语言教学|普渡大学写作教学系列Subject-Specific Writing10-Professional Writing10

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征稿：二语写作

Subject-Specific Writing 10 - Professional, Technical Writing 10

10、Business Letters: Accentuating the Positives

Your letters will be more successful if you focus on positive wording rather than negative, simply because most people respond more favorably to positive ideas than negative ones. Words that affect your reader positively are likely to produce the response you desire in letter-writing situations. A positive emphasis will persuade the reader and create goodwill. In contrast, negative words may generate resistance and other unfavorable reactions. You should therefore be careful to avoid words with negative connotations. These words either deny—for example, no, do not, refuse, and stop—or convey unhappy or unpleasant associations—for example, unfortunately, unable to, cannot, mistake, problem, error, damage, loss, and failure.

When you need to present negative information, soften its effects by superimposing a positive picture on a negative one.

1. Stress what something is rather than what it is not.

2. emphasize what the firm or product can and will do rather than what it cannot.

3. open with action rather than apology or explanation.

4. avoid words which convey unpleasant facts.

Compare the examples below. Which would be more likely to elicit positive reader response?

Negative: In response to your question about how many coats of Chem-Treat are needed to cover new surfaces: I regret to report that usually two are required. For such surfaces you should figure about 200 square feet per gallon for a good heavy coating that will give you five years or more of beautiful protection.
Positive: In response to your question about how many coats of Chem-Treat are needed to cover new surfaces: One gallon is usually enough for one-coat coverage of 500 square feet of previously painted surface. For the best results on new surfaces, you will want to apply two coats.

Negative: Penquot sheets are not the skimpy, loosely woven sheets ordinarily found in this price class.
Positive: Penquot sheets are woven186 threads to the square inch for durability and, even after 3-inch hems, measure a generous 72 by 108 inches.

Negative: We cannot ship in lots of less than 12.
Positive: To keep down packaging costs and to help customers save on shipping costs, we ship in lots of 12 or more.

In addition, you should reemphasize the positive through embedded position and effective use of space.

Embedded Position

Place good news in positions of high emphasis: at the beginnings and endings of paragraphs, letters, and even sentences.

Place bad news in secondary positions: in the center of paragraphs, letters, and, if possible, sentences.

Effective Use Of Space

Give more space to good news and less to bad news.

Evaluate the examples below to determine whether or not they present negative information favorably.

1. To make the Roanoke more stable than other lamps of this size, our designers put six claw feet instead of the usual four on the base and thus eliminated the need for weighting. Claw feet, as you know, are characteristic of 18th-century design.

2. No special training programs are normally offered other than that of the College Graduate in Training rotational training period. We do not expect our employees to continue their education, but we do have an excellent tuition refund program to assist in this regard (see Working with General Motors, page 8). Where an advanced degree is essential, individuals are recruited with those particular advanced degrees. Both Butler and IUPUI offer courses leading to an MBA degree.

3. With our rigid quality standards, corrections of Adidas merchandise run less than .02 percent of our total line. Because of an oversight in our stitching department, a damaged needle was inadvertently used and caused the threads to come loose in these particular bags. Since we now have a check on all our machine needles before work each day, you can be assured that the stitching on our Adidas carrying bags will last the lifetime of the bags. Thank you for calling our attention to the loose stitching.

4. We are sorry that we cannot furnish the club chairs by August 16.

5. I have no experience other than clerking in my father's grocery store.

6. ABC Dog Biscuits will help keep your dog from getting sick.

11、Memos

（1）General Introduction

What is a memo?

Memos are brief printed documents traditionally used for routine, day-to-day communication within organizations. According to Dr. Johnson-Sheehan,  “Memos are written to people inside [a] company or organization. They are used to convey decisions, meeting agendas, policies, internal reports, and short proposals” (Technical Communication Today, pp. 84). In alternative settings, memos are used to demonstrate targeted responses to specific topics/questions of interest.

How are memos written?

Learning to write memos can be challenging because they are one of many genres of correspondence often composed by professional writers. The format and layout of business documents vary on macro and micro perspectives -- from country to country and organization to organization. In addition, many organizations develop their own variations of standard styles, adapting documents to the types of messages they send and the audiences they are communicating with.

Nevertheless, the memo-writing genre holds standard conventions that can guide your writing. Developing an acute sense of audience and purpose awareness, which parts to include, and general formatting guidelines will aid your composition of a successful memo. Reading sample memos can also help clarify the rules of the genre.

（2）Audience and Purpose

Memos have a twofold purpose: they bring attention to problems, and they solve problems. They accomplish their goals by informing the reader about new information like policy changes, price increases, or by persuading the reader to take an action, such as attend a meeting, or change a current production procedure. Regardless of the specific goal, memos are most effective when they connect the purpose of the writer with the interests and needs of the reader.

Choose the audience of the memo wisely. Ensure that all of the people that the memo is addressed to need to read the memo. If it is an issue involving only one person, do not send the memo to the entire office. Also, be certain that material is not too sensitive to put in a memo; sometimes the best forms of communication are face-to-face interaction or a phone call. Memos are most effectively used when sent to a small to moderate number of people to communicate company or job objectives.

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