writing right

Writing RightMaking your writing clear,

correct, and professional

Who are you? Where do you work? What kinds of written work do you produce?

What sort of writing do you do?

Is (likely) your profession, what you are paid to do

Reflects your competence, professionalism Reflects on your congregation/organization Impacts your, and your congregation’s

credibility Proclaims the Gospel (or fails to)

Your writing…

R Grammar Gaffes Ruining The Language? Maybe Not

npr.org

by Linton Weeks, ◦ August 2, 2012

“Good grammar may have came and went…

"I won't hire people who use poor grammar," Kyle Wiens, CEO of the iFixit online community and founder of Dozuki software, writes in a recent Harvard Business Review blog post.”

"Managers are fighting an epidemic of grammar gaffes in the workplace. Many of them attribute slipping skills to the informality of email, texting and Twitter, where slang and shortcuts are common. Such looseness with language can create bad impressions with clients, ruin marketing materials and cause communications errors, many managers say.“

This Embarrasses You and I* WSJ June 19, 2012

In The Wall Street Journal, Sue Shellenbarger observes:

“I will say no more about your friend's speech lest I should give offence to you; although I think that it might furnish many other examples of what a man ought rather to avoid.”

Socrates, as quoted in Plato’s Phaedrus, 360 B.C.

It’s an old complaint

What are your “pet peeves?”

What are your challenges?

Let’s try an exercise!

Grammar & Usage

Always write with your audience in mind.◦ What does this audience need to know?◦ How can the message be conveyed in a way that

this audience can most easily grasp, recall and use?

Always write with your congregation’s mission and purpose in mind.◦ How can I craft the message in a way that best

conveys our beliefs, values and ideals?◦ How can the Gospel shine through this message?

First things first

Correctness. It helps ensure that we use words, capitalization, grammar, numbers, punctuation and correctly.

Clarity. It helps us choose words and write clear sentences and paragraphs that make sense to our readers.

Conciseness. It helps us write documents that busy people can read, understand and use easily.

Consistency. It increases consistency in our use of abbreviations, capitalization, numbers, punctuation, words and church terms.

Credibility. Ultimately, it helps our readers believe we are presenting information with thought and care.

Why adopt a style guide?

Chicago Manual of Style ◦ Primarily for academic writing

Associated Press Stylebook◦ Good basic guide, readily available◦ Essential for news releases or other media pitches

ELCA Style Guide◦ What we should all be using, and it’s free!

ELCA Graphics Standards Reference Guide◦ Observe or get sued!

The right guide for the audience:

Jargon required to become a Lutheran:

Alphabet Soup Buzz Words

A-F CWA ELCA FCTE LC-MS LMM LSS / LSSMN LWF/LWR LYO NCC / WCC SE MN Synod SAWCs WELCA

Acolyte Bishop Circles Confirmand Council Eucharist Evangelical Justification by Grace Law and Gospel Lectionary Luther League Seminary Synod Thrivent

We are very welcoming…

…but we make it very hard to get in!

Writing the Great Commission

Copyright is a form of protection provided by the laws of the United States (title 17, U. S. Code) to the authors of “original works of authorship,” including literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, and certain other intellectual works. This protection is available to both published and unpublished works.

Copyrights, Copywrongs

A work that was created (fixed in tangible form) is automatically protected from the moment of its creation and is ordinarily given a term enduring for the author’s life plus an additional 70 years after the author’s death. For works made for hire, the duration of copyright will be 95 years from publication or 120 years from creation, whichever is shorter.

Copyrights, continued

If you use a copyrighted work without authorization, the owner may be entitled to bring an infringement action against you.

Churches, schools, or other non-profit organizations have NO special status in or special protection from such actions (although the process of education sometimes does).

Copyright problems

There are circumstances under the fair use doctrine where a quote or a sample may be used without permission, depending on…◦ The purpose and character of the use, including

whether such use is of commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes.

◦ The nature of the copyrighted work.◦ The amount and substantiality of the portion used

in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole.◦ The effect of the use upon the potential market

for, or value of, the copyrighted work.

Fair Use

The distinction between what is fair use and what is infringement in a particular case will not always be clear or easily defined.

The only way to know for certain that a use is protected is to go to court and have a judge declare it covered under Fair Use provisions.

Is this use fair?

Use of photos or clip art in publications Use of quoted text in publications Use of music in worship services

◦ Printed music◦ Music performance

Reproduction of published materials (Increasingly) use of material online

Churches are affected in:

Write professionally

Write for the Great Commission

Thou shalt not steal

Summary