{"id":96,"date":"2014-07-25T21:39:07","date_gmt":"2014-07-25T21:39:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.candelalearning.com\/englishforbusiness\/?post_type=chapter&#038;p=96"},"modified":"2015-01-30T00:47:50","modified_gmt":"2015-01-30T00:47:50","slug":"10-6-reading-and-analyzing","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-hccc-businesscommunication\/chapter\/10-6-reading-and-analyzing\/","title":{"raw":"Reading and Analyzing","rendered":"Reading and Analyzing"},"content":{"raw":"<div class=\"bcc-box bcc-highlight\">\r\n<h3>LEARNING OBJECTIVES<\/h3>\r\nBy the end of this section, you will be able to:\r\n<ul>\r\n\t<li>Understand different types of reading and analyzing that business documents encounter.<\/li>\r\n\t<li>Demonstrate how to write for skimming and for analytical reading in at least one written document of each kind.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"im_section\">\r\n<div id=\"mcleanbuseng-ch10_s06_n01\" class=\"im_learning_objectives im_editable im_block\">\r\n<p class=\"im_title\"><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"im_title\">When you read, do you read each and every word? Do you skim over the document and try to identify key terms and themes? Do you focus on numbers and statistics, or ignore the text and go straight to the pictures or embedded video? Because people read in many diverse ways, you as a writer will want to consider how your audience may read and analyze your document.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\nEver since Benjamin Franklin said that \u201ctime is money\"<span id=\"mcleanbuseng-fn10_014\" class=\"im_footnote\">\u00a0(1748),\u00a0<\/span>business managers have placed a high value on getting work done quickly. Many times, as a result, a document will be skimmed rather than read in detail. This is true whether the communication is a one-paragraph e-mail or a twenty-page proposal. If you anticipate that your document will be skimmed, it behooves you to make your main points stand out for the reader.\r\n\r\nIn an e-mail, use a \u201csubject\u201d line that tells the reader the gist of your message before he or she opens it. For example, the subject line \u201c3 p.m. meeting postponed to 4 p.m.\u201d conveys the most important piece of information; in the body of the e-mail you may explain that Wednesday\u2019s status meeting for the XYZ project needs to be postponed to 4 p.m. because of a conflict with an offsite luncheon meeting involving several XYZ project team members. If you used the subject line \u201cWednesday meeting\u201d instead, recipients might glance at their in-box, think, \u201cOh, I already know I\u2019m supposed to attend that meeting,\u201d and not read the body of the message. As a result, they will not find out that the meeting is postponed.\r\n\r\nFor a longer piece of writing such as a report or proposal, here are some techniques you can use to help the reader grasp key points.\r\n<ul id=\"mcleanbuseng-ch10_s06_l02\" class=\"im_itemizedlist im_editable im_block\">\r\n\t<li>Present a quick overview, or \u201cexecutive summary,\u201d at the beginning of the document.<\/li>\r\n\t<li>Use boldface headings as signposts for the main sections and their subsections.<\/li>\r\n\t<li>Where possible, make your headings informative; for example, a heading like \u201cProblem Began in 1992\u201d is more informative than one that says \u201cBackground.\u201d<\/li>\r\n\t<li>Within each section, begin each paragraph with a topic sentence that indicates what the paragraph discusses.<\/li>\r\n\t<li>When you have a list of points, questions, or considerations, format them with bullets rather than listing them in sentences.<\/li>\r\n\t<li>The \u201cbottom line,\u201d generally understood to mean the total cost of a given expenditure or project, can also refer to the conclusions that the information in the report leads to. As the expression indicates, these conclusions should be clearly presented at the end of the document, which is the place where the time-pressed reader will often turn immediately after reading the first page.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\nImagine how unhappy you would be if you submitted a report and your audience came away with a message completely different from what you had intended. For example, suppose your manager is considering adopting a specific new billing system in your office and has asked you to report on the pros and cons of this system. You worked hard, gathered plenty of information, and wrote a detailed report which, in your opinion, gave strong support for adopting the new system.\r\n\r\nHowever, the first few pages of your report described systems other than the one under consideration. Next, you presented the reasons not to implement the new system. Throughout the report, embedded in the body of several different paragraphs, you mentioned the advantages offered by the new system; but they were not grouped together so that you could emphasize them with a heading or other signpost for the reader. At the end of the report, you reviewed the current billing system and stated that few problems were encountered with it.\r\n\r\nWhen you delivered your report, the manager and colleagues who received it missed your most important information and decided not to consider the new system any further. Worse, your manager later criticized you for spending too much time on the report, saying it was not very informative. Situations like this can be avoided if you provide a clear organizational framework to draw your reader\u2019s attention to your main points.\r\n\r\nAnalyzing is distinct from reading. When you read, you attempt to grasp the author\u2019s meaning via words and symbols, and you may come away with a general emotional feeling about what the writer has written instead of an arsenal of facts. When you analyze a document, you pay more attention to how the author assembled the information to present a coherent message. Business writing often involves communication via words and symbols in ways that meet audience expectations; in many cases, the audience needs to be able to analyze the content, and reading is secondary. For this reason, a solid organizational pattern will greatly enhance your document\u2019s effectiveness.\r\n<div id=\"mcleanbuseng-ch10_s06_n02\" class=\"im_key_takeaways im_editable im_block\">\r\n<h3 class=\"im_title\"><\/h3>\r\n<div class=\"bcc-box bcc-success\">\r\n<h3>Key Takeaway<\/h3>\r\n<section>\r\n<div data-type=\"note\">\r\n\r\nLogical organization is important to promote reader understanding and analysis.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/section><\/div>\r\n<h3 class=\"im_title\"><\/h3>\r\n<div class=\"bcc-box bcc-info\">\r\n<h3>Exercises<\/h3>\r\n1. Take a news article and mark it up to reveal its organizational structure. Does it have an informative opening paragraph? Does each additional paragraph begin with a topic sentence? Does it use subheadings? Is there a conclusion that follows logically from the information presented?\r\n\r\n2. Find an article that you do not like and review it. State specific reasons why you dislike it and share your opinion with your classmates.\r\n\r\n3. Find an article that you do like and review it. State specific reasons why you like it and share your opinion with your classmates.\r\n\r\n4. You\u2019ve been assigned to a sales team that has not been performing at optimal levels. Develop an incentive program to improve the team\u2019s performance. Present your idea to the class.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>","rendered":"<div class=\"bcc-box bcc-highlight\">\n<h3>LEARNING OBJECTIVES<\/h3>\n<p>By the end of this section, you will be able to:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Understand different types of reading and analyzing that business documents encounter.<\/li>\n<li>Demonstrate how to write for skimming and for analytical reading in at least one written document of each kind.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"im_section\">\n<div id=\"mcleanbuseng-ch10_s06_n01\" class=\"im_learning_objectives im_editable im_block\">\n<p class=\"im_title\">\n<p class=\"im_title\">When you read, do you read each and every word? Do you skim over the document and try to identify key terms and themes? Do you focus on numbers and statistics, or ignore the text and go straight to the pictures or embedded video? Because people read in many diverse ways, you as a writer will want to consider how your audience may read and analyze your document.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Ever since Benjamin Franklin said that \u201ctime is money&#8221;<span id=\"mcleanbuseng-fn10_014\" class=\"im_footnote\">\u00a0(1748),\u00a0<\/span>business managers have placed a high value on getting work done quickly. Many times, as a result, a document will be skimmed rather than read in detail. This is true whether the communication is a one-paragraph e-mail or a twenty-page proposal. If you anticipate that your document will be skimmed, it behooves you to make your main points stand out for the reader.<\/p>\n<p>In an e-mail, use a \u201csubject\u201d line that tells the reader the gist of your message before he or she opens it. For example, the subject line \u201c3 p.m. meeting postponed to 4 p.m.\u201d conveys the most important piece of information; in the body of the e-mail you may explain that Wednesday\u2019s status meeting for the XYZ project needs to be postponed to 4 p.m. because of a conflict with an offsite luncheon meeting involving several XYZ project team members. If you used the subject line \u201cWednesday meeting\u201d instead, recipients might glance at their in-box, think, \u201cOh, I already know I\u2019m supposed to attend that meeting,\u201d and not read the body of the message. As a result, they will not find out that the meeting is postponed.<\/p>\n<p>For a longer piece of writing such as a report or proposal, here are some techniques you can use to help the reader grasp key points.<\/p>\n<ul id=\"mcleanbuseng-ch10_s06_l02\" class=\"im_itemizedlist im_editable im_block\">\n<li>Present a quick overview, or \u201cexecutive summary,\u201d at the beginning of the document.<\/li>\n<li>Use boldface headings as signposts for the main sections and their subsections.<\/li>\n<li>Where possible, make your headings informative; for example, a heading like \u201cProblem Began in 1992\u201d is more informative than one that says \u201cBackground.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>Within each section, begin each paragraph with a topic sentence that indicates what the paragraph discusses.<\/li>\n<li>When you have a list of points, questions, or considerations, format them with bullets rather than listing them in sentences.<\/li>\n<li>The \u201cbottom line,\u201d generally understood to mean the total cost of a given expenditure or project, can also refer to the conclusions that the information in the report leads to. As the expression indicates, these conclusions should be clearly presented at the end of the document, which is the place where the time-pressed reader will often turn immediately after reading the first page.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Imagine how unhappy you would be if you submitted a report and your audience came away with a message completely different from what you had intended. For example, suppose your manager is considering adopting a specific new billing system in your office and has asked you to report on the pros and cons of this system. You worked hard, gathered plenty of information, and wrote a detailed report which, in your opinion, gave strong support for adopting the new system.<\/p>\n<p>However, the first few pages of your report described systems other than the one under consideration. Next, you presented the reasons not to implement the new system. Throughout the report, embedded in the body of several different paragraphs, you mentioned the advantages offered by the new system; but they were not grouped together so that you could emphasize them with a heading or other signpost for the reader. At the end of the report, you reviewed the current billing system and stated that few problems were encountered with it.<\/p>\n<p>When you delivered your report, the manager and colleagues who received it missed your most important information and decided not to consider the new system any further. Worse, your manager later criticized you for spending too much time on the report, saying it was not very informative. Situations like this can be avoided if you provide a clear organizational framework to draw your reader\u2019s attention to your main points.<\/p>\n<p>Analyzing is distinct from reading. When you read, you attempt to grasp the author\u2019s meaning via words and symbols, and you may come away with a general emotional feeling about what the writer has written instead of an arsenal of facts. When you analyze a document, you pay more attention to how the author assembled the information to present a coherent message. Business writing often involves communication via words and symbols in ways that meet audience expectations; in many cases, the audience needs to be able to analyze the content, and reading is secondary. For this reason, a solid organizational pattern will greatly enhance your document\u2019s effectiveness.<\/p>\n<div id=\"mcleanbuseng-ch10_s06_n02\" class=\"im_key_takeaways im_editable im_block\">\n<h3 class=\"im_title\"><\/h3>\n<div class=\"bcc-box bcc-success\">\n<h3>Key Takeaway<\/h3>\n<section>\n<div data-type=\"note\">\n<p>Logical organization is important to promote reader understanding and analysis.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n<h3 class=\"im_title\"><\/h3>\n<div class=\"bcc-box bcc-info\">\n<h3>Exercises<\/h3>\n<p>1. Take a news article and mark it up to reveal its organizational structure. Does it have an informative opening paragraph? Does each additional paragraph begin with a topic sentence? Does it use subheadings? Is there a conclusion that follows logically from the information presented?<\/p>\n<p>2. Find an article that you do not like and review it. State specific reasons why you dislike it and share your opinion with your classmates.<\/p>\n<p>3. Find an article that you do like and review it. State specific reasons why you like it and share your opinion with your classmates.<\/p>\n<p>4. You\u2019ve been assigned to a sales team that has not been performing at optimal levels. Develop an incentive program to improve the team\u2019s performance. Present your idea to the class.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t <section class=\"citations-section\" role=\"contentinfo\">\n\t\t\t <h3>Candela Citations<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t <div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <div id=\"citation-list-96\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <div class=\"licensing\"><div class=\"license-attribution-dropdown-subheading\">CC licensed content, Shared previously<\/div><ul class=\"citation-list\"><li>English for Business Success. <strong>Authored by<\/strong>: Anonymous. <strong>Provided by<\/strong>: Anonymous. <strong>Located at<\/strong>: <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/2012books.lardbucket.org\/books\/english-for-business-success\/\">http:\/\/2012books.lardbucket.org\/books\/english-for-business-success\/<\/a>. <strong>License<\/strong>: <em><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"license\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc-sa\/4.0\/\">CC BY-NC-SA: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike<\/a><\/em><\/li><\/ul><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t <\/section>","protected":false},"author":5,"menu_order":73,"template":"","meta":{"_candela_citation":"[{\"type\":\"cc\",\"description\":\"English for Business Success\",\"author\":\"Anonymous\",\"organization\":\"Anonymous\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/2012books.lardbucket.org\/books\/english-for-business-success\/\",\"project\":\"\",\"license\":\"cc-by-nc-sa\",\"license_terms\":\"\"}]","CANDELA_OUTCOMES_GUID":"","pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-96","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry"],"part":137,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-hccc-businesscommunication\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/96","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-hccc-businesscommunication\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-hccc-businesscommunication\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-hccc-businesscommunication\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-hccc-businesscommunication\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/96\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":506,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-hccc-businesscommunication\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/96\/revisions\/506"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-hccc-businesscommunication\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/137"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-hccc-businesscommunication\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/96\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-hccc-businesscommunication\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-hccc-businesscommunication\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=96"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-hccc-businesscommunication\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=96"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-hccc-businesscommunication\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=96"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}