If you struggle when it comes to writing business papers, you should improve your writing skills in English. Here are 10 great tips to sharpen your writing in business borrowed from academic writing experts from CustomWritings, a professional writing agency:
- Work every day.
- Understand your purpose.
- Know your audience.
- Keep it brief.
- Have a plan.
- Use the active voice.
- Underline the call to action.
- Use the right email line.
- Cover one topic at a time.
- Revise and improve.
We’ll clarify every point stated on this list.
Tip #1
Undoubtedly, you should practice a lot to improve something and become a master. If you want to become a master of the word, you should write every day. Try different methods and approaches. You should compose different business documents that are required for your learning or your work.
Besides, it’s useful to simply write journals or diaries. Write on whatever topics you wish and check them later. Try to find your weakest points and improve them. Try different in writing styles to define the one that suits the most.
Tip #2
Before you begin to write your business essays, understand what is needed to be covered. Always think before you start and you’ll avoid a lot of mistakes. Once you have a topic, create a mind map. Brainstorm the main purpose and write down all the associations you have concerning the issue. Put concrete questions to your topic. You should know the following necessities:
- Who is your audience?
- What should you know?
- When your document may be helpful?
- How to compose it properly?
- What is the timeline of writing?
- Why is this data needed?
- What can it solve?
- How to use your data?
Ask yourself these questions and give clear responses to identify the real purpose of your writing.
Tip #3
It’s important to know who will read your business reports, letters, plans, and other documents. Your anticipated readers set certain restrictions and demands to your writing. Your partners and your clients certainly have different needs. Try to understand what they would like to read in your letter or report. Define such points:
- Age group
- Main interests
- Your relations with the audience
- Things in common
- Main differences, etc.
Tip #4
It’s important to grab the attention of your readers from the very start. To get quickly to the main purpose, you should compose brief and informative sentences. They should be straight to the point. Try to skip those parts of uninteresting texts that readers tend to avoid. Write only meaningful and catchy sentences. Besides, short sentences make texts more dynamic and thus, captivating.
Tip #5
You should always clearly know what to do and how to organize the working process. A good plan is very essential. Many people think that it should include only the writing stages of a paper. The truth is that you should look beyond this stereotype. Your plan is supposed to contain the following:
- Preliminary stages (topic researching, finding information, brainstorming the main question, checking sources, etc.)
- Scheduling each stage
- Writing drafts and the final version
- Post-writing stages (revising and fixing errors)
Tip #6
It’s important to use the active voice in your business documents. When you use the active constructions, they make the text direct, bold, and catchy. Passive constructions lack dynamism and require more words. Compare the following examples:
- He wrote the plan
- The plan was written by him
The first variant requires fewer words and meets the need for economy of words. Besides, it’s simply easier to write active sentences because you don’t have to think about other forms of verbs that should be used in passive constructions.
Tip #7
A good writer always states his main argument plainly. You should clarify your call to action. Every business document has a clear aim and nobody likes purely informational letters. You will want your clients to get in touch with you after they read your message and place an order. It’s necessary to be brief and clear. For example:
- Please deliver any edits by 4 p.m. Wednesday.
It plainly states what is needed to be done and by when. You clarify that a certain action must be accomplished before the deadline is over. No procrastination is accepted.
The wrong message looks like this “Please, call this person back by Wednesday to clarify the issues”. This message doesn’t clarify the time limit and doesn’t explain what “issues” must be resolved.
Tip #8
Focus on your email subject line. As you’ll definitely deal with clients, you’ll send a lot of emails. The headline of every email tells the recipient the purpose of the letter. Accordingly, you should make it clear and concrete. If the recipient sees a weakly composed title, he/she will skip it thinking that it is worthless.
Compare two samples.
“Tuesday’s Meeting”
“Attending Tuesday’s Report Meeting, Nov. 21 at 3 p.m.”
The first one leaves a lot of questions. The second shows a clear purpose and time.
Tip #9
Don’t try to cover many topics in one document. You want your readers to concentrate on a single issue to find answers and solutions. Too many issues to discuss will confuse and reduce attention.
Tip #10
Always reread your documents as many times as possible. This will help you detect your weak points and you can avoid them in the future. Record typical mistakes and memorize them all.