Cornerstone Lab

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Cornerstone Lab

• Business Writing

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Creative Writing Business
Writing

• Creative writing seeks to entertain
• Business writing seeks to
• Inform
• Ask
• Persuade
• Business writing is clear, concise correct

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Clarity

• Clear no misunderstanding of meaning
• Eliminate clichés and wordy filler
• Watch preposition use
• Avoid nominalization

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How clear is this?
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Clear?
In the upper portion of the tributary with no
means of propulsion.
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WHAT?

• Aqueous fluids exhibiting nonagitated surfaces
  extend downward to a considerable depth.

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One more time!

• It is recommended that you avoid shedding
  drops of liquid secreted by lachrymal glands
  merely because some lacteal fluid has been
  allowed to dissipate itself upon the ground.

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Prepositions

• aboutaboveacrossafteragainstaroundatbefore
  behindbelowbeneathbesidebesidesbetween

• beyond
• bydownduringexceptforfromininsideintolik
  enearofoff

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Prepositions Prepositional Phrases

• onout
• outsideoversincethroughthroughouttilltotow
  ardunderuntilupuponwithwithout

• according tobecause ofby way ofin addition
  toin front ofin place ofin regard toin spite
  ofinstead ofon account ofout of
•  

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Nominalization

• Fair This paper gives an analysis of the
  problem and offers a solution.
• Better This paper analyzes the problem and
  solves it.
• Best A precursory analysis reveals several
  promising solutions, the least expensive of
  which is X.

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Nominalization

• Nominalized Phrase Succinct Revision
• gave a report reported
• made a decision decided
• offered a suggestion
  suggested
• issued an announcement announced
• resulted in an increase increased
• led to the destruction of destroyed
• resulted in significant delay of paralyzed
• caused a drop in the morale of demoralized

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Concise

• Concise - short, direct, and to the point
• Watch sentence and paragraph length
• sentence length between 15 to 20 words
• paragraphs no more than 14 lines
• Use Active Voice
• Use commas effectively
• Use bullets, tables, and appendices

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Business Writing

• Correct - no errors
• Know your assignment requirements
• Check facts
• Proofreading vs. spell-check
• Watch out for word usage gremlins
• Work as a team

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Formal Reports

• The formal report has three major parts
• Prefatory
• Body
• Supplemental

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Prefatory

• Cover
• Title Page
• Letter of Transmittal
• Table of Contents
• Executive Summary

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Body

• Introduction
• Content
• Refer to report guidelines

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Supplemental Information

• Supplemental
• appendix
• all required supporting documentation

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Criteria of Effective Reports

• When brainstorming, use different pages for each
  point
• Develop each point fully
• Develop internal flow, then make points flow
• Remember, business writing is NOT creative,
• its clear, concise, and correct!

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Criteria of Effective Reports

• Clearly stated purpose
• Demonstrated understanding of topic
• Organized
• Logical flow
• Points are supported by objective facts
• Documented and cited outside sources
• Written in standard English

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The Writing Process 5 Steps

• Research and Notes
• Brainstorm
• First Draft
• Read for Content
• Proofread

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First Draft

• First attempt to capture thoughts, feelings,
  ideas, emotion, intent, and fact on to paper.
• Keep goal in view, use your notes
• outline
• Focus on content
• Dont revise as you write
• Let it flow

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Read for Content

• Rest before you revise
• Evaluate for
• Adequate factual support
• Objectivity
• Clarity
• Ensure content has a logical flow

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Proofread

• Proof from hard copy
• Examine construction
• Spell-check is not error free
• Use scanning techniques
• Verify grammar, spelling, and punctuation

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Define Plagiarism

• The deliberate use of another persons work in
  your own work, as if it were your own, without
  adequate acknowledgement of the original source.
• All Cornerstone instructors use Turnitin.com
• to combat academic dishonesty.

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Rule 1 Use simple sentences

• Get to the point
• More than four lines is too long
• Rewrite it into two or more sentences
• Best if less than 25 words/sentence

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Rule 2 Use correct sentence structure

• Avoid fragments and incomplete sentences
• Avoid run-on sentences and comma splices

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Rule 3 Use the right word

• Homonyms
• Sound alike
• Have different meaning
• Examples include
• It, Its and It
• Their, Theyre, and There
• Accept vs. Except
• Which vs. Witch
• Aweful vs. Awful
• Write with familiar words
• Avoid using the thesaurus at random

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Rule 4 Be aware of parallel sentence
agreement!

• Avoid I plan to learn more about teams, better
  at cooperating with team members, helping others,
  and solve problems.
• Do I plan to learn more about teams, become
  better at cooperating with team members, help
  others, and solve problems.

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Rule 5 Ensure language agreement

• Match nouns, verbs, and pronouns
• Dont What I like the most about teams
  is that it will enhance my skills.
• Do What I like the most about teams is
  that they will enhance my skills.

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Rule 6 Avoid contractions

• Use contractions sparingly
• Use to stress a point.
• Dont Do
• Dont Do not
• Theyd They do
• Wont Will not

In terms of lab assignments, use only if you
wish to have points deducted.
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Rule 7 Use hyphens correctly

• Used to create compound words that modify nouns
• Can you use the word alone with the noun?
• Example Cornerstone is a
• time-demanding course.

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Rule 8 Know how to write percentages

• If the number begins the sentence, then write out
  the word percent
• Fifty percent of the companys inventory was sold
  to XYZ Company.
• If the number is embedded in the sentence, then
  use the percent symbol
• The company indicated 50 of its inventory was
  sold to XYZ Company.

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Rule 9 Use numbers correctly

• Spell out Numbers 0-10 unless you are writing a
  list
• The company threatened to file for bankruptcy two
  months ago
• The company threatened to file for bankruptcy 11
  months ago.
• Write numbers over 10 in numeric form
• The company had 5 file cabinets, 10 desks, 14
  telephones, and 2 rugs to donate to the Salvation
  Army.

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Rule 10 Know when to use an apostrophe

• An apostrophe is used to indicate possession and
  contractions
• An apostrophe is NOT used to indicate plural
  UNLESS the plural word is indicative of
  possession.
• The dogs licenses need to be renewed.

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Rule 11 Use colons correctly

• Use before a list
• Use before an explanation that is preceded by an
  independent clause
• Company XYZs products include radios,
  televisions, VHS products, DVDs, and
  telecommunications equipment.
• There is only one thing left to do now confess
  while you still have time.

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Rule 12 Know how to use semicolons

• Use to sort a monster list
• Company XYZ is headquartered in Boston,
  Massachusetts, but holds offices in Orlando, FL
  Fairfax, VA Redding, CT Banger, MA and New
  Orleans, LA.
• Use to separate closely related independent
  clauses
• My mom seldom goes to bed early shes afraid she
  will miss something important.
• Avoid excess usage