When talking about business writing, the first word that pops into almost everyone’s mind is formality. A piece of business writing should have a sensible quality since as a business writer you don’t want to waste your readers’ time. There is no need to use flowery and overly expressive words; What you have to do is be concise, clear and precise. You need to make sure that the message you want to convey is easily understandable.

There are different types of letters that are included in business writing: memos, cover letters, resumes, business proposals, application letters, and many more. Although they have different purposes, the basic rule of business writing remains the same. You need to show professionalism; to do this there are different things you have to consider.

Organizing your thoughts. Before you start writing, you need to know exactly what you are writing about. You need to make sure that the topic you want to discuss is the focus of your letter. For resumes, memos, and business letters, focusing on the real issue is much easier than writing a proposal or business report. Collect all the necessary data and filter the ones that are most important and make them the featured part of your piece.

Write in Active Voice. An active sentence means that the subject of your thought is the one doing the action and not receiving it. It is straight to the point and the message is clear. Write in the active voice instead of the passive voice so that your topic doesn’t get buried under your sentence. For example, instead of saying “On June 30, 2009, the new rules and regulations will go into effect.” say “The new rules and regulations will be effective as of June 30, 2009.” The focus should be on the topic at hand.

Consider your readers. Whenever you write a business report or give a presentation, keep in mind that what you want to say may differ from what they (your readers) want to read. There are different departments in a company, focusing on different tasks; the level of detail in its composition should complement a specific department. For example, if you are putting together a company annual report, most of the rough details are expected to be presented to the boss; all details related to security procedures must be delivered to the security department; however, the rest of the employees need not be burdened with such details.

Write.

Once you’ve collected all the information you need, start writing. It doesn’t matter if you can’t understand it at first glance; Just write down everything that comes to mind. For some people, this doesn’t work; they prefer to smooth things out as they go along, so find your own style and pace.

Review and edit. When you’ve finished your report or letter, read it over and over again until you’re sure you’re satisfied with your work. Don’t be complacent, check every word, every punctuation mark and every sentence, check everything! You don’t want to embarrass yourself in front of your bosses, coworkers, or business partners.