Business Communication - Self-Critique for Written Errors

78-600-01 Business Communications - Part 2

Self-Critique Assignment

Professor’s Name: Sandra Neposlan

Student’s Name: Senquan Wu

Student ID: 104701508

Date submitted: 02/02/2018

Self-Critique for Written Errors

1. Analysis of Patterns of Written Errors

In the review of all of my previous writing assignments in part 1 course, there are a couple of patterns of written errors catching my eyes. They are common errors I frequently commit, so it is important for me to take into account these errors in my following writing.

1). Long Text. I get used to packing a lot of words into a sentence or using wordy phrases and words so that sometimes my expressions seem very redundant and complicated. I want to make sentences as long as possible in order to meet the minimum word counts, and use multiple writing skills to avoid repetitive expressions; therefore, it has to take some time for the writing audience to read, and long sentences are often difficult to understand. As a matter of fact, I have a conscious perception that longer is better in writing, but when looking at the professor’s suggestion for my writing assignments, I realize that in business communication, it is better to keep sentences and paragraphs short and concise, which means leaving out words that do not contribute to the main purpose of the communication, as filler words can make readers harder to know why you wrote extra information.

2). Informal Tone. Applying inappropriate tone to writings is another pattern of written error. I did not take notice of this kind of issue in my writing assignments, but it is definitely a barrier to effective message translation. Informal tone can make the writing audience mistake what I say is not significant, so they may do not pay attention to key points in communication. Informal tone is normally used in writing to someone who I know well; however, certain forms of business communication, such as reporting and proposals need a formal tone to grab readers’ attention, since tone can help my writing be more effective.

3). Vague Writing Purpose. Indefinite writing purpose is the main pattern of error in my writing. Although I know my goal in every writing assignment, I would like to add irrelevant information to topic and cannot state it clearly in a logical order; thus, the reader might not know what I want them to do or what I want to tell them, and might even misunderstand my purpose. I need to work on clarity in writing, because my purpose should be clearly stated to accomplish effective communication, and if writing goal is clear, the writing audience can be easily focused no matter what forms of communication are.