Search The Website

Section C: Types of Audiences and Writing Styles

To do:
-Choose a specific audience before starting to write
-Be conscious that several audiences will be reading the report.

Not to do:
-Starting to write before having a specific audience
-Focusing on only one specific audience


Before proceeding to the writing of a business formal report, the writer should make a decision about which audience he choses to target, and which writing style will he be adapting to?

Audience:

Usually when writing business reports, the writer targets his formal report to a wide variety of different audiences. Furthermore, identifying the right type of audience for your reports is one of the most important steps. In most cases, the readers for a formal report are often two or more distinct audiences; this is why the researcher must take in consideration that there will be several types of audiences, and not only one. These include three major audiences:

· Primary: They will make a decision according to your message.
· Secondary: They will be affected by the decision of the primary audience.
· Immediate: They will deliver the message to other audiences.

Concentrating exclusively on one of those audiences may misdirect your report, and will eventually make it less efficient. In addition, having a common sense and empathy are fundamental to a good audience analysis. Also, someone who is very familiar with a certain topic may first read the report but in contrast, someone who has less knowledge about the topic might also read the same report. Moreover, a writer must be careful when writing a formal report and should comprehend that another individual may not understand some statements made to one person.

Types of audiences could be divided into four sub-categories:
1. Experts: People who know the subject or product very well, and they have done many years of studying in this field.
2. Technicians/administration: People that manage, operate and take care of the product or the company.
3. Executives: These are the economic leaders of the product or company. They take the important decisions and are at the highest level of the company.
4. Nonspecialists: People that have absolutely no knowledge about the product or company.
Once the writer has decided upon the primary and secondary audiences that he will be writing to, he could make sure to write something comprehensible in addition to making sure to answer the following questions:

· What do my readers need to know about this topic?
· What do they already know?
· What is their education level?
· How will they react to this information?
· Which sources will they trust?
· How can I make this information readable, believable, and memorable?

Writing style

To do

· Use of third person (researcher, writer)
· Clear denotations: A word could have several meanings, and it is important to make the certain meaning clear.
· Appropriate connotations: Some words have the same meaning, but it is important to choose the more positive one.
· Short and common words: Using short words are always better, but there are a few exceptions to use long words:
-If the long word expresses more meaning.
-If the long word is more recognizable.
-If the long word’s connotation seems better.
· Accuracy: using accurate and specific wording is always helpful
· Research studies: (use of scholar websites, books etc.)
· Use of passive-voiceverbs:(are created, are endowed)
Not to do:

· Never use first-person pronouns: (I, we, me, my, us our…). It will make your report sound self-centered and will give the writer less credit.
· Never start sentences with “and” or “but”: It makes the idea sound like a late addition, better to use transition words.
· Never end a sentence with a preposition: (with, in, under, at…)
· Interdiction to use contraction (can’t, don’t, wouldn’t)
· Absence of vague words (everyone, around, approximately)
· Absence of humor


Following theseguidelines will definitely improve a person’s writing style for a formal report.

A writing style is the biggest base of writing a business formal report. The most important is to use proper English, and make sure to proof read the report as many times as possible. Better the proposal is written, better the reader will understand.


Sources


Arjomand, Lary H. "Business Report Writing." Clayton State Universiry School of Business.
Clayton State University, 17 Jan. 2006. Web. 26 Feb. 2010.
http://business.clayton.edu/arjomand/business/writing.html

"Writing Style - Writing to formally or informally." Stidy Skills. University of Huddersfield,
n.d. Web. 4 Mar. 2010.
http://hospitality.hud.ac.uk/studyskills/writing/writingStyle/styles.htm

McMurrey, David A. Power Tools for Technical Communication. Scarborough,
Canada: Nelson Canada, 2007. Print.