Professional Writing

The ability to convey ideas in a manner that is effective is arguably the most valuable skill anyone can possess. There are people in the in the world that are able to get by knowing how to covey others ideas effectively. On the other side of the scale there are a plethora of educated, extremely intelligent, people that do not communicate well with their audiences. ENC 3250 has been a very useful class, it has taught me to: understand the audience that I am writing to, organize the information to be presented, and persuade the audience toward my goal when writing.

The audience that is being written to determines many aspects of the writing. If the letter is written to other professionals that are knowledgeable the subject then jargon and technical terms may be used. When a letter is written to inform the general public this must be taken into account and jargon must be used on a limited basis, if at all. When a letter is written to and employee it is important to use good will building strategy, after all they are your employee. Good will building strategy is also important when writing to a contractor or someone else you need something from. Knowing your audience helps the writer relate to and persuade more efficiently.

The information contained in writing will never be read or taken seriously if it is not properly formatted. People are very busy in the modern world and have very little time to waste sifting through a writing looking for the important parts. If a letter arrives and is not in proper form it may be discarded without even a second glance. The fact that a business letter should be set to the left margin is something that I personally learned in this class that I feel will make a big impact on my professional writing. The proper form of a memo is very import in intra-office communications; you never know when all of your memos will be reviewed by your superior. The use of informative heading and visual weight is very useful in...