Chapter 2 gave us an overview of the process of writing, including prewriting, writing, and revising.  Before writing a message, we learned to analyze the task, purpose, and expected response to the message.  We learned how to select an appropriate channel for a message and how to profile the audience.

The remainder of Chapter 2 emphasized writing techniques for developing audience benefits and the “you” view.  We learned how to use conversational but professional language and we were encouraged to use positive and inclusive language, focusing on plain expression and familiar words.  We also learned seven ways that technology can improve business writing.

Chapter 3 described the second stage in the writing process that includes researching, organizing, and composing.

The remainder of Chapter 3 emphasized writing techniques, beginning with the components of effective sentences.  We learned methods for emphasizing and de-emphasizing ideas as well as how to use active voice and passive voice verbs and how to develop parallelism.  We know how to develop sentence unity by avoiding zigzag writing, mixed constructions, and misplaced modifiers.

Chapter 4 presents the final stage of the writing process, revising and proofreading.  We focus on ways to achieve concise wording and eliminate wordy prepositional phrases, outdated expressions, long lead-ins, and needless adverbs.  We eliminate fillers, repetitious words, redundancies, jargon, slang, and clichés.  We prefer to use precise verbs, concrete nouns, and vivid adjectives.  Finally, we learn techniques for proofreading routine and complex documents.

Our challenge, beginning with the first memo assignment in Chapter 5 and succeeding chapters, will be to remember and use the writing principles we have learned as our foundation in the first four chapters.