The first chapter of Business and Professional Writing by Paul MacRae can be summarized as a preaching of the importance of written communication in both the business and professional aspects of our lives. The first main point MacRae stresses is the misconception that by teaching the persnickety rules and thorough knowledge of the written world, educators are stomping out the creative flames of their students. When in fact, he believes this as farthest from the truth. Just as doctors and engineers cannot cheat their way through their career, certainly neither can writers. As he states, “mastery of the basics is the essential ingredient for creativity.” Without a keen understanding of the writing rules, great work cannot be produced. The second main point MacRae makes is understanding not only the importance of knowing writing rules, but understanding how our knowledge of these things enhance us as professional people, and reflects on us. As MacRae says, ” to show ourselves in the best possible light, we need to write well and accurately.” This applies to all aspects of our professional careers, such as emails with colleagues, resumes, etc. MacRae also included some statistics, showing that those with higher prose literary proficiency are more likely to have higher paying jobs. MacRae gives us these insights to engage us with the learning journey we are about to take through the professional and technical writing world.
After reading chapter one of Business and Professional Writing, I have denounced the two main points to be that technology has caused writing to be less professional, and that correct grammar/good writing is arguably the most important tool in business. Technology has allowed easier access to communication across the globe, but it has also created a way in which people lose formalities and correct grammar or spelling within their writing, as they now heavily rely on spell check. The loss of this very important writing skill has allowed for companies to seem less credible due to the poor impression they give from their writing. Companies need to sound more professional and reliable within their written correspondence. This is due to the fact that the company as a whole will seem less credible and less reliable if they don’t sound professional on paper. The main takeaway from this chapter was essentially that people nowadays don’t have the ability to communicate effectively anymore, and that is not ideal for the business and professional world. By teaching more people how to communicate effectively and professionally, the author aims to increase a sense of stability within the correspondence from business to business as well as from business to consumer.
This section is broken down into 4 parts #1 the importance of good communication, #2 Our communication says something about us, #3 There are no shortcuts to good Writing and ending it off with #4 What we will learn. In the first section “The importance of communication” it states “For many years “progressive” educators have believed that forcing students to learn the persnickety rules of writing, spelling, and grammar would hamper their ability to express themselves freely and creatively.” The text then goes on to say that “Nothing could be further from the truth” I still agree with the first statement because I have found when I’m writing or doing any kind of project for school when I focus too much on all the rules and requirements of the assignment it totally ruins my creativity. So let’s see if this course and this book can change my mind on that opinion. Sure, being able to express your creativity professionally is important but professionalism has nothing to do with enhancing creativity. In my opinion professionalism kills creativity. It then gives the example of “Engineers tell us that they spend 20 to 40% of their work time writing memos, letters, emails, reports, and proposals.” The book then warns us that “this kind of writing is not just expected but demanded in the world of work communication. In the next section “Our communication says something about us” it starts out straight forward and to the point and in the first sentence states “how well you communicate reflects heavily on you” I can’t agree with this statement more. Our words matter, the words we chose to convey our thoughts and feelings is how others will remember us. Another huge reason why our communication is important is once you say something you can never take it back. Also it is important to communicate well so people take you seriously and can understand you. If you send a business proposal with a bunch of typos, first of all they won’t be able to understand you and second of all it takes away your credibility and professionalism. The book states “to show ourselves in the best possible light, we need to write well and accurately.” which is very true. This section also talks about some of the benefits of learning to write well such as higher income and increased chances to get a job and more than double the average income of those with poor literacy skills. In the last section “What we will learn” I believe the first paragraph is the main idea of the introduction. It says “Quite simply, one of the most useful skills you can learn in your education, whatever your discipline, is good communication, written and spoken. Why? Regardless of what profession you ultimately chose, you will almost certainly be using these skills every single day, both on and off the job. The better you use these skills, the more successful you will be.”
One of the main themes this part breaks down is how media has evolved. Our language, our grammar, and how we spread our voices have changed. It has become easier to say things than it has in the past. However, how we say it is just as important, which I believe is the second main theme of this section. There is volume to our digital conversations now more than ever, a simple comma, period, or uppercase letter can be easily misinterpreted into a heated conversation. As well as how the conversation is presented. They bring up banks as well as a car company, which is interesting because most of the conversations would be automated. While those conversations are perceived to be fake, they still have weight. This heavily shows if we can trust someone or a company due to their language. If their language is off, we might not be able to trust this company or person. We perceive them as rushed or lazy. And For sure people can agree that they do not want a lazy or rushed bank/car company. Language is super important, but depending on the situation or environment we each have 5 languages even if we only know one.
One main idea that the book hits on right away in this chapter is the overall importance of good literacy and the importance of good communication through writing. The writing that we put out into the world tells a lot about us and our background to the people who read it. Often, our writing is the first interaction with us that people have, especially in the professional fields. It is so crucial to be able to write well and professionally, this ability is important when applying for jobs, working with colleagues, and in everyday life outside of work. The writing that we put out into the world can give you a head start on becoming successful in whatever field you are entering.
Another main idea that came across in this chapter was that good communication is generally one of the most important skills someone can have. Communication is something that you constantly have to do, and there is little room for error or low quality. Making sure that your communication skills are proficient and quality is in the best interest of everyone.
In a post-literate society, it is still essential to learn the skills of spelling and grammar as it is crucial to one’s everyday future, no matter their career trajectory or profession. I still believe that learning not to embrace every grammatical rule is essential to teach, contrary to what the book says. Still, I understand that this skill can be the most important skill you present in a business and professional writing context. This is because it helps to determine if one even makes it past the interview and gets the job based on the grammatical cleanliness of a cover letter or resume. These documents can be a future boss’ first impression of you as an employee, and as stated by McRae, “might lead you to the job of your dreams” if written well (McRae 21). Sound professional and business writing skills can make your career more successful. A report done on literacy concluded that “those with high literacy skills earn, on average, more than double the average income of those with poor literacy skills” (McRae 18). So not only can having good literacy skills make it, so you land that dream job, it makes it so that you can keep that job and earn more due to the talents you have learned and now possess.
Through pages 15-22 of Business and Professional Writing by Paul MacRae, it emphasized the importance of learning the basics of professional writing such as correct grammar, spelling, punctuation, etc. and how these skills are not just needed in a professional sense, but are vital to the creative side of writing as well. One idea from the reading that inspired me to think deeper about the literate aspect of modern society, was when MacRae referred to the current times as a “post-literate” age. I had never thought thoroughly about how much of the literate world has been lost as a result of technology, and I found this section of the reading to be illuminating. An important concept from this chapter was how the way someone writes, can influence how well the world perceives them as a professional. One example of this was on page 17 when MacRae says, “So our communication, in business, in the professions, in government, even just with work colleagues and friends, tells our audience a great deal about us. If we care about the details of our communication, probably we’ll care about the details of our work as well. Therefore, to show ourselves in the best possible light, we need to write well and accurately.” Another key point to this chapter was that according to MacRae, while online grammar check tools are valuable, they don’t always catch all errors and can even create new ones by making incorrect or unnecessary changes. This was interesting, because while we live in a digital age and a “post-literate” age, not everything can be technological. In order to be successful, a person still needs to be efficient in writing, because the skills are needed no matter if it is a “post-literate” age or not. The information in this chapter goes to show how important it is for society to maintain their writing skills in order to be successful in a professional environment.
One of the highlighted things in this chapter is the importance of having good communication. In present day, we live in a world that is considered “post-literate”, meaning that alongside the rise of technology and the internet, reading is not of importance to individuals anymore. Reading is no longer necessary for individuals to learn new information or as a form of entertainment. Instead, the internet and technology has taken the place of reading in both of those areas. Individuals can now look to the internet to instantly consume new information and be entertained by such. What is known as written media (books and literature in general) has now shifted to visual and aural media (watching and listening). A widely known example of this today can be found with audiobooks and e-readers. Instead of sitting down to enjoy a good book, one can do so on the go while driving, eating, etc. Due to this, recognizing and understanding good writing skills such as grammar and etiquette has become far less important than it should be. The issue that lies within this is when we do not learn about the rules of writing, it limits our level of communication and effectiveness in writing. Over time, this has caused generations of students to struggle with the rules of writing; those being concepts such as spelling and grammar. Although this is happening in many educational institutions today due to technology, it has had the opposite effect on the professional world. There is now a heightened need for good communicators and writing skills in the professional world due to the change in media. We can also now understand better what is necessary to have good communication in the professional world. That visual media is able to give us insight into this world and how much of it depends on communication and writing skills.
Another important aspect of this chapter is the idea that there are no shortcuts to having good writing skills. This particular section, although small, stood out to me as important because of how much it really interacts with out daily lives. It gives readers the example of how auto-correct is not always the best when it comes to understandable writing. Auto-correct is a tool that nearly everyone uses in their daily lives, yet do not realize the negative effect it is having. When writing emails to professors or finishing a final paper, auto-correct can not be a dependent tool to check ones writing. This is because more often than not the tool will change words to incorrect meaning or spelling. Due to this, it changes the effectiveness and clearness of ones writing. I have seen this happen many times myself in exchanging emails with other students and even texts to my friends. People too often trust auto-correct to fix what they are trying to convey, and it goes haywire. Trusting a system that cannot see what you are trying to say is a poor method of trying to have clear communication. Instead, it requires one to learn what good writing skills are, in this case spelling and grammar, to be truly effective.
Two important points and most significant takeaways from this chapter stemmed from the overarching idea that good communication is essential to any professional sphere within the focus of writing. The first lies in the ability to have control and an understanding of grammar and the techniques of writing. The biggest misunderstanding the text explains from this idea is that our education system has made grammar secondary to the expression of ideas and creativity within students. The correction of this idea, I feel, is incredibly essential – not only is creativity enhanced by the ability to freely experiment with thoughts and ideas clearly and effectively made possible by those “persnickety” rules of writing, but creativity also goes to waste when an individual cannot express themselves because their own writing hinders it.
Another point from this section of the book expresses that being accountable for writing well is impacting more individuals than before, as technology has enabled one person to do the job of many in previous years. This brings in the importance of feeling confident in skillfully writing for an audience, presenting not only yourself but your place of employment and sometimes even a representative of an entire profession in the highest light. Connecting back to the most prominent theme when exploring professional and technical writing, good communication, the text stated, “Regardless of what profession you ultimately choose, you will almost certainly be using these skills every single day, both on the job and off”(20).
One of the first points that stuck out to me in this chapter was when they talked about the importance of writing in jobs/advertisements and it said people with strong literacy skills are more likely to find a job then people who don’t. This does make sense and it also kind of makes you do a double take because a lot of people probably overlook English or writing courses when in reality this is one of the most common things that you’ll be dealing with for the rest of your life. Another big point that stuck out to me was the seven (eight) C’s of writing. The chapter says that a good writer is clear, concise, concrete, complete, courteous, coherent and constructive. The eight C was correct. This stood out to me because all though it seems right that a writer be all those things. It’s also a little overwhelming. How does one just suddenly have all eight factors needed or know they are not doing things incorrectly. It may be a lot to digest. Overall this intro chapter lets readers know that a lot goes into writing and especially professional writing. It is in fact something that is harder than it looks.
Much like surgery or architecture, writing is a practice that has many rules and formats one must follow. However, when approaching writing from a creative perspective, many aren’t taught the rules and structures because of an emphasis on creativity and little to no emphasis on the professional structure. This is in spite of the fact that professional writing can make or break careers or even entire companies. Writing mistakes imply that the person/company doesn’t care enough to learn the proper grammar, and in turn implies the same about their work. This started around the same time television started to gain popularity. As emphasis moved from written to visual the focus on professional writing started to dwindle. The rise of spellcheck and grammar check in many writing software’s also contributed to this problem. If someone believes that the computer will fix all of their mistakes, they have no real drive to learn how to do it properly. However, spellcheck and grammar check only go so far and cannot catch every problem, so it’s important to learn the rules and follow them. Spellcheck and grammar check should be used as a fallback, not as the writer’s main tool.
11 thoughts on “JOURNAL # 1”
The first chapter of Business and Professional Writing by Paul MacRae can be summarized as a preaching of the importance of written communication in both the business and professional aspects of our lives. The first main point MacRae stresses is the misconception that by teaching the persnickety rules and thorough knowledge of the written world, educators are stomping out the creative flames of their students. When in fact, he believes this as farthest from the truth. Just as doctors and engineers cannot cheat their way through their career, certainly neither can writers. As he states, “mastery of the basics is the essential ingredient for creativity.” Without a keen understanding of the writing rules, great work cannot be produced. The second main point MacRae makes is understanding not only the importance of knowing writing rules, but understanding how our knowledge of these things enhance us as professional people, and reflects on us. As MacRae says, ” to show ourselves in the best possible light, we need to write well and accurately.” This applies to all aspects of our professional careers, such as emails with colleagues, resumes, etc. MacRae also included some statistics, showing that those with higher prose literary proficiency are more likely to have higher paying jobs. MacRae gives us these insights to engage us with the learning journey we are about to take through the professional and technical writing world.
After reading chapter one of Business and Professional Writing, I have denounced the two main points to be that technology has caused writing to be less professional, and that correct grammar/good writing is arguably the most important tool in business. Technology has allowed easier access to communication across the globe, but it has also created a way in which people lose formalities and correct grammar or spelling within their writing, as they now heavily rely on spell check. The loss of this very important writing skill has allowed for companies to seem less credible due to the poor impression they give from their writing. Companies need to sound more professional and reliable within their written correspondence. This is due to the fact that the company as a whole will seem less credible and less reliable if they don’t sound professional on paper. The main takeaway from this chapter was essentially that people nowadays don’t have the ability to communicate effectively anymore, and that is not ideal for the business and professional world. By teaching more people how to communicate effectively and professionally, the author aims to increase a sense of stability within the correspondence from business to business as well as from business to consumer.
Journal #1:
This section is broken down into 4 parts #1 the importance of good communication, #2 Our communication says something about us, #3 There are no shortcuts to good Writing and ending it off with #4 What we will learn. In the first section “The importance of communication” it states “For many years “progressive” educators have believed that forcing students to learn the persnickety rules of writing, spelling, and grammar would hamper their ability to express themselves freely and creatively.” The text then goes on to say that “Nothing could be further from the truth” I still agree with the first statement because I have found when I’m writing or doing any kind of project for school when I focus too much on all the rules and requirements of the assignment it totally ruins my creativity. So let’s see if this course and this book can change my mind on that opinion. Sure, being able to express your creativity professionally is important but professionalism has nothing to do with enhancing creativity. In my opinion professionalism kills creativity. It then gives the example of “Engineers tell us that they spend 20 to 40% of their work time writing memos, letters, emails, reports, and proposals.” The book then warns us that “this kind of writing is not just expected but demanded in the world of work communication. In the next section “Our communication says something about us” it starts out straight forward and to the point and in the first sentence states “how well you communicate reflects heavily on you” I can’t agree with this statement more. Our words matter, the words we chose to convey our thoughts and feelings is how others will remember us. Another huge reason why our communication is important is once you say something you can never take it back. Also it is important to communicate well so people take you seriously and can understand you. If you send a business proposal with a bunch of typos, first of all they won’t be able to understand you and second of all it takes away your credibility and professionalism. The book states “to show ourselves in the best possible light, we need to write well and accurately.” which is very true. This section also talks about some of the benefits of learning to write well such as higher income and increased chances to get a job and more than double the average income of those with poor literacy skills. In the last section “What we will learn” I believe the first paragraph is the main idea of the introduction. It says “Quite simply, one of the most useful skills you can learn in your education, whatever your discipline, is good communication, written and spoken. Why? Regardless of what profession you ultimately chose, you will almost certainly be using these skills every single day, both on and off the job. The better you use these skills, the more successful you will be.”
One of the main themes this part breaks down is how media has evolved. Our language, our grammar, and how we spread our voices have changed. It has become easier to say things than it has in the past. However, how we say it is just as important, which I believe is the second main theme of this section. There is volume to our digital conversations now more than ever, a simple comma, period, or uppercase letter can be easily misinterpreted into a heated conversation. As well as how the conversation is presented. They bring up banks as well as a car company, which is interesting because most of the conversations would be automated. While those conversations are perceived to be fake, they still have weight. This heavily shows if we can trust someone or a company due to their language. If their language is off, we might not be able to trust this company or person. We perceive them as rushed or lazy. And For sure people can agree that they do not want a lazy or rushed bank/car company. Language is super important, but depending on the situation or environment we each have 5 languages even if we only know one.
One main idea that the book hits on right away in this chapter is the overall importance of good literacy and the importance of good communication through writing. The writing that we put out into the world tells a lot about us and our background to the people who read it. Often, our writing is the first interaction with us that people have, especially in the professional fields. It is so crucial to be able to write well and professionally, this ability is important when applying for jobs, working with colleagues, and in everyday life outside of work. The writing that we put out into the world can give you a head start on becoming successful in whatever field you are entering.
Another main idea that came across in this chapter was that good communication is generally one of the most important skills someone can have. Communication is something that you constantly have to do, and there is little room for error or low quality. Making sure that your communication skills are proficient and quality is in the best interest of everyone.
In a post-literate society, it is still essential to learn the skills of spelling and grammar as it is crucial to one’s everyday future, no matter their career trajectory or profession. I still believe that learning not to embrace every grammatical rule is essential to teach, contrary to what the book says. Still, I understand that this skill can be the most important skill you present in a business and professional writing context. This is because it helps to determine if one even makes it past the interview and gets the job based on the grammatical cleanliness of a cover letter or resume. These documents can be a future boss’ first impression of you as an employee, and as stated by McRae, “might lead you to the job of your dreams” if written well (McRae 21). Sound professional and business writing skills can make your career more successful. A report done on literacy concluded that “those with high literacy skills earn, on average, more than double the average income of those with poor literacy skills” (McRae 18). So not only can having good literacy skills make it, so you land that dream job, it makes it so that you can keep that job and earn more due to the talents you have learned and now possess.
Through pages 15-22 of Business and Professional Writing by Paul MacRae, it emphasized the importance of learning the basics of professional writing such as correct grammar, spelling, punctuation, etc. and how these skills are not just needed in a professional sense, but are vital to the creative side of writing as well. One idea from the reading that inspired me to think deeper about the literate aspect of modern society, was when MacRae referred to the current times as a “post-literate” age. I had never thought thoroughly about how much of the literate world has been lost as a result of technology, and I found this section of the reading to be illuminating. An important concept from this chapter was how the way someone writes, can influence how well the world perceives them as a professional. One example of this was on page 17 when MacRae says, “So our communication, in business, in the professions, in government, even just with work colleagues and friends, tells our audience a great deal about us. If we care about the details of our communication, probably we’ll care about the details of our work as well. Therefore, to show ourselves in the best possible light, we need to write well and accurately.” Another key point to this chapter was that according to MacRae, while online grammar check tools are valuable, they don’t always catch all errors and can even create new ones by making incorrect or unnecessary changes. This was interesting, because while we live in a digital age and a “post-literate” age, not everything can be technological. In order to be successful, a person still needs to be efficient in writing, because the skills are needed no matter if it is a “post-literate” age or not. The information in this chapter goes to show how important it is for society to maintain their writing skills in order to be successful in a professional environment.
One of the highlighted things in this chapter is the importance of having good communication. In present day, we live in a world that is considered “post-literate”, meaning that alongside the rise of technology and the internet, reading is not of importance to individuals anymore. Reading is no longer necessary for individuals to learn new information or as a form of entertainment. Instead, the internet and technology has taken the place of reading in both of those areas. Individuals can now look to the internet to instantly consume new information and be entertained by such. What is known as written media (books and literature in general) has now shifted to visual and aural media (watching and listening). A widely known example of this today can be found with audiobooks and e-readers. Instead of sitting down to enjoy a good book, one can do so on the go while driving, eating, etc. Due to this, recognizing and understanding good writing skills such as grammar and etiquette has become far less important than it should be. The issue that lies within this is when we do not learn about the rules of writing, it limits our level of communication and effectiveness in writing. Over time, this has caused generations of students to struggle with the rules of writing; those being concepts such as spelling and grammar. Although this is happening in many educational institutions today due to technology, it has had the opposite effect on the professional world. There is now a heightened need for good communicators and writing skills in the professional world due to the change in media. We can also now understand better what is necessary to have good communication in the professional world. That visual media is able to give us insight into this world and how much of it depends on communication and writing skills.
Another important aspect of this chapter is the idea that there are no shortcuts to having good writing skills. This particular section, although small, stood out to me as important because of how much it really interacts with out daily lives. It gives readers the example of how auto-correct is not always the best when it comes to understandable writing. Auto-correct is a tool that nearly everyone uses in their daily lives, yet do not realize the negative effect it is having. When writing emails to professors or finishing a final paper, auto-correct can not be a dependent tool to check ones writing. This is because more often than not the tool will change words to incorrect meaning or spelling. Due to this, it changes the effectiveness and clearness of ones writing. I have seen this happen many times myself in exchanging emails with other students and even texts to my friends. People too often trust auto-correct to fix what they are trying to convey, and it goes haywire. Trusting a system that cannot see what you are trying to say is a poor method of trying to have clear communication. Instead, it requires one to learn what good writing skills are, in this case spelling and grammar, to be truly effective.
Two important points and most significant takeaways from this chapter stemmed from the overarching idea that good communication is essential to any professional sphere within the focus of writing. The first lies in the ability to have control and an understanding of grammar and the techniques of writing. The biggest misunderstanding the text explains from this idea is that our education system has made grammar secondary to the expression of ideas and creativity within students. The correction of this idea, I feel, is incredibly essential – not only is creativity enhanced by the ability to freely experiment with thoughts and ideas clearly and effectively made possible by those “persnickety” rules of writing, but creativity also goes to waste when an individual cannot express themselves because their own writing hinders it.
Another point from this section of the book expresses that being accountable for writing well is impacting more individuals than before, as technology has enabled one person to do the job of many in previous years. This brings in the importance of feeling confident in skillfully writing for an audience, presenting not only yourself but your place of employment and sometimes even a representative of an entire profession in the highest light. Connecting back to the most prominent theme when exploring professional and technical writing, good communication, the text stated, “Regardless of what profession you ultimately choose, you will almost certainly be using these skills every single day, both on the job and off”(20).
One of the first points that stuck out to me in this chapter was when they talked about the importance of writing in jobs/advertisements and it said people with strong literacy skills are more likely to find a job then people who don’t. This does make sense and it also kind of makes you do a double take because a lot of people probably overlook English or writing courses when in reality this is one of the most common things that you’ll be dealing with for the rest of your life. Another big point that stuck out to me was the seven (eight) C’s of writing. The chapter says that a good writer is clear, concise, concrete, complete, courteous, coherent and constructive. The eight C was correct. This stood out to me because all though it seems right that a writer be all those things. It’s also a little overwhelming. How does one just suddenly have all eight factors needed or know they are not doing things incorrectly. It may be a lot to digest. Overall this intro chapter lets readers know that a lot goes into writing and especially professional writing. It is in fact something that is harder than it looks.
Much like surgery or architecture, writing is a practice that has many rules and formats one must follow. However, when approaching writing from a creative perspective, many aren’t taught the rules and structures because of an emphasis on creativity and little to no emphasis on the professional structure. This is in spite of the fact that professional writing can make or break careers or even entire companies. Writing mistakes imply that the person/company doesn’t care enough to learn the proper grammar, and in turn implies the same about their work. This started around the same time television started to gain popularity. As emphasis moved from written to visual the focus on professional writing started to dwindle. The rise of spellcheck and grammar check in many writing software’s also contributed to this problem. If someone believes that the computer will fix all of their mistakes, they have no real drive to learn how to do it properly. However, spellcheck and grammar check only go so far and cannot catch every problem, so it’s important to learn the rules and follow them. Spellcheck and grammar check should be used as a fallback, not as the writer’s main tool.