A WRITTEN COMMUNICATION

To put it simply, written language communication is communication by means of written

symbols that is communicated by or to or between people or groups.

Thus, written communication is the presentation of ideas or essays that make a clear point,
supply details supporting that point and demonstrate unity and coherence of thought. The
mastery of good or standard written English and the ability to comprehend and write about
information acquired through reading, note-taking and listening are also elements of written
communication. The goals of every student in written communication are to be able to write
unified and coherent essays, to have knowledge of the vocabulary and conventions of the
field, and a mastery of written English.

A.1 Ways to Improve Written Communication

“We all use language to communicate, express ourselves, get our ideas across and
connect with the person to whom we are speaking. When a relationship is
working, the act of communication seems to flow relatively effortlessly. When a
relationship is deteriorating, the act of communicating can be as frustrating as
climbing a hill of sand.”
Chip Rose

Successful written communication requires careful thought and clear planning. It is clear,
correct and easy to read. A plain writing style is easy to understand and reduces the
chances of misunderstanding and ambiguity.

In order to improve your written communication skills, you need to continually practice
writing in the language and write with a clear purpose that meets the needs of the reader. You
decide what you want to say and put this in a logical and suitable sequence. Such an approach
will ensure the clarity of your message. It will also help you to avoid omitting relevant details.

When you start writing, your tools are the words, sentences, paragraphs and lay-out. Use these
to convey your meaning concisely, courteously and confidently. When you reach the final
stage of writing, have the courage to edit your own work critically as well as from the reader
’s point of view. Therefore, your written work must undergo three important stages before
you print it out or submit it to be marked or sent to the printer, namely:
• planning stage,
• writing stage, and
• editing stage.

In addition, if your work fulfills the preceding formats, this written document should have:
• efficiency,
• equity, and
• effectiveness.
If your work is written in plain English, it would be easy to read and understand and the
number of readers who would seek clarification is reduced.

Therefore, a useful tool in improving your writing skills is writing — start writing in simple,
plain English, then move on from something concrete to something abstract and expressive.
We would never improve our writing ability if we do not start somewhere. According to
Sebranek, Meyer & Kemper (1996), writing, like “basketball and juggling, is not a God-given
mysterious talent given only to a chosen few but, rather, a skill that gets better with practice,
practice that involves increased challenges and, therefore, risk.” By continually practising and
editing your own work, you can also avoid making grammatical errors. Errors in writing make
a document difficult to read and cause communication barriers.

Therefore, to remove them you need to edit. Judith (1993) has identified four common errors
which you must avoid in order to improve your writing competency, as shown in Figure 1.2.

To get a better
picture of what “Plain
Talk or Plain English”
means, you can refer
to Rudolf Flesch
(2000), “The Art of
Plain Talk”.

Figure 1.2: Common errors in writing

(a) Confusing Language

Confusing language means confusing words that can mislead the reader and cause
communication breakdown or barriers between the writer and the reader. Some words are
ambiguous, bombastic, vague, sexist, trendy, exaggerated, inflated and archaic. Again, we
must always remember to write to convey meaning in plain English. It is better to use the
familiar word to the far-fetched, the concrete word to the abstract, the single word to the
circumlocution and the short word to the long. As defined by
Webster ’s Dictionary, circumlocution means “the use
of an unnecessarily large number of words to express an
idea”.
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(b) Verbosity
Verbosity, on the other hand, means the use of too When it comes to
many words. The overuse of words interferes with writing, why do you
understanding. Sometimes they are unnecessary think it is necessary to
because they interrupt the reader ’s understanding “omit needless words”
of the message. If verbosity persists, it may
as attested by Shrunk
antagonize, confuse and bore the reader. For
and White (2000)?
example:
 • He’s quick. (Ok)
• He moves quickly. (Better)
• Adnin was the winner! (Ok)
• Adnin won! (Better)
• The rugby ball went to the centre field. (Ok)
• The rugby ball sailed to the centre field. (Better)
• “The stability and quality of our financial performance will be
developed through the profitable execution of our existing business, as well as the
acquisition or development of new businesses.” (Cook, 1999) (Too long, too
wordy, passive voice)
• We will improve our financial performance not only by executing our existing
business more profitably but by acquiring or developing new businesses
(Better, shorter, active voice)

(c) Poor Sentence Structure

Poor sentence structure relates to writing fragments
instead of complete sentences and writing sentences
that lack unity. Try to keep your sentence(s) short and The following examples
compact to ensure that they are correct, logical and have misplaced modifiers.
easy to read. Long, complicated sentences can be Try to reorder the words to
difficult to read and understand. Word order is make them acceptable,
important for meaning. Words have to be structured to presentable and most
importantly, grammatical.
the extent that what precedes should be in accordance
with those that follow. For sale. Antique desk
suitable for lady with thick
(d) Information Overload legs and large drawers.
Information overload means giving too much Fur coats made for ladies
information; hence, the reader becomes from their own skin.
Enraged cows injure
overwhelmed and confused. This may also cause
farmers with an axe.
frustration and cast doubts on the writer ’s
credibility. Therefore, as a writer, you must decide
what sort of information is required in order to
produce a clear, concise and relevant written work.
 A.2 Letters of Memorandum

Reports intended for readers who are external to the organisation are often written as letter
reports, usually on the organisation’s letterhead. A letter report may present a problem,
proposal, solution or reply to a request.

The minimum acceptable standard of a letter report includes a

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subject line plus the seven basic parts of a business letter:
“Tell me and I’ll forget. Show
me and may not remember.
• The writer’s address. Involve me and I’ll
• The date. understand”
(Native saying)
• Reader’s address.
• Salutation.
• Body. In your opinion, how does this
• Complimentary close. saying relate to the art of
written communication?
• Signature block.

Memorandum reports are used for routine information. This includes information about a special issue,
problem or information needed for decision - making and problem - solving within an organization.
The memorandum report format is the least formal report format.

The minimum acceptable standard of a short memorandum report includes the following five
components:

• Reader’s name.
• Writer’s name.
• Date. Write a memorandum to
• Subject line or title. your subordinate in the
• Body. school stating the need to
revamp the current dress
Whatever format you choose, organize information into separate code policy for extra-
curricular activities. As a
sections. If headings make it easier to understand the report, use principal, among other
them. However, if the headings serve no purpose, leave them out. things, you plan to set
Make the decision on the basis of the report’s purpose, content and up a committee to
the reader’s needs. In short, you have to be consistent in your oversee this aspect and
presentation. If you use headings, you should proofread for provide reasons for the
consistency of font types and sizes in headings and subheadings. need for change. (Please
refer to format as outlined
in 1.4.2)

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 A.3 Formal and Informal Reports

A report is a document containing comprehensive information about a specific subject. To

write a good report, the following three stages must be discussed.
• Planning.
• Writing.
• Editing.
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Once the mentioned skills have been acquired or have
become automatic or second nature, report writing tends to be
less daunting. The writing stage really is the second priority, Why do you think
because without careful planning and gathering of necessary formal written
information (i.e., pre-writing stage), there will be no substance work should
to your words. The larger the report, the more editing will be always be
required. It can be useful to get someone else to read it through documented?
for you.
The purpose of the report often determines what type of format
is used to present the information. A number of different formats
are used in report

A.4 Documentation

The purpose of documenting written work varies, depending on the nature of the piece of
work. The question is, “Why do we need to document written work?” There is some work
kept for research purposes, some historical work kept for posterity, and some for others to
know and see. There are also others which are used to keep abreast with on- going projects,
for remembrance, acknowledgement and as a teaching-learning tool to improve one’s
writing skill. We may also want to use such documents as avenues to project our ideas
or opinions to be shared with others as well as establish and defend our points of view. These
boil down to the fact that ‘writing is our thinking made public’. Therefore, all writing must
come out of the context of ideas. Then, someone has to read that writing.

So, what must be documented? Any idea, logic or argument or

phraseology derived from an outside source must be
documented. You must give credit for all borrowed materials; You must cite and
for example, quotations, references, primary and secondary document all
sources; facts, data and statistics, opinions, ideas and ideas and
interpretations which you have gathered from your reading arguments
and research. Borrowed materials must be acknowledged borrowed
whether you paraphrase, summarize or quote directly. an outside
The only exception is what is loosely termed “general source.
knowledge” or “common knowledge”, which is information or
ideas generally known and accepted by the writer and
audience.
SUMMARY
This topic attempts to highlight some basic principles of written communication, its
meaning, importance and the relationship between the message, sender and receiver.
Problems encountered in communication are also briefly discussed.

ASSIGNMENT 1
You are a laboratory assistant of a secondary school. You are to report to your school
principal about the loss of two desktop computers. In your report, you need to state the
approximate time and the day you discovered the loss and the circumstances surrounding it.
You must include other relevant information that you feel is necessary. The report must be
brief and is written in plain English.