Cognate Strategies in Business Writing, Unit 3
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Cognate Strategies in Business Writing
Unit 3
In the business world, writing is critical; Business writing includes writing business letters such as suggestions, reports, plans, etc. These letters can be written to an audience within the organization or intended to communicate with an audience outside the organization. The writing style should be concise and sharp as it is based on mere facts and does not have to be lengthy.
Rhetorical elements and Cognate strategies are one of the ways to define good writing. Rhetoric elements are often applied in oral communications, and cognitive strategies promote
understanding; however, both develop good writing. The nine cognate strategies are Clarity, Conciseness, Arrangement, Credibility, Expectation, Reference, Tone, Emphasis, and Engagement. (
McLean, 2010)
Clarity
Clarity is essential not only in business writing but in every other type of paper. To be able to communicate with our audience clearly, our writing must be clear. Using simple words instead of complex ones will make our writing more effective. We should always get to the point instead of writing around the topic and hoping our audience will know what we mean. There are many different team leaders at my workplace, and we all communicate differently. Some can write a page-long announcement, but no one will understand what the announcement is really about. I always communicate with my team short summarizing the most important things for the week and trying not to waste anyone's time. For example: "Good morning team, this week will be busy, as we will have two different trainings Tuesday
and Thursday from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m; regarding the new workflow and the new procedures. We have a client visit on Wednesday at noon, and I need everyone to show their best performance. I am kindly asking everyone to pay attention on the training as we will have to follow the new workflow from next week and stick to the new procedures. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to reach out to me. Have a great week, everyone."
Conciseness
Being concise is also important for good writing; using words or sentences that are unnecessary can make the writing boring and long, the reader can lose time and not understand the key points.
Every Monday we have a management meeting, after the meeting we need to send a summary to our boss. Instead of writing pages of reports, it is easier to address the main points and write 1-2 sentences about them. For example:
-new carrier- from the 1st of July, eBay starts working with a new carrier; more info about prices and policies will be given on the 30th of June.
Credibility
The writer might be unknown to the readers; hence it is good if the writer discusses his/her insights on the topic, cite sources or share with the audience how he/she learned the presented
information ( Netizen Me Writers, 2021)
When giving instructions or writing a report, I often use the sentence " advised by our client" or " "this information from our client/boss/operation manager/ was provided on this day " I usually attach the file sent by the client, so if the team would like to have a deep understanding, the file is available for them to study.
Tone
In the past year, working from home became very popular, and face-to-face communication became rarer. When talking to the audience in person, we can better express ourselves with our gestures, articulations, but on paper, we need to pay more attention to the tone of our writing, as it is how we emotionally engage with the readers. "Tone is the feeling and reactions of a subject of content, portrayed through language and intonation of language." (Jess, 2017)
I am communicating in writing 90% of the day with my team, giving instructions, asking favors, and correcting mistakes is my everyday job; the tone I address my team members is fundamental to keep a good relationship. Using words like please and thank you keeps my tone friendly and kind. For example, using " Could you please do this task in the next one hour? " instead of " I want you to this task next" can make the teams' atmosphere more relaxed and less stressful.
Engagement
How we engage in our writing with the audience is how we create relationships with them. Engagement is important from the very first sentences; the way we address the reader(s), the words we chose, the tone of the writing all contribute to engagement and creating a relationship with the audience.
At work, I am trying to be as approachable and friendly as possible I want my team to be able
to talk to me openly about anything. As we are working from home, every morning, I address
my team members individually and have small, engaging (written) conversations with them to see how they are doing and give them the daily task.
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Business communication can be very complex and challenging; however, following the strategies mentioned above can make our professional life less stressful, help us write reports,
emails with less hassle, engage with our audience better and make our conversation more organized and straightforward.
References
Jess, T., (April 18, 2017). Using Tone In Communication For Effective Writing
. Palm Beach Content Co. https://www.palmbeachcontentco.com/blog/using-tone-in-communication
McLean, S. (2010).
Business Communication for Success.
The Saylor Foundation. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike 3.0 License without attribution as requested by the work's original creator or licensee.
https://my.uopeople.edu/pluginfile.php/1274816/mod_page/content/17/
BusComForSuccess.pdf
Netizen Me Writers, (March 15, 2021). Cognate Strategies in Business Writing.
Netizen me. https://netizenme.com/business-communication/cognate-strategies-in-business-writing/