Basics of Writing – CA Foundation BCR Notes

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Basics of Writing – BCR Notes CA Foundation

There are four main types of communication, skills – listening, speaking, reading and writing. First of all, a person as a child listens. Then he/she learns to speak. Thereafter, the child learns alphabets and starts reading. Lastly, the child learns writing skill.

Writing is the most difficult skill to learn. It requires vocabulary, correct use of grammar and knowledge of sentences and paragraphs. The text has to be presented in a logical and sequential manner so that it makes sense to the readers.

Process of Writing:
The steps involved in the process of writing are described below:
1. Selecting the topic: First of all, a writer chooses the topic for writing. The writer himself/ herself may select the topic. In the classroom, the teacher decides the topic for writing. The topic may be an idea, a theme, an issue or any subject. But it must be stated clearly.

2. Searching the content: Once the topic for writing is decided, the writer searches for the content related to the topic. Brain Storming may be used to mull over ideas, thoughts and facts concerning the topic. The writer may search publications and Internet for the content. All the points need to be noted down.

3. Organizing the content: The framework into which the content is to included is decided. The order or sequence of points and sub-points has to be logical. An outline or diagram can be used for proper organization of the contents. The main methods used for organizing the contents are as under:
(a) Sequential Form: The points are listed in a sequence one after another.

(b) Ray Diagram: In this method the main topic is written inside a circle. The various points related to the topic are written around the circle.

(c) Problem and Solution: The problem is written on the left side and suggested solutions on the right side.

(d) Cause and effect: The cause of the problem/issue and its various effects are written separately. It explains ho w objects depend on each other. For example, a writer may explain the causes of an earthquake and its effect.

(e) Comparison or contrast: The similarities and differences are listed e.g. comparison between direct and indirect taxes.

4. Writing: This is the most important, most difficult and the most time consuming step in the process of writing. It involves choice of proper words, framing of suitable sentences and creation of paragraphs. Appropriate examples and illustrations are needed to make the text effective.

5. Revising: After a break, re vise what you have written. Revision may involve correction of errors, reorganization of the text, addition/deletion and improvement.

6. Editing and proofreading: Once the text is ready, proof reading is done to check spelling, punctuation and grammar:

7. Publishing and printing : Alter the final text is ready, it can be sent for printing. Alternatively, it may be put on a Website so that readers may use it.

Styles Of Writing:
How to present ideas, thoughts and information depends on the readers, their needs and circumstances. For example, when you are writing a report on your visit to a hill station, you describe your experience of the visit. On the other hand, when you are writing a request for purchase of a new software, you need to give arguments to prove the need for the software. The four main styles /types of writing are explained below:
1. Descriptive Writing:
Descriptive writing is a type of writing wherein the writer describes a place, process, person or thing in such a manner that a vivid picture is formed in the reader’s mind. While describing a real place, process, person, event or thing all the details are included to help the reader visualize what is being described.

When you are describing an imaginary place, process, person, event or thing, the writer should first imagine each and every detail. Then all the imagined details are described so that the reader feels that it is a real place, process, person, event or thing.

Descriptive writing is widely used in academics and industry. Students in schools and colleges write descriptive essays on various topics. Writers use descriptive writing to portray places, people, experiences, events, things, etc. with enough vivid detail to help readers create a mental picture of what has been written. Writers of short stories and novels write descriptions about places, characters, scenes and action in a vivid manner.

Similarly, descriptive writing is used in travelogues, reports, movie reviews, and letters to the editor. Scientists, engineers and technicians also use descriptive writing. They describe the structure and working of machines, processes, experiments, etc. Such description may be very technical and may contain some analysis. But in essence, these are descriptive in nature. Descriptive essays are very ease to write.

An Example of Descriptive Writing:
When at work, Bill Moss, the tent maker talks like a mathematician or an engineer. When he speaks of colour, form and living spaces he sounds like an architect. But he is none of them. Single handedly, Bill has changed the shape of tents all over the earth. Before he came along, tents were heavy, cumbersome to put up, bulky when collapsed. They wore out quickly, smelled and leaked. Today none of that is true due to moss. The main problem with the earlier tents was the traditional inverted V-Shape.

Moss discovered a better solution in the form of an arch. Instead of holding fabric up with poles his design springs it out with flexible plastic rods threaded through sewn-in sleeves on the tent’s outside-quite revolutionary. By intersecting these arches, Bill invented the pop-tent which snaps upright and can be completely assembled in three minutes.

It is light weight of Egyptian Cotton instead of the standard paraffin impregnated heavy duck. It is small enough that a two person tent can fit under a car seat Moss tents are now perched on the ice shapes of the Himalayas, braced against the dry desert winds of Oman and one rests in the Museum of Modern Art (From Bill Moss: Tentmaker by Robert Gannon).

In order to make descriptive writing vivid and effective, the following guidelines can be helpful:
(i) Include details that appeal to the five senses of readers. Describe something or someone in such a manner that your reader-can easily imagine what is being described. Your description even in case of an abstract’feeling, emotion or thing should be such that the reader can comprehend and even feel it. For example, while describing the humility of a person use imagery so that the readers can feel the nature and depth of it. Merely saying that someone humile is not enough. You must bring out its exact nature by a vivid description. .

(ii) Use analogies, similes, metaphors and other types of figurative language to create a vivid picture in the reader’s mind. For example, in the above description “when he speaks of colour, form and living spaces, he sounds like an architect” is figurative language.

(iii) Use specific noun and adjectives, and strong action verbs to make your writing precise and vibrant. In the above description, the author has described Moss tents in precise details to help readers imagine Moss tents clearly.

(iv) Organise your description properly so that the reader can comprehend it easily. Suppose, you are describing the human body. You should describe them in a chronological order e.g. head, eyes, face, teeth, heart, hands, lungs, kidneys, legs, etc. Similarly, when you describe a place, give details so that the readers can visualize and feel the place. While describing a machine you should point out its parts, function and working to help the readers visualise it in front of them.

(v) Use concrete and simple language and give adequate details to create a mental image for the reader. Divide the details according to a pattern (e.g. location, space, etc.) Good observation, imagination, focus on readers and good vocabulary are necessary for writing a good description.

Narrative Writing:
Narrative writing refers to telling a story or an event. Narration is more than description’because the former is written from a specific point of view. Suppose you have witnessed a serious accident. If you are simply describing the accident, then it is descriptive writing. But if you are writing a narrative then you must write from a particular viewpoint.

Your perspective may be (a) rash driving causes accidents, or (b) mental disturbance (e.g. talking on mobile phone) can lead to an accident, or (c) urgency makes people violate the traffic rules, etc. When you write with a particular perspective, the writing is narrative and readers get involved in it. A narration is usually longer than a description. Narrative writing is often used in fiction. It contains all necessary elements of action, development, protagonist, climax and resolution. The focus is on action rather than on depiction.

An Example of Narrative Writing:
Mathew suddenly woke up from a deep sleep. The sun was dazzling his half-open eyes and he couldn’t figure out what time it was. The door to his room was closed; the house was immersed in some sort of reckless silence. He slowly got out of his bed and approached the bench right next to the window. For a moment, he thought, he heard a tapping sound coming from the attic.

Then again he heard the sound, only this time it seemed to be somewhat closer. He looked outside the window and saw a man going by the left side of the road. On seeing Mathew, the man approached his garden’s fence and whistled. At this point, Mathew recognized George and waved his hand.

He quickly got dressed and was about to get down to open the gate, but he again heard someone murmuring in the other part of the house. Mathew decided to go to the attic and see what was causing this, now buzzing, sound. He got to the second floor of his house and looked toward the attic.

He quickly opened its door and looked inside. Nothing was found. He was about to turn back and attend to his guest when he, suddenly, slipped on the stairs and fell. He called out to George to help him get up.

A narrative paragraph usually contains, the following elements:

• Protagonist-in the above paragraph, the protagonist is Mathew who is introduced at the very beginning of the story
• Setting-Mathew’s house is the setting. From the paragraph, readers can learn about his bedroom (where he woke up), it is also clear that it’s a two-storied house with an attic, and a fenced garden
• Goal-the goal of the story is George visiting Mathew
• Obstacle-what stops Mathew from coming down, and earlier on, from concentrating on getting dressed and repeating bizarre sounds coming from all parts of the house
• Climax-Mathew trying to check what was causing the sound
• Resolution-Mathew falls from the stairs and calls out to George to help him get up.

Good narrative writing is characterized by the following features:
(i) Narrative writing is done from a specific point of view so that the readers feel involved in it. It recreates rather than tells a story. When you retell rather than merely describe the narrative becomes interesting.

(ii) Use concrete and sensory details to convey your point of view. These details may consist of appreciation of beauty, a feeling of fear, courage in overcoming fear, etc. Such details help to create a unified and forceful impression. They arouse reader’s emotions and readers can feel the event while reading the narrative.

(iii) The minute and precise details in the narrative should be built around the story. For example, in the narration on a visit to the zoo, the details of the zoo are given so as to create a picture in the reader’s mind.

(iv) Use vivid verbs and modifiers in your narrative. In the above example there are several such verbs e.g. figure out, murmuring, etc.

(v) In narrative writing, all the conventions of storytelling, such as plot, character, dialogue, climax, etc. are used. A good narration can, make an ordinary event look extraordinary just as a good painting helps viewers see beauty in ordinary things.

(vi) While narrating an incident it is not essential to present the details in a chronological order. You may start with the outcome of the incident and then present the incident in flashback. A permutation and combination of events can be made so as to make the readers feel involved in the incident. Flash backs and retrospection can be used to move the story forward.

(vii) In narrative writing, the writer can write about what he thinks. You can fuse your experiences with the present event to make the narrative interesting and convincing.

(viii) Your narrative writing must appeal to the readers. For example, in the narrative on accident the writer talks about uncertainty of life and human suffering.

(ix) Both the first person (using I) and the third person (using he/she) can be used in narrative writing. There is lack of descriptive analysis and informal language is used.

Description of An Accident:
A Toyota Innova and a motorcycle collided at the Ashok Vihar red light when the speeding Innova jumped the red light and took a right turn. It hit the motorcycle and the two passengers of the motorcycle were thrown out of the vehicle. The head of the pillion rider, a lady hit the footpath badly as she was not wearing the helmet.

She is now in coma at Sundar Lai Jain Hospital. Doctors are of the view that she is in a critical state and nothing can be said till she regains consciousness. The driver of the motorcycle was given first aid and has no serious injury. The driver of the Innova has been arrested.

Narration of the Same Accident:
An old lady and an old man are sitting on a bench at Sundar Lai Jain Hospital. Both are weeping and tears are rolling down their cheeks. They are waiting for the doctors to come and announce that their son and daughter-in-law are out of danger.

All four of them had a nice breakfast today morning. The couple involved in the accident left for their son’s school to attend a parent teacher meeting. After the meeting the son stayed back in the school and his parents headed to their office.

Instead of reaching the office, the mother went into coma as a speeding Innova jumped a traffic signal and hit their motorcycle. The aged couple sitting at the bench is hoping that their son and daughter-in- law will survive. A policeman informs them that the driver of Innova has been arrested. But it does not matter to them. They are praying for the survival of their dear ones.

The two paragraphs given above are concerned with the same accident. But the first paragraph merely describes what happened. It gives details of how the accident took place. On the other hand, the second paragraph narrates from the perspective of the parents of the young couple involved in the accident. The narrative presented from a specific viewpoint creates a sense of sympathy for the aged couple.

Expository Writing:
Exposition means “explaining”. Therefore, expository writing explains and illustrates something. It is the most frequently used mode of writing in the fields of both education and business. A main idea or thesis is developed by using information and examples. Job applications, newspaper reports, magazine articles, textbooks, handbooks, cookbooks all make use of expository writing. Such writing answers following questions about something.

• What is it?
• How does it work?
• What is it for?
• How is it made?

Where did it come from? Expository writing is of different types:
(i) Definition: It explains the meaning of a concrete or abstract term.
Example – definition of a boiler

(ii) Classification: Under it the ideas or objects are classified into different groups or categories.
Example – classification of chemical substances.

In expository writing, the main purpose is to create understanding. But a good exposition also gives pleasure to the reader-the pleasure of understanding something obscure or the writer’s view on the subject.

Thus, expository writing is a type of writing that is used to explain, describe, give information, or inform. The text is organized around one topic and developed according to a pattern or combination of patterns. The writer of an expository text cannot assume that the reader or listener has prior knowledge or prior understanding of the topic that is being discussed. Since clarity requires strong organization, one of the most important mechanisms to improve skills in exposition is to improve the organization of the text. The pattern shown below is frequently used to create an expository essay.

• Topic: What are you going to explain?
• Reason: Why you are explaining it?
• Examples: How you support what you are explaining, and how you tie it to your statement and reason.
• Difference: Why is what you have explained important.

An Example of Expository Writing:
Do you know a creature who has a spiny tail and a hard brown hat? If you guessed the horseshoe crab you are right? Let’s examine their appearance, investigate its habitat, and discover its history and the incredible facts that are waiting to be uncovered.

The amazing sea animal has a unique appearance. The horseshoe crab has a crusty, brown, hard, helmet shaped shell. The shell needs to be brown to blend in with the sand and to protect it from enemies. This seashore dweller can weigh up to about 12 lbs. and grow up to 2-3 feet long. Its long spiky tail helps it steer and move. It also helps it flip right side up if it’s up side down.

Where does the horseshoe crab live? In the salt water ocean and the seashore of course. The tall grasses of the marshes help the crustacean hide from predators there. These invertebrates also live in the warm waters of the Asian and Mexican seashores. I’ll never forget the time when I went to Mystic Aquarium to touch a real live horseshoe crab in its manmade seashore habitat.

Would you believe the many amazing facts about the spiky tailed creature? Can you believe that this seashore dweller lived 100 years before dinosaur’s? Its relatives are the tick scorpion, and spider, animals my mom certainly don’t want in her house. Amazingly, this invertebrate can lay 20,000 eggs at one time. Gladly it doesn’t need to take care of all these babies! You’ll be shocked to learn that this amazing sea creature can swim upside down.

So when you are at the seashore be sure to look for a horseshoe crab. You’ll recognize this beach dweller by its unusual traits, identify its habitat and study the invertebrate’s history-and incredible facts. It certainly is an amazing creature.

The following points must be kept in mind in expository writing:

• Present ideas or facts in a logical manner and combine sentences in a smooth way.
• As the primary aim is to explain and inform, provide an objective account. Do not give your opinions or arguments. An objective analysis of facts is required.
• Always use the third person in expository writing.
• In introduction state the main topic. Develop it into sub-topics in the body of writing. Even paragraph in an expository essay must elaborate the topic.
• In expository writing on processes or sequences, make use of transitions. Transitoral words help the reader understand the writing.

Thus, an effective introduction with a topic sentence, powerful use of informative verbs, broad yet distinct main ideas, good supporting details, strong organization, and powerful conclusion are required in a good expository essay.

Argumentative Writing:
Argumentative or persuasive writing aims at convincing or persuading the readers to agree with the writer’s arguments and conclusions. The writer attempts to prove his/her viewpoint through logical arguments. He refutes the counter arguments to prove that his way of thinking is justified.

Argumentative writing often deals with controversial issues such as “should military service be made compulsory for all adults”? There are really no “right” or “wrong” positions on such issues. You may take a clear position in favour or against the issue. Whatever position you take, give forceful or vigorous arguments to justify your stand.

In argumentative writing, first of all the issue is stated in a clear and precise manner. Then the arguments are given in such a logical way that the reader feels convinced that the writer is justified. Relevant data, expert opinions, quotations, examples, etc. can be used to make your arguments strong and believable.

An Example of Argumentative Writing:
Good exercise and diet habits are key aspects not only in appearance but in living long, healthy lives. One may look fabulous, both fit and healthy, while being just as unhealthy as an obese person. The exact opposite is true, also. A person may be a little overweight but have a healthy heart and diet. The only way to find out if one is eating healthy and getting the proper amounts and types of exercise is by looking at their diet and activity level.

It is important to first start with a good eating plan. Age, health issues, and level of physical activity are just a few factors that should be taken into consideration when writing a meal plan for a person. For example, a young, healthy, and active person can eat more freely than an older person with high cholesterol who does not get much physical activity.

On average, a person should try to eat 6-11 servings of grains, 3-5 servings of fruits, 3-5 servings of vegetables, 2-3 servings of dairy, 2-3 servings of meat, and consume fats and sugars sparingly each day. One should shoot for this range until he/she can have an eating plan written for them.

Diet is not the only thing that should be factored into a healthy lifestyle. Exercise is just as important as a nutritious diet. There are many benefits of physical activity besides the obvious advantage of having a better physical appearance. Exercise can reduce the symptoms of anxiety and depression and improve one’s mood and feelings of well-being.

Besides helping you look great it helps you feel great, too. There are different types of exercises which give different results. Strength training, such as lifting weights, produces dramatic differences in physical appearance and raises one’s metabolic rate. It also improves athletic performance and builds stronger bones. Cardiovascular training builds a powerful heart and strong lungs. It helps prevent hypertension, obesity, heart disease, and Type Two diabetes.

When one’s cardiovascular system works efficiently he/she is able to do aerobic activities, such as running and swimming longer, which helps to burn maximum fat and calories. Flexibility and balance training is also important when striving for an over-all body workout.

Flexibility and balance training increase agility, perfects one’s posture, and boosts over-all strength. Specific exercises can reduce back pain, exercise-related soreness, and increase the range of motion in joints and muscles. It is important to incorporate exercises from each group into your exercise plan to reach optimal physical and mental health.

Exercise and diet are key factors in staying physically and mentally healthy. It is a known fact that if you look great and feel great you will live a longer and happier life. It is important to take one’s age, health, and current physical activity level into consideration when writing an exercise and diet plan. There are many people out there, such as nutritionists, personal trainers, and even personal doctors, who can help develop a diet and exercise plan that is right for him/her. There are so many facilities out there to help keep you alive and healthy.

Exercise is not all about physical looks, it also has to do a lot with your actual and well being. For example, many overweight people tend to be more susceptible to higher cholesterol and blood pressure. Well, by working out and addicting an exercise routine into your normal every day life, you can help to decrease risk factors drastically. It is said that over 60% of American grown-ups are on the heavier side, or over weight. Only about 15% actually engage in the slightest amount of exercise.

“Obesity alone make a person very vulnerable for heart disease, but also susceptible to an additional 65% chance of having at least one added risk for heart disease, diabetes and or stroke and a 50% possibility of having two or more of these as possible risk factors.

Some other possible risks are high good pressure, high blood sugar, cholesterol and blood fats that are not all curable with insulin and are considered the Metabolic Syndrome” (Lissner, 886-92). This becomes an even bigger risk when areas of fat accumulate around a person’s middle area and the organs in which the fat surrounds.

Basically people become obese by consuming more calories then should be consumed for a whole day and not using up that energy that has been consumed in calories by exerting it in physical manner such as exercise. Some people have a fast metabolism which would be the people you see eating whatever they want and still looking fit, or have the average metabolism where you are what you eat, which makes it a lot harder to stay fit and jean.

Exercise has also had a tremendous effect on the aging process of the body. Apparently the increase in exercise has an enormous effect on nerve call health and with how long those cells are alive. By maintaining these healthy cells it helps to promote the production of antioxidants which help to protect cells from damage, this is the leading cause in aging.

No matter what your age is you can still benefit from exercise not only mentally but also help to prolong your ability to function later on in life. But most importantly “you will be reducing the change of having a stroke and clotting which can result in deep vein thrombosis and death, which is more critical as age” (Tremblay, 814-18).

Keeping up a regular cardio routine is a great way to get in shape and also help benefit you in various prolonging ways. It is still a good idea to have weight lifting as a part of your routine too.

There are six difference muscle groups that you can work on with weights. You have arms, back, chest, shoulders, legs, and then abs. You want to try and keep them all worked out pretty evenly. Keeping it switched up and by not concentrating on lets just say bench press, you keep your body guessing and keep it from getting immune to the exercise.

Instead of just doing bench press all the time you can switch it up to one week doing dumbbells, may be cables the next, or maybe even just doing flat out push ups. Then you have the machine style work out which you can substitute in one week. Also you can switch the focus point up, may be you want to concentrate on your upper chest this week and lower or mid chest the following week. With this type of confusion your muscles will grow much stronger and you will notice much more of an improvement.

Diet is just as big of a part of your health as exercising, that’s why it is so crucial to eat well balanced healthy meals. This require knowing what you are eating; you can obtain this by the dietary label present on the back of the food when you buy it in the grocery store. “Water is an essential to being healthy: you should drink eight 8 ounce glasses per day. Most people do not eat a well balanced diet like they should, but instead have a diet high in fat and are not consuming enough fiber” (Gebhardt, 72). The best way to start towards a healthy diet is to start consuming more natural whole foods, such as fruit, vegetables, bread, cereals, potatoes, and pastas.

You have six different food groups one of which would be a good idea to eliminated completely from your diet, the sweets. The other five groups which you need to focus on are the dairy group, meat group, vegetable group, fruit group, and the bread group. It is a good idea to try and eat a little from each of these groups with each meal. Also keep in mind that you need to be paying attention to the amount of protein, fiber, salt, vitamins, and minerals in which you consume too. These are a little bit harder to keep track of and have always caused more confusion.

Some general rules for argumentative writing are given below:
1. Identify the Issue:
The writer must first of all identify the issue or the topic of argumentative writing. Most issues have social, ethical or philosophical aspects. For example, the issue “should all fresher in the university be tested for AIDS” involves a balance between public safety and privacy. Which is more important public health or right to privacy? There can be arguments on both sides.

2. Take a Position:
Take a stand and “do not sit on the fence”. You can take a side in favour of or against the issue or question.

3. Examine the Issue Carefully:
Once you have decided your position or stand, examine the issue carefully to find out what it requires from you. Circle the key words and use them in your opening sentence. For example “I support the AIDS Test because ” Give the main points of your argument in the opening paragraph in a general manner e.g. to protect the health of the student community, to inform the students suffering from AIDS, to reduce fear about the disease, etc.

4. Plan Your Arguments:
The main body of your argumentative essay may consist of one or more paragraphs. Each paragraph should focus on a single but clear argument. You can prepare a brief outline or list of all your arguments.

5. Support Your Arguments with Details:
Data, examples, testimonials, experts’ opinions, and other details can be used in support of each argument. You can quote examples of other countries where testing for AIDS or military service for all male adults is compulsory. Your pattern of arguments may look like this:

• Every adult male should serve military for some period.
• This is a service to the nation.
• This will help to build health and morale of young men.
• They will be more disciplined.
• The nation will be more secure.
• After the service the young men can better defend themselves and others i.e. self defence is improved.

6. Conclude Well:
After finishing body paragraphs, you need to write the closing paragraph. This paragraph should be general like the opening paragraph. You can mention the other side of the issue just to show that you have given at a fair consideration. “The university should protect the privacy of its students. No one other than the student know the result of the test. However, the right of the majority to be free from the disease is more important than the right to privacy”.

7. Proof Read and Finalise:
In the first draft of your argumentative essay, some spelling and grammar mistakes might occur. Therefore, carefully read and revise your draft before sub-mitting it for evaluation.

Comparison Between Types of Writing:

A good writer is one who:

• understands the topic
• knows how to organise ideas
• is able to present the central idea in the beginning
• has a good vocabulary and uses the correct sentence structure, with proper spelling, punctuation and grammar
• is able to conclude his write up.

Significance of Writing Skills For Students:
Writing is an essential part of education. Success in, academics is impossible without good writing skills. Writing effectively is important for students due to the following reasons.
1. Makes clear understanding: Writing an essay is one of the best ways to understand a topic. In the process of writing, you search for relevant content and organize it logically. As a result the topic becomes clear to you. A writer can understand his/her thoughts and feelings through creative writing.

2. Helps pass the examinations : Students are assessed through written assignments. Good writing helps them to obtain good marks/grades in examinations.

3. Facilitates revision and memorization: Writing is an effective method to recall, reinforce and memorize newly learnt topics.

4. Improves communication skills: A good writer can express and communicate his/her thoughts and feelings effectively.

5. Encourages creativity : Writing helps students to develop creative thinking, imagination, and explanation.

6. Boosts career prospects : Good writing skills help in getting a job and in making progress in the career.

Characteristics of Good Writing:
The main features of good business writing are as follows:
1. Clear purpose:
In order to write effectively, you must be absolutely clear about the purpose and topic of your writing. There is no scope for ambiguity in good writing. Readers will read what you have written only when it is worth reading.

2. Conciseness:
The purpose of business writing is to convey the necessary information. Poetic phrases and creative figures of speech have no place in such writing. Brevity and precision are essential in business writing.

3. Courtesy:
The words and language used in business writing must be tailored to the target audience. Never use phrases and expressions that may be misunderstood or offensive. The tone of the writer must always be polite and Courteous. Never be too informal or friendly in business writing.

4. Right format:
In letters, proposals, memos and other types of business writing a standard format is used. It helps the reader to quickly understand the nature and purpose of the document.

5. Correctness:
Facts and figures rather than personal opinions or emotions are used in business writing. The writer must follow the company’s policy and guidelines in business writing.

Do’s and Don’ts of Good Writing:
Do’s:

• Think clearly and logically
• Increase your vocabulary (stock of words and expressions)
• Read widely and carefully (newspapers, magazines and books) and note down the striking ideas
• Use the dictionary to know the meanings of new words
• Practice writing repeatedly
• One can learn writing only by writing
• Understand the needs, interests and background of your readers
• Use concrete words and expressions
• Follow the same style consistently in the same piece of writing
• Write in a systematic way. In the first paragraph, for example, we should state clearly what we are going to write about and why. In the middle, we should present the ideas and arguments in support of it. We should write only the relevant things and avoid the irrelevant. In the last paragraph we should summarize leading to a neat and clear end of what we have been talking about earlier.
• Read and revise your writing

Don’ts:

• Do not try to tell the reader the obvious things
• Avoid abstract words and expressions
• Avoid euphemism, slang
• Do not mix up the formal and slang expressions in the same piece of writing