Writing Well For Business

Know why you’re writing.

Before you begin writing, know what you want to say – and why you want to say it. Are you explaining a situation or a problem? Are you trying to convince the reader of something? Are you recommending a course of action? One way to ensure you know why you’re writing is to make an outline of your main points beforehand.

By always remembering your purpose in writing, you’ll keep yourself from wandering off track. You’ll also avoid confusing the reader. If you don’t understand what you’re trying to say, how can you expect the reader to?


Know your audience.

Effective writing of all kinds is tailored to its audience. Who – and how many people – will be reading the document? How familiar are they with the subject matter? Make sure the answers to these questions fit with the tone and level of detail you include in your document.

Another key is knowing how long your reader or readers will have to read your memo, report, or email. This will help determine its length. One frequently used guideline is one double-spaced page per minute.

You also need to consider how much information to include to meet your readers’ needs. Put yourself in their shoes: What are they looking for? What questions might they ask?


Present the most important points first.

A business report is not a murder mystery; your reader shouldn’t have to guess what the conclusion will be. Present the most important point(s) at the beginning of your document; then use the paragraphs and sections that follow to support your conclusion.

The same goes for paragraphs and sections within the document. At the beginning of each new paragraph or section, state the main point. Then present the explanation or supporting details, preferably in descending order of importance.

This theory works for individual sentences, too: Placing the most important words at the beginning and end of a sentence heightens their emphasis.

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