Stephanie A’s Tips on Courteous Writing

With all the hustle and bustle of the business world, it may be easy to overlook professional courtesy. However, good manners never go out of style. Everyone appreciates writing that has a kind and respectful tone. As professionals, we must keep in mind that our writing should include those little social niceties that everyone appreciates.

In order to incorporate these niceties into our writing, it may be helpful to know what courteous writing entails. Here are some great tips on incorporating courteous elements into our writing:

• Proper salutations

Everyone appreciates having the correct salutation attached to their name. If a person is a doctor or if a woman is married, they expect to have the correct salutation in a business letter. I think that if a person has earned a specific title, like a Ph.D. or a law degree, they appreciate it when the appropriate salutation is used.

• Proper greetings

The standard and most widely accepted way that a greeting is used to open a letter is “Dear,” followed by the proper salutation, and the person’s last name. If you write a letter without using this standard opening, it may immediately alienate your reader. Also, the greeting of “To Whom it May Concern,” often comes off as cold or distant.

• Proper tone

You should always try to use the appropriate tone or attitude in your business correspondence. The better you know someone, the more informal the tone can be. However, in most business settings, the tone should remain somewhat formal. This formal tone relays the fact that your message is courteous, but should also be taken seriously. The proper tone should make the reader comfortable, while maintaining a certain level of respect.

• Clarity

Courteous writing should be respectful, clear, and concise. Clarity is important because it does not waste valuable time. Confusing messages will often be perceived as wasteful by the reader. Clarity of thought and purpose is another essential element of a courteous letter.

These tips can help everyone become a more courteous writer. A little courtesy can go a long way in the business world. After all, who doesn’t appreciate a simple “please” and “thank you”? I know I do!

Check out these sites for more great tips on becoming a more courteous writer:

http://www.businesswritingblog.com/business_writing/courteous_writing/

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/652/01/

Stephanie A's Persuasive Writing Tips

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At some point in our careers, there may come a time when we need to write a persuasive message convincing others to act in a certain way. In order to do this, our writing needs to be effective and convincing. This style of writing may sound tricky, but these tips I found from Supaproofread.com should help:

• Be confident

Use strong, unequivocal language in your writing to show your reader that you are confident and mean business.

• Use the active voice

Using the active voice instead of the passive voice will cause your writing to be more direct and concise.

• Do your research

You must have your facts straight if you want your writing to be persuasive and taken seriously.

• Use proper grammar and spelling

In order to be convincing, your writing must be grammatically correct. Errors will cause people to question your abilities.

These helpful tips can help anyone to write more persuasively!

For more of these great tips, check out this site:

http://www.supaproofread.com/documents/ten-tips-for-persuasive-writing.pdf

Stephanie A’s Legal Writing Tips

For those of us interested in working in the legal field, it is important to have a good understanding of the type of writing that will be required. Legal writing is actually quite different than other styles of writing, so I thought I would do a little research to find useful writing tips that can help those interested in working in a legal environment.

The University of Miami School of Law offers some great advice on how to become a better legal writer. Here are some of the tips that stood out to me:

• Avoid using the Passive voice

Legal writing should be persuasive. When you use the passive voice, it sounds like you are unsure of yourself, and it lacks clarity. Instead, use the active voice to make your writing more direct and effective.

• Avoid wordiness

Unnecessary phrases tend to make legal writing cluttered. Try to use short, concise phrases instead. For instance, do not use “due to the fact that” when “because” will suffice.

• Use gender-neutral language

Avoid using masculine nouns and pronouns for general reference. Use gender-neutral synonyms instead, such as “worker” instead of “workman,” and “persons” instead of “men.”

• Be consistent

Clear legal writing requires consistency. Once you pick a term, use the same term for each reference. For instance, if you use the word “case,” do not change it up with “a piece of litigation” or “suit.” This may cause confusion. Just stick with the same term. It is more important to be understood than to seem repetitious.

I hope these tips will be helpful to anyone planning on working in the legal field. Legal writing is a bit tricky, but with these tips we should be on our way to becoming better legal writers!

For more of these great tips, check out this website:

http://osaka.law.miami.edu/~froomkin/writingtips.html