6 Key Points for Relevant Document Design

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Many professional writers are expected to know how to both write documents as well as design them with the use of visuals to support the text. Designing and writing a document goes hand in hand. In my Visual Document and Design class, I learned 6 important points pertaining to visual rhetoric that writers and designers must consider when designing documents:

 

1. Arrangement

This refers to the order of the document. The document designer must make sure that the visual elements are organized in such a way that they relate to the text. The arrangement of a document can be sequential, which has paragraphs of text, or hierarchical, which contains text with levels of headings. Arrangement also considers the spatial orientation of the visual elements and it allows the writer to maintain objectivity in their content.

2. Emphasis

Certain text and visual elements will stand out more than others. Designers and writers must identify what content they want to emphasize in their documents for audiences to notice. This is achieved simply by bolding or italicizing words or phrases or by using larger font types, adding colour to images and text, and using headings or bullet points. Arrangement and emphasis often work together as they pertain to the organization and visual structure of the overall document.

3. Clarity

Clarity strategies help the receiver decode the message, which allows them to understand it quickly and completely. In text, clarity must be addressed from word to phrase, from sentence to paragraph and from a section to the entire document. For visual elements, clarity must be considered when choosing typefaces, creating charts and using illustrations. Clarity can often be achieved by ensuring that your content is concise and straight to the point, which is the next key point in document design.

4. Conciseness

In visual terms, conciseness refers to the complexity of the design. This includes the number of headings and lists, lines and boxes, colors and gray scales, the detail of the drawings and data displays, the variations in the size, and the spacing of the text. Conciseness does not mean that visual elements should be minimally designed. It simply means that writers and designers should always consider how their content speaks rhetorically. You must ask yourself: Does my content help the audience understand the purpose of my work or does it misguide them?

5. Tone

Your tone can indicate whether your document is professional or informal, humorous or serious and academic or nonacademic. You can also reveal tone through your selection of visual elements, which includes typefaces, use of space, pictures, icons and countless other design elements. Additionally, your tone plays a crucial role in building ethos because your tone of voice—verbally or visually—tells readers a lot about your character.

 

6. Ethos

Tone and ethos both coincide with one another when designing documents. In any communication, the speaker or writer tries to establish a trusting relationship with the listener or reader. To accomplish this, the sender of the message must present a type of character that will appeal to the audience. This will enhance the writer’s credibility. Visual language also needs to build trust to respond adequately to the rhetorical situation. For example, a formal tone can be achieved by using letterheads or logos in your document.

5 Strategies to Become the Best PR Specialist

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One career route that professional writers and communicators may choose to pursue is public relations (PR). Public relations specialists often help major corporations and public figures deal with crises in an appropriate manner. Crisis management has specific strategies, which were introduced to me in my class, Practical Studies in Damage Control. This class focuses specifically on understanding the responsibilities that come with becoming a PR specialist, specifically when they must deal with crises.

The following 5 strategies are essential to manage a crisis and to attempt to maintain a company or person’s reputation.

1. Nonexistence Strategies

This is used when the organization/individual seeks to completely eliminate the crisis by refusing its existence. There are four types of nonexistence strategies:

• Denial: The company/individual issues a simple statement saying that nothing happened; a crisis does not exist and they are not involved in any issue.
• Clarification: The company/individual extends the denial strategy by attempting to explain why no crisis exists.
• Attack: A more aggressive nonexistence strategy, as the organization/individual confronts those who incorrectly report that the nonexistent crisis exists. You must be very careful when using this strategy to avoid further complications or damage to a company or person’s reputation.
• Intimidation: This is the most aggressive nonexistence strategy, as the organization/individual threatens to use its power against someone else. Lawsuits and physical violence are forms of intimidation.

2. Distance Strategies

This involves accepting the crisis but weakening the link between the organization/individual and the crisis. There are two types of distance strategies:

• Excuse: This is used to minimize the responsibility of the organization/individual during the crisis. Often businesses state that they did not intend to cause the crisis or direct the blame towards a third party.
• Justification: The organization/individual attempts to diminish the damage associated with the crisis. Corporations will say that the crisis is not that bad and can be resolved. This includes denying the seriousness of an injury or stating that the victim deserved what happened to them.

3. Ingratiation Strategies

These strategies are used when the organization/individual tries to gain public approval by behaving positively in public. There are three types of ingratiation strategies:

• Bolstering: The organization/individual reminds the public about their existing positive deeds, such as previous contributions to charities or treating workers fairly in the past.
• Transcendence: The organization/individual tries to shift the specifics of the crisis to a larger, abstract consideration of the crisis to make it seem more desirable in context. For example, three astronauts died in a NASA space excursion due to malfunction in the spaceship, but they died trying to discover more knowledge about the universe.
• Praising Others: The organization/individual praises the target group or the individuals affected by the crisis, which creates a positive image for them.

4. Mortification Strategies

These strategies are used to gain public forgiveness and acceptance of the crisis. There are three mortification strategies:

• Remediation: The organization/individual willingly offers some form of compensation to those affected by the crisis. For example, a corporation gives advanced employment benefits to its workers after a crisis.
• Repentance: The organization/individual simply asks for forgiveness. This lessens the crisis and creates acceptance by the public.
• Rectification: This involves taking action to further prevent the crisis from emerging again. When using this strategy, companies usually create new policies and rules to protect people from future threats.

5. Suffering Strategy

This is a separate strategy for which the organization/individual asks the public for sympathy, stating that they are victims to the deeds of an outside entity. This may first involve using distance strategies to shift the blame of the crisis on another party however, at the same time, the organization/individual attempts to create a positive image for themselves by also identifying as a victim in the crisis.

It is important to note that these strategies are not necessarily stated in order however, PR specialists usually advise organizations/individuals to use a combination of many of these strategies to manage the crisis and repair their reputation. These must be used with considerable knowledge of the crisis and honesty.

9 Ethical News Values Journalists should Consider

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Many professional writers and professional communicators work towards the field of journalism. One key factor to keep in mind as a journalist is the ethical standards that come with writing about others and their experiences.

In my Ethics of Publicity class, I learned that writers must consider many ethical points before they publish their material. Journalists, specifically, must remember these 9 ethical news values when writing about any topic:

1. Accuracy­ 

   Journalists must makes sure that they use correct facts and words and search for the context behind all their information. Inaccurate information can lead to a loss in credibility and potential lawsuits if a person or organization is offended by what you have written.

2. Confirmation

   Journalists should write articles that can handle critical observations inside and outside the newsroom. Since these articles are made public, journalists must be prepared for cross-referencing and the likelihood that other journalists can challenge them if their information is disconfirmed.

3. Tenacity 

   A journalist should be prepared to provide additional institutional and personal effort to cover stories that are especially important. This shows their willingness and determination towards their job. Tenacity remains a core value in journalism as it means that you are a capable writer whose work is honest and objective.

4. Dignity­­­­­ 

   Journalists must always respect the people or organizations involved in their story. Many journalists write with little sympathetic regard for their sources. While it is good to be critical, you should always leave self-respect for the subject of the story, especially when concerning death, illness or public embarrassment.

5. Reciprocity

   Journalists should treat others as they would like to be treated in return. This goes hand in hand with the value of dignity. Reciprocity not only refers to a journalist’s relationship with his or her subject, but also the journalist’s relationship with the audience. By providing the public with accurate and factual information, journalists are maintaining a respectful and ethical relationship.

6. Sufficiency

   Journalists should always aim to find the appropriate amount of resources for their stories. You might have a tight deadline but if you know you need more facts to cover your story, it is better to ask for more time than to publish a potentially unfinished article. Insufficient facts and evidence may also lead to lawsuits and loss in credibility.

7. Equity

   As a journalist, you should always treat your sources and subjects in a controversial issue equally and justifiably. Do not mistreat people or tamper with evidence for your own personal reasons and subjective opinions.

8. Community

   Do not consider journalism as simply a moneymaking business. As a journalist, you must value society and your readers. This means providing correct information and respecting your sources.

9. Diversity

   As a journalist, you must cover all of your audiences’ stories fairly. Do not devalue a particular story due to cultural or racial differences.

 

7 Essential Public Speaking Skills

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As a professional writing student in the institutional communications stream, presentations are commonly assigned to me in many of my classes. In my Workshop to Presentation Strategies class, I learned that it is important to know how to present with poise and professionalism. Along with writing, public speaking skills are sought by businesses. I learned that the following 7 factors will help you create a strong presentation:

1. Appropriate Voice Quality. 

   Some people don’t show any emotion while presenting and speak in a monotone voice. Create passion and interest in your voice when presenting or businesses will be uninterested in what you have to say. The concept of “up-talking” is also important here. Some people tend to over emphasize certain phrases or raise their voice too much. Make sure to avoid this so you do not sound high-pitched and unprofessional.

2. Avoid Using Unprofessional Filler Words/Phrases.

   Students often have the problem of overusing words and phrase such as “like”, “um” or “uhh”. These phrases diminish the professionalism of the presentation and make it seem as though the presenter is nervous. With continuous practice beforehand, you can completely avoid using these words. Try recording yourself to keep tabs of when you tend to turn to these phrases. Instead of using such words, try to pause for a moment, regain your thoughts and then continue your presentation.

3. Maintain Eye Contact.

   Some students fail to look at the audience while presenting. Regular eye contact is very important to create a connection between you and your audience. Try to keep your focus on one or two friends or colleagues that you are comfortable with to ensure that you do not look nervous and are speaking to your audience.

4. Don’t Show up Unprepared.

   Often, presenters think that they can simply show up and make a presentation right off the top of their head. This may work for some people but it is definitely not advised when presenting in front of businesses. Always practice before the presentation so you can correct any errors such as poor eye contact or up-talking. You can also prepare yourself for any questions that the stakeholders might ask. Additionally, spend some time to organize your presentation; make sure that it flows and it has credible facts to support your points.

5. Avoid Over Preparation.

   While some people fail to prepare at all, others often have a fully prepared script at hand when presenting. These can be problematic because you are tempted to read right of the paper, which may negatively effect your voice quality and eye contact with the audience. Make a few key points and set them in front of you, which you can refer to from time to time.

6. Emphasize Important Points.

   Sometimes individuals do not emphasize their key points when speaking and it seems like each point is the same as the other. By using phrases such as: now I’m going to turn away from talking about…”, you can create emphasis on your next point and indicate to your audience that you are transitioning to another part of the presentation.

7. Maintain Good Posture.

   Many presenters have the tendency to lean, cross their legs or skip around when in front of an audience. This is an indication of nervousness and it takes away from the professionalism of the presenter. To prevent such poor posture, you must, again, practice regularly before the presentation day. Try to practice your presentation in front of friends or family members and have them point out your errors to help you correct them.

These tips will help prevent progressing professional communicators and writers from making common public speaking errors that make presentations seem unprofessional. Additionally, by keeping these errors in mind and by practicing regularly to avoid them, the presentation will not seem as nerve-wracking.

11 Copyediting Tips

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To become a strong professional writer, you must remember that editing and proofreading is a very important part of the process. But this does not mean that you should quickly scan your work. You must consider specific details with regard to grammar and punctuation to ensure that your writing highlights exactly what you are conveying to your audience.

Remember that when searching for grammar and punctuation errors, you must be certain about the key points and facts that pertain to your writing piece, whether it is an essay, article or short story. This is all essential during the copyediting process after you write your first draft.

I learned many copyediting tips from my Fundamentals of Editing class, which specifically focused on grammar, punctuation and a few areas of substantive editing to help progressing professional writers identify common errors in their writing before publication. The following 11 copyediting tips from the class are important to keep in mind when writing any professional documents (articles, government documents, speeches, etc.):

1. Always use the spelling format that pertains to your locations. For example: Canadians spell colour, while Americans spell color.
2. Make sure to appropriately use common words that sound alike. This includes:
   • Than/Then Example: I have less than $50 in my bank account. First, I want to get dinner and then, we can watch a movie.
   • Their/There/They’reExample: I have their cat (refers to someone’s possession/belongings).We went to France and stayed there for a week (refers being in a place or position).

     Sam and Alex said that they’re coming to the party as well (a contraction of they and are).

3. Insert commas between the components of a series but NOT before the final and, or or nor. For example: Jane is responsible for pension investments, accounting, governance and compliance.
4. Always attempt to write in present tense, unless you are speaking about an event in the past. For example, Barack Obama is the president of the United States. George Bush was the president of America years ago.
5. Remain consistent when referring to a person by their first name while writing. Do not switch to referring to them by their surname.
6. Spell out whole numbers before 10 (for example, one, two three). Use figures for numbers that are 10 and above (for example, 10, 11, 12).
7. If you refer to an organization several times, bracketed abbreviations can be used. For example, York Federation of Students or YFS.
8. Always capitalize the first letters of the names of educational institutions. For example, York University, Seneca College.
9. For academic degrees, try to follow the original style for abbreviations in your writing. For example, BA, MBA, BsC.
10. Always use the full forms of words. For example, department, NOT dept.
11. Spell out the names of all places. For example, United States NOT US. For Canadian provinces and territories, use the following abbreviations after the name of a community:
    

    ·      Alta.	·      N.B.	·      N.S.	·      Que.
    ·      B.C.	·      N.L.	·      Ont.	·      Sask.
    ·      Man.	·      N.W.T.	·      P.E.I.