Your words, whether written or spoken, have impact.  When you communicate verbally - especially in person - people have a chance to hear your tone, see your body language and thus, perceive your message with plenty of clues as to your original intent.  But when you must rely on written words alone, in a sense, you're more limited.  To ensure you get your point across, here are a few ideas to consider.

Who's Your Audience?
Start by asking yourself, "To whom am I writing and what am I trying to communicate?"  Does the subject matter require something lengthy like a white paper, detailed report or full technical documentation?  Or can you achieve the desired result in a concise e-mail, letter or memo?  You should be able to determine the best means and style of communication very quickly if you think about who will be reading the material you're preparing.

Watch Your Language!
Using lots of technical terms and acronyms may be appropriate for other IT folks, but could go right over the heads of your end users.  If you can't seem to get your XML-rated mind out of the LAN-fill long enough to write MOM a decent letter, please consider setting up Acronyms Anonymous meetings for your department and attend regularly.

Similarly, infusing your writing endeavors with colorful, poetic words and phrases is a practice best saved for the novel you're penning on the side with the hope it will someday be a selection on Oprah's Book Club.  It's also a good idea to avoid slang, colloquial speech and street vernacular.  Nevertheless, it's not always necessary to use overly formal language either - especially when writing to colleagues within your own firm.

Which brings me to the subject of lawyer lingo.  Because attorneys use very formal language in agreements and legal documents, it tends to permeate the entire law firm environment.  Even basic correspondence prepared by non-attorneys is often cluttered with stilted wording and ridiculously complicated or long-winded sentences.  (I'd love to know who first came up with the phrase "enclosed please find" when "enclosed is" or "enclosed are" would work just as well.  And don't get me started about congested wording like "the aforementioned paragraph restated hereinbelow.")

As tempting as it might be to resort to technical jargon or the lemming-like use of legalese in law firms, if you keep your message clear, concise and in simple English, it's much more likely to be understood by anyone who might read it.

Get to the Heart of the Matter Quickly
In a fast-paced business environment, few people have the time to linger over your latest, five-page dissertation on why the firm should consider putting an espresso bar in the server room.  Less verbiage is likely to be far more influential - particularly if you focus on using nouns and action verbs while avoiding unnecessary adjectives and adverbs.  Did Nike really need to say more than "Just do it" to get our attention?

A colleague of mine once mentioned he never read beyond the first 25 words of any e-mail.  While there's some degree of absurdity to his having such an arbitrary cut-off point, in reality, this was a great lesson.  With e-mail particularly, unless you're preparing something like a status report on various projects, stick to one subject and avoid tangential remarks.  Better to send several brief e-mail messages than lump everything together and have a key item be overlooked in the recipient's haste to get through the other 237 messages he or she received that day.

Lay Down a Good Foundation
There are a number of popular methods for structuring a writing project.  There's the "three-point" plan, often identified as "tell them what you're going to tell them, tell them and then tell them what you just told them."

Creative writers, essayists and journalists may use several different formats.  They might present their material chronologically, use flashbacks or build to a suspenseful conclusion.  Academics, engineers and scientists often use a "pyramid" model.  Typical of reports and research documentation, this writing style first identifies a situation or problem, discusses methodologies for its resolution and then provides results along with an all-important conclusion.

News journalists, however, generally get right to the bottom line with an "inverted pyramid" style.  They start with the most newsworthy information - the conclusion itself.  Traditionally, this is the specific "who, what, where, when, why and how" of the matter.

After the "lead," the reporter provides supporting information and ends with less important background or technical details.  The advantage of this approach is that the reader gets the key material right up front.

Employed appropriately, any of these methods can be effective, but for general business correspondence - especially e-mail - a combination  of the inverted pyramid and three point styles is probably the most effective.  Think of your subject or "re" line as your newspaper headline - the first place you hope to grab someone's attention.  Your first paragraph or two after that should summarize your important points and advise as to exactly what's coming.  Bullet points and subheadings can draw the reader's eye to important points further down in the document.  Elaborate with other essential supporting data in the rest of your missive, and let your closing recap the goal of your communication.

Keep Your Writer's Toolbox Handy
Although there are plenty of online resources, it's certainly worthwhile to invest in a few books on good writing practices - particularly ones that focus on the basic rules of grammar and offer business editing tips.  My personal recommendations include:  The Elements of Style, by William Strunk Jr., E.B. White, and Roger Angell; Adios, Strunk and White:  A Handbook for the New Academic Essay, by Gary and Glynis Hoffman; and Eats, Shoots & Leaves:  The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation, by Lynne Truss.  For technical writing advice, check out The Handbook of Technical Writing, by Gerald J. Alred, et al.; The Elements of Technical Writing by Gary Blake and Robert W. Bly; and Untechnical Writing - How to Write About Technical Subjects and Products So Anyone Can Understand, by Michael Bremer.

Caveat Grammar
While most of us could stand to improve our skills in the proper use of the English language, it can be disadvantageous to be so obsessed with perfection that you confuse your reader in favor of perfectly proper syntax.

For example, a traditional grammar rule says you're not supposed to end a sentence with a preposition.  But which of these would sound more natural to the reader's ear:  "That's the book of which I was thinking" or "That's the book I was thinking of"?  And who would have been so bold as to tell Gene Roddenberry that he'd committed a dastardly split infinitive with the phrase "to boldly go where no one has gone before"?

Undoubtedly ghosts of grammarians past are spinning underground as I offer this suggestion, but when in doubt, I recommend thinking of how the sentence would sound if the recipient were reading it aloud.  Will the words you've used cause your reader to stumble over them awkwardly or follow them along as in the natural flow of a conversation?  You can always choose to break the rules of grammar, but at least know what they are before you do.

Giving Your Work the Extreme Once-Over
Good writers either are or have good editors.  Since you're probably just as busy as your intended audience, develop ruthlessness when it comes to editing your material the first time you review it.  Make sure you've covered the basics and stayed on point, then get rid of anything that isn't absolutely essential.

There is very little that distracts the reader and devalues your message more than poor grammar and misspellings.  There's simply no excuse for spelling errors when you have spell check in your word processing application.  Admittedly, you do have to get close enough to the correct spelling to be prompted appropriately.  Nevertheless, there are online resources that can help you figure out the correct word when you're stumped.  Try www.dictionary.com for decently definitive definitions or www.m–w.com, where you can type out the words phonetically and good ol' Merriam-Webster will assist you with possibilities.

Always proofread thoroughly.  Don't assume spell check will catch everything.  Sometimes the grammar check feature can be helpful.  If you're writing something important, however, and your brain is fried from going over it again and again, let someone else proofread it before it gets sent out or submitted.

When All Is Said and Written . . .
The goal of good business writing is to communicate effectively with others.  It doesn't matter whether the material you have to deliver is as motivating and upbeat as a Tony Robbins infomercial or as dry as a midsummer night's martini in Phoenix.  By honing and polishing your professional expertise with words, you can convey a more powerful message.

Copyright 2005.  Kahlee Brighton.  All rights reserved.  Printed here by permission.

About our author . . .

Kahlee Brighton is Learning Systems Coordinator for Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp.  She developed, implemented and now manages the firm's software education program, MSK University.  Previously, she worked for Chapin Shea McNitt & Carter as Training and Applications Support Manager.  Kahlee has written a number of published articles on legal technology issues.  She can be reached at thelastword@earthlink.net.