CHAPTER 2
Getting Started: The Planning Stage
♦ Battling Writer’s Block ♦
In the middle of an extremely busy week, Tom was asked to provide a letter of recommendation for a former employee, Marcia, for admission to engineering school.
Tom sat at his computer and stared at the screen. No ideas came to mind. His mind wandered, and he thought about the things he had to accomplish before the weekend. He was distracted by a conversation outside in the hall. He stared again at the screen and gritted his teeth. Then he remembered what he needed to do—gather information and prepare an outline.
Before planning the letter, Tom collected the data he needed. He reread the instructions from the engineering school to determine exactly what he had been asked to do. He located a copy of Marcia’s resume and a brief biography that had appeared in the agency newsletter. Then he talked to some people who had worked with Marcia to find out more about her specific knowledge, skills, and abilities, as well as her work habits and her ways of interacting with coworkers. Finally, he called Marcia and asked her about her purpose for attending engineering school and her plans for the future. He asked Marcia to fax him the personal statement she had written for the application.
Tom then went to lunch and spent the hour thinking about what he wanted to say in the letter. He reflected on Marcia’s outstanding qualities. Then he thought about what an engineering school admission officer would want to know.
After Tom returned to his desk, he made the following informal outline:
Recommendation for Marcia Thompson
• First-hand knowledge of Marcia
– Worked with her for three years
– Collaborated on many projects
– Supervised specific project: inspection of bridges
• Personal observations of Marcia’s competence handling the XYZ Project
• Hallmark of her character: honesty
• Teammates’ observations of Marcia’s interpersonal skills and work habits
• Marcia’s thoroughness and adherence to quality
• Comments from customers regarding Marcia’s abilities and responsiveness
• Reasons why Marcia could benefit from engineering school
• Contributions Marcia could make to engineering school
All of us have felt the way Tom did as he faced his writing task. Whether writing a long report or a memo, we find ourselves staring at a blank screen, our minds wandering. At those times, the writing process can seem so overwhelming that we’d do anything to avoid putting down that first word.
If you’re having a difficult time getting started and think you might be experiencing writer’s block, try the following:
♦ Avoid leaving your project until the last minute. You’ll need time to prepare, plan, write, get away from your project, and edit it.
♦ When scheduling your project, give yourself some time to warm up to the topic. Let your mind wander. Many of your best ideas will occur to you at odd moments during the day or night. But try to set a time limit for this step.
♦ Jot down every idea that comes to you, quickly and randomly. If you find it easier, discuss your project with a colleague or talk into a tape recorder. You can dictate much faster—some say six times faster—than you can write.
♦ If you run into a roadblock after you get started, take a break and let your ideas incubate. When you return in a few minutes or hours, you can select the essential ideas, add new ideas, and delete irrelevant ideas.
♦ Don’t confuse writing with editing. Writing proceeds much more easily when writers understand the phases of the writing process:
– Planning
– Drafting
– Editing
Although you might move back and forth from one stage to another, the important thing to remember is not to combine the stages. Each stage requires a distinctly different process and way of thinking. For example, during the drafting phase, you should not edit. Drafting requires that you allow your thoughts to flow freely. If you try to edit while you draft, you’ll inhibit the flow of ideas.
GUIDELINES FOR PLANNING
It pays to take the time to plan ahead before you begin writing, even when your message is short and even when you have to write under deadline pressure. It’s like looking at a road map before you start driving to a new destination: If you know where you’re going before you start, you’re less likely to get lost along the way.
For any kind of writing—for emails, letters, or reports— you need to make sure that you understand three things: (1) your purpose, (2) your audience, and (3) your subject.
Know Your Purpose
Before you begin, ask yourself why you are writing. This will save time for both you and others. If you are carrying out an assigned writing project, get as much guidance as possible before you begin. You don’t want to spend days or even weeks on a document only to find out that you are on the wrong track.
If this is not an assigned writing project, ask yourself the following questions before you start:
♦ Should I be writing this? At this time?
♦ Would a phone call or meeting be more effective?
♦ Am I too late to send this?
♦ Is someone else communicating the same information? Should I check with that person?
♦ Should I include deadlines? What actions, if any, should I request?
♦ Should I send this by email, traditional mail, or fax?
Decide what effect you want to have on your reader. Identify the most important idea—the one you want the reader to remember. A one- or two-sentence purpose statement helps get you started. It forces you to decide exactly why you are writing. It directs your effort and becomes the lens through which you view the entire writing project. Your purpose statement becomes the lead-in to your outline and often becomes the first words in the document itself.
When writing your purpose statement, ask yourself:
♦ What’s the best outcome for my agency? What do I need to say to get this outcome?
♦ What’s the best outcome for the reader? What do I need to say to get this outcome?
The following are examples of purpose statements:
♦ To persuade the deputy to add three new staff members to the human resources team
♦ To provide background information on a policy that is coming up for review
♦ To direct employees to use a new timesheet procedure
When you don’t have a clear and explicit purpose, you run the risk of writing more than is necessary, giving the wrong information, or sending an unclear message.
Know Your Audience
The PLAIN website gives the following advice:
You have to grab your reader’s attention if you want to get your ideas across. Let’s face it, readers want to know just what applies to them. The best way to grab and hold their attention is to figure out who they are and what they want to know. Put yourself in their shoes; it will give you a new perspective.1
Role of the Reader
To determine your reader’s technical expertise, you need to consider his or her role. For example, a network engineer has different responsibilities, and a different type of expertise, than a personnel manager. Typically, the role of your reader determines what the reader knows about your subject, the reader’s decision-making level, and the type or form of information needed.
Your reader’s technical expertise will in turn tell you what kind of background information you must supply to guide your reader from Point A to Point B in as straight a line as possible. Also, your reader’s knowledge of your subject will determine what kind of technical jargon and acronyms would be appropriate or inappropriate.
Figure 2-1 illustrates the categories of readers, their decision-making levels, their knowledge of the subject, and the type or form of information they need. Although this chart applies to readers of technical information, it is also a useful guide for other types of information.
Likely Reaction of the Reader
Regardless of your reader’s role, you need to determine how he or she will react to your document. Are you delivering good news or bad news? Will the reader like your recommendations or resist them? Should you state your case forcefully, or will that make the reader defensive? To gauge your reader’s reaction, ask yourself the following questions:
♦ Is your message in alignment with your reader’s goals and values?
♦ Are you disputing the data?
♦ Will your reader lose face by accepting your recommendations?
Figure 2-1 ♦ Categories of Readers
♦ Will your message create more work for your reader?
♦ Will your reader get pressure from his or her manager because of your message?
Once you have answered these questions, you can write your document in a way that minimizes negative reactions.
Writing Regulations for More Than One Reader
A document often has many readers. You might be writing to exporters and importers, coal miners and surface owners, or airlines and passengers. Even if your document goes to only one person, others might read it later. When you write to multiple readers who have a similar knowledge of, and attitude toward, your subject, you can write to one representative person in the audience.
But what if your intended readers have different levels of knowledge or interest or different roles? What do you do? The following are some tips for writing regulations for diverse audiences:2
♦ Break your document down into the essential elements.
♦ Determine which elements apply to each part of your audience.
♦ Group the elements according to the audience that will be affected. If you are writing about research grants for university professors, first tell the professors what they have to do and then tell the university accounting department what it has to do.
♦ Clearly identify to whom you are speaking in each section. Don’t make a reader go through material only to find out at the end that the section doesn’t apply.
Writing Letters and Reports for More Than One Reader
When you are writing a letter, you generally write to only one person. However, you must consider the possibility of additional readers. For example, if you write to a member of Congress about a constituent problem, someone in the congressperson’s office might attach a cover letter and send your letter on to the constituent without any further explanation. Therefore, you must write so that both audiences understand your letter.
Distinguish between primary readers (such as the member of Congress) and secondary readers (such as the constituent). Primary readers are those who have the greatest need to know. They are the decision-makers, the ones who will need to act after reading your report. Therefore, they are the ones you should cater to. Secondary readers are those who, though interested, do not need the same level of detail.
For reports, consider including the following for both primary and secondary readers:3
♦ A cover memo providing background information and guidance
♦ An executive summary of your report
♦ A table of contents
♦ Informative headings
♦ Marginal notations
♦ Definitions of any technical terms
♦ Appendices or attachments for information of interest only to specialists
TEST YOURSELF
WHO IS THE AUDIENCE?
Below are three versions of the same message, each written for a different audience. Read each version and describe the intended audience. How much knowledge of the topic do you think each audience has? Can you guess the role of each reader? See the Appendix for answers.
1. We modified the M.T.I. by installing a K-59 double-decade circuit. This brightened moving targets by 12 percent and reduced ground clutter by 23 percent.
2. We modified the radar set’s Moving Target indicator by installing a special circuit known as the K-59. This increased the brightness of responses from aircraft and decreased returns from fixed objects on the ground.
3. We have modified the airfield radar system to improve its performance. This modification has helped us to differentiate more clearly between low-lying aircraft and high objects on the ground.
Know Your Subject
Once you’ve determined your purpose and identified your audience, you need to research your subject. Collect all the information you need (but don’t overdo it).
♦ Review:
– Correspondence
– Policy directives
– Administrative memos or any other papers related to your task
♦ Consult with people who can lend knowledge or insight.
♦ Analyze your notes or your data collection.
♦ Sift through it to determine what is useful and what is not.
♦ Organize useful material into meaningful groups.
GUIDELINES FOR BRAINSTORMING AND ORGANIZING
Once you’ve determined your purpose, audience, and subject, think about what you have to say and then organize your thoughts. The larger your writing project, the more you need to plan and prepare a useful outline. First, spend some time brainstorming. Let your ideas flow freely, get them down on paper, then evaluate and organize them. The following are some suggestions for brainstorming or generating ideas.
The Mind Map
Mind mapping, a technique originated by Tony Buzan, uses a nonlinear, pictorial way of presenting ideas and their relationship to each other.4 To brainstorm in this way, follow these steps:
♦ In the center of a large piece of paper, write the most important word or phrase describing your main idea (e.g., a proposal for new software). Circle it.
♦ Draw lines radiating outward from that main idea. Each line represents another important concept you want to present (e.g., costs).
♦ Along each line, draw smaller lines representing related or supporting ideas (e.g., software).
♦ Continue this process, throwing in ideas as they occur to you, until you have developed a wheel-like picture (as shown in Figure 2-2) of the ideas you want to cover.
♦ Edit your mind map. Think about the relationship of outside items to the center item. Combine or move ideas for better organization.
♦ Organize those ideas into a traditional outline.
The Questioning Technique
Create an imaginary dialogue in which you play two parts: the writer and the reader. List questions the reader will ask, and write your answers underneath. Answer your questions as clearly and completely as possible. Then organize those ideas into a traditional outline.
The following are some examples:
Index Cards
This tried-and-true term paper technique allows you to rearrange ideas easily. Simply use one card for each item of information you want to cover, and then sort the cards, arranging them into piles of similar topics.
Sticky Notes or Movable Tape
Like index cards, sticky notes (e.g., Post-its®) and tape allow you to rearrange your ideas easily. Simply write down one idea on each note or strip of tape, and then arrange them on a large piece of paper.
Free Writing
If you can’t come up with any ideas using the above methods, try simply writing down whatever comes to mind. For example:
Meetings drag on and on. I wonder what we could do to speed them up, make them more efficient. We all talk too much, get off the topic. There goes Steve. Maybe we could get some thoughts from him. An agenda? We don’t use one. Time limits? I just talked to Mary, and she said their meetings at the Labor Department have improved. Must check with her to see what they did.
As you can see, the writer has already generated several ideas about improving meetings. Later, the writer can review the text and use an outline to organize the ideas.
GUIDELINES FOR OUTLINING
Why write an outline?
♦ The outline provides structure and organization. It illustrates the relationship of ideas.
♦ It shows you visibly whether you have enough information. For example, if your outline includes only one subheading for a topic, you know that you need to get more data or delete the topic.
♦ It speeds up the review process when someone in the organization must approve the document. It’s much easier to make changes at the outline stage, before you invest time in the draft. And reviewers who approve an outline are much less likely to request major changes later.
Outlines can take several different forms. They can vary from the very informal checklist to the formal Harvard outline.
The Checklist
Use this system to generate and arrange your ideas. The checklist would include a list of words and phrases that cover key points, with space to insert examples, facts, and other supporting material as you go along.
The Semiformal Outline
This is a compromise between the standard outline and the checklist. In this outline, you can show major ideas and the levels of ideas subordinate to them. You may choose to use capitalization, dashes, numbers, indentations, or other means to show the relationships between ideas.
The Traditional Outline
This is the standard (or Harvard) outline. It has a formal framework of Roman and Arabic numerals and uppercase and lowercase letters, arranged with indentations and headings of equal importance. An example might be:
The traditional outline can be written by hand or on the computer, using the outline view in Microsoft® Word. The advantage of using a computer in the outlining stage is that it allows you to see your ideas as they occur and to reorganize them easily.
The Electronic Outline
The larger the amount of information you’re including in your document, the harder it is to organize. Outlining software can be a useful tool. You can find outlining modules in word processing programs like Microsoft® Word and Corel WordPerfect®, and in presentation packages like Microsoft® PowerPoint. Outlining software packages, including Maxthink and EzOutliner for PCs and OmniOut-liner for the Apple® Mac, are also available.
With electronic outlining, you can single out and display all items at the top level of your hierarchy and ignore everything else in your document. This helps you see if your sequence of major topics makes sense. You can also hide or reveal subheads under any major heading. In addition, the software automatically formats for you: You don’t have to worry about numbers and letters.
Turning Generated Ideas into an Outline
What are the steps in going from brainstorming techniques like mind mapping, Post-its®, or free writing to writing an outline?
1. Record random ideas quickly into a nonlinear (messy) outline. Use free association to scribble down points.
2. Show relationships. Survey your page of ideas, locate the three or four main points that indicate the direction your document will take, and circle them. Then draw lines to connect these main points to their supporting points.
3. Arrange the points in an order that makes sense.
4. Draft a final outline. Whether you use a Harvard outline (traditional format with Roman numerals, etc.) or a more informal style, you should include the following features:
• Depth. Be sure the entire outline has enough support to develop the draft.
• Balance. Include enough detail for all of your main points. Make sure that each part has at least two subdivisions.
• Parallel form. Give points in the same grouping the same grammatical form. For example, use either topics or complete sentences for all of your points.
Writing an Outline after the Draft
If you have a difficult time developing an outline, an alternative plan is to write your outline after writing your first draft. Read through your draft and jot down in the margin, next to each paragraph, the main thought in that paragraph. If you find that the paragraph doesn’t seem to have a main thought, or has too many of them, make a note of that. Then read back over those margin notes, and figure out which paragraphs fit together in big sections and which are smaller subsections. Write an outline of what you see. Writing such an outline lets you examine the skeleton of your document and figure out what the outline of the next draft should be.
Whatever system you use to generate and organize your ideas, don’t hesitate to revise and reorganize the outline as the writing proceeds. An outline is only a guide, and you should not feel constricted by it.
GUIDELINES FOR SEQUENCING YOUR IDEAS
After you’ve generated ideas and produced some kind of an outline, check over your outline to make sure that you’ve put your ideas in the best order for impact. When you use the appropriate method of development, your readers are drawn to your ideas and can follow your line of thought. Below are the most common ways to sequence your ideas, depending on whether the goal is to inform or to persuade.
Documents to Inform
♦ Inverted pyramid. Memo announcing a meeting. Give the most important information first.
♦ Order of familiarity. Explanation of how a new system or product operates. Go from the most familiar to the least.
♦ Order of location. Description of new office building. Use spatial or geographic order.
♦ Alphabetical order. Biographies of new employees.
♦ Chronological order. Annual reports, minutes of meetings, case histories.
♦ Category order. Deals with topics that go together. Classifies ideas into reasonable categories.
♦ Inductive order. Articles for trade publications. Go from specific examples to generalized conclusions.
♦ List. Memo to boss giving projects you’re working on.
♦ Order for comparison. Two or more ideas, products, places, or employees. You have two choices: (1) point-by-point comparison or (2) block comparison.
♦ Deductive order. Memo explaining a new idea, such as why you need new computer software. Start with the general principle and support it with examples.
Documents to Persuade
♦ Statement of reasons method. This method is very similar to the category order method for documents to inform, except that each main point is a reason why your readers should accept and agree with your point of view.
♦ Comparative advantages method. As you look at a list of reasons why your readers should accept your point of view, you might see that the best reasons are phrased as advantages over the procedure now in practice.
♦ Problem-solution method. The main points should be formulated to show that:
– There is a problem that requires a change in attitude or behavior.
– The solution you are presenting will solve the problem.
– Your solution is the best possible solution to this particular problem.
♦ Most acceptable to least acceptable. This order is useful when you know or can predict what the reader is likely to accept or reject.
SELECTING THE PURPOSE AND SEQUENCE
Read the following paragraphs. Select the paragraph that states the purpose. Put a “1” next to it. Then use the numbers 2, 3, 4, and 5 to indicate the appropriate sequence for the remaining paragraphs of the letter.
We will occupy the entire eighth and ninth floors. To reach the reception area, take the lobby elevator and go to the eighth floor. When you get there, someone will show you to your office. Most of the sales offices will be on that floor, while other offices, including research and development, as well as finance and administration, will be on the ninth floor.
The address of the building is 700 Market Street, which is between Maple Avenue and Grant Street. The building is a large, 10-story brick building set back from the street.
Most of the offices will have the new desks, chairs, and bookcases that you selected. Some offices will include additional chairs and tables.
We are happy to announce that our new headquarters are ready for occupancy. We have scheduled the move for September 25. Before then, however, we would like each of you to visit the new offices.
Please check your office and make sure everything you ordered is there. We look forward to hearing from you and hope you will let us know of anything you need.
What ordering system would you use to organize these paragraphs? See the Appendix for the answer and a suggested revision of the letter.
Writing can proceed much more easily if you understand the phases in the writing process: (1) planning, (2) drafting, and (3) editing. Each phase should be distinct and separate. During the planning stage, you must understand the purpose, the audience or reader, and the subject of the document. To make sure you understand the purpose, get as much guidance as possible at the beginning of your project.
Readers can be categorized according to their roles: managers, experts or advisors, operators, and general readers or laypersons. For each of these reader categories, you need to determine the decision-making level, knowledge of the subject, type or form of information needed, and likely reaction to what you write. If you are writing for a diverse audience, you need to speak to both primary and secondary readers. To understand your subject, make sure you collect and analyze relevant information.
Once you’ve determined your purpose, audience, and subject, you’re ready to produce an outline. You may start with a nonlinear form, then determine relationships and the order of the topics. Once you do that, you’re ready to create a formal or semiformal outline. This is a “working outline,” which you might want to change as you draft your document.
NOTES
1 Plain Language Action and Information Network, “Identify and write for your audience.” Online at http://www.plainlanguage.gov (accessed March 2007).
2 Plain Language Action and Information Network, “Using Writer-Friendly Documents.” Online at http://www.plainlanguage.gov (accessed March 2007).
3 Maryann V. Piotowski, Effective Business Writing: A Guide for Those Who Write on the Job (New York: Harper Collins, 1996), 7–8.
4 Tony Buzan, The Mind Map Book (New York: Penguin, 1991).