discussion 5

BUS202 Discussions Week 5 - Discussion Forum!

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This is a graded discussion: 6 points possible due Mar 17

Week 5 - Discussion Forum 24 27

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Your ini!al discussion thread is due on Day 3 (Thursday) and you have un!l Day 7 (Monday) to respond to your classmates. Your grade will reflect both the quality of your ini!al post and the depth of your responses. Refer to the Discussion Forum Grading Rubric under the Se"ngs icon above for guidance on how your discussion will be evaluated.

Clear, Direct, and Easy-to-Scan Prac!ce [WLO: 1] [CLOs: 1, 2]

Prior to beginning work on this discussion forum,

Read pages 47 to 95 of your course text, The Only Business Wri!ng Book You’ll Ever Need. Read The Most Overlooked Factor of Content Marke!ng? Scannable Content . Review Wri!ng Clearly & Concisely . Review and reflect on the work you have done and the materials you have read and watched over the past four weeks in this course.

Professional wri!ng today is mostly read on a screen, whether it is an email, a memo, or a web page. When reading on a screen, we are much more likely to read quickly or even scan. This means your professional wri!ng that will be read on any screen must be even more clear, direct, and easy to scan.

In your ini!al discussion post, discuss the following in at least 250 words or more:

Explain steps 4, 5, and 6 from the readings in the Laura Brown course text. In your response, be concise—provide needed explana!on without including extraneous informa!on and use plain English. Explain two significant ways you have improved your wri#en, verbal, and visual professional communica!on skills since star!ng this course. Include a minimum of two techniques for wri!ng scannable content. Iden!fy the two scannable wri!ng techniques you have used in wri!ng your post.

Guided Response: Respond to at least two of your classmates—your peer responses should be a minimum of 100 words each. In your responses, do the following:

Provide feedback on what made their post clear, direct, or easy to scan, and what might be improved.

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Rachael Gordon Wednesday

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# Reply

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Step 4: Be Concise - When dra$ing an email, less is more. Get straight to the point and avoid long sentences. If an email is too long or contains more informa!on than needed, the reader will skim (or scan) what you wrote and may miss something important, or your email may be so long it becomes confusing as to what is needed. Using easy-to-read words and avoiding unnecessary fillers or redundancies are are a few easy ways to ensure your message is clear, short, and to the point.

Step 5: Fill in Missing Content, Delete Extraneous Content - Take the !me to review what you've wri#en and make adjustments as needed. Ensure all necessary informa!on is included, and is easy to read. Remove any extra wording that distracts from the purpose of the email, or causes the reader to lose interest.

Step 6: Write in Plain English - Using complicated jargon or shortcut words can create confusion. Instead of using big words in an a#empt to sound smarter or more professional, use common English which is easy to understand, gets straight to the point and avoids confusion.

Since star!ng this course I have been able to improve my wri#en and verbal skills substan!ally. The biggest impact this course has had on me is making me aware of my tone and my posture when speaking to others. I have always been unsure of what to do with my arms and hands while talking to someone and many !mes would cross my arms without even realizing. I now take the !me to be aware of my ac!ons while also watching my pitch and tone. Another significant change I have been able to implement is with my wri!ng. While I've never really struggled with wri!ng emails, I have found new ways to state my point and get precise answers from others.

The two techniques that stood out to me for wri!ng scannable content would be using short sentences, and using things such as bullet points, bold text, and appropriate headers. By crea!ng content that is clear and easy to read, you will gain the audience's a#en!on and intrigue them to read further. If they click on a website and their a#en!on isn't drawn to something right away, generally they will not stay on the website for more than a few seconds.

To make this post scannable I have included bolded headlines for the 3 steps above, and I have separated each topic into a separate paragraph which gives the reader an easy way to locate specific informa!on they may be looking for.

References:

Brown, L. (2019). The Only Business Wri!ng Book You'll Ever Need. W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. h#ps://pla%orm.virdocs.com/r/s/0/doc/526574/sp/24249787/mi/85648316

Su#er, B. (2015, December 18). The Most Overlooked Factor Of Content Marke!ng? Scannable Content. Forbes. h#ps://www.forbes.com/sites/briansu#er/2015/12/18/the-most-overlooked-factor-of-content-marke!ng/?sh=45b207a34343

Chris Cayetano Wednesday

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# Reply

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Laura Brown’s “The Only Business Wri!ng Book You’ll Ever Need” provides six steps to successful wri!ng. The last three steps include “Be Concise”, “Fill in Missing Content & Delete Extraneous Content”, and “Write in Plain English”. “Be Concise” includes removing preposi!onal phrases. Use verbs instead of nouns.

“Fill in Missing Content & Delete Extraneous Content” means removing unnecessary or redundant content. Get the content needed for the ask and clearly state the ask.

“Write in Plain English” means to eliminate jargon. Jargon confuses readers. Use single words over needless phrases.

2 Ways to improve wri"en, verbal, or professional communica!on:

Face to Face - Use proper body language and tone. Body language can show interest or disinterest. Eye contact and listening before speaking is key for conversa!ons. Wri#en – Laura Brown’s six steps to successful wri!ng provides a playbook. Email size have been reduced and content is understood by all. Less ques!ons have come back.

Takeaways for wri!ng scannable content:

Use bullet points or bold texts to highlight key points Use brief sentences and paragraphs Limit preposi!onal sentences or clauses Use “white space” to catch the reader’s a#en!on

In this discussion, I used several scannable techniques. I used bullet points and bold texts to highlight the topics. I used “white space” to ease scanning. Preposi!onal phrases were reduced for clear and concise content. I use many of the scannable techniques in my current job. My company emails include bullet points and short sentences to reduce the reader’s !me. Understandable language and less jargon reduced confusion.

References

Brown. L. (2019). The Only Business Wri!ng Book You'll Ever Need. W.W. Norton & Company

Su#er, B. (2015, December 18). The Most Overlooked Factor of Content Marke!ng? Scannable Content. Forbes. h#ps://www.forbes.com/sites/briansu#er/2015/12/18/the-most-overlooked-factor-of-content-marke!ng/?sh=45b207a34343

Chris Cayetano Wednesday

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# Reply

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Rachael,

Scratch that ini!al REPLY. I've learned more with the Roger Love videos as well. I've since avoided arm crossing when communica!ng face to face in the office. I've used bold texts and bullet points in email discussions. I rarely use paragraphs in my field and include "white" spaces. I've also tried prevent using too many preposi!onal phrases. Your discussion post was very easy to read and the informa!on was clear and concise. Each topic was easily scannable with the bold print. The line spacing also helped separate each topic. Your sentences were brief and limited the number of preposi!onal phrases.

Desiree Montes Yesterday

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Hi Rachel, Great job on this discussion! I thought your bolded headlines for the three steps listed above and the separa!on of paragraphs were a great demonstra!on of what we just learned about in our reading material for this assignment. Using these techniques made your discussion very easy for me to read, and I was able to find interest in what you were saying. The only feedback that I have that can improve a message to sound more direct would be to cut out extra words that are too similar to each other in a sentence and have the poten!al to make a sentence sound too wordy or redundant.

Anthony Williams Wednesday

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Good a$ernoon class,

Reviewing steps 4-6 in the reading From Laura Brown gives us a quick look at techniques that will make us stronger writers. When being concise, we are given steps on how to achieve, so that our readers have a quicker understanding of what we are trying to relay to them, We first look at "watch for padding". This phrase will allow writers cut down on non useful words. Word padding to me means using words that do not really need to be apart of the statement you are a#emp!ng to make. Next, we have "fill in missing content; delete extraneous content". The text explains wri!ng in a hurry could lead to missing content. This then leads to important informa!on being le$ out of the wri!ng and could lead to audiences not understanding or grasping our message. We must think before we write, we must also consider , what we want our readers to understand. Finally, we take a look at "write in plain English". This relates to individuals using language or jargon created by business talk, such as military jargon or acronyms. When wri!ng avoid words and phrases that needlessly complicate the statements we try and make.

Since this course has started, I have gained many tools and picked many traits taught by Mr. Love's videos as well as Mrs. Browns test. Reading my classmates posts and discussing with them has also broadened my horizons in the world of communica!on. For one, I feel as though my eye contact when speaking with people is more appropriate now, knowing when to make contact and look down or away to keep the conversa!on comfortable is something I have prac!ced and a#empted to make a habit of. How I speak, by lowering and upping my tone has also been something I have experimented with. These two things in par!cular have made me what I feel is a stronger speaker.

The two scannable wri!ng content I felt was appropriate for this layout and were the best to use were brief sentences and paragraphs. I feel this something I have tried to prac!ce but now with knowledge of it, I can make it happen with actual wri!ng technique. I also feel that I made it clear to use understandable language. Keeping away from jargon or phrases one may not know. I did this by ge"ng my points across quickly and to the point.

References

Brown, L., & Karlgaard, R. (2019). The Only Business Wri!ng Book You’ll Ever Need. W. W. Norton & Company.

Su#er, B. (2015, December 20). The Most Overlooked Factor Of Content Marke!ng? Scannable Content. Forbes. h#ps://www.forbes.com/sites/briansu#er/2015/12/18/the-most-overlooked-factor-of-content-marke!ng/?sh=25791bb04343

Marcus McRae Thursday

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Good evening Anthony,

There is a lot of great informa!on in your post. In the spirit of learning to create scannable content, I want to suggest using bullet points or shorter sentences. You offered a lot of useful commentary in the first paragraph, but it's not easy to scan, primarily because of the long sentences.

I too have gained similar insights from this course. This is probably one of the only !mes I've enjoyed and learned from the discussion posts in an online class. Seeing everyone's different perspec!ves has pushed me to explore my thoughts and ideas and change them if necessary.

Desiree Montes Yesterday

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Hi Anthony, You have men!oned many great points in your discussion detailing the importance of using brief sentences and paragraphs and using understandable language. These are fantas!c techniques to make an ar!cle easy to read and maintain interest. The feedback I have to offer is to create more space between paragraphs. It's easier to make more space by keeping sec!ons shorter and focusing on making sentences about 16 words each. Another !p would be to try using the bold headlines when the opportunity for them is there. Using bold headlines will make any ar!cle look exci!ng and is easy to scan.

Raychel Or!z Wednesday

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# Reply

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Steps four through seven in Laura Brown’s reading were, “be concise” “fill in missing content; delete extraneous content” and “write in plain English”. Naturally, all three of these steps play important roles with each other. The main benefits of wri!ng in a concise manner are to eliminate confusion and have a clear subject. The next step describes avoiding giving the reader too much or too li#le content. You want to make sure the wri!ng is relevant so you do not lose the interest of the reader. While it is also just as important to include key informa!on. If you are direct with the purpose of the wri!ng, and do not offer the reader the key informa!on they are looking for, they will need to follow up for the informa!on they are looking for. The last step explains to write in plain English. O$en employees who have a rela!onship with their peers will use jargons in their wri#en communica!ons. Using this language is not interchangeable in a professional se"ng and needs to be limited. It is also beneficial to avoid complicated words that serve no purpose.

I feel I have improved my communica!ons during the !me of this course a great deal. The Roger Love videos taught me how to use and control my voice in my verbal communica!ons. I have also refined my techniques with my wri#en communica!ons. I learned that being direct and clear with your subject is best in a professional se"ng. I also discovered new ways to use inclusive language with my peers.

The two techniques that stood out to me for wri!ng scannable content are “use one main idea per paragraph” and “use a conversa!onal style”. I have implemented both in my post today. Each paragraph I have wri#en has its own clear subject ma#er. I have also used pronouns such as “you” in a#empt to build a rela!onship with the reader.

References:

Brown, L. (2019). The Only Business Wri!ng Book You'll Ever Need. W. W. Norton & Company

h#ps://pla%orm.virdocs.com/r/s/0/doc/526574/sp/24249787/mi/85648316/

Su#er, B. (2015, December 18). The Most Overlooked Factor Of Content Marke!ng? Scannable Content. Forbes.

h#ps://www.forbes.com/sites/briansu#er/2015/12/18/the-most-overlooked-factor-of-content-marke!ng/?sh=188182974343

Kimberly O"erste"er Thursday

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Raychel, this was such a great way to look at this one. Love's point of controlling the verbal communica!on is a great way to help us see if our audience is s!ll paying a#en!on to us. It helps us see if we're going at the right pace during our presenta!on and gives us hints when we can share a short story, or if our audience is known to us, we can share a li#le bit of humor to break that slump if we are known to us we hit one. I feel that eye contact helps direct how our voice should go with our tone to help steer our message. My mom has always believed that eye contact and control in speaking helps show our audience security in ourselves and what we believe in.

Do you think that by doing this, we would ever look too "controlled" or like a robot? How do we avoid this?

Kim

Jacob Quinn Wednesday

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# Reply

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Step 4 is Be Concise. This step basically means get straight to the point about the reason of the email, message, or text. Avoid long sentences that may bore the reader or cause them to start just skimming through your message. Avoid long and complicated words to the best of your ability and try to stay away from filler words.

Step 5 is Fill In Missing Content, Delete Extraneous Content. A$er ini!ally wri!ng your message, go through it and take out filler words and other extra things that might bore the reader. This step gives you a chance to basically go through the message and make obvious correc!ons.

Step 6 is Write In Plain English. A common misconcep!on is that when you use big complicated words, you sound smarter. In some cases this does help that but in situa!ons where you are wri!ng something, It actually makes the reader less interested and bores them. When using this step simply make sure to take out filler words and make sure your message is using words that are to the point and easy to read and take in.

Since star!ng this course I have done something I never did before. I made a speaking video presenta!on. This is something that was hard for me to do during the assignments because I have pre#y bad anxiety when it comes to being the center of a#en!on but with a li#le prac!ce from this course I have made a li#le confidence out of this. Another thing I have done during this course that I did not know to do before is prac!cing having a script when wri!ng or presen!ng. Having that plan and course of ac!on helped me during the assignments and its a valuable lesson i learned when it comes to presenta!ons.

Two techniques I took from the scannable content would be using short sentences and paragraphs and making sure there is proper spacing on your paper so that it doesnt look crowded.

The two techniques i used in this discussion where to makes short and to the point sentences and used proper spacing to make sure the content of this message did not come off as crowded.

Chris Cayetano Wednesday

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Jacob,

Those are two good techniques to use. Short sentences and paragraphs will help the reader get the informa!on needed in as few words as possible. The videos were hard to do and it took several takes to avoid long pauses and "ums". In my field in telecommunica!ons, I use short sentences and hardly use any paragraphs. I use bold texts on key words, white spacing for scannable content, and bullet points to get my point across quickly. We use contrac!ng companies for projects so I need to be clear and concise. I use as li#le jargon as much as possible so they can relay the right message. Bullet points are used quite o$en in describing an issue or steps to resolve an issue.

Kimberly O"erste"er Thursday

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Edited by Kimberly O#erste#er on Mar 17 at 8:00am

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Thank you so much Jacob! I am so glad that you have found improvements in the way you communicate - but it is a learning process. I am learning something new each day about how to effec!vely communicate. It can be challenging for sure, but baby steps.

Where do you think the biggest challenges will be?

Kim

Chris Cayetano Wednesday

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# Reply

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Laura Brown’s “The Only Business Wri!ng Book You’ll Ever Need” provides six steps to successful wri!ng. The last three steps include “Be Concise”, “Fill in Missing Content & Delete Extraneous Content”, and “Write in Plain English”. “Be Concise” includes removing preposi!onal phrases. Use verbs instead of nouns.

“Fill in Missing Content & Delete Extraneous Content” means removing unnecessary or redundant content. Get the content needed for the ask and clearly state the ask.

“Write in Plain English” means to eliminate jargon. Jargon confuses readers. Use single words over needless phrases.

2 Ways to improve wri"en, verbal, or professional communica!on:

Face to Face - Use proper body language and tone. Body language can show interest or disinterest. Eye contact and listening before speaking is key for conversa!ons. Wri#en – Laura Brown’s six steps to successful wri!ng provides a playbook. Email size have been reduced and content is understood by all. Less ques!ons have come back.

Takeaways for wri!ng scannable content:

Use bullet points or bold texts to highlight key points Use brief sentences and paragraphs Limit preposi!onal sentences or clauses Use “white space” to catch the reader’s a#en!on

In this discussion, I used several scannable techniques. I used bullet points and bold texts to highlight the topics. I used “white space” to ease scanning. Preposi!onal phrases were reduced for clear and concise content. I use many of the scannable techniques in my current job. My company emails include bullet points and short sentences to reduce the reader’s !me. Understandable language and less jargon reduced confusion.

References

Brown. L. (2019). The Only Business Wri!ng Book You'll Ever Need. W.W. Norton & Company

Su#er, B. (2015, December 18). The Most Overlooked Factor of Content Marke!ng? Scannable Content. Forbes. h#ps://www.forbes.com/sites/briansu#er/2015/12/18/the-most-overlooked-factor-of-content-marke!ng/?sh=45b207a34343

Marcus McRae Thursday

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Good evening Chris,

I found it very easy to read your post. Although I typically scan posts (like the ar!cle men!oned most of us do), your post is concise, clear and visually easy to follow. I also think another technique evident in your discussion post is your use of short sentences and paragraphs.

The required text scannable content ar!cle provides some great !ps for professional communica!ons, however, I can't help but think about how these techniques make wri!ng academic papers even harder. Many !mes students are tasked with mee!ng a certain word or page requirement, but if you incorporate all of these !ps, it would take twice as long to develop a paper. That's frustra!ng to me, but maybe it's a challenge that an avid writer can appreciate. It's all perspec!ve I guess.

Rachael Gordon Friday

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Chris,

Your post was so pleasant to read and easy to understand. You absolutely nailed the idea of scannable content! It was easy to locate specific informa!on I wanted to find, and adding the bolded headings with bullet points made everything very iden!fiable. I knew exactly which paragraph I was reading and what it would be covering. I also liked how you made the answers for the three steps so easy and simple. While it can be a force of habit to feel the need to overexplain, and overall make an a#empt to sound smarter (at least that's how it feels for me), it's always a good reminder that less is more at !mes.

Kimberly O"erste"er Thursday

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Class, here is a great video that might help us with this conversa!on!

h#ps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UA-bcdOOUZg

Marcus McRae Thursday

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Explain steps 4, 5, and 6 from the readings in the Laura Brown course text. In your response, be concise—provide needed explana!on without including extraneous informa!on and use plain English.

4. Be concise

This step means to right clearly and straight to the point. A quick way to improve your wri!ng is to reduce preposi!onal phrases, nominaliza!ons, and word padding.

5. Fill in missing content; delete extraneous content

This step involves finding the “sweet spot” in your messaging. Proofreading can help you address this step because in that process you can delete unnecessary informa!on and add essen!al informa!on.

6. Write in plain English

In short, this step means to avoid jargon or slang. Plain English is generally understood and should be used to convey messages to mixed audiences.

Explain two significant ways you have improved your wri"en, verbal, and visual professional communica!on skills since star!ng this course.

This course has improved my professional communica!on skills. Two significant ways are: my speaking voice and my presenta!on skills. The Roger Love videos made me aware of my tone, breathing, and confidence. Although I speak o$en, I now am more conscious of what I’m saying and how. As far as my presenta!on skills, I learned that I have the power to make virtual presenta!ons more interes!ng. U!lizing the same speaking techniques men!oned and using visuals or infographics can help convey messages clearer and make informa!on more interes!ng.

Include a minimum of two techniques for wri!ng scannable content.

Keep sentences and paragraphs short Use bullet points, bold font, and highlights Use clear, understandable/ conversa!onal language

Iden!fy the two scannable wri!ng techniques you have used in wri!ng your post.

The two scannable wri!ng techniques I used: bullet points/ bold font and white space.

Rachael Gordon Friday

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Marcus,

I love how easy you made this to read. Everything is laid out very well and pleasing to the eye. Your post is such a great example of scannable content, it was simple for me to find specific informa!on, and it caught my eye! I find it unique that you took part of the assignment requirements and posted that as a heading, it gives a great introduc!on to what you are about to write about. This helps the audience know exactly what they will be learning about.

Keep up the great work and best of luck in the future!

Kimberly O"erste"er Yesterday

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Seem like you used every step in Laura Brown book to write this post. You demonstrated you got the ask clear because you clearly understood the requirements. You wrote for your reader because I know you know and everyone knows why you are wri!ng this post. You started strong and specific with your headline it summarized your content. You concisely outlined each step with a brief explana!on. Super impressed.

Chris!an Frago Thursday

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Steps 4, 5, and 6 in the readings from Laura Browns course text cover: "Watch for padding," "Fill in missing content; Delete extraneous content," and "Write in plain English."

"Watch for padding" means using more words than are necessary. Examples of this are using redundancies and filler words and phrases.

Redundancies are wri!ng about something the same way twice or more. An example of redundancy is: "this informa!on is vitally important for the mee!ng." Vital and important are both synonyms describing the same thing. When watching for padding, only use one word. Filler words and phrases are parts of a sentence that don't add meaning. Having an excess of filler words and phrases can inflate your wri!ng.

"Fill in missing content; Delete extraneous content" means not forge"ng to include important content, but at the same !me not overloading the reader with excess informa!on. We don't want the reader to work on figuring out what we're trying to say.

The reader can give up reading your message or have to reach out to fill in missing informa!on if you leave important informa!on out. The reader could give up trying to figure out what we want them to say of we provide too much informa!on, finding that in between is how we "Fill in missing content; Delete Extraneous content." Think before you send your message. Know what you want your reader to do and if they will understand it from your wri!ng.

"Write in plain English" means to write like you're having a conversa!on with correct grammar. Saturated jargon and overly complicated wri!ng are used to sound more professional and business-like.

When wri!ng with excess jargon, it can become difficult for the reader to understand you if they do not know the terms you are using. A good rule of thumb is to write like you are talking to your grandmother, not someone else in the business world. you want your message to get across clearly

Two significant ways that I have improved my wri!ng during this class are: Thinking about how the reader will receive my informa!on and "watching for Padding."

Since pu"ng myself in the reader's shoes during the edi!ng process of my submissions, I found that it was easier to get my informa!on across when I had the reader in the back of my head. Before learning about "watching for padding," I found that I have already started to trim my sentences down to their core substances without making them so wordy. Now that I am conscious about the prac!ce, I will con!nue to be aware of fluff that will drag on a sentence.

Two techniques for wri!ng scannable content are: keeping sentences and paragraphs brief and using white space to make the sentence easier on the eye and easier to read.

Keeping the sentences and paragraphs brief allows the reader to stay engaged. Doing this will keep the reader on your page and not give up or leave within a few seconds. Using white space will give your reader less eye strain and a more enjoyable experience. Using white space will also make the sentence easier to read by not having the eye focus on mul!ple things at once.

Two scannable wri!ng techniques that I have used in this wri!ng post are: Keeping the sentences and paragraphs brief and using bold text and bullet points to highlight key points.

I chose to keep the paragraphs and sentences brief because a$er I read the Forbes ar!cle "The Most Overlooked Factor Of Content Marke!ng? Scannable Content" I found that I was engaged when they structured their wri!ng in that way. Their wri!ng was easy to follow, and the jump from a bullet to a bullet had me wan!ng more. Since this was effec!ve on me, I'd like to see if I could get the same effect. I used bold text and bullet points to highlight key points because it complimented keeping the paragraphs and sentences short.

References:

Su#er, B. (n.d.). The Most Overlooked Factor Of Content Marke!ng? Scannable Content. Forbes. Retrieved March 18, 2022, from h#ps://www.forbes.com/sites/briansu#er/2015/12/18/the-most-overlooked-factor-of-content-marke!ng/?sh=5b57385a4343

(2022). Virdocs.com. h#ps://pla%orm.virdocs.com/r/s/0/doc/526574/sp/24249797/mi/85648325? cfi=%2F4%2F2%5Bch3%5D%2F1306%2F2%2F4%2C%2F1%3A0%2C%2F1%3A0

Wri!ng Clearly & Concisely | UAGC Wri!ng Center. (n.d.). Wri!ngcenter.uagc.edu. h#ps://wri!ngcenter.uagc.edu/wri!ng-clearly-concisely

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Kimberly O"erste"er Yesterday

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Thank you Chris!an-

In a lot of research, the wri!ng seems difficult to interpret. I know that if I don't follow along within the first paragraph, I will close it out and find another ar!cle or paper.

Why do you think scholarly wri!ng is to different than our normal communica!on?

Kim

Desiree Montes Thursday

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Step 4: Be concise- Emails should be short and straight to the point unless a further explana!on is necessary. Step 5: Fill in missing content; delete extraneous content- Review and revise the content of the message. Add any cri!cal informa!on that is missing and delete what is unnecessary. Step 6: Write in plain English- Say what you mean and be specific. Avoid unnecessary jargon. It can lead to confusion and several unwanted emails.

Since the beginning of this course, I have learned to communicate with others with much more confidence. I make short pauses when I find I'm struggling with the right words instead of saying um and uh. I speak confidently by paying close a#en!on to my pitch and pace while maintaining eye contact. When wri!ng emails, I gather all of the informa!on I need and write it all down. Then I review and revise, keeping the content short, solid, and straigh%orward while maintaining the connec!on to my subject line.

A couple of techniques I learned for wri!ng scannable content are making sure that my sentences and paragraphs are short, sweet, and to the point. Unnecessary verbiage will lose my reader's interest. My text should contain clear and understandable language. Extra space between my paragraphs will look less crowded and easier to read. I am wri!ng less and including what is needed instead of what is nice to know.

The two scannable wri!ng techniques I used to write this post were keeping my paragraphs short and to the point, aiming to use roughly 16 words per sentence. My text is clear and understandable.

References:

Brown, L (2019). The Only Business Wri!ng Book You'll Ever Need.

h#ps://pla%orm.virdocs.com/r/s/0/doc/526574/sp/24249787/mi/85648316 (Links to an external site.)

02/15/2022 - UAGC Underg…

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# Reply

Su#er, B (2015). The Most Overlooked Factor Of Content Marke!ng? Scannable Content. Forbes

h#ps://www.forbes.com/sites/briansu#er/2015/12/18/the-most-overlooked-factor-of-content-marke!ng/?sh=2c3c4fd43439

Daniel Podany Yesterday

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# Reply

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Hey Desiree,

I think you did a great job hi"ng the main points of each step and topic. By highligh!ng each step you are bringing a#en!on to the main focus of the discussion board. As someone who receives hundreds of emails a day, usually due to poor wri!ng, I appreciate your thought-out plan of wri!ng emails. When wri!ng emails it is essen!al to have a strong and immediate connec!on by using the subject line. In general, people believe that marking the email is important will get their email read first. By avoiding unnecessary words or run-on sentences our !me management increases.

Good luck in your future classes,

Dan

Daniel Podany Thursday

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# Reply

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Hi Class,

The Laura Brown course test steps 4-6 of concise wri!ng are concise, fill in missing content, delete irrelevant content, and write in plain English. Be concise, avoid passive construc!ons verbs, and limit strings of phrases beginning with between, in, around, or about. Being straigh%orward means limi!ng redundancies and filler words that do not bring meaning to the wri!ng. Filling in missing content; dele!ng extraneous content means dele!ng unnecessary items to the topic and ensuring content needed is in your report. The last step, How to write in plain English, means elimina!ng the usage of big words. Keeping the terms direct will help an en!re audience, regardless of demographic, understand the wri!ng.

Two significant ways that I have improved my communica!on is when wri!ng using all the details needed for my audience. When I discuss informa!on not well known, I will provide more informa!on to my reader. The second improvement is my hand gestures when talking. I looked back at past recorded speeches and no!ced arms or hands in my pockets. It is now something I think about every !me I speak and avoid it.

The two scannable techniques that I used were bold text to highlight the key points and, making my paragraphs brief, avoiding filler words—these techniques aid in poin!ng out important informa!on and ge"ng direc!ons to this reason for the wri!ng.

Dan

References

Brown, L. (2019). The Only Business Wri!ng Book You'll Ever Need. W. W. Norton & Company

h#ps://pla%orm.virdocs.com/r/s/0/doc/526574/sp/24249787/mi/85648316/

Su#er, B. (2015, December, 18). The Most Overlooked Factor Of Content Marke!ng. Scannable Content. Forbes.

h#ps://www.forbes.com/sites/briansu#er/2015/12/18/the-most-overlooked-factor-of-content-marke!ng/?sh=188182974343

Donald Steward Thursday

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# Reply

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Laura Brown provided seven-step guides for writers to reference. Reviewing steps 4-6 are as follows:

Step 4: Be concise. The writer should consider the effects of poor grammar. Specifically, these four items:

1. Change passive voice to ac!ve voice by rearranging your sentence structure. Ac!ve Voice: “Subject, Ac!on, Object” Passive Voice: “Object, Ac!on, Subject”

2. Avoid Wordy Introduc!on’s 3. Remove mul!-word verbiage to single-word nouns. 4. Acknowledge remove redundancies.

Step 5: Fill in the missing content; Delete extraneous content.

Understand what is needed from reader. Provide per!nent informa!on to provide best results Review, edit, organize informa!on. Remove unrelated informa!on.

Step 6: Write in plain English.

Remove all jargon, metaphors, and abbrevia!ons to subject. Allowing everyone to understand the conversa!on Avoid long-running sentence structure. Create short, easy-to-read text. Get out of your head. No one will understand ramble. Take the !me to understand how you want to transfer your message using relatable informa!on

This course has influenced my wri!ng, verbal, and visual skills in many ways. Most impac%ul have been learning how to write for my reader, techniques from Rodger Loves videos, and how to create clear, concise emails. Before this course, I did not know that readers lose interest when scanning an email in 3-5 seconds. The ability to structure an email promo!ng engagement has been beneficial. The videos taught me to recognize the nega!ve voice, and body language habits. I remind myself daily to use proper posture, thumbs out of pockets, and use all the vocal techniques promo!ng confidence in all conversa!ons. Before this course I had never thought about the reader. The course provided the ability to create clear and concise requests prevent misunderstanding when communica!ng digitally, “write for your reader”. All the lessons from this course will be carried throughout, providing the structure I need to succeed verbally, visually, and in wri!ng.

Two techniques for wri!ng scannable content that I acknowledge most:

1. Bullet points: Easier apply focal points for readers 2. Headlines: Write to provide your reader clear expecta!ons of communica!on

Two Techniques for wri!ng scannable content were used:

1. Use one idea per paragraph. Prevent confusion by s!cking to the subject. 2. Write to 6 to 10th-grade reading level.

th

Erisnalda Amparo Friday

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Good evening fellow classmates, Step 4 explains to be concise, being a human resources sergeant, I generate hundreds of emails a week. The emails that I generate must be clear and get straight the point, there can be no confusion. There are addressee's that will read my emails and understand exactly what I am asking for, others need a little more clarification due to many different factors. Being concise means not using a passive voice in the message. Though using a passive voice is not incorrect, active voice is more strong, direct and easier to comprehend. Step 5 of the text explains missing content and deleting extraneous context, this is also another practice that I must be cognizant of. I have a very bad habit of giving the receiver more information than what is required. I tend to do this for the sole purpose of building a good communication line and answering any questions they may have. Context that is irrelevant or simply out of context should be removed. Step 6 describes using plain English when writing. Being in the military and working in customer service, I have learned to write professionally but I am guilty of writing jargon in many emails. When it comes to acronyms, the military is famous for it. Because I also work with civilians, I try to limit the use of acronyms that are irrelevant to the immediate subject. I have used jargon before, and it created an enormous amount of confusion. I have improved my verbal skills from watching the multiple Roger love videos, I have incorporated some of the techniques that were presented on the video’s such as pitch and tone control. I practice these two methods because I want to sound confident when I am speaking. Another way I have improved my written communication is by omitting irrelevant information from emails or memorandums. This has allowed me to be more concise and direct. Two techniques for writing scannable content are micro-content to make your material scan friendly and aiming for roughly 16 words per sentence-long sentences make you sound long-winded, not professional. Two scannable writing techniques I have used in writing my post are conversational style: write like people talk, and just use better grammar overall. Your web contents should not sound like a textbook or government bureaucrat. Brief summary: It gives an overview of the main points you’ll be addressing. References: Brown, L. (2018). The only business writing book you’ll ever need. Retrieved from https://www.redshelf.com/

Sutter, B. (2015, December 18). The most overlooked factor of content marketing? Scannable content (Links to an external site.). Forbes. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/briansutter/2015/12/18/the-most-overlooked-factor-of-content-marketing/#406623f44343

Kimberly O"erste"er 10:30am

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# Reply

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Thank you so much Erisnalda! What are some steps to have a concise message? Should it be short? Should it be in paragraph format? What do you think sends the best message in a concise way?

Kim

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