I know that when we hear the word ‘style’ with regard to writing we usually think of books – novels or non-fiction. It’s how the author writes: what gives a piece an author’s distinctive voice.
But you’ve also got to think about ‘style’ when you’re writing at work – letters, emails, reports etc. Your own personal style is the way in which you express your ideas. It should be as attractive and as easy to read as you can make it.
You can learn a lot by studying the style of other writers, but don’t be tempted to try to write exactly like them. Your style must develop naturally. Practice leads to better writing, and the more you practise, the more confident you’ll become.
Here at Business Training, our own rule to help you is this: remember the Six Cs: correctness, conciseness, clarity, coherence, completeness and courtesy. So let’s have a closer look at these.
Correctness: Your facts must be accurate and your use of the English language (or your own language, if you are writing in it) must also be correct. So always make sure that you check your work carefully when you’ve finished to ensure there are no mistakes. And then check it again!
Conciseness: This doesn’t necessarily mean keeping it short! You can write a long report and still be concise. What it does mean is avoiding irrelevant facts, unnecessary words and long-winded explanations.
Clarity: Make what you write clear to your reader by giving all the necessary information and expressing it in a way that is easy to understand. Your readers shouldn’t have to read a sentence or paragraph more than once in order to understand its meaning. Don’t assume that what’s clear to you is equally clear to your reader.
But before you can write clearly you must think clearly. If you’re not sure what you want to say, you can’t expect to express your meaning in the correct words. The better you are at thinking and planning, the more skilled you’ll be at writing. So, plan your work – in your head or on paper – before you start to write.
Coherence: This means presenting your ideas in an orderly, logical way so that your reader is able to follow your reasoning process. This also ties in with what I said in the previous paragraph: planning your work first really does help.
Completeness: Ensure that your reader has all the facts that are available without having to wade through material that is unnecessary or trivial.
Courtesy: Although you should aim to make your correspondence simple, try not to make your style so simple that it is abrupt or rude. In recent years the traditional, formal style of business correspondence has been replaced by a warmer, more friendly one. The use of email has encouraged this – but even when sending emails, at work you should aim to be friendly but not familiar.
So, next time you write an email, letter or a report why don’t you sit down when you’ve finished and compare it to this check-list? If you can tick all five ‘Cs’ then you’ve probably done a good job!
