How to Review a Business Article By Stephen Sherburne

Anything in the business world that gets sent out whether it be a email, memo, and or business letter it should always be reviewed carefully. Because you always want to sound professional and well educated when speaking to other professionals like youself.



When to use what medium. for Letters on organized stationery are good for when you are first contacting new business associates or customers or other official business that has to do with communicattion outside the company or organization. Memos are good for communication within the company whether sent electronically or on stationary. Email messages are good for sending information like a quote, maintaining professional relationship, elicit discussions, and collecting opinions. Instant messages is an exchange relationship of information in real time, its the most responsive form of communication.



Here are some tips to keep in mind when writing your document.



1. Make sure your purpose is clear and your reader knows what to get from reading this.

2. Outline the points you want to make and the order you want to make them

3. From that make a rough draft.

4. Take a break and allow yourself to clear your head and have a chance to think about it.

5. Revise the rough draft. check for spelling, grammer and punctuation.

6. make sure formated correctly for your specfic document you are creating, print a copy for review make sure everything is in order.

7. sign it and assume final resposibilty for you are responsible for its appearance and accuracy.

Works Cited

Writing That Works, (Oliu, Brusaw, Alred)PG. 262-265

Writing Courteously by Justo Almodovar

The word courteous means being polite and in a considerate manner. So when you are writing courteously then you are writing in a polite and considerate manner. Writing courteously happens mostly in sensitive and negative messages such as refusals, complaints, adjustments, and collection letters.

The first and most important step of writing courteously is to make sure that you stay positive during the whole letter now matter what the letter is about. Since being courteous in your writing mostly happens in sensitive and negative messages, being positive is a huge step because you do not want the reader of the message to think that you are talking bad about either them or their organization. Make sure that the tone stays positive all along the message.

Another important step is to make sure that in the closing of the message you establish or reestablish a positive relationship with the reader. This basically is just to to be considerate of the reader’s feelings so that no matter how bad the message may actually be this will help the reader think that you have some common decency.

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/courteous
info.wlu.ca/%7Ewwweng/jweldon/courses/notices.htm
Writing That Works, (Oliu, Brusaw, Alred)PG. 323-338

Job Interview Tips By Jonathen Peck

Job interviews can potentially be the hardest part of the job search because it is the selling of yourself and what you know on the subject. There are a couple of ways that job interviews can be conducted some being in person, other by phone and finally some can be conducted by teleconference. Interviews can last from 30 minutes to several hours and there even might be multiple interviews. The most important thing when you have to attend a job interviews is to be prepared.

These are the key points for preparing and attending the interview.

1. Prepare-Research The Company/Ask yourself questions that might be asked.
   
2. Watch-Take a look at helpful videos on interviews.
   
3. Get Ready-Dress appropriate and bring copies of your resume.
   
4. Be on Time-5 to 10 minutes early. Know where you are going.
   
5. Stay Calm-Relax. Maintain Eye contact
   
6. Show What You Know-Match accomplishments to what the company wants.
   
7. Follow Up-Thank you note showing interest in the position
   

To help be prepared you should do some research on the company and position you are applying for.

• How often are employees evaluated on their performance.
• Does the company require training or certification.
• Does the company fund career related training.
• Does the position have promotion potential.
• Is there a probational period for new employees.

During the Interview

• Behavior-Thank the interviewer for their time and express your pleasure in meeting them. Always sit up straight and maintain confidence.
• Responses-Don't ramble or stray from the subject. Avoid giving just yes or no answers. Always thank your interviewer when finished.

Interviews can be very stressful but being prepared and very confident will get you through.

Sources:
http://jobsearch.about.com/cs/interviews/a/jobinterviewtip.htm
Writing that Works(Oliu,Brusaw,Alred)pgs574-577

Creating Visuals By Meg L Bostick

Visuals can be something as simple as a photograph to something as complex as a chart, and are expressions of ideas that are not capable of being conveyed in words alone. Visuals offer the audience something appealing to look at, while at the same time providing information.
One part of a visual is the icon, which is a representation of an idea portrayed in an image. An example of this picture of a floppy disk, which signifies “save as.” In Microsoft Word. It conveys a message to the user.
Another part of a visual is the color. The color of a visual makes it “pop” and gives it character, so that it is attractive and serves as appealing to the audience. After all, who wants to look at just a black and white picture? How boring!
One crucial thing to remember when creating visuals is integrating text. It is important to have text in your visual just in case the pictorial representation does not make sense to the audience, and also because it serves more of a purpose when it is justified with relevant text. The most important thing to remember is to make sure the graphics relate to the text. You don’t want to confuse your audience!
After you have your graphics and text finalized and you are ready to “accept” the finished product, it is important to look at your visual and make sure your visual includes the following:

Accurate and relevant information
Focused
Terms and symbols are consistent
Consists of specific measurements/distances
The text is readable
Caption is clear
Visuals are appropriately placed
The visuals stand out from the text\

When construction graphs, it is important to make sure you place the information in a way in which it is not confusing. One example of this is by using the correct range of numbers i.e. 200,400,600 etc. When using numbers that have not correlation to the next, the audience is confused by the data. The same thing goes for a pie chart. The 50% section of the pie should obviously be larger than the 30% piece. Otherwise, the audience will be confused.
Finally, taking a look at visuals in which help to construct a piece of equipment, it is very important that the visual makes sense. To assure the image is understood by the audience, every part must be labeled. If the directions are given with many parts to the image yet they are not labeled, the reader is going to have a difficult time putting the piece of equipment together. This is why it is important to label!
So you see, there are many important things to remember when constructing a visual. It is not simply a picture with no significance, but image(s) justified with relevant text to help the audience better understand what is being portrayed.

Source:
Writing That Works, (Oliu, Brusaw, Alred) P. 205-240

Writing Effective Meeting Minutes by Leandro Caputo

What is a meeting minute?


Many organizations and committees keep official records of their meetings; such records are known as minutes and are taken by someone designated before the meeting to do so. The person designated writes and distributes the minutes before the next meeting. At the beginning of each meeting, those attending vote to accept the minutes from the previous meeting as prepared or to revise or clarify specific items.

• Because minutes are often used to settle disputes, they must be accurate, complete, and clear.



• If you are assigned to write minutes, keep them brief and to the point.

To ensure the meeting is successful, the leader should:

• Issue an agenda


• Start the discussion and encourage active participation


• Work to keep the meeting at a comfortable pace – not moving too fast or too slow


• Summarize the discussion and the recommendations at the end of each logical section


• Ensure all participants receive minutes promptly

Writing Minutes of Meetings

1. The name of the group or committee holding the meeting



2. The topic of the meeting



3. The kind of meeting (a regular meeting or a special meeting caleed to discuss a specific subject or problem)



4. Names of attendees and their titles or organizations



5. The place, time, and date of the meeting



6. A statement that the chair and the secretary were present or the names of any substitutes



7. A statement that the minutes of the previous meeting were approved or revised



8. A list of any reports that were read and approved



9. All the main motions that were made, with statements as to whether they were carried, defeated, or tabled, and the names of those who made and seconded the motions.



10. A full description of resolutions that were adopted and a simple statement of any that were rejected



11. A record of all ballots with the number of votes cast for and against resolutions



12. The time the meeting was adjourned and the place, time , and date of the next meeting, if any.



13. The recording secretary's signature and typed name, and, if desired, the signature of the chairperson.
    

A sample Meeting of Minutes Form

Sources

http://www.meetingwizard.org/meetings/taking-minutes.cfm?re=6

http://www.mindtools.com/CommSkll/RunningMeetings.htm

Designing Technical Documents in a Web-Based Format by Adam Glick

What is Technical Documentation?

Technical documentation is all of the documents that are associated with a product.

For example, think about the last time you bought a television and something went wrong and you needed to try and figure out how to fix the problem.  What was the first thing you thought to yourself? If you are like most people, your first thought would have been,

Where is that pamphlet of papers I threw halfway across the room while trying to get the television out of the box as fast as humanly possible to watch the season finale of The Hills?

That pamphlet of papers not only explains in great detail every possible problem that could occur to your television, but also explains all of the functions of each component as well.

Q: So what happens when you cannot find that pamphlet of papers?

A: Why not check online?

Many companies have posted their technical documentations online using a web-based format.  However, the documents posted online are much more user friendly. Users no longer have to read through useless information until they stumble upon the answer they needed.  Now users can simply click their way through and find their answer efficiently. 

Advantages of Web-based formats:

• Documents are online
  
• User can search for specific data
  
• Much easier to update data
• All data is in one place
• More user-friendly

Keys to Remember When Designing Technical Document Online

• Keep it simple
• Make sure document is easily navigable
• Use laymen's terms when possible
• Allow room for updates

Sources:

http://helpcentral.componentone.com/CS/blogs/c1buzz/archive/2009/01/23/introducing-nethelp-how-doc-to-help-s-web-based-format-makes-your-content-more-accessible.aspx

http://www.usernomics.com/documentation.html

http://www.trans-com.de/transcom/en/technische-dokumentation.htm