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Monday, January 25, 2010

Bus Com Chapter 3

1. "Writing is both a 'marker' of high-skill, high-wage, professional work and a 'gatekeeper' with clear equity implications," said Bob Kerry, chair of the Commission on Writing. What does this statement mean in relation to your career field?
2. Why is audience analysis so important in choosing the direct or indirect pattern of organization for a business message?
3. How are speakers different from writers in the way they emphasize ideas?
4. Why are short sentences and short paragraphs appropriate for business communication?
5. When might it be unethical to use the indirect method of organizing a message?

6. Compare the first phase of the writing process with the second phase.
7. For routine writing tasks, what are some techniques for collecting informal data and generating ideas?
8. What is the difference between a list and an outline?
9. Why do many readers prefer the direct method for organizing messages?
10. When is the indirect method appropriate, and what are the benefits of using it?
11. List four techniques for achieving emphasis through style.
12. What is parallelism? Give an original example.
13. What are the four sentence types, and what do they consist of?
14. What is a topic sentence, and where is it usually found in business messages?
15. List three techniques for developing paragraph coherence.

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Bus. Com. - Chapter 2 Questions

Critical Thinking
1. Why do you think employers prefer messages that are not written like high school and college essays?
2. How can the three-phase writing process help the writer of a business report as well as the writer of an oral presentation?
3. Discuss the following statement: "The English language is a land mine-it is filled with terms that are easily misinterpreted as derogatory and others that are blatantly insulting...Being fair and objective is not enough; employers must also be so."
4. Why is writing in a natural, conversational tone difficult for many people?
5. If computer software is increasingly able to detect writing errors, can business communicators stop studying writing techniques? Why or why not?

Chapter Review
6. How can a writer make a message audience oriented and develop audience benefits? Provide an original example.
7. List the three phases of the writing process and summarize what happens in each phase. Which phase requires the most time?
8. What six factors are important in selecting an appropriate channel to deliver a message? What makes one channel richer than another?
9. How does profiling the audience help a business communicator prepare a message?
10. List three specific techniques for developing a warm, friendly, and conversational tone in business messages.
11. Why is it OK to use instant messaging abbreviations (such as BTW) and happy faces in messages to friends but not OK in business messages?
12. Why does positive language usually tell more than negative language? Give an original example.
13. List five examples of sexist pronouns and nouns.
14. List at least five principles of the Plain English movement.
15. Why should business writers strive to use short, common, simple words? Does this "dumb down" business messages?

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Bus Com - Chapter 1 Review Questions

6. What percentage of new jobs require postsecondary education?
7. Are communication skills acquired by nature or by nurture? Explain.
8. List seven trends in the workplace that affect business communications. Be prepared to discuss how they might affect you in your future career.
9. Give a brief definition of the following words:
___a. Encode
___b. Channel
___c. Decode
10. List 11 techniques for improving your listening skills. Be prepared to discuss each.
11. When verbal and nonverbal messages conflict, which are receivers more likely to believe? Give an original example.
12. Would your culture be classified as high- or low-context? Why?
13. What is ethnocentrism, and how can it be reduced?
14. List seven or more suggestions for enhancing comprehension when you are talking with nonnative speakers of English. Be prepared to discuss each.
15. List five suggestions for improving communication among diverse workplace audiences. Be prepared to discuss each.