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Over the past twenty years, Daniel and Judith Graham have trained more than 70,000 business and technical professionals in this practical writing system. They've helped global corporations and government agencies alike streamline communications while increasing profits. Now you too can learn Can Do Writing's ten clear steps―and put writing to work for you.

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A simple, ten-step system for mastering the art of effective, persuasive business or technical writing

"The Grahams' system is the best way to transform data and ideas into meaningful information necessary to make profitable decisions. Their system works every time."
―Steven Laposa, PhD, MBA, Loveland Commercial Endowed Chair in Real Estate, Colorado State University

"The Grahams' straightforward program helps my teams create clear and concise reports, letters, and other documents with minimal effort. I want this program to become the standard for my teams."
―Bill Walter, Senior Vice President, Government and Infrastructure Division, KBR

"The Can Do Writing system made my career! I used it to write a winning business plan and proposal, and now I use it every day for all communications. Can Do Writing provides valuable insights into business and management as well as writing techniques."
―Christian Robey, President, DC Progress

You may be an expert at what you do, but if you can't communicate effectively in writing it may not matter. For scientists, businesspeople, and professionals in fields from engineering to public relations, the art of writing well can be a vital key to professional success.

Luckily, you don't need an English degree to produce top-class writing. If you're one of the millions of people who have to write clear, persuasive, understandable documents for your job, Can Do Writing is for you. Whether you're writing a business plan, a scientific paper, a press release, or anything else, this simple, straightforward guide will show you how to do it quickly, with style and confidence. You'll learn how to:

• Understand your audience and subject matter

• Develop a simple, five-part purpose statement to keep you on track

• Organize your main points into a coherent, sensible order

• Edit your work for clarity, coherence, organization, and logic

• Economize your words to craft a concise, powerful document

• Make your documents easily readable for any audience

Aus dem Klappentext

A simple, ten-step system for mastering the art of effective, persuasive business or technical writing

"The Grahams' system is the best way to transform data and ideas into meaningful information necessary to make profitable decisions. Their system works every time."
—Steven Laposa, PhD, MBA, Loveland Commercial Endowed Chair in Real Estate, Colorado State University

"The Grahams' straightforward program helps my teams create clear and concise reports, letters, and other documents with minimal effort. I want this program to become the standard for my teams."
—Bill Walter, Senior Vice President, Government and Infrastructure Division, KBR

"The Can Do Writing system made my career! I used it to write a winning business plan and proposal, and now I use it every day for all communications. Can Do Writing provides valuable insights into business and management as well as writing techniques."
—Christian Robey, President, DC Progress

You may be an expert at what you do, but if you can't communicate effectively in writing it may not matter. For scientists, businesspeople, and professionals in fields from engineering to public relations, the art of writing well can be a vital key to professional success.

Luckily, you don't need an English degree to produce top-class writing. If you're one of the millions of people who have to write clear, persuasive, understandable documents for your job, Can Do Writing is for you. Whether you're writing a business plan, a scientific paper, a press release, or anything else, this simple, straightforward guide will show you how to do it quickly, with style and confidence. You'll learn how to:

• Understand your audience and subject matter

• Develop a simple, five-part purpose statement to keep you on track

• Organize your main points into a coherent, sensible order

• Edit your work for clarity, coherence, organization, and logic

• Economize your words to craft a concise, powerful document

• Make your documents easily readable for any audience

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Can Do Writing

John Wiley & Sons

Chapter One

To start planning your document, answer six questions in order as you analyze purpose and audience. Treat each question as a necessary technique. One question is about you, the writer: What result do you want? Five questions are about your audience. If you can't answer the following six analytical questions, you can't write a successful document:

1.1 What result do you want from the document?

1.2 Who is the audience?

1.3 What does the audience do with the information?

1.4 What information does the audience need?

1.5 Does the audience know little or much about the information?

1.6 Does the audience need proof?

For recent college graduates entering the workplace, analysis is key to making the transition between academic essays and results-oriented documents. In school, you pay other people to read your documents. Now that you are out of school, you want other people to pay you to write documents. They are not going to read your documents or pay you unless your documents have value for them. These six techniques ensure that your documents provide value to your reader.

Analysis of your purpose and the audience helps you make important decisions about the document. You decide the type of document to write. You manage the tone of your document-neutral to authoritative. You identify the information the audience needs to achieve its purpose, and consequently you know what is relevant. What the audience does with the information provides clues on how best to organize the document. If the audience knows little about the information, you need to write a longer document-often twice as long. If the audience needs proof, you need to write a longer document including more supporting facts.

For some complex documents, you may have more than one audience. If you have more than one audience, you need to analyze each separately. We provide examples of multiple audiences in this step. Each has a different purpose; each needs different information. One audience knows a little while the other knows much. One audience needs proof while the other does not. Later, you write to each separately, either in separate documents or in separate sections within a document. If you have more than one audience, add a seventh technique:

1.7 Plan how to write to multiple audiences.

1.1 What Result Do You Want from the Document?

When we ask writers what result they want from their document, we usually get answers like, "I want to inform ... explain ... describe...." Okay, but why do you want to inform, explain, or describe? What result do you want?

Result? Some writers think self-interest is wrong-as if wanting a result is impolite. If the result is good, what is wrong with wanting it? The job seeker wants the satisfying job. The contracting officer wants the best value at the least risk. The sales staff wants to sell their goods and services. Staff experts want managers to accept their recommendations. Managers want their plans and decisions implemented.

Most successful business relationships occur when two parties participate in an activity that helps both get the result each wants. Likewise, documents succeed when the document helps the writer and reader both get the result each wants.

Therefore, know what result you want, and don't be altruistic. My company wants to inform the client of a new upgrade is altruistic. Instead, identify what result you want from the document: We want the client to buy the new hardware upgrade from us.

Subject matter experts often focus on subject matter instead of what result they want: My purpose is to explain the functions of the new billing system. Why are you explaining the functions? Instead, focus on the result you achieve with your explanation: I want the client to approve the billing system functions, so my technical staff can develop a detailed design.

Never vent feelings: I'm expressing my outrage at the unauthorized charge on my credit card account. So what if you're outraged? Instead, focus on the result you want: I want the credit card company to remove the unauthorized charge from my account.

Be sure to limit the result you expect from any specific document. For example, you want a job that you see advertised. So you submit your resume with a cover letter. Don't write, Please review my resume and send me a job offer. The purpose of the cover letter is simply to inform the company that you are applying and to encourage them to read your resume. The purpose of your resume is to get an interview. The purpose of the interview is to get a job offer.

The result you want from the document affects the kind of document you choose, such as e-mail, letter, report, or proposal. The result you want also affects your tone, such as formal, informal, warm, or firm.

If you write for someone else's signature-your boss' perhaps-ensure that you know what result the boss wants from the document. Don't guess.

1.2 Who Is the Audience?

Having decided what you want from the document, turn your attention to the audience. First, answer this question: Who is the audience? The audience is whoever uses the document's information to do something. Your audience can be a single reader or a group of readers with similar needs. If you misidentify the audience, your document is a failure from the start.

If you don't know who uses the information, don't guess: Ask.

Organization charts do not determine your audience. Organization charts may determine how you route your communication, but not necessarily who uses it. For example, you work in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. You get a letter from Senator Smith asking you to explain how his constituent, Mr. Jones, can get an extension on a patent. A copy of Mr. Jones' letter is attached. Protocol dictates that you reply to the senator, but you need to direct the information to Mr. Jones, who uses the information. For example, Dear Senator Smith: This letter explains how your constituent Mr. Jones can apply for an extension for his patent....

Therefore, do not assume that your boss is the audience. Often, the boss does not use the information. Rather, the boss provides quality control for your document.

Be specific when identifying your audience. For example, you are the office manager of Temps & Co., a temporary employment agency. You write a policy that begins, This policy describes our company benefits for employees.... In this case, the audience employees is too general. Instead, write, This policy describes our company benefits for full-time employees. By being specific, you avoid making trouble for yourself and your temporary employees, who cannot use the information in the document.

A document may have more than one audience. For example, technical manuals often have multiple audiences: The user reads the manual to use the tool, while the technician uses the manual to maintain the tool. When writing a large proposal, you often have multiple audiences: users, contract officers, budget specialists, and legal staff. Staff studies often have two audiences: the managers who decide and the experts who advise managers what to...