Business Communications Unit 2 Study Guide

Unit 2 study guide
Chapter 3
3 step writing process
1. Plan
2. Write
3. Complete

General purpose – to inform, to persuade, to collaborate, or to initiate a conversation

Specific purpose – which identifies what you hope to accomplish with your message

Memos – are brief printed documents traditionally used for the routine, day-to-day exchange of information within an organization

Letters – are brief written messages generally sent to recipients outside the organization

4 major classes of media
1. Oral media – best when you need to encourage interaction express emotions, or monitor emotional responses
2. Written media - increase your control, help reach dispersed audiences, and minimize distortion
3. Visual media – a message that is predominantly visual with text used to support the illustration can be more effective than a message that relies primarily on text
4. Electronic media – to use many electronic media options successfully, a person must have at least some degree of technical skill

Multimedia – the use of two or more media to craft a single message, typically some combination of audio, video, text, and visual graphics

Factors to consider when choosing media
1. Media richness
2. Message formality
3. Media limitations
4. Urgency
5. Cost
6. Audience preferences

Topic – the overall subject

Main idea – a specific statement about the topic of your message

Scope – the range of information you present, the overall length, and the level of detail

Direct approach – open with the main idea of your message and support that with reasoning, evidence, and examples

Indirect approach – withhold the main idea until you have built up to it logically and persuasively with reasoning, evidence and examples

Chapter 4
You attitude – by speaking and writing in terms of your audience’s wishes, interests, hopes, and preferences

Euphemisms – milder synonyms that convey your meaning without carrying negative connotations

Bias-free language – avoids words and phrases that unfairly and even unethically categorize or stigmatize people in ways related to gender, race, ethnicity, age, or disability

Credibility – a measure of your believability based on how reliable you are and how much trust you evoke in others

Style – involves the choices you make to express yourself: the words you select, the manner in which you use those words in sentences, and the way you build paragraphs from individual sentences

Tone – overall impression in your message

Conversational tone – used in most business communication plain language that sounds businesslike without being stuffy at one extreme or to laid-back and informal at the other extreme

Active voice – when the subject performs the action and the object receives the action “Jodi sent the e-mail message.”

Passive voice – when the subject receives the message “The e-mail message was sent by Jodi”

Abstract word – expresses a concept, quality, or characteristic. Are usually broad, encompassing a category of ideas, and are often intellectual, academic, or philosophical. i.e. love, honor, progress, tradition, beauty, productivity, profits, quality, and motivation

Concrete word – stands for something you can touch, see, or visualize are anchored in the tangible, material world. i.e. chair, table, kick, kiss, red, green, two, software, database, and data packet

Simple sentence – has one main clause ( a single subject and a single predicate), although it may be expanded by nouns and pronouns serving as objects of the action and by modifying phrases

Compound sentence – has two main clauses that express two or more independent by related thoughts of equal importance, usually joined by and, but, or or.

Complex sentence – expresses one main thought (the independent clause) and one or more subordinated thoughts (Dependent clauses) related to it, often separated by a comma.

Compound-complex sentence – has two main clauses, at least one of which contains a subordinated clause.

Elements of a paragraph – topic sentence, support sentences that develop the topic; and transitional words and phrases

Topic sentence – the sentences that introduces the single topic the paragraph deals with.

Transitions – connect ideas by showing how one thought is related to another, they also help alert the reader to what lies ahead so that shifts and changes don’t cause confusion.

Chapter 5
Heading – a brief title that tells readers about the content of the section that follows

Subheadings – indicate subsections within a major section; complex documents may have several levels of subheadings

Descriptive headings – such as “Cost Considerations” identify a topic but do little more

Informative headings – such as “Redesigning Material Flow to Cut Production Costs,” put your reader right into the context of your message

White space – any space free of text or artwork

Typeface - refers to the physical design of letters, numbers, and other text characters

Serif typefaces – have small cross lines (called serifs) at the ends of each letters stroke

Sans serif typefaces – lacks serifs, ideal for the larger sizes used in headlines

Type style – any modification that lends contrast or emphasis to type, including boldface, italic, underlining, and color

Multimedia document – contains a combination of text, graphics, photographs, audio, animation, video, and interactivity (such as hyperlinks that access webpages or software programs)