ADV 225 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: The News Letter, Ap Stylebook, Formal Methods
ADV 225: Lecture 3
●Writing tool #7: avoid overused expressions
○‘Emerging’ cliches
○Anything that includes: very, really, so
○Cliches and overused expressions became such because they are
■Widely understood
■Once creative
■Succinct
○Alternatives
■Make them new again
●Put a new twist on the old saw
■Use a metaphor
●Administrative communication
○Also known as business communication
○Much of your work as a professional communicator will fall in this area
●Business communication
○Various formats
○Basic strategic writing principles apply:
■WIIFM (what's in it for me)
■AP style
■Audience-focused
■Usually prepared for someone else
○Formats
■Face-to-face
■Telephone/ voicemail
■Email
■Letters
○Usually a one page document that delivers a strategic message to a tangled
individual
○Usually a single receiver
○Formal method of communication
○Purposes
■Request information
■Offer services
■Make a proposal
■Document facts
■Make a protest or notification
●Good news letter
○One-page letter that delivers message that will please recipient
○Audience is usually one people
○Announce your news in the first paragraph[gh
●Good news letter pattern
○Paragraph 1: deliver the good news
Document Summary
Cliches and overused expressions became such because they are. Put a new twist on the old saw. Much of your work as a professional communicator will fall in this area. Usually a one page document that delivers a strategic message to a tangled individual. One-page letter that delivers message that will please recipient. Announce your news in the first paragraph[gh. If responding to a complaint, acknowledge it without apologizing in a way that accepts blame. Tell recipient anything they need to know to take advantage of the good news. Call somebody, visit a website, mail something back. Paragraph 3: say what the good news means to you (or the person you are writing the letter for) Note: this paragraph might not be needed. Paragraph 4: end positively, add instruction/ call-to-action. Empathize if responding to a negative situation. Don"t accept blame or disparage your organization. Know what you can offer and what you can"t. Be courteous, even if the recipient isn"t.
