Our communication series started with the big picture—articulating clearly who you’re communicating with and why. This second article moves into the practical next step: turning that clarity into writing that is easy to read, purposeful, and more likely to get the response you need. Effective written communication is a great tool in every library staffer’s tool belt. Often called business writing, professional communication includes emails to the director, letters to patrons, press releases, policy recommendations, and more.

Tips for sharpening your business writing

As discussed in the first article of our communications series, defining the audience and purpose of a written communication is the best place to start. For example, if you know you are writing an email to your director (audience) to pitch a new idea for a program that you’d like resources to pilot (purpose or goal), you are ready to begin sketching out your communication. Think about what will capture the attention of your reader. Would they prefer well-written narrative paragraphs explaining how you came up with the idea for this new program, or a scannable, bulleted list that gets straight to the point? 

Plan and draft your written communication

Once audience and purpose are clear, these tips can help sharpen your business writing: 

• Decide how you will address the person. This is trickier than it seems. Should you use the person’s first name or their title? Do you know what pronouns to use if you are referring to a third person?
  
  
• Understand the recipients’ familiarity and comfort with English if you are writing in English. Are you using idioms or expressions that might be unfamiliar to someone with a non-English-speaking background?
  
  
• Active voice helps with clarity, directness, and precision. When a sentence is in the active voice, the subject of the sentence is performing the verb’s action: “The library board invites you to discuss the new material selection policy.” Here, it is clearly the library board that is inviting the reader to discuss. 
  
  
• The passive voice can also be useful, however, and is sometimes chosen for sensitive topics because it avoids naming names or identifying who is responsible for an action: “A policy was passed about requirements for a library card.” In this sentence, there is no person or group named who passed the policy.
  
  
• Use plain language to assist your recipients.  “A communication is in plain language if its wording, structure, and design are so clear that the intended readers can easily find what they need, understand what they find, and use that information,” according to the International Plain Language Federation. Consider the following example from the University of Michigan’s Digital Accessibility page:

Original: All candidates must complete the application in full, and the application must be received by our office no later than the date of August 1st.

Plain language: Submit your application by August 1st.

• Strive for clarity and precision instead of vague, overly general, or ambiguous language. This Texas A&M University guide to precise and concise language is a useful resource.

Review and revise

Everyone should revise and proofread their business communication before delivering it.

• Start by revisiting the audience and purpose. Does your draft align with your original intended audience and purpose?  
  
  
• Try a reverse outline exercise. Is the structure helping you achieve your purpose with the chosen audience? Reverse outlining is an excellent exercise for checking structure and clarity. It works best with longer form writing. As you read the piece, write the topic of each paragraph with as few words as possible in the left margin. In the right margin, you briefly jot down how each paragraph advances the argument. If you can make these brief notes and they make sense, your structure is likely working. If not, it’s time to revise.
  
  
• Ask for fresh eyes to review. Ideally, ask someone else to read it and ensure you are clearly conveying your message.
  
  
• Proofread! Use any proofreading tools at your disposal, such as spell check, Grammarly, and an accessibility checker. Read it aloud and see if it sounds as good out loud as you had thought when you were reading it in your head. Even simply printing the document out and reading it on paper can help you spot errors you missed on a screen.
  
  
• If you are sending an email, consider the subject line. Be descriptive and clear. The subject line should consider audience and purpose as much as the content itself. Do you need an answer quickly? Can the subject line grab the reader’s attention and increase the likelihood it will be read? A strong subject line that supports a communication’s goal can help you get the response you’re looking for.