Minutes or notes? Why and how to create a meeting record
No matter how quickly you can record a meeting, notes and transcripts are worthless if the minutes are not written by a pro who can create a record that future readers can actually use.
What’s “executive” about an executive summary?
When a business professional needs to influence other people to do something not obviously beneficial to them, the pro often writes a document designed to persuade those people. That’s why we have proposals, business plans, recommendation reports, white papers, etc. Because those documents present complex information, they are often lengthy. But readers are busy! So…
![The (sub)genre of the executive summary. [Version 2.0]](https://i0.wp.com/proswrite.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/executive-pixabay.jpg?fit=768%2C510&ssl=1)
The (sub)genre of the executive summary. [Version 2.0]
[updated from the original post on March 16, 2016] When a business professional needs to influence other people to do something not obviously beneficial to them, the individual often writes a persuasive document. That’s why we have proposals, business plans, recommendation reports, white papers, etc. Because such documents present complex information, they are usually lengthy. But readers are busy! So…
The (sub)genre of the executive summary
When a business professional needs to influence other people to do something not obviously beneficial to them, the individual often writes a persuasive document. That’s why we have proposals, business plans, recommendation reports, white papers, etc. Because such documents present complex information, they are usually lengthy. But readers are busy! So writers need to provide their audience with a way…
Does essay writing help you succeed as a writer at work?
Today’s post is in honor of the National Day on Writing. U.S. students spend years writing essays. They believe they know how to write. (And also often believe that writing is meaningless.) What they do not know is that different rhetorical contexts (different goals, audiences, content) give rise to different ways of organizing and presenting information in effective written messages….
Plain language requires attention to the audience
In Part One of my attempt to explain how I understand plain language, I focused on the elements of a text that must be managed to create a plain language document. Anyone who has known me for long, however, could have predicted that I would talk about the rhetorical context of a high quality document in Part Two. …
Plain language requires attention to the text
To celebrate International Plain Language Day, I’m republishing a four-part series in which I defined “plain language” a couple of years ago. Part three was accidentally published last night. [sigh] Here’s part one. Perhaps the most obvious way to define plain language is to focus on the words a writer chooses. For instance, a common proscription…
Plain language requires attention to the writer’s organization
[This post should have appeared on October 13 to acknowledge International Plain Language Day. More important, it should have appeared AFTER parts one and two.] In the first two posts defining what I mean by “plain language,” I have focused on two points of the rhetorical triangle: textual elements like style and organization (Part One) and reader outcomes…
Read. Then write.
One of the most important things any teacher or manager can do to help novices become pro writers is to discuss sample messages with them. Reading thoughtfully precedes writing successfully! The key to thoughtful reading is discussing the sample message in sufficient, relevant detail and connecting those details to future messages the writer will create.** Here are…
Check out the 4th Edition of Revising Professional Writing
The 4th edition of Revising Professional Writing in Science and Technology, Business, and the Social Sciences is now available. It’s an affordable workbook at $39.95 USD, with over 400 revision and editing problems. Instructors get an answer key plus supplements here on Pros Write (e.g., sample documents, videos, etc.) supporting the principles in the book. Each of the 21 chapters…