B-COMM TEST #2 – Flashcards
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Three step writing process
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Planning, Writing, and Completing your message
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The stage during which you step back to see whether you have expressed your idea?
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Completing
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The primary Audience for your message is made up of?
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The key decision makers
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The chief advantage of oral communication is?
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opportunity for immediate feedback
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In part media richness refers to?
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A medium's ability to facilitate feedback
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The richest communication medium
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Face to face conversation
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For persuasive messages, the best approach is to?
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Emphasize how your audience will benefit
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A euphemism is a word or phrase that is?
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A milder term for one with a negotive connotations
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The most common tone for a business message is?
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conversational
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Words such as nevertheless, however, and therefore?
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Are useful for making transitions
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The main task in completing a business message consist of?
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revising, proofreading, and producing
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When reviewing your document for content, you should be concerned with?
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The accuracy and relevance of the information
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For general business messages, your writing should be geared toward readers at the?
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8th to 11th grage level
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Using space in a document?
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provides contrast
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Justified type is type that?
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Set flush on the left and flush on the right
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When making a routine request, you begin with?
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A clear statement of the main idea or request
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When making a request, you should?
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Assume the reader will comply with your request
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In the body of a request message, you?
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Give details and justify your request
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When requesting an adjustment, your closing should usually?
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Request a specific action
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Routine, Positive messages should do all the following
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Communicate the good news, provide all required details, and leave your reader with a good impression
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In a positive message, the main idea is presented?
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Right at the beginning of the letter
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When offering compliments in a goodwill message; you should?
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Be sure to back them up with key points
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when using the direct approach to deliver bad news; you?
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Must still work to end with a positive statemnet
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a letter rejecting a job applicant should?
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Clearly state why he or she was not selected
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To overcome audience resistance to your message...
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present all sides of the issue before making before making the case for your position
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The Letter format in which all parts begin at the left margin called?
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block
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When selecting typefaces for a business document?
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Avoid using more than two typefaces on a page
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The number of major points in your message?
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should be three or four, regardless of how ling th mesage is
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When revising a document?
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First read through it quickly to evaluate overall effectiveness
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If you face a skeptical audience, try to?
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introduce your conclusions and recommendations gradually
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When preparing a message for a large, diverse audience you must?
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Look for the common denominators that tie the group together
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For effective document design?
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Balance the space devoted to text, artwork and white space
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Your goal in writing persuasive messages is to?
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Get the audience to take a specific action
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When writing a claim letter, the best way to begin is by?
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Stating the problem clearly and specifically
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When making a routine request; you begin with?
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statement of the main idea or request
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the purpose of the interest section of a persuasive message is to?
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?
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A good opening for a bad-news message would be?
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This letter is in reply to your application
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In the closing of a bad-news message, you?
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build good will by ending on a positive note
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When compared to routine positive messages, persuasive messages are usually?
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More detailed
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AIDA stands for
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Attention, interest, desire, and action
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Use a gradual approach and plenty of evidence
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When preparing a message for a skeptical audience
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You need to provide more information in your message if? pg 94
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pg 94
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Giving incorrect information
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To gauge the quality of the information you provide in your messages, check to ensure that the information is accurate, ethical and pertinent.
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pg 96?
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Channels for reaching a dispersed audience
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Formal communication
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is a message formalilty example printed memo letter
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Earn respect from your audience by?
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demonstrating honesty and integrity will earn you the respect of your audience.
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Criticizing and correcting
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Don't dwell on the other persons mistakes. Avoid referring to failures, problems, or shortcomings. Focus instead on what the audience members can do to improve.
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Establishing credibility with your audience
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a measure of your believability, based on how reliable you are and how much trust you evoke in others
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Emphasize key points by?
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using sentence style to emphasize key thoughts. by giving important points the most space. using extra words to describe subject or point.
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Basic elements of a typical paragraph
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A typical paragraph contains 3 basic elements; a topic sentence, support sentences that develop the topic, and transitional words and phrases.
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Revising a document
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When you began your revision process focus your attention on content, organization,style and tone
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Reviewing your document for content
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To evaluate the content of your message answer the following questions; 1-Is the information accurate 2-Is the information relevant to the audience 3-Is there enough information to satisfy the readers needs 4-Is there a good balance between general information (giving readers enough background info to appreciate the message) And specific info (Giving readers the details they need to understand the message)
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paragraph length
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the optimum paragraph length is short to medium in most cases,Short paragraphs are easier to read and more inviting writing style than longer ones.
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Effective document design
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Pay close attention to the following design elements 1-Consistency (type-face, type size, & space) 2-Balance 3-Restraint (strive for simplicity in design) 4-Details (paying attention to detail)
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Proofreading
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Is the quality inspection stage for documents, look for two type of problems (1) undetected mistakes from the writing, design,and layout stages. (2) mistakes that crept in during production.
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Closing a direct request
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Close your message with 3 important elements; 1-a request for a specific action 2-Information about how you can be reached 3-An expression of appreciation
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Beginning and closing a claim letter
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In claim letters,explain the problem and give details, provide backup information, request specific action by clearly stating what you expect as a fair settlement or ask the reader to propose a fair adjustment.
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Writing a letter of recommendation
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your goal is to convince readers that the person being recommended has the characteristics necessary for the job...a successful recommendation letter contains relevant details such as; 1-The candidates full name 2-The position or other objective the candidate is seeking 3-The nature of your reationship with the candidate 4-An indication of whether youre answering a request from the person or taking the initiative to write. 5-A comparison of this candidates potential with that of his or her peers; example (class ranking of top 10%) 6-Your overall evaluation of the candidates suitability for the opportunity.
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Composing a negative message
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five goals of negative messages 1-give the bad news 2-ensure acceptance of the bad news 3-maintain readers GOODWILL 4-maintain organizrion good image 5-minimize or eliminate future correspondence on the matter, as appropriate.
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Buffer
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a well written buffer establishes common ground with the reader;and validates the concerns that prompted the orignal request, without promising a positive answer.
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Reasons section of a bad-news message
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as you lay out your reasons; guide your readers response by starting with the most positive points first and moving foward to increasingly negative ones. Provide enough details for the audience to understand your reasoning reasonsing
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Employment recommendations
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Refer to human resources;
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Negative performance review
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is to improve employee performance by; first emphasizing and and clarifying job requirements, and giving employees feedback on their efforts toward fulfilling those requirements; and guiding efforts by developing a plan of action which includes rewards and opportunities. But documentation of performance problems can also protect a company from being sued for unlawful termination.
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Persuasive messages
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Persuasion is the attempt to change someone attitude, beliefs or actions;
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overcoming audience resistance
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The best way to overcome resistance is to anticipate as many objections as you can and address them in your message before your audience can even bring them up.
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Marketing or sales messages
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use the same techniques as other persuasive messages with the added emphasis of encouraging someone to participate in a commercial transaction.
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Sequence for the standard parts of a letter
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1-Heading 2-Date 3-Inside address 4-Salutation 5-Body 6-Complimentary Close 7-Signature Block
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Letter formats
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is a way of arranging all the basic letter parts; there are 3 major letter formats used; 1-Block format-is each letter part begins at the left margin, the main advantage is quick and efficient preparation. 2-Modified block format-Same as block except that the date, complimentary close, and signature block start near the center of page; this format mix preparation speed w/traditional placement of letter parts; looks more balanced 3-Simplified format- Instead of using salutation, this format often weaves the reader's name into the first line or two of the body and oftern incudes a subject line in capital letters. Format is convienient when you don't know the readers name, but its very impersonal
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Headings for a memo
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title in Caps such as MEMO centered at the top of the page or aligned with the left margin; also include the words To, From, Date, & Subject, followed by the appropriate information with a blank line shown in between.