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In the business: 6 steps to report and article writing success

by: johnarthur on Date: Mon, 15 Nov 2010 Time: 1:22 AM

Are your business reports or articles getting the results you want? If not, it could be they are too hard to read. Business reports and articles need to be clear, concise and correct. No one has time for anything other than that.

So how can you make your business reports or articles readable and professional?

1. Work out why you are writing. The more focused your article or business report is, the more impact it will have. For example, the aim of an article about training pregnant women might be to inform personal trainers about precautions when training this client group. So if safety is your focus, don’t get side-tracked into writing about weight-loss or muscle-tone issues.

2. Know your audience. Learn as much as you can about your audience. Who are they? How much do they know about your topic already? Put yourself in your readers’ shoes.


3. Structure your thoughts. Your article or business report needs to follow a logical structure. For example, your article about training pregnant women could follow a chronological structure of the trimesters of pregnancy. Within that overall structure you could use a risk/safety precaution sub-structure. Only include what the reader needs to know in order to achieve your aim.

4. Use clear and concise language. Don’t pad your business report or article with unnecessary words and phrases. For example, rather than, ‘We have been engaged in planning for the purposes of building a new storage facility to store goods for sale,’ just write ‘We plan to build a new warehouse’. Keep sentences short.


5. Break text into manageable chunks. Divide the text with headings and sub-headings. Keep paragraphs short and use bulleted or numbered lists and text boxes. The old adage ‘a picture speaks a thousand words’ is often true. So don’t forget about graphs and pie charts to present statistical information.

6. Correct errors. It’s never too late for English grammar training. If your grammar and spelling is your weakness, contract the help of a professional proof reader. Or get some coaching in English grammar. No matter how interesting your business report or article, if it’s riddled with typographical and other errors you’ll quickly lose credibility.

Everything you write, whether a business report, an article or an email, is a reflection of you and your business or brand. It’s always worth taking the time to make your business reports and articles clear, concise and correct. Your livelihood could depend on it.

About the Author

Patricia Hoyle is a professional writer specialising in business writing including business reports and articles. Director of Concise Writing Consultancy, she has written articles for Management Today, HR Monthly and is a regular contributor to Fitness First Magazine. www.concisewriting.com.au

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