Good Writing

One common concern is to simply address the question, what is good writing? As we progress

through our study of written business communication, we’ll try to answer it. But recognize that while

the question may be simple, the answer is complex. Edward P. Bailey (2008) offered several key

points to remember.

Good business writing

follows the rules,

is easy to read, and

attracts the reader.

Let’s examine these qualities in more depth.

Bailey’s first point is one that generates a fair amount of debate. What are the rules? Do “the rules”

depend on audience expectations or industry standards, what your English teacher taught you, or

are they reflected in the amazing writing of authors you might point to as positive examples? The

answer is “all of the above,” with a point of clarification. You may find it necessary to balance

audience expectations with industry standards for a document and may need to find a balance or

compromise. Bailey (2008) pointed to common sense as one basic criterion of good writing, but

common sense is a product of experience. When searching for balance, reader understanding is the

deciding factor. The correct use of a semicolon may not be what is needed to make a sentence work.

Your reading audience should carry extra attention in everything you write because, without them,

you won’t have many more writing assignments.

When we say that good writing follows the rules, we don’t mean that a writer cannot be creative.

Just as an art student needs to know how to draw a scene in correct perspective before he or she

can “break the rules” by “bending” perspective, a writer needs to know the rules of language. Being

well versed in how to use words correctly, form sentences with proper grammar, and build logical

paragraphs are skills the writer can use no matter what the assignment. Even though some business

settings may call for conservative writing, there are other areas where creativity is not only allowed

but also mandated. Imagine working for an advertising agency or a software development firm; in

such situations success comes from expressing new, untried ideas. By following the rules of language

and correct writing, a writer can express those creative ideas in a form that comes through clearly

and promotes understanding.

Learning Resource

Similarly, writing that is easy to read is not the same as “dumbed down” or simplistic writing. What is

easy to read? For a young audience, you may need to use straightforward, simple terms, but to

ignore their use of the language is to create an artificial and unnecessary barrier. An example

referring to Miley Cyrus may work with one reading audience and fall flat with another. Profession-

specific terms can serve a valuable purpose as we write about precise concepts. Not everyone will

understand all the terms in a profession, but if your audience is largely literate in the terms of the

field, using industry terms will help you establish a relationship with your readers.

The truly excellent writer is one who can explain complex ideas in a way that the reader can

understand. Sometimes ease of reading can come from the writer’s choice of a brilliant illustrative

example to get a point across. In other situations, it can be the writer’s incorporation of definitions

into the text so that the meaning of unfamiliar words is clear. It may also be a matter of choosing

dynamic, specific verbs that make it clear what is happening and who is carrying out the action.

Bailey’s third point concerns the interest of the reader. Will they want to read it? This question

should guide much of what you write. We increasingly gain information from our environment

through visual, auditory, and multimedia channels, from YouTube to streaming audio, and to watching

the news online. Some argue that this has led to a decreased attention span for reading, meaning

that writers need to appeal to readers with short, punchy sentences and catchy phrases. However,

there are still plenty of people who love to immerse themselves in reading an interesting article,

proposal, or marketing piece.

Perhaps the most universally useful strategy in capturing your reader’s attention is to state how your

writing can meet the reader’s needs. If your document provides information to answer a question,

solve a problem, or explain how to increase profits or cut costs, you may want to state this in the

beginning. By opening with a “what’s in it for me” strategy, you give your audience a reason to be

interested in what you’ve written.

More Qualities of Good Writing

To the above list from Bailey, let’s add some additional qualities that define good writing. Good

writing

meets the reader’s expectations,

is clear and concise, and

is efficient and effective.

To meet the reader’s expectations, the writer needs to understand who the intended reader is. In

some business situations, you are writing just to one person: your boss, a coworker in another

department, or an individual customer or vendor. If you know the person well, it may be as easy for

you to write to him or her as it is to write a note to your parent or roommate. If you don’t know the

person, you can at least make some reasonable assumptions about his or her expectations, based on

the position he or she holds and its relation to your job.

In other situations, you may be writing a document to be read by a group or team, an entire

department, or even a large number of total strangers. How can you anticipate their expectations

and tailor your writing accordingly? Naturally, you want to learn as much as you can about your likely

audience. How much you can learn and what kinds of information will vary with the situation. If you

are writing website content, for example, you may never meet the people who will visit the site, but

you can predict why they would be drawn to the site and what they would expect to read there.

Beyond learning about your audience, your clear understanding of the writing assignment and its

purpose will help you to meet reader expectations.

Our addition of the fifth point concerning clear and concise writing reflects the increasing tendency

in business writing to eliminate error. Errors can include those associated with production, from

writing to editing, and reader response. Your twin goals of clear and concise writing point to a

central goal across communication: fidelity. This concept involves our goal of accurately

communicating all the intended information with a minimum of signal or message breakdown or

misinterpretation. Designing your documents, including writing and presentation, to reduce message

breakdown is an important part of effective business communication.

This leads our discussion to efficiency. There are only 24 hours in a day, and we are increasingly

asked to do more with less, with shorter deadlines almost guaranteed. As a writer, how do you meet

ever-increasing expectations? Each writing assignment requires a clear understanding of the goals

and desired results, and when either of these two aspects is unclear, the efficiency of your writing

can be compromised. Rewrites require time that you may not have, but will have to make if the

assignment was not done correctly the first time.

As we have discussed previously, making a habit of reading similar documents prior to beginning

your process of writing can help establish a mental template of your desired product. If you can see

in your mind’s eye what you want to write, and have the perspective of similar documents combined

with audience’s needs, you can write more efficiently. Your written documents are products and will

be required on a schedule that impacts your coworkers and business. Your ability to produce

effective documents efficiently is a skill set that will contribute to your success.

Our sixth point reinforces this idea with an emphasis on effectiveness. What is effective writing? It

is writing that succeeds in accomplishing its purpose. Understanding the purpose, goals, and desired

results of your writing assignment will help you achieve this success. Your employer may want an

introductory sales letter to result in an increase in sales leads, or potential contacts for follow-up

leading to sales. Your audience may not see the document from that perspective, but will instead

read with the mindset of, “How does this help me solve X problem?” If you meet both goals, your

writing is approaching effectiveness. Here, effectiveness is qualified with the word “approaching” to

point out that writing is both a process and a product, and your writing will continually require effort

and attention to revision and improvement.

Rhetorical Elements and Cognate Strategies

Another approach to defining good writing is to look at how it fulfills the goals of two well-known

systems in communication. One of these systems comprises the three classical elements of rhetoric,

or the art of presenting an argument. These elements are logos (logic), ethos (ethics and credibility),

and pathos (emotional appeal), first proposed by the ancient Greek teacher Aristotle. Although

rhetoric is often applied to oral communication, especially public speaking, it is also fundamental to

good writing.

A second set of goals involves what are called cognate strategies, or ways of promoting

understanding, developed in recent decades by Kostelnick and Rogers (1998). Like rhetorical

elements, cognate strategies can be applied to public speaking, but they are also useful in developing

good writing. "Rhetorical Elements and Cognate Strategies," below, describes these goals, their

purposes, and examples of how they may be carried out in business writing.

Rhetorical Elements and Cognate Strategies

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An announcement will be made to the company later in the week, but I

wanted to tell you personally that as of the first of next month, I will be

leaving my position to accept a three-year assignment in our Singapore

office. As soon as further details about the management of your account are available, I will share them with you.

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In tomorrow’s conference call, Sean wants to introduce the new team

members, outline the schedule and budget for the project, and clarify each

person’s responsibilities in meeting our goals.

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Our department has matrix structure. We have three product development

groups, one for each category of product. We also have a manufacturing

group, a finance group, and a sales group; different group members are

assigned to each of the three product categories. Within the matrix, our structure is flat, meaning that we have no group leaders. Everyone reports

to Beth, the department manager.

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Having known and worked with Jesse for more than five years, I can highly

recommend him to take my place as your advisor. In addition to having

superb qualifications, Jesse is known for his dedication, honesty, and caring

attitude. He will always go the extra mile for his clients.

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According to an article in Business Week dated October 15, 2009, Doosan

is one of the largest business conglomerates in South Korea.

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I really don’t have words to express how grateful I am for all the support

you’ve extended to me and my family in this hour of need. You guys are the

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It was unconscionable for a member of our organization to shout an

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Faithful soldiers pledge never to leave a fallen comrade on the battlefield.

Good writing is characterized by correctness, ease of reading, and attractiveness; it

also meets reader expectations and is clear, concise, efficient, and effective.

Rhetorical elements (logos, ethos, and pathos) and cognate strategies (clarity,

conciseness, arrangement, credibility, expectation, reference, tone, emphasis, and

engagement) are goals that are achieved in good business writing.

References

Bailey, E. (2008). Writing and speaking. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

Kostelnick, C., & Roberts, D. (1998). Designing visual language: Strategies for professional

communicators (p. 14). Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

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Key Points

4.3 Good Writing (https://saylordotorg.github.io/text_business-communication-for-success/s08-03-

good-writing.html) from Business Communication for Success was adapted by Saylor Academy

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