keys to effective writing

Cornerstone Insurance Plc. Business Writing Workshop

Keys to Effective Writing

Facilitator: Richard O. Ikiebe

16 January, 2016

Communication & Leadership

Effective communication is the core of all effective leadership activities

“70% of all management problems are a result of faulty communication.” P. Drucker

Success or failure for most enterprise is dependent on how successfully it does its job and communicates it

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Features

• Great Idea-

• Good and thorough “Thinking through”

• Structure

• Appealing Narrative/ stories

• Convincing Statistics, Facts and Figures

• Understandable Illustrations

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Purpose

Clarity of purpose

– Why?

– What?

– To whom?

– How?

– 5 W+ 1H

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Strong Points KSFs Structure

• Normal Essay/document structure

• (Abstract) it does not apply in all writing

• Introduction/Opening/Lead

• Exposition/Body

• Illustrations/Demonstrations/ Story telling

• Conclusion/Closing

• Recommendations/Call for Action/Prayer

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Be Process Oriented

A good process begins at a place and takes the designer to a desired end

For our purpose we shall have four stages

1. Pre-writing

2. Writing/drafting

3. Revising/proof-reading & editing

4. Publishing

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1. Pre-writing stage

Explore topic ideas

Choose a topic

Research. Gather information

Organise materials to form an outline before writing the first draft.

– (As much as possible follow your outline, but be flexible with content)

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Exploring ideas

What really do I want to say ? – The central message… What do I have to say??

Why??? What is my general purpose – am I writing for personal reason?

What audience do I have in mind for this idea?

At the exploration stage, a lot of thinking is required

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2. The Writing Process

Writing is not something mysterious done according to a magical formula known only to a few Even if you have not done much writing before, you can learn to write effectivelyWriting is not a hit-or-miss affair, left up to chanceSuccessful writing requires hard work and thoughtful effort

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The Writing Process (Cont.)

Writing does not proceed in some predicable way, introductions are not always written first and conclusions last

What you have on paper is not permanent and unchangeable

Writing means rewriting, revising, rethinking.

The better a piece of writing is, the more the writer has reworked it

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3. Editing

The last stage of the writing process is editing.

When you edit you check for:

– Sentences (Do they say what I have in mind?)

– Word choices (Do they mean what I intended?)

– Punctuation (Are they in the correct places?)

– Spelling (Is this right?)

– Grammar (Is this correct?

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Types of Writing

Determining the type of writing you need to do

It may help determine:

– your topic (subject)

– purpose (why)

– style (how) and

– tone (attitude toward the subject)

• supportive, condemning, objective, etc.)

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Traits of Effective Writing

Most good writing have the following traits:

– Stimulating Ideas

– Logical Organisation

– Authentic Voice

– Engaging illustrations/stories

– Original Word Choice

– Effective Sentence Style

– Correct, Accurate Copy

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Keys to Effective Writing

The questions who? why? what? and how? do not function independently: they are all related.Always remember that you write:– Who will read what I write? For which specific

audience?– Why should they read what I write? Have a clearly

defined purpose in mind– What do I have to say to them? The message your

readers need to understand

– How can I best communicate? Style and Tone. Alanguage appropriate for the occasion.

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Your Audience

Pls keep in mind that:

– Members of each audience differ in

• backgrounds

• experiences

• needs and opinions

– How well you know your audience determines what you say to them, & how well you connect with them

– Seeing from the audience’s perspective will help you select the most relevant details for that audience

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Key Questions to ask about the Audience

Who is my audience?

What individuals will most likely be reading my work?

What is the make up my audience? If divers, find their common cord

How well does my audience understand my choice language?

How much does my audience already know about the topic of choice?

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Key Questions to ask about the Audience

Why should my audience read my work?

What are my audience’s expectations?

What is my audience’s attitude toward me and my type of writing?

What do I want my audience to do after reading my work?

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Establish Purpose Early

Establish purpose clearly at the start of your writing Why are you writing?

Purpose controls the amount and the order of information you include the writing

By knowing why you are writing

– you will communicate better and

– find writing to be an easier process.

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Message

Your message is the sum of what facts you put into your writing

A message includes the scope and details of your communication

Scope refers to how much information you give readers about the key details

The key details are those key points you think readers need to know

Adapt your MESSAGE to fit your audience

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Language & STYLE

The how of writing rather than the what.

Style determines how well:– you communicate with an audience

– your readers understand and

– they receive your message.

It involves the decisions you make about:– construction of your paragraphs

– length and patterns of your sentences

– Your choice of words

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Language & Style

You will have to adapt your style to take into account – different forms of messages

• is it a memo or an article?

• A story for an in-house publication or an international magazine?

– different purposes (a drama sketch for stage or tv or radio; are you writing for the ear, eye or the mind? Or for the internet)

– different audiences (a mixed audience? Men or women only? Children? Youth or the elderly?

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TONE

Choice of tone is guided, like your speaking tone of voice, by:– your attitude toward a topic and – Your attitude toward your audience.

Your tone can range from:– formal and impersonal (a scientific report) to– informal and personal (e-mail to a friend).

Tone is indicated in part by:– the words you choose. – how you arrange your words into sentences.– And how you arrange your sentences into paragraphs

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Writing approach

Work on document section by section

Create general statements of sections

focusing on topic sentence

Deepen details of sections if and when

needed, focusing on expanding topic

sentence

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Develop schedule

Be mindful of timeline - between

assignment & submission deadline

Determine actionable schedule, including

research and information gathering

Checklist

Team requirements

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Strong Points-KSFs Narrative

• Language

• Grammar

• Words

• Phrases/phraseology

• Sentences

• Paragraphs

• Transitions/Flow

• Appeals

• Figures/Numbers/ illustrations

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