Scope of Business Writing

Quick reference

• 00:04 Each business writing correspondence usually falls into one of the following
• 00:08 four categories.
• 00:10 It may be instructional, informational,
• 00:14 persuasive, or transactional.
• 00:18 In instructional writing,
• 00:19 we provide the reader with the information needed to complete a task.
• 00:24 An effective instructional document should be clear, and
• 00:27 it does this by breaking down processes into steps.
• 00:31 This may come in the form of a technical document, like an instruction manual, or
• 00:35 a procedure bulletin.
• 00:38 This isn't the time to impress your reader with your range of language or
• 00:42 literary skills.
• 00:43 Simplicity, clarity,
• 00:45 balance with comprehensiveness are key if you're writing an instructional document.
• 00:51 The document should anticipate and answer questions that the reader might ask.
• 00:55 This usually takes the form of a troubleshooting guide.
• 01:00 The second type of document is informational.
• 01:04 This is a document created for the record.
• 01:07 They're usually routine and there's no action required by the reader,
• 01:12 reports and meeting minutes generally fall into this category.
• 01:17 Now even though informational documents are often routine,
• 01:20 they must be highly accurate, as they're often used for reference in legal matters.
• 01:26 The third type of business writing is persuasive.
• 01:30 The purpose of persuasive writing is both to convey information and
• 01:34 to convince the reader.
• 01:36 The text is written to impress the reader and to sway their decision.
• 01:41 When you write a business proposal, a sales pitch, or an ad campaign,
• 01:46 that would be an example of persuasive writing in action.
• 01:51 Choice of words is key here.
• 01:53 As you can imagine, there's an entire industry dedicated to this type of writing
• 01:57 because words are important.
• 02:00 And even when two words have the same meaning,
• 02:02 people might respond to one differently from the other.
• 02:07 This is even more important in writing,
• 02:09 where different meanings can be conveyed by a simple punctuation mark.
• 02:16 The fourth type of business writing is transactional.
• 02:19 Transactional writing covers a broad range of everyday communication, and
• 02:24 it includes official letters, emails and
• 02:26 other types of messages between colleagues or with clients about work.
• 02:32 Even invoices are examples of transactional writing.
• 02:36 Transactional writing is used to support day to day operations, and
• 02:40 would be most comparable to everyday verbal conversations.
• 02:44 All the skills mentioned in the previous categories are used here.
• 02:49 So accuracy, because decisions are often made based on these communications,
• 02:54 so they should be based on fact.
• 02:56 Brevity, because these types of correspondences come so frequently and
• 03:00 usually so unexpectedly, that people want you to get to the point fairly quickly.
• 03:06 And of course clarity.
• 03:08 No one wants to be consulting a dictionary to try to find out what you're saying.
• 03:13 Depending on the relationship between the communicators,
• 03:18 there may be different degrees of formality, but
• 03:21 the purpose of transactional writing is the same, to move the work along.

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