?
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9.4 PR
ROCESS
S OF WR
RITING
Writing is a complex pprocess whicch involves thinking annd composingg texts.
When we write, we hhave ideas and a these iddeas come to us as woords or
phrases. Thhese words oor phrases arre then logiccally placed in sentencess which
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are then combined to form paragraphs. Ultimately, paragraphs are put Basics of Written
n Business
together to form a coherent text. Though the process of creating a text may Communication
vary from person to person and text type to text type, there are a few basic
steps that can help us demystify this process.
Writers, therefore, plan and then revise their plan, draft and then revise their
drafts, write and then rewrite. This is known as the process approach to
writing and it is important to follow such an approach. There are different
steps involved in the process of writing. These are explained in detail below:
Write a proposal where you want to improve the living conditions of a group
of people as part of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activity of your
organisation. Who will be your reader and why? Discuss.
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Wriitten Step 2: Fin
nding the Pu
urpose - Wh
hat is your iintent?
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Now that you
y know yoour audiencee, it is time to identify the t purpose behind
your writinng exercise. Y
You need to do that to ennsure the folllowing:
● Your audience
a willl understandd what you aare writing about
a and why
w it is
importtant to you annd to them.
● You will
w understaand why yo ou, your supperiors, and your organnisation
needs to
t know aboout the subjecct.
● You will
w be able to identify and gatherr the inform
mation that is
i most
relevan
nt to your reaaders and yoour goals.
Step 3: Sta
arting the Writing
W Proccess
Sometimes, when we sit down too write, we may feel th he need to discuss
everything under the suun about thee topic that w
we chose. Orr we may geet stuck
and cannott write at alll. In such situations,
s itt is always good to jusst start
writing. Iddeas, if you hhave noticed
d, gain coherrence and cllarity when you
y put
them downn on paper. Free writing is therefoore a good strategy
s to develop
d
your ideas. Once you hhave enoughh ideas on paaper, you can n then choosse what
you want fo or the subjecct.
● Intern
net Research
h
At the brainstorming stage, you will w have seeveral ideass in mind foor your
proposed toopic. It might be a good idea to caapture them in your minnd map
and this miight make itt easier to naarrow the sccope of yourr topic as yoou think
along. You u can start byy doing basiic internet reesearch. At this stage, you
y can
note down key points ssuch as defin nitions, history, and recennt developmments so
that you haave a fair undderstanding of
o the topic.
● Identiffying credib
ble sources
y have an overview about
Now that you a your toopic, it is im
mportant to iidentify
reliable in
nformation. You mustt find reliaable sources to suppoort the
informationn that you ppresent in yoour writing. To find relliable sourcees, you
must checkk the followinng:
● Mind maps
Sometimes, visualising what you have in mind can help you understand your
ideas better. Visual tools like mind maps can be used to capture your initial
ideas. Created around a single theme or concept, they can also be used to
understand relationships between different sub-themes or ideas, if any.
Activity 4
Think of a business plan. Create a mind map of your braainstorming process
p
for a busineess plan.
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Activity 5
You have been asked by your organisation to attend a conference on
“Improving the Carbon footprints at the Workplace”. Write a technical trip
report on the conference giving details of your own contribution to it. (250
words)
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To write, we must sit at a desk and write to meet our deadline. This means
that we must push our brains to construct coherent sentences, paragraphs, and
texts when we write.
Many of us may feel anxious about writing. We commit to or are given
deadlines but fail to meet them due to procrastination or lack of prioritization.
We may also think that what we write is not good enough. In such contexts,
the following writing tips can be useful:
● Free writing: We may think that we need to churn good sentences as
soon as we start writing. This need for perfection can prevent us from
actual writing and make us feel anxious. In the first stage of writing, your
task is to put information on paper. Take the plunge and think freely.
Forget about errors and typos when you write. Your task at this stage is
to write and not edit.
● Talk to someone: Writing offten makes uus feel insecuure and loneely. The
fact thaat you have no one arouund to read w what you write can preveent you
from actively
a woorking on your
y writingg. To avoidd this, speaak to a
friend//family mem mber/colleaggue who couuld give you feedback.. These
insightts could be inncorporated into your writing.
Activity 6
Time yoursself for fifteeen minutes and write aabout an unu usual experiience at
the workplaace. Remem mber to avoidd distractionss while you are
a at it.
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Step 9: Rew
working thee Draft - Hoow to Revisee?
The act of writing is inncomplete without
w the act
a of readinng and revising. To
write is to also
a read annd then rewriite what we write. Usuaally, what yoou write
in your firsst draft may be
b messy. Itt could be a ttangled buncch of ideas and a half
formed thoughts you communicateed on paper at one go. This T means thhat you
must returnn to your draaft and ‘cleann’ the copy bbefore it goees to the readder.
Revising iss thus an oppportunity to critically exxamine your writing. Whhen you
revise, youu can rethinkk and changge what you write. You can reorgannise for
clarity and remove inccoherent ideeas. Basicallyy, good wriiting emergees from
multiple roounds of reviision. So, finnding time tto revise and
d rewrite is a must.
Take some time away ffrom your draftd y begin reworking on it. You
before you
can take a few days orr hours to distance
d yourrself from your
y writing. When
you revisit your draft after the brrief break, read it like an a editor, allthough
revising is not
n editing.
Do remembber that reviising is not thet same as editing. Whhen you reviise, you
can even chhange the whole
w draft annd start afreesh. Though editing is a part of
the revisionn process, itt does not in
nvolve large scale changges to the drraft. So,
when you sit
s to work ono a writing project,
p do eensure that you have set enough
and more tiime for revissions.
Step 10: In
ntegrating Feedback
F - How
H to collaaborate?
Most peoplle believe thhat writing iss a personal project.
p Whiile this may be true
to some exttent, good wwriting emergges from colllaboration and
a feedbackk. Even
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after the first round of revisions, you may still not know if your writing Basics of Written
n Business
would work for a reader. To understand this, you could consider asking a Communication
friend or colleague to read your draft.
Constructive feedback can do wonders to your draft. It will improve the
reading experience of your draft and make you confident about your writing.
Here are a few steps that will help you to receive feedback:
● Find a trusted friend or peer who can give you constructive feedback.
Ensure that they are kind and objective in their comments.
● Share the draft and a detailed note outlining the goals of your writing,
with your friend. The note will help them understand the purpose of your
writing and help them communicate effective feedback.
● Keep an open mind. Feedback can be a mixed bag of tricks. It is possible
that your friend may not like some part of your writing. If they say so, be
polite and ask them why they did not find it up to the mark. Knowing
their reason can help you revise your draft.
The following steps can help you with your editing process:
● Read your writing aloud: When you read aloud, you are the reader of
your writing. You give real-time feedback to your brain and that can help
with identifying problems faster.
● Find and fix common mistakes: There are several common mistakes
that we make when we write. These can include punctuation errors or
spelling mistakes. If you have noticed some of them in your previous
writing, you can check for them when you edit.
● Use active voice: Sentences like ‘The new software can be mastered
easily in a couple of days’ are awkward as compared to ‘You can easily
master the new software in a couple of days.’ To avoid this, always give
importance to the subject.
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Wriitten ● Checkk for subjectt-verb agreeement errorrs: See if theere are any errors
e in
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un usage.
The following steps cann help you with
w your prooofreading process:
p
● Read one
o sentencee at a time. Look
L closely from the beeginning to tthe end.
When reading thhe sentence,, look out for missinng words, spelling s
kes and puncctuation errors. Reading sentences one by one can help
mistak
you spot errors faster since youu are readingg them in iso
olation.
● Read the
t paper alooud. When you y read outt, you will hear
h yourself speak
and spot errors fasster. You cann also hear hhow your seentences souund to a
listenerr/reader andd make chang
ges based onn that.
● Consid
der proofreading in a diifferent ordeer other thann top to botttom. If
you read the paperr from bottoom to top orr in parts, yo
ou may catchh typos
and othher spelling mistakes.
● Comm mon punctuattion errors suuch as use of
o commas an
nd apostrophhes can
also bee rectified duuring proofreeading.
● y, to ensuree that there are no misstakes, you can also consider
Finally
sharingg your writinng with a frriend and assking them tot proofreadd. Since
they arre unfamiliaar with the text, they cann easily spoot errors wheen they
read.
Activity 7
Spot the Mistakes:
M Reead the text given beloww. There aree 12 verbs tthat are
wrong. Rew write the paassage with the correct form of thee verb in thee space
provided.
Some jobs is very dem manding butt nevertheless, someonee have to doo them.
Recently, I saw an addvertisementt in the new wspaper wheere ABC Coompany
were lookinng for a Choocolate Purch hase Manageer. The Com mpany were offering
o
to pay ₹30,,000 per yeaar for the rigght candidatee.The naturee of the job are
a also
very interesting. The aapplicant aree expected too travel to Africa
A to seleects the
right cocoaa to be used iin the makinng of chocolaate.The com mpany are exppecting
a lot of appplications forr the job. Thhey is lookinng for someo
one who worrk hard,
enjoy traveelling and whho love choccolate.
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9.5 SUMMARY Basics of Written
Business
Communication
In this unit, we have learned the importance of writing as an important mode
of communication. We looked at how writing helps us to organise our
thoughts and helps us communicate effectively. At the workplace, good,
clean, concise writing helps us in upward mobility in our careers. We also
saw how writing helps us in creating meaningful texts of all types. Finally, it
helps us to think and articulate our ideas and communicate them to the target
audience. This unit also discussed the basic steps involved in the process of
writing which is important in present times as written communication, be it
informal or formal, has become an integral part of the workplace.
9.6 KEYWORDS
Written Communication: It is the process of transmitting messages through
written words
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Wriitten Kiefer, K. (1994-2021)
( ). Editing and Proofreadding Strategiies.The WAC
C
Commmunication
At Work
W Clearinghouse.Coloraddo State Univ versity. Avaiilable at
https://wac.colostate.eddu/resources//writing/guiddes/
King, S. (2014). On Wrriting. Canadda: Leatherbbound Bestseellers.
Strunk, W. (2020). Thee Elements off Style. (n.p.): Auroch Prress Limitedd.
Zinsser, W. (2012). Onn Writing Weell, 30th Annniversary Ed dition: An Innformal
Guide to Writing
W Nonfiiction. Uniteed States: Haarper Perenniial.
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