Document Guidelines

Purpose and Audience

Your purpose and your audience will determine many critical features of your document, including your format, strategy, and word choice. So the first thing to determine when you are writing a document is -- Who are your primary and secondary audiences? Primary audiences are those who receive the communication directly. Secondary, or "hidden", audiences include anyone may indirectly receive a copy of the communication. These include anyone who will receive a copy, need to approve, will hear about, or be affected by your message. You should determine the level of knowledge, interest, and any potential biases the audience may have with regard to your message.

Format

Business Letter. A formal business letter is preferred when presenting information to a professor, a superior, or when the communication will be seen by many. See appendix A for a sample business letter.

Memo. A memo (memorandum) is a less formal style that is used when the information being communicated is of less importance, does not leave the office, and when communicating with subordinates. See appendix B for one sample format.

Strategy

It is important to know your audience’s interests and biases because they will have a tremendous impact on your communication strategy.

If your audience has a high interest level in your communication you can go directly to the point without taking much time to arouse their interest. Build a good, logical argument. If your audience has a low interest level, you should use more of a tell/sell style to motivate the reader’s interest. Keep your message as short as possible, long documents are intimidating and listeners tend to tune out what seems like rambling.

You should also know your audience’s probable bias: positive or negative. If your audience is positive or neutral, reinforce their existing attitude by stating the benefits that will accrue from your message. If they have a negative bias, try one of these techniques: Limit your request to the smallest one possible. Respond to anticipated objections; you will be more persuasive by stating and rejecting alternatives than having them devise their own, which they will be less likely to reject. State points you think they will agree with first; if audience members are sold on two or three key features of your proposal, they tend to sell themselves on the other features as well. Get them to agree that there is a problem, then solve the problem. Finally, if you are liable to encounter strong opposition use the "inoculate" technique. List the opposing arguments and explain why you rejected them. If you think they will not hear strong opposition, don’t bother to inoculate them.