Business Writing FAQs

English 203 is an advanced professional writing course. Thus, this course will differ in several ways from the writing you've experienced in first year composition courses.

• In business writing we use a purpose statement rather than a thesis. Although your business writing will need an overall statement covering the content of your document, this statement is more goal-oriented than a thesis statement.
• The audience is more specific. In this course you will be writing for specific individuals or specialist groups, so your content, organization, tone, and style must meet the needs of your particular reader or readers.
• Business writing is similar to newspaper or magazine writing in that it uses short sentences and paragraphs, simple words, formatting technique and organizational signals to assist the reader in receiving and understanding your message. In some types of documents, visual aids also contribute to clear, speedy understanding. Business writing is also similar to journalism in that its style ranges from objective neutrality to a more conversational tone, with conventions defining the appropriate tone for different types of documents. In this course you will learn the accepted business styles for some common types of business documents, with special focus on formal and informal business reports.
• Your English 203 assignments will often require illustrations (tables, charts, etc.) or other formatting techniques (bullets, lists, headings). Additionally, some assignments will increase your familiarity with technical applications that are quite common in current business, such as the graph software shared by Word and Excel, PowerPoint for slides, or basic web document creation for online display.
• In business writing you grades will be significantly reduced for errors in grammar, usage, mechanics, punctuation, and spelling. In addition, if your document does not appear professional, it will not receive a high grade. There are good reasons for these strict standards. In most companies, your supervisor assigns tasks and guidelines for completing those tasks to fulfill the company's needs. If you do not follow your supervisor's instructions, you either have to do the assignment over (a situation that if often repeated damages your chances of promotion) or you may even be fired. In your English 203 class, the situation is similar: your instructor is your boss; you must follow directions and produce professional results or face low grades.

Another challenge to many English 203 students is the difference between essay research and writing, and business research and writing. Some students assume that because they did well in their first year writing courses the same practices will work well for them in business writing. Unfortunately, that assumption often leads to undesirable grades. Experience has shown that the students who are alert to the adjustments needed have performed with high rates of success.

When you have successfully completed English 203, you will have acquired improved writing skills that will benefit you not only in the business world, but also in your upper division and graduate courses.

Why must I take Business Writing?

Writing and communicating are critical in the business community. Each year poor communication costs businesses millions of dollars in lost time, lost customers, and faulty decisions based on improperly understood information. In addition, English 203 is a lower-division requirement of the College of Business and Economics and some other colleges because most upper-division classes have at least one writing assignment and the professors expect you to know how to write these assignments according to current business practices. Thus, the goal of this course is to prepare you for writing in the real world and for writing in your upper-division courses.

Won't my secretary do my writing for me?

No. Since the 1980s the tendency toward downsizing has eliminated many secretarial positions. Even managers now usually write their own documents and prepare their own slide presentations. In general, you will be given a computer and expected to draft your own work. You will probably also be expected to take an active role in team-authoring some types of labor-intensive documents. For these reasons, downsizing trends have tended to eliminate poor communicators. Businesses are hiring you partly because of the communication skills you should possess as a college graduate. Business writing is the most powerful of these skills.

With a spell checker, why is it so important to proofread carefully?

A word processors' spell checking and grammar checking features are handy tools, especially when you're in doubt how to spell a word, but they fail to catch many errors (for example, similarly sounding words, usage errors, grammar mistakes, missing words). English 203 guidelines in these areas are demanding because correct writing indicates the careful attention to detail that will be expected by the company that hires you. Careful proofreading catches embarrassing spelling, grammar and typo errors, and formatting blunders.

Where can I get help for grammar, spelling, and punctuation problems?

The first resource you should consult is one of the texts required for this source: The St. Martin's Handbook (PH). When your instructor identifies a type of error that has hurt your grade, it is a safe assumption that learning to understand and avoid that type of error will help your future grades. The index at the back of SMH is the most effective place to begin searching for the error type your instructor has identified. If you cannot find the error type in the index, consider what general kind of error you are looking for (such as an incorrectly formed sentence, a grammar mistake caused by the wrong verb form, a comma problem, and so on). Find that general kind of error in the table of contents, then look through that section until you find examples resembling your mistake. Not all writing specialists call all error types by the same name, but the error types themselves are consistent and do follow generally held rules. When you have found the error type and studied the help in SMH, the exercises following each error section provide excellent tools for clarifying the understanding you have gained.

Why do my business writing textbooks include a work of literature?

English 203 is not just a technical course; it is also a humanities course. This course challenge you to constantly think about the human implications of business. Especially, you will be asked to consider the ethics of current practices in your field. Writing handbooks, format templates and advice for success will be balanced by the broader perspectives to be gained from a literary work that examines the human side of business.

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