Writing for Business Success/Effective business writing/Video signpost ProsWrite1
View video series – There are eight ProsWrite.com writing tutorial videos in this learning pathway, which are sequenced to follow your text readings, so it’s a good idea to watch them in the order presented. Most of the videos include Apply Your Knowledge exercises. When practice opportunities appear, you can pause the video, and work through the exercise to check your understanding of the material before the speaker provides the answers.
The first three ProsWrite videos are in this topic, and the other five are presented in following topics. The speaker notes the professional writing guidance provided reflects Western audience expectations. The videos in this topic include: Purposes for Writing at Work. [7:59 min.], Development in Professional Writing: Informative Prose. [13:25 min.], and Development in Professional Writing: Persuasive Prose. [11:22 min.]
The first video connects writing purpose to rhetorical contexts of valuing, consulting, informing and directing, and discusses practical applications in email and welcome letter messages. ProsWrite advises most successful business messages address one main purpose that communicates the ‘bottom line,’ even when contexts are complex.
The second video describes six rhetorical strategies for informative writing in context of developing a business plan to address audience needs effectively. These strategies are defining, describing, examples, comparing and contrasting, classifying, and providing outside sources. Try doing the applied exercise on revising a passage from a consultant’s report that starts at the 9:37 minute mark.
Persuading an audience is often more difficult than informing them. The third ProsWrite video explains how to increase audience readiness to accept messages by applying the three elements of persuasion – the writer’s claim, convincing evidence for the claim, and effective interpretation of the evidence – starting from when you’re planning what to write. The speaker demonstrates how to apply these persuasive elements to a business plan. Around the 8:44 minute-mark, you will have an opportunity to apply your learning in revising a passage from an international economic report.
